2014 Borgata Winter Poker Open

Johnson Nguyen raised to 37,000 from middle position, and a fellow big stack on the button made it 88,000 to go. Nguyen made the call, and the two saw a flop of . Nguyen switched gears, firing out 125,000. His opponent tanked for a bit, finally folding his hand.

Player	Chips	Progress
Johnson Nguyen	835,000 648,875	648,875

Tags: Johnson Nguyen

We found Men "The Master" Nguyen contemplating a 430,000 all-in bet from Alynna Le. The board read , and Nguyen counted out his stack; it was about 80,000 short so he would be calling off everything.

Nguyen went deep into the tank, thinking for about four minutes. He twice told the dealer he would need considerable time for this decision. For their part, the other players at the table seemed unwilling to call the clock on the seven-time bracelet winner. Finally, Andrew Badecker called for time. When the countdown hit five seconds, Nguyen finally slid his cards to the dealer, saying he was sure he was against ace-king and he folded a combo draw.

Le, who had been staring straight ahead while covering her mouth with a pink scarf, turned over the as she collected the pot.

Player	Chips	Progress
Alynna Le	670,000 583,000	583,000
Men Nguyen	350,000 10,000	10,000

Tags: Alynna LeAndrew BadeckerMen Nguyen

With so many players riding stacks of similar size, and the blinds rising every 40 minutes, there have been multiple three-way all-in confrontations.

The latest clash between three players saw go up against and , with the man holding nines at risk of being eliminated.

"Black nine dealer, put a black nine out there!" bellowed the man with the worst hand. "One time!"

As commanded, the dealer fanned the flop with a flourish, and the first card in the window was, of course, the to fulfill the short-stacked player's wish.

The nine-ball was soon followed by a and an , however, meaning the set of nines was second-best to Alexandre Navalnii's set of tens. The unfortunate woman holding pocket rockets could only watch as her dominating hand was dashed by a pair of two-outers.

The turn () and river () changed nothing, and with that, Navalnii vaulted to nearly a million chips to put himself in contention for a deep run here on Day 2.

Player	Chips	Progress
Alexandre Navalnii	950,000 950,000	950,000

Players have returned to their seats and cards are back in the air with blinds of 8,000-16,000 and a 2,000 ante.

The tournament is now on a 15-minute break, and approximately 350 players remain in contention for the $372,123 grand prize.

Alex Ivan opened to 30,000 from the hijack, and the cutoff made the call. The player in the big blind upped the stakes to 107,000, and Ivan tanked for a couple of minutes before shipping all in for 374,000. The cutoff quickly folded, and big blind called immediately.

Ivan:
Opponent:

Ivan was miles behind and he began gathering his belongings, but the flop was one of the best possible for him, providing a double-gutshot straight draw. A turn caused the big blind to slam the table.

"Are you ****ing kidding me?" he said.

The player maneuvered his cards next to Ivan's as the dealer placed a river card down. He aimed his phone at the felt to capture the beat.

"You'll take that picture about 30 more times in your lifetime," a veteran at the table remarked.

"I know," the player said with resignation.

Player	Chips	Progress
Alex Ivan	795,000

Tags: Alex Ivan