Joe Altomonte raised to 3,300 from the button after an opponent in the big blind bet 1,250 on an 
flop. The big blind leaned back in his seat and seemed pained, but he ended up calling. The player then checked the 
turn, and Altomonte fired 5,225. The big blind turned over the 
before sliding his cards to the dealer.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
|
50,000 |
With so many top pros and local heroes here today, a few huge hands are bound to get lost in the shuffle. Thankfully, poker players love a sick brag though, and Twitter makes it easy for them to trumpet their successes to the masses.
Matthew Waxman did just that after hitting a one-out shot to down top set with quads. Apparently making that huge hand provided a bit of momentum for Waxman, because soon afterward he busted a player to move above 90,000.
First hand 33 in BB. 5 way pot. Flop 369hh. Got it in vs 99 on flop. I had no heart. Turned quads. 62k #wptborgataFollow @Matthew_Waxman
One hand later I put a lot of chips in with top pair. Rivered trips and stacked a guy. 91k. #wptborgataFollow @Matthew_Waxman
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
91,000 |
The big stacks are slowly starting to separate from the shorties, and here is where a few notable names stand at the moment.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
66,000 | |
|
57,000
8,000
|
8,000 |
|
48,000 | |
|
43,000
13,000
|
13,000 |
|
||
|
43,000
-2,000
|
-2,000 |
|
||
|
32,000
2,000
|
2,000 |
|
31,000 | |
|
30,000 | |
|
||
|
|
29,000 | |
|
28,000
2,600
|
2,600 |
|
27,000 | |
|
26,000 | |
|
25,000
-3,000
|
-3,000 |
|
25,000 | |
|
23,000
-7,000
|
-7,000 |
|
|
||
Faraz "The-Toilet 0" Jaka just sat down about 15 minutes ago, but he's already building his stack up. We caught the tail end of a recent hand in which he fired 4,300 on the river after an opponent checked to him. The board read 
. Jaka's opponent made the call, but he couldn't beat Jaka's 
.
We'll certainly be keeping an eye on Jaka, who has live tournament winnings in excess of $4 million.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
40,000 | |
|
|
||
Sitting to the left of Dennis Phillips - who is best known for a 3rd-place finish at the 2008 World Series of Poker Main Event - Travell Thomas may have been intimidated, but he's no slouch on the felt either.
Thomas is an experienced circuit grinder who scored a WSOP Circuit ring in 2011, so he was not cowed when Phillps led into him for 2,525 on the 
flop.
The pot contained about 6,500 at that time, and Phillips was nursing a short-stack so he figured to be getting his money in with a real holding. Thomas didn't care though, and he happily raised the action up to 5,575 while telling Phillps where he stood.
"You only have two options here man..." Thomas told him. "Call or fold. But either way, you're gonna lose."
"Those aren't my only options though, now are they?" Phillips responded, his hands reaching for the small stack of chips he still had left.
"I didn't say what happens if you raise now..." Thomas carried on. "Just that you got two options. Fold or call... but you're losing either way."
Phillips declined to exercise that third option though, and he folded his hand with a laugh while Thomas continued the conversation.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
43,500 | |
|
14,600
-15,400
|
-15,400 |
DJ Mackinnon fired 2,200 from the cutoff on a 
flop against an opponent on the button. The button responded with a raise to 5,000, and Mackinnon came back with a three-bet to 10,300. His opponent shoved all in, and Mackinnon called immediately.
"Aces?" the button asked. After Mackinnon turned over , the button rolled 
. "You just don't want to believe it."
The turn and river were both eights, and Mackinnon sent his opponent to the rail.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
|
49,000 |
John Holley's first bullet of the day just missed the target, after the circuit grinder went for a spectacular preflop bluff, only to run a weak ace into a pair of them.
We saw six players with bets of 600 in front of them, and Holley's last 14,000 pushed forward for the three-bet jam. The player to Holley's left paused for a beat before heaping a stack of baby blue T5000 chips forward for a huge four-bet.
Dennis Phillips was not pleased with this development, and he checked his cards a few times while lamenting the sudden increase in action that would prevent him from seeing the flop.
"Dang it!," he cried, joking as he folded his cards. "I wanted to play those too..."
The table quickly folded around and Holley asked if the reraiser held an ace, only to see the tabled in response. Holley could only muster the 
for a mistimed move, and the board ran out 
to end his first try here in the second starting flight.
"Queen-jack of spades..." said Phillips, using both fingers to point to the flop. "Queen-jack of spades... dang it!"
With two all-in moves made before him, Phillips wisely opted to fold the worst hand, but when the deck delivered the nut straight on the flop Phillips immediately regretted his disciplined decision.
"I'm the worst in the world," he told us with a wry grin. "I can't call there, but I could've called there too. Why not? I can play like the biggest donkey ever as good as anybody!"
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
Busted |
Rogen Chhabra's opponent checked to him on the end with the board reading 
. Chhabra fired 7,750, and his opponent called after a minute or two of consideration. Chhabra tabled for top pair, and his opponent couldn't beat it.
"I think that's what the young guys call merging," a player at the table said. "Just say he's mergin' it up over here."
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
46,500 |
Level: 4
Blinds: 100/200
Ante: 0
Earlier in the day Ryan Eriquezzo took to Twitter to vent, after a loose opponent used the deuce-four offsuit to take a few of his chips.
Eriquezzo didn't go so far as to make a guarantee, but he confidently announced that a 100,000 chip count was his expectation for the end of today's play. Tripling (and then some) one's starting stack is always a good way to end a starting flight, so Eriquezzo wasn't out of line by any means, and he is obviously skilled enough to set a high bar for himself.
We've been wondering how Eriquezzo has been doing thus far in his effort to build a six-figure stack, so we checked his favorite outlet for on the felt updates to see how he's doing. Here's what we found out:
Apparently Eriquezzo victimized his friend and fellow pro Jeff Madsen when both players flopped two pair and filled up on the turn. That pot pushed him over 60,000, but the swings set in and he fell back to 22,000 during Level 3, only to rebound recently as Level 4 is set to begin.
Halfway home, Eriquezzo looks to be well on his way to the 100,000 mark he assured the world he would meet. It's poker though, so we won't book his seat in Day 2 just yet... even if Eriquezzo himself already has.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
60,000
28,000
|
28,000 |
|
||
