Level 10 (500/1,000/100)
Total Day 1A Entries: 81
Players Remaining: 39

Mickey Woll finds himself near the top of another BPPS starting flight and now he’ll look to best his 6th place finish from the first ever BPPS event in March.

Three-quarters through this flight, there are a handful of players over the century mark, but it’s Mickey Woll that is in pole position to end the day as Day 1A chip leader. Woll’s stack is weighing in at nearly 150,000 and the experienced grinder likely can’t wait until the color up, as he has more small denomination chips than some players have in total.

This isn’t the first time that Woll has led a Borgata Poker Player’s Series event, as he paced the field through much of the opening BPPS 500 during it’s inaugural series in March. Woll was able to parlay that early advantage into a final table appearance and a 6th place finish, earning just over $8,500 for his deep run.

That’s a solid result but for the former Borgata Poker champion, who has just under $160,000 in career earnings to his name, he’s looking like he’s trying to best that finish this week.

With just three hours remaining in this Day 1A flight, it will be interesting to see if Woll can hold his spot near the top of the leaderboard and continue that run into Tuesday’s Day 2 session.

Level 9 (400/800/75)
Total Day 1A Entries: 81
Players Remaining: 50

Craig Stern (Crompond, NY)

The same table that delivered us pocket aces vs. kings vs. queens vs. jacks just brought us another massive hand, as Craig Stern just went runner-runner to hit a royal flush and score a knockout to move himself near the 100,000 chip mark.

The early action was missed but on a board of {Ad}{Jd}{10s}{Ks}{As} a player in early position bet just under 2,500 before Stern, who was in late position, raised to 7,000. Another player on the button folded and the initial better announced himself “all-in”. Stern snap called and before his opponent could show his hand, Stern threw over {Qs}{Js} for the absolute nuts.

Stern has his opponent well covered, as the short stack had just under a starting stack in front of him. After the pot was shipped across the table, the dealer, by Stern’s request, tabled his opponent’s hand, {Qh}{10d} for a inferior straight.

When the dust settled, the player on the button claimed to fold an ace, a disciplined fold as he was beat in both spots and fortunate to get out of the way of the royal flush.

Two massive, bloggable hands have come from this table through the last few levels and it will be interesting to see if the action continues around Craig Stern, who is now playing one of the bigger stacks in the room.

Level 9 (400/800/75)
Total Day 1A Entries: 81
Players Remaining: 53

The pace of entrants over the last few levels has slowed considerably and it’s left this Day 1A flight with a frozen field of 81 entrants. While that isn’t a small field, it certainly leaves a lot to be desired in terms of the guaranteed prize pool.

So far, only a third of that prize pool is accounted for, meaning that the possibility of an overlay in this $100,000 GTD Player’s Series event will linger throughout the early levels of tomorrow’s Day 1B session.

It should also be noted, that there are just over 50 players currently remaining in this Day 1A flight. Anywhere from 15-20% of the total field is likely to advance to Tuesday’s Day 2 session, meaning that more than half of those 50 players will be sent to the rail over the next four levels.

The BPPS blog will track the action and elimination over the final three hours of play, as Level 9 is about to begin.

Level 8 (300/600/75)
Total Day 1A Entries: 79

Frank Ingardia (Staten Island, NY)

With these big starting stacks and long levels, it’s going to take some massive hands running into each other to get all the chips in the middle pre flop. That is exactly what just happened at an outer table, with four players holding supreme starting hands but Frank Ingardia having the best of it from start to finish.

The action opened with a raise to 1,200 from early position and after a call, Frank Ingardia, in middle position, three-bet to 3,000. A player in late position then four-bet to 10,000 and after the initial raiser folded, the caller flatted the raise again.

After some thought, Ingardia five-bet shoved all-in, having both players covered. The four-better disappointingly folded his hand but after the flatter called for a third time, he was happy with his decision, as he claimed to hold {Kc}{Kd}. He was happy as Ingardia turned over {As}{Ah} and was in great shape to score the knockout against his opponent, who held {Qc}{Qd}.

He did, after the board ran out clean for the pocket rockets and once the dust settled, the player that started all the action with a pre flop raise said that he held pocket jacks while the player with pocket queens was sent to the rail.

Pocket aces, kings, queens and jacks likely fit our above definition of ‘massive hands’ and while Ingardia is certainly happy with his haul, if the players with kings and jacks didn’t sniff out his rockets he’d likely have a lot more. As it stands, he’s playing just over 80,000 and finds himself near the top of the Day 1A leaderboard midway through Level 8.

Level 7 (250/500/50)
Total Day 1A Entries: 78

Tom Savitsky looks like he’s one of the first players over the 100,000 chip mark, putting himself near the top of the Day 1A leaderboard. He finds himself right next to one of the other big stacks though and it will be interesting to see if he and John Yanni get into any big pots before day’s end.

