2013 WPT Borgata Winter Open Day 2: Scott Herz Leads Final 171

The 2013 World Poker Tour Borgata Winter Poker Open continued on Tuesday with Day 2 action from the Borgata Hotel Casino & Spa in Atlantic City. The day began with 567 of 1,042 players returning to compete for a $730,053 first-place prize, with Mark Ketteringham entering as chip leader with 193,775. Not far behind were Chris Barnes with 189,500 and Luis Vazquez, who finished as the Day 1a chip leader, with 182,075. After eight 75-minute levels of play, the field had been whittled down to just 171 players with Scott Herz and his stack of 519,300 emerging as the new chip leader.

Here’s a look at the top 10 chips counts at the end of Day 2:

Had it not been for one pot late in the night, Joe DiMartino would likely have been the chip leader. The late pot happened in Level 15 (1,200/2,400/300) when Marsha Wolak opened for 6,000 on the button, and DiMartino three-bet to 13,000 from the small blind. Wolak made the call, the flop fell , and DiMartino continued for 14,500. Wolak called, and then DiMartino fired out 26,000 on the turn. Wolak responded by moving all in for 152,600, and DiMartino hit the tank. Eventually, he folded the face up — Wolak did not show.

As you can imagine, Day 2 started with a plethora of eliminations, and one of the first to go was Scott Baumstein. In Level 9 with the blinds at 300/600/75, Baumstein moved all in from the button with the for right around 8,000. Anthony Gregg called from the big blind holding the , and Baumstein looked as if he was going to double when the flop and the turn failed to help Gregg. Unfortunately for Baumstein, the spiked on the river, and he was sent to the rail.

Others who joined him throughout the next few levels were Peter Ippolito, Ray Henson, Tyler Patterson, Shannon Shorr, Matt Waxman, Collin Whyte, Dan O’Brien, Matt Gianetti, Carter Phillips, Chris Klodnicki, Noah Schwartz, Matt Stout, Yevgeniy Timoshenko, Eric Baldwin and Chris Bell.

According to the WPT Live Updates Team, Bell’s elimination came in Level 13 with the blinds at 800/1,600/200 and happened when a preflop raising war broke out between Bell and Cherish Andrews. Bell ended up all in for 105,000 with the and was behind Andrews’ . The board ran out a fairly uneventful , and Andrews chipped up to 280,000 while Bell hit the rail.

A couple of levels later, in Level 15 (1,200/2,400/300), 2012 WPT Borgata Open winner Ben Hamnett fell victim to Andrews’ siren song. Hamnett raised to 4,800 from the hijack seat, and Andrews three-bet to 10,000 from the cutoff. The button and blinds both folded, Hamnett four-bet to 25,600, and Andrews five-bet to 60,000. Not to be outdone, Hamnett six-bet shoved for right around 135,000 and Andrews called with the . Like Bell, Hamnett held big slick () and failed to catch when the board ran out .

Although many fell, a bunch of notables found themselves among the 171 returning players including Ravi Raghavan (46,000), Mohsin Charania (55,600), Jason Koon (71,900), Jamie Kerstetter (87,100), Paul Volpe (99,300), Jonathan Roy (115,600), Allen Kessler (196,000), Bryn Kenney (205,000), Joe Serock, (222,000), Matt Salsberg (236,000), Ana Marquez (255,500), Jonathan Little (318,200), Keven Stammen (345,800), Travis Williams (361,700) and Matt Glantz (384,000).

Will any of these players be able to add their names to the list of WPT Borgata Winter Poker Open Champions?

Former WPT Borgata Winter Poker Open Champions

*Other Borgata Winter Poker Open winners (when it was not a WPT event) include Steven Weinstein, Jeff Madsen, Vadim Shiez and the defending champ, Josh Mancuso.

Day 3 action is set to kick off at 12:00 PM EST on Wednesday and will push through the money bubble at 100 players on the way down to the final 27 players. Of course, PokerNews will bring you a recap of all the action.

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