partypoker US Network Series (Jan. 17-24)

Play has moved into Level 9 with blinds of 1,000/2,000 and an ante of 250. Sixty-one entries have now been recorded, meaning the guaranteed prize pool is just six entries away from being surpassed. An updated look at the top page of the leader board has been provided below.

Player	Chips	Progress
ScarletRaptor	313,960	211,759
EmeraldForest32	215,696
Eric "alwaysliquid" Vanauken	170,218	97,469
RiverMan	160,042	125,892
l23weeeeeeeee	153,702
Karibou	133,973	51,059
Ryan "TheSims" Hohner	126,132	-3,192
Alex "JinYang" Butcher	119,146	-4,283
redraider	117,144	-35,492
James "Bagels" Lillis	115,870	54,255
Jon "Jetsfan411" Borenstein	114,780	64,780
Don "dhimp20" Himpele	106,250	56,250
Ryan "simlSgg" Hagerty	105,502	36,841
joey1way	100,663
Daniel "leinad" Buzgon	89,187	39,187
GiantGenius	75,691
xxx6395200	67,724	9,729
stickybuns	59,200
Matt "Boozehound" Iles	58,438
Anthony "supremetny" Chin	57,994

BorgataPoker.com has a trio of sponsored pros — Katie Stone, Daniel Buzgon, and Michael "Gags30" Gagliano — all of whom have been active this year in the partypoker US Network Online events.

In regards to the man known as "Gags," he has been playing poker professionally for a decade and has amassed more than $2 million in live tournament cashes. That includes a career-best $448,463 for winning the 2016 World Series of Poker Event #25: $2,500 No-Limit Hold'em, good for his first bracelet. He also finished third in the 2017 WSOP Event #27: $3,000 No-Limit Hold'em - 6 Handed for $210,139.

He also has more than $4 million in online scores. Of that, $338,315 has come on BorgataPoker.com.

According to his website, "before poker he worked in an elementary school, which has given him a great background to become a premier poker instructor. Coaching for more than seven years he has helped more than 50 students from all over the world improve their game. These students have gone on to win multiple championships including the WSOP Main Event. Michael has also worked as a consultant for several major casinos and online poker sites to help them improve their product and better serve their customers."

Gagliano is one of the chip leaders right now, with a stack of over 275,000.

For more on Gagliano, be sure to follow him on Twitter at @Gags30poker.

Player	Chips	Progress
Michael "Gags30" Gagliano	44,690	-5,310

In Level 7 with blinds of 600/1,200 and an ante of 150, action folded to "redraider" on the button, who opened to 2,640. They received a call from "mistabiggs", who defended their big blind and action went heads up to a flop of .

"mistabiggs" check-called a continuation-bet of 3,390 and then check-called another 10,170 on the turn . They then led the river , jamming their remaining 19,825 into the middle and quickly receiving a call from "redraider".

"mistabiggs":
"redraider":

"redraider" called correctly with top pair and sent "mistabiggs" to the rail as a result.

Player	Chips	Progress
redraider	82,644	18,230
mistabiggs	Busted

In Level 6 with blinds of 500/1,000 and an ante of 125, "AlwaysCheck88" raised to 2,000 under the gun and action folded around to "Ozzy_Rocks111" in the big blind, who three-bet to 6,500. "AlwaysCheck88" called.

The flop dropped and "Ozzy_Rocks111" made a continuation-bet of 5,130. "AlwaysCheck88" peeled and the turn came . Both players checked, bringing the river where action once again checked through to showdown.

"Ozzy_Rocks111" showed for the nut no-pair, which was bested by the top pair of "AlwaysCheck88" to earn them the pot.

Player	Chips	Progress
AlwaysCheck88	61,943	61,943
Ozzy_Rocks111	56,029	6,029

BorgataPoker.com has a trio of Sponsored Pros, and one of them is Katie Stone.

Stone has more than $176K in lifetime live tournament earnings including a career-bet $33,305 for finishing 378th in the 2018 World Series of Poker Main Event. In addition, Stone has three Borgata Open titles including the 2018 Borgata Fall Poker Open $300 Deepest Stack for $19,337, 2017 Borgata Summer Poker Open $300 Ladies Event for $2,867, and 2017 Borgata Fall Poker Open $300 Deepstack for $9,484. She also recently won the CSOP Borgata Winter Poker Open Event back in January.

However, where Stone has really thrived is online where she’s amassed more than $900K in lifetime earnings. Of that, $146,954 has come on BorgataPoker.com where she plays under the screen name “KatieStone.”

According to a Q&A she did with the Borgata Blog, Stone was born and raised in New Jersey, but after Black Friday in 2011, she relocated to Rosarito, Mexico in order to continue playing online. When New Jersey authorized Atlantic City casinos to offer online gaming within state borders, Stone moved back north to New Jersey and picked up where she left off — winning!

Recently, Stone took the initiative to create the Discord channel “Poker Peeps Affected By COVID19” and invited those in casino industry affected by recent shutdowns to join.

“I realized how tough it was going to be for everyone to keep up with everything and everyone, with so much changing so fast,” Stone recently told PokerNews. “So, I messaged my friend Cy Watson, who has been very active on social media as well regarding Coronavirus, asking him if he thought it would be a good idea to start a chat for people in the industry to be able to connect with each other for help.”

She continued: “I think the main thing poker players and everyone can do is to keep an open mind. Understanding that this is unlike any situation any of us have encountered before, and so thinking outside the box can go a long way. Taking the time to improve a skill, or learn a new skill whether it's a game or something else could be really beneficial not just financially, but mentally.”

Click here to learn more about Stone’s initiative.

Player	Chips	Progress
Katie "KatieStone" Stone	26,220	-8,439

Level 4 is underway with blinds of 300/600 and an ante of 75 and there have now been 40 total entries logged. Three knockouts have occurred, with Ryan "TheSims" Hohner, Eric "alwaysliquid" Vanauken, and Alex "JinYang" Butcher to be the ones to collect early knockouts.

Hohner is also the chip leader at this point in the tournament. Here's a look at the list of players who have chipped up above starting stack in the first 35 minutes of play.

Player	Chips	Progress
Ryan "TheSims" Hohner	129,324	79,324
ScarletRaptor	102,201	102,201
Alex "JinYang" Butcher	96,959	46,959
Karibou	82,914	82,914
dadadada	73,554	73,554
Eric "alwaysliquid" Vanauken	72,749	72,749
redraider	64,414	-2,535
njpokeraa	63,535	63,535
rounder1420	62,611	12,611
James "Bagels" Lillis	61,615	11,615
wxg5316068	59,750	59,750
BigBang	58,100	58,100
xxx6395200	57,995	7,995
jaehoez24	57,372	7,372
BlckJck	56,712	56,712
The Counselor	56,364	56,364
Ryan "Whosyourdoddy" Dodd	53,075	53,075

In Level 3 with blinds of 250/500 and an ante of 60, action was heads up between the under-the-gun Michael "miw210x" Wang and "RiverMan", who was in the cutoff. There board read and there was 14,260 in the middle.

Wang bet 8,600 and sent his opponent into the tank before they finally found a call to take the hand to showdown. Wang's of top pair, top kicker was displayed and "RiverMan" mucked to earn Wang the pot.

Player	Chips	Progress
Michael "miw210x" Wang	61,346	11,346
RiverMan	34,150

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