Event 9: $300 $100,000 Guaranteed Big-Stack NLHE Reentry | 2014 Borgata Spring Poker Open

Level: 22

Blinds: 10,000/20,000

Ante: 3,000

04-16-2014 23:56 UTC-4

Maio Can't Make It Happen

[user253757]

Level 21 : 8,000/16,000, 2,000 ante

When we last saw Anthony Maio it was right here at the Borgata, albeit under far different circumstances. Maio finished in 3rd place at last January's Borgata Winter Poker Open WPT Main Event Championship, earning $307,565 for his appearance at the televised final table.

Maio is an up-and-coming young pro who has made several splashes on the live circuit, but he seems to find a comfort zone here in Atlantic City, recording multiple deep runs and cashes at the Borgata's seasonal series.

After running deep in yet another Borgata tournament though, Maio has hit the rail after his flopped four-flush failed to come through.

Maio held the and he connected well with the flop, finding a pair and two more clubs. Unfortunately for Maio, Nick Angello wasn't going anywhere with his own flush draw, and the latter took his to war.

A third player in the pot brought to bear, meaning Maio's fortuitous flop actually found him drawing rather thin, as he was up against an overpair and and a better club draw.

The arrived on the turn to give Angello the best hand, and the epitome of a brick completed the board when the river came .

Maio was gracious enough to provide us with a postmortem on the hand afterward, proving that a true pro knows how to shrug off a tough beat and move on in short order.

Player	Chips	Progress
Nick Angello	180,000	180,000
Anthony Maio	Busted

Tags: Anthony Maio Nick Angello

04-16-2014 23:40 UTC-4

A Few Counts

[user253757]

Level 21 : 8,000/16,000, 2,000 ante

Some updated counts from around the room.

Player	Chips	Progress
Tony Potis	470,000	35,000
Gene Mazza	225,000	-185,000
Anthony Maio	160,000	-205,000
Nancy Martin	110,000	15,000

04-16-2014 23:36 UTC-4

Kuether KO'd

[user253757]

Level 21 : 8,000/16,000, 2,000 ante

Professional player Joe Kuether is among the wave of casualties to hit the rail recently, as he can be seen collecting his payout stub at the moment.

Player	Chips	Progress
Joe Kuether	Busted

Tags: Joe Kuether

Level: 21

Blinds: 8,000/16,000

Ante: 2,000

04-16-2014 23:09 UTC-4

Avalanche of Eliminations Before Break

[user253757]

Level 20 : 6,000/12,000, 2,000 ante

After an extended delay to report on the bubble-bursting situation, about 20 players just went bust over the last level.

There are now 56 players left in contention, and now that the extended delay and its cause has been reported, the flow of regularly scheduled updates will resume when cards are back in the air.

04-16-2014 23:00 UTC-4

Chaos and Confusion

[user253757]

Level 20 : 6,000/12,000, 2,000 ante

Gary Rosenzweig (pictured in middle) was among the unfortunate trio to bubble this tournament in highly unusual fashion

After a thirty-minute pause in the action, play has rolled on here in Event 9, with the remaining 80 players now officially — at long last — in the money.

Here's what we heard and saw:

During hand-for-hand play, with the tournament clock showing 82 players remaining, a series of simultaneous eliminations led to an extended argument, as the shortest-stacked of the players who went bust refused to accept his position as the bubble boy.

Gary Rosenzweig had lost his last two big blinds (22,500) after calling a preflop raise with . Tony Potis held the to put Rosenzweig at risk, and when the final board rolled out he made a straight to notch the knockout. According to Rosenzweig, his elimination had not burst the bubble though, as the tournament clock had already clicked over to show 81 players remaining, with the tournament staff making a verbal announcement that all remaining players were in the money. A round of applause had gone up throughout the room immediately after that - at which time Rosenzweig was tanking to see what happened - and when the cheering erupted, he happily called off with his thinking he had already min-cashed.

Hand-for-hand play was underway throughout the room, and in the moments preceding Rosenzweig's fateful call and loss, dealers could be seen standing up one by one to signal the end of their table's individual hand. Before Rosenzweig called off, a loud slam of the table had punctuated the air - as a player across the room had just gone broke, and in devastating fashion.

David Silverstein raised preflop with and found a willing caller in a player holding . Both players held around 150,000 or so behind, with Silverstein in ownership of the slightly larger stack. On the flop, Silverstein c-bet and his opponent flatted with his four-flush. The turn came down to miss everyone, and Silverstein then shoved all in for his last 140,000, or just enough to put the other player at risk if he called.

Call he did, and correctly so, as he was only fading the deck's two remaining non-spade jacks to avoid going broke on the direct bubble.

River:

Of course, the brutal suckout was delivered, leading to the aforementioned slam of the table. This is when Rosenzweig mistakenly believed himself to have reached the money - as he failed to account for the concept and conduct of hand-for-hand play. In quick succession the air rang out with the previous player's outburst, and an announcement from tournament staff - made over the microphone - of "Congratulations players, you are all in the money!"

To complicate matters even further, a third all-in confrontation had gone down during this segment of hand-for-hand play, as Gene Mazza wielded his to perfection in busting an unfortunate player who held . The flop had rained down and both players quickly committed the last of their similarly-sized 180,000 or so stacks. Mazza's set of aces trumped the other player's pair, and thus a third casualty was added to the potential roster of bubble boys.

After losing his own all-in hand, Rosenzweig believed himself to have been on the safe side of the bubble, what with his call-off having come after the tournament staff's announcement. However, hand-for-hand play was still underway, and even with two bustouts coming before his own, all three of the eliminations technically occurred on the same deal.

When informed of the bad news, Rosenzweig was visibly upset, refusing to leave his seat until Tournament Director Tab Duchateau himself was consulted. Tournament official Andrew Wong relayed the request for a ruling to Duchateau, and after a lengthy delay, returned to tell Rosenzweig that he had bubbled the tournament. Rosenzweig was distraught after hearing the decision and he mentioned aloud that he "would have to be carried out of here" if he didn't receive a minimum cash prize, while also stating "I have six kids, I need the five-hundred bucks."

Eventually, Wong calmed the commotion and escorted Rosenzweig to the exits, with play resuming about 45 minutes after it was halted. Rosenzweig was declared the bubble boy (along with the other two players who lost with ), and after all of that, the tournament continued as if the three players had never been there at all.