Tuesday, January 25, 2011

Event 13 Recap (Day 1)

$350 + $50 Seniors No Limit Hold'em

Two former Borgata Senior Tournament Champions are still alive as 18 players return for Day 2 of this year's Seniors Event. James Boyd (2010 Spring Open Champ) and Gary Brudner (2010 Summer Open Champ) are both in the middle of the pack as the field chases Dom Pelli (Stamford, CT) who has the chip lead with nearly 198k.

"I've been the chip leader at every table I've been at," said Pelli, who owns several business including ones involved with mortgage and travel. Pelli took the overall chip lead on the last hand of the night when he knocked out Russell Youngken (Levittown, PA) who held pocket jacks, but Pelli's AQ hit a queen on the turn to send the remaining players into the money.

Pelli holds a 15k chip lead over Donald Brown (Westbury, NY) as only the top 5 players have more than 100k. Dean Martin (Chambersburg, PA), who held the chip lead after the dinner break is the short stack with only 11k. The average returning stack is 78k (28 BB).

140 players started the day and the field included WSOP Bracelet holders Mike "Little Man" Sica (New Brunswick, NJ) and Chris Reslock (Atlantic City, NJ), but neither player survived to make the money.

The remaining players return 1 pm Wednesday to divide up the $49,000 total buy-in as they compete for the $14,259 first prize. And even though Pelli has the chip lead he knows anything can happen. "Whatever you have to do to survive, both in poker and in business."