Midway through Level 7, there are a handful of players hovering on either side of the 100,000 chip mark and one of them is Tom Savitsky. In fact, Savitsky and the previously featured John Yanni are now both seated next to each other and Yanni has continued to chip up. That puts two of the bigger stacks in the room in close proximity, meaning we could see some fireworks before this Day 1A flight is over and done with.

Both Savitsky and Yanni are extremely experienced players though, with Savitsky having just shy of $250,000 in career earnings to his name. While they’ll certainly be looking to increase their stacks by day’s end, they both know that tournaments aren’t won on Day 1, meaning they likely won’t put themselves at risk at against one another.

These two big stacks will create an interesting dynamic though and we’ll keep our eyes on them over the next few levels.

Level 7 (250/500/50)
Total Day 1A Entries: 78

This Day 1A field has just returned from their third break of the day and will resume play with Level 7 shortly. As it stands, there are just under 80 players currently registered but with two more 45-minute levels to play before late registration and re-entry ends, that number is certainly going to continue to grow over the next two hours.

Updates from this first starting flight will continue up to and through the end of the late registration period, with a finalized number of entrants being posted after the post-Level 8 break.

Level 6 (200/400/50)
Total Day 1A Entries: 78

Thomas Coan (Hauppauge, NY)

The growing Borgata Poker tournament schedule was mainly put into place to allow the poker room regulars major series and events outside the seasonal BPO series. Since the introduction of the Deep Stacks Challenge and Player’s Series events, there might not be a more familiar face in the poker room than Thomas Coan.

Coan isn’t just here to participate either, as he’s also one of the more seasoned Borgata regulars, with multiple deep runs and four-figure scores since the start of the year that have helped push his career earnings up and over the $175,000 mark.

Most recently, Coan cashed three times during the Summer Poker Open, including a 27th place finish in the ‘Almighty Stack’ event for a $1,700 score. Throw in a cash in this month’s $200,000 GTD ‘Summer Heater’ event, as well as two deep runs at the World Series of Poker and Coan has continued to churn out results through the summer months.

He’ll now try to keep the ball rolling here in the Player’s Series, where he’ll look to add to his lengthy Borgata tournament resume.

Level 6 (200/400/50)
Total Day 1A Entries: 75

John Yanni looks to be pacing this Day 1A field into Level 6, as he’s already more than doubled his starting stack.

While it’s still early to have the whole ‘chip leader’ conversation, John Yanni looks like he’s going to be putting himself in that discussion when the time arrives. Yanni has already doubled his 30,000 chip starting stack and then some, appearing to be pacing this field into Level 6.

If Yanni’s able to continue to chip up over the next few levels, he could possibly be building towards his second breakout score at the Borgata. In the spring of 2014, Yanni notched his best career result, a 6th place finish in the opening $1,000,000 opening event for an over $50,000 score.

Since then, he’s notched multiple deep runs at regional casinos, but has yet to get back to a final table or cash for another five-figure score. He’ll look to regain that SPO form here today and looks like he has, as he’s sitting near the 80,000 chip mark and near the top of the Day 1A leaderboard.

Level 5 (150/300/25)
Total Day 1A Entries: 72

With just over 15 minute remaining in Level 5, there is just over an three hours, left to late register in this Borgata Poker Player’s Series starting flight. After the post-Level 8 break, the field will be frozen and the remaining players will try to survive through four more levels to make Tuesday’s Day 2.

As it stands, there are currently just under 75 players entered in this Day 1A flight, with updates on the total field size will continue through the end of the late registration period.

Level 5 (150/300/25)
Total Day 1A Entries: 68

Quintin Trammell has been a few streaks going for him, as he’s coming off final table appearances in back-to-back BPO series, as well as notching some of his best career finishes in $100,000 GTD Borgata events.

Throughout the first few levels of this starting flight, we’ve stuck to one major theme in our player features, players that have come off good results and strung together scores over the last few regional series. Quintin Trammell is coming off final table appearances in back-to-back Borgata Poker Open series and some of his best career finishes have come in $100,000 GTD events.

The most recent of those final table appearances came in a Summer Poker Open $100,000 GTD event, with Trammell earning a $7,000 score for a 6th place finish. That followed a 7th place finish at the Spring Poker Open, where he earned another $2,500 score. Those results, which bookend a few smaller scores, have put together a decent summer for Trammell, but they dwarf in comparison to his best career finish.

That finish came last spring, when Trammell outlasted a nearly 330 player field to take down the $100,000 GTD May ‘Saturday Series’ event for a $30,000 score and his first major tournament title.

So, Trammell has seen some of his best results come in massive guaranteed tournaments and has been on a big of a run this summer? That makes him one of the more dangerous players in this field and the rest of this Day 1A flight should be on high alert as he looks to continue both of those trends here today.