Event 23: John Mirdita - 7th Place

$250 + $30 No Limit Hold'em

John Mirdita - 7th Place - $2,474

John Mirdita (West Chester, NY) got his money in with A-K against a K-2-5 flop and lost.

Craig Lampa hit a set of Jacks on the turn and knocked Mirdita out.

"He hit a two-otter on me, nothing I could do" said the bakery owner.

John takes home $2,474 for his day at the office.

Event 23: Fred Meder - 8th Place

$250 + $30 No Limit Hold'em

Fred Meder - 8th Place - $1,855

Fred Meder (North East Philadelphia, PA) put his last 246,000 all in pre-flop.
Fred tabled A-9 of clubs up against Martino Scaturro's A-J.

Both guys hit their kickers on a flop of 9-J-A.

Nothing changed on a turn 6 and river 2.

Fred just finisher Dealer School and is looking for work. He says "What Up" to his home game.

Fred takes home $1,855 for his eighth place finish today at Borgata.

Event 23: Raifer 9th & Rasile 10th

$250 + $30 No Limit Hold'em

Three way all-in = Two way all-out.

Frank Rasile gets his chips in with A-8 while Scott Raifer gets his in with A-9.

Meanwhile, John Mirita has both players covered and calls. John flips A-A.

Will take a miracle for either Frank or Scott to survive the tournament.

Board runs out: Q-7-K-5-K and just like that we lose two players.

Fireworks flew early at the final table as this was only the second hand since these guys sat down and redrew seats.

Mirita shouted to the rail, "We got gas money".

Frank Rasile - 10th Place - $804

Scott Raifer - 9th Place - $1,237

Event 23: Final Table Set

$250 + $30 No Limit Hold'em

The Final Table is set:

Seat...Player

1. Frank Rasile
2. Andrew Interdonato
3. Craig Lampa
4. Cuong Phung
5. Scott Raifer
6. Michael Nye
7. Fred Meder
8. Martino Scaturro
9. John Mirdita
10. Anthony Colombo

Event 20: Day 4 Recap - Championship Preview

$3300 + $200 WPT Borgata Poker Open Championship NLH

Top Row (l-r): Ricky Hale, Fred Goldberg & Jin Hwang,
Bottom Row: Daniel Buzgon, Bobby Oboodi & Darren Elias

A record setting field of 1,313 entries is down to six players as the tv final table is set to play for the WPT Borgata Poker Open Championship first prize of $922,441.

"It's amazing," said Jin Hwang, who is the table short stack with 2.2 million chips, "I was on a roller coaster all day and to still be playing is incredible."

After four days of poker, two players emerged as the big stacks in Bobby Oboodi and WSOP bracelet holder Fred Goldberg, who both have a little more than 11 million chips.

"It's a great feeling anytime you have a chance to win a title," said Goldberg who is only 60k behind Oboodi's 11.14 million after being the chip leader most of the day. "I love Borgata. I've only played one other time, but seem to run pretty good here."

The other three players at the final table are Darren Elias (7.4 million), Daniel Buzgon (4.7 mil), and Ricky Hale (2.3 mill), who are 3rd, 4th, and 5th in chips respectfully.

Day 4 began with 27 players looking for their piece of the $4,332,900 total buy-in, including two WSOP bracelet holders and two prominent Borgata regulars.

Two-time WSOP winner Vanessa Selbst finished 23rd ($18,868), while three-time winner "Miami" John Cernuto was 14th ($35,640).

On the local side, the largest rail bird crowd supported Will "The Thrill" Failla, who was trying to be the first player to win back-to-back WPT titles. Failla started the day as the chip leader, but after becoming a short stack was crippled by Hwang.

Failla was all-in with pocket queens, but when Hwang flopped a set of jacks and turned quads, Failla was crippled and knocked out the next hand in 11th place ($50,315).

"I was trying to do something that's never been done before," says Failla, "I got it in good, but the chips ended up where they were supposed to go."

Going out in 12th place ($50,315) was Matt Glantz who plays regularly in the high stakes room and has $3.9 million in career tournament earnings.

The final six are guaranteed $186,585 as they return 3 pm Friday to play for the title under the bright lights of the Event Center.

"It's pretty exciting," said Oboodi, "but I haven't done anything yet. There's still $800,000 to play for."

Event 20: Final Table Chip Counts

$3300 + $200 WPT Borgata Poker Open Championship NLH

Tournament Director Tab Duchateau Assits Buzgone 
Bag & Tag, while Ricky Hale (left) and Oboodi Watch

Name - Chip Counts

Bobby Oboodi 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

Seat - Name

1 Jin Hwang
2 Darren Elias
3 Fred Goldberg
4 Bobby Oboodi
5 Daniel Buzgon
6 Ricky Hale

Number of Entrants: 1,313
Players Remaining: 6
Chips In Play: 39.3 million

Average Stack: 6.6 million (41 BB)
Big Stack: 11.1 million (69 BB)

Blinds: 80k/160k/10k ante (1 hr 7 min  remain)

Total Buy-In: $4,332,900
Remaining Payouts:


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

Places Paid: 100

Event 20: Douglas Kim - 7th

$3300 + $200 WPT Borgata Poker Open Championship NLH

Douglas Kim - 7th Place - $148,848

The final televised table is set! Douglas Kim (Hartsdale, NY) is out in 7th Place after shoving his 1,500,000 short stack holding only Q♥ 4♠.

