The 2014 World Poker Tour (WPT) Borgata Winter Poker Open Main Event is one of the largest tournaments in the history of the Tour, making Laz Hernandez’s performance to this point that much more impressive. In what has become a rarity in major tournament poker, Hernandez ended Day 2 as the chip leader after starting the day in the same position. Opening play with 258,175 chips, Hernandez bagged 753,000 at the end of the night. It is a close race for the top spot, though, as Matthew Haugen, the only other player over the 700,000 mark, has 735,500 chips.
One of Hernandez’s most significant hands occurred just before the close of play Tuesday and came at the expense of a very strong player. We don’t have the round-by-round details of the hand, but according to a tweet from Shannon Shorr, he lost a 380,000 chip pot when his A-K suited lost to the K-Q suited of Hernandez. That knocked Shorr out of the tournament and boosted Hernandez back into the pole position.
Shortly before that, Shorr doubled through Hernandez is strange fashion. Shorr raised to 5,100 pre-flop, Hernandez three-bet to 15,100, and Shorr called. On the J♥-8♣-2♥ flop, Shorr check-called when Hernandez moved all-in, which put Shorr at risk of elimination with J♠-J♦. Hernandez emphatically slapped down A♣-A♦, but one of the cards tumbled to the floor. Normally, this is a problem, but everyone saw he had Aces, so no special ruling was needed. The card was picked up and returned to the table as if nothing happened.
When the dealer proceeded, he dealt the 6♠ on the turn and the A♠ on the river, giving Hernandez a set at the pot. But not so fast: Shorr and others noticed that the much contained only two burn cards when there should have been three. It appeared that the hand had not been dealt correctly. After Tournament Director Tab Duchateau was consulted, it was determined that the dealer had accidentally forgotten to burn a card prior the turn because he was distracted by the Ace that had fallen off the table.
Thus, the deck was pieced back together as it would have been before the turn; the 6♠, A♠, and the burn card in between were put back on top of the deck. Then the dealer burned a card, dealt the 9♣ on the turn, burned another, and dealt the T♠ on the river. Now Shorr’s flopped set of Jacks held up and he won the pot.
190 players remain after Day 2 and will return on Wednesday to play until there are just 27 entrants remaining. The money starts at 120th place, so the day will both be long and tense as everyone tries to pull down a profit.
2014 World Poker Tour Borgata Winter Poker Open Main Event – Day 2 Chip Leaders
1. Lazaro Hernandez – 753,000
2. Matthew Haugen – 735,500
3. Tyler Patterson – 618,500
4. Daniel Heimiller – 556,000
5. Frank Toscano – 540,500
6. Robert Panitch – 540,500
7. John Dagostino – 501,000
8. Harrison Gimbel – 496,000
9. Chad Brown – 455,500
10. Ramy Ibrahim – 422,500
