$3 Million Guaranteed WPT Borgata Winter Poker Open Championship
Day 2 Completed
2014 Borgata Winter Poker Open
$3 Million Guaranteed WPT Borgata Winter Poker Open Championship
Day: 2
Event Info
Final Results
Event Info
Level Info
2014 Borgata Winter Poker Open
Buy-in
$3,300
Entries
1,229
Level
39
Blinds
300,000 / 600,000
Ante
75,000
Laz Hernandez Leads Once Again After Day 2 of the Borgata Winter Poker Open WPT Main Event
![[user253757]](/img/avatars/avatar.svg){kind=avatar}
Level 16
: 1,500/3,000, 400 ante
Laz Hernandez cannot be contained. The local amateur swam through the sea of sharks here at the Borgata Winter Poker Open WPT Main Event Championship once again, and after entering the day as the chip leader, Hernandez turned the trick a second time.
A clash with a poker legend left Hernandez on the right side of two big hands, as he flopped quad nines to down Mike Sexton's paired ace-king. From there, not even a bit of confusion regarding a lucky river card could stop Hernandez, and he continued to amass chips at a startling rate, ending the night with 753,000 to narrowly edge Matthew Haugen (735,500) for top honors.
A number of notable names came and went today, including the defending champion of this event Andy Hwang, Matt Salsberg, Matt Waxman, Kevin Eyster, Tony Dunst, Steve Brecher, Tony Ruberto, Victor Ramdin, Ravi Raghavan, Anthony Zinno, Jordan Cristos, Erick Lindgren, Derrick Rosenbarger, Allen Kessler, Lee Childs, Darren Elias, Ebony Kenney, Justin Zaki, Jeff Madsen, Chris Tryba, Aaron Steury, Kathy Liebert, Todd Terry, James Woods and Jacob Bazeley.
A total of 188 players survived the Day 2 killing fields to return tomorrow at noon local time, and the field will play through the money bubble to arrive at the final three tables. Check back then to follow PokerNews' live coverage of this WPT Main Event Championship live from the floor of the Borgata.
End-of-Day Chip Counts (full)
Level 16
: 1,500/3,000, 400 ante
Laz Hernandez bagged the most chips once again, after taking top honors into the day.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
753,000 | 143,000 |
|
735,500 | 625,525 |
|
618,500 | 51,000 |
|
|
556,000 | 496,250 |
|
540,500 | 496,350 |
|
540,500 | 130,500 |
|
501,000 | 156,000 |
|
496,000 | 221,000 |
|
455,500 | 140,500 |
|
|
422,500 | -87,500 |
|
421,500 | 151,500 |
|
|
421,500 | 279,500 |
|
415,500 | 175,500 |
|
410,000 | 317,775 |
|
403,000 | 88,000 |
|
402,000 | 327,450 |
|
|
386,500 | 280,925 |
|
376,000 | |
|
361,500 | 259,500 |
|
354,000 | 259,725 |
|
352,000 | 177,000 |
|
349,000 | 321,425 |
|
|
348,000 | 283,500 |
|
348,000 | 273,225 |
|
340,000 | 85,000 |
Three More
Level 16
: 1,500/3,000, 400 ante
Three hands remain, and the staff will then color up the black T100 chips before the night is done.
Ruff Shows a Bluff
Level 16
: 1,500/3,000, 400 ante
Joe Ruff raised 15,000 more after a player in middle position fired on an 
board. The player raised back for 40,000 more, and Ruff made the call. One of the more interesting river card possibilities became a reality: 
. The first player checked, and Ruff announced all in.
"You have to be f****** kidding me?" the player said. He thought for a couple of minutes. "Would you turn nines into a bluff here?"
Finally, he laid down his hand.
"Show him he had you beat," a player at the table said.
Ruff obliged, turning over 
for six-high.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
|
250,000 |
Noah Schwartz Forces the Fold
Level 16
: 1,500/3,000, 400 ante
A pot of 90,000 was already up for grabs when Noah Schwartz moved all in for his last 52,000 or so. The board read 
by the river and Schwartz had his opponent down deep in the tank, as the player contemplated a decision that would cost a sizable portion of his stack if he happened to be beat.
Eventually, with the World Poker Tour camera crews hovering around to record the action, Schwartz watched his opponent reluctantly slide his hand forward for the fold, and a tournament-preserving pot was pushed his way.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
215,000 | 60,000 |
Anthony Maio Making Moves
Level 16
: 1,500/3,000, 400 ante
Anthony Maio just took down two pots in a row without having to show his cards, chatting it up with a pair of opponents before forcing each of them to surrender.
