Borgata Winter Open

[Peepers]

So this past week i went down to AC to play Event #1 at the Borgata Winter Open, 350+50 Deep stack event. 1500 players ! total prize pool, over 500k, first prize was 99k!


check out this blog page, if you scroll down and look at the chip counts for Event 1, i'm #200!

BORGATA WINTER OPEN 2010



OK So. My day starts off with my alarm going off at 8am, which is actually
earlier than the days I work. I’m able to leave the house by 9. I
stop at Wawa for some coffee, cigs and a donut. I hit some traffic
going into Philly which adds an extra half an hour to my usually 1hr
15min drive to Atlantic City. I finally roll into the Borgata parking
lot by around 11am which is actually when the tournament starts. I’m
not worried because I knew they were letting people in as late as the
second round. I had no idea what I was about to walk into and find…
First I check out the normal poker room with the cash tables but the
guy tells me the Winter Open tournaments are held upstairs in the
Event center, he gives me directions and off I go through the casino.
Once I get up an escalator I run smack into a wall of people. You’ve
never seen so many guys of all ages and backgrounds jam packed in one
place! I found a line so long it snakes back and forth a few times,
then goes down a long hallway and comes all the way back up. I was in
for a wait… About an hour later and tons of nervousness, excitement,
frustration later I finally get up to the desk and buy-in. 350+50.
This old dude behind me waiting in line all this time to find out it’s
a 400 dollar tourney and he doesn’t have the money on him…off he goes.
Hahaha. And NO they don’t take credit cards…dumbass. I get my
ticket stub and receipt and off I go to enter the event center. I
knew there was going to be a lot of people and only heard rumors in
line of the amount. When I opened up the door, I’ve never seen so
many poker tables packed into this giant “L” shaped ballroom. And
that was only 2/3’s of the field! The other 1/3 had to be put
downstairs. I later find out there was 1535 or so players in this
event, 3 times the number they anticipated!
Once I finally find my table and seat, I sit down and greet the table.
It’s almost through the first level at this point and there’s a
middle aged maniac sitting with double the chips already right on my
right. It’s perfect! We start with 25,000 in chips and the levels
are 45mins, which means there’s PLENTY of time to maneuver and play
some real good deep stacked poker. I’m in no rush here and I LOVE it.
This guy to my right plays EVERY pot; literally I think he played 90%
of them. Raising maybe 25% of them too and also calling every raise
preflop. Frequently 3-betting with marginal hands and check/calling
at least one street too. I pick up 8, 10 off suit in the cutoff and
after some limpers in front of me, I come along as well. Flop comes
9,7,x… Great! Open ended straight draw, there’s a bet and a call in
front of me and of course I call. Turn brings a beautiful Jack…bingo!
I got the nuts. Action gets checked around to me and I bet pretty
big. It gets folded around to the maniac on my right who check raises
me big!?! At this point my mouth is salivating all over my nut
straight…good thing he didn’t pick up on that. I decide to raise him
back pretty big. He thinks for maybe a minute and decides to call.
At this point I have maybe 2000 left behind me, and with the pot being
at least 45k, I’m calling the rest off on ANY river, no matter what.
River brings an 8 and the guy puts me all-in, to which I of course
insta-call. I show him my straight and he mucks, he tells me he had a
9…great play dumbass. Gotta love getting someone to stack to me in
the first hand I play with only one pair for like 250 big blinds.
From here, I played tight for a few hours, knowing I’ve got chips that
can easily let me glide into the night. I picked up a couple small
pots before I turned a flush with 9 10 of clubs and the maniac pays me
off big again, claiming to hold two pair. This guy kept taking chips
from other people and giving them to me, it was a great. Tables are
breaking down as people are busting and I get moved. DAMNIT, I had
the best seat on a soft table and they freaking move me to a table
full of solid young guys. One of which I later find out to be a
professional… One hand I came in w/ AQ and a short stack behind me
shoves for something meager like 6k. It gets folded around to me, I
don’t like my AQ anymore but then I quickly realize 6k is chump-change
from my stack so I call and pray he has something like 10s. Nope, he
has AK…DAMNIT. Good for me though cause the flop brings a beautiful Q
and to make it sweet I hit and A on the river to take this weird
looking snaggle-tooth Asian kid out. I played tight cause I saw they
were breaking more tables down and I’d soon get to leave this table
where I wasn’t getting anything going. So finally my table breaks
again and I get moved to a new one. Unfortunately that pro I
mentioned gets moved to the same goddamn table. I knew he was pretty
sick nasty and I was not going to tango with him if I had a choice, by
any means. Unfortunately a few hours into my new table I have no
choice… I’m in late position with about 75k or 85k in chips and I
pick up Jacks. I raise, SB calls and the pro in the BB calls as well.
Flop comes 10, 9, x with two spades. Check, check, I bet pretty good
amount. SB folds and the pro in the BB raises me! Yikes…I’m not
liking it at all, but I just can’t fold here yet with an overpair.
I’m thinking maybe he’s got two over and a flush draw, but I just
can’t tell. I want to see what he does on the turn because I know
from experience being in his spot on the turn, out of position, when I
