The first results are in from the Borgata Fall Poker Open, which has begun to crown event winners.

Musumeci

The opening event of the Open, a $400 Deepstack, no limit tournament drew 970 players with re-buys and posted a total buy-in of $388,000.

The winner was amateur Michael Lydon of Missle Village NY, who wins $84,682.

As always, there may be agreed on splits in these tournaments among the players, but we just go by the official results.

The event did draw some top East Coast pros including Josh Brikis, Eric Siegel, Keith Crowder, Kevin Saul and Mike ‘Little Man’ Sica.

In the Open’s second event, there was a notable win for Amanda Musumeci,  of Philly.

Musumeci has a lot of online experience (under the name manderbutt) and is a Bodog pro, but picks up her first live win in the $260 buy-in tournament. The total buy-in for the event was just under $125,000. Musumeci gets about $31K for the win.

Musumeci came in 62^nd at this year’s WSOP main event and was the second to last woman left standing in the field.

The Tropicana’s bad beat jackpot survived the weekend and is now sitting at about $509,000.

So that’s about a $3K pickup over the weekend. But we’ve been all through that as the jackpot is going to climb slowly from here on in. So the news is basically just that its still there and didn’t hit.

Meanwhile, The Borgata Open has chugged along nicely and put up some more winners over the weekend.

Event 7 Champ Kenneth Moyer

Though none of the events have approached the crazy record of more than 1,700 that turned out for the opening event, the Borgata offers a nice mix of tournament action and players usually can pick from two of three events, of maybe just play cash games.

Remember The Borgata’s bad beat jackpot, now at $465,000, is flirting with a new record for the casino in its own right and is climbing much faster than the Trop’s. The jackpot picked up nearly $26K over the weekend, obviously juiced by the amount of players in town for the open playing Borgata cash games.

I gotta tell you, I don’t think the Trop is taking the right angle here, even if their smaller room (35 tables), is packed anyway. The Borgata could top their jackpot by the end of the week.

But for players, who cares? Two huge jackpots are better than one. (more…)

Two events are in the books at The Borgata Open including the first event of the open, which may have set an entry record for an Atlantic City tournament.

We say may have, because we have absolutely no idea where to check on it. But 1,718 entries were made in the $400 + $50 event, which is the highest total for a tournament we’ve heard since the blog started. And that is a record for the Borgata Open.

Maglio

The winner was Vincent Maglio of Revere Ma., who has some Vegas and Foxwoods cashes on his record, but seems to have his first A.C. cash (in major tournament action anyway) and his highest pay day ever at $140,582.

The tournament had a guaranteed $300,000 prize pool, but with the massive turnout more than doubled that with a total buy-in of more than $687K.

Second went to Joe Wertz of Montoursville Pa., who’s been a regular at Borgata and A.C. events since 2008. He wins $87,989.

The Open also has finished Event 3, a $300 + $50 Omaha event that attracted 190 players. The winner was amateur Yuebin Guo of New York who wins $19,351.

Event 2, a $350 + $50 + $100 bounty tournaments continues today with 23 of 513 players still standing and Event 4, a two-day, $500 + $60 No limit event starts  at 11am.

I took a spin by The Borgata Thursday to get a feel for the summer open and I have to report, things are looking pretty good.

The room was packed, the casino’s first experiment with a bounty tournament seemed to be a big hit with players and there was just a lot of excitement in the room. All on a sweltering early June day that made the Borgata’s air conditioning system the most popular factor in the tournament

Again, the summer open isn’t one of the casino’s really big events as the World Series of Poker is underway in Vegas, but it’s astonishing how consistent the player’s name are in the results boards for the Borgata’s seasonal opens.

The casino really has the knack of breeding player loyalty and the summer open seems to be specifically aimed at the casino’s regulars.

Anyway, the first event of the open is in the books. (more…)

The Borgata Summer Open started off fairly well Wednesday as 829 players (including re-buys) turned out for the first event, a $350 buy-in Deepstack event.

Undoubtedly, some of those players were looking to take advantage of the casino’s air conditioning as well, because man it’s hot here in A.C. right now. Yesterday set a record for the date in the city at 98 degrees.

The event has a total buy-in of $290,150 .

The chip leader going into today’s second day is Kenneth Smaron of Philly with 1,214,000 in chips.

