In poker, not all chips are created equal, so defending the blinds doesn't guarantee the player a fair trial as the person will be out of position the rest of the hand. Fortunately for defense attorney Scott DiClaudio's clients, he's more committed to the Pennsylvania legal system than he is to his big blind.
DiClaudio had 5 separate court cases this morning which could have potentially detained him in Philadelphia, preventing him from playing in Day 2 of the Borgata Summer Poker Open Championship event. "It was fortuitous from me to get here on time as the Commonwealth's witnesses failed to appear," he said after working cases that included a bank robbery, shooting and assault.
DiClaudio says the "wrong judge" and it would've been "problematic" to arrive by the noon restart, especially since he began the day in the top 20% of the field with a well above average stack of 100,500 chips.
DiClaudio knew going deep in the Championship Event could conflict with his work schedule but, "we're poker players, we like to gamble." So far, so good for the defender who just applied capital punishment to an opponent holding pocket 5s against DiClaudio's pocket aces, and now has 225k.
With an above average stack, DiClaudio is eying the prize pool as 36 of the remaining 61 players will cash. DiClaudio hopes there won't be any courtroom conflicts for Tuesday's Day 3 finale and is a problem he'd love to have, as it means he'll be in the money.
But for now, DiClaudio is perfectly content stealing the blinds and antes where it's perfectly legal.
Three players with a lot of Borgata success are the last three players standing, but in the end it's Tyng Low (Flushing, NY) who's on the ultimate high as the Summer Poker Open Champion. Low defeated Farid Jattin (Miami, FL) heads up to take the title and outlasted Austen Johnson (Woodsboro, MD), arguably the most dominant player of the series.
"Good, great, tremendous, fabulous," says Low, who takes home his biggest poker payday at $211,484. "It means a lot," added the 27 year old, "I've been trying to hit one like this for five years."
On a board of 5♣ 6♠ 4♣, Low flopped a straight holding 7♥ 3♥, while Jattin hit top pair and a gutshot straight flush draw with the 6♣ 2♣. But when the board bricked out, Jattin, who was the chip leader after Day 1A and Day 2, was one place away from going wire to wire in the Championship Event.
"There's nothing I could do," said Jattin, who earned $117,481 as runner-up. "The hand played itself. I'm not uspet. I expected to win, so I'm disappointed."
"I was calling red, red," said Low, who dodged a club on the turn and river to win the title. "Fortunately the right black cards came out."
Jattin, who finished third ($15,045) in the $1,000 6-max (Event 15), began the day as the chip leader and held it the entire way, until Low closed the gap by knocking out Johnson in third place.
"Anything less than first place is a disappointment," said Johnson, who got $72,845 for third place. "But I think I locked up player of the series, which all-in-all isn't a bad month."
Johnson, who was the Event 1 ($450) Deep Stack winner ($64,734), didn't decide to enter the Championship Event until Sunday when his wife gave him a Father's Day gift of "permission to win $70,000." He also took a month off from work to pursue the Summer Poker Open Leaderboard Contest, where the winner earns a $3,500 entry into the WPT Borgata Poker Open Championship in September.*
"I was first in points and figured I might as well try and run it out," said Johnson.
Day 3, the final day, began with all 36 players returning in the money including Borgata regular Mike Dentale (Brooklyn, NY) who made the final table before being eliminated in 10th place/$10,183. He was joined by Nick Frangos (Mays Landing, NJ), who has nearly $900,000 in career earnings, and finished 6th/$38,380.
The biggest surprise of the final 10 was Anthony Sivolella (Florham Park, NJ) who returned as the short stack with 25k (4 BB). After a series of double-ups he rode the short stack to 8th place/$23,107.
Rounding out the top 10 were, Paul Freedman (Seabrook, NH) 9th/$15,666, Salah Siraj (New York, NY) 7th/$30,939, Brian Altman (Longmeadow, MA) 5th/$45,430, and Andrew Klein (Ocean, NJ) 4th/$58,746.
