On Sunday, September 14th, the Borgata Hotel and Casino in Atlantic City, New Jersey will become the epicenter of the live poker world. The World Poker Tour’s Borgata Poker Open, a $10,000 buy-in staple of the WPT’s tournament schedule, will begin. The tournament will crown a champion on September 18th.
Last year’s Borgata Poker Open was won by Roy Winston, who defeated Heung Yoon heads-up. The champion walked away with a healthy $1,575,280. Winston also finished 23rd at the L.A. Poker Classic during Season IV. Others at the final table during the 2007 installment were Haralabos Voulgaris, Mark Weitzman, Eugene Todd, and Mike Matusow. “The Mouth” earned over $670,000 for finishing third in the Bellagio Cup during Season VI.
Mark Newhouse won the Season V (2006) Borgata Poker Open, besting Chris McCormack heads-up and earning $1,519,020 for his win. He also finished 19th at the $25,000 buy-in WPT Championship during Season VI for $105,525. Rounding out the six-man televised final table were David Sklansky, Anthony Argila, Christopher Bell, and Blaise Ingoglia. Sklansky is the author of the critically-acclaimed book “Theory of Poker” and is one of the game’s most influential poker minds.
The 2005 Borgata Poker Open featured a star-studded final table. At the end of the day, Al Ardebili bested Richard Festejo to win $1,498,650. In order to claim his nearly $1.5 million in prize money, Ardebili had to muscle through Kathy Liebert, John D’Agostino, Robert Hwang, and David Singer, all of whom were also at the final table.
To date, the most memorable Borgata final table occurred in 2004. In that tournament, the young guns of poker came out in style. The tournament ended with Daniel Negreanu defeating Bodog Poker pro David Williams heads-up. If the event were to occur today, it would be a ratings juggernaut. Two other heavy-hitters, Josh Arieh and Phil Ivey, also reached the final table. Negreanu walked away with $1,117,400. The Borgata Poker Open became a WPT event in 2003 during the poker series’ second season.
Leading up to the WPT’s televised Main Event, the Borgata is playing host to a series of preliminary tournaments. There are three more days of tournaments remaining until the start of Sunday’s $10,000 buy-in Main Event, which has a $5 million prize pool. All times given are Eastern:
Thursday, September 11th at 11:00am
Event #11 – No Limit Hold’em
$500 + $60 buy-in
Friday, September 12th at 11:00am
Event #12 – No Limit Hold’em
$5,000 + $200 buy-in
Saturday, September 13th at 11:00am
$100,000 Guaranteed No Limit Hold’em
$300 + $40 buy-in
The Borgata Poker Room is home to 85 tables. The casino hosts two $20,000 Guaranteed tournaments every Wednesday; the morning tournament has a buy-in of $120 and the evening event has a buy-in of $180. The Borgata also hosts a $75,000 Guaranteed event every Friday that comes with a price tag of $340 to enter.
The Borgata will host a Poker Classic, also a World Poker Tour event, in January. The tournament begins on the 25th and will play down to a winner four days later.
Are the satelite tournaments for a seat for the sept 14th main event and when are they i cant seem to find them on the website for the borgata