Big Names Get Set for Borgata Main Event

Tales and legends about players and teams that were “destined” to win abound in many sports, and poker is no exception as Thursday saw the conclusion of what may become one of the most storied runs in Borgata Winter Poker Open (WPO) history.

Featuring the strongest field of the Borgata Winter Poker Open to date, Wednesday’s Main Event #10 brought a number of the game’s elite players to the Event Center floor and generated a prize pool of $822,500. With players in attendance like World Series of Poker 2006 Main Event Champion Jamie Gold, Layne “Back-to-back” Flack, last year’s September Poker Open champion Roy “The Oracle” Winston, and three-time Poker Open winner Bill Blanda, there was no shortage of excitement on the tournament floor throughout the day.

Despite starting with a field of 329 players, only 22 would survive the day’s action and return Thursday for the tournament’s second day of play. After several hours of play on Thursday, the field was narrowed to the final table, producing what may be the toughest final table of this year’s WPO. Four top-flight pros took to the felt, with local Matt Glanz, Steve “The Wrecking Ball” Fiorentini, Erich “E-Fro” Froelich, and Thayer “THAY3R” Rasmussen, hoping to win the $238,525 first-place prize.

In the end, Fiorentini lived up to his nickname by demolishing everyone in his path to take the title. Going all-in seven times in a row at one point, Fiorentini hit two hands in which he was considered an underdog, but nailed a three-outer and six-outer to climb to the top of the chip counts. “The Wrecking Ball” wreaked havoc on his opponents throughout the final table action and eventually scored the victory.

Fiorentini showed plenty of emotion throughout the two days and looked a little stunned when the traditional winner’s picture was taken. “This is the greatest moment of my poker life. I felt like I was floating on air when I realized I was going to win,” he said after the victory.
When asked about his uncanny knack for hitting ridiculously low percentage hands and winning the majority of his all-in plays, he responded, “I had to turn it into an all-in fest because I thought the rest of the table would outplay me.”

Although the $2,500 Main Event is now in the record books, plenty of exciting action remains in this year’s WPO, starting with Friday’s $5,000 Main Event #12. Many poker pros have arrived to play in the $5,000 buy-in and the $10,000 World Poker Tour Main Event, so the action should prove interesting for fans.

Go to theborgata.com to follow all of the action on the Official Borgata Poker blog.
On-site registration for all events is available until January 29 at 2 p.m. Special hotel room rates are available to tournament players Sunday through Thursday at $129, Friday at $199 and Saturday at $239. Call 1.866.MYBORGATA for more details. For the complete tournament schedule, blogs and more, visit theborgata.com.

News Added: 28 January, 2008

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