As we say goodbye to 2010, it looks like there will be pretty normal poker tournament action in the city for the holiday weekend.

Only the Borgata is advertising a special New Year’s Eve tournament, a $200 + $30 buy-in Deepstack Turbo, No Limit Hold’em game that starts at 3pm.

The Taj Mahal also continues its satellites for the $10K main event of the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure at the Atlantic Casino & Resort in the Bahamas Jan. 7-16.

$1,600 + $50 satellites are scheduled for noon Friday and Saturday.

Everything else seems to be on a regular schedule.

The Caesars Entertainment combined bad beat is starting to get hefty again and was sitting at about $380,000 Thursday. The Tropicana’s bad beat started the week at about $140,000 with the Taj Mahal at about $166,000 Thursday. The full Borgata bad beat jackpot (quad 10s minimum) was at about $238,000 with the lesser bad beat (quad deuces to quad nines) at about $60,000.

It’s been a great opening year for The Real Deal and thanks to everybody who found us (pretty amazing in itself) and stuck with us. In 2011, we only hope to expand our coverage and reports on A.C.’s poker and gambling scene.

Here’s to a Happy New Year.

‘Tis the season for all those end of year lists. You know, who died, top news stories and so on.

Dwyte Pilgrim, one of this year's big winners

In this week’s poker column, we’ve compiled a list of the top Atlantic City Poker stories of the year. Mostly, it’s about players winning a lot of cash, including four monster bad beat jackpots that topped $500K.

The Borgata Open in September remains the city’s premiere event, but there were winners all year long.

Check out the column here.

We’re back, dug out of the snow and ready to go.

Except with A.C. still in a snowy funk, and this being the slow, in-between Christmas and New Year’s week, we’re not exactly brimming over with news items.

Still, we do have one more result to report from the World Series of Poker circuit events which wrapped up last week at Harrah’s Resort.

Event 11, a $300 buy-in No limit tournament was the last ring event of the circuit events. The winner was Jason Stone, a 30-year-old paramedic from Hartsdale, NY, who beat out 288 players and wins $20,184. That’s not a bad turnout for the last event, post Chris Bell’s Regional Championship win.

A.C.’s own Chris Reslock, who won a record tying fourth circuit ring in a stud tournament, made it to the final table but had to settle for a ninth place finish and $1,852.

The next WSOP circuit event in Atlantic City is March 2-13 at Caesars. The events do not include a $10,000 regional championship event, but does include a $1,500 main event March 11.

With the World Series of Poker circuit events now over, the tournament poker action in the city will be slight over the Christmas holiday.

Have a Happy

The Borgata has scheduled a $100 + $20 No Limit Tournament for Dec. 24 at 11am and a $200 + $30 tournament for noon Christmas Day.

The Tropicana is offering its regular schedule, $50 + $12 No Limit at 11:15am and $100 + $22 No Limit at 7:15am, both days.

The Taj Mahal continues its satellites for the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure starting Sunday, Dec. 26 with a $1,600 + $50 main satellite at noon.

The Caesars Entertainment casinos — Harrah’s Resort, Caesars, Showboat and Bally’s — have not posted any changes to their regular schedules. That doesn’t mean there aren’t any, just that they haven’t announced any.

The bad beats going into the long weekend are $333,786 for the Caesars’ Entertainment combined bad beat, $280,557 for the Borgata’a full bad beat, quad 10s or better, and $70K for the small bad beat (quad deuces to nine), and about $132,000 for the Taj Mahal. The Tropicana’s bad beat was at $130,839 as of Wednesday.

That’s some nice holiday money in there.

Have a Merry, and Lucky Christmas.

The poker gods giveth and they taketh away. Chris Bell stayed around long enough to catch them in a giving mood again as he takes top spot in the regional championship at the World Series of Poker circuit events at Harrah’s Resort.

The win nets him $358,295.

The Champ

The win comes just months after another win at the WSOP in June, which led to Bell disclosing that after an extended bad run that had exhausted his bankroll, he was considering quitting the game. As the father of two daughters, the former Real Estate agent from Raliegh N.C. couldn’t see continuing.

But as outlined in a WSOP press release, Bell got a sponsorship from poker pro and good friend, Erick Lindgren, who also gave him the moral support to continue.

