BRING ON DAY 2...

WPT BORGATA POKER OPEN CHAMPIONSHIP EVENT
Event #18 - No Limit Hold Em'
Buy-In: $3,300 + $200

Players chips have been bagged and tagged as Day 1B comes to an end. Fields from both starting days will come together Monday morning for Day 2.

Play starts tomorrow at 11am.
Official chip counts coming soon...

UNOFFICIAL CHIPLEADER

Ofir Mor - 183,000

AS THE FIELD THINS...

WPT CHAMPIONSHIP
Event #18 - No Limit Hold Em'
Buy-In: $3,300 + $200

Day 1B players remaining: 482
Avg. Stack: $43,070

Noticeable "big stacks" as Day 1B winds down...

Mikey "Unbelievable" Dentale - 110K
Billy Gazes - 132K
Ofir Mor - 118K
Rhett Butler - 145K
Sudha Baxter - 105K

SICK HAND

Championship Event

Hughes Boat No Good
(March File Photo)

The Poker Open will haunt Michele Hughes (Martinsburg, WV) for some time. One of our favorite players fills-up on the river only to see her day end to a straight flush.

"That's so gross," she says, "I need a shoulder to cry on."

Hughes' hits a set of 6s, while Patrick Whitty (Baltimore, MD) flops a flush on the board of [J 6 5 of hearts]. Whitty's hand gets even better when his (7 9 hearts) sees the [8 of hearts] on the turn for the straight flush.

The coordinated board gives Hughes' reason for pause, as both straights and flushes beat her three of a kind. But her concerns disappate when the board pairs with another [8] and she fills up.

"I believed him when he told me he didn't have pocket jacks," she says, "I just never saw it coming."

Hughes' last 23k's in the middle and Whitty barely has her covered. "Tough break," he says as Hughes graciously leaves the table.

Level 8 (250/500/50 ante) is underway for the last level of the night.

NFL/POKER SUNDAY

WPT CHAMPIONSHIP EVENT

"Poker-Playing Football Fans" - Day 1B pictures

Joey Brattole

Patrick Witty

Bart Mikulski

John McGuinness

Steven Wolansky (and friend)

Phil Rousseaux

POST-DINNER ACTION

Championship Event

Gene Castro came back from the dinner break and went on a run that saw him go from the above chip average around 50,000 to out of the tournament in less than 45 minutes. Just 4 hands saw his stack get decimated.

-It started off slowly when he re-raised an aggro-player from the big blind with tens. He laid the hand down on the jack high flop and a big bet.
-He then picked up AK in late position and called the "crazy player's" pre-flop raise. It flopped A 7 7 and he called that player's all-in move. Crazy raiser had him beat with the mighty 74o.
-Third hand he picked up JJ and was beaten by the flopped set of ducks on the 2 5 9 flop.
-The final nail in the coffin was running his shortstacked QQ into KK.

Castro heads to the rail after an unfortunate post-dinner run.

Recent eliminations:

Will "The Thrill" Failla
Sang Kim (2nd in 2008 Borgata Poker Open)

Random chip counts around the room:

James Boyle - 88,000
Chris Bell - 75,000
Gordon Eng - 65,000
Gavin Smith - 55,000
Lacey Jones - 40,000
Shawn "sprstoner" Glines - 34,000
Heather Johnson - 29,000
Allen "Chainsaw" Kessler - 23,000
Moran Michilovich - 19,000

WILD WEEKEND SPIN

Championship Event

Sikyala Watches the Ups and Downs of Muhammad

It's a Hollywood script and a miracle in the making, but unfortunately for Hakima Muhammad, there's no fairy tale ending. It's a story of early success spiraling into the abyss, divine intervention resurrecting the dream, only to have fate deal a cruel conclusion to a whirlwind weekend.

It starts Thursday night when Muhammad picked up $2,800 in a Second Chance tournament, more than three quarters of the $3,500 she needs to play in the Championship Event. "I wanted a story where you could use my nickname," Kima "Slice" says, a play on the name of mixed marital arts phenom Kimbo Slice.

But instead of sitting tight and ponying up the balance, Muhammad trys to win the rest.