call that Check/raise he’s put in a very tough spot. Turn brings an
offsuit 8. QJ just made the nut straight, but that’s unlikely for him
to have because I have two of the jacks. He checks to me and I think
for almost a good solid minute here… Counting my chips, weighing my
options....etc. He’s got me covered and I’m scared shitless that he’s
going to ship it in on me if I bet here. I finally decide to check it
back, get to the river cheaper without risking my life and see what he
does there. And I also had a straight draw, I was praying for a 7 or a
Q to make my decision easier. I still wasn’t sure what he had. River
is a blank, he checks to me again. I’m confused but it looks like a
time for a value bet as I HAVE to have the best hand after getting
checked to twice. I bet something like 30k…he thinks and thinks.
Says I have to have a set of 10s or AA or KK or something and folds.
I happily muck and take down this nice pot. I’m up over 100k for the
first time, booyah! He later claims to have fucked up the hand from
the beginning and have folded QQ! He was telling the truth and boy
was I lucky he folded! I never showed him or told him I had JJ, but I
wish I had.
That’s when the cards died for me… the night’s going on and goddamn I
can’t’ catch a hand to save my life. Anytime I’d get anything decent
I’d be in early position or there’s been tons of action in front of
me. I’m getting blinded down and it’s getting late. I think I have
like 35k left when I find myself in the small blind with 4, 7 of
hearts and thank god I get to see a cheap flop for once. 3 other
players and the flop comes 5, K, 6. No time like the present, got to
see if I can take this one down without a showdown. I ship my last
chips in, a pretty healthy bet, maybe around pot-sized If I remember
correctly. BB folds and CO thinks and think and thinks. I’m praying
for him to fold because right now I only have 7 high. He finally
calls and shows KJ, I begrudgingly show my 4, 7. I heard some people
at my table say it was a nice play. I’m like “3, or and 8…3 or an 8…
3 or an 8..!” Then BOOM the dealer throws down an 8 on the turn
giving me the straight and the winner. I rake the pot and stay alive,
what a wonderful feeling! Time goes on, I win a couple small pots
and take a couple unsuccessful stabs but I’m still pretty card dead
and just fold most of the time. Once I shoved over the top of a raise
from the SB w/ AQ, guy folded. Then I shoved again later with A3 of
hearts over a limper, everyone folds again. I’m just treading water
here. I limped KK under the gun but no one raises. Flop comes 873
and the tight old man to my right in the BB overbets the pot like
these idiots have been doing all night, 20k. I make it 65k with my
Kings and he folds… I think that pot put me over 100k again. The
night goes on and I still can’t get anything going, I just listened to
the old man next to me blather on and on and chug beers, which was
actually hilarious cause he was pretty cool. He kept trying to get me
to drink; I had a couple but felt the buzz get a bit too strong so I
switched to Red Bull. Finally after 14 hours of poker and countless
hands I struggle my way to 2am and the end of day 1. 257 people
remained; blinds were at 3k/6k with a 500 ante. I had 82k.
Day two started at noon the next day, I roll in around 11am after not
sleeping much and feeling like shit. They have a chip count sheet of
all the players left. I find myself in 200th place out of the
remaining 257 people. Like half the average stack and needing to get
something going fast. First hand of the day, old dude in the hijack
opens with a raise, younger guys right after him ships his 120k stack
all-in instantly. Old guy snap calls and flips up Aces. Young guy
sheepishly shows 3, 2 of clubs. Then BAM, flop brings 3 clubs. But
wait, old man has the A of clubs for a redraw. No such luck though,
turn and river brings a 3 and a 2 giving the other guy two pair on top
of his flopped 3-high flush. Lol, an extra slap in the face to the
now pissed off old man. Two hands later I have like 75k in chips and
find myself in the cutoff with A2 offsuit. BB has 27k behind. I NEED
to pick up some chips here with about 11 or 12 big blinds so I ship my
whole stack in, hoping the BB has garbage and calls and loses to my A
high, or just folds. No such luck as the small blind can’t get his
stack in fast enough. I know I’m dead as soon as I hear him yell “All
in”. He shows me AK and I turn up my A2… “Gimme a deuce!” I say.
Nope, board runs out something like Q6669 and I’m sent packing. I’m
out around 250th out of 1500 people. Not bad but not good. Top 120
make the money. First place was a whopping 99 thousand dollars! For
a 400 dollar tourney, that’s a pretty sick payday for first! So I
played poker for 20 minutes the second day, busted then went on my way
back home. Got home and napped for a few hours to recover from the
biggest poker tournament I have ever played. It was quite the
experience. A lot of these people were from out of the town and were
going to play as many of the events they could in the next couple
weeks. I was lucky to run into as many fish as I did. There were
certainly some good players in this field, but I wasn’t anything I
couldn’t handle, haha...

[Snickers99]

Good report! Sorry for the outcome. You heading down to see if the cash games are juicy?

[Peepers]

Originally Posted by Snickers99

Good report! Sorry for the outcome. You heading down to see if the cash games are juicy?

i'd like to be a regular at the cash tables down in AC by this summer hopefully

[mike_eagles]

Nice report!

By this summer when I get home I hope to be a regular at the cash games at Mohegan Sun....