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With the tournament clock showing 32 players remaining, and 27 payouts on the schedule, the money bubble is looming. Stay tuned to see who falls one spot short of cashing, and who is rewarded for playing 11 hours of poker in Atlantic City on a weekday.
A scan of every face in the tournament has revealed few familiar to us (other than Mikhail Mironenko and Mike Sandler).
With the poker world's elite players moving on to the next stop on their never ending journey, that is to be expected, but typically a local hero or two who frequent the Borgata between seasonal series will make a deep run.
Tonight that is not the case, so its time to tap shoulders and take names. Stay tuned to see if anybody you play home games with is secretly a shark.
The tournament is now on a 10-minute break.
Level: 19
Blinds: 5,000/10,000
Ante: 1,000
Level: 20
Blinds: 6,000/12,000
Ante: 2,000
Mike Sandler nearly won a poker tournament this week, recording a runner-up finish in Event 10 for a $18,630 score.
After he won a recent hand though, Sandler was treated like a tourist who doesn't know his flops from his folds.
The final board showed 
and Sandler had 
tabled, with his rivered nut flush best over an opponent's 
.
"Nice f---ing call there bro!," the young man bellowed, becoming increasingly belligerent as he criticized Sandler's play. "Bad call preflop, worse call on the flop."
Despite entering the pot with a nine-high three-gapper, the man was convinced that Sandler had misplayed the hand. Sandler remained calm and cool throughout the exchange (he was busy stacking up the man's chips after all), politely reminding the fuming player that it was actually him who sucked out, and not vice versa.
"I'm foldin' ova here for four orbits!," the man spat back, still spewing invective in Sandler's direction over a potential $230 hit to his bankroll. "Whattdaya put me on there?"
Tilt is the word you're looking for sir. He put you on tilt.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
335,000
335,000
|
335,000 |
After being loudly directed by a man dubbing himself "Phil Hellmeth Jr." (his pronunciation, and yes, we know the real "Poker Brat" is actually a junior himself), we headed over to see what all the fuss was about.
Apparently, the "Long Island" boy (his white hair suggested boy was another unfortunate misnomer), we discovered a sight to behold: a player bragging up their one big blind stack.
Mr. Hellmeth loudly proclaimed himself to be the "Short Stack Ninja," telling us (and the entire room really) that he was "gonna win this tournament," while folding from the small blind.
During this exchange a collection was being taken to pay the eventual bubble boy, meaning whoever finished in 28th place would still take home a small profit (Bread+Butter here he comes).
True to his word, poker's newest legend in his own mind managed to grind back from just 2,000 to make the money, but his seat is now empty, meaning the bubble has officially burst. The remaining 24 runners are guaranteed to pocket $473 at the very least, but each of them has their eyes on the real prize waiting up top, with $14,723 waiting for the eventual winner.
Level: 21
Blinds: 8,000/16,000
Ante: 2,000
Paul Vacchio just took down a big pot and busted a player in the process, after his 
held up over 
.
The final board ran out 
and the pocket pair managed to dodge the overcards.
Vacchio now holds one of the largest stacks in play at the moment, with the final two tables one elimination away.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
580,000
580,000
|
580,000 |
We've found a few players willing to attach their names to a chip count, but for whatever reason several players declined to do so.
In an interesting turn of events it turns out Ken Daneyko - who won three Stanley Cups with the New Jersey Devils as a bruising brawler of a stay-at-home defenseman - is in the house, and he currently holds a solid stack with which to work.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
|
530,000
195,000
|
195,000 |
|
|
490,000
490,000
|
490,000 |
|
430,000
430,000
|
430,000 |
