ATLANTIC CITY, N.J., June 27 /PRNewswire/ — The biggest $5,000 buy-in poker tournament in the history of Atlantic City got underway this weekend at Borgata Hotel Casino and Spa. The field started with 337 players making for a $1,685,000 prize-pool with over $500,000 for first place. Players came from all over the East Coast to play this tournament, and some players even flew back from the WSOP in Las Vegas.

Matthew Stout, one of the top Internet poker players in the world, ended play on Sunday night with one of the largest chip stacks. “I flew to Borgata from the WSOP just a few hours before the tournament started, because I could not miss this. There is no other tournament structured like this in the country (each player getting $50k in chips). This really allows great poker to be played; whoever wins this is really going to have to win, not just get lucky.”Notable poker players in the event include top pro Steve Dannenman, AKA Barta, who made the final table of the 2005 U.S. Poker Championship; “Little Man” Mike Sica, the winner of a World Series of Poker Bracelet; and a local New Brunswick, NJ, native. Other notable players who were part of the field include, Louie Espositio, Paul McCaffrey, Joe Simmons, and Shawn Chaconoas to name a few.

The second day of the poker tournament resumed on Sunday with 253 still remaining, but by the end of the night, only 88 players remained for the start of Day 3. Play finished at 2:00 am on Sunday, Day 3 of the Championship tournament. Leading the way is D.J. Whorley, but the competition remains neck to neck, with several players ready to overtake the lead and win the half- million dollar first prize.

The field resumed play on Tuesday at 11am for the final table. The players at the final poker table are:

Last Name    First Name           Town                Chip Count
WHORLEY      DAJUAN RAYSHAWN      ACCOKEEK      MD    $3,553,000
MCCAFFREY    PAUL                 S BOSTON      MA    $3,136,000
ARRIGONI     THOMAS               KILLINGWORTH  CT    $2,581,000
SANTILLI     ROBERT               JACKSON       NJ    $1,846,000
KIARASH      KIAN                 NEW YORK      NY    $1,526,000
BARTA        BALINT               CLIFTON       NJ    $1,452,000
NAIDRICH     MICHAEL              WEST WINDSOR  NJ    $977,000
FAIVUSH      ALBERT               JERICHO       NY    $897,000
MCDONALD     RONALD               FORT VALLEY   VA    $802,000
NGUYEN       HOA MINH             FAIRFAX       VA    $377,000

Play online poker - free game software with Texas Holdem, Omaha, Stud and more games and tournaments.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, June 27th, 2007 at 11:59 pm and is filed under Borgata Summer Poker, Land-Based Casino Poker, Poker Events, Poker Players, Poker Tournaments. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Responses are currently closed, but you can trackback from your own site.