Leonard "LJ" Sande Bags the Lead in Day 1a of WPT Borgata Winter Poker Open Championship
The first flight of the WPT Borgata Poker Open $3,500 Championship saw a total of 382 entry slips sold and when the last chance saloon had closed for business 199 remained. The biggest stack to emerge from Day 1a was Leonard "LJ" Sande who bagged an impressive 245,700.
Sande took off shortly after the last break of the day and jumped to the top of the counts, a spot he locked up by night's end. Sande is a well-known grinder from West Haven, CT, who has amassed over a million in live tournament cashes with his latest coming just two weeks ago in the first event of the series, finishing sixth for $83,644. Watch for Sande on Day 2 to make another deep run and continue his hot start to 2020.
A familiar face is close behind the leader as WPT Champions Club Member Tony Dunst bagged a healthy 224,900 after eight levels. Dunst built his stack early in the day and will be a sure contender on Day 2 with his impressive resume that includes almost $4 million in career earnings. Rounding out the top five are Renata Colache (216,000), Jeremy Joseph (195,600), and Steven Sarmiento (179,100).
Day 1a saw many notables walk through the Borgata doors and not all could find a bag but some who did are John Lytle (171,000), Curt Kohlberg (170,900), Will Givens (165,400), Ory Hen (156,200), Ben Keeline (151,800), Shaun Deeb (128,900), Darren Elias (127,900), Jake Schwartz (127,100), Anthony Zinno (118,900), Galen Hall (94,500), Brian Yoon (73,500), and BorgataPoker.com Sponsored Pro Katie Stone (23,700).
The Day 1b flight will begin tomorrow at 11 a.m. local time on Monday, January 27. A total of eight 60-minute levels will be played before players bag up for the night. Players may register or re-enter until the beginning of level 11 on Day 2 and there is no limit to the number of times one player enters. Players may bag more than one stack but the smaller stack will be forfeited at the beginning of the second day.
The PokerNews live reporting team will be here to provide you with all of the updates, so stay tuned as all of the action unfolds.
and the action checked around.
and Gruneberg led out with a bet of 2,600. Paredes called and the 
completed the board. Gruneberg fired out a bet of 3,800 and Paredes raised to 11,000.
and Wong's pocket rockets held up to earn him the double up.
against Clemenceau Calixto, (button) who had him dominated with 
gave Seat 8 lots of outs, all of which were missed and Calixto's kicker played. Seat 8 was felted.
. The button bet and the cutoff folded, so the hands were tabled:
paired the board on the turn and the 
river was safe as well.