The tournament began with 323 players putting up $807,500 and after 4 long days, including two starting days, Low is the champion. The title, money and trophy are extra special for Low after he made a run in last year's Summer Poker Open Championship with a 19th place finish ($3,736).
"I didn't think I could get this far," the soft spoken winner said after the 2010 disappointment of missing the final table despite beginning the final day with the chip lead. "I didn't think my luck was that good."
But Low has the right amount of luck and skill to take this year's title.
*Leaderboard Contest final results will be finalized after the completion of Friday's Event 52
The best hand in poker is the winning hand for Jose Montes (Bronx, NY) at the Borgata Summer Poker Open, but it’s the second worst hand that helped him most in winning the six-max title.
Montes open shoved 7 3 off suit with < 10 BB and was on the ropes for his tournament life when he turned a full house against Jim Burnett's A 3 to stay alive in four-handed play. That double-up led to a heads-up showdown between the two, and when Montes tabled A♠ A♥ on the final hand, it completed the comeback.
“I’m happy, excited and blessed to win,” says Montes who won $14,201, “this is great.”
Burnett (Pasadena, MD), who began heads up play even in chips, was decimated by a 400k chip pot when Montes hit two pairs on the river and never recovered.
“He ran like God at the end,” said Burnett, who earned $8,757 as runner-up. “He had a lot of pocket pairs and was getting hit with the deck, so that’s tough to beat. But he played well, it was a good game.”
Burnett ran pretty well himself throughout the day as he needed the same pocket aces before dinner break to stay alive. He proceeded to eliminate Arihan "Nipi" Rizaj (Brooklyn, NY) in 4th place/$4,825 with a full house, then hit an open ended straight draw on the river to bust Sahu Habibi (New York, NY) in 3rd/$6,509 to set the heads up stage.
The field had several familiar faces including Championship Event 10th place finisher Mike Dentale ($10,183), who grabbed the chip lead early, but was eliminated in 18th place, 5 spots off the money. The field also featured Borgata regulars Sheree Bykofsky, Matt “Muffins” Mazzeo and Abe Korotki.
The total buy-in was $48,800 as the field of 122 players fought for the 12 paid places.
Dan Rusignuolo (Nutley, NJ) was one of the first players to crack the 100k chip mark and rode the momentum to a 6th place/$2,603 finish. The final table of seven also featured Shaun Beymolla (North Babylon, NY) 5th/$3,669 and Michael Santora (Staten Island, NY) 7th/$2,012.
The six-max was the third short-handed game of the series and continues to grow in popularity. “For me it helps aggressive players and suits my game,” said Montes, who had a strong rooting section.
Montes was quick to add that the only other event he played during the Summer Open, was when he just missed the money in Event 1. He was anxious to get back to Borgata and called out of work just to play in the penultimate tournament of the series.
When Ralph Marino says he needs an extra seat for his "arms and legs," Borgata poker associates don't blink an eye.
"We love Ralph," says Darcey Borden, a floor supervisor, "he's here all the time."
Marino is a quadriplegic who's been playing poker for three years and says he's, "getting addicted to Texas hold'em."
Because he has no movement in his arms or legs, Marino gets help from Artem Kalyanov, who does all the things Marino can't.
Kalyanov shows him the cards, puts chips in the pot and rakes in all of Marino's winnings. All the decisions are Marino's as the poker rule of "one player per hand," still applies.
"He makes me feel normal," says Marino, who is playing in the Borgata Winter Open. Kalayanov also helps with daily routines like dressing, eating and driving.
Marino, who lives in Waretown, NJ, was an aspiring baseball catcher who was paralyzed in a home plate collision at age 19. With his dreams of playing Major League Baseball dashed, Marino, who was drafted by the Pittsburgh Pirates, changed his plans.
Marino has always wanted to help people and realized his life could be worse (a close friend died of cancer), so he got a degree in Social Work from Rampo State College. That led to a 26-year career at North Bergen High School in North Jersey where he also coached baseball and basketball.
Marino, 55 and retired, is now a motivational speaker who tells a story of hope and inspiration. His motto: "Tough times don't last, tough people do."
