In Season 2, the Borgata Poker Open became a regular stop on the World Poker Tour (WPT). Today, the first of two starting days in the $3,500 buy-in East Coast poker tournament will begin at 11:00am ET. Tomorrow, it’ll be Groundhog Day for Borgata and WPT officials, who will see Day 1B play out.
Last year, the buy-in for the Borgata Poker Open was slashed from $10,000 to just $3,500 and, as a result, a record crowd of 1,018 convened. Olivier Busquet edged out Jeremy Brown in the 2009 running of this tournament to pick up $925,000. The total prize pool was just over $3.3 million and Brown earned $453,000 for his efforts. Also reaching the six-handed televised final table of the Borgata Poker Open last year were Ivan Mamuzic (third place for $251,955), Yanick Brodeur (fourth place for $216,681), Keith Crowder (fifth place for $188,126), and Kenny Nguyen (sixth place for $156,212).
In Season 7 of the WPT, the last time the buy-in for the Borgata Poker Open was $10,000, online poker pro Vivek “Psyduck” Rajkumar took down the title and a $1.4 million top prize. Sang Kim landed as the runner-up and banked $750,000. Bracelet winner Dan Heimiller took third place for $387,500, Jason Strochak finished fourth for $337,500, Mark Seif claimed fifth place for $287,500, and Andrew Knee banked $237,500 for sixth place.
Perhaps the most memorable Borgata Poker Open final table occurred in 2004, when Canadian PokerStars pro Daniel Negreanu outlasted David Williams heads-up. Negreanu banked $1.1 million, while Williams, now also a PokerStars pro, collected $573,000. Did we mention that Phil Ivey was at the final table? He was. Ivey, widely considered to be the top poker player in the business, finished in sixth place for $105,000.
Working against the Borgata Poker Open is the World Series of Poker (WSOP) Europe schedule ongoing from London. Among those still holding strong in WSOP Europe preliminary events, and so consequently won’t be making the trip to Atlantic City on Saturday, are November Niner John Racener, Jeffrey Lisandro, Jeff Madsen, Chris Bjorin, Erik Friberg, Scott Fischman, Ivey, Huck Seed, Tom Dwan, and Liv Boeree.
Among those who will be in attendance is Women in Poker Hall of Fame member Kathy Liebert, who Tweeted late Friday night, “Just arrived at Borgata. Two starting days so will play WPT tomorrow or Sunday.” Liebert has a plane ticket booked for London for the start of the WSOP Europe Main Event on Thursday.
Also in the house in Atlantic City will be Thuy Doan, who trumpeted her extensive travel plans via Twitter earlier this week: “East coast for a bit. NY to coach @royalflushgirls at their model house, AC for the WPT Borgata, then VA to visit family/Wahoos!” The WPT website also states that Full Tilt Poker pro Gavin Smith, Chris Bell, Maria Ho, Christian “charder30” Harder, UB.com’s Tiffany Michelle, Roy Winston, Jason “TheMasterJ33” DeWitt, Brian Lemke, and Busquet will all be in attendance.
Borgata was formerly the home of two WPT events annually, as the Borgata Winter Open played out each January. 2008 marked the last time the tournament was held as part of the WPT and that year, Gavin Griffin lodged one-third of his live poker Triple Crown by besting a final table that included Lee Watkinson.
Want a behind-the-scenes look at the WPT? Poker News Daily’s Sean Gibson recently traveled to the Bicycle Casino’s Legends of Poker and followed WPT host Mike Sexton as he prepared for a final table broadcast. Check out Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, and Part 4. Stay tuned to Poker News Daily for the latest WPT Borgata Poker Open coverage.
