The final 27 players have been determined at the 2015 World Poker Tour Borgata Winter Poker Open in Atlantic City with two former WPT champions, Shawn Cunix and James Calderaro, in position to vie for their second titles.
136 players came back to the chilly climes of the Atlantic City Boardwalk on Wednesday with Justin Lunin-Pack ahead of his pursuers with an impressive 837,500 chip stack. He was joined by such players as Tim Bishop (close behind with 804K in chips), Gary Wong, Rachel Kranz and Season XII WPT “Ones to Watch” candidate Aaron Massey. Cunix, for his part, was also in the mix, sitting in seventh place at the start of the day’s action with 476,500 in chips.
Of the 136 players remaining, only 90 of them would have happy memories of their stay on the Eastern shores by earning a WPT cash for their resumes. The early action saw Cunix make an early move up the leaderboard in eliminating Sam Taylor when Taylor’s Big Chick (A-Q) ran into Cunix’ Big Slick. After a Jack-high board hit the felt, Cunix was the beneficiary of Taylor’s elimination in moving up to nearly 700K in chips.
The players continued to drop in the early hours of Day 3, with Byron Kaverman, Shannon Shorr, “Grindette” Jamie Kerstetter, Cliff Josephy, defending WPT Player of the Year Mukul Pahuja and Andy Hwang finding their ways to the rail before the money bubble was reached. After Matthew Alexander’s pocket nines stayed ahead of Maruti Yarlapati’s A-4 on an eight-high board, the money bubble was popped and everyone was safe in the knowledge they would receive at least $6965 for their efforts.
The march to the payout window began and some notable players were among those picking up their cash. Shaun Deeb, Zo Karim, Blake Purvis and Kevin O’Neill took the min-cash home, while Tyler Kenney, Athanasios Polychronopoulos, Vinny Pahuja, Jared Jaffee and Poker Hall of Famer Mike Sexton all left after moving up the money ladder a bit. Actor James Woods, making his first appearance at a WPT event in some time, would finish in 59th place to take down a $9497 payday.
By the time the players reached the dinner break, only 49 survivors were left in the Borgata to continue the fight. Kranz, who had started the day in fourth place, would depart the festivities in 45th place after running A-Q into Sebastian Tejada’s pocket Aces, but Cunix would continue to charge through the field. After eliminating Andrew Glauberg in 43rd place, Cunix sat on an impressive stack of 1.15 million chips. That stack would grow even more, cracking the two million chip mark, as Cunix dumped Tejada from the tournament in 35th place and snatched some chips from Loni Harwood’s stack.
As Cunix continued to assault the field, Calderaro would make his own run. In a battle with Dan Wach, Calderaro rivered a Broadway straight against Wach’s two pair to move up to 1.66 million chips. The duo would battle again in one of the final hands of the evening as, on a 7-3-3-7 flop and turn, Calderaro check-raised all-in a 275K bet out of Wach, forcing Wach to let his hand go and watch as Calderaro increased his stack to 2.22 million. Soon afterwards, Zhen Cai would be eliminated in 28th place to determine the final 27 players for Thursday’s Day 4 play.
1. Shawn Cunix, 4.195 million
2. Randy Pfeifer, 2.493 million
3. Philippe Belley, 2.26 million
4. James Calderaro, 2.222 million
5. Justin Liberto, 2.051 million
6. Joshua Lawson, 1.624 million
7. Aaron Mermelstein, 1.46 million
8. Michael Wang, 1.36 million
9. Eugene Todd, 1.075 million
10. Aaron Steury, 1.03 million
These are the only players over the million chip mark, but players such as Massey (852K), Harwood (797K) and Day 2 leader Lunin-Pack (442K) could have something to say about the Day 4 action.
Although he does have a monster lead, Cunix has some challenges if he is to head to the final table of the Borgata Winter Poker Open. He’ll have Liberto, Massey, Harwood and Lunin-Pack to contend with on his patch of baize, while Calderaro has Pfeifer and Todd over on his felt. Belley, Mermelstein and Wang will battle it out on the third table.
The 27 contenders will work their way down to the final table on Thursday, with the championship of the WPT Borgata Winter Poker Open to be determined on Friday. The eventual champion will not only etch their name on the WPT Champions’ Cup but also walk off with an impressive $712,305 for the week’s work.
