January means the re-start of big tournament poker after a brief hiatus during the holiday season. These series are often large and busy as they satisfy the poker world’s hunger for winter tournament poker, especially after a long layoff.
One of the most prominent of the poker series that dot the January calendar is The Borgata Winter Poker Open, which has become a fixture to start the new year in recent years. This will now be the third year in a row that the American poker calendar kicks off in Atlantic City, NJ for a big time series.
Though most major tournament poker tends to take place in either the midwest or in warmer climates, the USA poker players based in the east are always eager to flock to the Borgata for this very significant series.
The Unique Series
The Borgata Winter Poker Open is a two week event that began on January 2nd and will continue all the way through to January 17th. During the two weeks, there is near unlimited tournament action with 32 events set to be played, with several one-day events as well as a few multi-day tournaments. The full Borgata Winter Poker Open schedule is a hefty one with plenty to notice.
The schedule is notable for being unique in game offerings, unlike the cookie-cutter NLH slate that can be found at nearly every other tournament series.
There are quite a few mixed game options on the docket, with PLO, Omaha Hi/Lo, and even Big O offered. Players also have a chance to play in a 2-7 Triple Draw Championship.
It gets even more unique from there, as there are variations of H.O.R.S.E. as well. Instead of the traditional games that usually make up the basis of how to play H.O.R.S.E, there is H.O.S.E, which excludes Razz.
Outside of the mixed games, there are 64-player heads-up tournaments, a $380 $20,000 GTD version and a $2500 $150,000 GTD version. This gives players a rare chance to take a shot at heads-up poker, a very rarely seen variant of poker outside of the WSOP.
Laviano Wins Kick-Off Event
The Borgata Winter Poker Open got off to a gargantuan start. The big opening “Kick-Off Event” drew a huge 4,245 entries, which more than doubled the guaranteed prizepool of $ 1 million.
After five opening flights and a Day 2, the winner was crowned as Thomas Laviano of New York City came out on top with the $271,699 grand prize after a nearly even heads-up deal. Runner-up Thomas Holowchuck left with a pretty nice pay day of $261,699 as well.
Main Event to Come
The Borgata Winter Poker Open Championship, the Main Event of the series, starts on Sunday, January 12th. It will conclude with a live-streamed final table on January 16th.
The guarantee is $2 million but, based on the large numbers so far, it is very possible that guarantee will be blown away.