Event 14: Darlene Jackson - Last Woman Standing

$200 + $30 Deep Stack NLH (Re-Entry)

Dalene "Action" Jackson

Darlene had under 100,000 with five big blinds left when May Siu had over a million in chips. After two key double-ups, Darlene grinded her way to the final two tables.

She never played at the same table as May but just outlasted her.

May lost a big hand earlier when her A-10 ran into A-K in the big blind. Her final hand she was practically forced all in holding Q-8 of clubs. Seemed improbable against 2-2 and K-K but she had hope on a flop of 10-J-Q.

Turn 3 didn't help but the river 9 gave her a straight. For a moment she thought her tournament was still alive until realizing K-K hand had a higher straight.

18th place for May Siu and $1,300.

That makes Darlene Jackson our Last Woman Standing. Marguerite said she never doubted even with the 10 to 1 odds. "Just wait until she makes the final table" said her confident friend.

We've featured Darlene before on our blog. Check it out by clicking here.

Event 15: Mystery Man Makes Money

$350 + $50 Pot Limit Omaha H/L

A wild sequence of events sends the final 18 players into the money, including one man who was tracked down on the casino floor so he could bag and tag his chips.

With 20 players remaining Douglas Hamshaw was all in for his last 7k with a 2234 and when the flop is all high cards Hamshaw assumed his tournament was over.

"I was going for the low and when I saw that (the flop) I gave up," said the more than slightly embarrassed Hamshaw.  The other two players in the hand battled for the high when a third jack on the river changed everything.

With Hamshaw out the door, the pot was being pushed across the table when it was realized that Hamshaw had the best hand with a full house, jacks over twos, as neither opponent held a pair.  The 21k pot was put in front of an empty seat as tournament officials scrambled to find Hamshaw, the mystery man.

A few hands later the bubble broke when Jason Staalesen busted a player in 19th place taking their final 4k.  As players bagged and tagged, Hamshaw returned after he was found at a slot machine.

"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."

Hamshaw and the other 17 players return at noon to play for the title.

Event 14: Sorkin Triples

$200 + $30 Deep Stack NLH (Re-Entry)

Jack Sorkin 1,900,000

Jack Sorkin (Rockville, MD) watches an early position shove followed by a re-shove from the cut-off. Jack looks down at a couple of ladies and makes the call from the big blind.

A-Q off vs. A-K off vs. Q-Q

Flop falls K-Q-8 as Sorkin's set hammers nails in two Opponents then comes very close to tripling up.

Kudos on the stacking construction - well done!

Sorkin is now across from his bud Dan Dizenzo - actually there are no friends at the poker table so forget I mentioned it.

Back from the break with blinds at 40,000 / 80,000 - 5,000 antes.

Event 14: Belardo Bouncin Around

$200 + $30 Deep Stack NLH (Re-Entry)

Aaron Belardo 1,100,000

Aaron Belardo has moved more times today than a military brat.

He's amongst the remaining 22 players and is sitting on 1.1 million.

"I was all in twice today and called both times" said Aaron.

I don't think Aaron will mind if he gets bounced to the final table - as long as he doesn't get bounced from it.

Event 15: Overtime?

$350 + $50 Pot Limit Omaha H/L

Twenty players remain, just two from the money as players are on a 10 minute color-up break.  Play was scheduled to end at 2 am, but the plan now is to first break the bubble.

Player, dealers, and floor supervisors are all hoping that the two eliminations happen quickly.

Event 14: Dizenzo Gets Tens Yo

$200 + $30 Deep Stack NLH (Re-Entry)

Dan Dizenzo - 3,170,000

Small blind Dan Dizenzo calls after Irving McKenzie button shoves holding A-K.

Dan tables 10-10 and they see a board of 9-2-Q-Q-2.

Dan (1.7 to start) had Irving (1.4 million) coverd and scoops the motherload.

McKenzie goes out 28th for $922 and mumbes "I ain't won a race all day" as he takes the walk of shame.

Breaking down - three tables of 9 players each.

Event 15: Bubble Watch

$350 + $50 Pot Limit Omaha H/L

Play is tightening up as we're just three spots off the money.

