Level 5 (150/300/25 ante)
Total Entries: 175
Edgardo Rosario (Orocovis, DE)
Most of the stacks in the room were hovering around starting stack but there were three players who had a very solid first four levels. The front-runner at the first break was Edgardo Rosario (Orocovis, DE) after more than doubling his stack before the first break. He returned to a nice 64,250 stack and looking to improve on his final table appearance in Event 21 during the Borgata Spring Poker Open just a few weeks ago. His best tournament result was a deep run during December’s WPT Borgata Winter Poker Open Main Event for $6,857.
Rounding out the early big stacks are WSOP Circuit winner Mike McGuiness (Toms River, NJ) with 51,000 and Tonino Damore (San Jose, CA) with 50,000.
Mike McGuinness (Toms River, NJ)
Level 4 (100/200)
Total Entries: 161
Players on their first break of the day knowing they will be playing for some big prize money sometime later this evening. The clock shows 161 in the game and we’ll grab our first round of chips counts while they take a 10-minute break.
That leaves just four more levels to get in the game, or re-enter if needed, with late registration closing around 2:40pm.
Level 4 (100/200)
Total Entries: 150
The field hit the magic number of 150 entrants midway through Level 4 to officially hit the guaranteed prize pool amount.
Any new entries will be icing on the $15,000 cake.
Event 1 is only the first tournament of the latest round of the Deep Stack Challenge, this time around the series is running 13 tournaments in 13 days with $365,000 in guaranteed prize money. The buy-in amounts and guarantees will increase each day this week culminating in the $400 buy-in tournament on Saturday with a whopping $50,000 guarantee.
The series will reset on Sunday and run the same schedule of tournaments for a second week. Plenty of options for players of all levels, from $120 buy-ins ($15,000 guarantee) up to the $400 variety. The deep stack format gives plenty of play and someone will walk away with the next Deep Stacks Challenge title at the end of the day plus a nice boost to their bankroll.
You can click the image schedule below to get a full run down on the structure with each event kicking off at 11am and playing down to a winner.
Level 2 (50/100)
Total Entries: 101
Howard Wolper (Atlantic City, NJ)
The field predictably crossed over into three-digits shortly after the start of Level 2 and more players are lined up at the registration desk to get in the game.
Howard Wolper (Atlantic City, NJ) is one of the regulars who hopped in the early action and he’s looking to add to his $323,000 in career tournament earnings. Wolper is well-known in the Borgata Poker Room, often seen in the daily tournaments as well as the big events.
Level 1 (25/50)
Total Entries: 71
It’s a slow move on the entrant count and it’s just gone over 70 as the first level comes to an end. Perhaps they are enjoying the fine Jersey Shore morning weather before taking their seats. Those is game are also in no particular hurry with their 500 big blind stacks while the coffee orders pile up with the waitress.
We expect the number to grow quickly as the noon hour approaches and players move from their morning activities to get in the game and win a piece of the $15,000 guaranteed prize pool.
Level 1 (25/50)
Total Entries: 51
Cards are in the air for the first event of the Deep Stacks Challenge and players are slowly taking their seats. The tournament clock shows 51 players in the game as tournament instructions were read to the room to get things underway.
We’ll take a quick walk through the early starters to see who jumped in the game while still in the morning hours.
Level 1 (25/50)
The next round of Deep Stacks Challenge tournaments are set to get underway in a few moments with the first low buy-in, big prize pool event. The series will run 13 tournaments in 13 days and we’re starting off with a $100+20 buy-in tournament featuring a $15,000 guaranteed prize pool. This same tournament in February drew the biggest Deep Stacks Challenge field to date despite a huge snow storm at the time. We won’t have that same problem today and could top the 388 entrants from last time.
Players kick off the tournament with 25,000 stacks, 500 big blinds deep, and will play 25 minutes levels throughout the day. Late registration and unlimited rebuys are available until the start of Level 9, approximately 2:40pm. All Deep Stacks Challenge events are scheduled to complete in one day so they have a long grind ahead of them but it will be worth it in the end. Jafar Haider earned $10,164 for winning the February version for a nice return on his investment.
Cards will be in the air shortly and we’ll be here throughout the series with live updates until the last tournament on the 20th.
The next run of the Borgata Deep Stacks Challenge is set to begin early next week and the popular series offers a ton of value for our players. More opportunities and bigger guarantees await with nearly two weeks worth of events to collect a big payout.
The Deep Stacks Challenge kicks off on Monday, June 8 and will run 13 events in 13 days. The guaranteed prize pools range from $15,000 up to $50,000 and combine for at least $365,000 in total money. The buy-ins and prize pools will climb throughout the week with two big $50,000 guaranteed events on Saturday, June 13 and Saturday June 20 for just a $400 price tag.
A new tournament will run each day starting at 11am and will play down until a new winner is crowned. Each tournament features unlimited re-entries until the close of registration and the deep stack structure will give more than enough room to play. There will be plenty of action in the Borgata Poker Room over those two weeks as a nice set up for the upcoming Borgata Summer Poker Open in July.
The first event kicks off on Monday, June 8 at 11am with a $120 buy-in, $15,000 guaranteed tournament. We hope to see a bunch of local regulars along with new faces in crowd for another success run of the Deep Stacks Challenge. As an added bonus, we have a cross promotion with BorgataPoker.com where the top ten players with the most tournament entries will earn an entry into the online $50,000 guaranteed event Sunday, June 28.
Click the schedule image below to access tournament structure sheets.