A $550 Survivor Tournament entry gone here, a $230 Second Chance bust there, and a first-hand elimination of a 1 in 5, $750 automatic qualifier, and the well is dry. "I lost it all," Muhammad laments, "I played in at least four other events and couldn't get it done. Late last night (Saturday) I was hoping for a $350 sit and go, but we couldn't get 10 players."

Poor planning and weekend banking hours make it tough for Muhammad to withdraw the entry fee and she's resigned to missing the Championship Event.

But that's when fate takes over.

Muhammad and her "poker companion" Muk Sikyala, both of the Baltimore/Bowie, MD area, misplace the car keys creating a revelation. "I told her, 'we're still here and roulette's the only answer,' " says Sikyala, "one lucky spin and you're in."

So Muhammad sat by the red and black wheel and waited, and waited, and waited. Thirty minutes passed and she got the feeling. "It just came to me, a message from above, the number 10."

She took a single, $100 chip, and placed it in the first row, the black square, four away from the green single zero. The number 10. After the floor confirms the large bet, the ball hovers over the twirling colorful pie shaped slots and then it happened.

"I couldn't see it," says Muhammad, as the white ball danced around the circular grid, "I was at the other end of the table, but I saw the dealer's face," she said, as the sphere settles on the number 10. There's a roar from the players and bystanders who are celebrating the win, Muhammad's dream is alive again.

A less than 3 percent chance hits, 35 to 1 odds come true, and the dealer stacks 35 black, $100 chips. A big win and the exact total for Muhammad's entry into the Championship Event.

After flipping her initial bet to the dealer as a tip, Muhammad hustles to the Event Center and calls Sikyala while on-line to register. "I couldn't believe it, I simply couldn't believe it," he said after leaving the poker room to join the party at the opposite end of the casino.

Muhammad is at the table just twenty minutes before the field is closed, with Sikyala hanging over the rail. He's just over Muhammad's shoulder while she plays at Table 3 - Seat 10.

Then disaster.

Just back from the first break, it's pocket kings against pocket aces. All the money's in the middle and aces hold. Unfortunately for Muhammad, her kings are crowned and she's out the door.

"I can't believe it," she says, "after all that, for it to end this way."

Up and down, in and out, highs and lows. A wild weekend spin for one player in the world of Borgata poker.

DANIEL KEPICH NEVER LEFT

If you frequent the Borgata Poker room, you'll recognize the name, and definitely recognize the face. But unless you know him, you probably wouldn't be able to put the two together unless properly introduced.

Landscaper Dan, as he is known around the circle here is playing in the main event. Some might say against all odds.

On September 4th, Dan was in Colorado hunting elk. Driving through the Rocky Mountains he was pulled over by a state trooper for driving recklessly and taken into custody for what appeared to be suspicion of DUI. "I had nothing to drink, and I wasn't sure what they were making a fuss about. They never indicated to me that I was being investigated for DUI. I just thought they were upset because I was driving a little erratically."

After being at the station for a while, the troopers came in and said he was good to go as far as the DUI was concerned. But his driving was a concern. Especially since Dan didn't recall driving anywhere out of the ordinary. They took him to a local hospital and did a cat scan. That cat scan revealed a tumor about the size of a golf ball in his brain. Within 2 hours he was flown to Swedish Medical Center in Englewood, CO where doctors performed brain surgery to remove the tumor.

Dan humorously remarked, "I told them I must have made a mistake, because I came here for the massage." His good nature, and amazing outlook got him back to the Philly area a week after that surgery. His return was just in time to make it to the Poker Open. He won the first night's 2cnd Chance Cash Tournament, and then played in a survivor tournament to earn his seat into the main event.

Right now, Dan sits on a small stack of $27k, but if his outlook carries over to his play, you can pretty much bank on him getting deep throughout the week.

We wish him the very best.

DINNER BREAK

Championship Event

The players who remain in the 2009 Borgata Poker WPT Championship Day 1b flight are off on their 75 minute dinner break. There are approximately 520 players with a chance at the title and we're walking the empty Event Center looking for the bigger stack in the room.

When the players return for Level 7, they will be working with blinds at 200-400 and an ante of 50. Average stack is in the neighborhood of 40,000 chips.

Recent eliminations:

Matt "All in at 420" Stout
Matt Vance
Ted Lawson

DINNER BREAK SHOUT-OUTS

*** ALL PLAYERS ON 1:15 DINNER BREAK ***

From: Scott, Strubel
to my wife Charlotte - Honey, I've got chips, wish me luck...

