Phil Nieman raised in early position, Tim Kelliher moved all in for what looked like 1.56 million from the big blind, and Nieman tank-called.
Nieman:
Kelliher:
The dealer fanned , giving Kelliher trip tens, and the turn and river bricked off , respectively. He doubled to over three million chips - remember, he started the day with less than a million - while Nieman fell under five million.
Kenny Nguyen raised in early position, Kim Noun called on his left, and Yevgeni Rapoport called in the big blind. The flop fell , Rapoport checked, and Nguyen continued for 325,000. Noun moved all in for around two million, and Rapoport just cold-called.
"Wow," Nguyen sighed. "I'm the only person in this room who can make this fold."
He tanked for nearly a minute before folding face up - the table was quite shocked - but he was right; Rapoport revealed for a set of nines.
Noun was in rough shape with for just top pair, and was eliminated when the turn and river bricked off , respectively.
Sergei Rylkov was riding a short stack to begin the day, and soon enough he made his stand with an open-shove for a little over 1 million.
The action folded around to Carlos Alvarado, and when he woke up with in the hole, his decision to over-shove was an easy one. This pressure play folded the blinds and Alvarado's cowboys held up on the board.
Rylkov received $6,262 for his deep run, while Alvarado chipped up nicely to begin the day.
On the first hand of the day, Tim Kelliher moved all in for 720,000 in the cutoff. Adam Foster re-shoved for just over a million on his direct left, and the rest of the players folded.
Kelliher:
Foster:
Foster remained ahead after the flop (), and the turn (), but the spiked on the felt to give Kelliher a winning pair of queens.
Kelliher doubled to 1.8 million chips, while Foster was left with just 300,000.
He was all in a few hands later with against Philip Neiman's . The board came , giving Neiman Broadway, and Foster was eliminated.
Two official days (featuring four starting flights) are in the books at the 2014 Borgata Spring Poker Open's debut event, the $560 buy-in NLHE Reentry, $1 Million Guarantee. After a grueling day on the felt yesterday only 18 players remain in contention for the title - and the $209,547 first prize payout. Leading the way is Philip Neiman, who accumulated 6.815 million chips by the time stacks were bagged up, but he will have a pair of close competitors in Adam Pace (6.385 million), and John Yanni (6.1 million).
Neiman came out on the right end of a huge, 5 million chip coin flip against Zbigniew Fido during the latter stages of play last night, and won another race on the final hand of the evening, eliminating Hieu Tran. A Flushing, New York native, Neiman can more than double his career live tournament earnings if he remains in pole position and wins the event.
Two women, Stephanie Hubbard and Kim Noun are among the final 18 players, as is Kenny Nguyen. Nguyen is very familiar with deep runs at Borgata �C he finished sixth in the 2009 WPT Borgata Poker Open for $156212, and third in the 2013 Borgata Spring Poker Open Championship for $108,682.
Play will resume on Saturday at 1 p.m. EST in the Signature Room, and conclude with a champion. Be sure to stay tuned for all of the live updates straight from the tournament floor.