Posts Tagged ‘atlantic city’
Sorel Mizzi Wins 2010 Bluff Magazine Player of the Year
January 3rd, 2011
Mizzi’s success in 2010 was good enough to earn him honors from Bluff.
Pro poker player Sorel Mizzi has been named the 2010 Player of the Year by Bluff Magazine.
Mizzi’s year started off with a bang when he took third place in the Aussie Millions Main Event, good for $659,000. He followed up that performance with a preliminary event win at the Wynn Classic and two preliminary event wins at EPT Snowfest in March and a victory at the Borgata East Coast Poker Championship in Atlantic City in April. A string of big finishes in high roller tournaments followed, with the EPT Grand Final (6th place), WPT Rendez-Vous a Paris (2nd), EPT Tallinn (2nd) and EPT London (5th) big-ticket tournaments providing him more than $525,000 in winnings.
Mizzi didn’t slow down as the end of 2010 approached. He was the TV table bubble boy at the WPT World Poker Finals at Foxwoods in October, good for nearly $89,000, and he made two final tables at the LA Poker Open, including a win in a $1,585 bounty event. The Five Diamond World Poker Classic at Bellagio was the site of Mizzi’s fina impressive performances of 2010: he finished sixth in one preliminary event and then took ninth place in the WPT main event there. All told, his take in 2010 added up to nearly $1.9 million, ranking him 12th on the year’s money list even though he didn’t win a major title.
Finishing in second place in the Bluff Player of the Year race behind Sorel Mizzi was Tom Marchese, who won the 2010 Player of the Year award from Card Player magazine. Other top performers included Fernando Brito, David Peters, Vanessa Selbst, Eric Baldwin, Dwyte Pilgrim, Chris Bjorin, Bluff’s 2009 POY Jason Mercier and Chris Bell.
Chris Bell Wins WSOP Circuit East Regional Championship
December 23rd, 2010
Chris Bell ended a career year in style in Atlantic City.
Chris Klodnicki walked into the final table of the WSOP Circuit East Regional Championship with the chip lead, and he eliminated three players from contention to find himself heads-up for a major tournament title in Atlantic City for the second year running. But in the end he had to settle for second place as one of the year’s great comeback stories continued for Chris Bell.
Bell entered the day just behind Klodnicki in chips and played a tight game for most of the final table, as evidenced by his knockouts of two different players while holding pocket queens. The key knockout was that of third-place finisher Ketan Pandya ($159,851), putting Bell slightly behind Klodnicki heading into the final matchup. After nearly an hour of back-and-forth over small pots, the two finally clashed on a 6-5-3 flop, with Klodnicki leading out with 6-4 for top pair and an open-ended straight draw and Bell moving all-in with 3-3 for a flopped set. Klodnicki eventually called, and the board failed to produce any of his outs, sending him home in second place ($221,452).
It’s been quite a year for Chris Bell, whose win in A.C. moves him over the $1 million mark in earnings for the year, a first in his eight-year poker career. He also moved over the $1 million mark for earnings in WSOP-related events with the win, as well as the $2.5 million mark for career earnings – not bad for a guy who admitted after his first bracelet win this summer that he nearly went broke from a bad run before this year began.
The WSOP Circuit Regional Championship final table was filmed and will air on the VERSUS network sometime in mid-2011.
Chris Klodnicki Leads WSOP Circuit Regional Championship
December 22nd, 2010
Philadelphia’s Chris Klodnicki seeks his second WSOPC title in Atlantic City later today.
The World Series of Poker Circuit Eastern Regional Championship being held at Harrah’s in Atlantic City has seen its field whittled down from a starting tally of 136 players to just nine. Now it’s time for the players to take their game in front of the cameras for everyone to see just what they’re really made of.
Leading the way when play resumes later today will be Chris Klodnicki, who holds 759,000 in chips and has had an incredible year on the WSOP Circuit. Klodnicki won the WSOPC Main Event in A.C. last December, took fourth place in the WSOPC Main Event at Caesars Atlantic City earlier this year, and finished 15th in this year’s Midwest Regional Championship at Horseshoe Hammond.
