BUBBLE BREAKS (EVENT #9 - 6 MAX)

Will Jaffe (Bridgehampton, NY) is the bubble boy in the 6-max event when his (A Q) loses to Rob Quigley III and his (A 3) which hits a pair of threes.

The final 27 players are now in the money with 19-27 collecting $983.

Level 13 (1500/3k/300 ante) continues.

EVENT #10 PAYOUTS

$350 + $50 Limit Hold'Em
Entries: 127
Prize Pool: $44,450

Place - Amount

1 $13,690
2 $7,556
3 $4,222
4 $3,111
5 $2,667
6 $2,222
7 $1,778
8 $1,334
9 $1,000
10-12 $867
13-15 $756
16-18 $667

EVENT #9 PAYOUTS

$500 + $60 No Limit Hold'Em 6-Handed
Entries: 262
Prize Pool: $131,000

Place - Amount

1 $39,299
2 $22,269
3 $12,248
4 $9,169
5 $7,859
6 $6,550
7 $5,240
8 $3,930
9 $2,620
10-12 $1,703
13-15 $1,441
16-18 $1,179
19-27 $983

GETTING TESTY (EVENT #10 - LIMIT)

Limiting the Drama

While there's a limit that can bet in this event, there's no limit to the frustration of a long day of poker. One player calls, no less than 4 tournament officials to his table, for clarity regarding the cell phone rule.

He claims that he's been given different rulings and wants the record set straight. After defusing the situation, Earl "The Pearl" Brown clearly and succinctly sums it up.

"If you're on the phone your hand is not dead, but you'll get a warning. The next time it happens, it will be a ten hand penalty," Brown says.

Case closed.

38 players remain with the field thinned to 27 or play continues to 2 AM, whichever comes first. But if the players unanimously agree, they can keep playing until they hit the money.

The top 18 get paid, as they compete for the top prize of $13,690.

Level 13 continues (1,500/3k limits).

EVENT #8 - FINAL TABLE NUMBERS

The players have drawn for new seats and play is back underway. They resume play at the final table with blinds at 60,000 - 120,000 and 20,000 ante.

Seat assignments:

Seat 1 Frank Bellino - 1,400,000
Seat 2 Trevor "Tremomey" Savage - 3,350,000
Seat 3 Tony Ruberto - 2,200,000
Seat 4 Jason Turner - 3,100,000
Seat 5 Mark Guthridge - 1,500,000
Seat 6 Blake Buffington - 2,700,000
Seat 7 Eugene Gorelik - 1,800,000
Seat 8 Randy Cherkas - 2,800,000
Seat 9 David Shrewsbury - 2,600,000
Seat 10 Taemee Feuer - 2,500,000

Chip counts:

Trevor "Tremomey" Savage - 3,350,000
Jason Turner - 3,100,000
Randy Cherkas - 2,800,000
Blake Buffington - 2,700,000
David Shrewsbury - 2,600,000
Taemee Feuer - 2,500,000
Tony Ruberto - 2,200,000
Eugene Gorelik - 1,800,000
Mark Guthridge - 1,500,000
Frank Bellino - 1,400,000

Payouts:

1st - $108,367
2nd - $66,619
3rd - $36,231
4th - $31,556
5th - $26,881
6th - $22,206
7th - $17,531
8th - $12,856
9th - $9,350
10th - $6,078

4 TO GO (EVENT #9 - 6-MAX)

Relaxation Therapy
Quigley & Schuck

The bubble breaks with 4 more eliminations in the 6-max tournament. Under the mounting pressure, Rob Quigley III (Pittsburgh, PA) is relaxing with massage from Karalyn Schuck of Borgata's Spa Toccare.

"I give the best shoulder and neck massages," she says and Quigley's quick to agree, "the best," as he folds (J 4 offsuit).

The bubble breaks with 27 players remaining as Level 12 continues (1k/2k/300 ante).

