Event 3: 6th Place - Savitsky

$400 + $50 H.O.R.S.E. 

Tom Savitsky (Absecon, NJ)

$1,862

Playing Omaha Hi/Lo:

Tom Savitsky got his last chips in against two players, who chopped up his chips. 

Tom was felted in 6th place, earning $1,862.

Tom had the lead coming into day two, but this HORSE faded before the home stretch.

Event 4: Great Eight

$400 + $50 Big Stack NLH (Re-Entry)

With eight table remaining here's a look at recognizable faces still in the field:

Table 1

Russell Crane
Phong Nguyen
Paul Leon

Table 2
John Del Rossi

Table 3

Dao Bui
Mike Wolf
Jerry Callahan

Table 4

Edwin Lau
Ed Kichline
Rich Milburn
Jesse Pulido

Table 5

Tom Pomponio
Hamilton Dimaya
Robert Perkins

Table 6

MJ Bernstein
Howard Wolper
John Allan Hinds
Eric Siegel
Lee Childs

Table 7

Jason Warriner

Table 8

Bob Hwang
Barry Levy

Event 3: 7th Place - Brown

$400 + $50 H.O.R.S.E. 

Lance Brown (Robbinsville, NJ)

$1,552 

Playing Hold'em:

Lance Brown got his last chips in pre-flop against Chris Reslock.  Lance was racing his pocket 3s against Chris' KJ.  Chris caught a King on he flop, a Jack on the turn, and another King on the river to make Kings' full for the overkill.

Lance Brown will collect $1,552 for his 7th place finish.

Event 3: 8th Place - Cernuto

$400 + $50 H.O.R.S.E. 

Miami John Cernuto (Las Vegas, NV)

$1,242

Playing Stud Hi/Lo:

Miami John Cernuto rode his short stack as long and as hard as he could, but his last chips went in against Chris Reslock and Yuebin Guo.

Chris made a full house and Yuebin took the low, leaving nothing for John but 8th place.  He'll collect $1,242 on his way back to the barn.

Here's how John summed it up on Twitter:

Was forced to play my last hand with the bring in only 6 k left in stud 8+. Made a pair with 4 clubs and 4 to low. 2 guys beat me each way.

Event 3: 9th Place - Basilicata

$400 + $50 H.O.R.S.E. 

Vinny Basilicata (Little Neck, NY)

$931

 Playing Stud Hi/Lo:

Vincent Basilicata was all-in in a muti-way pot.  At the river, Jeff Paitchell produced the best hand, scooping both main and side pots.  He's up to over 350k.

Vincent Basilicata was scratched in 9th place ($931).

Vinny has two Borgata Open titles on his poker resume.  He won the $400 HOSE event during the 2010 Summer Open (before they were allowed to play Razz here).  He also has a No Limit Hold'em win during the 2011 Winter Open.

Event 3: Final Table Lineup

$400 + $50 H.O.R.S.E. 

Here's the final table lineup, starting in the one seat:

Tom Savitsky
Miami John Cernuto
Dan Barlin
Chris Reslock
Yuebin Guo
Jeff Paitchell
Vinny Basilicata
Al Navid
Lance Brown

They drew for the game and started with Stud.  Miami John won a pot early and is back up to 32k.

Event 4: Two Survive with Chopped Pot

$400 + $50 Big Stack NLH (Re-Entry)

Ed Not Losing Against Edwin

After seeing thousands of hands over the years, we're skeptical when someone starts describing an interesting hand.  This time it's truly unique as three players are all in preflop:

Edwin Lau (Philadelphia, PA) KK
Rich Milburn (Easton, PA) QQ
Ed Kichline (Alexandria, VA) JJ

Lau is one of the big stacks and in great shape to add 60k until the board runs out: 2 3 4 5 6.

The straight on the board chops the pot, keeping Milburn (25k) and Kichline (30k) alive.

"I would've been cruising," says Lau, who with 110k, is one of the few players with more than 100k.

84 players remain with an average stack of 54k (27 BB) as blinds are 1k/2k/300 ante.

******
Special shoutout to Jesse Pulido (Pembrooke Pines, FL) for alerting us to the hand and to his daughter Jessalyn who's celebrating her 6th birthday!

 Milburn Part of Straight Up Chop

Event 3: Bubble Burst (Finally!)

$400 + $50 H.O.R.S.E.

Playing Omaha Hi/Lo:

Rich Rubenstein (button) was all-in for his last 11k and got called by both blinds, who checked down the board of J 6 6 7 A.

 Rich Rubinstein - Bubble Boy

Dan Barlin held QTT6 for trips to take the high and Jeff Paitchell took the low.  Rich couldn't pull this one out and became this event's bubble-boy.

