The 591 survivors from the first two starting days came together to battle it out on Day 2 of the 2013 World Poker Tour (WPT) Borgata Poker Open Main Event Tuesday and when the chips were bagged and tagged at the end of the night, just 174 players were left standing (or sitting, as the case may be). Raj Vohra will enter Day 3 as the chip leader holding 580,700 chips, with Katayon Khaterzai (548,000) and Edwin Torres (544,900) coming in just behind him as the only other players over the half million mark.
Vohra jumped into the lead with a gigantic pot just as the night was coming to an end. After seeing a flop of 8♣-6♣-2♠, both Vohra and Kunal Patel kept betting back at each other until Patel was all-in for around 190,000 chips holding Q♠-Q♦. Vohra had A♣-9♣, giving himself plenty of outs with an overcard and a flush draw. That flush materialized when the 7♣ was produced on the turn, making the river moot. Patel was eliminated from the tournament, while Vohra had made a last-minute leap into the chip lead.
The money bubble will burst Wednesday, as payouts start at 110th place. Raj Vohra, obviously, is a good bet (no pun intended) to make his sixth career WPT cash. He has never made a final table on the Tour, but he has come close, placing 14th in the WPT Bestbet Open Main Event in April and 15th at the Lucky Hearts Poker Open in February 2012. The largest cash of his career in any live tournament came back in the 2008 World Series of Poker (WSOP), where he finished 5th in the $5,000 No-Limit Hold’em Event for close to $200,000.
A number of players many people will recognize are still alive in the field, including Cliff “JohnnyBax” Josephy, Day 2’s starting chip leader Paul Volpe, Amanda Musumeci, Scott Seiver, Jonathan Little, Victor Ramdin, Eric Baldwin, Vanessa Selbst, Matt Salsberg, Matt Glantz, John Racener, Will “The Thrill” Failla, and Erik Cajelais.
Day 3 is about to get underway at the Borgata in Atlantic City as many players try to position themselves for a run at the final table, while others attempt to hang on for dear life just to squeak into the money. Bubble days are always exciting in major poker tournaments and today should be no exception.
2013 WPT Borgata Poker Open Main Event – Day 2 Chip Leaders
1. Raj Vohra – 580,700
2. Katayon Khaterzai – 548,000
3. Edwin Torres – 544,900
4. Ebony Kenney – 480,200
5. Justin Zaki – 462,000
6. Alex Rocha – 447,500
7. Jerry Wong – 445,000
8. Jeremy Kottler – 418,600
9. Cong Pham – 417,100
10. Marc Manin – 413,400
