Blinds Are Up

$500 + $60 NLH

Bruce "Bulletproof" Yamron (Naples, FL)

Borgata Blinds 20,000 / 40,000

17 players remain at two tables.

Bruce Yamron 1.6 million
Charlie Marchese 1.5 million
Kenny Ross 1.5 million

Play has been moving at a pretty good rate.

Notable hands:

Just saw Aces get cracked by A-8 on a board of 6-Q-Q-8-8.

And Bruce Yamron's A-K held against A-Q.

Bruce's daughter Christie Yamron is watching her Dad. "I come to watch him win."

She told me Bruce (Naples, FL) plays all over the world but when they're staying at their home here, he plays at Borgata.

The Comeback Kid

$500 + $60 NLH

Joe Altomonte (West Patterson, NJ)

Joe Altomonte (West Patterson, NJ) has made an incredible comeback run from Day 1 to now.

When the blinds were 200 - 400 Joe had bled down to a measly 2000 chips with his big blind already committed.

Joe's journey began with the first step as he doubled up with A-J.

A punk at the tabled chirped out, "Don't pop the champagne bottles just yet." To which Joe responded - "You just better hope I don't get chips."

Joe doubled up again and started running people over.

He's currently at 800,000 in chips after being moved and winning a race right off the bat.

We said we'd blog about Joe if he made a comeback and went deep.

He's definitely done that, and more.

Restifo Gets Stiffed

$500 + $60 NLH

Carl Restifo (Waretown, NJ)

Carl Restifo (Waretown, NJ) takes a 400,000 hit before the break.

He couldn't believe his Opponent shoved out of position with only A-5 offsuit.

Carl had to call holding A-J in his big blind.

Flop of 8-9-10 provided Carl with some up and down hope, but a 5 on the turn held up.

Carl's stack is right around 1 million.

20 Players Remain

$500 + $60 NLH

Two and A Half Tables Remain

Down to 20 players as Nikolay Volper (New York, NY) knocks a man out.

Nikolay's 7-9 of hearts against A-10 of clubs. Nikolay isolates the hand (all in) on the turn.

K-5-5-7 with two clubs. No club as river king secures the hand for Volper.

Borgata Blinds: 15,000 / 30,000 with 4,000 antes.

Say Marchese!!!

$500 + $60 NLH

Fred Alesi & Charlie Marchese (Shoreham, NY)

Another one bites the dust, but goes down swinging.

Q♠ 9♠ vs. 10♣ 10♥

Flop 10♠ 2♦ J♥
Turn 4♠
River 10♦


Poker Players International player, Charlie "Chaz" Marchese's quad tens make him the chip leader with 1.45 million in chips.

Chaz' poker pal Fred Alesi is watching all the action and rooting his friend in.

"Chaz is a great player", said Fred. "He once knocked out Mike Matusow."

The Shark they call Fish

$500 + 60 NLH

Greg 'Fish' Fishberg - 1,100,000 chips

The Borgata 5/10 NL regular and Philly home game host chips up with 3 tables remaining.

The grinder they call "Fish" is one of the favorites with only 24 players left.

The Blinds Will See

With 25 players left Suresh Suryawanshi (Manassas, VA) doubled up on his big blind with A-8 then shoved all in on his small blind causing a 60,000 big-stack raiser to fold.

Suresh is now over 400,000 in chips.

Looks like the giant stacks are trying to either steal Suresh's blinds or knock him out. Either way he survived.

Deep Stack Numbers

$500 + 60 NLH

Number of Entrants: 626
Players Remaining: 32
Avg. Stack: $489,062
Prizepool: $313,000

Chip Leaders:
Carl Restifo - 2,100,000
Brandon Alcorn - 1,700,000
Kenny Ross - 1,350,000

Ship it Steve

$400 + 50 SURVIVOR

Steve Ryan

"Ship the Survivor kid, 4K, sickkk."

Deep Stack Size

$500 + 60 NLH

Deep Stack Chip Counts:

Brandon 'Balc0rn' Alcorn - 1,200,000
- Employed by Political Science Research and Consulting firm
- Plays Online and Live MTT's

Greg 'Fish' Fishberg - 902,000
Bill Patterson - 804,000
Nikolay Volper - 711,000
Bruce Yamron - 633,000
Will Fredo - 512,000
Billy O'Neil - 443,000

Million Dollar Man

$500 + $60 NLH

Brandon Alcorn Creams Opponent

Down to four tables.