From: Supertuan1
Hi to all my friends in Chicago, good luck Roy Winston...

From: "Joey The_B" Brooks
Duke, JoJo and JJ - daddy says get ready for bed...

From: "Alphabet Soup"
to my wife Areena - I'm taking this one down for you...

From: Maurice, Steven, Derek, Brian, Ghe
representing South Florida Poker Players

From: Allen "Chainsaw" Kessler
bing, bang, blaow

From: Billy Campbell
Alan - I'm in good shape, playing great...

From: Blake "I'm too old for this silly shout-out crap" Buffington
I have 88K in chips

From: Matt Brown
Paola - I'm 17th in chips, book your flight to the East-Coast babe...

MATT STOUT OUT!

Matt Stout is eliminated by Roy Winston when, after Winston re-raised his open bet, Stout shoved his remaining stack.

"There is no way I am folding after I put one chip in", said Stout. He had just about 13k left when he shoved and Winston called with T T.

Stout showed AK and Winston wins the flip after hitting his set on a K T 3 flop.

Winston sits on just over 70k and is back into contention.

EAST COAST - WEST COAST

Championship Event

While walking around the floor, Eric "Clownfish" Doerr pulled me aside to throw down the guantlet. Doerr was the Borgata Deep Stack runner up here in August and said "You let these guys know this is the Borgata, this is the East Coast. We aren't going to let any West Coast punks or internet kids pull off any crazy (redacted) with us!". Doerr was actually having a good laugh with fellow tablemates Manny Patel and Jason Warriner.

They all took turns telling the story of Doerr picking on Patel's blinds every rotation. Doerr claims he had big hands for each and every instance until Patel decided to re-pop him after folding his big blind for a half dozen times. Patel called the big re-raise holding AQ, finding an Ace on the flop and an Ace on the River. Patel went all the way to the river with him holding KK. Warriner completes the story by saying, "And Manny paid him off!"

Jason Warriner - 62,000
Eric "Clownfish" Doerr - 60,000
Manny Patel - 42,000

ACES NO GOOD

Championship Event

The sample size is very small, we don't witness every hand played or even see the winning cards if there is no show down, but pockets aces do not seem to be holding up very well in Day 1b.

In addition to the double cracked AA by Mike Castaldo, Moran Michilovich tells the tale of her shortstack situation. She bet her pocket aces all the way down to the river only to have her opponent make 7's up on the river with the almighty seven-trey. Before the table broke, another player found himself all-in with his AA dominating KK. The player holding the pocket kings complained about his luck running into cooler, until the dealer peeled off a king on the flop. Michilovich is sitting at her new table with around 14,000 in chips.

With 20 minutes left in Level 5, there are just over 600 players remaining in Day 1b. Average chip stack is around 34,000. Level 6 blinds will be 150-300 with 200 ante.

Recent Eliminations:

Jason Young
John D'Agostino
Kevin "Lucko" O'Brien
Taemee Feuer


More random chip counts as I walk the room (as they were at the time, by approximation):

Charlie Hook - 50,000
Roy Winston - 50,000
Ryan Eriquezzo - 42,000
"Joey the B" Brooks - 42,000
Moran Michilovich - 14,000

COOLER HAND

WPT BORGATA POKER OPEN CHAMPIONSHIP EVENT

It didn't take much for Dean Hamrick to trap the colorful poker personality, Ted Lawson. All the chips went in the middle when they both flopped a set on a KsTs3d board. The "cold deck" puts Hamrick amongst the chipleaders, while Lawson is crippled.

WPT BORGATA POKER OPEN CHAMPIONSHIP PAYOUTS

Championship Event

The official numbers are in from the Borgata staff. 1,018 players put down the $3,300 + $200 buyin to create a $3,359,400 prizepool, well over the $2,000,000 Guarantee. First place in the tournament will pay out $925,513 and the top 90 players will make it in the money.

