Borgata Poker Open Tournament

September 15 -- WPT Championships Day 1
The Borgata Poker Open Tournament is on it's first day. 540 players paid $10,000 to enter the tournament, resulting in a huge $5,238,000 prize pool. Play began at 11:00 a.m. EST. Some players seen on Day 1 are David Williams, Joe Cassidy, Bill Chen, Joe Bartholdi, Erick Lindgren, Nick Frangos, Allen Cunningham, Steve Zolotow, John Phan, David Singer, Patrik Antonius, Scott Fischman, Joe Sebok, Clonie Gowen, T.J. Cloutier, John D'Agostino, Antonio Esfandiari, Liz Lieu, Phil Laak, Jennifer Tilly and J.C. Tran.

Some of the players who went to the sidelines were Layne Flack, Nam Le, Joe Cassidy, Gavin Smith, Jeff Madsen, Vanessa Rousso and Hasan Habib. Paul Darden eliminated Evelyn Ng after her all-in with pocket K's was countered with Darden's pocket A's. Another Ace came up on the flop and Evelyn said good bye to the this event. Al Ardebili who was last year's winner was busted out of contention by Alan Goehring. In that hand, Ardebili went all-in preflop with Ad Kd and was called by Goehring with Qd Jd. The board showed Qs 10s 2c Ac Kh giving Goehring the straight and the win. By the time Day 1 ended, there were 260 players left to move on to Day 2. Below are the payout amounts for the final table and top 6 players with chip counts:

Payout scheudule for the final table:

1. $1,519,020 and a $25,000 entry into the WPT Championship
2. $802,895
3. $419,040
4. $366,660
5. $314,280
6. $261,901

1. Ariel Schneller -- 234,000 chips
2. Ofir Mor -- 178,000 chips
3. Chad Brown -- 165,000 chips
4. Athanasio Diakos -- 157,000 chips
5. Anthony Argila -- 151,200 chips
6. Man Nguyen -- 143,900 chips

September 16 -- WPT Championships Day 2
This round will take the 260 that survived and further trim that number down to 67 by day's end. The blinds began at $500/$1,000 with a $100 ante. Among those who busted out on this day of play were David Williams, Steve Zolotow, Cyndy Violette, Joe Sebok, David Singer, Denis Ethier, Mimi Tran, Scott Fischman, Antonio Esfandiari, David "Chino" Rheem, Tim Phan and Alan Goehring. Paul Darden also went out after his pocket 8's were no good against another opponent's pocket 9's. Things also did not go well for 2006 final table player Paul Wasicka who went all-in on the short stack holding Jh 5c. Mike Gracz sent him packing Wasicka after his pocket A's dominated table play on that hand. Casey Kastle went out for a beer after his Ah Kh lost out to someone holding pocket A's.

It took just under 9 hours for play to be completed with 67 that will make the next round of play. Action will start at 11:00 a.m. EST. Below are the top 6 players with chip counts:

1. Ariel Schneller -- 511,000 chips
2. Carmine Tirone -- 508,000 chips
3. Mark Seif -- 500,500 chips
4. Dean Hamrick -- 449,500 chips
5. Rep Porter -- 444,500 chips
6. Chad Brown -- 438,500 chips

September 17 -- WPT Championships Day 3
The 3rd day began with 67 players who would continue battle until there are only 27 left. Play began at level 15 with blinds at $3,000/$6,000 and a $500 ante. Eliminations began quickly as Sean McCabe went out in less than 10 min of table play. He was followed by Eugene Juergens, Michael Gracz, Chad Brown, Richard Davidson, Mark Seif, Kathy Liebert and Lou Esposito.