EVENT #8 - BRIAN ADRAGNA ELIMINATED IN 11TH

Brian Adragna has just enough chips to raise more than the minimum under the gun. It folded all the way around to the big stack in the room, Trevor Savage in the big blind. Savage called J7 behind the 99 of Adragna.

Savage flopped bottom pair on the A 7 6 board, then made jacks up with the turn card. The river brought no help and Brian Adragna is our 11th place finisher for $6,078.

With that knockout, the field will redraw seats and form the final table. Will return shortly with seat assignments and chip counts.

EVENT #8 - ALLISON WEISBROD ELIMINATED IN 12TH

One of the favorite players in the tournament, Allison Weisbord, has been eliminated from the Deep Stack Event #8. After getting premission to report in late tomorrow, she still was unable to overcome the swings in her stack.

After facing a pre-flop raise, she put all her chips into the pot with 55 only to run into her opponent's pocket aces.

No help on the board and Allison is sent home with and extra $6,078 in her pocket.

EVENT #8 - BILL KEATING ELIMINATED IN 13TH

Bill Keating came into the day as one of our chip leaders but fell just short of the final table. His last few chips were in the middle after laying down hands that were 3-bet back to him. Blake Buffington was his last opponent when he was all-in preflop with an over card, his A7 versus the QQ of Buffington. The K K T 5 2 board brought no help and Bill Keating takes away $4,441.

EVENT #8 - ABRAHAM GORDON ELIMINATED IN 14TH

Nursing a shortstack for the last few levels, Abraham Gordon was forced to get his chips in the middle against a dominating hand. Gordon's A3 was no match for his opponent's AK when the board ran out 2 K Q 6 3.

Abraham Gordon takes home $4,441.

EVENT #8 - RYAN ERIQUEZZO ELIMINATED IN 15TH

It's rare when you run into or witness one of the truly bad beats. Ryan Eriquezzo ran into one of the more brutal hands you will see.

He raised preflop and the only caller was David Shrewsbury to his immediately left. The flop came up Jh 3h 7h. Eriquezzo bet out and Shrewsbury ended up with all his chips in the middle. When they both tables their cards, Eriquezzo was a huge 97 - 3 favorite to win the hand, eliminate Shrewsbury and move way up the board. Eriquezzo flopped the flush with Qh 6h versus the top pair of Shrewsbury with Ks Jc.

Turn 3d

River 3c

Runner runner boat for the improbably win.

Ryan only had a few chips following that hand and was eliminated on the next hand. He takes home $4,441 for 15th but he won't forget that hand for a long time.

ELIMINATIONS - EVENT #8

We are down to 15 with some really goofy elimination hands. John Basile goes out when his AJ is too slow against his opponents 88.

Porto goes down when he turns broadway on an [A 4 K] [T] board. Him and his opponent get it all in on the turn. His opponent tables AT for Aces up. Porto squirms a little as he can sense the doom as the dealer burns and turns the river T for the boat.

In 16th Nicholas Treppiedi gets it in against Blake Buffington holding Aces up. He had A 4 versus Buffington's AK when they got it in on the flop of [A 9 4]. The turn comes a 5 and the river brings a horrid 9 giving Buffington a better kicker and ending Treppiedi's day.

It's getting nutty in the deepstack so stay tuned!

EVENT #10 (LIMIT) UPDATE

Bruschi, Setting New Limits

The limit tournament is back from dinner, joining the 6-max, as the two Main Event tournaments that will play until 2 am. It's been a slow climb for the players, who started with 8k, but Tony Bruschi (Atlantic City, NJ) is pushing towards the top.

Bruschi has 40k while the average is less than 15k.

In an interesting side note, Bruschi's now at table 2, where Al Riccobono is the only survivor of the original trio that included Lacey Jones and Jason Young, who said there was no way Riccobono would knock him out.

Young's on the rail, courtesy of Riccobono who says, "I got his chips, I swear I knocked him out."

