The play down day is upon us at the World Poker Tour’s (WPT) Borgata Poker Open. A total of 27 players remain, led by Yanick Brodeur, who holds 3.0 million chips, well ahead of Frank Calo’s second place stack of 2.1 million.
Play begins at 11:00am ET from the Borgata and will continue until the six-handed final table is determined. The survivors will take to the felts tomorrow in front of Fox Sports Net television cameras and the tournament’s finale will be featured as part of Season VIII of the WPT. One of the late eliminations of the day was poker pro Kathy Liebert, who shoved with 9-2 on a flop of 3-3-2. However, she picked an inopportune time to commit her remaining chips, as Mike Summers called and revealed 4-3 for trips. The turn and river came a 10 and six, respectively, and Liebert was sent home in 29th place for $10,750.
Joseph “JOEYTHEB” Brooks was sent packing in 49th place from the Borgata Poker Open. He shoved with A-10, but ran into Maurice Hawkins’ A-K. The board ran out 8-6-5-9-6 and Brooks hit the rails, $8,062 richer for his wear. Brooks finished 37th in the Season III WPT Championship and owns $86,000 in lifetime earnings from the roving tournament series. Jason “TheMasterJ33” Dewitt hit the skids in 81st place. Dewitt made deep runs in the Borgata Poker Open and PokerStars World Championship of Online Poker (WCOOP) Main Event concurrently, playing in the latter for two hours on Monday after boosting his stack to tops in the room at the Borgata.
Hawkins told WPT Live Updates Hostess Amanda Leatherman what it was like playing with his future brother-in-law, Antuan Bunkley: “He was in my big blind. We just keep fighting in this field and hopefully both of us make it to the final table. That would be a good story.” Hawkins is set to wed Bunkley’s sister in one month.
The top 100 players finished in the money at the Atlantic City casino. The unfortunate title of Bubble Boy went to Paul Georges, who was sent packing in 101st place. Just before his elimination, Ray Henson scooped one of the largest pots of the Borgata Poker Open holding pocket fives for a flopped set. A player was eliminated with Q-J on the eventual board of J-5-2-K-4, while Jeremy Brown’s A-J fell short of Henson’s set. Henson sits in third place entering the play down day with a stack of 1.9 million.
Play will begin in Level 24 when the action resumes and blinds will be 10,000-20,000 with a 2,000 ante. Here’s how the field stacks up:
1. Yanick Brodeur – 3,016,000
2. Frank Calo – 2,146,000
3. Ray Henson – 1,915,000
4. Maurice Hawkins – 1,907,000
5. Jeremy Brown – 1,750,000
6. Ivan Mamuzic – 1,737,000
7. Olivier Busquet – 1,561,000
8. Gabriel Morin – 1,460,000
9. Billy Campbell – 1,370,000
10. Kenny Nguyen – 1,259,000
11. Keith Crowder – 1,174,000
12. Wooyan Lin – 1,150,000
13. Michael Brown – 1,106,000
14. Mike Summers – 1,087,000
15. Chris Reslock – 896,000
16. Steve Brecher – 847,000
17. Bart Mikulski – 781,000
18. Matt Brown – 692,000
19. Jason Warriner – 665,000
20. Antuan Bunkley – 628,000
21. Joshua Lawson – 612,000
22. Ron McGinnity – 592,000
23. Eric Blair – 573,000
24. Chris Mitchell – 469,000
25. Bobby Suer – 446,000
26. Ofir Mor – 405,000
27. Matthew Shepsky – 340,000
Those who finished in the money included:
29. Kathy Liebert – $10,750
49. Joseph Brooks – $8,062
66. Matt Brady – $6,719
71. Soheil Shamseddin – $6,719
81. Jason Dewitt – $6,047
