Borgata Poker Open Blog 2020

 
  • The 2014 Borgata Poker Open is in the books and once again Borgata Hotel Casino & Spa proved that it simply has the best poker room in Atlantic City and on the East Coast. More than $6.6 million in prize money was awarded over 24 main events including the massive World Poker Tour Championship that drew more than 1,200 players.
  • Patrick Serda, on his 30th birthday, took the chip lead at the WPT Borgata Winter Poker Open, finishing Day 2 with nearly a million chips. 2020 World Poker Tour Borgata Winter Poker Open.
  • Borgata will reopen The Poker Room at 10am on Wednesday, October 21 following its closure earlier this year amidst the coronavirus crisis. Borgata Poker will return with 30 socially distanced tables following the company’s comprehensive health and safety protocols designed to protect employees and customers.

The series will be capped by the World Poker Tour Winter Poker Open Championship, January 27-31. On behalf of Borgata Poker Staff and bloggers Tim Kelliher, Chris Murray, and myself, thank you to all the players who participated and make Borgata tournament poker great. And thank you to the staff for the best-run events on the East Coast.

Everyone wants to have a perfect birthday. Birthdays are special! We only get, I don’t know, 100 to 150 of them in our lives? Chief Justice John Roberts just celebrated his by presiding over an impeachment trial, which would not qualify as a perfect birthday. But Patrick Serda certainly had one, as he ended Day 2 of the World Poker Tour (WPT) Borgata Winter Poker Open as the chip leader on the same day he turned 30-years old. Oh, to turn 30 again.

Borgata Poker Open Blog 20202020

Serda finished Tuesday with 994,000 chips, not far ahead of Brian Altman, who has 923,000. Altman could become a story, as he’s going for back-to-back WPT titles, having just won the WPT Lucky Hearts Poker Open. Also above 900,000 is Nathan Russler, who has 914,000 chips. Nobody else has more than 800,000.

Borgata Winter Poker Open Blog 2020

Patrick Serda is also gunning for another title. The Canadian, appropriately, won the WPT Montreal Main Event in 2018, picking up $652,801. That’s not his biggest live tournament cash, though. That came when he finished as the runner-up in the European Poker Tour (EPT) Prague High Roller for $750,216 in 2016. Those two cashes make up the majority of his career winnings of nearly $1.8 million.

‘It was a good day,” Serda told WPT.com at the end of the night. “It started off kind of slow, but I got hot right before dinner. After dinner was really good as well. I had a nice little spin-up on my birthday for sure.”

Serda’s most significant hand came at the expense of Brian Yoon in what was one hell of a cooler. The two players raised and re-raised each other until Yoon was all-in for 263,000 chips. You may have guessed the hands based on what I said in the first sentence of this paragraph: Yoon had Kings and Serda had Aces.

The board ended up Queen-high and Yoon was out of the tournament. In the meantime, Serda increased his stack to 760,000.

The total field closed at 1,290, not quite reaching last year’s number of 1,415. The pair of starting flights drew 1,065 entries, while 225 more entries were registered on Day 2. Keep in mind that the event allowed for unlimited re-entry through the second level of Day 2, so the 1,290 signifies the number of “entries” not “players.”

Today’s plan is to get down from 174 to 24 players, leaving three tables heading into Thursday’s Day 4. Action is currently underway in Atlantic City.

2020 World Poker Tour Borgata Winter Poker Open – Day 3 Chip Leaders

  1. Patrick Serda – 994,000
  2. Brian Altman – 923,000
  3. Nathan Russler – 914,000
  4. Abe Korotki – 788,000
  5. Peter Vitantonio – 782,000
  6. Shawn Cunix – 737,000
  7. Larry Abrams – 733,000
  8. Derek Marmen – 726,000
  9. Baitai Li – 719,000
  10. Stephen Press – 717,000

PokerNews will offer live tournament updates for the entirety of the 2019 Borgata Fall Poker Open, which begins Tuesday, November 5th. The content will reside on their site, so follow this link to access the latest updates: https://www.pokernews.com/tours/borgata-poker-open/2019-borgata-fall-poker-open/

Borgata Poker Open Blog 2020

It was about 4am on Thanksgiving morning when the final trophy event of the 2018 Borgata Fall Poker Open came to an end and with it, the exciting November series was a wrap.

Wenhao Ying – 1st Place – 2018 BFPO ChampionshipBorgata

Earlier on Wednesday, a relatively unknown 24-year-old grad student named Wenhao Ying went wire-to-wire on the live streamed final table to claim 1st place in the $1 Million Guaranteed Championship event, along with $200,000* and his first Borgata title. In fact, this is his first title on record, more than doubling his lifetime earnings, which have all come in the previous 27 months.

Ying faced down a final table that included three very experienced pros: Paul Volpe, Brian Altman, and Matt Wantman. Altman ran into a cooler early that sent him out in 6th place, but the other two were there at the end with Ying. They agreed on adjusted payouts based on their chip standings which brought the four-day Championship to a close.

Frank Lagodich – 1st Place – 2018 Fall Poker Open Kick-Off

The sixteen-day-long series was kicked off with the $500,000 Guaranteed Deep Stack No Limit Hold’em event. The prize pool came close to $800,000 and another young player claimed that title as well. First place and $128,359* went to 22-year-old Ohioan Frank Lagodich on his first-ever trip to Borgata. After getting heads-up with Borgata regular and poker pro Joe Cappuccio, Lagodich took the chip lead and the final two negotiated an adjusted payout with an even split of the remaining prize pool.

It was a good series for some of the “old school” Borgata tournament grinders as well. After several near misses, Bob Camano finally claimed his first Borgata title in Omaha/Stud High/Low Mix event. Andrew Klein booked his sixth Borgata win in the Old School NLH event, moving him into fifth place on the Most Wins at Borgata list. Howard Wolper waited until the final night of the series to make the money in Event 20, notching his 117th lifetime cash at Borgata, extending a record that’s going to be hard to beat.