75 players remain as Level 9 continues (600/1200 limits).

EVENT #9 (6-MAX) UPDATE

House of Brikis

While the Deep Stack (Event #8) heads towards a final table, the Hold'Em 6-handed event is one of two other Main Event tournaments that are grinding away in the Event Center.

Josh Brikis (Pittsburgh, PA) is emerging as the early chip leader with players returning from dinner break. Brikis uses pocket kings early to triple up to 32k, then recently felts a player holding (A K) against his (A A).

"I don't know," says Brikis when asked if he's playing well, "ask these guys." One player jokingly chimes in, "I can't beat him, the prick."

Brikis is sitting on 135k as 55 players remain with an average stack of 48k.

Level 9 continues (500/1000/100 ante).

EVENT #8 UPDATE NUMBER 2

OK, so now that confusion is gone with all of the action before the break, we have some clarification.

Jennifer Sherwood went out in 20th place, leaving exactly 19 players left. The staff has decided that they will play three tables until the next elimination after the dinner break.

The 23rd person out of the tournament was Ralph Galasso. We have no details of his elimination since he rolled out of here quickly, and everyone else is on dinner. We will have updated chip counts once they get down to 18 and two tables.

STEVE FRANKEL/ JENNIFER SHERWOOD OUT

Steve Frankel gets it in with 88 against Jason Turner's QQ and never catches up. Turner is sitting on 2.1 million.

Frankel took off just like the person who went out in 23 and it's rough to get any comments from them understandably.

Jennifer Sherwood was ousted just now as well as Jason Turner strikes again. This time with QJ versus A5. The board rolls out with a Q and a J and ends Sherwoods day.

We are down to 20 and the players are heading to dinner break. They are going ten handed on two tables for the final twenty. We will try and get the update on who went out in 23rd.

The 6 max is just coming back from dinner and Gorilla is out there scamming some info. We'll have updated info on that and the limit event shortly.

WARRINER ELIMINATED

Jason Warriner is ousted when his desperation pre flop shove with 5 7 can't find any outs against Shrewsbury's AQ when the board comes [9 A 2] [Q] [T]. Warriner is ousted in 22cnd place.

The person who went out in 23rd ran out of the room in quite a hurry. Once we get the info I will post it.

EVENT #8 - GEORGE MIHAS ELIMINATED

Anthony Ruberto ships it in on a three bet pre flop when George Mihas reraises him from the button. Ruberto calls and shows J 4 vs Mihas A 7. The flop comes [2 7 J] and the river and turn offer no help.

Ruberto is sitting on just over 2.4mil, and we are down to 23 players.

EVENT #8 - DOWN TO 24

It's been getting a little nutty here after re-drawing for seats. The first hand after the re-draw Ryan Eriquezzo shoves into Randy Livingston who is short stack from the bb. Livingston calls holding 88 and Ryan shows 6h 4h. The flop comes all hearts and Livingston goes out in 27th.

Right behind him, Johanssy Joseph sees a flop against Taemee Feuer of [Jd 2h 6h] Taemee bets out $125k and Joseph, after thinking for a bit, shoves all in. Taemee snap calls and shows Qh Jd as Joseph opens up Js 7s. The board runs out blank and Taemee wins the pot giving her more than 2.4 million in chips and the chip lead.

But that doesn't last for long. Right behind Joseph, Mark Weber raises from the cut off pre flop. Trevor Savage reraises, and Weber shoves. Savage is pretty much committed after his reraise all but put Weber all in, and he makes the call showing T J. Weber shows A Q and the board runs out [K 7 J] [8] [4] shipping the pot to Savage and ending Weber's day in 25th place.

Savage takes the outright tournament chip lead with just over 2.8 million in chips.

The 6 max tounrey is down to just about 72 players and is on dinner break. We are gathering chip stacks and leaders while they are gone and will have an update shortly.

