Over the past two years, Borgata has had the largest fields in World Poker Tour history, and this year, the 11th Borgata Poker Open was no exception. The fall series, which ran in September, is the most popular Borgata Open of the year, bringing in high numbers of registrants and some of poker’s biggest names.
The opening event in the series featured a $2 million guarantee, and with the cheap and popular $560 buy-in, a record field wasn’t surprising.
Event 1 set the record for the most registrants in Borgata tournament history (4,482). Day 1B also had a record-breaking 2,812 entries for the largest one-day field.
Makzin Rosenfeld captured the event for $363K after beating Dan Wach when his 7-4 bested Wach’s K-K by hitting runner-runner for two pair.
The $3 million championship event, which was a $3,500 buy-in re-entry tournament, attracted a wide field of local players and professionals chasing the WPT title. The event, which wasn’t over at press time, will be televised on Fox Sports Net.
The Borgata has consistently drawn 1,000-plus players for its main events, and the cash tables were buzzing as the bad-beat jackpot hit for nearly $500K during the series.
PARX: The Philadelphia-area poker room hosted its Big Stax III in August, featuring three trophy events. The main event buy-in was adjusted to $1K from $1,600 in accordance to the player-base preference. The first event, with a $330 buy-in, had an impressive turnout. The $150K guarantee drew 1,316 entries to kick off the series, nearing the record of 1,361.
Among the participants were Matt Glantz and Ante Up’s Lee Childs. Glantz, as Parx’s hailing poker ambassador, designed the tournament structures for the series.
In the $250K guarantee, 415 players competed for a $402K prize pool. The final eight chopped the remaining $279K.
Big Stax IV will be Oct. 3-14.
PHILLY POKER OPEN: Harrah’s Philadelphia in Chester will host its semi-annual Philly Poker Open on Oct. 25-Nov. 4. For those looking for fast action before the PPO, there will be a $25K guarantee with 30-minute levels Oct.12 ($250).
— Jo Kim is Ante Up’s Atlantic City/Philadelphia Ambassador You can email her at anteupjokim@gmail.com.
