Semkar, Blanda and Dashtara Earn Championships at Borgata Winter Open
Semkar, Blanda and Dashtara Earn Championships at Borgata Winter Open | Borgata Winter Open – Results from Events 3 - 7
The Borgata Winter Open has heated up the Atlantic City Strip, bringing a bunch of action to the Jersey shore. Event #3 didn't lack for action…or big-name players. The $750 buy-in No-Limit Hold'em contest attracted more than 550 people including PokerStars' own Hevad “Rain” Khan and Svetlana Gromenkova. Both of these talented players are tournament fixtures. A total of 54 players made bank with the lions' share of the $426,750 prize pool going to Gary Semkar.
This is Semkar's biggest cash to date.
Here are the results:
1) Gary Semkar - $121,581 2) Phillip Mitchell - $64,012 3) Jamie Rosen - $33,073 4) Hevad Khan - $28,805 5) John Bedard - $24,538 6) Jason Urchek - $20,270 7) Svetlana Gromenkova - $16,003 8) Scott Golden - $11,736 9) Bill Alexander - $8,536
63 players made bank in the $1,000 buy-in NLHE tournament held at the Borgata on January 18, 2008. One of these was Olga Varkonyi, wife of the 2002 WSOP Main Event champ, Robert Varkonyi. Over the years, Olga has become quite a formidable card shark in her own right. Also taking home some money in the event was Aleksandr Bolotin. Bolotin has already won a championship at the Borgata Winter Open. He took the title in event #2.
The winner of the event was Joseph “Bobo” Cappello who was glad to add the extra $177,536 to his $1.1 million lifetime earnings.
These are the final standings:
1) Joseph Cappello - $177,536 2) Tony Cavezza - $96,000 3) Ross Mallor - $49,600 4) Bruce Yamron - $43,200 5) Nick Olivieri - $36,800 6) Andrew Weinstein - $30,400 7) Lawrence Rao - $24,000 8) Todd Terry - $17,600 9) Joshua Goldstein - $12,800
Event #5 at the 2008 Borgata Winter Poker Open was a $1,500 NLHE tournament. 482 anted up to the felt to partake in the festivities. 45 of these would get a slice of the tasty prize pool pie. In the end, Bill Blanda, a resident of Galveston, TX took the title. This isn't Bill's first win at the Borgata. He's got titles from the Borgata Poker Open from both 2004 and 2005. The talented Texan has also cashed multiple times at the World Series of Poker.
Here are the results:
1) Bill Blanda - $206,922 2) Matthew Cohen - $112,065 3) Mark Deleonardis - $57,840 4) Anthony Hockaday - $50,610 5) Dave Salvador - $43,380 6) Mark Getman - $36,150 7) Lee Biars - $28,920 8) John Parisi - $21,690 9) Brian Heinlein - $14,460
The Ladies took to the felt for Event #6 at the Borgata Winter Open. This was the first stop on the WPT Ladies League. The $300 buy-in drew in 383 entrants and a total prize pool of $114,900. Sitting at the final table was Olga Varkonyi. After playing solid poker, Mrs. Varkonyi took fourth place and $8,043 for her efforts. The eventual champ, Regette Bechara of Sunrise, Florida, isn't a stranger to tournament play. She took fourth place at the fourth event at the 2007 Venetian Deep-Stack Extravaganza II. In 2006, she cashed in the Ladies NLHE Championship at the World Series of Poker.
These are the final standings:
1) Regette Bechara - $33,321 2) Diane Grippo - $19,303 3) Allison Stoloff - $9,536 4) Olga Varkonyi - $8,043 5) Anne Fitzgerald - $6,894 6) Karen Perez - $5,745 7) Yoriko Hama - $4,596 8) Kathleen Doughtery - $3,447 9) Jennifer Grimes - $2,298
Finally, Event #7, a limit hold'em competition, attracted over 320 players generating a prize pool of nearly $100,000. 36 people earned at least $485 big ones for their efforts in the event with John Dashtara receiving the bulk of the cash. Dashtara, in his first tournament win to date, hails from New York City. He took down the title and $28,101.00 for the win.
Here are the results:
1) John Dashtara - $28,101 2) Colby Pitt - $16,279 3) Gennaro Cammarota - $8,042 4) Solomon Cohen - $6,783 5) David Belfiore - $5,814 6) Michael Usakowski - $4,845 7) Willie Lambert - $3,876 8) Leo Lane - $2,907 9) Darryl Herrick - $1,938