The limit tournament is also on dinner break and we'll grab as many updates as possible.

EVENT #8 ELIMINATIONS:

27 - Randy Livingston $2103
26 - Johanssy Joseph $2103
25 - Mark weber $2103

EVENT #8 - FINAL 27

The pace has not slowed down since we hit the money 60 players ago. In less than a level we have lost 9 more players and now forming the final 3 tables. Players are redrawing for seats, we're putting together names and chipstacks.

Allison Weisbrod, Taemee Feuer , and Jason Warriner are near the top of the leaderboard.

1st - $108,367
2nd - $66,619
3rd - $36,231
4th - $31,556
5th - $26,881
6th - $22,206
7th - $17,531
8th - $12,856
9th - $9,350
10th to 12th - $6,078
13th to 15th - $4,441
16th to 18th - $2,805
19th to 27th - $2,103

HIGH RENT DISTRICT (EVENT #10 - LIMIT)

Oh' Canada

Property owner by day, poker player whenever he has time for his hobby, that's the life of Jean-Philippe Piquette (Quebec, Canada). Piquette's already has a final table at the Poker Open, finishing third in Event #3 (PLO) and is looking for another deep run in the Limit Event.

"I like limit because those were the only games you could find when I first learned to play," says Piquette. "It's a difficult structure that is slow at the beginning, I'm looking forward to the later stages."

When he's not three-betting preflop with pocket kings, Piquette runs an apartment building in Laval, a small town near Quebec. He says he's already collected the rent and that he'll be at Borgata for 10 days.

Piquette's stack is roughly twice the starting stack of 8k, more of a fixer-upper than a luxury suite.

90 players remain of the starting field of 127. Play continues on Level 8 (Limits 500/1000)

EVENT #8 - DOWN TO 4 TABLES

Taemee Feuer accomplished two things at once. She won a huge pot and pushed the tournament to the final 4 tables. We caught up with the hand after a flop of 8 J A with two spades. Feuer reraised Tuan Nguyen enough to put him all-in. Nguyen went in the tank for several minutes while Feuer sat calmly with her feet up eating her Ben & Jerry's ice cream.

Nguyen was asking her questions, attempting to get a read. Feuer casually told him, "I've got you beat."

It seems that's all Nguyen needed because he called the bet. When the cards were tabled, his KK was drawing super thin to running kings to Feuers flopped set of aces. She was also holding the Ace of Spades removing any odd running 4 flush. The turn card 7 and river 2 ended Tuan Nguyen's run finishing in 37th place for $1,496.

The pot pushed Taemee into the chip lead with near 1,800,000.

EVENT #8 - TROPHY OR AWOL?

Allison Weisbrod spent the latter part of Day 1 and now most of Day 2 near the top of the leaderboard if not commanding the outright top stack. She's been making difficult decision throughout most of the event but there is one that would be too tough.

Walking around the tournament floor and made a (half) joking comment to the floor staff wondering if the tournament would be done by 4 or 5am. That caught Allison's attention and she told me "I have to be at work by 4am. In Maryland."

Naturally I asked her how much it would hurt to call in sick.

"I'm in the Navy. I would be AWOL."

Decision made. Hopefully the tournament will move along quickly enough that she won't have to do something unfortunate. She is currently stacked at 1,400,000 in chips.

EVENT #8 - CHIP LEADER (DEEP STACK)

Savage, Deep in Chips

Trevor "TreMomey" Savage (Mantua, NJ) has emerged as the Deep Stack chip leader with roughly 1.4 million chips.

40 players remain with an average chip stack of 600k, blinds are 15k/30k/3k ante.

TOUGH TABLE (EVENT #10 - LIMIT)

Riccobono (left) & Jones (right) taking on Jason Young

With a field of 127, quality players are at every table and the toughest draw is Table 2.

Al Riccobono, Lacey Jones and Jason Young are all accomplished players and having a good time needling each other.