Right behind Klodnicki is Chris Bell with 706,000 in chips. Bell won his first WSOP bracelet this summer, and he is enjoying the single best year of his eight-year poker career with more than $650,000 in earnings so far. Other notables at the final table include two-time WPT final tablist Todd Terry (307,000) and reigning WPT Legends of Poker champ Andy Frankenberger (230,000). Just missing out on the final table was 10th-place finisher Matthew Waxman, who last week won the $1,600 WSOPC Main Event in Atlantic City for $117,797. The others who cashed but missed the final table were Beth Shak, Victor Ramdin, Brett Richey, Frank Calo and Eugene Katchalov, all of whom earned at least $21,600 for their efforts.
With the final table lineup now officially set, nine more players have booked their trips to Las Vegas in May for the WSOP Circuit National Championship. Regardless of where they finish, each of them is guaranteed $32,362 for this Regional Championship and a shot at the largest share of a $1 million prize pool at Caesars Palace next spring. In the meantime, though, they’ll all have their eyes on the $358,295 top prize that goes to the winner in A.C. later today.
Parx Poker Room Now Open in Philadelphia
November 4th, 2010
Philadelphia finally has its own live poker room at Parx Casino.
When SugarHouse Casino opened in Philadelphia earlier this fall it made the City of Brotherly Love the largest American metropolis with a casino. Thanks to the complete lack of anywhere in SugarHouse to play poker, Philadelphia simultaneously became the largest American city with a casino and no poker room. That little problem has officially been taken care of, though, now that Parx Casino has begun spreading everyone’s favorite card game.
Within an hour and a half of opening on Wednesday morning, the new 24-table facility at Parx – known in its horse-racing glory days as the Philadelphia Park Racetrack – was completely full. The players at Parx are used to making a round trip of more than two hours from Philadelphia to Atlantic City and back for their poker fix. Now they can play hold’em, stud and Omaha minutes from home instead of braving the Atlantic City Expressway and paying tolls as they enter and exit New Jersey. Pretty soon even more of them will get to play close to home without having to join a waiting list. Parx management says it plans to expand the room to 61 tables by early next year, making the room easily the largest in the state of Pennsylvania.
The new Parx poker room will get its moment of glitz on Friday evening when actor Kevin Dillon, best known as Johnny Drama on HBO’s series Entourage, stops by for its grand opening ceremony. (Another HBO star – Chris “Mr. Big” Noth of Sex and the City fame – opened the new Parx table games in July.) Dillon should hit the red carpet around 9 p.m. on Friday evening, most likely to at least a few cheers of “VICTORY!”
Final Table Set at WSOP Circuit Regional Championship
October 27th, 2010
Foxwoods ambassador and ESPN poker analyst Bernard Lee will play at today’s big WSOPC final table.
There are times when a major poker tournament will have a slew of well-known players left as play approaches the final table, getting everyone’s hopes up for a big showdown only to see the big names fall by the wayside as a crew of unknowns makes it way to the televised finale. The first WSOP Circuit Regional Championship looked like it might succumb to that fate on Day 3, but instead a number of accomplished players advanced to the final nine at the Horseshoe Casino in Hammond, Ind.
Gabe Patgorski, who was originally listed by tournament officials under his first name, John, will take 2,263,000 chips into the final table, giving him a healthy lead on the rest of the field. Patgorski led the tournament at the conclusion of Day 2 as well. Behind him is online star David “Doc” Sands with 1,360,000 chips, the only other player over the one-million-chip mark. Sands will be hoping to bring his $186,417 in live tournament cashes a little more in line with the $2.26 million he’s won online.
Third in chips with 905,000 is Shannon Shorr, who cashed five times at this year’s WSOP to bring his total career live tournament earnings up to about $3.3 million. Right behind Shorr with 863,000 chips is Curt Kohlberg, who would boost his career earnings by about 50 percent if he were to win this tournament’s $525,449 top prize. From there the chip counts drop off a bit, but ESPN poker analyst Bernard Lee (401,000 chips) and Harvard instructor/poker pro Brandon Adams (155,000), who missed out on his first WSOP bracelet this summer by finishing second to Men Nguyen in the $10,000 Seven-Card Stud World Championship, will make up for their lack of ammunition with drive and desire once the final table begins.
