End of Day 2
Players in Chip Count Order
Dee Caldwell 485,000
Mike Matusow 472,500
John D'Agostino 471,000
David Pham 355,500
Robert Hwang 339,500
Tom Cohen 334,500
JC Tran 304,500
Karlo Lopez 304,000
Surinder Sunar 291,000
Josh Arieh 282,000
Evelyn Ng 263,500
Clonie Gowen 252,000
Eric Haber 251,500
Sid Miller 251,000
John McCann 246,000
Luke Chung 222,000
Doug Johnson 206,500
Charles Furey 196,000
Barry Greenstein 193,500
Edward Ting 181,500
Steve Zoine 177,000
Carmine Tirone 173,000
Robert Chason 169,500
David Singer 166,500
Tex Barch 162,000
Neal Gersony 160,500
Richard Festejo 159,000
Herbert Cheng 157,000
John Whiting 156,000
Mike Stonehill 151,500
John Gordon 146,500
Steve Dannemann 146,000
Ari Abramowitz 145,500
Al T. Ardebili 145,000
Tom Markelli 132,500
Greg Fondacaro 130,000
Erick Lindgren 114,000
Mark Mathews 113,000
Steve Rosen 106,000
Woo Ying Lin 105,500
Denis Ethier 104,000
Rich Kirsch 104,000
Steve Kingsley 101,000
Richard DeVito 92,500
Paul Snead 90,000
Mohamad Kamalzadeh 90,000
Thomas Schreiber 88,000
Fritz Stoner 86,000
Thomas Koral 85,000
Robert Winters 80,000
David Levy 75,500
Robert Ozello 64,000
Kathy Liebert 63,000
Steve Levinson 54,500
Kevin O'Brien 48,500
Dennis Summars 43,500
Lenny Santanzello 38,500
Richard Anthony 38,000
Eric Fessler 32,500
Mark Schade 32,000
Chris Gregorian 30,000
Brian Powell 28,000
ATLANTIC CITY, NJ (September 20, 2005) - Energy levels among players and guests at Borgata Hotel Casino & Spa rose early Monday morning as the hotel welcomed players of the World Poker Tour (WPT) main event.
The highly-regarded tournament series recorded the largest turnout of players in the history of Atlantic City casinos with over 500 players ponying up $10,000 for a shot at the biggest pool prize in Borgata Poker Open history.
Spectators were treated to some intriguing tables as a number of top pros matched up the first round of this four-day event. Legends T.J. Cloutier and Amir Vahidi traded stories and tried to take each other's chips at one table, while reigning poker queen Jennifer Tilly faced Carlos Mortenson and Mike 'the Mouth' Matasow on another.
One thing was certain, there was no shortage of the game's best players for the WPT main event, as top players from across the world took time out of busy schedules to compete.
Players like Daniel Negeanu (2004 WPT Player of the Year and winner of the 2004 Borgata Poker Open), Phil 'the Unabomber' Laak, Phil Ivey, David 'the Dragon' Pham, Maciek 'Michael' Gracz, Ted Forrest, and current leader in CardPlayer magazine's player of the year race, John Phan, mixed with other seasoned veterans to try and score a Borgata Poker Open bracelet, WPT title, and an enormous first-place payday.
The men weren't the only ones having fun on the first day of competition. Several women immediately challenged their male opponents. Clonie Gowen, Evelyn Ng, Cindy Violette and Tilly, both a World Series of Poker champion and WPT champion, quickly showed the men they were not to be underestimated.
Even Godsmack lead singer Sully Erna got in on the action as he tried to take his musical skills and apply them to the changing rhythms of poker. Erna, who played drums for many years before he assumed his role as leader of one of today's biggest rock bands, may have felt at home listening to the melodic sound of chips being shuffled by almost every player at the tables.
Play will only get more dramatic as the pressure of playing top-level poker rises. Day two looks to be even more intense than day one as chip leaders try to continue winning and short stacks begin to risk everything in the hope of getting back into the game.
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