Event 17: $100,000 Guarantee Big Stack NLHE Re-Entry | 2014 Borgata Winter Poker Open

Event 17: $100,000 Guarantee Big Stack NLHE Re-Entry

Day 1 Started

01-25-2014 13:36 UTC-4

Event 17 Set to Start

[user253757]

Cards Are in the Air in Event 17 Here at the Borgata Winter Poker Open

Event 17 is the $100,000 Guaranteed Big Stack No-Limit Hold'em Re-Entry Saturday Series. The tournament cost $400 per entry and with the Winter Poker Open's turnout numbers so far, we expect the $100k guaranteed prize pool to be generated rather easily. Expect several top pros to use this event as a tune-up for the upcoming World Poker Tour Borgata Winter Poker Open Main Event, while also trying to make a five-figure score to pad their bankroll.

Players will start the tournament with 20,000 in chips, and levels will last 30 minutes throughout. It's scheduled to play down to a winner today, and with the size of the fields we've seen in some of these events, that really means tomorrow morning.

01-25-2014 14:44 UTC-4

Event 17: The Royal Treatment

[user253757]

Ari Engel Won't Have a Better Hand at the Borgata... Ever.

If enough hands are dealt out over the course of a long tournament series, strange sights will inevitably be seen.

Ari Engel has likely played more than a million hands in his long poker career - between his countless online sessions while earning over $2 million on the virtual tournament felt, and a seven-year live career spent travelling the global circuit - but his latest hand here today ranks as one of the best.

Literally.

Engel just doubled up in Event 17 ($100,000 Guaranteed Big Stack NLHE Re-Entry), turning his last 16,000 into nearly double the starting stack while making the prettiest sight in all of poker.

After the dealer fanned a flop of neatly across the felt, Sonny Chau decided to set the short-stacked Engel all-in holding . Chau figured to be in decent enough spot with top-top, but when Engel snapped and showed down the , even Chau had to pay his respect in the presence of royalty.

"Did you see that?," he asked as we hovered around the coronation. "The royal flush..."

We sure did see that Sonny, and it was something to see no doubt. Judging by the awe in your voice as you ran down the hand, we suspect that despite the dent to your chip stack, there's a small part of you that's glad you saw it too.

Tags: Ari Engel

01-25-2014 16:12 UTC-4

Event 17: Level Up, Re-Entry Period Over

[user253757]

Registration for Re-Entries Has Ended for Event 17

We are now playing Level 8 in Event 17 ($100,000 Guaranteed Big Stack NLHE Re-Entry).

The re-entry period ended after Level 6, so from here on out play is for all the marbles.

Blinds currently sit at 300-600 with a 75 ante, and the room looks to be full of tables so an estimate of 400+ players left in contention would appear to be accurate.

01-25-2014 18:19 UTC-4

Taberhams Gets Opponent to Dinner on Time

mnuwwarah

Action folded to the small blind, who shoved all in for 41,000 into Simon Taberham's 1,200 big blind.

"Are you late for dinner or something?" Taberham asked. It seemed the player was making it a habit of shoving for a ton of big blinds on the regular. We went to check on another table, and when we turned back around, Taberham had made the call.

Taberham:
Opponent:

The board ran out , and Taberham had the winner with a pair of kings.

"What's he have?" the small blind asked. The dealer informed him that a pair of kings was the winning hand. "Nice call," the small blind said.

Player	Chips	Progress
Simon Taberham	116,000

Tags: Simon Taberham

01-25-2014 18:22 UTC-4

Some Counts

mnuwwarah

Here are some stacks of players we took note of on a quick walk through the room.

Player	Chips	Progress
Phil Collins	63,500
Toby Kasser	38,000
KJ Jones	37,000
Kathy Liebert	31,500
Ryan Eriquezzo	27,000
Luke Edwards	25,300
Lee Childs	24,000
Luis Alves	10,000

Level: 12

Blinds: 800/1,600

Ante: 200

01-25-2014 18:34 UTC-4

Routos Calls His Shot

mnuwwarah

James Routos and two other players got it all in preflop. One player turned over . The other player turned over .

"Set of eights," Routos announced, tabling .

Routos' most likely path to victory was actually a flush after the first four cards came , leaving the player with ace-king likely to bust both opponents, as he had the most chips. The dealer burned and turned the for the river, and Routos' prophecy had been fulfilled.

Player	Chips	Progress
James Routos	70,000

Tags: James Routos

01-25-2014 18:51 UTC-4

Eng Induces a Bluff

mnuwwarah

Gordon Eng three-bet to 7,700 from the cutoff after a player opened in early position for 3,600. The early-position player made the call, and the two took in a flop of . The early player check-called 8,200, and both players checked the . On the end, the early player fired 17,300, and Eng immediately announced a call.