"My goal is to bust him," says Riccobono, pointing directly at Young, who fires back, "never gonna happen."

Jones is making a statement by wearing homemade "Kanye Sucks" glasses, in reference to his antics at the VMA awards. "He sucks," she says, "he really sucks."

Riccobono, in summing up the early play, "when Lacey and I are in the hand, Jason raises. It's defintely a grudge match."

Level 6 continues (300/600 limits).

Young to Riccobono, "Never Gonna Happen."

HAWKINS GETS COOLERED, SUCKED OUT ON, BAD BEATED, HOWEVER YOU WISH TO CALL IT...

Proof that this game is frustrating, silly, stupid, whatever you want to say. In the 6 max Event #9 Hawkins, who I just posted was dominating his table with a huge chip stack got into it with his opponent. Unfortunately, his opponent had just managed to double up to $25k in chips the previous hand.

This time Hawkins is dealt two red Aces and makes a reraise pre to the opponent who has 9c 9s.

They see a flop of all diamonds and rags. Hawkins bets a third of the pot, and his opponent shoves. Hawkins makes the snap call with THE overpair and the nut flush redraw. Unfortunately the turn brings a 9 of heart and the river blanks giving his opponent the one outer that would ship him the 50k pot.

Hawkins goes from domination to being dominated and back to about 10k in chips. I'll get the new chip leaders name and more updates in a few.

Gorilla is working the floor for the limit event and we will have some updates shortly on that event. The deepstack is still at 60 and on a 15 minute break.

EVENT #8 UPDATE

It's been hectic here in the room trying to grab information. The deepstack event has 61 players left with the Bill Keating holding the chip lead with just about 1.2mil in chips.

I counted no less than 20 stacks sitting between the 700-800k mark. The average should be around 383k based on the amount of entries. With a third of the room sitting on at least 700k it could be a quick dash to the final 27.

In the 6-max tourney, I found Maurice Hawkins sitting on just about 39k. He is dominating the table with everyone else sitting with less than 15k.

Vinny Pajuha took a little bit of a hit when he three bet pre to 2200 from a button raise of 725 from "Alex". Alex flatted the three bet and the flop came [T 9 8] rainbow. Alex checked and Vinny made it 3k. Alex reraised to 8k and Vinny shoved. Alex called and showed [K K]. Vinny turned over [Jd Td] for top pair, open ended straight draw, and a back door flush draw. He never caught up and shipped about 14k of his stack to Alex.

As I'm writing this up Maurice Hawkins, sitting below the media table is grunting rather loudly about a hand that he obviously lost. The floor is counting chips and I will try to get an update on how bad he got hurt. I can't think it was much based on the stacks he was going against.

EVENT #9 - LEVEL 5

The 6 max event is heading into level 5, 150/300 blinds and and we have some heavy hitters jumping out to a nice lead. Vinny Pahuja is sitting on a nice 30k stack as is Dave Fox. Mike Leah is around 19k as well. The 30k's seem to be the biggest stacks in the room so all of these guys are near the chip lead.

Joey "The B" Brooks unfortunately is out when his Aces couldn't hold up against his opponents JT suited. It got all in on the flop of two suits and JT hits his flush on the turn.

There is about 260 players left in event #5 and they continue along. We'll bring updates as we get them.

In event #8 Orlando Balcacer is having an up and down day. He started short and managed to triple up. He then doubled from there shipping it in with 77 against AK. An ace and King both hit the flop but a river 7 saved him and he stood with a very nice stack. Three hands later he called a shorty for about a third of his stack with 99 when the short stack shoved with J8 pre. A river J handed him the loss and he bled from there.

However after surviving the bubble and hitting a few hands, he sits back around $350k in chips. David Blatt is sitting next to him with a nice stack himself. Over $700k and looking like a top ten chip stack. "It's a nice table. Not too much insanity", said Blatt. The deepstack is moving along and we will bring chip leaders and a count of who is left very shortly.

