Wednesday, September 21, 2005

WPT Borgata Open Day 3

I'm back at the Borgata in Atlantic City, New Jersey for day three of the World Poker Tour Borgata Open. It's a $10,000 buy-in event. Action was moved down to the poker room for the final seven tables. 62 players remain with Franklin Caldwell as the chipleader. The final 62 are all trying to win the $1.5 million first place prize. The top 45 players make the money. We're going to be playing until we get down to 6 players. I expect to be here until the wee hours of the morning.

This morning, I ate at the Denny's next to my no-tell motel. I'd prefer Waffle House, but there are none north of the Mason Dixon line. I ordered the French Totast special with two slices of bacon and two sausage links. My waitress was estatic when I left her a 30% tip. I got addicted to eatin croissants for breakfast in Europe.

Here's an updated chip count (as of last night) courtesy of Poker Wire:
1 Franklin "Dee" Caldwell $ 485,000
2 Mike "The Mouth" Matusow $ 472,500
3 John D'Agostino $ 471,000
4 David "The Dragon" Pham $ 355,500
5 Robert Hwang $ 339,500
6 Tom Coan $ 335,500
7 JC Tran $ 304,500
8 Karlo Lopez $ 304,000
9 Surinder Sunar $ 291,000
10 Josh Arieh $ 282,000
11 Eric Haber $ 267,000
12 Evelyn Ng $ 263,500
13 Clonie Gowen $ 252,000
14 Sidney Miller $ 251,000
15 Jukebox" John McCann $ 246,000
16 Luke Chung $ 222,000
17 Doug Johnson $ 206,500
18 Chuck Furey $ 196,000
19 Barry Greenstein $ 193,500
20 Eddie Ting $ 181,500
21 Steve Zoine $ 177,000
22 Carmine Tirone $ 173,000
23 Robert Chasen $ 169,500
24 David Singer $ 166,500
25 Neal Gersony $ 165,500
26 Tex Barch $ 162,000
27 Richard Festejo $ 159,000
28 Herbert Cheng $ 157,000
29 John Whiting $ 156,000
30 Mike 'Stoney' Stonehall $ 151,500
31 Jon Gordon $ 146,500
32 Steve Dannenman $ 146,000
33 Ari Abramowitz $ 145,500
34 Al Ardebili $ 145,000
35 Tom Martelli $ 132,500
36 Greg Fondacaro $ 130,000
37 Erick Lindgren $ 114,000
38 Mark Matheys $ 113,000
39 Steve Rosen $ 106,000
40 Wooyang Lin $ 105,500
41 Denis Ethier $ 104,000
42 Rich Kirsch $ 104,000
43 Steve Kingsley $ 101,000
44 Richard Devito $ 92,500
45 Paul Snead $ 90,000
46 Mohamad Kamalzadeh $ 90,000
47 Thomas Schreiber $ 88,000
48 Fritz Stoner $ 86,000
49 Thomas Koral $ 85,000
50 Robert Winters $ 80,000
51 David Levi $ 75,500
52 Robert Ozello $ 64,000
53 Kathy Liebert $ 63,000
54 Steven 'Lev' Leveson $ 54,500
55 Kevin O'Brien $ 48,500
56 Dennis Summers $ 43,500
57 Leonard Santangelo $ 38,500
58 Richard Anthony $ 38,000
59 Eric Fessler $ 32,500
60 Mark Schaech $ 32,000
61 Chris "Armenian Express" Gregorian $ 30,000
62 Brian Powell $ 28,000
***** Live Blogging Updates *****

11:01pm... In the first funny moment of the day, Mike Matusow walked over to WSOP main event runner-up Steve Dannemann and yelled, "You ruined my life!"

11:07pm... Cards are in there air! We're on Level 15. Blinds are $1500-$3000. Antes are $500. 17 players until the money. The avg. stack is 166,129

11:10pm... Here are a few photos:


Barry Greenstein and Mike Matusow


Clonie Gowen stares down the opposition


Steve Dannemann aka WSOP runner up


Erick Lindgren in deep thought

11:40pm... 7 players have been eliminated already. We're down to 55. 10 more players until the money. WSOP bracelet winner Dennis Ethier was busted by David Singer. His 9-9 lost to Singer's K-K. I can see the bubble on the horizon and it looks dandy.

