The Borgata Poker Open

The tournament poker room on day one

Last year's Borgata Poker Open in Atlantic City drew a field of 302 players. Daniel Negreanu defeated a strong final table (featuring Phil Ivey, Josh Arieh, and David Williams) to take home $1,117,400. In 2005, the event grew to 515 players, with first place worth nearly $1.5 million. Poker's growth seems to continue on every stop of the World Poker Tour.



The Borgata Hotel and Casino provided a beautiful backdrop to the action. While there's no choice nowadays but to play these big events in ballrooms, the Borgata did it with a sense of style. The event was held in a large room that somehow managed to feel cozy; it gave off a much warmer vibe than the cold austerity of this summer's World Series of Poker, for example.



Day One: one Big Stack, 284 small Stacks

The players started with $20,000 in chips, giving them plenty of room to play. Carlos Mortensen took an early lead, quickly crossing the $100,000 mark. According to Mike Matusow (who was playing at the same table), rookie players were making major mistakes against Mortensen, practically donating their chips to him. As an example, he described how one player limped in with pocket aces – after four other players had already limped in. By the time he showed any aggressiveness, it was too late, as Mortensen had flopped a flush.

John D'Agostino

But the big story of the day was Tom Coan. He and Barry Greenstein were among the first to follow Mortensen to the $100,000 club, and when they clashed over a monster pot, it got the entire tournament room buzzing. It started with pocket aces against pocket kings, but with such deep stacks, it took a while for all of the money to get into the pot.



Greenstein started out behind with the pocket kings, but the flop came K J 6, giving Greenstein top set. There was some betting, and then the turn card was the 3. This gave Coan an overpair with a flush draw, while Greenstein still had top set – and all of the money went into the pot. Coan had 10 outs (to a higher set or a flush) to win.

The river card was the 10. Coan made his flush to crack Greenstein's set of kings, catapulting himself into a dominating chip lead with more than a 2-to-1 advantage over second place. Coan finished the day with about $280,000 in chips, hoping to overcome the dreaded "Curse of the Day-One Chip Leader."

Tom Coan

Day Two: The Field Catches Coan

Coan stayed strong on day two, but other players caught up to him. Professional players Matusow, John D'Agostino, and David "The Dragon" Pham all finished the day among the top five, ahead of Coan in sixth place. And Josh Arieh, who finished third here a year ago, was still alive with an above-average chip stack.



Day Three: 18 Hours to the Final Table

There were 62 players still alive at the start of day three, but only 45 would finish in the money. Matusow may have started the day in second place, but he ran into some bad luck early and missed the money. Later in the day, he would nominate himself for the "Worst Player in History" award.



As the money bubble burst early in the day, there were still three women alive in the field, all famous professionals: Evelyn Ng, Clonie Gowen, and Kathy Liebert. They were drawing the biggest crowds, especially when they were seated side by side by side at the same table, next to the rail. Unfortunately, Gowen ran into some trouble early, and busted out in 31st place, earning $14,987.



Ng and Liebert continued playing well past midnight, inching closer and closer to the final table. Both found themselves short-stacked at one point, but they battled back to continue moving up in the money. Eventually, Ng was eliminated in 11th place when her A-9 offsuit couldn't overcome David Singer's pocket fours, and she took home $64,942. Liebert would survive the day to reach the final table.



Day-one chip leader Coan couldn't break the curse, but he did reach the final two tables, earning $34,969 for 18th place.



D'Agostino entered the day in third place, and by the middle of the day, he had built up a massive chip lead, becoming the first multimillionaire in chips. With 11 players left, he held about 30 percent of all the chips in play. Matusow told D'Agostino that if he didn't reach the final table, he'd be nominated for the same "Worst Player in History" award.

Jade Kelsall (one of the "Borgata Babes") carries a fight card indicating the start of level 4 on day one.

Day three had gone on for nearly 18 hours, with seven players still fighting for the six seats at the WPT final table. In the final hand of the day, the two shortest stacks moved all in against each other – Al Ardebili against J.C. Tran. But D'Agostino was reluctant to give up his hand. He had plenty of chips, and could afford the call. He told the crowd that no reasonable person would do it, but it was nearly 5 a.m. and he felt like gambling. He called with A-J suited. Tran showed pocket queens and Ardebili had pocket aces. D'Agostino briefly looked like a genius when he flopped a flush draw, but the last two cards were blanks and Ardebili nearly tripled up, eliminating Tran in seventh place. The final table was set, and everyone could finally get some much needed sleep

Day Four: The Final-Table Fight for $1.5 Million

The final table began about 12 hours after that final hand on day three, and the players still had to show up early for makeup and WPT interviews. The opening chip counts for the final six players were as follows:

1. David Singer $3,200,000 (seat 2)

2. John D'Agostino $2,295,000 (seat 5)

3. Robert Hwang $1,795,000 (seat 1)

4. Al Ardebili $1,425,000 (seat 3)

5. Kathy Liebert $1,045,000 (seat 4)

6. Ricardo Festejo $540,000 (seat 6)



Festejo would have to make some moves early to have a chance, and he doubled up through D'Agostino in hand No. 7 with A-K against A-10. He would double up again in hand No. 16, catching a straight on the river to beat chip leader Singer's set of tens.