EVENT #10 - UNDERWAY

A rough count shows about 150 players starting in Event #10 Limit Hold'em tournament. The buyin was $350 + $50 and registration is still open. A quick walk through the tables shows Jason Young, recent of 6-handed fun, and Lacey Jones seated at the same table. Young is giving plenty of action. Also found Melissa Brancato who final tabled the Omaha/8b Event #5. She looks to improve on her third place finish and says this is her preferred game.

EVENT #8 - IN THE MONEY

Event #8 players were hand-for-hand on the money bubble when the clock expired on Level 17, they were told to go on break and the 500 chips would be colored up and raced off.

Unfortunately there was still action occurring on Table 8 as the rest of the entrants filed their way out. Most of the players will returning not realizing the bubble burst while they were making a run for the lobby. They action was folder around to Mr. Anonymous Player in the SB who took a little time and chipped in 100,000 with Ad 7s. Tommy Hudson snapped called in the BB and the rest of the field by tabling A K. The board ran out 2 8 6 T and the unnecessary King on the river to put the field in the money.

The busted player quickly left the tournament area ignoring all requests for his name or information. Hudson is now stacked around 300,000.

Places 82nd though 90th will receive $842. We will try to catch as much action to report as possible, but right now the players are going to start trying to double up or go to the cage.


Tommy Hudson burst the bubble

EVENT #9 - NOTABLES

The 6-handed No Limit Hold'em Tournament has attracted a smaller but tougher crowd to the Event Center. As the players were coming back from their first break of the day we took a walk through the field. Anna Wroblewski is once again back in the room as well as Jason Young. Young is here, but joing us on the rail before he was convinced to buy into the Limit Hold'em Event #10. PPI pros Eric Siegel, Gene Castro, and Bill Blanda are trying to continue their Borgata Poker Open success as well as Matt Brady and Chris Bonita.

6-handed NLHE can be a fast, aggressive monster and we will try to keep up with the action as they move along later in the day. The unofficial number has 267 in the field today.

EVENT#8 - BUBBLE TIME

And just that quickly we lose enough players to be one table away from the money. We are heading to the floor to try and cover the 11 remaining tables and catch the bust out hand. Players will start hand-for-hand when there are 92 players remaining.

EVENT #8 - STRAIGHT FLUSH WHEEL IS GOOD

As we move into Level 17, we may have witnessed our new chip leader at the end of the hand getting him there. We were too late getting to table to catch all the action but we did see the river. Dave Demarest was already sitting on the nut flush, but it was just sweeter when he rivered the straight flush wheel. Demarest started the day with 220,000 chips but is not stacks chips over 600,000.

108 players are creeping towards the money, just two table away. Level 17 blinds are 5,000-10,000 with 1,000 ante. Average chip stack is around 220,000.

Dave Demarest rivers the nutter

EVENT #8 - DAY 2 KICKS OFF

158 players have returned to begin Day 2 of Event #8 $500 + $60 Deep Stack No Limit Hold'em where we play down to the last person standing. The size of the stacks in relation to the blinds mean we have a long day of poker ahead of us. They will begin play in Level 16 with blinds at 4,000-8,000 and 500 ante. There averages stack is huge, just around 150,000. As play kicks off, here are some of the chip leaders:

Suketu Vaidya - 491,000
Allison Weisbrod - 483,000
Ryan Eriquezzo - 397,500
David Albis - 394,500
William Keating - 390,000
Dominic Scola - 386,500
Randolph Cherkas - 377,000
Jonathan Marvinny - 364,000
Oren Siedlecki - 351,000
Harry Frankel - 347,000
Jason Turner - 335,000
Oleg Vayman - 333,000
John Basile - 328,000
Hiep Nguyen - 295,500

EVENT #9 UNDERWAY

It's Monday and most everyone seems to have a football hangover. Event #9 has started, the $500 buy-in +$60 fee NLHE 6-max event, and players are strolling in ever so quietly. As I look around the floor I count 36 tables but only 30 seem to be full. So far I can guess about 180 players are actually sitting and playing, but there is a line of folks coming through the event doors of people that look like they are looking for a seat.

