Friday, September 23

Today's Events

3PM: Event 20 - $3300 + $200 WPT Borgata Poker Open Championship NLH (Day 5)

• $3,000,000 Guaranteed Prize Pool
• Day 5 FINAL TABLE
• EVENT CENTER

11AM: Event 24 - $200 + $30 Deep Stack No Limit Hold'em  (Re-Entry)
POKER ROOM

• Players start with 25,000 in tournament chips 
• Players that bust within the first 6 Levels may Re-Enter (unlimited re-entries)
• Levels will last 25 minutes each 
• 1-Day event

6PM: Event 57 - $150 + $30 + $25 Green Chip Bounty No Limit Hold'em

• Players start with 15,000 in tournament chips 
• This is a Bounty tournament.  Players must have their Bounty Chip clearly displayed on the table in order to remain active in tournament.
• Levels will last 20 minutes each 
• 1-Day event

Event 23 Recap

$250 + $30 No Limit Hold'em

Event 23 is the second to last tournament of the 2011 Borgata Poker Open and was running simultaneously as the Championship whittled down to their Super-Six.

For $250 + $30 players loved the low risk and high reward. 255 players took their shot at a piece of the $63,750 Total Buy-In. 27 made the money but only one individual captured the grand first place prize of $17,312. That honor went to Atlantic City's native son, Cuong Phung who just kick started his poker bankroll to support his wife Thuy and 3-month old baby at home.

I named a couple players "All-In-Somniacs" as they played 17 hours yesterday, grabbed a couple hours of sleep, then started today's tourney at 12:00 noon and played all day again. The Vo & Sanjeev Datta both scored large last night in Event 22 and both played today in Event 23. Sanjeev ended in 12th today for an $804 cash.

Two players went out during hand-for-hand bubble action. The player with less chips, and crowned "the bubble" was Vince Nicoletti. He received some parting gifts from the players.

Tough final table of ten included: Cuong Phung, Anthony Colombo, Craig Lampa, Andrew Interdonato, Michael Nye, Martino Scaturro, John Mirdita, Fred Meder, Scott Raifer, & Frank Rasile. Once Cuong got the chip lead he held on tight to the finish line.

3rd place of $5,875 went to Craig Lampa while 2nd place in the amount of $10,202 went to Anthony Colombo. Colombo was out-chipped heads up 3 to 1 and his A high was rundown by Cuong's Q high.

Once again your big winner of all 3,825,000 chips and the $17,312 in cold cash was Atlantic City fall/winter poker pro Cuong Phung. Congrats on jump starting that Borgata bank-roll and taking down Event 23.

Event 23: Cuong Phung - 1st

$250 + $30 No Limit Hold'em

Cuong Phung - 1st Place - $17,312

It's over folks! When the dust settled, Cuong Phung (Atlantic City, NJ) ended up as the sole survivor.

He wins the Blue Shark Optics sunglasses, the Borgata trophy, and $17,312 for his 1st place finish.

Cuong would have been gone if he didn't hit a miracle runner, runner for a chop early on at the final table of ten. Scott Raifer A-5 vs. Cuong Phung's A-8. Board ran out: A-4-5-10-10.

From that point forward he built his stack and became the chip leader. He jumped up to 1,375,000 after his A-7 saw an ace in the window on a draw heavy board. He never let go of the lead once he captured it.

Cuong was playing this tournament for his wife Thuy and his three-month old baby waiting at home for him. She's reading the blog at home and following this tournament. Cuong said "Hi" to her earlier but we weren't able to get the post up.

The local New Jersey boy works full-time in the summer months but in the fall/winter he plays poker for a living. Today's win came at the right time as Cuong is building a bankroll.

He was very happy and excited after felting Craig Lampa. Calling with Q-6 proved right as his cards were live and he out-flopped Lampa hitting a Queen.

It's his third cash in the 2011 Borgata Poker Open but tonight's $17,312 is by far the largest of the three.

Congrats again to Cuong Phung - today's Event 23 winner!

Event 23: Anthony Colombo - 2nd

$250 + $30 No Limit Hold'em

Anthony Colombo - 2nd Place - $10,202

Anthony Colombo (New York, NY) played great all day and just fell short heads up against Cuong Phung. Going into heads up he was outchipped 3 to 1.

The final hand of the tournament went down like this - Anthony jammed his remaining 690,000 holding A-3. Cuong Phung thought and thought and finally made the call tabling Q-6.

Phung's live cards saw a flop of Q-7-3.

Both players hit one of their cards on the flop but Colombo would need to improve if he was going to stick around.

Turn: 8
River: 9

Anthony like to make appearances in Borgata Championships and deep stack tournaments.

He'll take home $10,202 for his impressive 2nd place finish.

Event 23: Craig Lampa - 3rd Place

$250 + $30 No Limit Hold'em

Craig Lampa - 3rd Place - $5,875

Craig Lampa (Easton, PA) got his remaining chips in on a flush draw but whiffed.

Event 23 was the first tournament Craig ever played at Borgata.

He says hi to all his poker buddies in Easton.

$5,875 goes to Professional Photographer, Craig Lampa for his third place finish today.

Well done.

Event 23: Andrew Interdonato - 4th

$250 + $30 No Limit Hold'em

Andrew Interdonato - 4th Place - $4,762

Andrew Interdonato got it in good holding 9-9 up against Cuong Phung's A-Q.

Queen in the window spelled the end for Interdonato.

Andrew adds $4,762 to his Borgata bankroll for his third place finish today.

Event 23: Mass Mike - 5th Place

$250 + $30 No Limit Hold'em

Mass Mike - 5th Place - $3,710

Michael Nye known around the felt as "Mass Mike" was short stacked so he looked at one card only (a King) and jammed. Bad timing as the big blind woke up to A-K and snapped.

Mike failed to hit his kicker and was kicked to the curb in 5th place.

He finished 90th in the Championship for $8,805 and now takes home $3,710 for his efforts today.

When Mike's not playing poker he's either golfing or tending to one of his small businesses.

Event 23: Martino Scaturro - 6th Place

$250 + $30 No Limit Hold'em

Martino Scaturro - 6th Place - $3,092

Martino Scaturro was the chip leader around the bubble time and is out in 6th place.

Martino was short stacked to 200,000 and shipped it in with Q-8 of clubs. Anthony Colombo woke up to K-K and re-shipped. That caused Andrew Interdonato to fold A-K pre.

Board ran: 7-3-A-9-10.

Martino joked with the dealer, "One more card please".

Andrew was upset because he would have won the monster pot and knocked two players out if he had called. Instead Martino Scaturro hits the road and pockets $3,092.

The restaurant owner said he had a great time and really loves the small low risk tournaments.

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