Unfortunately for Kim, his cards weren't even live as Bobby Oboodi snap called with A♦ Q♦ .

Douglas did not like the flop of 8♦ A♥ 3♦ but held some hope.

When the K♥ hit the turn he said aloud he was drawing dead.

Once the 7♠ fell on the river, Douglas Kim officially began his exit interview and the final remaining six players celebrated.

A disappointed Kim said, "I came so close and got so far" as he spoke to WPT reporters.

He'll take home $148,848 for his 7th place finish in the largest Borgata Poker Open WPT Championship of all time.

Ironically he also took 7th place in the largest WSOP Main Event field ever (2006).

Douglass won't be on the final telecast with the final-6 but did survive his short stack today for several levels and gave himself a chance.

Super 6 have bagged and tagged their chips and will be ready to play under the lights and cameras tomorrow at 3pm in The Event Center.

See you then.

Event 20: Double Up Dan

$3300 + $200 WPT Borgata Poker Open Championship NLH

Darren Elias dusts off 2,200,000 after his Q-Q runs into A♣A♠ of Dan Buzgon.

Both players were all-in pre-flop and Dan Buzgon was at risk but held the dominant hand.

Action was all-in pre-flop with Dan shipping over Douglas Kim's raise and Darren calling.

Board ran out 7♦ J♠ 3♣ 8♣ K♣

Nice time to pick up aces and have them hold up. The look on Buzgon's face was priceless after his double-up. He was both stunned and excited.

Our final seven are on a break. This is the WPT final table coverage bubble. Next bust-out will not make the final table broadcast.

Event 20: 8th Place - Dittmar

$3300 + $200 WPT Borgata Poker Open Championship NLH

Joe Dittmar

Blinds  60k/120k/10k

Jin Hwang raises to 275k from the high jack
Darren Elias calls from the cutoff
Joe Dittmar moves all in for 1.9 million more from the SB
Hwang folds, Elias calls

Elias: A♠ 10♥
Dittmar: K♠ Q♥

Flop: J♦ 6♥ 8♣
Turn: 4♦
River: 9♣

Elias' ace high wins the hand and Dittmar is out in 8th place earning $113,209.

As the hand runs out, short stack Douglas Kim is thrilled that he's moved up in money and will take home at least $148,848. Jin Hwang is disappointed saying he folded the best hand (A J), adding, "I can't call If I lose this hand I'm done."

Event 20: 9th Place - Calenzo

$3300 + $200 WPT Borgata Poker Open Championship NLH

Kevin Calenzo

Blinds: 60k/120k/10k

Calenzo raises to 255 UTG, Bobby Oboodi makes it 705k, and Calenzo tanks before moving 2.3 million all in. Oboodi snap calls.

Oboodi: K♣ K♥
Calenzo: J♥ J♣

Flop: A♦ 9♠ 2♠

Turn: 6♦
River: 6♠

Calenzo's pocket jacks can't catch up to pocket kings and he's on the rail, while Oboodi is second in chips with 8 million.

"The last hand is pretty sick," says Calenzo, "We're all trying to move up a pay bump, so he could be three-betting me pretty light there.  I almost folded, it was 50/50, but I went with my read and he happened to have kings."

Kevin Calenzo finishes in 9th place, earning $77,569.

Event 23: Sanjeev Jammin

$250 + $30 No Limit Hold'em

Sanjeev Datta - 230,000

Sanjeev Datta (Montville, NJ) finished 10th in last night's Event 22. After the marathon poker tournament he got a little sleep and re-loaded for today.

Sanjeev just doubled up when his 9-9 held up against Opponent's 8-8.

Board ran: 10-3-Q-3-10 causing Opponent to shout out, "Chop it up". The rest of the table remained silent, studying the board one more time.

Finally the news was broken that the poor guy was out of the tournament. No chop of course as Sanjeev's tens over nines were best.

23 players remain.

Event 20: Kim Doubles Through Dittmer

$3300 + $200 WPT Borgata Poker Open Championship NLH

On the first hand back from dinner break, Jin Hwang is all in with A♦ A♠ against Joe Ditmer's A♥ K♥. Ditmer picks up a flush draw on the turn, but bricks the river as Hwang doubles to 2 million.

The 1 million hit drops Dittmer to 3 million.

Event 23: Yaccarino Yanked

$250 + $30 No Limit Hold'em

Steve Yaccarino - 27th Place - $557

At the same time Vince Nicoletti was in his hand, Steve Yaccarino (Raleigh, NC) was on a different table in his hand. Steve stood up and lost all his chips after A-J ran into A-K. A-K held and Steve was sent to the rail.

At first, Steve assumed he was the bubble but after Vince was ejected, the floor realized Steve started the hand with more chips.

Steve collects a min cash of $557.

Tournament has condensed down to three tables.

Event 23: Bubble Boy Vince Nicoletti

$250 + $30 No Limit Hold'em

Vince Nicoletti - 28th Place - Bubble

Okay, Vince Nicoletti is your bubble boy but he's still smiling. After a few hands of hand for hand action, Vince is bounced after his A-J is run down by J-9.

Board runs: 8-5-3-10-Q giving Opponent a straight.

All the players felt so bad Vince was the bubble that they chipped in to buy him some pizza.
That must be why he's smiling - he really likes pizza.

Everyone else is in the money!