Yesterday's event #8 starts in just about 40 minutes and it looks as if there is 16 tables to accommodate as many as 160 players. I still haven't received the official chip counts, but as soon as I do, we'll put them up.

Stay tuned for all the action. It looks to be another busy day.

EVENT #6 CHAMPION - SANTIAGO

Alex Santiago - Event #6 (1k) Champion
$105,560

After playing more than an hour heads-up, Alex Santiago (W. Hartford, CT) knocks off "Action Bob" Hwang (Barnegat, NJ) to win the Event #6 (1K) Championship.

Santiago began heads-up with a three to one chip lead, but early on Hwang doubles-up and pull even. The two then gind it out and Santiago's able to regain is initial advantage, putting away the match when he flops trip 5s.

The board is [5 3 5] and Santiago leads out for a min bet of 60k. Hwang reraises to 175k and Santiago calls. Hwang pushes all-in on the turn with (K 3) for bottom pair and sees the bad news of Santiago's (Q 5).

"I was always one of the chip leaders at my table throughout the entire tournament," says Santiago, who takes home the top prize of $105,560. "I played really well."

"He played pretty well heads-up," says Hwang, who earns $61,152, "and I'm a total disaster heads-up." he adds. "It didn't go very well after we were even. I was pretty card dead."

Santiago was confident heads-up, but was on his heels after Hwang's double-up. "Once I realized he wanted to play small ball, I was alright with that. I figured I could out play him after the flop and in the long run."

Both players say they're looking forward to playing in other tournaments in the Poker Open, especially the Main Event.

2nd, "Action Bob" Hwang - $61,152

HWANG DOUBLES-UP (EVENT #6)

"Action Bob" Hwang pulls even with Alex Santiago in their 1K heads-up match.

Hwang turns two pairs with (7 2) and gets it all-in against Santiago who hits top pair on the flop with (J 9).

Both players have roughly 2.2 million in chips as blinds are going up.

Level 24 (30k/60k/5k ante) is underway.

EVENT #8 WRAP UP

Event #8 is finished for the day. No less than 3 tables had players screaming and running around the room UPSET that they won a final hand. "I really just wanted to lose. I don't want to have to come back tomorrow short stacked, and even a double up will still have me short", said one anonymous player.

With a little more than 170 players (counted 18 tables), tomorrows final day looks to be brutal. They will start at noon, and will go to a winner. Figure 16 hours of play would be about average for that amount of players. That would put finding a winner around 4 am. After playing 15 hours of play today, and no more than 8 hours of sleep (for the most discipline) tomorrow is seriously going to be a grind.

Tomorrow also sees Event #9, the $500 buy-in + $60 fee 6-handed NLHE starting at 11am, and Event #10, the $350 buy-in + $50 fee limit hold'em tournament. That should make for another busy day.

The poker room is seeing a ton of action as well, even being separated from the event center that the Poker Open is being played in. "The cash games are better than ever Bro!", said Mike Dentale, a Borgata regular. "Everyone is down there trying to recoup their buy-ins from busting out early, plus the regular traffic that they always get. It's juicy!".

We will post the official chip counts tomorrow when we get them for Event #8 as well as crown the winner for Event #6 shortly.

EVENT #6 - MERNONE, 3RD

3rd, Wayne Mernone - $30,212

After a long 25 hours of play over two days, Wayne Mernone (Lawrenceville, NJ) is happy, but not thrilled.

"They were grinding me down," he says after finishing third in the 1k tournament. "I just didn't play well at the end."

Mernone is most disappointed in his final hand after shipping his last 700k to Alex Santiago. Both players see a flop of [K J 4], which Santiago bets. Mernone reraises all-in and Santiago calls.