Number of Entrants: 120
Players Remaining: 21
Chips In Play: 1.44 million
Average Stack: 69k (29 BB)
Blinds:1,200/2,400

Total Buy-In: $42,000
First Prize: $12,222
Places Paid: 18

Event 14: Jonathan Jamboree

$200 + $30 Deep Stack NLH (Re-Entry)

Jonathan Chehanske (Howell, NJ) - 3,000,000

Monster pot gives Jonathan Chehanske (Howell, NJ) the current tournament chiplead.

In the last couple orbits Jonathan has managed three knock-outs. The largest came when his KK found a deep stack holding A-K. When the dust settled, Chehanske was scooping a 2,000,000 pot.

The 100K Watermelon chips have made their way into Jonathan's wall of chips.

You might remember Jonathon from his 2011 Borgata Summer Poker Open Event 9 win.

Guys plus May and Darlene are on a break while the floor races off some odd chips.

Event 14: Marcello Is The Man

$200 + $30 Deep Stack NLH (Re-Entry)

Marcello Calabrese - Chipleader - 2,700,000

With all those chips at table two we knew the fireworks were coming.

Marcello Calabrese (Chalfont, PA) cashed in after flopping a set of fives and his opponent turned a king holding big slick. "I shoved on the turn and he called off 596,000" explained Calabrese.

He must also be winning his coin flips as he just scooped another pot where his A-J found an ace on the flop against a 9-9 all in pre-flop jam session.

Event 14: Baltimore Brothers Representing

$200 + $30 Deep Stack NLH (Re-Entry)

Gilson Smith & Daniel Nolan

As I was chatting with table 1 Gilson Smith & Daniel Nolan discovered they both live in the same city and state - Federal Hill, MD.

Daniel is the table leader with 1.2 million. His big hand came in a three way all in involving his AA vs. KK vs. A-Q. Well over 500,000 in the middle as aces scored the scoop.

Just now an opponent shipped a medium stack and after everyone folded said, "Nothing else I could do with it". So the next hand, Gilson shipped all in, everyone folded and he repeated the same line as he gave everyone a peek at his pocket kings.

Who knows maybe Gilson and Daniel will start a car pool up to Borgata from Baltimore?

Event 12 Recap

$3000 + $200 Heads Up NLH (Best 2 of 3)

Christian Harder (Annapolis, MD) blitzed his way through the heads-up bracket winning 6 times, including in a victory over Travis Greenawalt (Landisville, PA) in the finals to take the title and the $61,690 first place prize.

"I wouldn't say I'm a specialist," said Harder, who finished third in this event last year and pushed his career earnings to more than $2 million, "but I've played so many hands that I have a good feel for how to play."

For Greenawalt it was a disappointing end to a long 12 hour day that had the final 8 players returning for quarterfinal action at noon. Greenawalt knocked out Austen Johnson in his first match of the day, followed by his semifinal win over Matt Maccaroni before losing 2-0 in the best of three series to finish runner-up for $30,846.

The NCAA basketball style bracket featured many recognizable names including WSOP bracelet holder Gavin Smith, 2010 WSOP Main Event runner-up John Racener, 2010 Borgata Winter Poker Open Champion Jeff Madsen and two-time WPT title holder Jonathan Little.

All the big names missed the money, as did defending champion Jeremy McLaughlin, who was knocked out in the first round by John Lytle. This year's best 2 of 3, single elimination, was different than last year's double elimination bracket.

"I think this is better when you have such a big field," said Harder, who will be playing more events before the start of Sunday's WPT Borgata Poker Open Championship Event. "If you lose early in double elimination it's too hard to come back and win."

The $159,000 in total buy-ins was divided between the top 8 finishers.

Quarterfinal losers Keith Block, Trevor Savage, Randy Feder, and Johnson took home $7,712, while the semifinal losers, Ryan Hall and Matt Maccaroni, each finished with $15,423.

Harder went through the tournament by sweeping 4 of the 6 matches. He knocked out Block in the quarters and Hall in the semis before finishing off Greenawalt for the title.


