As the 2014 edition of the Borgata Winter Poker Open comes to a close, the penultimate event on the schedule is set to start at 11 a.m. local time.
Event 22 is a $330 Black Chip Bounty NLHE Re-Entry tournament and every time a player busts an opponent, they claim a $100 bounty for the feat. Several big name pros are still in the building after being eliminated from the World Poker Tour's Main Event Championship, so we would not be surprised to see a stacked field with players like Amanda Musumeci trying to close out a strong series with one last cash. After all, Musumeci nearly won the last Black Chip Bounty event here, finishing as the runner-up and taking home $17,214 for the near miss.
Today's event should build a similar prize pool, as players attempt to recoup their losses, generate a small profit, or add to their gains with the end of the Borgata Winter Poker Open drawing near.
Check back with PokerNews throughout the day to follow up on the tournament's progress, as one more winner is crowned during the East Coast's premier poker series.
A total of 251 entries have been recorded in Event 21 ($330 Black Chip Bounty NLHE Re-Entry), and with 15 minutes left in Level 6 there are 190 players still riffling chips.
A prize pool of $48,694 has been generated so far the first prize payout will be over $12,000. The final 27 players will make the money, and a min-cash will be worth over $400.
The blinds are currently set at 200-400 with a 50 ante, and after starting with 15,000 stacks, the average sits around 19,815.
After the re-entry period this Black Chip Bounty event ended, a total of 272 entries were tallied up and recorded.
A total prize pool of $52,768 was generated and the winner today will pocket $14,775 in winnings (in addition to the black $100 chips they claim for each knockout along the way).
Play has reached Level 11, meaning blinds are currently set at 800-1,600 with a 200 ante.
Victoria Larkin was down to just three big blinds earlier in the night, but for an experienced tournament grinder there is always hope when you have a few chips in hand.
Larkin has more than a few chips to work with now, as she stormed back from the severe short stack to amass the highest count of the 39 players left in contention.
The money bubble will be burst when the 28th player goes broke, and Larkin is in prime position to begin abusing the bubble with her big stack. Larkin should know how to wield the chips at her disposal, as the young player told us she has learned from some of the game's up-and-coming stars. Matt Affleck - who took down the Six-Max event here earlier in the series - and Tyler Patterson - who just missed final tabling the WPT Main Event today - are longtime friends of Larkin's who have had her back while she learned the ropes of tournament poker.
Larkin played earlier this week on Day 1b of the WPT Main Event, and although she fell short there, today's impressive comeback from crippled to chip leader provides a chance to join Affleck and Patterson at the payout desk to clear a bit of profit from yet another poker journey.
We'll let you know how Larkin fares a bit later, so stay tuned to see if she can best Patterson's performance with a final table run, and match Affleck's with a win here at the Borgata Winter Poker Open.
Cornel Cimpan raised to 55,000, and William Givens raised to 125,000 from the cutoff. Aaron Carr shoved all in for 274,000 more out of the big blind. Cimpan folded, and Givens made the call.
Givens:
Carr:
A runout of gave Carr a double, and Givens is now under 10 big blinds with 200,000. Carr has 650,000.
Blinds just went up to 15,000-30,000 with a 4,000 ante.
Luis Alves got the last of his stack all in preflop with against the of William Givens. A flop of increased Alves' outs, and the turn brought a to give him a flush draw. A river was nothing but a brick though, and Alves was done in ninth.