The final 9 are now all in the money and guaranteed at least $931.  They drew for seats and moved to the final table.

Event 4: Tough to Stay at 100k

$400 + $50 Big Stack NLH (Re-Entry)

 Robert "Robbed" of 30k

Robert Perkins (Las Vegas, NV) has a short lived stay at 101k when he loses a race with JJ vs the AK of Tom Pomponio (Tuckerton, NJ).  Pomponio hits the flop, "ace in the window," yells Perkins as he fills in the details.  "But, I'm still doing alright," he adds after shipping 30k across the table.

Pomponio is looking for his second cash of the series after finishing 21st ($838) in Event 2.

Early chip leader Jerry Maher (Warren, NJ) was up over 100k, but has since dropped to 40k.

115 players remain with an average stack of 40k (25 BB) as blinds are 800/1,600/200 ante.

Event 3: Bubble Doubles

$400 + $50 H.O.R.S.E.

Play resumed with limits of 8k/16k.

Still ten players, still hand-for-hand on the bubble.

Playing Stud Hi/Lo:

Yuebin Guo scooped a pot from Dan Barlin with a well hidden full house.

Chris Reslock had Aces in the hole and made Aces-up to beat Vinny Basilicata's Jacks-up.

Tom Savitsky was all-in in a three-way pot.  He scooped it and left Miami John Cernuto with only 10k.

Then Miami John was all-in against Tom and scooped to double up.

Still ten players, still hand-for-hand on the bubble.

Event 4: Payouts

$400 + $50 Big Stack NLH (Re-Entry)

Entries: 308
Total Buy-In: $123,200

Place - Amount

1st $32,267
2nd $17,926
3rd $11,114
4th $8,963
5th $6,931
6th $5,856
7th $4,720
8th $3,525
9th $2,390
10-12 $1,554
13-15 $1,195
16-18 $1,016
19-27 $896
28-36 $717

Event 3: Break Time Chip Counts

$400 + $50 H.O.R.S.E.

They completed a level and the final ten are now taking a 15 minute break.  Here are some rough chip counts:

Al Navid - 316k
Dan Barlin - 220k
Yuebin Guo - 220k
Jeff Paitchell - 105k
Vinny Basilicata - 100k
Tom Savitsky - 80k
Chris Reslock - 55k
Rich Rubinstein - 45k
Lance Brown - 35k
Miami John Cernuto - 32k

Average stack is 120k.

Event 3: Bubble Trouble

$400 + $50 H.O.R.S.E.

Miami John Cernuto made the nut flush and second nut low and got paid off by the second nut flush, who raised him on the river.  He's got a little breathing room now.

Playing Razz:

Lance Brown was the short-stack and all-in on third street with  (42) 8.  Rich Rubinstein looked him up with (A5) 7.  When the cards ran out, Lance had made an 87-low and Rich could only come up with a 98-low.  Lance doubled up.

Still ten players, still hand-for-hand on the bubble.

Event 3: Tweets & Eats

$400 + $50 H.O.R.S.E.

'Miami' John Cernuto is enjoying a sandwich delivered by his buddy Mike 'Little Man' Sica, who is on the rail rooting him on.

In between playing hands and eating his sandwich, John is also finding time to update the world via Twitter.  Here are his latest Tweets:

John Cernuto ‏ @MiamiJohnC
Horse update. On bubble with ten players left and 99K. Was low when my queens turned into a queen hi flush. Avg stack is 115K

Bad news. All in made a full vs straight and I made 10 s full vs kings full. Makes me short stack on the bubble still.

Event 3: Finberg Fired

$400 + $50 H.O.R.S.E.

Playing Stud Hi/Lo:

Justin Finberg got all-in starting with AA3.  His opponent started with AAJ.  When the cards ran out, Justin's hand hadn't improved, but his opponent had picked up a second pair.

Justin was dispatched in 11th place.

With ten players remaining, it is bubble time.  Two tables of five players are playing hand-for-hand until one more player is eliminated.

Event 3: Yo Eleven!

$400 + $50 H.O.R.S.E.

Goners:
Bill Munley
Magpuri Anglo
Antonio Walker
Dave Cardenas
Jason Rivkin

Eleven players remain, two from the money.

Event 4: Maher Leads the Way

$400 + $50 Big Stack NLH (Re-Entry)

Jerry is Just Fine

With a last name more appropriate for the HORSE tournament, Jerry Maher (Warren, NJ) is the chip leader with 97k as registration is now closed.
 Re-entry is no longer an option as the field of 300+ players are locked and loaded the rest of the way.

Level 7 (300/600/75 ante) continues.