Mernone turns over (8 9) and is way behind Santiago's (K 6). "I wish I would've played it differently," Mernone says. "I figured if he didn't connect on the flop he'd go away."

Mernone collects $30,212 for third place and takes away invaluable experience. "These guys played great. I enjoyed it."

Santiago begins heads-up play with 3.3 million chips and has a 3-1 chip lead over Bob Hwang.

Level 23 continues (20k/40k/4k ante).

EVENT #6 - HOOD, 4TH

4th, Brad Hood - $25,480

Despite hailing from the City of Champions, Brad Hood's doesn't add to Pittsburgh's plethora of titles with an Event #6 (1k) title. "I'm a little frustrated," says Hood. "I've made a lot of final tables, but always seem to finish second, through fifth all the time. It's good, but you want first."

Hood pushes his final 700k all-in with (A 6), but doesn't catch up to Bob Hwang's pocket sevens and is on the rail in 4th place.

With three players remaining, the chips are moving around the table.

Wayne Merone's been leaking oil the last 45 minutes. He gives 500k chips to Alex Santiago, who makes a good read on the river by calling a reraise of 170k with a board of [K K 10] [2] [6] and two hearts. Merone shows a busted flush draw and Santiago rakes the pot with pocket queens.

Merone then doubled up Hwang.

Final Three Chip Counts

Merone - 500k
Hwang - 1.3 million
Santiago - 2.5 million

Level 23 continues (20k/40k/4k ante).

WEISBROD ADDS TO HER STACK

With preflop action of a standard bet, Allison makes the call holding Ac Qs. The flop comes all ragged with two clubs. She fires out and her opponent reraises and she makes the call. The turn brings another rag but a club as well. She raises again and this time her opponent shoves. She thinks and makes the call with AQ high and the one card flush draw.

In a pot that's now over $200k he shows two red kings. The dealer turns the river card bringing a 4th club to give Allison the nut flush. Her stack is now up over 600k and is leading the tournament. The players are heading to a 15 minute break as they are down to just under 200 players.

The floor thinks they will see no less than 170 coming back for tomorrow's day two with just less than an hour to play. We'll keep you updated with all the action.

EVENT #6 CHIP UPDATE

Wayne Merone 1.8 million
Brad Hood 400k
Alex Santiago 1.6 million
Bob Hwang 630k

LACEY JONES BLOGS ABOUT HER WEEKEND

The blog's resident professional player Lacey Jones has another blog post up, this time detailing her weekend. She battled her way through various olfactory issues in a Borgata Survivor tournament and cashed in the Ladies Event. She also tested her skilss in the World Series of Tic Tac Toe.

Click and enjoy.

"Taking my earbuds out I smile and ask, 'Are you bluffing me?' She smiles and loudly says, 'Of course not!' Only at the same time she does this she takes her hands together and then opens her arms out in the air knocking her beer right off onto the lady next to her and all over the table. 'I fold.'"

Lacey Jones - Bring on The Ladies!

EVENT #6 - JEFFERSON, 5TH PLACE

5th, Barry Jefferson - $21,840

Chalk one up for pocket aces. "Action Bob" Hwang was 1 for 2 in the last couple hours while holding bullets, but was frustrated with the hand he lost. That feeling's now gone after firing away at the final table to eliminate Barry Jefferson (Union Hall, VA).

Jefferson shoves his final 450k all-in with (A Q), but runs into Hwang's aces.

"Oh well, it was fun," says Jefferson as he strolls to the cage to pick up $21,840 for 5th place.

Level 22 (15k/30/3k ante) continues.

EVENT #6 CHIP COUNTS

Seat
1 Barry Jefferson - 495k
6 "Action Bob" Hwang - 600k
8 Alex Santiago - 850k
9 Brad Hood - 530k
10 Wayne Mernone - 1.9 million