Event 15 (Day 1B)

$2,500+$200 Championship NLH
$1,000,000 Guaranteed
Structure Sheet

Level 4: Blinds 200/300/300 BB Ante
Entries: 313

Chris Limo

Championship players are heading off on their second break of the day but Borgata reg Chris Limo was busy playing a hand as they left the room.

He was three-ways to a flop and bet 2,300 after an early position check. The button and EP player called and all three checked the turn. The EP player bet 2,000 after the river and Limo shrug-grunt-called.

“I was going to do the same,” the button player laughed as he folded.

The EP player tabled but Limo was good with to move his stack up to 80,000.

#TeamLimo

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$2,500+$200 Championship NLH
$1,000,000 Guaranteed
Structure Sheet

Level 4: Blinds 200/300/300 BB Ante
Entries: 302

John Yanni

We mentioned Chalie Hook and Anthony Damato sitting at the same table but they aren’t the only two tough spots on Table 3. We found two other former Borgata winners joining the fun.

Only a few months ago, John Yanni earned his third Borgata title after conquering the $260+$50 Deep Stack event during the Borgata Spring Poker Open adding to his 2017 Borgata Fall Poker Open Black Chip Bounty title and a 2016 Deep Stacks Challenge title.

Sitting two spots to his right is Mike Hollenberg. His title came in the four-card variant with a win in the 2015 Borgata Spring Poker Open Omaha/8 tournament. His biggest cash came two years ago when he finished runner-up in a WPTDeepStacks Main Event in early 2016.

Mike Hollengerg

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$2,500+$200 Championship NLH
$1,000,000 Guaranteed
Structure Sheet

Level 4: Blinds 200/300/300 BB Ante
Entries: 288

Chalie Hook

Chalie Hook won the 2013 Borgata Summer Poker Open Championship and that qualified him to play in Saturday’s Borgata 15th Birthday Tournament of Champions. He was among the 20 players taking part and he cruised his way to the victory. He made a three-way deal with Anthony Damato and Guo Chen to divide up the $25,000 and Hook took the lion’s share with the title.

The final six players in the TOC each received a freeroll entry into this week’s Championship and Hook is using his today. And he’s not alone amongst the TOC freerollers in his neighborhood, Damato grabbed his seat in the tournament today as well and they are back at the same table.

Anthony Damato

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$2,500+$200 Championship NLH
$1,000,000 Guaranteed
Structure Sheet

Level 4: Blinds 200/300/300 BB Ante
Entries: 284

She Lok Wong aka ‘Gary’

One familiar face that we have not see this series is that of She Lok ‘Gary’ Wong.  He’s usually here, grinding his way through the preliminary events to the Championship, but he has been MIA…until today.

He’s been in Las Vegas and cashed in the “Little One for One Drop” event at the WSOP.

Gary has five titles from Connecticut casinos, but always came up short here at Borgata.  Until last Fall when he took down the $1,000 Turbo NLH event, earning his first Borgata trophy.

With his cashes from last month, his lifetime earnings have topped $668,000.

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$2,500+$200 Championship NLH
$1,000,000 Guaranteed
Structure Sheet

Level 3: Blinds 100/200/200 BB Ante
Entries: 276

Dan Lee

We found another tough table in the poker room and it had some action this afternoon. A few names around the table, in order, include Ricky Guan, Craig Rubinstein, Justin Liberto, Frank Toscano, and Joey Cappuccio. You can add Dan Lee to the tough draw with a big stack.

After flop, Lee saw one player move all in for 15,700 and Toscano reship before it was Lee’s turn to act. He had 33,100 himself and put those in the middle.

“Who has the fives?” asked the original shover.

It was Lee, Lee had the fives.

Lee:
Toscano:
OG Shover:

A good flop for his hand. Lee had the full house against the other two with trip aces (one outkicked) and only needed to dodge the thin drawing over-boats. The turn and river were safe to send one player out and Lee took a chunk out of Toscano’s stack to move over 100,000.

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$2,500+$200 Championship NLH
$1,000,000 Guaranteed
Structure Sheet

Level 3: Blinds 100/200/200 BB Ante
Entries: 266

Dan Walsh

Dan Walsh won the Almighty Stack event during the 2018 Spring Poker Open, good for $125,286.  He also has a win from the 2012 Fall Poker Open in a Deep Stack event ($143,114).

David Eilers

Across the felt from Dan is David Eilers, who also has a Borgata trophy on his mantle.  During the 2013 Summer Poker Open, David won the Black Chip Bounty event for more than $27,000.

Seated between them on the same table are Rich Murnick and Darius Studdard, meaning yet another table where chips are going to be hard to accumulate.

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$2,500+$200 Championship NLH
$1,000,000 Guaranteed
Structure Sheet

Level 3: Blinds 100/200/200 BB Ante
Entries: 248

Players are back on the felt following the break and cards are once again flying.

With this level, the Big Blind Ante has begun.  In this format, only the player in the big blind posts the ante for the table.  The amount is always the same as the Big Blind, regardless of the number of players at the table. If there is an all-in situation in the big blind, chips go toward the big blind first, then the ante.

The Big Blind Ante was first introduced at Borgata during the Spring Poker Open and it was a big hit among players.  It speeds up the game, the dealers don’t have to make change, and we don’t have to deal with the green 25 chips in the early levels.

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$2,500+$200 Championship NLH
$1,000,000 Guaranteed
Structure Sheet

End of Level 2: Blinds 100/200
Entries: 220

Two levels down and players are taking their first break of the day.  While they’re away. let’s take a look at who got chips in a bag yesterday.  They’re listed below in a searchable and sortable table.

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$2,500+$200 Championship NLH
$1,000,000 Guaranteed
Structure Sheet

Level 2: Blinds 100/200
Entries: 209

There are no easy tables in an event like this, but some seem worse than others.  Michael Haberman, Sundiata DeVore, and Chris Csik are sharing the felt on table 18.

Michael has been here since Event 1, grinding away, and cashed in Event 4, the first Saturday Series event.  Chris turned up about the middle of the series after booking one cash at the World Series of Poker last month.

Sundiata is the latest arrival, turning up just in time to get himself a seat via satellite.

All three of these guys are tournament grinders and Borgata regulars and that means it’s going to be tough to get any chips on table 18!

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$2,500+$200 Championship NLH
$1,000,000 Guaranteed
Structure Sheet

Level 2: Blinds 100/200
Entries: 188

Craig Rubinstein

Craig Rubinstein played the 1pm $270+$30 Championship Satellite yesterday, earning his seat in today’s $2,500+$200 Championship for only $300.  Would you call that cheap-rolling?

He’s one of BorgataPoker.com’s sponsored pros and plays a lot online, usually getting his tournament seats in online satellites.  This time he decided to try it out live and he scored his seat.  Now he’s just got to make it pay off with a deep run.

Craig won the $350 Monster Stack event back in March, earning his best live cash of $17,126 and that’s his only Borgata title, so far.

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