The Ladies were once again in the spotlight, with two regulars claiming titles and setting records. BorgataPoker.com sponsored pro Katie Stone made the final six of the Deepest Stack NLH event and negotiated an adjusted payout giving her 1st place and $19,337*. This was her third Borgata title, putting her in a tie for first on the ‘Most Wins at Borgata by a Woman’ list. Until this series, Patricia Barsanti-Chou held this record. Just four days later, Anna Antimony won the Almighty Stack, coming out on top of a field of 1,073 runners to take the top prize of $91,586. This was also her third Borgata title, putting her in a three-way tie with Stone and Barsanti-Chou.

If there was a ‘Grind Until You Get There’ award, it would go to Carlos Matos for this BFPO series. He finished 5th in Event 9, the Deepest Stack, for $19,337*, then followed that up with a 3rd place finish in Event 15, the Saturday Series Deep Stack, for $14,432*. He finally got there and capped the series with a win in Event 19, the Deeper Stack, for $14,000* and his first Borgata Open trophy.

In total, more than $3.4 million was paid out in prize money in these 20 main events alone, not including satellites and secondary events, and 18 Borgata Fall Poker Open trophies found new homes. A complete list of main event winners is below.

*Indicates Adjusted Payout

The daily tournament schedule has resumed in the Poker Room, with brief interruptions for Holiday Tournaments on Christmas Day, New Year’s Eve, and New Year’s Day. There is also a DeepStacks Challenge Series running December 26th – December 30th.

It’s never too early to make plans for the 2019 Winter Poker Open, which runs January 15th – February 1st, and returns to Borgata’s spacious Event Center venue. The series will be capped by the World Poker Tour Winter Poker Open Championship, January 27-31.

On behalf of Borgata Poker Staff and bloggers Tim Kelliher, Chris Murray, and myself, thank you to all the players who participated and make Borgata tournament poker great. And thank you to the staff for the best-run events on the East Coast.

Hope you had a Happy Thanksgiving and enjoy the coming Holiday season!

@Kaelaine

Borgata Poker Open Blog 2020 Free

Andrew Zhu

With the elimination of Gary Wong in 4th the final three players immediately began to discuss a deal. The stacks were counted down and they quickly came to an agreement.

Andrew Zhu who was holding the chip lead at the time of the deal takes the Borgata Fall Poker Open and $11,301.

Brad Russo earns $10,403 for his second place finish and Nick Devenezia will take home $7,002 for his third place finish.

(L to R) Brad Russo, Andrew Zhu, Nick Devenezia

$200+$30 Deepest Stack NLH
$35,000 Guaranteed
Structure Sheet
Level 29: 50,000/100,000/BB Ante 100,000
Total Entries: 274
Players Remaining: 4

Andrew Zhu

Andrew Zhu raised from the button and Gary Wong moved all in from the big blind covering Zhu.

Zhu snap called for his last 2,390,000 turning over his and Wong showed . The runout sealed the deal for Zhu and Wong was eliminated just a few later.

$200+$30 Deepest Stack NLH
$35,000 Guaranteed
Structure Sheet
Level 29: 50,000/100,000/BB Ante 100,000
Total Entries: 274
Players Remaining: 6

The final six players have been negotiating a deal for quite some time. They could not come to an agreement and play continues here in the late night hours.

$200+$30 Deepest Stack NLH
$35,000 Guaranteed
Structure Sheet
Level 28: 40,000/80,000/BB Ante 80,000
Total Entries: 274
Players Remaining: 8

Daniel Ahmad

Daniel Ahmad got his stack of 750,000 all in pre-flop holding but ran right into the of his opponent. The board ran out .

Borgata Poker Open Blog 2020

Ahmad improved to a king high flush cracking his opponents pocket rockets to earn the double up.

Daniel Ahmad- 1,650,000

$200+$30 Deepest Stack NLH
$35,000 Guaranteed
Structure Sheet
Level 27: 30,000/60,000/BB Ante 60,000
Total Entries: 274
Players Remaining: 9

She Lok “Gary” Wong

There are just nine players remaining here in the last event of the series. She Loke “Gary” Wong has moved into the chip lead with just over 2,000,000.

Andrew Zhu who was holding the lead for much of the night is still right on his heels with 1,600,000.

$200+$30 Deepest Stack NLH
$35,000 Guaranteed
Structure Sheet
Level 27: 30,000/60,000/BB Ante 60,000
Total Entries: 274
Players Remaining: 10

The Event 20 final table is now set and the players will battle it out in the late night hours. One of these lucky players will take home $14,885 along with the Borgata Fall Poker Open trophy.

Payouts

1. $14,885
2. $8,771
3. $5,050
4. $4,093
5. $3,189
6. $2,658
7. $2,126
8. $1,595
9. $1,063
10-12. $691

$200+$30 Deepest Stack NLH
$35,000 Guaranteed
Structure Sheet
Level 23: 12,000/24,000/BB Ante 24,000
Total Entries: 274
Players Remaining: 24

Howard Wolper

The players are now in the money and once again Howard Wolper is in the cash. Wolper extends his Borgata recored for the most tournaments cashes in Borgata history.

Wolper’s chips are getting low so he will need to double up here in the late levels of Event 20.

$200+$30 Deepest Stack NLH
$35,000 Guaranteed
Structure Sheet
Level 22: 10,000/20,000/BB Ante 20,000
Total Entries: 274
Players Remaining: 27

The money bubble has burst here in Event 20 after a lengthy hand for hand. The final 27 players are now all in the money and guaranteed a minimum of $478 for their efforts.