The Borgata Spring Poker Open is slated to run April 7-24, 2020 and will culminate with a $2,700 buy-in Championship Event. One lucky winner will get in for FREE courtesy of Oddschecker US! The New Jersey online poker pro’s second biggest career cash came back in 2013 at the Borgata Spring Poker Open in Atlantic City, where Gagliano pocketed $169,029 for a 2nd place finish. And most recently, this past April, Gagliano finished 3rd in a $2,500+200 NLH Championship event for $128,768.
$400+$50 Super Stack Elevator NLH
Level 20: Blinds 5,000/10,000/1,000 ante (55 minutes)
Total Entries: 97
Players Remaining: 8
Average Stack: 485,000
In a battle of the blinds, Zhaoxing Wang opened for 25,000 from the small. James Lillis (bb) 3-bet to 85,000. Wang 4-bet to 190,000, James shoved for 503,000, and Wang snapped, showing pocket Kings. James had pocket Queens and appeared to be destined for 8th place.
Then the board came and the river saved James. He doubled up to 1,014,000 and is our new chip leader. Zhaoxing Wang saw his stack cut down to ~480,000.
$400+$50 Super Stack Elevator NLH
Level 20: Blinds 5,000/10,000/1,000 ante (55 minutes)
Total Entries: 97
Players Remaining: 8
Average Stack: 485,000
On a flop of , Anthony Antico (bb) checked, James Lillis shoved, and Anthony snapped, showing pocket Aces for top set and the current nuts. James rolled over for the open-ended straight-draw.
Borgata Poker Open Blog 2020 Calendar
The on the turn completed the straight for James. Anthony needed the board to pair on the river to survive, but the was not one of the cards he was looking for. James took the pot, stacking up to about 480,000.
Anthony Antico finished in 9th place, earning $1,129.
$400+$50 Super Stack Elevator NLH
Level 20: Blinds 5,000/10,000/1,000 ante (55 minutes)
Total Entries: 97
Players Remaining: 9
Average Stack: 431,000
Zhaoxing Wang has been punishing the table. The last two hands pushed his stack up to ~1.1 million.
Aimon Abbassi limped, Anthony Antico limped the cutoff, Noemi Saleh limped the button, then Daniel Park made it 55,000 from the small blind.
Wang 4-bet to 147,000 from the big blind and one by one, then fell like dominoes, surrendering the pot to him.
On the next hand, Daniel Park opened for 22,000 on the button, Wang (sb) made it 70,000, Park hit it again for 172,000 total, and Wang shoved. Park gave it some thought, then opted to fold. He was left about 370,000.
$350+$50 Pot Limit Omaha
Borgata Poker Winter Open 2020 Blog
Level 5: Blinds 150/300
Total Entries: 54
Pot Limit Omaha player recently returned from their first break of the day with more than 50 entries in the game so far. It’s still a little off of last year’s two-day event numbers but there’s still time to get in the game with late registration available for the next four levels plus the break.
$400+$50 Super Stack Elevator NLH
Level 19: Blinds 4,000/8,000/1,000 ante (55 minutes)
Total Entries: 97
Players Remaining: 9
Average Stack: 431,000
On the last hand of this level, Zhaoxing Wang dragged another big pot without a showdown.
Michael Bonita opened for 18,000, Yannis Vitsentzos 3-bet to 50,000, Wang called from the small blind and Michael called as well.
The flop fell and they checked to Yannis, who fired 125,000. Wang called and Michael folded. The landed on the turn and this time both players checked. The completed the board and Wang announced he was allin (about 375,000).
Yannis tanked for a couple of minutes, then eventually surrendered the pot. No amount of begging could get Wang to show even one card. He’s now up to ~680,000 while Yannis is no longer the chip leader. He’s down to ~650,000.
Yannis Vitsentzos began Day 2 as the chip leader and held that lead until this hand.
$300+$40 Mike Sica Memorial Seniors NLH
Level 9: Blinds 500/1,000/100 ante
Total Entries: 109
Players returned from their second break of the day and the Mike Sica Memorial Seniors Event drew 109 entries to the Sunday morning/afternoon game today. That puts more than $30,000 up for grabs and we expect the last 18 players to take home some money. We will post the official numbers, prize pool, and payout information as soon as it is available.
We found defending champ TJ Shulman in the early field. He outlasted most of the field in this tournament last September and took home the biggest piece of a five-way adjusted payout deal then generously handed over the trophy to the family of Mike Sica.
$400+$50 Super Stack Elevator NLH
Level 19: Blinds 4,000/8,000/1,000 ante (55 minutes)
Total Entries: 97
Players Remaining: 9
Average Stack: 431,000
Daniel Park (bb) and Zhaoxing Wang (utg) were looking at a board of and Park bet 52,000. Wang gave it some thought, then called. River was the and Park checked.
Wang moved all-in for his last 83,000 and after taking a minute to consider it, Park let it go. “Did you have a deuce?” asked Wang, as he collected the pot. “If I had a deuce, I would have called” replied Park. A lot of table chatter ensued, speculating who had what, but we’ll never know.
Wang chipped up to ~365,000 while Park’s stack dropped to ~660,000.
