Photo Recap: Day 1B of the WPT Borgata Poker Open

By BJ Nemeth

The official chip counts have been released, and with 641 players remaining (from a total starting field of 1,042), the average chip stack is about 48,800. When the survivors return on tomorrow (Monday) for Day 2, the blinds will be 300-600 with a 75 ante.

1. Vincenzo Abate – 201,450
2. Jeremy Maher – 176,875
3. Adel Jo – 160,525
4. Marc Lome – 147,675
5. Jacobo Fernandez – 145,100
6. Anthony Licastro – 139,000
7. DJ Whorley – 137,500
8. Ruslan Dykshteyn – 132,500
9. April Cromie – 125,300
10. Darren Elias – 122,750

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 1B of the WPT Borgata Poker Open.

Day 1B of the WPT Borgata Poker Open began at 11:00 am on Sunday, a day when a lot of the professional online players were busy playing the major online tournaments.

Shortly before the start of play, WPT Producer George Sylak is surprised with a birthday cake and a card from the Royal Flush Girls. From left to right: George, Melanie, Michelle, Katrina, and Melyssa.

Before the first break of the day, Kathy Liebert returned to her room and changed clothes. Why? Because she was losing. When the WPT cameras showed up at her table, she described how she lost with some premium hands, including pocket kings against Shawn Cunix (left), who beat her with K-Q. Kathy Liebert said, "How is a guy in an orange shirt going to beat me? I went upstairs and changed into my lucky shirt and came back." Cunix said, "That shirt was purple too, wasn’t it?" Liebert clarified, "It was a soft purple with an alligator on it, so I thought it would scare them. It didn’t work, so I changed strategies."

Jeremy Brown (left) and Steve Dannenmann were seated side-by-side at the start of play. Both players gained fame through notable runner-up finishes — Dannenmann finished second to Joe Hachem in the 2005 WSOP Main Event, while Brown finished second to Olivier Busquet in last year’s WPT Borgata Poker Open. Both players prospered here on Day 1 — Brown finished the day with 68,750, and Dannenmann finished the day with 67,725.

The Event Center at Borgata was filled with players as the number of entries on Day 1B (727) more than doubled those on Day 1A (315). The 1,042 players in this event set a record for the largest field in WPT history. After eight levels of play on both starting days, there are only 641 survivors who will return for Day 2.

At the end of Level 4, there were still two players who hadn’t arrived yet — John D’Agostino and Mike Vela. Their chip stacks had been blinding off from the start of the tournament, though it’s a testament to the deep-stack structure that they both missed about five hours of play and still had more than 130 big blinds. This photo shows D’Agostino’s chip stack moments before he took his seat in time to play the last two hands of Level 4. Vela showed up shortly after the start of Level 5.

During one of the breaks, WPT Anchor Kimberly Lansing interviewed actor James Woods, who discussed his upcoming directorial debut and the new changes for this season of the World Poker Tour. James Woods appeared to have fun in the tournament, but unfortunately wasn’t able to survive Day 1. You can watch the entire video by clicking here.

Darren Elias was the first player to break the 100,000-chip mark on Day 1b, and carried the momentum to the end of the day, finishing in the top 10 with 122,750.

At the dinner break, Lisa Hamilton was among the chipleaders with 113,100. The last two levels weren’t as productive for her, as she finished the day with 115,575.

One of the more interesting lineups in today’s field was (from left to right) "Hollywood" Dave Stann, Nancy Todd Tyner, and Steve Buckner. Three very different players, with very different personalities, though they finished the day with very similar chip counts — 37,300 for Tyner, 40,350 for Stann, and 42,750 for Buckner. During one hand between Stann and Buckner, Buckner moved all in and was trying to give the impression he was weak. Stann folded, and Buckner said, "I was stronger than garlic in a milkshake."

New Jersey local Mike Sica, known by everyone as "Little Man," had a strong showing on Day 1b, finishing among the chipleaders with 112,175.

John D’Agostino missed the first half of Day 1b, but overcame his late start to finish strong with 92,800 in chips. Former WPT winner Mike Vela arrived shortly after D’Agostino, but didn’t fare quite as well, finishing with 39,225.

Bernard Lee really prospered after the dinner break, catching some great hands in some great spots to pick up chips and bust players. Lee finished the day with 120,025 in chips.

Jeremy Maher (right) was one of the chipleaders in the final minutes of the day, and he won the second-to-last hand at his table to build his stack even further. But when the official counts were tallied, Maher was second on the day’s leaderboard with 176,875.

The two chipleaders at the dinner break, DJ Whorley (left) and Vincenzo Abate, found themselves seated side by side when Whorley’s table broke during the last level. Abate won the last two hands at his table to finish as the Day 1B chipleader with 201,475. Whorley finished the day fourth on the leaderboard with 137,500.

In the last hand of the day, there was an accidental three-way all-in situation with the board showing [QhJd2hAc] on the turn. Why was it accidental? Because Irving Pimentel misinterpreted an all-in bet as a call, and when Pimentel said, "Call," he found himself inadvertently all in with nothing but an open-ended straight draw ([10d9c]) against a set of deuces ([2c2s]) and two pair ([AsJh]). Pimentel had given up hope and started walking out of the room, but the dealer put out the [Ks] on the river to complete Pimentel’s straight. Even when the other players called him back to the table, it took a moment for the truth to sink in — instead of being eliminated, Pimentel had tripled up to finish the day with 57,525.

It may look like a winner’s photo, but Irving Pimentel is actually celebrating the fact that his accidental all in with a straight draw was able to suck out against a set and two pair in the last hand of the day.

Day 2 begins tomorrow (Monday) at 11:00 am ET, when all the survivors from the first two starting days combine into a single, massive field of 641 players. Return to WorldPokerTour.com for complete live coverage, including chip counts and video interviews with Kimberly Lansing.