In the first 18 hands, Liebert showed three premium holdings: pocket aces, pocket kings, and A-K. In each case, however, she failed to get any action, and was now the short stack at the table – until hand No. 47, when she reraised all in preflop with A-Q, and D'Agostino moved all in behind her with pocket jacks. An ace on the flop was all it took to give Liebert a cushion and knock D'Agostino to the bottom of the chip counts.



Ardebili was steadily losing chips, and he moved all in from the big blind after a Singer raise. The small amount of the reraise made it an automatic call for Singer, who showed J-9. He was pleased to see Ardebili's pocket threes, leaving him with two live overcards. But a 3 on the flop and another on the river gave Ardebili quads, and he doubled up.



Singer started the final table as the chip leader, but he just couldn't win a hand. He was finally all in on hand No. 73 with A-8 offsuit against Hwang's pocket sixes, but he couldn't improve and was out in sixth place.



It took 73 hands and nearly three hours to eliminate the first player. That was a WPT record for number of hands, and nearly passed the time record that was set at the WPT Legends of Poker final table recently at The Bicycle Casino in Los Angeles.



Hwang lost a lot of chips to Festejo in hand No. 81 (missing his outs with two overcards and a flush draw), and was all in the next hand with 10-9 offsuit against D'Agostino's pocket tens. The flop came J-9-8, giving him a pair of nines and an open-end straight draw that would chop the pot. But the last two cards were blanks, and Robert "Action Bob" Hwang was eliminated in fifth place.



D'Agostino lost some more chips to Liebert in hand No. 85 when she moved all in on a flop of 10 9 8, and D'Agostino forfeited the pot. The next hand, he check-raised Festejo all in after a flop of Q 4 3. But, his Q 2 was dominated by Festejo's Q 8, and two cards later, D'Agostino was eliminated in fourth place. Festejo had a dominating chip lead at this point, with 70 percent of the chips in his stack. But things can change quickly in no-limit hold'em.

The final-table players, from left to right: Robert Hwang, David Singer, Al Ardebili, Kathy Liebert, John D'Agostino, and Ricardo Festejo

Ardebili moved all in with pocket queens in hand No. 88, and he was called by Festejo with A-J offsuit. The queens held up, and Ardebili doubled up to a comfortable second place, leaving Liebert alone as the short stack. Liebert would move all in from the button two hands later with the A 7, and be called by Ardebili's Q 10. Ardebili flopped a pair of tens, and they held up to eliminate Liebert in third place.



Three hands earlier, Festejo was dominating this table. But, as heads-up play began, he and Ardebili were effectively even, with a little more than $5 million in chips each.



In their second heads-up hand, Ardebili check-raised all in after a flop of K 7 2. Festejo thought for several minutes before making an unbelievable call with the A 2 (pair of deuces, ace kicker). Even if Ardebili had no pair, he'd likely have two live overcards, and possibly a flush draw, as well. But Ardebili showed the 3 2 (pair of deuces, 3 kicker). Festejo was suddenly a monster favorite, and he was two cards away from winning $1.5 million.



That was as close as he would get; the turn card was the 3.



Ardebili hit his three-outer to make a miraculous two pair. The river card was a blank, and Festejo was crippled. That gave Ardebili a chip lead of more than 8-to-1. Two hands later, Festejo moved all in with the 8 7, and Ardebili called with the A 9. The board helped neither player, and Festejo was eliminated in second place.



Al Ardebili had captured the Borgata Poker Open, winning nearly $1.5 million and a seat in the season-ending WPT World Championship.



After a slow start, the final table ended quickly. It took 73 hands to eliminate the first player, but the rest were sent home in the span of just 21 hands.

Al Ardebili is congratulated by his wife, Vendula.

Both Ardebili (Jersey City, New Jersey) and Festejo (Margate, New Jersey) won their entries through a $300 satellite, for a very nice return on their investments. And Festejo was two cards away from becoming the first player in WPT history to start the final table as the short stack and come back to win.



Final-table results were as follows:

1. Al Ardebili $1,498,650

2. Ricardo Festejo $799,280

3. Kathy Liebert $427,115

4. John D'Agostino $349,685

5. Robert Hwang $299,730

6. David Singer $249,775