Kevin Grabel Grabs the Chip Lead After Day 1b
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Today another exciting day of poker punctuated the seaside ambience of Atlantic City, as the Borgata Spring Poker Open’s first event rolled onward. The second starting flight of Event 1 ($560 No-Limit Hold’em Reentry, $1 Million Guaranteed) consisted of 15 levels spanning 30 minutes each, and when it was all said and done 469 entries and reentries were recorded, topping the 359 which were tallied yesterday.
Topping the chip counts when it was all said and done was Kevin Grabel, who managed to accumulate a huge stack of 353,500 to put himself well clear of his closest competitor in Bill Kontaratos (281,500).
One of the more interesting stories to emerge from Day 1b involved the perseverance of Cecilia Doyle, who managed to bag up 40,000 despite playing through nausea and other symptoms of pregnancy. Doyle was recently engaged to poker player Rob Voigt, and while Rob will have to wait until tomorrow after falling short midway through the day, Cecilia will be returning for Day 2 on Friday.
Other players who survived the gauntlet to secure a stack for Day 2 include Danko Campese (211,000), Luke Edwards (188,500), Tony Sinishtaj (128,000), James Woods (103,000) and Amnon Filippi (80,000).
Woods was especially active today, misfiring on his first bullet before ultimately finding a rhythm, and although he dropped a sizable pot with a curious call, he will be returning for a Day 2 appearance.
On the other side of the coin, players like Micah Raskin, John D’Agostino, Cherish Andrews, Megan Milburn, Joseph Stiers, Kenneth Lind, Ben Soltz, Natale Kuey and Timothy Little all fell short of the finish line. We expect to see most of them back tomorrow to fire another bullet or three.
Day 1c begins at 11 a.m. on Thursday, with players who bagged and tagged at the end of Day 1a or Day 1b still eligible to take another crack at building a big stack. As always, the expectation is that turnout will increase tomorrow – as it did today – with players trying to avoid a lengthy delay should they reach Day 2.
The PokerNews Live Reporting team will be on hand from start to finish, proudly providing live continuous coverage from the floor of the Borgata Spring Poker Open, so keep it here throughout the day to follow all of the action.