Day 1b of the Season XV WPT Borgata Winter Poker Open $3,500 Championship came to an end with about 400 survivors from a field of 741 entries, and Jean “Prince” Gaspard (pictured) led the pack with 216,900 (271 big blinds). That put Gaspard ahead of Day 1a leader Olivier Busquet for the top overall spot heading into Day 2.
“I’ve been ready, and I told my friend I was going to bag up 200K,” Gaspard said after play. As mentioned before, he bagged up 216,900. “Obviously you’ve got to run a little bit good. I played well, and I didn’t run bad. The one spot where I did run bad in a pot, usually I allow that to stay in my mind, but I erased it right away.”
Also among the Day 1b leaders was Asher Conniff with 180,400. Conniff is no stranger to success at Borgata and on the World Poker Tour. At this storied venue in 2015, Conniff won the WPT $15,400 World Championship for $973,683.
The full list of official chip counts and seating assignments won’t be released by the casino until Tuesday morning, but here’s an unofficial leaderboard for the end of Day 1b:
1. Jean “Prince” Gaspard – 216,900 (271 bb)
2. Shankar Pillai – 209,200 (262 bb)
3. Ryan Smith – 185,400 (232 bb)
4. Asher Conniff – 180,400 (226 bb)
5. Abe Aboukhalil – 165,000 (206 bb)
6. Adnan Mohammad – 152,700 (191 bb)
7. Tony Tran – 144,500 (181 bb)
8. Aaron Overton – 143,800 (180 bb)
9. Nicholas Immekus – 143,700 (180 bb)
10. Barry Leventhal – 140,600 (176 bb)
The total field size climbed to 1,120 entries, though registration will remain open with unlimited re-entries until the beginning of Level 11. That will be around 2:15 p.m. ET on Tuesday. Last year’s field of 1,171 is expected to be surpassed, with the record of 1,229 entries for this event not too far off.
There were 181 survivors on Day 1a, plus another 407 on Day 1b. That means 588 players will be returning for the start of Day 2, along with anyone who registers between now and the start.
Day 2 will begin Tuesday at 12 p.m. ET. Return to WPT.com for continued coverage of the Season XV WPT Borgata Winter Poker Open.