Some notables in the field include Sheree Bykofsky of A.C., still alive with 94K and Gordon Eng, of Clifside Park, with 105K in chips.

The bubble was broken at the tournament at 81 players and the remaining 48 are all in the money.

Today, the casino launches the first of its “bounty” games, where each player puts up an extra $25 as a bounty. Whenever a player is sent to the rail, that $25 chip goes to the player that took them out. The $200 + $30 + $25 (the bounty) No Limit Hold’em tournament starts at 11am.

Quick note: The Borgata’s blog is saying the bounty is $20, but previous schedules say $25. So it’s one or the other.

(more…)

It was another Brooklynite win in A.C. at The World Series of Poker circuit main event at Caesars this weekend as player Brian Ali took the tournament and a $139,284 cash.

Brian Ali

As you might expect, the boxing metaphors are running hot and heavy with Ali “knocking out” his “heavyweight” competition and so on. Fortunately, we aren’t above that sort of thing.

So Ali KO’d a field of 442 entries in the event with a prize pool of $633,110.

Those numbers are actually pretty good, up substantially over the 174 players that played last year’s Caesars circuit main event. Of course, The WSOP reorganized this year setting all circuit main events at a $1,500 buy-in. Last year’s Caesars main event was a $4,900 buy-in played during lousy weather.

More applicable was the $1,500 main event at Harrah’s Resort in December (as opposed to the event’s $10K regional championship), which attracted only 352 players.

Ali earned the “knockout” references precisely because that’s what he did in a dominant performance that sent several opponents to the canvas, er rail.

“This is so exciting for me to win this,” Ali told the WSOP in a post-tournament interview.  “I was just thinking about this last night that I could win the same amount of money buying a lottery ticket or something like that.  But it would not mean the same at all.  This victory is something I really had to earn. I had to beat some really, really tough poker players, not just here but over the past three days.  So, I’m flying high right now.”

It’s been a good week for Ali who had a third place finish in event 1 of the circuit events, good for $19,627 and also a 15^th place at The Borgata $500,000 Deepstack event held March 5, good for a $4,861.

Ok, that’s a pretty good run.

Second place went to John Andress of Doylestown Pa., who wins $86,071.

Here’s the final hand recap from the WSOP:

When heads-up play began, Ali enjoyed about a 5 to 2 chip lead over Andress.  The challenger Andress managed to double up once, which brought him very near to Ali in chips.  But that was as close as Andress would get to what turned out to be an elusive tournament victory.

The final hand was played out as follows:

Ali – 7h, 4c
Andress – Kh, 6d
Flop – Kc, 6h, 5h
Turn – 8s
River – 3s

All the chips went into the pot on the turn.  Ali modestly bet out 200,000, with a completed straight.  Andress shoved all-in with two pair.  Ali immediately called.  A brick on the river ended the tournament.  Ali ended up winning with an eight-high straight.  Andress had two pair – kings over sixes.  Ali was declared the champion.

Ali, 51, was awarded an automatic seat valued at $10,000 into the season-ending National Championship finale, which is to be televised from Caesars Palace in Las Vegas in May.

Two more events are in the books at the World Series of Poker circuit events and we have the results.

Fishberg (on left)

Event 8 of the circuit was a $1,000 buy-in that attracted 185 players and a prize pool of $179,450 (after the 3 percent dealer fee).

The winner was Gregg “Fish” Fishberg of Willow Grove Pa., who takes home $46,657. The 35-year-old pro has been seen before in A.C., having taken a first place in a Deepstack No Limit Tournament at the Borgata Summer Open last year, good for about $84K, and an about $116,000 cash at the 2008 summer open. He also made the bubble at the WSOP championship last year with a 392^nd place finish.

As we got closer to today’s main event, some bigger names were also in the mix. This tournament included former WSOP gold bracelet winner Michael “Little Man” Sica (2003) and WSOP Circuit gold ring winners Alex Rocha, Mike Summers, and Roland Israelashvili – who is the defending champion from the 2010 Main Event at Caesars Atlantic City.

The final hand of the tournament, heads up against Jeff Manning of Chesapeake Va., went totally Fishberg’s way.

