David Jackson Leads BFPO Championship Final Table; $308,556 Up Top
The third day of 2019 Borgata Poker Open Event #17: $2,700 Championship has now come to an end and when the dust had settled it was David Jackson leading for a second straight day as just nine remain to fight it out for the $308,556 first-place prize.
Jackson started Day 3 as the chip leader and elected to jump into the action early; in fact, he was the first player in the field to hit the seven-figure mark. He took his newly acquired chips and started to apply pressure on the smaller stacks, knocking out many en route to finishing atop of the leaderboard.
The biggest hand of the night saw Jackson on the winning end of a cooler versus Daniel Sewnig, who was in second place at the time. Robert Chasen opened, Sewnig three-bet, and Jackson pushed in a four-bet. Sewnig was the only one to call and the flop came down nine-high. Sewnig check-raised all in with his pair of kings only to be snapped off by the aces of Jackson. Sewnig failed to catch up as he was eliminated in 11th place, sending the biggest pot of the tournament to Jackson, who finished Day 3 with 8,200,000.
An overwhelming lead for Jackson doesn't guarantee a victory and one person that can ruin Jackson's heater is a three-time World Series of Poker bracelet winner in Paul Volpe, who will be entering the day second in chips with a stack of 2,355,000. Volpe has over $8.2 million in live career earnings with one of his biggest cashes coming in the Borgata Spring Poker Open $ 2,700 Championship when he took down first place for an outstanding $356,255, along with a Borgata trophy.
Final Table Lineup
| Seat | Player | Chip Count | Big Blinds |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Paul Volpe | 2,355,000 | 59 |
| 2 | David Jackson | 8,200,000 | 205 |
| 3 | Joseph Gambino | 1,280,000 | 32 |
| 4 | Peter Walsworth | 1,405,000 | 35 |
| 5 | Sean Barringer | 825,000 | 21 |
| 6 | Stuart Taylor | 1,445,000 | 36 |
| 7 | Matthew Silberzweig | 1,675,000 | 42 |
| 8 | Nikolai Markov | 1,545,000 | 39 |
| 9 | Robert Chasen | 1,720,000 | 43 |
Day 3 Action
The tournament started off just six away from the money and it took just over a level before the bubble popped. Volpe was the executioner during a hand against Matthew Holmquist who moved all in with his pair of kings. Volpe called with ace-queen and ended up landed two pair, sending Holmquist out on the bubble and all that remained were then guaranteed at least a $4,957 payday.
A flurry of elimination happened soon after including the start of Day 2 chipleader Roland Israelashvili, who pushed his remaining stack into the middle with big slick. Joe Reddick called, holding a pair of dimes and the board ran out clean for Reddick, sending Israelashvili out the door in 41st place. Another familiar face took an exit soon after when Joe McKeehen saw his stack move into the middle with his pocket queens against the ace king of James Campbell and an ace landed on the flop, dropping McKeehen out of the tournament.
Just two levels after it was Jon Borenstein trying to survive with his king-queen against the pocket eights of Jackson. The board didn't help Borenstein in the slightest and he was eliminated in 19th place as the final two tables redrew. Nicholas Salimbene took an exit first with his ace-king against Volpe's tens. Jackson then took ace-queen and sent the pocket tens of Dien Le on his way. Jackson continued his rush, cracking the aces of Hye Park with a pair of ladies.
Jackson knocked out two more players on the way to hitting the unoffical final table of 10 and kept with the trend as he sent Michael Vela to the felt. Vela attempted a bluff a few hands prior but failed to find a fold from Peter Walsworth and was left with just one 25,000 chip. He moved his remaining chip into the middle, Jackson and Joseph Gambino called. Jackson pushed Gambino off on the river and Vela tabled three nines with a king-kicker, but it came up just short of the pot as Jackson showed the same three nines with an ace-kicker, eliminating Vela from the tournament in tenth place.
The remaining nine players will return Thursday at noon to battle for the $308,556 first-place prize, along with the prestigious Borgata trophy that awaits the eventual winner. The blinds will resume on level 25 which has a 20,000 small blind with a 40,000 big blind and 40,000 big blind ante. Players will play down until six and those will then bag up and move to the live stream that is scheduled to begin at 2:30 p.m. local time.
That wraps it up for the PokerNews coverage of Day 3 of the BFPO Championship, but tune in tomorrow for all of the updates as the action unfolds.