Championship Event Day 2 Recap

Borgata Summer Poker Open 2010
Event 18: $2000 + $200 No Limit Hold’em Championship Event
June 25-29

Number of Entries: 321
Total Buy-In: $642,000
Top Prize: $180,595

Only 48 players remain in the Borgata Summer Poker Open Championship Event, so they'll have a restless night waiting to resume play Monday morning. The short stacks will be wondering if they can hang on to make the money, while the big stacks are dreaming of the $180,000+ first prize.

The chip lead exchanged hands throughout Day 2 with no less than a half dozen players holding the top spot, but nobody finished with a monster stack. When the dust settled, it was Tyng Low (Queens, NY) leading the way with 567,900, as 13 players have more than 300k.

Mike Melkersen (New Market, VA), who began the day with chip lead, got off to a slow start, but used a slow and steady approach to finish second overall with nearly 527k. Other players who had the chip lead Sunday included Florentino Deleon, Jr. (Joppa, MD), Mirza Nagji (New York, NY) Mike Devinsky (Middletown, NJ) and Jim Ostrander (Southern Pines, NC), who are all still in the mix for the Championship Event title and the crystal trophy that goes with it.

One of the more colorful players making it through to Day 3 is Gene Juergens (Brighton, MI), who at one point was down to 10k right before the final break, but rallied to finish with 88k. Juergens antics included doing a victory lap around the table after winning pots and shouting, "yes, I did it. I did it again," when he survived multiple double-ups on the last level of the night.

The only woman left in the field is Joanne Monteavaro (Bronx, NY), who finished with 129k.
Notable players eliminated Sunday include Paul Snead (Kings Park, NY), Ian Palomo (San Antonio, TX) and Eric Siegel (Melville, NY).

When play resumes Monday at 11 am, the remaining 48 players will battle for the top 36 spots, which guarantees a minimum payout of $3,114. Also Monday is Main Event 20, the $300 +$50 NL Hold'em one day tournament, which begins at 12 pm.