$3,500 WPT Borgata Winter Poker Open Championship Day 1a | 2020 Borgata Winter Poker Open

01-26-2020 11:10 UTC-4

Welcome to Day 1a of the World Poker Tour Borgata Winter Poker Open Championship!

Kaelaine Minton

Vinicius Lima - 1st Place - 2019 WPT BWPO Championship

The flagship tournament of the 2020 Borgata Winter Poker Open is set to kick off today at 11 a.m. with the first of two starting flights of the WPT Borgata Winter Poker Open $3,500 No Limit Hold'em Championship, which boasts a $3,000,000 guarantee!

Players start with 40,000 in chips and late registration and re-entries will remain open through the break at the end of Level 10 (on Day 2). 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. Both of the Day 1a and 1b flights will play a total of eight levels before the remaining players bag up their chips for the night. Day 2 begins Tuesday, January 28 at 12 noon local time.

Click here for the complete structure.

When play reaches one table away from the money, they will implement Protection Poker's Action Clock system, which gives players 30 seconds to act on their hand, with a set number of Time Extension chips for use when needed.

Play will continue on Day 3 (Wednesday) and Day 4, (Thursday) halting when they reach the final six players. The WPT televised final table will be held April 1, 2020, in the HyperX Esports Arena at the Luxor in Las Vegas.

Last year followed the same structure, bringing out 1,415 entrants, and it was Vinicius "Viny" Lima who emerged victorious, winning $728,430. Included in that amount was a $15,000 seat in the Baccarat Crystal Tournament of Champions. In addition, he took home a Hublot Big Bang Steel Watch and the WPT Champions Cup trophy.

Tags: Vinicius Lima

01-26-2020 13:00 UTC-4

2013 WPT BPO Runner Up

Kaelaine Minton

Level 1 : 100/100, 0 ante

Vanessa Selbst may have chosen the law over the life of a travelling professional poker player, but she still turns up at Borgata for the big ones. She's on the felt early here today and looking ready to play some serious poker.

It was here in this room back in 2013 when she got heads up with Anthony Zinno in the WPT BPO Championship. They battled under the lights and cameras of the World Poker Tour and she came very close, but failed to overcome Zinno. Second place was good for more than $492,000, so it can hardly be called "settling".

Player	Chips	Progress
Vanessa Selbst	40,000 40,000	40,000

Tags: Anthony Zinno Vanessa Selbst

01-26-2020 13:17 UTC-4

Elias Returns to Where it Began

Kaelaine Minton

Level 2 : 100/200, 0 ante

Darren Elias launched his World Poker Tour success with his first win here at Borgata during the 2014 Borgata Poker Open. He bested a field of 1,226 entries to take the top prize of $843,744 and his first WPT title. He went on to another that season and has added two more WPT titles in recent years, giving him a total of four and sole possession of the top spot on the WPT leaderboard as the only player with four titles.

Now he travels the world and has run up more than $7.5 million in tournament earnings, but always returns here to Borgata where it all started.

Player	Chips	Progress
Darren Elias	40,000

Tags: Darren Elias

01-26-2020 13:47 UTC-4

Gagliano In Action Early

Kaelaine Minton

Level 2 : 100/200, 0 ante

BorgataPoker.com sponsored pro Michael Gagliano is on the felt early today. He's played a few events this series, but so far has been shutout.

He has a strong summer at the World Series of Poker with four cashes and a runner-up finish in the "Bracelet Winners Only" event, which was a killer field of 185 players who already had at least one WSOP bracelet. He earned $44,232 for second place in that event, jut missing out on his second bracelet. That score boosted his total live reported tournament past the $2 million mark.

At Borgata, his only win came during the 2017 Fall Poker Open in the $1,090 Six Max NLH event, good for $36,084.

Player	Chips	Progress
Michael Gagliano	40,000

Tags: Michael Gagliano

01-26-2020 14:04 UTC-4

Altman On a Roll

Kaelaine Minton

Level 2 : 100/200, 0 ante

Brian Altman is fresh off a win in the $3,500 WPT Lucky Hearts Poker Open Championship where he beat a field of 843 entries to take first place and $482,636. He made history as the first WPT Champion to win the same event twice — he won the same event back in 2015.

Despite being from Massachusetts, Altman has yet to take home a Borgata title. His highest finish here was last November in the 2019 Fall Poker Open Purple Chip Bounty. He finished runner-up in that event for just under $11,000.

Player	Chips	Progress
Brian Altman	40,000 40,000	40,000

Tags: Brian Altman

01-26-2020 14:11 UTC-4

Happy New Year!

Kaelaine Minton

Level 2 : 100/200, 0 ante

End of Level 1 and Championship players are taking their first 15-minute break of the day.

Chinese New Year was Saturday and the Borgata was packed with players celebrating the New Year — the Year of the Rat.

01-26-2020 15:21 UTC-4

Aces Hold for Eisenberg

Kaelaine Minton

Level 3 : 100/200, 200 ante

Lara Eisenberg got her last 4,300 in from the small blind after Seat 2 (cutoff) opened and got called by Seat 3 (button). All she could do was stand and watch as the other two players looked at the flop of . The button bet and the cutoff folded, so the hands were tabled:

Eisenberg:
Button:

Eisenberg's pocket aces had survived the flop, but her opponent had a pair of sixes and back-door draws. The paired the board on the turn and the river was safe as well.

Eisenberg resumed her seat, collected her pot, and tripled up to ~15,000 (75 big blinds).

Player	Chips	Progress
Lara Eisenberg	15,000

Tags: Lara Eisenberg

01-26-2020 15:31 UTC-4

Calixto Holds To Send One Out

Kaelaine Minton

Level 4 : 200/300, 300 ante

The player in Seat 8 (big blind) got his last chips in the middle holding against Clemenceau Calixto, (button) who had him dominated with .

The runout of gave Seat 8 lots of outs, all of which were missed and Calixto's kicker played. Seat 8 was felted.

Player	Chips	Progress
Clemenceau Calixto	69,000 69,000	69,000

Tags: Clemenceau Calixto

01-26-2020 15:58 UTC-4

Everybody's Favorite Runner-Up

Kaelaine Minton

Level 4 : 200/300, 300 ante

Steve Dannenmann finished second in the 2005 World Series of Poker Main Event, earning $4.25 million. His self-deprecating demeanor made the accountant a fan favorite throughout the coverage on ESPN.

He's a regular here at Borgata and players always have a good time at his table. He just picked up a pot and is slightly above the starting stack in early action. Dannenmann cashed in the 2019 Borgata Summer Poker Open Championship, finishing 10th for $16,204, so he's got experience fighting his way through the local talent to make it to the final table.

Player	Chips	Progress
Steve Dannenmann	45,000

Tags: Steve Dannenmann

01-26-2020 16:51 UTC-4

"Free-"Rolling Stone

Kaelaine Minton

Level 5 : 200/400, 400 ante

Katie Stone won the Charity Series of Poker (CSOP) event last night, which got her the $3,500 seat in this event, so she's free-rolling the Championship today!

This is her fourth Borgata title, which makes her the only woman to win four events here at Borgata, breaking the four-way tie with Patricia Barsanti-Chou, Anna Antimony, and Alida Veliu.

Stone's Four Borgata Wins:
2017 $300 Summer Open Ladies Event
2017 $300 Fall Open DeepStack
2018 $300 Fall Open Deepest Stack
2019 $220 CSOP NLH