Well, I’m back from a rainy week off and lo and behold, The Tropicana’s bad beat is still out there, now topping $532,000.

This jackpot has been over $500K for nearly a month and with the Trop putting 70 percent of the jackpot vig into the next jackpot, you have to figure when this finally hits, it’s going to reset to $300K or better.

And since there was no weekend update, here’s the bad beat jackpot rundown:

Thae Caesars Combined jackpot is at $165,217, the Taj Mahal’s Jackpot is at $172,184 and The Borgata’s bad beat is at $320,349.

And, in case you missed it, the winner of The Borgata Open Championship was Bobby Oboodi, a newcomer who had less than $100K in live winnings before winning $922,000 in the championship.

Not a bad way to break in.

Oboodi and The Royal Flush Girls

So here’s your final six at the Borgata Open Championship.

The Final Six

They are  Ricky Hale, Fred Goldberg, Jin Hwang, Daniel Buzgon, Bobby Oboodi and Darren Elias.

The six will showdown for the final championship today at 3pm as cameras roll for the World Poker Tour.

The six have outlasted a field of 1,313 and are playing for a first place 922,441.

Here’s the final table chip counts:

Bobby Obbodi – 11,140,000
Fred Goldberg – 11,080,000
Darren Elias – 7,360,000
Dan Buzgon – 4,710,000
Ricky Hale – 2,320,000
Jin Hwang – 2,205,000

And this is what they’re playing for.:

1st   $922,441
2nd  $554,303
3rd   $335,433
4th   $280,925
5th   $230,610
6th   $186,585

Along the way they knocked out some pretty big names. Vanessa Selbst finished 23rd ($18,868), “Miami” John Cernuto was 14th ($35,640) and Will Failla was 11^th ($50,315). Matt Glantz was 12^th also with $50,315.

They’re down to 27 players at The Borgata Open and Will Failla is in the chip lead with about 3.3 million.

Will Failla

That means Failla, who won more than $750K at the WPT’s Legends of Poker Main Event last month, is threatening to take the first two events of the World Poker Tour Season.

“The sick part about it is, I don’t think I knocked out one person all day,” Failla, told the Borgata tournament blog.  ”I just played a couple of big pots and don’t remember knocking anybody out.”

There’s a long way to go, however,  and still in the field is Vanessa Selbst, Matt Glantz and John Cernuto, among others.

However, two previous chip leaders are out — Jeff Madsen, who finished in 60th place ($11,740) and David Williams, who was 31st ($16,352).

100 players get paid in the tournament with the winner taking better than $922,000.

The tournament will play down to a final six today, who will then face of at a televised (taped of course) final table on Friday.

Here’s the top five chip leaders:

1. Will Failla – 3,255,000
2. Doug Kim – 2,686,000
3. Ricky Hale – 2,554,000
4. Darren Elias – 2,547,000
5. Fred Goldberg – 2,176,000

Pro David Williams holds the chip lead at the Borgata Open Championship after Day 2 play with 727,100 in chips, showing again just how deep the field has been at event.

David Williams

Williams, with nearly $8 Million in tournament winnings, is a Vegas-based pro who occasionally come east, playing at The Borgata or the Connecticut casinos.

And, of course, he made his name finishing second to Greg Raymer at the 2004 WSOP.

But with the field as deep as it is, Williams was able to sneak up the leader board past pros such as Vanessa Selbst, John Racener and Will Failla and take the Day 2 lead.

Today’s actions starts with 170 players left competing to make it to the bubble, with the tournament paying the top 100 players. First place will win $922,441, almost $200,000 more than the event paid last year.

That’s largely because this year’s field is a record-setting 1,313 players. Even with 143 players taking advantage of the tournaments Double Play re-buy, (Players that washed out day 1A could re-buy Day 1B), that still means there were more players this year than 2010’s 1,042.

By the way, that’s a World Poker Tour record.

Today’s play should get us to the bubble and tomorrow’s play down to a final six, which will then square off at 3pm Friday for TV coverage and to name a champ.

Here’s the top five chip leaders going into today.

1 David Williams 727,100

2 Maurice Hawkins 646,500

3 David Jones 643,400

4 Miguel Perez 553,800

5 Andrew Blake 534,000

The last two Borgata Open Champions, Dwyte Pilgrim (2010) and Olivier Busquet (2009) have busted out, Jeff Madsen is the Day 1B chip leader with 216,925 in chips and with 1,313 players, the Borgata Open Championship has set a new record for a World Poker Tour event.

Jeff Madsen

You might figure I’d have led with the WPT record, but that was pretty much a given considering the turnout the Open has been seeing this year in all events (more than 1,700 for the opening tournament) and was obvious at the start of play yesterday.

Day 1B saw 853 players turnout, though a significant amount took advantage of the tournament’s Double Play rule and bought in both opening days. Busquet and Pilrim, for example, busted out twice.

Still, the Open breaks its own record of 1,042 set last year at the championship event.

Madsen, who was the Borgata Winter Open Champion last year winning $625,000, told the Borgata’s poker blog that he’s feeling good about playing at the casino and in A.C.

“When you do well at one place there’s a good vibe around it,” said Madsen. “But it’s not all about the money. Yeah it would be great to win $900,000, but for me it’s about the competition and winning and adding to the resume.”

Going into today, he’s No. 2 in chips behind Day 1A chip leader Abraham Korotki, of Bethany Beach Del. with 260,100 in chips.

About 780 players are left.

