2014 Borgata Winter Poker Open

Event 1: $2 Million Guarantee Big Stack NLHE Re-Entry
Day: 1a
Event Info

2014 Borgata Winter Poker Open

Event Info
Buy-in
$500
Prize Pool
$2,325,835
Entries
4,812
Players Left
27
Average Chip Stack
3,564,444
Total Chips
96,240,000

Event 1: Men Mastered

Men "The Master" Nguyen Here on Day 1A
Men "The Master" Nguyen Here on Day 1A

The face of tournament veteran Men "The Master" Nguyen is familiar for tournament reporters and opponents alike, which is why eight of his nine opponents folded quickly on Nguyen's big blind.

Matt Shafman, on the other hand, decided to tame the beast, raising to 1,200 from the small blind. Nguyen peered down at Shafman's stack, and after assessing the possibilities, "The Master" made the call.

Flop: {Q-Hearts}{7-Diamonds}{5-Spades}

Shafman led out with a bet of 1,600 and Nguyen quickly plunked a stack of orange T1000 chips forward to put his short-stacked opponent to the test. Just as quickly, Shafman made the call, and when he rolled over {A-Diamonds}{A-Hearts} it was clear why.

Nguyen, for his part, appeared to be quite surprised, showing Shafman his {J-Spades}{J-Diamonds} and saying "Wow... I thought I had the best hand here!"

Needing to catch one of two remaining jacks to notch the knockout, Nguyen watched as the turn ({9-Hearts}) and river ({K-Hearts}) missed him entirely. Still smiling at his admitted misread, Nguyen cut off a stack from his own chip castle, and Shafman scored a well-timed double up through one of poker's original superstars.

Player Chips Progress
Men Nguyen us
Men Nguyen
69,500
-11,500
-11,500
WSOP 7X Winner
Matt Shafman
Matt Shafman
23,800
23,800
23,800

Tags: Matt ShafmanMen Nguyen