$400+$50 Super Stack Elevator NLH
Level 19: Blinds 4,000/8,000/1,000 ante (55 minutes)
Total Entries: 97
Players Remaining: 9
Average Stack: 431,000
Noemi Saleh limped early, was followed by Daniel Park, then Michael Bonita (cutoff) 3-bet to 28,000. Michael Cisco flatted the 3-bet from the button, then Aiman Abbassi (bb) jammed. One by one they released their hands and the pot was pushed to Aiman.
The other players enticed him to show his hand and he obliged, showing pocket Kings. Michael Cisco said he folded AQ suited.
All that dead money brought Aiman’s stack up to about 625,000.
$260+$40 Deeper Stack NLH Re-Entry
$50,000 Guaranteed
Level 8: Blinds 400/800/75 ante
Total Entries: 193
They didn’t hit the $50,000 Guarantee before the first break but they got there before the second one. The Deeper Stack event officially pushed the prize pool over that mark at the start of Level 8 and now they have four more levels of late registration to run it higher.
Jeffrey Trudeau Jr isn’t using the re-entry option today unless things go sideways. The Florida grinder is sitting in good shape at the moment as he tries for his third career Borgata cash. Trudeau has dozens of tournament results on his résumé with most of them coming before the age of 21, when he was unable to mix it up outside his home state. Since he expanded his reach from the Sunshine State, he has tournament wins in Biloxi and New Orleans but still waiting for his first Borgata title.
$400+$50 Super Stack Elevator NLH
Level 19: Blinds 4,000/8,000/1,000 ante (55 minutes)
Total Entries: 97
Players Remaining: 9
Average Stack: 431,000
Short-stack Michael Cisco got his last 154,000 all-in, getting action from chip leader Yannis Vitsentzos on his left. Michael’s was dominating Yannis’ .
The board whiffed it all as it came . Michael’s kicker played and he took the pot with nut-no-pair. He doubled up to 329,000. Yannis’ stack dropped to ~710,000.
The 2020 World Poker Tour Borgata Winter Poker Open $3,500 buy-in no-limit hold’em main event drew a massive field of 1,290 total entries, blowing away the event’s $3,000,000 guarantee to create a final prize pool of $4,129,290. Cards got in the air for this event on January 26. After two starting flights and three more days of action, that sea of players has been narrowed down to just six. The remaining competitors are all now guaranteed a payday of at least $143,264, but surely each of them has their eyes on the title and the top prize of $674,840.
The champion won’t de decided in this event for roughly two months, as this tournament is one of the first waves of WPT events to utilize a delayed final table format. Play concluded with the elimination of Peter Vitantonio in seventh place ($110,338) late on Thursday, Jan. 30. The final six bagged up their chips, with action set to resume on April 1. The final table will be filmed for television and live-streamed online at the HyperX Esports Arena at the Luxor Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas.
The chip leader heading into the final table is Veerab Zakarian. His 11,990,000 will be good for roughly 100 big blinds when play resumes with 10:32 remaining in level 30, which features blinds of 60,000-120,000 with a 120,000 big blind ante. The Canadian is in prime position to add a massive amount of money to his current career live tournament earnings of $336,933. James Anderson sits in second chip position with 10,040,000. The Wooster, Ohio resident won his first World Series of Poker bracelet last summer in the $1,111 Little One For One Drop event, earning $690,686. He’ll be looking to add WPT champion to his list of tournament accolades in April.
Brian Altman (pictured above) will enter the final table in third chip position with 9,865,000. Altman is fresh off of making poker history as the first player to ever win the same WPT main event twice. He took down the 2020 WPT Lucky Hearts Poker Open $3,500 no-limit hold’em main event for $482,636 on Jan. 22, five years after having taken down the same tournament in 2015. Just over a week after emerging victorious in that event, Altman managed to navigate his way through the massive field in this main event to give himself a shot at his third WPT main event title. He would become only the sixth player in history to achieve that feat if he is successful this spring.
Bin Weng bagged up 8,890,000 to enter the final table in fourth chip position. He has already secured the largest cash of his tournament career by making it this far, and would more than double his total earnings with a finish inside the top three spots. Andrew Hanna sits in fifth place with 6,730,000, and like Weng, is at the biggest final table of his tournament career. The New Jersey resident has already managed to double his lifetime totals by making the top six.
Rounding out the final table is Nathan Russler with 3,990,000. Prior to making this final table, his largest score was for $75,407 as the 15th-place finisher in the 2019 WSOP $1,500 no-limit hold’em ‘Millionaire Maker’ event.
Here is a look at chip counts of the final six players:
| Rank | Player | Chip Counts |
| 1 | Veerab Zakarian | 11,990,000 |
| 2 | James Anderson | 10,040,000 |
| 3 | Brian Altman | 9,865,000 |
| 4 | Bin Weng | 8,890,000 |
| 5 | Andrew Hanna | 6,730,000 |
| 6 | Nathan Russler | 3,990,000 |
Here are the remaining payouts up for grabs at the final table:
1st: $674,840 (includes $15,000 seat into the WPT Tournament of Champions)
2nd: $449,904
3rd: $333,012
4th: $248,913
5th: $187,900
6th: $143,264
Altman photo credit: Joe Giron / WPT.