1st - $925,514
2nd - $453,519
3rd - $251,955
4th - $216,681
5th - $188,126
6th - $156,212
7th - $117,579
8th - $87,345
9th - $63,828
10th to 12th - $39,976
13th to 15th - $28,218
16th to 18th - $16,125
19th to 27th - $12,765
28th to 36th - $10,750
37th to 45th - $9,406
46th to 54th - $8,062
55th to 63rd - $7,391
64th to 72nd - $6,719
73rd to 81st - $6,047
82nd to 90th - $5,376
91th to 100th - $4,704

DAY 1A CHIP COUNTS

Championship Event

1. FRANK CHARLES MOLINARI II: 169,000

2. ANTHONY GREGG: 160,950

3. JEREMY BROWN: 156,425

4. SUNIL WALIA: 155,625

5. SOHEIL SHAMSEDDIN: 145,000

6. ANTHONY SIVOLELLA: 141,000

7. STEVE BRECHER: 139,150

8. PAUL VOLPE: 128,150

9. JOHN JAY FORTUNATO: 127,350

10. OLIVIER BUSQUET: 125,750

11. DAVID FILIPPI: 124,850

12. RAYMOND HENSON: 119,600

13. CHANNING COE: 116,725

14. RICHARD ZIPES: 113,000

15. JONATHAN LITTLE: 110,700

16. MICHAEL BINGER: 110,325

17. MATTHEW BROWN: 106,975

18. RUSSELL CRANE: 106,425

19. JUSTIN LEVY: 105,125

20. ALEX MUSCARELLA: 105,000

21. WILLIAM KANE: 102,075

22. JAVAD NAVRAM: 98,975

23. CHRIS RESLOCK: 98,000

24. JONATHAN ROY: 97,900

25. THOMAS SCHREIBER: 96,025

26. JOSH SPIEGELMAN: 95,375

27. JOHN SPADAVECCHIA JR: 95,075

28. DONALD HIMPELE: 94,300

29. ROBERT COPPOLA: 93,875

30. MATTHEW MATROS: 93,775

31. WILLIAM CHILDS: 91,350

32. JONATHAN WEIN: 91,225

33. MARK HEMMERLE: 90,725

34. JESSE MARTIN: 90,350

35. PETE SKYLLAS: 90,350

36. TODD TERRY: 89,925

37. TIMOTHY BEGLEY: 89,275

38. ARTYEM PERLOV: 89,075

39. FRANK LOMANNO: 87,525

40. LAWRENCE JACOBS: 86,550

41. ROSS MALLOR: 85,150

42. JOSHUA LAWSON: 81,525

43. BRENT KELLER: 81,000

44. ANDREW LEE: 79,650

45. ROHAN SINGH: 79,350

46. ALLEN BARI: 79,000

47. JOESPH MORNEAU: 77,475

48. DAVID WEISBERGER: 77,100

49. GERALD VANSTRYDONCK: 76,700

50. KATHLEEN LIEBERT: 76,450

51. ANTHONY BERTUZZI: 75,900

52. PETER RHO: 74,525

53. JESSE YAGINUMA: 74,250

54. JOHN MALCZAN: 73,700

55. CHRSTOPHER AARON ODLE: 73,550

56. GARY ROTHFELD: 73,450

57. MICHAEL GLICK: 69,600

58. KENNY NGUYEN: 69,300

59. JERRY ATKINS: 68,500

60. JASON DEWITT: 67,475

61. THOMAS LYLE: 65,800

62. JOEL SHULRUF: 65,750

63. JANUSZ ZAJACZKOWSKI: 65,000

64. MIKE LEAH: 64,325

65. STEVEN GREENBERG: 63,100

66. BENJAMIN LANDOWSKI: 62,050

67. FRANK CALO: 61,825

68. FEMING CHAN: 61,225

69. JAROSLAW OSINSKI: 60,975

70. ERNEST PATRICK: 60,625

71. MICHAEL CIOTOLA: 60,450

72. BORIS KRAVETS: 60,150

73. ALBERTO ESKENAZI: 60,025

74. DAVID DAVENPORT: 60,000

75. JONATHAN MORITZ: 60,000

76. MICHAEL COPENHEAVER: 57,650

77. GEORGE HORTELANO: 56,750

78. MARK SALINARO: 56,550

79. DIMITRIOS BERGOS: 56,375

80. CHARLES DOLAN: 56,050

81. FRANK CARUCCI: 55,550

82. CHARLES JOHNSON: 55,050

83. MATTHEW GLANTZ: 55,000

84. DANIEL ILLINGWORTH: 54,800

85. BENEDETTO BIANCO: 54,000

86. ROBERT ZARZYCKI: 53,750

87. JOHN MOORE: 53,525

88. DERRICK BURROUGHS: 52,600

89. WAYNE LEWIS: 52,000

90. JOSEPH LOPES: 50,200

91. WILLIAM BLANDA: 50,000

