2014 Borgata Spring Poker Open: Korotki Leads Final 45 in Championship Event
Action continued on Wednesday from the 2014 Borgata Spring Poker Open at the Borgata in Atlantic City, NJ. Event 7: $2,700 Spring Poker Championship concluded Day 2 action with 45 players remaining, while Event 9: $300 $100,000 Guaranteed Big-Stack NLHE Reentry was won by Jimmy Lillis.
Event 7: $2,700 Spring Poker Championship
We are in the money at the 2014 Borgata Spring Poker Open Championship and 45 players will return at noon on Thursday aiming to make it even further with all eyes on the $256,508 first place prize. The chip leader heading into Day 3 is Abraham Korotki, who eliminated one of the Day 1 chip leaders, well known professional poker player Paul Volpe, earlier in the day and never looked back on the way to building the largest stack in the field with 830,000 in chips.
Sitting in second, only 8,000 behind Korotki with 822,000, is Jake Toole, who won a straight-vs-straight-vs-straight hand to start his ascent to the top. Rounding out the top 3 is the Day 1 chip leader, Alan Wentz, who finished with 730,500 in chips.
Other notables that made the money and will return include Paul Spitzberg (506,000), Andy Spears (269,500), Matt Brady (260,000), Jeff Madsen (219,500), Dave Stefanski (191,500), Roland Israelashvili (161,500), Jeff Papola (93,500), Taylor Von Kriegenbergh (91,500), Emad Alabsi (65,000), Valerie Novak (40,000), and David Tuthill (350,500). Tuthill took out Mike Leah in a cooler of a hand when he picked up Aces to Leah's Kings.
There were some great players that were unable to make the money. Names like Brett Richey, Andy Frankenberger, Tyler Patterson, Cornel Cimpan, Christian Harder, Keven Stammen, Eric Baldwin, Brock Parker, Amnon Filippi, Brian Lemke, Darren Elias, Adam Friedman, and Matt Affleck would all be sent packing before the money bubble burst.
When play resumes, they will play until the final 27 is reached with the possibility of playing longer if tournament staff feels it is warranted. PokerNews will be back here from the start to bring you all the exciting flops, turns, and rivers.
Event 9: $300 $100,000 Guaranteed Big-Stack NLHE Reentry
After a grueling day on the felt which spanned nearly 20 hours in sum, a three-way chop was arranged to end Event 9 at the Borgata Spring Poker Open.
Jimmy "Bagels" Lillis signed for first-place money and won the random hand to decide who held the trophy. Thomas Balla took down second on the official scorecard, Joe Cutler was third. Each player took home $33,000 for their deep run through a huge field, a well-deserved reward after spending nearly 24 hours playing poker.
The $300 buy-in, $100,000 Guaranteed Big-Stack NLHE Reentry event proved to be a smashing success, attracting 843 entries and reentries to generate a $212,605 prize pool. Among the notable names to show up before being showing the door were Men "The Master" Nguyen, Chris Tryba, DJ MacKinnon, James Woods, Megan Milburn, and Tony Sinishtaj.
The usual hubbub surrounding the money bubble was a bit protracted, with three players going bust on the same deal of hand-for-hand play and a premature announcement from the tournament staff leading to mass confusion. After a nearly hour long wait, Gary Rosenzweig discovered that he had failed to make the money, despite hearing congratulations on over the microphone and participating in the collective cheer which always signals the bubble bursting.
Pros like Joe Kuether (56th) and Anthony Maio (53rd) did manage to make the money, but each fell short far short of their perpetual goal of the final table.
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