Here’s the rundown from the WSOP:

When heads-up play began, chip counts were close to even.  The two finalists battled back and forth for about 20 minutes when the last hand came suddenly.  The final hand was played as follows:

Manning – Qc Jh
Fishberg – Th 4h
Flop – Ts 4d 4s
Turn – 7c
River – 8d

All the chips went in on after the flop.  Fishberg flopped an absolute dream – a full house.  Manning held two overcards.  Fishberg lead out with a small bet.  Manning decided to make a very bold move by raising all in with this two overcards.  Naturally, Fishberg called instantly.

Event 9 of the circuit events was another $300 + $50 No Limit event that drew 288 players and a prize pool of $83,808.

The win went to Vincent Basilicata of Queens, who takes home $20,133.

The World Series of Poker Circuit events offered up a Limit Omaha High event Tuesday, and as you might expect in this No Limit Hold’em world, it wasn’t exactly a barnburner. Still, the WSOP deserves props for offering an event for purists.

The tournament, a $300 buy-in, attracted 90 players and a prize pool of  $26,190. But despite what the WSOP describes as a graying field, the winner was a 27-year-old player from Pittsburgh, Mun Nguyen who wins $8,380. It’s Nguyen’s second cash at the circuit events as he had a second place finish in Event 4, a $500 + $70 No Limit tournament, good for a $25,451 cash.

More importantly, it gives him valuable points in the WSOP’s point system and leaves him in a good spot to nab a seat at the circuit championship in Las Vegas in May.

Some previous results include a win for Travel “T” Thomas, a Buffalo NY business owner who took Event 6, a $750 No Limit buy-in that paid him $30,455. The event drew 155 players and a prize pool of $112,762.

While it was a Monday event with a high buy-in, you have to think Caesars is getting a little disappointed with the turnouts for the circuit events. Hopefully Friday’s main event will break up the funk.

The Borgata’s $500,000 Guaranteed Deepstack Tournament, played Saturday to Tuesday seems to have been a decent counterpoint to the World Series of Poker circuit events underway at Caesars, attracting 308 players to the $1,500 buy-in tournament (That buy-in equals the amount of the circuit’s main event March 11, including the $150 tournament fee).

Still, the tournament didn’t cover the $500,000 guarantee and The Borgata had to kick in about $38K.

That’s pretty understandable considering how competitive last weekend was. Along with two circuit “ring” events,” there were also satellites for the main event and secondary tournaments at Caesars. And of course the Taj Mahal’s monster bad beat was also sucking in players.

The Borgata event went to Las Vegas pro Chris Tryba, who wins 131,217. The cash brings his total winnings to more than $776,000. The event paid 36 players.

Here’s the list of the top five finishers:

1. Christopher Tryba (Las Vegas NV): $131,257
2. Seunghwan Lee (Albertson, NY): $72,921
3. Jay Shumsey (Astoria Queens, NY): $45,211
4. Joshua Supsak (Linwood, NJ): $36,461
5. Eracles Panayiotou (Toms River, NJ): $28,196

The World Series of Poker circuit events took on a “frat house” air Monday as Event 5, a $300 buy-in No Limit tournament played down to a final table.

Cho

According to the WSOP, “Players screamed for cards. Winners pumped fists. Losers slammed cards on the table. And then there were the railbirds, a goofy gander of deadbeats who picked their favorite player-finalists and turned the competition into a circus.”

And yet, a winner merged. An unknown player, Jaeik Cho, won $29,843.

Cho is a 21-year-old college student from Tokyo, Japan. Although he is Korean by decent, Cho grew up in Japan and only speaks Japanese and English. He is currently visiting the U.S. as an undergraduate student attending William and Mary University in Virginia.

Cho’s previous success has mostly been online.

“Poker is not really that big in Japan right now,” Cho said afterward. “But it’s doing well in Macau and is going to eventually be very big. I think poker is going to be huge in Asia someday.”

We didn’t get a player count of the tournament, but with a prize pool of 138,807, we think that’s about 465 players, which is pretty solid turnout for a circuit event.

Cho went into the final heads up showdown with Oliver Entine of Philly, another unkown, who won $18,451 for second place. Cho enjoyed about a 5 to 1 chip advantage over Entine and put him away by hitting two pair after Entine went all in with ace, king, but saw no help on the board.

Today’s ring event is a $300 + $50 Limit Omaha tournament starting at noon.