92. JACK RENAUD: 49,750

93. DAVID LONGOOD: 49,600

94. ONOFRIO REINA: 49,200

95. GREG ARZT: 48,825

96. SCOTT DORIN: 48,400

97. JOSHUA BRIKIS: 47,350

98. JASON SACKLER: 47,100

99. ROBERT ROBBINS: 47,050

100. MATTHEW WAXMAN: 47,000

101. MICKEY WOLL: 46,800

102. ROBERT WISIAK: 46,000

103. MATTHEW WOODWARD: 44,700

104. ALEXANDER RUSANOV: 44,325

105. KENNETH SMITH: 44,225

106. MATTHEW ZOLA: 43,750

107. TYLER BONKOWSKI: 42,625

108. NEAL GERSONY: 41,950

109. ILYA OCHAKOVSKY: 41,575

110. CARMAN CAVELLA: 37,750

111. MICHAEL SIWEK: 37,650

112. THEOBALD TRAN: 37,575

113. DANIEL BUZGON: 37,100

114. CASEY YONTZ: 37,000

115. MATTHEW BRADY: 36,075

116. DUANE BRAND: 35,875

117. WILLIAM VARGA: 35,700

118. XIN WANG: 34,550

119. CHRISTOPHER MCMENEMY: 34,500

120. ANGELO MIELE: 34,450

121. DOROTHY VONSACHSEN: 34,325

122. KYLE BOWKER: 34,200

123. GIL MORGENSZTERN: 33,775

124. JACOB BAZELEY: 32,925

125. JOSEPH SIEGEL: 32,675

126. LEONARD FINKEL: 32,400

127. PHILLIP WELLS: 31,475

128. EUGENE F FOUKSMAN: 31,200

129. RICHARD RICE: 31,000

130. RAYMOND BENDER: 29,750

131. NANCY TODD TYNER: 29,675

132. AKASH SETH: 29,600

133. REBECCA GENNETT: 28,925

134. JOSEPH CAPPELLO: 28,850

135. ALAN LEVINSON: 28,800

136. JEFFREY SAUNDERS: 28,450

137. BRYAN SCHLIEPER: 27,950

138. JONATHAN BASCOM: 26,550

139. HENRY RONDON: 26,100

140. ROBERT COLAO: 25,300

141. DOUGLAS KIM: 24,950

142. PASQUALE DIGIULIO: 24,000

143. MARK REYNOLDS: 23,950

144. JESSE ROCKOWITZ: 21,925

145. GEORGE ZAFIROPOULOS: 20,950

146. SAZAN LUSHA: 20,225

147. JOHN PAPPAS: 18,100

148. SALVATORE BUSACCA: 16,500

149. JOHN DOLAN: 12,125

150. STEPHEN CELESTE JR: 10,450

151. CHRISTOPHER BONITA: 8,475

152. BRONISLAV BEREZOVSKY: 6,800

153. NEVILLE DARRELL: 6,550

BACK FROM BREAK

Players rush to the Cafeteria to gobble up pizza, hot dogs and ice-cream during a 10-minute break.

Level 5 has started, back to the felt...

INTERDONATO GIVES BACK

Championship Event

After the crazy hand that gave Andrew Interdonato the chip lead of the tournament, he got right back into it with is opponent who stood on a 60k stack.

This time Interdonato had AA. After the flop and turn, his opponent, who had Q's was drawing to two outs. The money went in on the turn.

The river however, brought a sick sick Q and Interdonato lost half of his stack. He is back down to 60k and we are looking for the player who was the beneficiary of a river 2 outer.

The table broke before we saw the hand was given the information by the dealer.

They are just coming back from break and are heading into Level 5 where the blinds stay at 100/200 but a 25 ante kicks in.

CHAMP IN THE FIELD

WSOP Main Event Champion, Robert Varkonyi, was lucky enough to capture poker's biggest crown. Unfortunately, some of the grinders in Borgata's Ballroom weren't quite as fortunate. These guys have impressive poker careers with some serious skill on the felt, but fell short with the bracelet on the line.

