Brandin Power Dominates Day 1b of the BPO Atlantic City Championship
Another exciting day of Bar Poker Open action has come to an end at Borgata Hotel Casino & Spa, with the field now set for the final day of the $400 Atlantic City Championship.
The second flight saw 162 entries, bringing the overall total to 464 over two days. That created a prize pool of $146,000, with the eventual champion taking home $30,000 along with the BPO Championship trophy. Day 2 will see 48 players return, after 17 bagged up on Day 1b.
Leading the way was Brandin Power of the Eastern Poker Tour, who brought the night to an end by winning the final hand and padding his stack to 827,000.
That represents almost 70 big blinds when play resumes on November 17, and leaves Power in the overall chip lead heading into the money. Power sits firmly ahead of Day 1a chip leader Anton Saich of New York Free Poker, who set the pace on the opening day with 775,000.
Day 1b Top 10 Chip Counts
| Rank | Player | League | Chip Count | Big Blinds |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Brandin Power | Eastern Poker Tour | 827,000 | 69 |
| 2 | Andrew Ferguson | New York Free Poker | 414,000 | 35 |
| 3 | Patrick Martorella | New York Free Poker | 389,000 | 32 |
| 4 | Robert Carswell | New York Free Poker | 388,000 | 32 |
| 5 | Lisa Koch | No Limit New York | 378,000 | 32 |
| 6 | Mariano Lisojo | New York Free Poker | 357,000 | 30 |
| 7 | Vincent Loria | No Limit New York | 339,000 | 28 |
| 8 | John Germano | Eastern Poker Tour | 321,000 | 27 |
| 9 | Christopher White | New York Free Poker | 305,000 | 25 |
| 10 | Charles Gudaitis | Eastern Poker Tour | 216,000 | 18 |
Sitting next on the Day 1b leaderboard are a trio of players from New York Free Poker, led by Andrew Ferguson (414,000). Patrick Martorella (389,000) rounded out the podium on the second day of action, followed closely by Robert Carswell (388,000).
Leading the group from No Limit New York was Lisa Koch, who cracked kings and saw her own pocket kings lose on the way to a fifth-place finish on the day with 378,000.
In addition to a spot in the money up for grabs, several players took a shot at the $1,000 double bag bonus after surviving Day 1a. Joseph Sheehan followed his finish in the money on Saturday night by hopping into $200 Semi-Turbo Deep Stack and claimed victory after a late-night six-way deal. Sheehan has now recorded two wins, a third-place finish and a bag in the first four events this week at Borgata but was unsuccessful at finding a second bag in the Championship event.
Others that tried their luck for a second bag included Anthony LoBue, Thomas Giglio and Vincent Ferrara, who was the last of this group to be eliminated and will revert to his stack of just 6,000 chips for Day 2.
One of the late stories of the day was David Shepherd, who lost an all-in against Power and was left with just 3,000 chips. From there, Sheperd was able to double up multiple times before ultimately falling on the stone bubble against Power.
The remaining 48 players will return to the Borgata Poker Room at 12:15 p.m. local time, with everyone locking up at least $1,000 to this point. Action will resume with 19:07 left on Level 18, and the levels will be extended to 45 minutes for the remainder of the tournament, with breaks scheduled after every two hours of play.
Players will battle down to the final table before taking a break, and the rest of the action will be streamed on delay.
Be sure to follow along as the PokerNews live reporting team continues to deliver live coverage of the Bar Poker Open in Atlantic City.