As stacked as today’s lineup is, it could have been even more impressive. But 2010 WSOP Main Event 12th-place man Adam “Roothlus” Levy (20th place), WPT London High Roller winner Justin “Boosted J” Smith (19th), online star Kevin “Stamdogg” Stammen (18th), 2009 WSOP Circuit Harrah’s Atlantic City winner Chris Klodnicki (15th), 2010 WSOP Deuce-to-Seven World Championship winner David “Bakes” Baker (14th), and veteran poker pro Steve Zolotow (10th) all came up a bit short of the final table in Hammond.
The final table of this first WSOP Circuit Regional Championship will be filmed tomorrow for broadcast on the Versus network next year. While the identity of the eventual champion is yet unknown, all nine players – including shorter stacks James Anderson, Mark Owens and Anthony Hartmann – have earned themselves seats in next spring’s WSOPC National Championship. Play gets underway at 2:00 p.m. CT.
MGM Resorts International Sells 50 Percent Share of Borgata Casino
October 14th, 2010
Atlantic City’s best-performing casino has a new half-owner.
Though it’s best known for its horde of Las Vegas Strip casinos, the MGM-Resorts International corporation has been a 50 percent owner in Atlantic City’s Borgata alongside Boyd Gaming since before construction began on the 161,000-square-foot casino. But when the company decided it wanted to partner with Hong Kong businesswoman Pansy Ho to open a new casino in Macau, it was ordered by the New Jersey Division of Gaming Enforcement to sever its ties to her because the regulators concluded that Ho’s father, billionaire Stanley Ho, had “extensive ties to organized crime.”
Since Macau is booming while Atlantic City is, well, Atlantic City, the company decided instead to seek a buyer for its share of the Borgata – and as of today, the company says, it has found that buyer. Details on the new owner are scant right now; MGM Resorts International didn’t disclose them, though analysts say a private equity firm is the most likely candidate to be the new half-owner of the strongest player on a rapidly weakening team. The sale price for the 50 percent share of Borgata, which opened in 2003 at a cost of $1.1 billion, is reported to be $250 million.
The sale of MGM’s share in the Borgata comes as Atlantic City casinos are caught in a collective downward spiral. Borgata continues to bring in more money than all the other casinos in A.C., but its September revenue figures were down 16.1 percent from the year prior. Though the numbers for the rest of the casino have followed the local trend, the Borgata still enjoys a reputation as one of the finest poker venues on the United States’ east coast. Last month’s eighth annual Borgata Poker Open, a World Poker Tour event since the tour’s second season, drew a WPT-record 1,042 entries to its main event, and the casino continues to draw large enough crowds with its big guaranteed prize pools that it hosts three other tournament series throughout the year.
Atlantic City Casino Revenue Down Sharply in September
October 13th, 2010
The fall of the boardwalk empire continues apace.
A bad year continues to get worse for ailing Atlantic City, New Jersey, where casino revenues in the month of September were down by double digits from the year before.
Atlantic City is home to 11 hotel-casinos and not one of them posted a revenue increase last month. The biggest loser was Resorts, which shed 20.9 percent of its September 2009 business and should benefit greatly when Dennis Gomes officially takes the reins and remakes the casino in the image of Boardwalk Empire. Next on the list was the Borgata, the sleekest and most modern of the casinos in A.C., where revenues fell 16.1 percent compared to last year. The closest any of the casinos came to an increase was the 0.4 percent decline posted by the aging Trump Taj Mahal, which has been disappointing visiting poker players with visions of Rounders in their heads for years now. All told, the 11 casinos brought in $296.3 million, down 11.6 percent from the September 2009 total of $335.4 million.
As bad as the news was for September, it’s hard to foresee things getting better in the depressed resort town anytime soon. Much of the decline in revenue can be attributed to competition from new casinos in Delaware and Pennsylvania, two places that have historically provided Atlantic City with lots of gamblers. With SugarHouse already open in Philadelphia and the Aqueduct Casino soon to arrive in New York City, there’s little doubt that things in A.C. are going to get a lot worse before there’s a chance of them getting better.
Arrest Made in Atlantic City Casino Beating
October 8th, 2010
Security camera image of Atlantic City casino beating suspect Hosameldin Ismail.
A Brooklyn Man was arrested in Atlantic City today after mugging and beating one casino patron, then stealing chips at a second casino. Hosameldin Ismail, from Brooklyn, is behind bars after being arrested by security guards at the Tropicana Casino Resort.