The "Oh, so close Main Event" players still alive in today's field:

Luis Nargentino - 29th place (2009)
Dean Hamrick - 10th place (2008)
Rhett Butler - 5th place (2006)
Al Krux - 6th place (2004)

SICK HAND

Championship Event

Over at table 60, I entered the action with a flop of [Kd Td 9d] and about 20k sititng in the middle with 4 players holding cards.

The first player to pick up the action had shoved his entire stack and a mid position player was tanking. He eventually made his decision and shoved his money in the middle. Without hesitation the other two players both shipped in their stacks and the dealer asked everyone to turn up their hands.

Position 1 showed Jd 3d
Position 2 showed Th Ts
Position 3 showed 5d 7d
and Andrew Interdonato showed Ad 8d for the flopped nuts.

Yes, you counted right. 9 diamonds in hole cards and an all diamond flop on a full table.

The only hope was for Position 2 to have a board pair, or for position 1 to hit a Qd for a straight flush.

The board ran out Jh 3c to give Interdonato a huge pot of over 150k and the early chip lead.

MIKE CASTALDO - SHORT STACK SURVIVOR

Championship Event

If Mike Castaldo wants to make a big run in the Championship Event, he's going to have to use his comeback skills to duplicate his feat in the $1,500 tournament. In that tournament he battled back from holding a single 5,000 chip to finish 9th. Earlier today he found himself sitting with just 6,100 after two big hands. In back-to-back hands he picked up pocket aces, both times they went down in crackling flames. First to KJ that outflopped his rockets, the second time QQ rivered the set. True to form he has bounced back and now sitting close to the starting stack of 25,000.

FLOOR!

Championship Event

Byron (left) & Tyshan Make the Call

The large field for Day 2A has the floor supervisors handling a lot of disputes, questions and controversies.

As the periodic cries of "floor" are heard through out the Event Center, the staff is fleet of foot and putting out the fires quickly and professionally.

A couple of scenarios include having to run a flop twice, a question on whether a player said "call or four," and players getting heated trying to determine how much an opponent has behind a big bet.

Things are running as smoothly as possible consider there's close to 700 players in Sunday's field competing for a prize pool of nearly $3.4 million.

Level 4 (100/200 continues)

BILLY GAZES CRUISING

Billy Gazes is sitting on a very nice stack of around 80k when he got into it three ways with Aces. His two other opponents had K's and Q's respectively. No one busted on the hand but Gazes chipped up nicely.

Michael V hit a nice hand as well two tables over from Gazes. He just didn't realize how nice it was until he flat called his opponents river bet.

With a flop of [As 8s 3c] V re raised his opponents opening bet. He was quickly called and the turn came a [Jc]. His opponent led out again and this time V flat called. The river brought a [4c], and v faced a $7k bet from his aggressor into a pot of about 14k.

V grimaced and pulled a grey and two orange out of his stack. He rolled them around a bit and finally threw them into the pot like he was kissing them good bye. His opponent opened up with 8h3d for a flopped two pair. V clapped his hands together and celebrated a little bit and showed Ac 8c for a bigger two pair, but also the stone lock mortal nuts by rivering the flush.

One of the players not in the hand realized his mistake and noted that there was no way V even saw the flush. V agreed and mentioned how he should probably change to sun glasses with a lesser tint.

They are about 3 min from the level 4 where blinds move to $100/$200.

1,018 PLAYERS IN WPT CHAMPIONSHIP

Championship Event

The official entrant numbers are in for the 2009 Borgata Poker Open WPT Championship. 692 players registered to play today bringing our grand total for Day 1a and 1b up to 1,018 total. That will generate a $3,359,400 prizepool when the math is complete. We are standing by for the official payout numbers.

Random chip counts while walking the room:

Bo Toft - 35,000
Manny Patel - 35,000
Roy Winston - 31,000
Eric Siegel - 31,000
Ted Lawson - 23,000
John D'Agostino - 21,000
Lacey Jones - 20,000
Jason Young - 14,400
Kevin "Lucko" O'Brien - 3,000

LEVEL 3 - FIVES ARE WILD

Championship Event

Three Borgata Babes

Event 2 winner Anthony Licastro (Long Valley, NY) is back in his favorite spot, Table 1 - Seat 5.

