Level 3 (Blinds 75/150)
Total Day 1A Entries: TBD
Michael McGuinness (Toms River, NJ)
If there was one player that stood out during Borgata’s recent October Deep Stacks Challenge, it was Michael McGuinness (Toms River, NJ).
McGuinness got off to a quick start in that series, going “wire to wire” to win Event 1 and take home his first ever Borgata Poker victory.
He then made another deep run, Final Tabling Event 5, failing in a repeat Championship bid, finishing in 7th place.
Those two finishes netted McGuinness close to $10,000 in earnings, and moved him over the $100,000 lifetime mark, while adding to his poker trophy case, as he now has a Borgata trophy next to his WSOP Circuit ring, from a NLH event in 2012.
McGuinness will hope to carry his run good from the DSC into the Fall Poker Open, after getting shut out during the BPO held in September.
He is in the Event 1 Day 1A early field, and currently sitting with an above average stack.
Level 2 (Blinds 50/100)
Total Day 1A Entries: TBD
Jacob Perry (Branchville, NJ)
Sporting his Borgata Online Poker hat, Jacob Perry (Branchville, NJ) was just spotted at Table 3. Perry has a good number of cashes this month alone online, but it’s one recorded live cash that highlights his resume at the moment. Jacob played three days of nearly perfect tournament poker to reach the Big Stax 1100 Main Event at Parx Casino last month, finishing runner-up to Travis Greenawalt. The second place score of $68,501 is by far Perry’s largest live cash, and pushed his career earnings across the $100,000 mark.
Another player in this early field coming off a career highlighting score is Patti Haggerty (Brigantine, NJ). Patti reached the Event 1 final table during September’s Borgata Poker Open (which was streamed live for the first time), finishing in 4th place and collecting $118,981. Haggerty is currently seated at Table 2, and is one of a group of later arrivals to the room:
Kent Weuthrich
Michael Marder
Brian Mooney
Steve Happas
Michael Nye
Level 1 (Blinds 25/50)
Total Day 1A Entries: TBD
Dimas Martinez (Atlanta, GA)
The (25) tables that are in play in the Signature Room are almost all full, only taking one full level to put a body in each seat. One of those bodies in action is that of Dimas Martinez (Atlanta, GA), a name you may recognize from the Borgata Poker Open just two months ago. Dimas befriended “Team BCP” co-founder Aaron Massey during one of Martinez’s deep tournament runs, sporting the team’s shirt for nearly every day that followed in the series. While he’s left the shirt at home this time around, Dimas is likely hoping he can run (and play) as well as Massey this year. Martinez did follow up his BPO with one cash, a 23rd place finish in the $1,675 WSOPC Main Event at Southern Indiana ($4,633).
Some other players that have been spotted in the Signature Room over the first (40) minutes of the day include:
Cathy Dever
Nancy Martin
Alex Queen
Joe Wertz
Neville Darrell
Dan Howe
Michael Cologna
James Kaplan
Mickey Woll
Philip Neiman
Ken Silberstein
Mike Azzaro
Gregory Whiting
Sal Bussaca
Jane Hitchcock
Level 1 (Blinds 25/50)
Total Entries: TBD
Tournament Director Tab Duchateau has just made the rules announcement to players seated here in the Signature Room, and with his “shuffle up and deal” heard throughout the room, we can now confirm that the 2014 Borgata Fall Poker Open is in action! For those following the blog now, but entering the tournament later in the day, Table 1-25 will be located in the Signature Room, with the higher numbers in the Poker Room.
Over the next (48) hours, there will be a large number of players taking their seats in this event, all with some very high aspirations. The saying goes that there is only one person who walks away from a tournament happy…and that would be the winner. With the $1,000,000 guaranteed prize pool for this tournament, you can be sure there will be a lot of player’s disappointment dashed once they reach the payout line. This is some life changing money that is up for grabs during this opening event, and we welcome the opportunity to document everything as it unfolds.
There have already been numerous notables spotted walking to their seats, and we will bring you a list of some of those shortly, once players are settled in their seats.
The weather may be getting colder, and leaves slowly leaving their branches, but things are staying the same here at the country’s preeminent poker destination. The final installation of Borgata’s 2014 five “main” series begins today, with Event 1 getting the cards in the air at 11:00am. The opening event is a $500 + 60 Deep Stack No Limit Hold’em (Re-Entry) tournament, which carries a $1,000,000 guarantee, and boasts four starting flights (two today and two tomorrow).
Players will be sitting down to a 25,000 starting stack for this opening event, with levels lasting (30) minutes throughout each Day 1 starting flight (Levels 1-18). The length of level will transition two more times on Day 2, but we will revisit that when the time comes. Alternates, players registering late, and re-entries will all be sold full stacks, but once all seats are sold for a specific seat number (i.e. all the 5 seats), your chips will be placed on the table and blinded off. This is a two-day event, with breaks every (3) levels that last (10) minutes. As mentioned earlier, Day 1 will finish after the conclusion of Level 18, with Day 2 finishing up once a winner is crowned.
All of the tournaments during the series will be hosted in the Signature Room and/or Poker Room, with some exceptionally large fields expected over the next two weeks. Another thing that you can count on throughout the series is the live coverage of each event, beginning today when the cards get in the air for Day 1A of Event 1. Make sure to save this URL, and refresh often to check out all of the action that is unfolding. Updates will be fast and furious after 11:00am, but until then here is a reminder of today’s Borgata Fall Poker Open Schedule:
11:00am: Event 1 (Day 1A) $500 + 60 Deep Stack No Limit Hold’em ($1,000,000 Guarantee)
5:00pm: Event 1 (Day 1B): $500 + 60 Deep Stack No Limit Hold’em ($1,000,000 Guarantee)