First came a win at the WSOP in a $5,000 buy-in Pot-Limit Omaha Hi-Low Event, good for $327,000 and now this win. He also squeezed in a $3,745 cash at The Borgata Open in September, which he probably uses to hit the buffets or something.

Now, Bell is officially the comeback kid.

According to the WSOP: “Bell played one of the best games of his career, slowly climbing up the leader board to end day two as the chip leader. He stayed near the top of the chip counts the rest of the way, and ultimately defeated 2009 WSOP Circuit Harrah’s Atlantic City Main Event champion, Chris Klodnicki heads up to earn the title of WSOP Circuit Eastern Regional Champion.”

No. 2 again

For Klodnicki, it’s another big number two finish in an A.C. event this year for the Voorhees resident. He had a $92,000 cash at The Borgata Spring Open’s East Coast Championship earlier this year. He takes home $221,452 for this finish.

Here’s a rundown of the final hands:

With the two remaining players about even in chips, heads up play was expected to go on for at least a couple of hours, especially as evidenced by the two’s thoughtful play in the early stages of the final table. However, Klodnicki turned up the aggression a bit, which pushed a number of pots his way, but ultimately got the best of him on a flop of [5d][3h[6c] after which Klodnicki fired out 225,000 holding [4d][6h].

After a few minutes, Bell announced that he was all-in. With top pair and an open straight draw, Klodnicki made the call. Bell tabled pocket threes for the flopped set, which held through the [9d] turn and [Qc] river. At first, it was unclear whether Bell had Klodnicki covered, but after doing some chip inventory, it was determined that Bell did indeed have more chips and was declared the champion.”

Here’s the final results:

Chris Klodnicki takes the chip lead into the final table of the World Series of Poker Regional Championship today, but Day two chip leader Chric Bell is right behind him.

Klodnicki

Klodnicki, from Voorhees, is a regular at A.C. tournaments and won last year’s Harrah’s circuit main event, then a $5,000 event, winning about $216,000. He also had a second place this year at The Borgata Spring Open East Coast Championship, good for an about $92,000 cash.

Some props should also go out to Matt Waxman of Parkland Fla., who went out in 10^th place. The 25-yer-old Waxman, was surely in the tournament because he won $117,797 in this year’s circuit main event (now a $1,500 buy-in) last week. His 10^th place finish was good for $26,232.

Other notable eliminations include Beth Shak, who finished in 11^th place and Victor Ramdin, who was the 12^th place finisher. Each was also paid $26,232.

Play resumes today at noon. Here’s the final nine and chip counts:

Seat 1: Chris Bell – 706,000

Chris Bell is a former real estate investor from Raleigh, NC. He graduated from North Carolina State University in 1994 with a degree in business and is married with twin daughters. This past summer, Bell won event #46, the $5,000 Omaha hi-lo event at the 2010 World Series of Poker. He has over $750,000 in WSOP earnings and over $2.5 million in overall tournament earnings.

Seat 2: Micah Raskin – 594,000

Micah Raskin is the president of both a direct marketing company and a software company. Raskin holds a Bachelor of Business Administration from Baruch College. Originally from New York City, he currently lives in Old Westbury, NY.

Seat 3: Ketan Pandya – 377,000

Pandya is a project manager from Piscataway, NJ. The 32-year-old was born in New Delhi, India. He is married with three children and describes himself as a loving husband and caring father who is ready for the poker world. His hobbies are poker and babysitting.

Seat 4: Nicholas Mitchell – 332,000

Nicholas Mitchell is a 22-year old poker player from Costa Mesa, CA. This past summer, at the 2010 WSOP, Mitchell made the final table of event #3, $1,000 no-limit hold’em, finishing in 5^th place.

Seat 5: Todd Terry – 307,000

Todd Terry is a former criminal defense attorney from Hoboken, NJ. Terry is a graduate of Harvard University with a JD from NYU law school. He gave up his law career a few years ago to pursue poker full time and in 2007, placed second in event #10 of that year’s WSOP. Terry currently has over 30 lifetime cashes and $1.5 milion in career tournament earnings.

