The second starting flight of the 2013 World Poker Tour (WPT) Borgata Poker Open Main Event was completed Monday and, as expected, there was a fantastic turnout. 813 players registered for Day 1B, more than double the number of runners the tournament fielded on Day 1A. Paul Volpe bagged the most chips – 231,850 – at the end of the night, earning himself a $5,000 bonus and therefore a freeroll the rest of the way, as the buy-in for the event was $3,300 + $200.
Combined, the two starting days produced a field of 1,189 players, just barely beating last year’s total of 1,181. As such, the prize pool grew to $3,805,989 of which $825,099 will go to the winner. Payouts will begin at $7,123 for 110th place.
It looked like Nick Frangos might be the one to grab the $5,000 bonus, as with less than an hour left, he had more than 220,000 chips. And despite doubling up Kevin “BeL0WaB0Ve” Saul, he still had over 200,000 with just three hands left. But four players leapfrogged him right at the end, leaving Frangos in fifth place at the end of Day 1B.
Frangos was also the subject of a minor gripe as the night wound down. While the chip leader, he apparently had an overabundance of low denomination chips. While they make for fun chip stacking, they could also be helpful to other players who could use them to throw out smaller bets, particularly in early betting rounds, and especially for the 50 chip antes each hand. Frangos, though, was unwilling to help out his fellow player by trading some of his smaller denomination chips to others for larger ones.
Tweeted Saul, “So @Nickfrangos is current CL of 1b w ~225k. He has 1k in 25’s, and 7k+ in 100s yet refuses to make change another #Professional slowin game”
Why he refused is a mystery. Perhaps it was a psychological ploy. Perhaps he wanted to slow down play to make it harder for someone to catch him before the night ended. Perhaps he likes building chip towers. Who knows. It certainly perturbed his tablemates, though.
One may have anticipated that with a larger field, the chip leader from Day 1B was going to have more chips than his counterpart from Day 1A. One would have been correct. Paul Volpe leads the 591 combined survivors into Tuesday’s action, while Sunday’s leader, Cong Pham, will start as just the sixth largest stack. The action is just getting underway at the Borgata; tune in tomorrow for more updates.
2013 WPT Borgata Poker Open Main Event – Day 1B Chip Leaders
1. Paul Volpe – 231,850
2. Anthony Castelli – 210,100
3. Jeremy Stein – 206,100
4. Norberto Camacho – 203,950
5. Nick Frangos – 199,975
6. Leonard Adams – 178,700
7. Scott Seiver – 159,325
8. Jerry Wong – 155,825
9. David Randall – 146,675
10. Jeremy Druckman – 136,800
2013 WPT Borgata Poker Open Main Event – Overall Day 1 Chip Leaders
1. Paul Volpe – 231,850
2. Anthony Castelli – 210,100
3. Jeremy Stein – 206,100
4. Norberto Camacho – 203,950
5. Nick Frangos – 199,975
6. Cong Pham – 191,025
7. Besnik Ziba – 183,375
8. Thomas Campbell – 181,025
9. Tayfun Akbasli – 180,750
10. Leonard Adams – 178,700
