Event #17: $2,700 Championship Day 1c | 2019 Borgata Fall Poker Open

11-18-2019 21:39 UTC-4

Roland Israelashvili Finds Overall Lead in Day 1c of BFPO Championship

MartianNews

Level 8 : 400/800, 800 ante

BFPO Championship Chipleader Roland Israelashvili

The last flight of Event #17: $2,700 Championship has now come to an end after eight levels of play and a total of 243 entry slips were sold, with just 121 remaining by the end of the night.

A well-known pro ended the night with lead in Roland Israelashvili, who bagged 228,200 after eight levels, which is also good for the overall lead headed into Day 2. Israelashvili instantly started to build a stack and seemed to constantly add chips as the night dwindled down.

The Forest Hill, NY resident has just over $3.4 million in live earnings and is the current leader of WSOP cashes with an immense 206 recorded cashes in the series. Israelashvili has three Borgata trophies on his mantle but is yet to add a six-figure cash in this building and is surely one of the favorites to do so as he leads headed into Day 2.

Two other players to land over the 200,000 mark were Sumit Kumar (206,100) and Christopher Agnello (205,900) who each caught wind under their sails late in the day, almost surging enough to surpass Israelashvili to take the lead, falling just short. Some other big stacks advancing includes Rafael Yaraliyev (199,900), Robert Bolte (188,600), David Gerassi (174,600), and Dien Le (154,700).

Familiar faces grabbing a Day 2 birth from this flight include the likes of James Campbell (147,100), Joseph Cashen (143,400), Dan Buzgon (137,900), Sean Thomson (132,600), Pal Zagreda (130,300), Michael Zhan (113,800), Joe McKeehen (112,000), Rick Lee (93,900), Eric Siegel (82,400), and Gregory Fishberg (66,600).

The remaining 121 players from this flight will combine with the other 73 Day 1 flight survivors, bringing back a total of 194 for Day 2 on Tuesday, November 19, to fight it out for another eight levels of play, ending after level 16. The returning field will only grow as the late registration period is still open until the start of level 11. The tournament will bump the blinds up to 75-minutes in length after level 10 and the last two days will have 90-minute levels.

That wraps it up for the PokerNews live coverage of the three flights of the BFPO Championship but tune in tomorrow for Day 2!

Tags: Dan Buzgon David Gerassi Eric Siegel Gregory Fishberg James Campbell Joe McKeehen Joseph Cashen Michael Zhan Pal Zagreda Rafael Yaraliyev Rick Lee Robert Bolte Roland Israelashvili Sean Thomson Sumit Kumar

11-18-2019 19:11 UTC-4

Red-Hot Song Takes a Seat

MartianNews

Level 7 : 300/600, 600 ante

Stephen Song has now entered the building and will be bringing all of the action that he is known for to the BFPO Championship. Song is currently on a career year, absolutely tearing up the live scene.

He took down his first bracelet during the summer in Event #28: $1,000 NLH, landing his largest live cash of $341,854 and since then has been printing paper, topping two events in the last two months.

One was an EPT in Barcelona for $205,341, the other was in Seminole Hard Rock Poker Open, Hollywood for a whopping $285,243 and his live earnings are now just shy of two million.

Player	Chips	Progress
Stephen Song	40,000

Tags: Stephen Song

11-18-2019 16:09 UTC-4

Early Chip Leader

Kaelaine Minton

Level 4 : 200/300, 300 ante

Xiang "Alex" Lin has jumped out to an early chip lead, playing about 170,000 before the second break of the flight.

In just the last two years, Lin has posted nearly $100,000 in tournament earnings, including a win in the 2018 Borgata Summer Poker Open $300 Deepstack NLH event for $19,269.

He's got a tough table, though. He's seated with Jon Borenstein on his immediate left and Brian Altman a few seats further down.

Player	Chips	Progress
Alex Lin	170,000
Brian Altman	66,000

Jon Borenstein	40,000

Tags: Alex Lin Brian Altman Jon Borenstein

11-18-2019 15:09 UTC-4

Barkoff is Back

Kaelaine Minton

Level 3 : 100/200, 200 ante

Ken Barkoff put on a commanding performance at the final table of Event #11: $400 Almighty Stack NLH a few days go, claiming first place and $86,364 in a three-way deal in that $300,000 GTD event.

His payout was just about $1,000 shy of the $87,443 first-place prize that Soukha Kachittavong claimed in the seven-way deal that concluded the $500,000 GTD Kick-Off Event.

Tags: Ken Barkoff Soukha Kachittavong

11-18-2019 12:45 UTC-4

Gold Discovered at Borgata

Kaelaine Minton

Level 1 : 100/100, 0 ante

Playing in today's flight is none other than 2006 World Series of Poker Main Event winner Jamie Gold. That victory was good for $12 million and remains the largest main event win after more than a decade.

He's playing in Flight C today, but there was a rumor he was seen in a previous flight, but didn't bag chips. Obviously he can afford to fire as many bullets as necessary to get to Day 2.

Tags: Jamie Gold

11-18-2019 12:11 UTC-4

Borgata Fall Poker Open Defending Champion

Kaelaine Minton

Level 1 : 100/100, 0 ante

Play has begun here in the Poker Room and Flight C is underway!

Last year, the $1 Million Guaranteed BFPO Championship event saw 437 entrants for a prize pool of more than $1,059,725.

Wenhao Ying took first place, earning $200,000 in an adjusted payout agreement with some of the best in the game. Matt Wantman earned $172,449 for second place and Paul Volpe claimed third place and $150,000.

Who will claim the 2019 BFPO Championship trophy? We'll find out Thursday when the final table takes place!

11-18-2019 11:00 UTC-4

Welcome to the Final Starting Flight of the BFPO $2,700 Championship

Kaelaine Minton

The flagship tournament of the 2019 Borgata Fall Poker Open, the $1 Million Guaranteed $2,700 Championship NLH event, continues today at 11 a.m. with the third and final starting flight.

Here's the remaining daily schedule for the Championship:
Flight C - 11 a.m. Monday, November 18th
Day 2 - 12 noon Tuesday, November 19th
Day 3 - 12 noon Wednesday, November 20th
Day 4 - 2 p.m. Thursday, November 21th

Players start with 40,000 in tournament chips and late registration and re-entries will remain open through the break at the end of Level 10. Levels 1-10 are 60 minutes each, while Levels 11-16 will last 75 minutes. Days 3 and 4 will see the levels go up to 90 minutes. All Day 1 flights will play a total of eight levels, which means registration remains open two levels into Day 2.

This is also a best stack forward event, which means players do not automatically forfeit bagged chips if they play a subsequent flight. Any player who bags more than once will take their biggest stack into Day 2.