But the hot one to watch, (take it any way you want), was actress and WSOP/WPT champion Jennifer Tilly. Early on she doubled up through Mark Seif to build her stack to over $420,000 and did not look back. Her smart and aggressive play vaulted her up into the top 6 chip leaders for the day. This round of the event began at 8:00 a.m. Pacific Daylight Time and ended around 1:30 p.m. the same day, showing how fast things went. Play will resume at 8:00 a.m. on September 18th to decide who the final table players will be. The top 6 are listed below:

1. Athanasio Diakos -- 1,555,000 chips
2. William Blanda -- 1,100,000 chips
3. Mark Newhouse -- 1,004,000 chips
4. Jennifer Tilly -- 874,000 chips
5. Anthony Argila -- 803,000 chips
6. John Parker -- 787,000 chips

September 18 -- WPT Championships Day 4
Today's round of play lasted about 9 1/2 hours in length. The goal was to take the 27 players remaining and continue down until the 6 for the final table are left. Action began at level 18 with blinds of $6,000/$12,000 and a $2,000 ante. Jennifer Tilly picked up where she left off yesterday as she eliminated John Phan in 26th place when her pocket 2's beat Phan's pocket A's after receiving a third 2 on the flop. Mark Newhouse built up a monster stack going from over 1 million in chips to over 7 million taking out players like Chad Moore, Shane Smith, Brock Parker, Bill Blanda, Louis Rosso and Athanasio Diakos in the process. Jennifer Tilly also became a victim of Newhouse after she lost to his nut straight winning hand.

Chris McCormack got a big increase in his stack after doubling up in an huge hand with Chris Bell, resulting in him hitting the 3 million chip mark. Author and professional player David Sklansky went up over the 1 million chip mark at one point when he won a battle with Chris Bell. Although he did lose chips in subsequent hands, he still made the final table. Play will be taped for the Travel Channel and action will get under way at 5:00 p.m. Pacific Daylight Time.

1. Mark Newhouse -- 7,025,000 chips
2. Chris McCormack -- 3,000,000 chips
3. Chris Bell -- 1,200,000 chips
4. Blaise Ingoglia -- 840,000 chips
5. Anthony Argila -- 700,000 chips
6. David Sklansky -- 665,000 chips

September 19 -- WPT Championships Day 5
Final table play began 5:00 p.m. at level 22 with blinds at $15,000/$30,000 with a $3,000 ante. Action was very, very cautious. There were about 87 hands played over 3 hours and 10 minutes before the first bust happened. Blaise Ingoglia went out in 6th after his As Qd lost out to a straight from Mark Newhouse. Newhouse also eliminated Chris Bell a few hands later in 5th. Anthony Argila picked up $366,660 for a 4th place finish when his K 8 lost out to Chris McCormack's K 5 after the flop gave McCormack another 5 to give him the winning pair. David Sklansky played very well raising his stack from $665,000 to over $3,250,000. In an all-in showdown with Chris McCormack, Sklansky raised 400,000 preflop and McCormack reraised to 2 million. Sklansky (5c 5h) pushed all his chips to the middle and McCormack calls (10h 10s). The flop shows 10c 8h 8s, turn card is 4c, river card is a Kd giving McCormack the full house and a 3rd place finish for David Sklansky.

That hand put McCormack's stack up to $8,625,000 to Mark Newhouse's $4,350,000, but Newhouse managed to pull it off to become champion. Here is what happened, Newhouse doubled up big time when his all in move 2 hands into the heads up paid off and his chips were at $9,500,000 to McCormack's $4,000,000. The psychological aspect of the big loss pretty much did McCormack in as he really did not challenge Newhouse from this point on, losing even more of his chips. On the last hand, Newhouse moved all (Qd Qh) in preflop and McCormick called (Ad Jc). The board showed 10s 4d 5s 10c Qs resulting in a devastating full house for Newhouse and the title of champion.

1. Mark Newhouse -- $1,519,020 and a $25,000 entry into the WPT Championship
2. Chris McCormack -- $802,895
3. David Sklansky -- $419,040
4. Anthony Argila -- $366,660
5. Chris Bell -- $314,280
6. Blaise Ingoglia -- $261,901