Seat 6 – Andy Frankenberger – 230,000

Andy Frankenberger is a former equity derivatives trader from New York, NY where he worked on wall street for 14 years, most of them for JP Morgan. He holds dual degrees in Economics and Russian from Duke University. This year alone, Frankenberger has racked up over one million in tournament earnings. His hobbies include running, tennis and playing the piano.

Seat 7 – Jason Burt – 579,000

Jason Burt is a professional poker player from Marina Del Ray, CA. He holds a bachelors in mechanical engineering from the California Institute of Technology. He has a few cashes to his credit, but hopes to make today his breakthrough performance. His hobbies are Rugby, the outdoors and the nightlife.

Seat 8- Chris Klodnicki – 759,000

The chip leader headed to the final table, Chris Klodnicki is from Philadelphia, PA originally from Camden, NJ. In 2007, the Lehigh University graduate placed second in the Razz event at the 2008 World Series of Poker. He has gone on to earn over $1.5 million in lifetime tournament earnings. He is the 2009 Harrah’s Resort AC WSOP Circuit Main Event Champion.

Seat 9 – Seth Fischer – 217,000

Seth Fischer is a poker pro from Berkley, CA originally from Palm Harbor, FL. The Emory University grad finished second in the $2,500 buy-in six handed event of the 2008 World Series of Poker. Fischer describes himself as a nice young son of a rabbi and his hobbies as sports, religion, and music.

It was freakin’ carnage for big name pros Monday at Day 2 of the World Series of Poker circuit events Regional Championship at Harrah’s Resort with names such as Vanessa Selbst (the Day 1 chip leader), Jordan Morgan, “Miami” John Cernuto, Brock Parker, Bernard Lee, Dwyte Pilgrim, Nick Schulman and TJ Cloutier hitting the rail.

The  $9,700 event played down to 27 players going into today’s Day 3 action.

Selbst

Selbst couldn’t continue her amazing 2010 run in this, the last big tournament of the year. Still, she has nearly $3 million in tournament cashes this year, so she’ll probably get by.

The WSOP offered this rundown of the hand that did her in:

“The decisive blow to her stack came in a hand with 2009 Harrah’s Resort WSOP Circuit Main Event champion, Chris Klodnicki

Holding pocket kings on a 10h, Ad, 4d] flop, Selbst called after Klodnicki check-raised all-in. With 8d, 7d]in the hole, the turn came 10d to complete his flush, leaving Selbst crippled. She was eliminated a couple of hands later.”

Bell

Pro Chris Bell, who won a bracelet at this year’s WSOP, is the chip leader with 434,500 in chips. Klodnicki, Victor Ramdin, Beth Shak, Sorel Mizzi, Jonathan Little and this year’s Harrah’s Resort WSOP Circuit Main Event champion, Matthew Waxman are among those who will join Bell on day three.

Fifteen players will collect their share of the $1,279,624 prize pool with the final nine earning an automatic bid into the $1 million freeroll WSOP Circuit National Championship to be held May 27-May 29, 2011 at Caesars Palace Las Vegas.

The Eastern Regional Champion will take home $358,295 and the Regional Championship gold ring.

The final table will be televised on VERSUS Network, marking the first time in three years that a WSOP Circuit Championship will appear on national television. Coverage of this and the other three Regional Championship events will air in mid-2011.

Also today, the final ring event of the circuit events gets underway at 11am. It’s a $300 + $50 No Limit event.

Actually, some of the biggest poker headlines at the moment are about the WSOP circuit events at Harrah’s Resort, which we’ve already covered.

But there is an interesting little tidbit about Miramax announcing a sequel to Rounders, the 1998 film starring Matt Damon, Edward Norton and John Malkovich.

Good poker movies are few and far between, and it’s interesting that this film was released five years before the Moneymaker win at the 2003 WSOP and the poker explosion.

Yet who can forget Malkovich, in his cheesy Russian accent telling Damon he’ll splash the pot in his place any damn time he wants.

Ah, memories.

Anyway: “Miramax and the Weinstein Company today announced an agreement to create sequels to some of Miramax’s best-known properties and to partner on potential new television shows and special edition home entertainment products. The first films to be produced under the agreement will be sequels to Bad Santa, Rounders, and Shakespeare in Love.”