Here’s the top five chip leaders:

1. ABRAHAM KOROTKI: 260,100

2. JEFFREY MADSEN: 216,925

3. ALEX TODD: 200,000

4. VANESSA SELBST: 198,675

5. EDGAR LEMUS-ARGUETA: 191,925

As expected, Day 1A of the Borgata Open brought out some big names as 460 players turned out for the first of two opening days Sunday. Day 1B for the $3,300 + $200 event is today.

Vanessa Selbst

Among the chip leaders after Day 1A is Vanessa Selbst at number two with 198,675 in chips.

Also among the day 1A chip leaders is Will “The Thrill” Failla, who won more than $750K at the WPT’s Legends of Poker Main Event last month, the first WPT event of the season. Failla is a common site at Borgata events and told WPT.com that he calls Atlantic City and the casino home.

He was in fourth on the chip count with 189K.

The chip leader is Abraham Korotki, of Bethany Beach De. with 260,100 in chips. Korotki is also an experienced A.C. player with numerous cashes in the resort and close to $700,000 in tournament winnings. Much of those winnings came form a 1^st at the 2006 WSOP Circuit event at Harrah’s, where he won $433K.

Some other notables seen on Day 1A are Dwyte Pilgrim, Maria Ho,  Roy Winston, Gordon Eng, Chris Bell, Steve Danneman, John Racener, Jeff Madsen  … It’s kind of a long list.

Still, many of these pros, such as Pilgrim, will be re-buying today.

Even though the championship event is underway, there are still some other tournaments today including a $270 + $30 + $100 Black Chip Bounty NLH at 3pm and a $150 + $30 NLH at 6pm.

Meanwhile, The Tropicana’s bad beat jackpot apparently survived the weekend (unless it hit late Sunday) and is at $516,000.

So it’s a busy Monday in A.C.

This weekend belongs to the Borgata Open, which starts its championship event Sunday, Sept. 18 and Monday, Sept. 19. (Day 1A and 1B) and will run until at least Thursday.

Lacey Jones

The event carries a $3,300 + $200 buy-in and a $3 Million guaranteed prize pool. Considering the high turnouts the Open has been getting, it’s a safe bet the field will cover the guarantee.

Starting tonight (Sept. 16) at 7pm, there are eight satellite tournaments for the championship, most at $200 + $50. That’s right, eight. Go here for the schedule.

Saturday’s main event is a Six-Max No Limit Hold’em, $1,000 + $90, two-day event, starting at 11am.

The Tropicana’s bad beat jackpot is also still out there at $513,000, which has got to be putting quite a strain on the room and the poker room staff. While it’s climbing at a slow rate, The 35-table room has been in bad beat mania mode for nearly a month now.

Sooner or later, something has got to give.

The city’s remaining bad beat jackpots are all climbing back from recent hits. The Taj Mahal jackpot is at $113,000, The Borgata is at $183,000 with the small bad beat jackpot at about $46,000 and the Harrah’s combined bad beat jackpot is at $137,000.

We’re rounding those off, of course.

And don’t forget Sunday’s birthday party for poker player Christina Lindley, with guests Maria Ho and Lacey Jones (our update girl this weekend), Sunday Night at MIXX Nightclub at the Borgata.

It’s championship time in A.C. grinders. Get yourself a chair.

Never say poker players don’t know how to party. With The Borgata Open underway, two events are planned Atlantic City nightclubs with pro players.

Lacey Jones

The most intriguing will be at the Borgata’s MIXX nightclub, Sunday Sept. 18, after the first day of play of the Open Championship event. Pro Christina Lindley celebrates her 28^th birthday with a party (Sunday actually is her birthday).

Also on hand will be pros Maria Ho and Lacey Jones.

Now, of course, this blog has never been known to gratuitously run photos of hot female poker players (What?), but really, wow.

The party starts at 10pm, which should be late enough for first day action to have wound down. First day action stops after level eight, and the levels are an hour and 15 minutes, with breaks, so, well, it’s pretty close. Of course, Day 1B is Monday, so they may be playing either day.

Maria Ho

On Saturday, there is also an “Epic Saturday” event at The Pool at Harrah’s hosted by Olympic swimmer Michael Phelps, who has often been spotted playing at Borgata events. There’s a good chance he’ll be in the championship event, but who knows? Still, that doesn’t warrant a pic, under the circumstances.

As for the cover charge for these events, I have no clue, but I’m sure it’s much more than a poor poker blogger can afford.

A great story has come out of The Borgata Open that once again proves that Yogi Berra was a frickin’ genius. We’re of course referring to his famed poker advice “A hand ain’t over ‘till it’s over.”

Yogi knows

OK, I paraphrase.

But a player in the Open’s $400 + $50 Pot Limit Omaha H/L tournament found out — well not the hard way — but he found out how true that is.

According to the Borgata’s tournament blog, player Douglas Hamshaw was all in for about $7k and was holding 2234 when the flop came out as three high cards.

So he figured he was screwed, got up and left the table.

“I was going for the low and when I saw that (the flop) I gave up,” he later told The Borgata.

Turns out that those high cards included a set of jacks, with the last one coming on the river. Lo and behold, Hamshaw’s deuces gave him a boat and he won the hand.

So a $21K pot was put in front of his seat and Borgata officials, not exactly armed with a lot of info on the guy, went looking for him.

The next thing you know, the bubble breaks and then his stack lasted until the end of the day’s play, when Hamshaw was finally found at a slot machine.

He’s one of 17 players left going into today’s play.

I had just lost a big pot and had so few chips that I cashed it in mentally,” said Hamshaw. “The lesson is stay until the hand is really over.”

Yogi already knew that.

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…)