With the blinds at 10,000 / 20,000 many players are desperately looking to win their key all-in flips.

Brandon Alcorn (Philadelphia, PA) knocks a player out but has to sweat a bit.

Alcorn tables 7 ♦7♠ versus Opponents A♣ 7♣

Opponent stands realizing he's crushed.

Flop falls 10♥ 2♣ 3♣

Opponent sits. Looking for an ace or a club.

Turn 3♠, River 2♦.

After scooping that pot Brandon stacks to approximately 1.1 million chips.

Chen Chips Away...

$500 + 60 NLH

Daniel Chen - 318,000 chips

The kid has put impressive results in the past, look for him to make his run.

Deep Stack players have loosened up after the Dinner Break,
chips are flying.

Back From Dinner

$500 + $60 NLH

Will Fredo (Bronx, NY)

Will Fredo (Bronx, NY) and the other deepstackers return from dinner break.

Fredo, a frequent Borgata cash and tournament player is sitting on 700,000 chips.

A Perfect Ten

$500 + $60 NLH

Doug Rosen (New York, NY)

Doug Rosen (New York, NY) takes a few moments before chowing down to tell me how in ten minutes he just went from two gray 5,000 dollar chips all the way up to 257,000.

"I had 120,000 at the bubble and just kept folding. My friends were making fun of me because I've been folding all day. Two's...Four's...I'd fold" said Doug.

In previous deepstacks, Doug has witnessed others come back from one or two chips and wanted to give himself a chance. That strategy paid off.

All within ten minutes (less than one orbit) :

1. Doug's K-Q all in against A-10. Doug gets a full house.

2. The very next hand: Doug's A-10 vs. Q-10. Both all-in pre. A-10 holds up.

3. Two hands later: Opponent raises to 27,000. Doug shoves with A-Q and Opponent folds.

4. Two hands later: Opponent opens for 40,000. Doug shoves with Q-Q and Opponent folds.

With the Phillies/Yankees on most Borgata Poker Room TV screens, Rosen is playing dugout Poker. From two chips, impressively he "Doug" himself out of a big hole.

Deep Stack Dinner Break

$500 + 60 NLH

All players on Dinner Break,
play resumes in 1-hour.

Number of Entries: 626
Players Remaining: 42
Prizepool: $313,000

Blinds @ 8,000/16,000/2,000a
Avg. Stack: $372,619

Event 29 Underway

7PM - Event 29: $100 + $20 No Limit Hold'em

-10,000 in starting chips
-Levels last 20 minutes

Good Luck Everyone!

Last Woman Standing

$500 + $60 NLH

Kelly McCarthy (Bohemia, NY)

Jue Wang (Atlantic City, NJ) has pocket Jacks fall to a set of fives and is out.

That makes Kelly McCarthy (Bohemia, NY) the Last Woman Standing.

Kelly played great yesterday but admitted to making a couple mistakes today.

She seems back on track now with 300,000.

Going Deep

$500 + 60 NLH



Barry Leventhal still mourning the loss of poker colleague ,Paul Kitsos, stays alive with 56 players left on Day 2 of the Deep Stack.

The tournament veteran is no stranger to deep runs, good luck big Barry.

Deepstack Update

Back from color up break.

58 players remain on 7 tables. 40 minute levels.

Average chipstack: 260,800

Borgata Blinds: 6000 / 12000 antes 2000

Bill Patterson's pocket tens fill up and crack an A-A third position pre-flop shove.

Board 7-10-4-3-3

Bill adds 140,000, knocks a player out and is now close to 700,000

In The Money

$500 + $60 NLH

Gerry Rodman (Hillsdale, NJ)

Gerry Rodman (Hillsdale, NJ) bet 25,000.

Opponent shoves 57,000 all in.

With the bubble about to burst Opponent doesn't want a call and shows the table pocket kings, before Gerry decides.

Gerry, sitting on A-J offsuit, knows he's behind, does the math, and figures he's 5 to 1. He calls.

Board of 3-Q-A-A-8 brings Gerry's stack up to 190,000 and an announcement from the floor stating that the bubble has burst and everyone is in the money.

Congratulations!