Event 3: Sweet 16

$400 + $50 H.O.R.S.E.

 Table 2

 Seat 8: Yuebin Guo (white hat)

Seat 7: Jason Rivkin

Seat 6: Dave Cardenas

The 16 player redraw is complete.  Here's a look at the final two tables:

Table 1

Seat-Name

1 Al Navid
2 Chris Reslock
3 Magpuri Anglo
4 "Miami" John Cernuto
5 Tom Savitsky
6  Lance Brown
7 Vinny Basilicata
8 Bill "Bumpereno" Munley

Table 2

Seat-Name

1 Antonio Walker
2 Rich Rubinstein
3 Justin Finberg
4 Dan Barlin
5 Jeff Paitchell
6 Dave Cardenas
7 Jason Rivkin
8 Yuebin Guo

Bumpereno with a shout out to Gudie, who's following the blog from Spain!

Event 3: Five More Gone

$400 + $50 H.O.R.S.E.

The latest elimination is Jeff Jerome (Springfield, PA) who says he was crippled during the 7-card stud round when he didn't believe Lance Brown (Robbinsville, NJ) was holding a jack.  Jerome bet his two pairs, (kings up) on 4th street, but slowed down when Brown hit a second jack on 5th street.

Jerome says he called the rest of the way and dropped to 9k when Brown shows him trip jacks.  Jerome is eventually knocked out in 17th place after making the final table in this event during the Borgata Winter Poker Open.

Recent Eliminations:

Jeff Jerome (Springfield, PA)
Bo Toft (Yardley, PA)
Jonathan Bascom (Edison, NJ)
Elia Ahmadian (Chantilly, VA)
Anthony Casalnova (Gaklyn, NJ)

Event 4: Cherish The Moment

$400 + $50 Big Stack NLH (Re-Entry)

It was bad enough that Cherish Andrews was down to five big blinds and was in the midst of Killer Corner, but John Allan Hinds makes it worse by hitting a one outer on the river.

Andrews moves all in for 2k with Q 7 and is called by Hinds and his pocket 7s.  Andrews hits a queen on the flop, but the case seven sends her to the re-entry line.

Hinds is now up to 40k and a new faces joins the table in WSOP bracelet holder Jeff Papola

Level 6 is underway, the last level to re-entry the tournament.

Event 3: 21 Gun Salute

$400 + $50 H.O.R.S.E.

Vinny Basilicata (Little Neck, NY) is now the chip leader with 125k, while Jeff Paitchell (Clifton, NJ) is up to second place with 110k as both players began the day in the top ten.

21 players remain with an average stack of 57k and 9 big bets as the the limits are 3k/6k.

Event 3: Busto

$400 + $50 H.O.R.S.E.

Early Eliminations:

Dennis Capriglione (Atlantic City, NJ)
Gregory Richard Weyer (Forked River, NJ)
Charles Wey (Hackensack, NJ)
Frank Rasile (Staten Island, NY)
Michael Drabot (Riverside, NJ)
William Handy (Laurel Springs, NJ)

Event 4: Killer Corner

$400 + $50 Big Stack NLH (Re-Entry)

(L-R) Sykes, Hinds, Childs, Andrews & Siegel

Table 6 could easily be a final table as five Borgata regulars are in the killer corner of seats 6 through 10.  Mark Sykes, John Allan Hinds, Lee Childs, Cherish Andrews and Eric Siegel are all accomplished players who find themselves side-by-side.

Also at the table is Bob Haavind (Boston, MA) who says he's not ready to implement his "Mad Viking" strategy.  The maniacal style helped him become the first player to cash in the Borgata Spring Poker Open finish with his 100th place finish for $1,010.  

Level 5 (150/300/25 ante) is off and running with more than 250 players in the field as registration is open until 2:15 pm.

Event 3: Shorties Double

$400 + $50 H.O.R.S.E.

 Reslock Hangin' Around

Chris Reslock (Atlantic City, NJ) and Frank Rasile (Staten Island, NY) are still alive after the returning short stacks getting early double-ups.

Reslock (7,200) and Rasile (6,900) were 26th and 27th respectively of the 27 returning players.  Once three players bust the tournament will be down to 24 players on three tables.

Event 3: Horses Never Forget

$400 + $50 H.O.R.S.E.

Here's a reminder of what they're playing for and what the heck does HORSE stand for?

Payouts:

1st - $10,863
2nd - $5,893
3rd - $3, 725
4th - $2,794
5th - $2,173
6th - $1,862
7th - $1,552
8th - $1,242
9th - $931

H.O.R.S.E

H: Hold'em
O: Omaha 8B
R: Razz
S: Stud (High)
E: Eight or better, Seven-card stud (High/Low)