Event 1: $2 Million Guarantee Big Stack NLHE Re-Entry
Day 2 Completed
2014 Borgata Winter Poker Open
Event 1: $2 Million Guarantee Big Stack NLHE Re-Entry
Day: 1bc
Top
Chip Counts
Chip Counts
1
519,000
3
355,000
5
321,500
8
309,000
After more than 16 hours of play on the combined flights of Day 1B and Day 1C, Christian Lusardi emerged as the dominating chipstack as we head into tomorrow's Day 2. Lusardi bagged 519,000 to collect both the $2,000 prize for winning his flight and the notoriety of being the Day 1 chipleader. Lusardi, who has just over $30,000 in career cashes, figures to make considerably more than that if he can ride this stack to the final table.
With players split among different rooms and flights, tournament officials are still calculating the number of players and working on identifying some of the top stacks.
Among the players hot on Lusardi's heels is well-known actor James Woods, who finished Day 1B with 410,500. According to a player who witnessed Woods' ascent, the actor scooped up a four-way all in early in the day, which he followed with a boat-over-boat situation to vault himself into contention for the chiplead. Other sizable stacks include Johnny Lam (355,000), Andre Nyffeler (327,000), Freddy Vaghefi (321,500), Joe Nelligan (318,000) and Luis Vazquez (315,500).
Notable bustouts included Matt Stout, Dan Heimiller, Andy Hwang, John D'Agostino, Todd Terry, Amnon Filippi and Victor Ramdin.
Early on, we found longtime circuit regular Nick Guagenti all in against Alynna Le after a flop of 
.
Guagenti: 
Le: 
Guagenti had top set, but he needed to dodge Le's straight draw. Le turned the tables with a 
on the turn, and it was now Guagenti who needed improvement. The opposite happened, as a 
fell, giving Le a straight flush.
"She can't lose a hand," said the player in Seat Six.
Later, drama drew a crowd in the middle of the room.
East Coasters are typically known as a brash and boisterous bunch, prone to speaking loudly and punctuating their words with expressive body language. Today, that profile was spot on, as a dust up occurred between two players in which accusations and recriminations were flung across the felt like a fallen hand into the muck.
The drama began when four players took a flop after a three-bet, and when the 
hit the felt, all hell broke loose.
One player led out for a 3,000 bet, and the next player to act moved all-in for his last 4,625. A third player flatted, and the fourth folded. The action returned to the original bettor, and that's where the screaming match started.
Apparently, the man who bet 3,000 uttered the word call, but then quickly retracted his statement and tried to raise the pot. He believed that the all-in bet of 4,625 constituted a raise, which would allow him to reraise, but the player with all of his chips in the middle adamantly objected.
"You said call! You said it... call! That's what you said!" the player bellowed, his protestations echoing throughout the tournament area and attracting onlookers, tournament officials and reporters to see what the ruckus was about.
His body shaking with rage, the all-in player continued to argue his case, and as he become increasingly flustered the floorman threatened to assess a ten-hand penalty.
Finally, it was determined that the all-in bet did not constitute a raise which would allow for a reraise, and the dealer was instructed to burn and turn fourth street.
The turn brought the 
on board, and after a check to him, the man who wanted to reraise on the flop shoved his chips forward with a flourish. The move pushed the third player out of the hand, and after a 
arrived on the river, the all-in player stared silently ahead, unwilling to show his hand.
An 
was quickly tabled by his opponent, and after drawing the attention of the entire room with his shouting, the young East Coaster stormed away from the table, his pride wounded and his tournament over.
Andy Hwang, who took down last year's Borgata Winter Poker Open fired a few more bullets today but ran into more than one roadblock.
Meanwhile, Men Nguyen was running into trouble of his own. On one hand, Nguyen opened to 3,200 under the gun, and Luis Urioste bumped it to 13,900 from middle position. Everyone folded back to Nguyen, who made the call. The flop came 
, and both players checked. Nguyen checked again when the 
fell, and Urioste checked behind. Nguyen had finally had enough of checking when the 
arrived, and he bet 15,000. Urioste called immediately, and Nguyen showed 
for aces up. Urioste had Nguyen's kicker bested with 
, and he took the sizable pot down. Nguyen ended the flight with a solid stack of 201,000.
Nyffeler, who bagged a room-leading stack to end Day 1C, was near extinction early in the day. However, he managed to parlay his final 2,100 into over 300,000 in part due to hands like this.
Players will reconvene tomorrow at noon to combine the survivors of the Day 1 flights and are scheduled to play down to 18 players. Be sure to check back with PokerNews for all pertinent updates.
Here are the notable names and chip leaders after Day 1C came to a close.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
327,000
9,000
|
9,000 |
|
318,000
318,000
|
318,000 |
|
|
309,000
309,000
|
309,000 |
|
304,000
304,000
|
304,000 |
|
||
|
201,000
168,950
|
168,950 |
|
||
|
173,000
173,000
|
173,000 |
Four hands remain before players will count their chips and bag up for the day.
Andre Nyffeler was down to his last 2,100 chips early in Day 1C, but despite this close brush with busting out, the New Jersey native has launched an improbable comeback.
We watched as he got it all-in against a similarly stacked opponent while holding , but when the other player tabled 
, Nyffeler appeared to be on the brink once again.
Flop: 
At the sight of an unsafe flop, Nyffeler's opponent shot out of his chair, shouting "come on!" in a plaintive voice while watching the dealer deliver fourth street.
Turn: 
Nyffeler failed to make his set or straight on the turn, but a third heart on board gave him a slew of additional outs. The entire table craned their neck as one to watch the river card decide each player's fate.
River: 
"Oh my God!" screamed the four-flushed opponent, his tournament life over with the drop of a card. "This is unbelievable... Great shove there kid, real nice move." As he stormed away from the tournament area, Nyffeler simply stacked his newly earned chips, ignoring the comments and commotion.
According to another player at the table who calls himself Sonny, this was not Nyffeler's first four-flush find, as he had taken 
up against earlier in the night. Despite being in a spot that defines domination, Nyffeler was rewarded by the deck then as well, and with just one level left to play tonight, he sits in comfortable position near the top of the Day 1C leaderboard.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
|
318,000
318,000
|
318,000 |
The final level of play has arrived, and after thirty more minutes of action Day 1C will conclude.
The blinds are now 2,000-4,000 with a 400 ante.
We just spotted Dan Heimiller exiting the tournament area, backpack in tow.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
Busted | |
|
||
A player under the gun raised to 8,500, and Gerard Kane jammed for 107,100 in the big blind after everyone else had folded. The player under the gun appeared a bit anguished before making the call.
Under the gun: 
Kane:
The flop and turn were as innocuous as it gets: 
. One more baby and Kane would be a goner, but the arrived to save the day on the river.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
220,000 |
The tournament clock just ticked over once again, meaning play has entered the 15th level.
Blinds have escalated to 1,500-3,000 with a 400 ante.
Raymond Morgan was involved in a huge hand just moments ago, when his 
went toe to toe with an opponent's .
The final board rolled out 
, and with a couple of cowboys, Morgan notched the knockout to push over the 230,000 chip plateau.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
231,000 |