Photo Recap: Day 2 of the WPT Borgata Poker Open

By BJ Nemeth

The official chip counts have been released, and with 165 players remaining (from a total starting field of 1,042), the average chip stack is about 190,000. When the survivors return on tomorrow (Tuesday) for Day 3, the blinds will be 2,000-4,000 with a 400 ante.

Here are the chipleaders:

1. John D’Agostino – 681,200
2. Giuseppe Pantaleo – 668,100
3. Francis Lamothe – 611,800
4. Lars Bonding – 521,900
5. Marc Goldman – 506,600
6. Eric Salinas – 495,000
7. Jens Eisner – 477,900
8. Stan Sinclair – 449,300
9. Jeff Papola – 447,300
10. Benjamin Klier – 433,800

The complete list of official chip counts are in a post below this one. Click here to go directly to the chip counts.

Here’s a photographic look back at Day 2 of the WPT Borgata Poker Open.

In a day highlighted by conflict between players, it started relatively low key. If you weren’t seated at the same table, you might not have noticed the animosity between Matt Stout (left) and Allen Bari. But if you followed them on Twitter, it was a little more obvious. Stout started the day by tweeting, "Left my headphones in the car and Al Bari is sitting on my right. Related story: finally told him what I (and most players) think of him =)" The tension between the players escalated late in the day when Stout was all in with K-Q against Bari’s A-K — and Stout caught a queen to double up. More words were exchanged, resulting in a penalty for Stout and this summary from Bari on Twitter: "Stout makes a piss awful shove, I call, he 3 outs for 55k, I comment, he insults, he is penalized …" Stout eventually busted late in the day, while Bari survived to Day 3 with a nearly average stack of 170,600 (42 bb).

Before we get to the most memorable conflict of the day, let’s take a moment to appreciate the lovely Jennifer Luongo, one of the hard-working cocktail waitresses working the tournament area. The Borgata calls their cocktail waitresses "Borgata Babes," and looking at this photo, you can see why.

Steve Buckner (center, top) is a loud poker player, and he likes to celebrate when he wins a big pot. Some people might even go so far as to call him a jerk — but more about that later. In this hand, Buckner was all in on the river against Larry Wolf, doubling up with an eight-high straight against a set of eights. Buckner began celebrating loudly by bouncing up and down the aisle, which caused his opponent to use the word "jerk." At least in terms of poker, Buckner got the best of this hand.

You can read the original write-up about this entire situation by clicking here.

When Wolf used the word "jerk," a railbird who had snuck into the tournament area defended Buckner. "He is not a jerk! I know this man, and he is a kind man. You don’t know him! He is not a jerk!" Wolf was shocked to have to defend himself, but he argued with the woman for about 10-15 seconds. Then she asked, "Are you Jewish?" This immediately got the angry attention of Jeremy Schwartz, who leapt to his feet, got in the woman’s face, and said, "Whoa! What the hell was that about?" What had been an argument had escalated, and it felt like there was about to be physical violence as Schwartz and the woman continued yelling at each other.

You can read the original write-up about this entire situation by clicking here.

Thankfully, the tournament staff (including TD Tab Duchateau, standing, left) arrived quickly to calm things down. Amazingly, the table was back to normal within just a few minutes — even Buckner and Wolf were laughing together like old friends. Depending on your views of karma, you may be interested to know that the man who kicked off this chain of events (Steve Buckner) busted out of the tournament during the next level.

You can read the original write-up about this entire situation by clicking here.

Jeremy Schwartz was a little late coming back from the dinner break, because he had gone out of his way to calmly find the woman he had the conflict with, and they cleared the air and patched things up. Schwartz definitely deserves credit for not holding a grudge once the heat of the moment subsided. Despite the distractions, Schwartz survived the day with 68,700 in chips.

With all sorts of craziness going on in the tournament field, defending champion Olivier Busquet continued going about his business — attempting to become the first player in WPT history to successfully defend his title. Busquet has put himself in excellent position so far, finishing the day with 355,400 in chips.

Dan Fischer was one of the first players over the 300,000-chip mark, and a contender for the chip lead late in the day. He eventually finished with 330,200, good enough for 25th place on the leaderboard.

Irv Gotti is the founder of The Inc. record label (formerly known as Murder, Inc.), and has produced artists like Jay-Z, Ja Rule, and DMX. Gotti survived to Day 3 with 100,600.

With several of the players playing simultaneously in the WPT Borgata Poker Open championship and the online WCOOP $1,050 no-limit hold’em event, the Borgata staff set aside a room next to the tournament area for players to set up their laptops. The players were then free to run back-and-forth between the tournaments to maximize their playing time — the exit door behind him leads directly to the tournament room. Andrew Badecker, known online as "southrnctowl," was in roughly 52nd place with 93 players remaining in the WCOOP event when this photo was taken.

Andrew Badecker managed to triple his stack after falling short in the WPT Borgata Poker Open championship, and the comfortable stack allowed him to rush back to his laptop to play the online WCOOP — where he busted in the next hand he played in 84th place. On the bright side, he survived the WPT event to Day 3 with 255,700.

Giuseppe Pantaleo had a strong showing during the preliminary events of the Borgata Poker Open, making two final tables. He continues his run-good in the WPT event, winning a huge pot during the last level to propel him to the top of the leaderboard. Pantaleo finished the day second in chips with 668,100.

In the final few hands of Day 2, there were several notable players eliminated. Gavin Smith lost a race with A-K against 6-6 to end his tournament, about the same time that his best friend Chris Bell was eliminated at another table. Nancy Todd Tyner was also a last-minute casualty.

Day 3 begins tomorrow (Tuesday) at 11:00 am ET, when the final 165 players return to play their way down toward the final three tables (27 players). Return to WorldPokerTour.com for complete live coverage, including chip counts and video interviews with Kimberly Lansing.