partypoker US Network Players Choice Series (Dec.13-20)

In Level 13 with blinds of 1,800/3,600 and an ante of 450, "rprmoo" raised to 7,200 under the gun and Don "dhimp20" Himpele three-bet jammed for a little over 50,000 in the hijack. John "Slapshot1085" Forlenza called behind and all remaining players folded.

Don "dhimp20" Himpele:
John "Slapshot1085" Forlenza:

Himpele earned the double, but it wasn't without a small flop sweat as the board ran out to ultimately leave his kings up best over Forlenza's missed straight draw and two pair, eights up.

Last month, the World Poker Tour (WPT) announced its first U.S.-based online Main Tour event, the $3,500 WPT Online Poker Open Main Event, set for a late December running in New Jersey. That one will also carry a guarantee of $1 million.

The WPT Online Poker Open Main Event will be held Dec. 27-29 on partypoker US Network for players in New Jersey.

The ambitious $1 million guarantee signifies how serious the WPT and partypoker are about making this a premier poker tournament worthy of the WPT name.

“The WPT Online Poker Open brings the most prestigious prize in poker to New Jersey and the partypoker US Network,” said WPT CEO Adam Pliska in a presser. “WPT’s continued pivot toward online will continue with another landmark for regulated online poker in the United States.”

Indeed, the WPT has pivoted into a strong series of online offerings, however, all were offered to the dot-com partypoker player pool, a much larger bunch of customers than the prospective New Jersey pool. Drawing the necessary entries to meet the guarantee will require some effort, and the WPT already announced satellites will be available for as little as $5.

Level 12 has just begun with blinds of 1,600/3,200 and an ante of 400, and "Ozzy_Rocks111" is the new chip leader with a stack of 234,000. In total, five players are above 200,000, and the top 25 stacks in the field have been updated below.

In Level 11 with blinds of 1,400/2,800 and an ante of 350, preflop action saw 16,000 go into the middle in a pot between "TraderSteve" in the big blind and John "Slapshot1085" Forlenza, who was in the hijack.

A pot-sized bet was then committed by each player on the flop , and "TraderSteve" shoved all in for another 22,000 on the turn . Forlenza called.

"TraderSteve":
John "Slapshot1085" Forlenza:

"TraderSteve" had gotten their set of fours in against a pair of tens, but the river quickly appeared after chips went in to give Forlenza a better set and earn him the pot and the knockout.

In Level 10 with blinds of 1,200/2,400 and an ante of 300, "dadadada" raised to 4,800 in the hijack and Josh "layitdown08" Rothberg three-bet jammed for 58,500 in the cutoff. Action folded back to "dadadada" and they called to send the two off to the races.

Josh "layitdown08" Rothberg:
"dadadada":

Both players hit the flop , giving Rothberg a set of tens and leaving him in need of fading the four kings in the deck along with running outs to a full house. The turn kept all of those possibliities alive, but it proved to be nothing more than a sweat as the river completed the runout to earn Rothberg the double.

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Play is now in Level 8 with blinds of 800/1,600 and an ante of 200. Thirty-nine entries have now been logged with 33 players currently in action across five tables, and "Ptkceaser" is now atop the leader board by a wide margin. Here's a look at the first page of the leader board.

You might recall that In early 2019, Daniel "leinad" Buzgon signed on as a BorgataPoker.com Sponsored Pro – one of three alongside Michael “Gags” Gagliano and Katie Stone.

“It took a little bit of time to get all the paperwork and stuff like that,” Buzgon previously told PokerNews of becoming sponsored. “It was in December when it started but wasn’t official until just before the Borgata Winter series. Duties include mainly playing a lot online, promoting the site, and trying to get new players on the site.”

According to HendonMob, Buzgon has more than $2.3 million in lifetime live tournament earnings since 2007. He’s a four-time World Series of Poker Circuit ring winner has played for big money before. In 2001, he finished third in the WPT Borgata Poker Open for $335,433, and last year he finished fifth in the WPT Borgata Winter Poker Open Main Event for $202,942. He also finished fourth in the 2012 WPT bestbet Jacksonville for $94,624.

Additionally, Buzgon is a beast online where he’s amassed more than $3.1 million in earnings, of which $435,457 has come on BorgataPoker.com where he plays under the screen name “leinad.”