Darren Elias and Joe McKeehen Survive Day 1b of The Return Main Event at Borgata

The second day of action in Atlantic City at the Borgata has been a busy one, with over 650 players taking to their seats in order to battle into the Day 2 table draw. When the dust settled, around 220 players had achieved that goal, with stars of the felt such as the former WSOP Main Event world champion Joe McKeehen and four-time WPT Main Event winner Darren Elias amongst them.

Royal Flush on the Flop

One of the most exciting moments on Day 1b was when a Royal Flush was dealt on to the flop. Against astronomical odds, Lukasz Wojtasiak’s ace-jack and Jimmy Born’s pocket jacks were overtaken when all-in pre-flop by the entire board as the Royal Flush in diamonds came across flop, turn and river.

After all the drama, it was Thomas Carroll (315,000) who grabbed the overnight chip lead. He’ll be a tough man to stop, as will Mohammed Kabir (310,000) although the inexperienced player might still be disappointed to have been up to 425,000 and lost a pile. Those might look like costly chips later in this tournament.

Another big name to build a chip mountain was the BetMGM Ambassador Darren Eias. The East Coast based four-time World Poker Tour Main Event winner – a clear record – ended Day 1b with an impressive stack of 276,500 chips and will be a tough man to stop when the Day 1a and 1b fields merge for Day 2.

Other Top 10 Stacks

Some other players who made the cut to survive in the top 10 of the approximate twenty times that number who reached Day 2 included fourth-placed Young Sik Eum (265,500) and fifth-placed Michael Leah (265,000). They were joined by local players Aubrey Williams (259,000) and Frank Pasquale (251,000) in sixth and seventh places respectively.

A little further back, Jonathan Rosa (235,000) will feel pleased when he looks back on his day’s work, while the former WSOP Main Event winner Joe McKeehen (212,500) will be looking to add another major title to his trophy cabinet, albeit not one that comes with a $7.6 million top prize this time!

Roundig out the top 10 is Petru Cuzuioc, who totalled 205,000 chips by the close of play. Shortly behind him, big names wait in the wings, with former WSOP bracelet winners Michael Wang (102,000) and Nick Schulman (98,500) sure to prove a challenge for anyone they face on Day 2.

Borgata Series a Welcome New Year Offering

With events such as the $1,000 Bounty and $1,000 Super Survivor events still to come, the Borgata’s grandiosely titled ‘The Return’ has kicked off the year in style. Yesterday’s Day 1a was densely populated while the Mystery Bounty event was won in stunning fashion when Ryan Dodd grabbed the quarter-million dollar bounty as the lowest-stacked player in a nine-way deal amid incredible scenes earlier this week.

With an exciting conclusion to this event to come, the winner will receive a major amount of money and there have been some intriguing match-ups conjured up for Day 2, with Chance Kornuth (132,500) sharing the felt with former WSOP Main Event winner Greg Merson (30,000) and WPT crushers Anthony Zinno (77,500) and Farid Jattin (162,000) seated at the same table.

There are tough tables everywhere in Atlantic City, and the Borgata The Return event is sure to provide plenty of thrills to go with the action along the way to crowning the latest champion.