The 2011 World Poker Tour (WPT) Borgata Poker Open got underway Sunday with the first of two Day 1 flights and it looks like there is a chance that the tournament could be a record breaker. Last year’s event was the largest in WPT history, as 1,042 players combined to create a prize pool of over $3 million. Yesterday’s Day 1A saw 460 players pay the $3,300 + $200 to play, giving the tournament a reasonable shot at eclipsing 2010’s mark. Regardless of what happens, it’s going to be a good time at Atlantic City’s jewel of a casino.
Leading the field at the Borgata Poker Open after Day 1A is Delaware’s Abe Korotki, who, with 260,100 chips, has a substantial advantage over the rest of the players. With blinds and antes about to hit just 300/600/75, there is a gap of more than 100 big blinds between Korotki and the second largest stack of 198,675, which belongs to Team PokerStars: PRO member Vanessa Selbst.
Abe Korotki has a fairly modest live tournament history, with a number of four and five digit cashes over the last several years in Atlantic City tournaments. About two-thirds of his career tournament earnings came from a $433,008 score when he won the Championship Event of the 2006 World Series of Poker (WSOP) Circuit Event at Harrah’s Atlantic City. But that’s not his claim to fame. What Abe Korotki is best known for is winning a $300 tournament in 2009. Now, we’re sure many of you readers are asking, “Why would anyone be known for winning a $300 tournament?” Here’s the answer.
That $300 tournament was the Ladies Event at this same Borgata Poker Open two years ago. You read that right: the Ladies Event. As reported here after it happened, Korotki had busted out of a $1,000 buy-in tournament earlier in the day, but still wanted to play poker. Since the Ladies tournament registration was still open, he signed up. Even though it is a tournament designated for women, New Jersey law forbids casinos from discriminating against customers as long as they are at least 21-years old, so it was technically an open event. There was nothing tournament officials could do about Korotki’s participation, save for maybe asking him nicely not to play.
Of course, as it turned out, Abe Korotki actually won the darn thing, much to the dismay of the 269 women who did not. To make matters worse, the runner-up, Nicole Rowe, had been recently diagnosed with breast cancer. She had offered to chop the first and second place prizes when it got to heads-up, but Korotki refused, which is unfortunate, as Rowe could have used the extra prize money to help with medical expenses. Korotki did later say that he would donate a portion of his winnings to a breast cancer-related charity.
Picking up where he left off when he last played in WPT event in the United States is Will “The Thrill” Failla, who sits in fourth place with 189,500 chips. Failla won the 2011 WPT Legends of Poker last month; his walk to his seat was significantly slowed by the numerous congratulatory handshakes he received on the way.
Day 1B will start at 11:00am EST as a second batch of players will try to start a run at a WPT title. Additionally, those that busted out on Sunday will be allowed to buy back in today to give it another shot and, of course, add to the prize pool.