First, Maio called an open to see the 
flop against two players. The flop was checked down and the turn came 
, at which point Maio bet 5,000 to force one quick fold. The other player in the hand was reluctant to release his holding though, and he asked for a count of the bet.
"One blue chip sir," answered Maio, inviting his opponent to call. "Just one blue chip and you win all those other ones."
The table talk appeared to work as the tanker held his cards up for a last look before mucking them and moving on. On the very next deal, while we were recording the details of another hand one table over, we heard Maio talking his way through another pot, and by the time we turned back to see the 
board he had won consecutive pots without a showdown.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
|
220,000 | 35,000 |
D'Agostino Wins a Race
Level 16
: 1,500/3,000, 400 ante
John D'Agostino raised all in from the big blind against an opponent who had opened for 6,000 from middle position. The player called off his last 50,000 or so.
"I hope you don't have a pair," D'Agostino said, turning over 
. His opponent tabled 
, and we were off to the races.
A 
flop kept D'Agostino in the lead, as did a 
turn. He rivered a meaningless set when the hit the board, and he added to his already-impressive stack.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
|
345,000 | 195,000 |
The Case of the Vanishing Ace
Level 16
: 1,500/3,000, 400 ante
Laz Hernandez has been living a charmed life of late, storming out to a huge chip lead on Day 1a of this WPT Main Event Championship and running even hotter here today.
Toward the end of Level 15 a hand went down that seemed to confirm Hernandez as an unstoppable force, when he caught a miraculous ace on the river to crack Shannon Shorr's set of jacks - pushing over the 700,000 chip plateau in the process. With his table situated right along the rail, and his mountainous stack attracting attention all night, a cheer could be heard when the ace fell down from heaven, giving Hernandez a set with his 
on the 
board to come back from the brink against Shorr's 
.
Unfortunately for Hernandez, what may have been the defining moment of a life-changing tournament run never should have happened. Here's what went down:
Shorr opened the betting with a 5,100 raise, only to see Hernandez three-bet to 15,100 as the big stack bully. After a flat from Shorr the flop fell to give him top set, and he tapped the table to set the trap. Hernandez fell right in with his bullets, blasting away for an all-in bet that was for 42,300 effective.
The snap-call by Shorr should have signaled to Hernandez that his monster was now second-best, but he stood in triumph anyway, tabling his aces believing them to be the winner. As he did so, Hernandez managed to drop one of his cards to the floor, which attracted the attention of tournament Andrew Wong to resolve the situation. A quick ruling by Wong resulted in Hernandez' fallen ace being restored to its rightful place on the table, all while Shorr asked for the dealer to burn and turn, as he was merely sweating two outs twice to score the double up.
The dealer turned the and burned a card before dropping the river card down, with the arrival of the causing the aforementioned outburst along the rail. Hernandez had hit his gin card to continue an improbable tear through this extremely tough field, while knocking off another skilled pro to boot.
Unfortunately for Hernandez, a table filled with pros like Shorr, Nick Guagenti and James "Big Show" Caldarero astutely noticed something was amiss, and with only two burn cards separated from the deck, it was clear that a dealer error had occurred at some point. Tournament Director Tab Duchateau was consulted to sort through the mess, and it was determined that after the previous card down discussion was settled, the dealer forgot to burn a card before the turn. Thus, the order of the turn and river were incorrect and Hernandez' ace on the river was nothing more than smoke and mirrors.
Hernandez briefly disputed the ruling, before being convinced by his tablemates that the two-out shot would never have come through if the deal was correctly conducted. Duchateau ordered the deck to be reconstructed using the previous sequencing - meaning the was now burned before the turn and a new roll out would take place. When it was all said and done, the turn came 
and the river , leaving Shorr out in front with top set and Hernandez second-best with the best preflop hand in the game.
All told, situations like this occur quite often and the incident was just one small segment of a long poker tournament. But for Hernandez, who looked to all the world to be carried by the inexplicable force known as momentum, such a sudden end to his untouchable run through this Main Event had to have been a jarring experience.
We'll see if he can maintain his composure and maintain his still healthy stack during the last level of play tonight, or if being snapped back to reality disrupts his focus.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
|
610,000 | -110,000 |
|
121,000 | 66,000 |
Patterson Over 500k
Level 16
: 1,500/3,000, 400 ante
Tyler Patterson put Steve Sarmiento all in from the small blind after Sarmiento opened the button. Sarmiento called.
Patterson: 
Sarmiento: 
The board ran out 
, and Sarmiento headed for the rail while Patterson stacked all of his chips.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
|
567,500 | 487,625 |