Tournament Results

Finals

Christian Harder def Travis Greenawalt

Semifinals

Christian Harder def Ryan Hall
Travis Greenawalt def Matt Maccaroni

Elite 8

Christian Harder def Keith Block
Ryan Hall def Trevor Savage Matthew
Matthew Maccaroni def Randy Feder
Travis Greenawalt def Austen Johnson

Sweet 16

Keith Block def William Serfass
Christian Harder def Ryan DeAngelo

Ryan Hall def Darren Elias
Trevor Savage def Gavin Smith

Randy Feder def Greg Merritt
Matthew Maccaroni def Aaron Overton

Travis Greenawalt def Michael Gagliano
Austen Johnson def Alexander Venovski

Second Round

Keith Block def Matt Glantz
William Serfass def Nicholoas Erwin
Ryan DeAngelo def Michael Stone Hill
Christian Harder def Ryan Moriarity

Darren Elias def David Laufer
Ryan Hall def John Racener
Gavin Smith def Manzano Clemens
Trevor Savage def Jack Schanbacher

Randy Feder def Jason Sackler
Greg Merritt def Brian Paneth
Matthew Maccaroni def Ian Palomo
Aaron Overton def John Lytle

Travis Greenawalt def Jonathan Little
Michael Gagliano def Mark Borges
Alexander Venovski def Freddy Rouhani
Austen Johnson def Michael Delvecchio

First Round

Manzano Clemens def Yaron Reuven
Gregg Merritt def Paul Mirabello
Alexander Venovski def Brandon Hall
Michael Gagliano def Joshua Hillock
Michael Stone Hill def Matthew Lombardi
Ryan DeAngelo def Matthew Berky
Ryan Moriarity def Jesse Cohen
Randy Feder def Valentin Serben
Ian Palomo def Bahbak Oboodi
Aaron Overton def Chris Klodnicki
Jonathan Little def Scott Lezewski
Mark Borges def Kunimaro Kojo
Freddy Rouhani def Alexander Freund
William Serfrass def Eui Woon
David Laufer def Orson Young
Christian Harder def Jeff Madsen
Jack Schanbacher def Scott Baumstein
Trevor Savage def Jason Summerville
John Lytle def Jeremy McLaughlin
Gavin Smith def James St. Hilaire

Byes:

Keith Block
Matt Glantz
Nicholoas Erwin
Darren Elias
John Racener
Ryan Hall
Travis Greenawalt
Jason Sackler
Brian Paneth
Austen Johnson
Michael Delvecchio

Event 12 Champion - Harder

$3000 + $200 Heads Up NLH (Best 2 of 3)

Christian Harder (Annapolis, MD)
$61,690

Harder trails Travis Greenawalt (Landisville, PA) at the start of game one, but rallies to sweep the match and win the title.  He takes home $61,690, the crystal trophy, and a pair of Blue Shark Optics sunglasses.

"He was by far my toughest opponent," says Harder, who finished third in this event last year.  "He gave me trouble early and put me in some tough spots."

Harder, who now has more than $2 million in career tournament wins, says the pivotal hand came when he trailed 3 to 1 in chips and called Greenawalt's river bet with ace high. Harder's hand was good, evened the match, and paved his way to victory.

"When you hit a lot of flops and have the best hand it's pretty tough to lose," says Harder. "Neither one of us wanted to fold and we usually didn't believe each other."

Harder beat Jeff Madsen, Ryan Moriarity, and Ryan DeAngelo on Day 1.

He knocked out Keith Block in the quarterfinals and Ryan Hall in the semis before beating Greenawalt for the championship

Event 12: 2nd Place - Greenawalt

$3000 + $200 Heads Up NLH (Best 2 of 3)

Travis Greenawalt (Landisville, PA)
$30,846

Greenawalt's bid for the title comes up short, losing to Christian Harder (Annapolis, MD) in the finals two games to none.

After a bye in the first round, Greenawalt beat Jonathan Little and Michael Gagliano on Day 1.

He returned Wednesday to knock out Austen Johnson in the quarterfinals and Matt Maccaroni in the semis before losing to Harder in the championship.

Event 14: Quick Updates

$200 + $30 Deep Stack NLH (Re-Entry)

-Anthony Basciano (Long Island, NY) chipped down to 450,000 after losing a crazy hand. Anthony had pocket kings, another opponent also had kings, and another player tables aces.

-Some blame the blog if they lose right after their post appears. Darlene, I hope, is giving us some props. Since we spoke with her, she has doubled up twice. Her rail was quite excited.

-Table 2 now has five players with right around one million in chips.

-Short stacks are trying to double almost everywhere I look.