As for poker, Marino is still learning the game. "When I'm playing poker I feel very competitive and I try to concentrate to the best of my abilities," he says. "Unfortunately, I tend to socialize and talk too much for tournament play."
Marino was eliminated in his latest tournament, but looks forward to returning to Borgata as he's, "trying to become more competitive and patient."
There's been a lot of buzz about the possible expansion of the best tournament in the world. And with that, there's speculations and proposals on how the NCAA and big money networks will incorporate more teams into the NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament.
Doubling the bracket from 64 slots to 128 is absurd (or is it 65 teams to 130?), but the other alternatives aren't much better, including an increase to 96 teams.
In this proposal, 32 teams get a bye while the remaining 64 teams play in an opening round that is cut in half before joining the Main Bracket. I know the the "Nifty 96" has a nice ring to it, but seriously, 96 teams?
My proposal incorporates the two best parts of March Madness, the bubble and the brackets. The working title right now is the "Other Sweet 16" and makes all the current bubble teams play their way into the main field. (I don't think the "Sour 16" will go over too well when it comes to marketing the expansion).
Everybody Loves the 5 - 12 Game
When you're filling out your bracket, how many times have you picked the 12th seed to knock off a #5 seed? One reason we love the match-up is because, over the last 6 seasons, the record is only a few games away from being a 50/50 split (See Table 1), with Arizona, Wisconsin and Western Kentucky pulling it off last year.
Historically the 12 seeds are legitimate competition because they're either the last at-large teams in the field or strong mid major conference winners. On the flip side, the 5 seeds aren't upper echelon teams, meaning the 5-12 gap isn't as large as the numbers suggest, giving us some of the most entertaining first round games.
My proposal uses this template, but instead of having the Indianapolis, suit wearing committee hand the 12 seeds to the last teams in the tournament, I want bubble teams to fight their way into the main bracket.
Bracketology 101
Die hard hoop fans are dialed into Joe Lunardi's Bracketology all season, but this is the week when the ESPN servers work overtime. Last Four In, First Four Out and Next Four Out are the lists where bubble teams focus their attention.
Lunardi's list from the start of play on 3/12 has the following:
Last Four In - San Diego St., Illinois, Washington, Ole Miss
First Four Out - Arizona St., Memphis, Rhode Island, Seton Hall
Next Four Out* - Dayton, Mississippi St., Minnesota, UAB
*3/12 only has three teams, but UAB had been on previous Next Four Out lists.
My plan is take take these 12 teams and add 4 more to create a mini tournament.
For the sake of argument I'm including Wichita St., William & Mary, South Florida and Charlotte to fill out my field.
The Other Sweet 16
Using real life Bracketology, here's how current expansion would look.
1 San Diego St. vs 16 Charlotte
8 Seton Hall vs 9 Dayton
1/16 winner vs 8/9 winner = East 12th seed
2 Illinois vs 15 USF
7 URI vs 10 Miss. St.
2/15 winner vs 7/10 winner = South 12th seed
3 Washington. vs 14 William & Mary
6 Memphis vs. 11 Minnesota
3/14 winner vs 7/10 winner = Midwest 12th seed
4 Ole Miss vs 13 Wichita St.
5 ASU vs 12 UAB
4/13 winner vs 5/12 winner = West 12th seed
Net Impact - 12 More Teams
While the mini bracket may look convoluted, the process is relatively simple and only adds 12 teams to the field, while creating an exciting way for bubble teams to earn their keep.
Step 1
Set the Main Bracket with 60 teams (31 Automatic Qualifiers, 29 At-Large Bids), leaving the four #12 seeds vacant.
Since more teams will eventually be added to the extended field, the stupid Play-In game or, as the NCAA likes to call it, the Opening Round Game can be eliminated. If this is done, only 11 teams need to be added.
Step 2
Create four mini pods (4 teams each), playing two rounds to produce 4 teams that will become the 12 seeds.
Step 3
The remaining 64 teams play out the traditional bracket.
Housekeeping
The naysayers may doubt the simplicity of keeping the 12 seeds vacant without upsetting the natural balance and integrity of the present bracket structure.