In the first attack, Ismail was caught on surveillance tape at the Trump Plaza Casino. He allegedly followed a 61-year-old disabled war veteran into the hotel elevator. According to a police spokesman, he attacked the victim, rendering him unconscious and “he then begins to rifle through his pockets…as the victim begins to regain consciousness, he gets up, and the suspect violently steps on his head several times, rendering him unconscious again, rifling through his pockets again.” In that attack, the victim was robbed of $2,000 in cash and $5,000 in casino chips.
Security at the Trump distributed a still photo, taken from their video, of the beating suspect. And a few hours later, it paid off, as security at the Tropicana recognized him as a man they had just taken into custody for allegedly trying to steal chips from other gamblers.
Ismail has been charged with robbery and aggravated assault. The beating victim, Steven McGuire, was originally released from the hospital. But he collapsed some hours later, and is now back in the hospital.
Atlantic City Casino Adopting Boardwalk Empire Theme
October 7th, 2010
Atlantic City may soon be looking for Steve Buscemi impersonators. (photo courtesy of HBO)
The runaway success of HBO’s latest mini-series has inspired an Atlantic City casino to adopt a Boardwalk Empire theme. But no, that doesn’t mean they’ll ban liquor or allow gunplay on the floor. What it does mean is some roaring 20′s glamor to help recall that city’s long-lost heyday.
Resorts Atlantic City sits in a once proud location right on the boardwalk. But, like much of the rest of Atlantic City, it’s faded and a little rough around the edges. But the planned Prohibition-era renovation is meant to drag it back into the limelight.
The former owners of the resort had stopped making mortgage payments as revenue’s tumbled due to the troubled economy and growing competition from other casinos. So in stepped developers Morris Bailey and Dennis Gomes to purchase the property.
Gomes said the plan is to dress the dealers, cocktail waitresses and bellhops in 1920′s-period costumes, feature music from that era and give the drinks and shows a 20′s theme. As for the decor, that should be easy. The main building of the resort actually dates from the 1920′s and the furnishings and decorations are already on-theme due to a recent renovation.
It should all be ready around December, once the sale of the resort is approved by the New Jersey Casino Control Commission. The two buyers are paying just $35 million for the property, the lowest price paid for a casino in New Jersey.
EPT London Final Features John Juanda, Tom Marchese
October 3rd, 2010
London’s long month of poker tournaments is nearly over.
Five long days of poker are finished at the largest live poker tournament in UK history, and just eight men remain in contention for the £900,000 top prize at the EPT London main event.
American Kyle Bowker will enter tomorrow’s final table with the chip lead and a solid opportunity to grab the biggest score of his career. He ran roughshod over the field, building his stack from 921,000 chips at the start of play all the way up to a truly impressive count of 7,165,000 by the time the final eight player had been determined. Regardless of what happens Bowker is guaranteed his biggest cash since finishing second in the WSOP Circuit main event at Harrah’s Atlantic City last December, but he’ll certainly have the ammunition to make a title run instead of settling for an eighth-place finish.
The biggest obstacle standing between Bowker and an EPT title is his fellow American John Juanda. Juanda’s day went much like Bowker’s as he built his stack from a starting count of 1,272,000 chips up to 7,075,000 at day’s end. Sitting one seat to his left, he’ll have position on Bowker for the rest of the tournament. After years of not playing the EPT, this marks the second straight year that Juanda has cashed at EPT London. He finished in 40th place last year.
Also in the mix is Tom Marchese, who won the NAPT Venetian Las Vegas main event back in the spring. Marchese has won more than $1.6 million in live poker tournaments in 2010 despite never having cashed in one before this year. He’s one of the shorter stacks, starting in fifth place with 1,480,000 in chips, but he’s also a very dangerous player who sits one double-up away from making an impact on this final table.
The rest of tomorrow’s lineup is relatively short on major final table experience, but it does include former LA Poker Classic main event final tablist Per Ummer, and Artur Wasek, who survived a hold-up to finish in fifth place at last season’s EPT Berlin. Still, the nature of the game means that David Vamplew, Kayvan Payman and Fernando Brito all have the chance to walk away the winner at EPT London. They’ll start playing down to a champion at 12 p.m. local time Monday.