12:01pm... Erick Lindgren survived an all in with J-J versus Wooying Lin's 9-9.

12:24pm... Just saw Kathy Liebert's A-A hold up against A-J. She doubled up. Chris Grigorian was just busted when his A-K lost to J-J. "Two jacks," he yelled over to BJ at Card Player. "I lost to two Jacks!" 52 players remaining with an average stack around $190K.

12:30pm... Luke Chung knocked out Paul Snead when his AKs beat Snead's A-Ko. Chung caught a diamond flush to eliminate Snead.

12:46pm... Bouncin Round the Room: The poker room is cramped with spectators on the rail. At least the Borgata has done a good job roping off the area and posting security guards. We actually have wifi here which is amazing since the poker room is located in the basement. A lot of the players are aware that the media is writing about them. A few players have come up to BJ to see what he's writing about them. BJ was working on a photo that Clonie Gowen was in when she wadeed over during the break. She said, "Why do I always have a goofy look on my face in every picture I take?"

12:50pm... Players are back from a break. Blinds are $2K-$4K. Antes are $500. 51 players are remaining. Franklin Caldwell is still your chip leader.

1:00pm... There are three females remaining and Kathy Liebert, Evelyn Ng, and Clonie Gowen are all sitting at the same table in Seats 7, 8, and 9. Here's the proof:


Three Queens (click on photo to enlarge)

1:13pm... Steve Dannemann was knocked out. Barry Greenstein just knocked out Mike "The Mouth" Matusow. Barry flopped trips with 10-4 and Matusow flopped top pair with A-9. All the money went in on the turn. 47 players remain. We're near the money bubble.

1:30pm... We're on the bubble! Play is hand-to-hand. Steve Zoine was just busted in 47th place.

1:40pm... Fritz Stoner was just eliminated on the bubble. We're in the money!! The remaining 45 players are guaranteed to win at least $12,489. They are currently redrawing for new seats. Here's the payout list:
1st: $1,498,650
2nd: $799,280
3rd: $427,115
4th: $349,685
5th: $299,730
6th: $249,775
7th: $199,820
8th: $149,865
9th: $99,910
10th-12th: $64,942
13th-15th: $49,955
16th-18th: $34,969
19th-27th: $24,978
28th-36th: $14,987
37th-45th: $12,489
2:08pm... David Levi was just knocked out in 45th place when his K-K lost to Robert Hwang's A-A. Ouch. Levi won $12,489. There are 41 players remaining. Average stack is $239,534.

2:11pm... By the way, thanks to everyone for the birthday wishes. And thanks for playing in the WPBT event last night on Titan Poker. Congrats to "PI45" for winning it all. Too bad Maudie bubbled out!

2:15pm... Clonie Gowen knocked out Josh Arieh in 41st place. Josh had 9s-3s and moved all in on the flop with a flush draw. Clonie had A-A and they held up.

2:35pm... Bouncin Round the Room: I wandered over to the Italian deli and got a cannoli. Those rock. I also saw Josh Arieh walking through the casino with a dejected look on his face after getting busted by Clonie.
Last 5 Pros I Took a Piss Next to:
1. David Williams
2. David Pham
3. David Singer
4. Gavin Smith
5. John D'Agostino
2:40pm... Players are back from a break. Blinds are $3K-$6K with $1K antes. 39 players are left. Average stack is $264,102. Richard Festejo is the chipleader with $608K. Sid Miller is second with $600K. John D'Agastino is third with $582K. Barry Greenstien and Erick Lindgren have under $100K are are among the short stacks.

2:55pm.... Barry Greenstien was just eliminated in 38th place by Wooying Lin. Barry moved all in from the big blind with Ks-5s and Wooying had 7-7 which held up.

