The past month has been grueling for the traveling tournament poker pro. Since the New Year, there have already been three major poker events. First it was the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure. And then it was back to back $10,000 events in Tunica. Many are weary but 381 showed up to play in the inaugural $10,000 Borgata Winter Poker Open main event.
A host of big names were on hand including the two big winners from the recent WPT event at the Gold Strike, Scotty Nguyen, and Daniel Negreanu, who won over $1 million at the WSOP Circuit event at the Grand last week. Throw in a cast of solid local Atlantic City players, including the likes of Chris Reslock, Brian Haveson, Mike Sica, and the event possessed a montage of tough, stacked tables.
With all players starting with $25,000 in tournament chips and a slow blind structure, there was time for the field to take their time before kicking it into high gear. For some, such as Phil Ivey, he used this cushion to head back up to his room for a three hour nap. Rumor around the tournament floor was that Phil had a big, big night in the pit the previous evening, taking down over $1 million in what had to have been the biggest craps game going in AC. Regardless, Ivey was a casualty about midway through day one, sending a contingent of sign waving locals cheering him on home early.
Early on, it seemed like déjà vu. Again, it was Michael "The Grinder" Mizrachi turning on the heat and becoming the first player to top out at over $100,000. Mizrachi, who finished second to Nguyen at the recent WPT Gold Strike World Poker Open, is notorious for rushing out to early chip leads. At the Gold Strike, he proved that, as he matures as a player, he is able to shift out of first gear when necessary. However, his stack soon dipped down to $25,000 after losing a series of hands and he never regained the momentum that propelled him to the early day lead. He finished the day close to where he began in chips, around $30,000.
It was another internet tournament wrecking ball turned regular face on the live tournament circuit, Cliff Josephy aka "JohnnyBax," who took a massive chip lead late on day one and never looked back.
Josephy was seated at one of the tournament's most stacked tables and the chips were flying back and forth quicker than a New Jersey taxi late for a pick up. David Pham, Joe Sebok, David Levi, John D'Agostino and Josh "Sdouble" Schlein all contributed to this madness and it was Johnny Bax who rose from the table with the spoils.
In the biggest pot of the tournament, Josephy knocked out fellow notable internet player (and second place finisher in Aruba at the WPT UltimateBet.com Poker Classic) Josh "Sdouble" Schlein.
In that hand, Schlein moved all in with the nut flush draw (Ah-9h) and Josephy called with top set (queens). Schlein's flush didn't materialize and all his chips were shipped over to Josephy who took a commanding lead in the tournament with over $240,000 chips.
About an hour later, Cliff Josephy eliminated David Levi in another big hand. He rivered a full house to snap off David Levis straight. This brought Josephy to nearly $375,000 in chips.
He finished the day with an incredible $386,600, seven times the average chip count of the remaining 165 players ($57,727 is average).
Tomorrow the action kicks off at 11am. Check back at CardPlayer.com
