While the Casino at Portomaso is fielding a small collection of players at World Poker Tour (WPT) Malta, the Borgata in Atlantic City is hosting a simultaneous WPT event of much more significant size. The WPT Borgata Poker Open enjoyed a field of 374 for Day 1A of its $3,300 + $200 Main Event Sunday, from which 190 made it to bed time with chips to stack. It is a fairly close race at the top with Robert Boyko setting the pace with 173,100 chips. Kyle Frey is close behind with 168,250 and Chad Power follows him with 158,250.
After the top three, the upper reaches of the leader board is populated by players who have already made a name for themselves on the World Poker Tour. Barry Greenstein, owner of two WPT titles, eight WPT top ten finishes, and three World Series of Poker (WSOP) bracelets, sits in sixth place. This year’s WPT Jacksonville winner, Shawn Cunix, is in eight place, and three-time WPT champ and two-time WSOP bracelet winner Carlos Mortensen is in tenth. Also right up there is one of the voices of the World Poker Tour, Tony Dunst, currently in ninth place.
Other notables remaining in the field include the likes of Allen Kessler, Allen Cunningham, Eric Baldwin, David Williams, Matt Affleck, John Racener, Dwyte Pilgrim, Ylon Schwartz, and Jared Hamby.
A deep run in the WPT Borgata Poker Open wouldn’t quite be uncharted territory for Robert Boyko, but it would be close. Almost all of his live tournament cashes have been in events with buy-ins under $1,000. The most significant of the two exceptions was third place finish in the $3,000 No-Limit Hold’em event at the Mega Stack Challenge III at Foxwoods, good for over $50,000, but that was over five years ago. He has just two other cashes in the five-figure range, one for $10,000 and one for $20,000. His career live tournament earnings amount to $93,276.
Day 1B will commence at noon ET as another group of players (as well as those who which to give it another shot after busting on Day 1A) steps up to the tables at the WPT Borgata Poker Open. Play will go on for eight levels before chips are bagged and tagged. The survivors from both starting flights will combine into a unified field tomorrow as they set their sights on Friday’s final table.
2012 World Poker Tour Borgata Poker Open – Day 1A Chip Leaders
- Robert Boyko – 173,100
- Kyle Frey – 168,250
- Chad Power – 158,250
- Michael Melkerson – 148,900
- Lloyd Mandel – 147,575
- Barry Greenstein – 144,250
- Darren Elias – 137,525
- Shawn Cunix – 133,000
- Tony Dunst – 125,100
- Carlos Mortensen – 123,825