It has been a bit of a dream start to the Borgata Summer Poker Open for Nick Steen.

The New Jersey poker dealer sits atop the Day 1a chip counts of the $600 Deep Stack Kick Off after the second break, turning his 30,000 starting stack into around 220,000 chips through the first eight levels of play.

While some players spend hours waiting for premium hands, Steen couldn't seem to stop finding them.

"First hand I got aces, flopped a set and turned quads." he explained. "The next hand after that I got kings, flopped a set and got it all in. Then the next hand after that I got aces again, flopped another set and got it all in again."

That incredible run of cards helped propel him to around 140,000 chips before he settled into a steadier rhythm.

"After that I've just been chipping up slowly but surely. Pot after pot has been going good."

Steen had actually hoped to earn his seat through one of Borgata's satellites the day before, but after coming up short, he decided to buy into the tournament outright.

"I tried to qualify yesterday, but I had a bad day, so I bought in this morning."

When not playing poker, Steen works as a poker dealer at the newly opened Resorts World casino in Queens. Living in the Hoboken, Jersey City area, he's been making regular trips to Borgata for around six years.

"I've been playing pretty consistently," he said. "Once or twice a month I make a trip."

His recent increase in volume stems from a fortunate boost to his bankroll.

"I got lucky and hit a table share of bad beat jackpot. I turned that into a little bankroll and I've been trying to spin it up ever since."

Despite a few years of grinding, Steen is still searching for his first major tournament result.

"I've won a couple of dailies here and there, but nothing significant."

With almost eight starting stacks already in front of him and plenty of poker still to be played, that could all change come Monday.

Tags: Nick Steen