The hunt for $1.5 million and a
World Poker Tour event title continued with day two of the 2006
Borgata Poker Open. While the 11 a.m. EDT starting time and Borgata Events Center backdrop remained the same as yesterday, a few changes distinguished day two from day one.
The first difference was the absence of the Borgata Babes - tragic. A little less obvious than the lack of scantily clad women was the lack of empty seats in the tournament area at the start time. Unlike day one, which saw latecomers arriving well into the first hour of action, the players showed up on time for the second day of the
BPO.
Spread out over 25 tables, play started in Level 8 with $500-$1,000 blinds and $100 antes. The returning field of 248 wasted little time in trimming their numbers. A series of big-name eliminations, something else not seen early on day one, began with the bustout of David Singer. Despite holding pocket kings, and making a set on the turn, Singer exited play when he moved all in and an opponent called with a turned nut flush.
A number of other poker pros soon joined Singer on the rail, including, Bill Edler, Joe Sebok, Cyndy Violette, David Williams, and Steve Zolotow.
As the field dwindled, short-handed tables broke, and tournament officials condensed the tournament area. Amid the heavy traffic of player redraws, Michael Gracz's move put him in the one seat at a table that already featured Sean McCabe (seat No. 3), Men "The Master" Nguyen (seat No. 6), Steve Brecher (seat No. 7), and 2006
WSOP main event runner-up Paul Wasicka (seat No. 10).
Sitting one seat apart, Gracz and McCabe took shots at each other the moment Gracz's chips touched the felt. In their first encounter, McCabe raised $3,400 preflop. Gracz and another player both called. A $10,000 bet by Gracz on a J
5
3
flop pushed out the third party, but not McCabe. Gracz dropped another $24,000 into the pot after the K
turn. McCabe called. When Gracz checked the 2
river, McCabe flipped over the A
J
. The pair of jacks was good, and McCabe notched up the first victory in his daylong battle with Gracz.
The dogfight continued when McCabe reraised $20,000 on top of a $10,000 raise by a player in seat No. 2. With the flop already out as the A
8
7
, Gracz called, and seat No. 2's fold led to another heads-up match. McCabe's all-in bet on the A
turn ended the contest and he dragged his second pot against Gracz.
While McCabe vs. Gracz drew the attention of fans and media, the battle soon found competition in the form of John Phan. After drawing a huge crowd at his table, courtesy of his aggressive play and table banter, Phan moved over to the star-studded table 10. In the nine seat, Phan made an immediate impact by flopping a flush and taking a huge pot off Gracz and another opponent.
Now at $165,000, and with his chip stacks sticking out toward the middle of the table, Phan made a $6,500 raise and received calls from McCabe and opponents at seats No. 4 and 5. After a K
K
8
flop, seat No. 5 fired $12,000 into the pot and Phan repopped to $30,000. The move knocked McCabe and seat No. 4 out of the way, but elicited an all in reraise by seat No. 5. Phan called, but seat No. 5 took a huge lead with the K
Q
against Phan's K
J
. The J
turn, however, gave Phan a full house and the win sent his stack up to the $230,000 mark.
Paul Darden, another pro near the top of the board, made an unexpected exit after he got all in with pocket eights against Ronnie Ebank's pocket nines. Darden and his $100,000 plus chip stack both disappeared after Ebank's hand stayed ahead.
When the field returned from dinner break, fewer than 100 players remained in the 2006
Borgata Poker Open. While some pros succumbed to short stacks and increasing blinds (like Erick Lindgren, who busted but still found a silver lining in the fact that he could more closely follow the college football games in progress), others thrived in late action.
After spending most of the day near the bottom of the chip counts, Gene Todd experienced a post-dinner run of success. A double up with pocket queens over an opponent's pocket fives capped off the push and bumped Todd's stack up to $148,000.
For Chad Brown, day two ended much like day one - in success. Brown entered action as one of the chip bosses, and continued to add to his stack throughout the seven levels of play. On the last hand of the day, Brown established himself as a serious force in the tournament by taking over $70,000 off Gracz with a Broadway straight.
At 10:47 p.m. EDT, play concluded. The remaining 69 players return at 11 a.m. EDT and will play down to the final 27.
Some notables who failed to move on included Scott Fischman, Tim Phan, Casey Kastle, Bill Chen, Amnon Filippi, Nick Schulman, Men "The Master" Nguyen, Paul Wasicka, and Steve Brecher.
Stay tuned to
CardPlayer.com for live updates, chip counts, photos, videos and for a new episode of "The Circuit."
Quote of the Day: "I love football so much more than poker it's not even funny" - Erick Lindgren, watching the Iowa vs. Iowa State game while playing on day two of the
Borgata Poker Open.