Bad Santa is great news too, but I never made it more than 20 minutes into Shakespeare in Love.

Reports say Damon and Norton will be back and the movie should be in theaters by 2012.

Looking for some A.C. poker results? Man, we got results.

Starting with the WSOP Circuits events.

Event 8 of the circuit events was a $500 buy-in No Limit event held Dec. 16-17 that attracted  271 entrants and a prize pool of $131,435.

Dever

The winner was John Dever of Ephrata Pa, who takes home $31,544.

Dever, an amateur, is getting a lot of headlines for a come from behind win which saw him overcome a nine to one disadvantage in the chip count to make the final table and then win the tournament.

A key double up, when his K-J beat pocket aces as running jacks came on the turn and the river, allowed him to make the final table with only about 247K in chips, the lowest count. The chip leader had more than 1 million.

Dever kept chipping up, but was still out-chipped 3 to 1 when heads-up play started. He faced off against Michael McGuinness of Toms River.

The two seemed inclined to bet out before the flops and Dever doubled up twice on pre-flop all ins before taking the final hand with pocket threes that held up through the river.

“I’m pretty much shocked, but happy,” said Dever.

Ya think?

Event 9 of the WSOP circuit was a seven card stud event held Dec. 17-18, and, as is usual with stud events, the turnout was a light 79 entrants for the $300 buy-in event. The prize pool was $22,989 with first place going to Chris Reslock of A.C. He wins $7,816.

Reslock

Oh, one other thing. Reslock, who has more than $1,7 Million in tournament wins, tied a record with his fourth circuit ring victory, tying him with Men “The Master” Nguyen and Mark “Pegasus” Smith.

The former cab driver is also famous for beating Phil Ivey heads-up in the $10,000 Seven Card Stud World Championship.

This just in — Reslock is good at stud games.

We’ve also have some results from the Borgata’s December mini-series, which provided a little competition in the marina for the WSOP circuit.

The casino’s $1,500 buy in Deepstack event Dec. 17-18 attracted 140 entries for a $210,00 prize pool. The math is a lot easier without the extra 3 percent vig for staff the WSOP charges.

The event was won by David Inselberg of New York who wins $61,110. Inselberg also got an about $2,000 cash last weekend at the Borgata events and this win should put him over $500,000 in lifetime tournament winnings.

Saturday, The Borgata held a $300 buy-in event that drew 171 players and a $51,300 prize pool. The winner was Laurence Goldstein of Medford N.Y. who wins $14,928.

The Regional Championship at the Harrah’s Resort World Series of Poker Circuit events drew in a field of 136, well off the mark of 226 players that played in the first WSOP regional championship in October near Chicago.

Chip leader Selbst

So the quick question is, has the event drawn a disappointing turnout?

Realistically, it depends on how you look at it. First off, the event is a $10,000 buy-in ($9,700 + $300), which isn’t exactly chump change. Not many truly “regional” players can afford that kind of scratch.

Especially considering point two, which is that the event started Sunday, six days before Christmas. The holidays are notoriously slow for all casinos and let’s face it, people simply have other things to do.

So considering all that, you could argue that it’s actually a pretty strong field.

Still, even the WSOP admitted the turnout did not “exceed expectations.”

The 136 entrants did create a prize pool of $1,279,624 (remember, there is an extra 3 percent vig for staff). The winner will take home $358,295.

The event has drawn several big time pros including 2010 WSOP Main Event runner-up John Racener, Andy Bloch, Barry Shulman, Amnon Filippi, Chad Brown, Kathy Liebert, TJ Cloutier, Dwyte Pilgrim and David Baker.

At the end of day one, WSOP bracelet winner Vanessa Selbst (who is having a great year at the tables) had a commanding chip lead over the remaining 92 day one survivors. With 126,375 chips, the Yale Law student will begin day-two play with over 37,000 chips distancing her from her nearest opponent, Isaac Baron. Andy Frankenberger returns to an 84,850 chip stack while Kenny Hicks and Nick Mitchell round off the top five at around 80k each.

Other notables who survived day one include Sorrel Mizzi, Nick Schulman, Pilgrim, Ted Lawson, Cloutier, Filippi, Bernard Lee, and Shannon Shorr.

Play resumes today at noon.