WPT Seminole Nears Final Table, New 888Poker Pros, Borgata Settles with Players

WPT Seminole Nears Final Table

The World Poker Tour’s was in Florida for the Seminole Hard Rock Poker Showdown, and the Main Event had a $3,500 buy-in with unlimited reentries. The registration numbers showed 1,795 entries and $5,763,150 prize pool.

Day 2 thinned the field from 673 players, into the money at 170 players, and down to 114 when play stopped. Day 3 brought the number down to 18 remaining player with Jacob Bazeley atop the leaderboard on a stack of 8,065,000 chips.

Day 4 was April 15, and players like Justin Young and Jeff Gross exited as the final table neared. Matt Glantz busted in ninth place for $100,912, and Bazeley led the eight players at the time of the dinner break. Their chip counts were as follows:

Jacob Bazeley (13,760,000)

Mukul Pahuja (11,660,000)

Matt Stout (6,645,000)

Barry Hutter (5,625,000)

Chance Kornuth (5,185,000)

Blake Purvis (4,795,000)

Eric Afriat (4,260,000)

James Mackey (1,690,000)

Liu and Lovgren Join 888Poker

Team 888poker just grew this week to incorporate two new professional players. Sofia Lovgren of Sweden and Xuan Liu of Canada have joined the team that already includes Jackie Glazier and JC Tran.

Liu announced on Twitter, “Cat’s out of the bag. Delighted to be a new @888poker ambassador. A great company with unlimited potential that has always kept poker fun.” She then added later, “I am completely elated by all of your kind words. Felt like I was in limbo for awhile, but now I’ve found a home at @888poker.”

Lovgren also took to Twitter: “I’m happy to announce that I have joined Team @888poker!” She added via her blog, “Some guessed it would be PokerStars but I have invested far too much in blue nail polish to go there!” She just recently left the PKR roster of pros.

Borgata to Settle Chip Debacle with Players

The New Jersey Division of Gaming Enforcement finally released a ruling on the unfinished tournament from January at the Borgata Winter Poker Open in Atlantic City. The tournament had been suspended on January 18 due to the discovery of counterfeit chips, for which Christian Lusardi was later arrested.

The Borgata must distribute $1,721,805 to players in the tournament, with the exception of those who played Day 1A and busted before 4:30pm and those eliminated on Day 1B who played in the Signature Room and Poker Room. Those players were determined to have been unaffected by Lusardi, his chips, and his actions.

Every other player (2,143 of them) who participated in the event without finishing in the top 450 spots will be awarded their $500 buy-in and $60 registration fee within 10 business days. Those who cashed in 450^th through 28^th place will receive no further distribution as they were already paid winnings from the tournament.

The top 27 players who have yet to be paid will each receive $19,323 from the remaining prize pool. That money is split evenly from the $1.4 million held by the Borgata in prize money as well as the $288,720 the Borgata received in entrance fees from players. The latter amount was the Borgata’s decision and not directed by the DGE.