Using current Bracketology (before 3/12 play), the 12 seeds are:
San Diego St. (Last Four In), Illinois (Last Four In), Siena (MAAC Champ) & Florida
San Diego St. & Illinois are removed from the Main Field and placed in the "Other Sweet 16," while Siena & Florida become lower seeds.
Why? Because Washington (13 seed) & Ole Miss (14 seed) are also removed from the Main Field as the other two teams currently on the Last Four In list. Their removal creates two holes that are easily filled by Siena & Florida.
The Mission
My proposal accomplishes a couple of things.
1. Limits expansion and forces bubble teams to play their way into the Main Bracket.
It maintains the integrity of the regular season and instead of comparing paper resumes, it allows bubble teams to settle things on the court.
2. Keeps Automatic Bids in the Main Bracket.
I think it's important that auto qualifiers should be rewarded for their success and not have to play any extra games (like the current Opening Round game). In a proposed expansion, with 32 teams getting byes, a slew of conference winner will be demoted into playing an extra round.
Every year the world wide leader pits potential bubble teams and quality mid major programs against each other so they can build, or hurt their tournament chances. Instead of only cannibalizing each other in February, these tournament caliber teams get the chance to show their worth in March, in real, meaningful games.
Scheduling Conflicts
Any expansion will require the NCAA to adjust the beauty of today's current March Madness schedule, so until a proposal is finalized we'll leave those headaches for another day. But here are some general thoughts.
This proposal extends NCAA tournament action by only one weekend (two rounds). Two sites, using day/night double headers, like we currently see in the first round pod setups, can easily be created. Imagine the excitement of an extra weekend of meaningful games at Madison Square Garden.
What about the Main Bracket having to wait to start play?
Right now the NCAA and ESPN don't have a problem with having teams sit around before playing a tournament game. Just ask East Tenn St. (Atlantic Sun), Murray State (Ohio Valley) & Winthrop (Big South), which all punched their tickets as automatic qualifiers March 6th, nearly two full weeks before their first round NCAA Tournament games.
An expanded tournament, in any form, won't be any different than what these teams currently experience.
Not to mention Main Bracket games could be staggered so that you have a bevy of games spread out over this extra weekend to keep teams and fans interested while the Other Sweet 16 plays down to determine the four #12 seeds. In any expansion, the tournament will eventually sync up when 64 teams remain.
Super 76
The elimination of the Opening Round Game, the extraction of four bubble teams from the Main Bracket and the addition of 11 more teams = a tournament of 76 worthy qualifiers.
It's understandable that coaches and administrators want to see more teams make the NCAA field, especially as more and more Division 1 teams are added. Nobody wants to see the tournament become a joke or have the regular season become meaningless.
On-line high-stakes heads up sit and go specialist, Olivier Busquet is still alive in the losers bracket after winning three Friday matches. After losing to September heads up champion Jesse Yaginuma in the third round of the winner's bracket, Busquet's won four in a row and is now playing Jason Lufkin in the money round, as all 6 remaining players will cash.
"It's a really different experience," says Busquet, who won Borgata's Championship Event at September's Poker Open. "I've played a million hands on-line, but maybe only 10-thousand in live action. I'm learning to trust my reads a lot more."
Busquet, who has more than one million dollars in career earnings, and countless more on-line, says that it's been a tough field of 64 at Borgata and is slightly disappointed he didn't get to play Olympic Swimming Gold Medalist Michael Phelps in the last round.
"It would've been cool," he says. "I know he plays a lot of poker and would've been a tough match. The fact that he's an expert, I would've liked to have seen how the competition transferred to poker. Because really, that's what this is competition."
Phelps lost to Basilios Diakokomninos in the double elimination format, who then lost to Busquet in the 7th round of the losers bracket.
Busquet's guaranteed to earn at least $6,208 for a 5th/6th place finish, as nearly $50,000 is up for grabs to the heads up champion. "This format is great," he says, "the fact that you're only playing a person one time, really lessens whatever edge I may have and forces me to focus and step up my game."
