At the start of Level 3, the World Poker Tour crew and Borgata Staff gave a welcome to the Flight A players and announced some important events. Most importantly, the Player Party will take place. Nov 30, 2018 Borgata. The Borgata Hotel Casino & Spa in Atlantic City, New Jersey has announced the dates for the upcoming Borgata Winter Poker Open set to take place in 2019. The premiere series will kick off on January 15 and will run for more than two weeks. The $3500 buy-in championship event will be a part of the 17th season of World Poker Tour and the second stop of WPT 2019.
After a stop out in California earlier this month, the Season XV schedule of the World Poker Tour chugs eastward, setting its wheels down in Atlantic City and, in particular, the Borgata for its eponymous Borgata Poker Open.
The Borgata Poker Open is being contested for the 14th time as a featured part of the WPT circuit and it has had just about as many changes to its tournament format in that time. When first contested in 2003, the buy-in was $5000 and only 235 players came out for the freeze-out tournament (Noli Francisco was the first-ever champion at a final table that also featured runner up Charlie Shoten, David Oppenheim and 2016 Poker Hall of Fame nominee Carlos Mortensen). Only two years later in the midst of the “poker boom,” the buy-in was kicked up to $10,000 and 515 runners came to the line (Al Ardebili would be the person made a millionaire in winning the tournament). After 2006, however, and Roy Winston’s victory over a 560-player field, the participation rate began to fall.
This was also the time when the “re-entry” tournament began to take hold and, in 2009, it was brought to the Borgata Poker Open. That year was the first that featured rebuys for its players (at a “reduced” rate of $3500 per entry) and the players came out in droves with the rubber band off their bankrolls. In that 2009 event, 1018 entries were eventually recorded (with Olivier Busquet winning the championship) and the Borgata has gone on to set records for player entries in WPT events (1313 entries for the WPT Borgata Poker Open in 2011 is the best the tournament has ever done).
“We are proud to return to Borgata again for Season XV, and the WPT Borgata Poker Open represents the first of two stops this season at this premier East Coast venue,” said WPT Chief Executive Officer Adam Pliska prior to the start of the tournament schedule. “Borgata is home to some of the largest WPT fields in history and many of the WPT’s most prestigious champions, one of whom is legendary two-time World Poker Tour winner Daniel Negreanu. Other past champions include Season XIII Hublot WPT Player of the Year Anthony Zinno and Darren Elias.”
The Borgata also seems happy to welcome back the WPT and the players to its grounds. “We are excited to welcome the World Poker Tour back to Borgata for the 14th edition of the WPT Borgata Poker Open,” said Joe Lupo, the Senior Vice President of Operations for Borgata Hotel Casino & Spa. “The WPT Borgata Poker Open Championship event has consistently drawn more than 1,000 entries for each of the past seven seasons, and we look forward to hosting another world-class WPT event.”
This year’s event will be quite similar to last year’s battle. Two Day Ones will be played (Day 1A today, Day 1B on Monday) with an initial $3500 entry fee ($200 juice). There will be unlimited re-entries up to and including Level 10 for each starting day, at which point registration (or re-entry) will be locked. Depending on how much the field wants to gamble, it is very likely that the tournament will crack the 1000-entry mark and, with some loose wallets and/or some unfortunate breaks, another 500 entries would push the prize pool well over $4 million.
While not stating what Day 1 they will take part in, plenty of professionals should be on the ground for the festivities. Loni Harwood, Allen Kessler, Matt Affleck, Asher Conniff and former champion Zinno have been taking part of some of the preliminary action, but there should be hordes of other people who will invade the Jersey Shore for the tournament. Defending champion David Paredes is expected to be a part of that horde, looking to defend his championship.
The remainder of the schedule for the WPT Borgata Poker Open has the final table being played out on Friday. That final table will not only be taped for broadcast during the Season XV schedule, it will also be streamed online with a 30-minute delay. The final table will stream on both WPT.com and on Twitch.tv.
Day 1B of the World Poker Tour (WPT) Borgata Poker Open Main is in the books and, as expected, the field for the second starting flight dwarfed that of the first. A total of 707 entries were booked on Monday; added to the 271 on Sunday brings the entire field to 978 so far. Registration is still open through the first two levels of Day 2 and there are unlimited re-entries, so the Borgata Poker Open Main event should certainly see yet another four-figure field.
Shiraz Hasan bagged the most chips on Day 1B, just edging out Marcos Exterkotter, 227,500 to 222,200.
Like Sunday’s chip leader, Mukharji Uppalapati, Shiraz Hasan is a regional player. He has ten recorded cashes for a total of about $33,000. They came mostly in Atlantic City, with some scores in Delaware (his home state), Pennsylvania, and Maryland.
A number of former WPT winners are still alive in the tournament, including Brian Altman and Daniel Weinman, who both sit in the top ten on the chip count leaderboard. Other Champions Club members who will play today include Darren Elias, Andy Frankenberger, Jared Jaffee, and Will “The Thrill” Failla.
All told, 518 players will be sitting down shortly for Day 2 at the WPT Borgata Poker Open Main Event. As mentioned, they will be joined by anyone who wants to give it a shot early on Tuesday. Once registration closes after the second level of the day, we will know the total field and final prize pool. There is a guaranteed prize pool of $3 million, but that has already been eclipsed. The structure will continue with 60-minute levels until registration closes. After that, levels will be 75-minutes.
The record for the WPT Borgata Poker Open Main Event is 1,313 entrants, set in Season X. While this year’s edition will certainly hit 1,000, breaking the all-time mark might be a stretch. It’s not out of the question though, so it will be interesting to see if it can be done.
Mukharji Uppalapati’s Day 1A chip lead was good enough to make him the overall leader going into Day 2. In fact, the top three players came from Day 1A.
2019 World Poker Tour Borgata Poker Open Main Event – Day 1B Chip Leaders
- Shiraz Hasan – 227,500
- Marcos Exterkotter – 222,200
- Brian Altman – 187,500
- Daniel Weinman – 186,700
- Felix Ma – 185,000
- Peter Campo – 184,700
- Tyler Phillips – 183,600
- Ryan Van Sanford – 178,000
- Kevin Garosshen – 176,700
- Ami Alibay – 175,000
2019 World Poker Tour Borgata Poker Open Main Event – Combined Day 1 Chip Leaders
Borgata Winter Poker Open
- Mukharji Uppalapati – 252,400
- Asher Conniff – 247,800
- Ryan Olisar – 229,700
- Shiraz Hasan – 227,500
- Marcos Exterkotter – 222,200
- Bruce Kramer – 211,600
- Larry Ormson – 204,600
- Lucas Drolet – 199,100
- Brian Altman – 187,500
- Daniel Weinman – 186,700