3:08pm... We're down to 36 players and there was a redraw for new seats. 4 tables left and action is nine handed. 30 players to go before we stop for the night.

3:45pm... Action has slowed down. 32 players remain. Average stack is $264,102. Kathy Liebert doubled up.

4:00pm... David The Dragon Pham cracked the Hilton Sisters when he turned a full house with 6-6.

4:20pm... Clonie Gowen was knocked out in 31st place when her A-10 lost to A-Q. She won $14,987. Kathy Liebert and Evelyn Ng are still alive.

4:31pm... Tex Barch busted out in 30th place. Tex had A-Q but lost to Wooying's K-9 when two Kings flopped.

4:40pm... Erick Lindgren was eliminated in 29th place by Greg Fondacaro when his A-J could not win against 8-8.

5:02pm... 27 players remain on three tables. Average chip count is $381,481. Blinds are $4/8K with $1K.

5:15pm... Bouncin Round the Room: I heard that Phil Ivey was down almost a million throwing dice the other night. Someone spotted him cashing out $500K at the cage a little while ago.

5:30pm... 26 players remaining. Evy is one of the short stacks. Kathy Liebert has over $500K in chips.

5:48pm... David Singer knocked out Luke Chung in 25th place. Singer's A-J outflopped Chung's A-Q. Singer now has over $1 million in chips along with John D'Agostino. 23 players left after Ari Abramowitz was just busted.

6:15pm... 22 players left. John D'Agostino is the chipleader with $1.225M. Players are on a dinner break. Action will resume at 7:15pm. Time for a quick liquid dinner upstairs at B Bar. Here's the top 5 chip counts according to Poker Wire:
1 John D'Agostino $ 1,225,000
2 David Singer $ 981,000
3 Carmine Tirone $ 710,000
4 David "The Dragon" Pham $ 685,000
5 Richard Festejo $ 660,000

Some Notables:
7 Kathy Liebert $ 625,000
10 JC Tran $ 460,000
13 Evelyn Ng $ 355,000
17 Surinder Sunar $ 258,000
7:15pm... Cards are back in the air. Blinds are $5K-$10K with $1,500 antes. Level is 90 minutes long.

7:26pm... Steve Rosen was eliminated by Wooyang Lin. Rosen had A-Q and lost to 8-8. Rosen is out in 22nd place and won $24,978. Wooyang then doubled up the sort stack a few hands later.

7:30PM... Bouncin Round the Room: VVP Sighting! WPT announcer Vice Van Patten has been seen walking around the tournament area. Kathy Liebert got some chocolate gelato from one of the places upsairs. It looked very tasty. I might have to get some for myself.

7:36pm... Thomas Schreiber is out in 21st place. 20 players remain on three tables.

7:42pm... Robert Chasen is out in 20th place when his A-K lost a coinflip to Richard Festejo's 8-8. There seems to be a trend that after a dinner break: players losen up and there's a bunch of all-ins in the first few orbits. Three players are out inside a half an hour.

7:50pm... John D'Agastino added to his stack after he knocked out Dee Franklin Caldwell in 19th place. We're down to the final two tables and the players are going to redraw. D'Agastino's stack is now over $2 million.

8:24pm... Action has slowed down. The Dragon lost a big pot though. BJ is doing a phone interview with a Philly newspaper. I'm trying to catch up on all my email that jammed my inbox while I was away last week.

8:50pm... Kathy Liebert's stack grows. She busted Tom Coan in 18th place. Coan won $34,969. By the way Kathy Liebert won her first WSOP bracelet in 2004. She also made 2 final tables on the WPT and has earned over $2 million in prize money.

9:05pm... Players are on a break. Blinds are $6K-$12K with $2K blinds. John D'Agostino is the chipleader with $1,985,000. 17 players remain.

9:20pm... There was a JetBlue flight that had busted landing gear and everyone in the poker room was watching the news as the plane was landing. Courteny Friel was captivated by the events and had her eyes on one of the many plasma screen TVs in the poker room. Anyway, as the plane landed the poker room broke out in applause. Then the front wheel caught on fire and everyone gasped for a few moments until the fire went out and the plane came to a halt.

