mnuwwarah
David Gerassi bagged the the top stack out of three Day 1s.
We've got quite a slate on tap for the ninth day of the Borgata Winter Poker Open.
Kicking off the day, we'll be starting with the $450 buy-in Deepest Stack No-Limit Hold'em Re-Entry. Play for this tournament began a short time ago, and players are starting off with 50,000 stacks. They'll be grinding until either 18 players remain or 2 a.m., whichever comes last. Levels will last 30 minutes until Level 11, at which point they go for 40 minutes.
At noon, we have a double-header: Day 2 of the $400 buy-in $250,000 Guarantee Deeper Stack No-Limit Hold'em and the start of the $450 buy-in Big Stack Pot-Limit Omaha Re-Entry. For the former, 309 players remain from three Day 1 flights. David Gerassi leads the way with 429,000, and Chris Kash is hot on his heels with 426,000, while Efraim Hirschman bagged 417,000. Other notable stacks include Jason Rivkin (375,000), Joe McKeehen (350,000), and Coleem Chestnut (316,000). The tournament is scheduled to play down to a winner.
Players begin with 20,000 chips in the PLO tournament. Levels will last 30 minutes for the first 10, and 40 minutes thereafter. Re-entries will be accepted for the first six levels, and a winner is scheduled to be determined tonight.
mnuwwarah
Amanda Musumeci got dealt an interesting seating assignment.
Over at Table 17, Amanda Musumeci found herself seated next to Sharon Devault, who Musumeci said is a student she recently started training. This is Devault's first ever Day 2, and she made it with more chips than Musumeci, though both are short. Perhaps more interestingly, Devault's seated to Musumeci's left. Conventional poker wisdom says chips generally flow to the left, so Devault may soon be taking more than just lessons from Musumeci.
mnuwwarah
Will we see smaller fields in the coming days?
We overheard some in the room discussing the impending arrival of Winter Storm Janus, scheduled to put the "winter" in Borgata Winter Poker Open at any moment. The big question here is how it will affect the field. More than 2,700 flights are already canceled, with a further 2,300 delayed, according to the Weather Channel. The Weather Channel described the storm as bringing "heavy snow, frigid temperatures, and bitter winds" with as much as a foot of snow expected in some areas. With so many flights canceled, will we see smaller-than-expected fields in the coming couple of days? Or will players get snowed in and be forced to stay longer than expected?
Joe Mckeehen checked and called a bet on a flop of , and he and his opponent saw a turn of . Mckeehen again checked, and this time he called a bet of 34,000. When a river caused Mckeehen to check a final time, his opponent fired the third bullet, 55,000. Mckeehen thought for a bit before making the call, and he took down the pot with .
David Gerassi, who entered the day as the chip leader, has continued his winning ways. In a recent hand, he put an opponent all in with the board reading . The player tanked for a couple of minutes before calling off.
Gerassi:
Opponent:
Gerassi had turned the nuts, but his opponent had outs. A river was a brick, and Gerassi let out a yell of "YES!"
John Liu at the Borgata Winter Poker Open Event 5: $100k Guaranteed
We noticed a pretty sizable stack and a table full of players still discussing the aftermath of a recent hand.
Apparently John Liu dragged a monster pot of about 550,000 when his prevailed over three other opponents. Liu's jacks were the best hand going in, as he went up against , and .
The board ran clean and kept Liu in the tournament as the money bubble approaches.
We're in the Money Here at Event 8 of the Borgata Winter Poker Open's Ladies Event
We are now in the money here in Event 8, and the remaining 129 players are all assured of earning at least $742 for their performance.
The bubble bursting moment was less dramatic than most, as the tournament clock showed 132 players left and hand for hand play ended. Tournament staff then conducted a count of the room, and determined that their clock was mistaken, and suddenly we were in the money without a bustout having to occur.
Ryan Austin on Day 2 of Event #8 at the 2014 Borgata Winter Poker Open
Four players saw a flop for a 25,000 raise from Ryan Austin in the hijack. Austin fired 53,000 on the flop when action checked to him, and he got one caller in the small blind. After the turn brought the , the small blind came out betting with 105,000. Austin jammed for 165,000 more, and the small blind went into the tank. After a few minutes of thinking, he called.
Austin:
Small blind:
Austin's opponent said he put him on a big heart, and he was half right; Austin did have a big heart but he also had a big pair, and the small blind was in trouble. The river was the , and Austin climbed over a million in chips.
According to Gerassi, who currently holds two pristine stacks of gold T25000 chips for a cool million in just those two towers, he hasn't held a hand better than pocket sixes despite his rapid ascent to the top of the leaderboard.
Gerassi told us that a key hand for him involved the lowly , after he called a 27,000 preflop raise. The flop came to give Gerassi trip threes, and when he got an opponent to commit the rest of their chips, the rout was on.
Later, Gerassi took up against and came out on top once again. The flop fell to give his opponent top set, but when Gerassi check-called a bet of 45,000, the peeled right off on the turn. Gerassi checked his newly made straight, and shoved all in when the other player bet 60,000. The man with three aces and a draw to the nut flush snapped it off, only to see he had been caught up to by the tournament's terror.
The river blanked off of course, and with that, Gerassi surged into a commanding chip position by literally turning his rags into riches.
Anthony Mangiovi on Day 2 of Event 8 of the Borgata Winter Poker Open
With his stack already one of the biggest left in play, Anthony Mangiovi took his to war on the board.
His unfortunate opponent decided to make his stand with , check-raising all in with top pair, but he found himself drawing dead when Mangiovi snapped him off. The completed the board on the river, and Mangiovi offered a "good game" across the table while claiming his fallen opponent's stack.
, and he and his opponent saw a turn of 
. Mckeehen again checked, and this time he called a bet of 34,000. When a 
river caused Mckeehen to check a final time, his opponent fired the third bullet, 55,000. Mckeehen thought for a bit before making the call, and he took down the pot with 
.
river was a brick, and Gerassi let out a yell of "YES!"
.
flop when action checked to him, and he got one caller in the small blind. After the turn brought the 
, the small blind came out betting with 105,000. Austin jammed for 165,000 more, and the small blind went into the tank. After a few minutes of thinking, he called.
, and Austin climbed over a million in chips.
, after he called a 27,000 preflop raise. The flop came 
to give Gerassi trip threes, and when he got an opponent to commit the rest of their chips, the rout was on.
to give his opponent top set, but when Gerassi check-called a bet of 45,000, the 
