Event 1 Day 1 Recap

Event 1: $500 + $60 Deep Stack NL (2 Re-entry)    

The premiere event of the 2011 Borgata Winter Poker Open was a record-setting one.  The 1,472 entries generated total buy-ins of $736,000, topping the previous record set in 2007 of $685,000.

The final 120 players will earn a piece of the prize pool and the winner will take home $150,850.

Four WSOP bracelet holders were in the field, the most notable of which was Robert Varkonyi, (Great Neck, NY) who won the main event in 2002.  Mike 'Little Man' Sica, (North Brunswick, NJ) Chris Reslock, (Atlantic City, NJ) and Jason Young (Suffern, NY) were the other three.  When the dust settled at 2am, only Little Man was still alive.  He will return for day two with 125,600.  (While Robert did not make it to day two, his wife, Olga Varkonyi, did.)

Other notables who did not make it through the grueling 15 hours of day one are:  Steve Dannenmann, (2005 WSOP main event runner-up) Josh Brikis, (Pittsburgh, PA) James Boyd, (Martinsburg, WV) Lisa Pickell,  (Brick, NJ) Matt 'muffins' Mazzeo, (E Williston, NY) Vinny Pahuja, (Hicksville, NY) Nick Frangos,  (NY) Mike Dentale, (Brooklyn, NY) Sirous Jamshidi, (Broomall, PA) and Torpekay Habashzada (Broomall, PA).

About 210 players will return for day two.  Notable players and regular locals who survived and will return, in no particular order:
Alex Bolotin - 94,400
Joanne Monteavarro  130,100
Matt Glantz - 181,200
Paul Spitzberg - 309,400
Eric Doerr - 257,400
'Action' Bob Hwang - 148,800
James Boyle - 109,500
Dean Schultz - 34,100

Day two begins at noon Thursday here in the event center!