9:25pm... Surinder Sunar caught a lucky card on the river to double up against David Singer. With A-9 Sunar rivered a 9 against Singer's 8-8.

9:35pm... Surinder Sunar doubled up again when his J-J held up against 8-8.

9:50pm... Tom Martelli's Q-J was knocked out in 17th place by Evelyn Ng's K-5.

10:25pm... Bouncin Round the Room: I decided to get some Gelato upstairs. So far today at the Borgata, I've drank three iced teas, one OJ, ate a canoli, one small portion of Cherry gelato, and a Panini sandwich with marinated chicken, mozarella, and a tasty tomato sauce.

10:30pm... David The Dragon Pham was knocked out in 16th place by Wooying Lin. Pham had 7-6s against Lin's A-J. Pham won $34,969. We're down to 15 players.
Here's an updated chip count:
1 John D'Agostino $ 2,250,000
2 David Singer $ 1,200,000
3 Wooying Lin $ 830,000
4 Al Ardebili $ 795,000
5 Richard Festejo $ 795,000
6 Sid Miller $ 660,000
7 Robert 'Action Bob' Hwang $ 600,000
8 Karlo Lopez $ 596,000
9 JC Tran $ 500,000
10 Greg Fandacaro $ 440,000
11 Carmine Tirone $ 400,000
12 Kathy Liebert $ 385,000
13 Robert Chasen $ 275,000
14 Evelyn Ng $ 195,000
15 Surinder Sunar $ 140,000

Here's who made the money so far:
45th David Levi ($12,489)
44th Mark Matheys ($12,489)
43rd Douglas Johnson ($12,489)
42nd Robert Winters ($12,489)
41st Josh Arieh ($12,489)
40th Michael Stonehill ($12,489)
39th Thomas R. Koral ($12,489)
38th Barry Greenstein ($12,489)
37th Edwin Ting ($12,489)
36th Eric Haber ($14,987)
35th Mohamad Kamlzadeh ($14,987)
34th Jonathan Gordon ($14,987)
33rd Charles J. Furey ($14,987)
32nd Herbert Cheng ($14,987)
31st Clonie Gowan ($14,987)
30th John Derick Barch ($14,987)
29th Erick A. Lindgren ($14,987)
28th Neal I. Gersony ($14,987)
27th John A. Mcann ($24,978)
26th Steven Kingsley ($24,978)
25th Luke Chung ($24,978)
24th Ari Abramowitz ($24,978)
23rd John Whiting ($24,978)
22nd Steven Rosen ($24,978)
21st Thomas Schreiber ($24,978)
20th Richard Kirsch ($24,978)
19th Franklin D. Caldwell ($24,978)
18th Thomas Coan ($34,969)
17th Thomas Martelli ($34,969)
16th David "The Dragon" Pham ($34,969)
11:00pm... Players are back from a break. Blinds are $8K-$16K with $2K blinds. John D'Agostino is the chipleader with $2.137M. Average stack is $686,666 with 15 players remaining.

11:20pm... Surinder Sunar and his A-K was eliminated in 15th place by Al Ardebili's K-K. Karlo Lopez was knocked out in 14th place by John D'Agostino. With K-J, Lopez flopped top pair and moved all in but D'Agastino flopped a set. Both Sunar and Lopez won $49,955. 13 players remain. Average stack is $792,307.

11:34pm... Evelyn Ng doubled up against Al Ardebili with K-K. She's still the shortstack. John D'Agastino has $2.6 million in chips.

11:48pm... John D'Agastino is on a rush and has over $3 million in chips. He just knocked out Carmine Tirone in 13th place. Trione flopped TPTK with A-10, but D'Agastino had the Hilton Sisters. Tirone won $49,955. 12 players are left. 6 more have to get busted, then I can go home and sleep.

12:01am... Evy Ng doubled up with A-K against Greg Fandacaro's Q-Q. She is no longer the short stack!

