2020 Borgata Winter Poker Open

Event #1: $600 Deepstack Kick-Off
Day: 1b
Event Info

2020 Borgata Winter Poker Open

Final Results
Winner
Zarko Mandic
Prize
$342,967
Event Info
Buy-in
$600
Prize Pool
$2,291,625
Entries
4,375
Level Info
Level
36
Blinds
300,000 / 500,000
Ante
500,000
Players Info - Day 1b
Entries
558
Players Left
91

Stohler Turns Up In the Crowd

Level 4 : 200/300, 300 ante
Sara Stohler
Sara Stohler

Another travelling player only seen for the big events is Sara Stohler, who has turned up in Flight B.

Stohler is quite accomplished, with 97 reported tournament cashes totaling more than $470,000. She has wins from Connecticut to California, but only about a dozen small cashes here at Borgata.

She'll be one of the ones to watch during this event and later on in the series to see if she can put together a deep run and book a big score.

Player Chips Progress
Sara Stohler us
Sara Stohler
25,000 25,000

Tags: Sara Stohler

Level: 4

Blinds: 200/300

Ante: 300

Busacca Back on the Felt

Level 3 : 100/200, 200 ante
Sal Busacca
Sal Busacca

Sal Busacca has accumulated more than $328,000 in tournament earnings and given that his best live cash was $23,000, it's taken a lot of individual cashes to come to that.

That $23,000 score was for his first place finish in the 2017 Borgata Spring Poker Open $1,060 Second Chance Semi-Turbo NLH event, which he chopped heads-up. That's still his only win here at Borgata, but with 120 lifetime reported cashes, he's always a threat to go deep.

Player Chips Progress
Sal Busacca us
Sal Busacca
22,000 22,000

Tags: Sal Busacca

Level: 3

Blinds: 100/200

Ante: 200

Businessman, Baseball Coach, and Poker Champion

Level 2 : 100/100, 100 ante
Adam Gerber
Adam Gerber

Adam Gerber has turned up in the field today and he's one we don't see very often. He runs his family's business and also coaches his kids little league team, which keeps him quite busy. He's got to spend time with the kids before they're all grown up, then he'll "have plenty of time to play poker".

He’s got more than $1 million in tournament earnings, and that’s considerable for an amateur player. Most of his earnings came from the 2007 US Poker Championships Championship event, which he won for more than $606,000. The final table in that event was star-studded with the likes of Svetlana Gromenkova, Victor Ramdin, and the late Gavin Smith, but Gerber came out on top.

Just a few weeks prior to that win, Gerber finished second in the 2007 Borgata Poker Open $5,000 NLH event, collecting more than $248,000.

Player Chips Progress
Adam Gerber us
Adam Gerber
25,000

Tags: Adam GerberGavin SmithSvetlana GromenkovaVictor Ramdin

Level: 2

Blinds: 100/100

Ante: 100

A Couple of Early Birds

Level 1 : 100/100, 0 ante
Julian Miranda & Vivian Leslie
Julian Miranda & Vivian Leslie

Found a couple of familiar faces seated next to each other, and not some that we see all the time.

Julian Miranda has a growing family at home that takes priority over poker, so he only pops in occasionally. He's still managed to run up more than $28,000 in reported tournament earnings.

On his left is Vivian Leslie, who has more than $53,000 in tournament earnings. Just last November, she made a deep run in the Borgata Fall Poker Open Championship, finishing 46th (out of 511 entries) for $4,957.

Player Chips Progress
Julian Miranda us
Julian Miranda
25,000 25,000
Vivian Leslie cr
Vivian Leslie
25,000 25,000

Tags: Julian MirandaVivian Leslie

Level: 1

Blinds: 100/100

Ante: 0

Flight B Takes to the Air at 11 AM

Event Center Flight B
Event Center Flight B

Day 2 of the 2020 Borgata Winter Poker Open here at the luxurious Borgata in Atlantic City kicks off at 11 a.m. local time with the second starting flight of the $600 Deep Stack Kick-Off in the Event Center. Day 1b will be a repeat of Day 1a which took place yesterday, albeit with more entries expected as the first starting flight attracted 405 entries.

Out of those 405 entries, 65 players have already made it through to Day 2. Emanuele "Manny" Gugliuzza is currently leading them with 419,000 in his Day 2 bag. Other notable stacks belong to players like Reggie Jones (326,000), Charlie Marchese, Mike Volpe (263,000), and Michael Marder[/b] with 246,000 in chips.

With a whopping $2,000,000 guaranteed prize pool, many more entries are expected to fly in over these next few starting days. The 2019 edition attracted 5,130 entries to easily surpass the guarantee with Pascal Zaklama walking away with $328,695 and the trophy to score his biggest live cash ever.

Late registration and re-entry are available until the start of level 13 (about 5:45 p.m.). All players will start with a full 25,000 stack. They will play fifteen 30-minute levels today, the remaining players will then bag up their chips for the night (about 7:30 p.m.).

Another starting flight, Day 1c will start at 5 p.m. with two more taking place on Thursday, January 16. The survivors of all five starting flights will combine on Friday, January 17, at 11 a.m for Day 2 to battle it out for their spot on the final day.

Tags: Charlie MarcheseEmanuele GugliuzzaMichael MarderMike VolpePascal ZaklamaReggie Jones

Event #1: $600 Deepstack Kick-Off

Day 1b Started