"I can't believe I got it again," he says during a Day 1B break. Licastro had the same draw at his first table of the tournament on his way to the title. At the final table: Table 1 - Seat 5.

The key hand to winning the event? Ace 5. The flop? A 5 5.

After two levels of play of the Championship Event, Licastro's chip count? 45k.

Level 3 (75/150) continues.

Licastro Glad to be at Table 1, Seat 5

BRIAN LEMKE BUSTO

Championship Event

2009 World Series of Poker $5,000 NLHE Champion Brian Lemke has hit the rail in the Championship Event. The Borgata regular found himself on the shortstack before the end of Level 2 after his flopped straight was beat on the river. He came back from the break with a quick double up but was knocked out when he gambled with the nut flush draw.

BERNARD LEE

Bernard Lee is in the field today sitting at table #34. Among his poker accomplishments, Bernard is also a columnist for the Boston Herald and co hosts ESPN's Inside Deal.

You can check out his stuff on the link above. Currently he is sitting on about $38k.

FIRST BREAK OF THE DAY

Championship Event

Take a bigger field on Day 1b, add in a few NFL games on the big screens plus a crowd just waking up and you'll understand the energy in the room is amped up more than yesterday. The bustouts seem to be running at a much slower pace but we did lose a player in the early portion of Level 1.

Matt "All in at 420" Stout took down a sizable pot versus Roy Winston when his T9 flopped good versus 99. Lacey Jones got away from a hand in a multi-way pot against a player who flopped the nuts, from the action we surmise she was most likely holding a set. Jason Young was almost literally in a battle with the 8-seat player, but calmer heads prevailed. Brian Lemke is on the shortstack after his flopped straight was run down by the river boat. He plans to ship it in for a double-up or call it a day. Deep Stack winner Taemee Feuer just shook her head when I checked on her status, the two players on the other end of the table are Matt Stout and Roy Winston.

As the players head off on their first 15 minute break of the day, here are some random chip counts from around the room.

Bill Gazes - 65,000
Shawn "sprstoner" Glines - 40,000
Kevin "Lucko" O'Brien - 38,500
Matt "All in at 420" Stout - 34,000
Tuan Gheban - 28,000
Gavin Smith - 20,000
Taemee Feuer - 16,000
Brian Lemke - 7,500

LATE ARRIVALS

Championship Event

30 minutes in Level 2 and we have more late arrivals to the big show. Lacey Jones made her grand entrance into the Event Center. After sitting down and signing the WPT TV waiver, she almost immediately picked up AA to pick up a nice chunk of chips.

Jason Young and Matt "All in at 420" Stout have taken their seats. The two have a "challenge" between them concerning the number of cashes and amount won throughout 5 events of the series. Stout currently leads the race but not by a large margin.

John D'Agostino, Allen "Chainsaw" Kessler, Mike Sica, Dean Hamrick, Brian "SN8WMAN" Hawkins, Chris Bell, Ted Lawson and "Action Bob" Hwang are now slinging chips with the rest of the field.

BIG NUMBERS

Championship Event

Near the end of Level 1 and we have some preliminary numbers. Tournament Director Tab Duchateu made an announcement that today's field will push us over 1,000 players for the event. It's quite a difference between yesterday's 326 and the packed house today.

Players still have the 75 minutes of Level 2 plus the break to register.

CHAMPIONSHIP EVENT #18 DAY 1B

Players are just taking their seats for Day 1b of the 2009 Borgata Poker Open WPT Championship. It's easy enough to see that this field will be much bigger than yesterday as at least 70 tables are manned and players turning over their tournament cards to the dealers.

An initial walk-through the crowd we've already located quite a few interesting names. 2009 World Series $5,000 event winner and Borgata regular Brian Lemke has entered the field. The winner of this year's Deep Stack tournament, Taemee Feuer, is making her first return trip to the tournament area since winning.

Other notables on our first pass include:

Gavin Smith
Bill Gazes
Roy Winston
Jason Young
Bill Blanda
Will "The Thrill" Failla
Joe Stenalla
Al Riccobono
Gordon Eng
Eric Seigel
James Boyd
Manny Patel
Tuan Gheban
"Joey the B" Brooks
Al Krux
Kevin "Lucko" O'Brien
Shawn "sprstoner" Glines

We'll be back shortly with more names and action as Day 1b kicks off.