12:45pm... Players are back from a break. We're at a new level. Blinds are $10K-$20K and antes are $3K.

1:00pm... Robert Chasen's Q-J was busted by Wooying Lin's A-Q. Chasen took 12th place and won $64,942. Kathy Liebert is the shortstack.

1:05pm... G-Vegas celebrities "The Mark" and his lovely wife "The River Queen" just arrived at the Borgata to play some poker.

1:41pm... Evy Ng was eliminated in 11th place by David Singer. Her A-9 could not beat Singer's 4-4. 10 players remain and they are redrawing for seats at the final table. 4 more to go before play is stopped for the night. Average stack is over $1 million.
Here's the final table chip count:
1 John D'Agostino $ 2,500,000
2 Robert "Action Bob" Hwang $ 1,750,000
3 David Singer $ 1,571,000
4 Al Ardebili $ 1,108,000
5 Richard Festejo $ 923,000
6 Greg Fandacaro $ 650,000
7 Sid Miller $ 538,000
8 JC Tran $ 521,000
9 Wooying Lin $ 390,000
10 Kathy Liebert $ 300,000
2:08pm... Wooying Lin was knocked out in 10th place by David Singer. With a Queen on the flop, both players moved all in. SInger had A-Q while Lin showed Q-9. Lin won $64,942.

2:30pm... JC Tran doubled up against John D'Agastino.

2:30am... I've been here for 16 hours now. 3 more players to go. I hope I can leave by 4:30am!!

2:45pm... JC Tran doubled up against Greg Fandacaro. Tran had A-Q and Fandacaro showed A-J. Fandacaro flopped a Jack, but Tran turned a Queen.

3:00am... Sid Miller was knocked out by Robert "Action Bob" Hwang in 9th place. Miller had A-Q versus Hwang's J-10. Hwang flopped trips and that's all she wrote for Miller, who won $99,110 for 9th place. 2 more to go. I keep falling asleep, I'm so exhausted.

3:30pm... Been here for 17 hours. Ughhhhh. 2 more to go. John D'Agastino lost a big pot to David Singer when he missed a straight draw. Singer had Q-Q and took over the chip lead.

3:53am... Kathy Liebert doubled up with A-A versus Al Ardebili's J-J. She moved up to 4th in chips.

4:06am... Players are on a break. I spotted a few high priced hookers lingering around upstairs. I could use a stiff drink.

4:14am... Gavin Smith sat down at the same table as the River Queen and the Mark. It's a $1/2 NL table but it's late and Gavin had been drinking. Anyway, the River Queen sucked out on Gavin! She spiked a flush on the river.

4:20am... Players returned from a break. Blinds are $20K-$40K with $5K blinds.

4:30am... I've been here for over 18 straight hours. We're down to 7 players and reached the TV bubble! David Singer knocked out Greg Fandacaro. Singer had 3-3 and flopped a set. Greg Fandacaro showed A-7 and pushed all in with the nut flush draw. He caught running aces for trips, but that gave Singer a full house. Singer is the chipleader. Greg Fandacaro won $149,865 for 7th place. I can put my impending suicide on hold. David Singer is the chipleader with over $3 million. JC Tran is the shortstack with $320K.

4:50am... JC Tran was eliminated in 7th place in a three way pot. He had Q-Q. Al Ardebili showed A-A. And John D'Agostino said "I should fold this," and called anyway with Ac-Jc. He flopped the nut flush draw but his hand did not hold up. Al Ardebili won the main pot and side pot and JC Tran was busted. Tran won $199,820. Players will return tomorrow at 5pm for the final table.
Final Table Chip Counts:
1 David Singer $ 3,200,000
2 John D'Agostino $ 2,295,000
3 Robert 'Action Bob' Hwang $ 1,795,000
4 Al Ardebili $ 1,425,000
5 Kathy Liebert $ 1,045,000
6 Richard Festejo $ 540,000
See ya tomorrow. I need to write for an hour then it's off to sleep.

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