We are at The Borgata for our 1st Trimester Championship.  All 20 players were here on time and the cards are already in the air.  I'll be updating throughout the event.  Feel free to ask questions and I'll try and get some answers.  Thanks for checking in and I hope you enjoy!

Tournament Structure
-5000 chip starting stack
-20 minute levels
-no antes

6:05pm:  Congratulations to Brian Callahan for his victory.  Brian avenges his 2006 Grand Championship runner-up position with his win today.  A great tournament by all the players and special thanks to The Borgata for all their help!!

5:55pm:  We have a WINNER!  Brian Callahan and Jonathan Van Sant went back and forth in an intense heads up match.  It lasted almost half an hour but they battled on almost every hand.  In the end, Brian was victorious. 

Preflop, Jonathan raises to 10,000 with 10000 behind him.  Brian reraises all-in and Jonathan makes the call.  Brian showed A2 and Jonathan shows J7.  Brian flops the A and Jonathan catches up a bit on the turn giving him a straight draw, but the river didn't help him.

5:39pm:  Big hand - blinds 2000/4000 - Brian limps from the SB, Jonathan raises 12000 on top.  Brian calls. Flop [ K45 ] , check check... Turn [ K ], Jonathan moves all in and Brian folds.  Jonathan wins the 32000 pot and brings the tournament to even.

5:31pm:  Tom Roginski has finished in 3rd place.  Tom was shortstacked and made his move with 7d8d and Jonathan was already in for the Big Blind.  Jonathan turns over A10 and the flop brings A,10,4, turn 10, river A.  A nail in the coffin for Tom.  Jonathan grabs some much needed chips to battle Brian heads up.  Brian is 3:1 in chips at this point.

5:23pm:  We are down to 3 players.  Mike Fretz makes his exit in 4th with trip 4's vs the straight of Brian Callahan.  The money was all in at the turn while Brian held the K hi straight and Mike was holding A4 and was drawing dead.  The river brought the 3rd floor but didn't help him overcome the K high straight.  Congrats to Mike as now both of our TOC winners have made their exit from this tournament.  Brian now holds the chip lead over both Tom and Jonathan, but any one double up from them will get them right back in the hunt.

5:11pm: Brian Callahan wins a big pot from Tom.  Blinds 1500/3000.  Brian checks the flop of [ 2 9 9], Tom bets out 5000.  Brian smooth calls and checks the turn of [ Kd], Tom checks behind.  River is ⎖h] and Brian leads out 6000.  Tom immediately calls.  Brian flips over his pair of ducks for a 99222 boat.  Tom reluctantly shows the 10 in his hand and mucks away. 

5:07pm: A big double up for Jonathan.  Blinds are 1000/2000, Jonathan raises on the Button to 6000.  Brian folds and Mike tanks.  After counting the chips that Jonathan has behind him (4500), Mike puts Jonathan all-in.  Jonathan calls.  Mike shows Ah9h, Jonathan shows Ad10d.  Mike doesn't catch up as Jonathan hits broadway to seal the hand.  Jonathan is up to 22000 in chips and away from his short stack.

4:56pm:  Bob Dougherty, after raking a lot of small pots with some flop bets, ended his run when his AK flew into the AA of Mike Fretz.  Mike takes the narrow chip lead back and they continue 4-handed.  No player is short stacked at this point but Jonathan is in the low position with around 10k.

4:47pm:  After a quick break and a chip up, we are back at the action. 

4:32pm:  Dustin Shank moves his short stack all in and is felted by Jonathan Van Sant.   Dustin fought a cold deck all day long and finally had to make his stand. 
Someone smells like they have a bag of chocolate chip cookies around me and I'm starting to go bonkers with the smell.  I could swim in a pool of chocolate chip cookies.

4:27pm:  Denny Dee makes his stand.  With blinds 800/1600, Denny pushes all in for 4300.  All folds to the BB of Brian Callahan and after a short debate and pot-odds calculation, Brian makes the call.  Brian shows Ah4h and Denny tables pocket JJ.  The flop brings A66 and Denny can't catch back up.  Denny finishes 7th.

4:20pm:  Chip count 
Seat 1, Bob Dougherty 29000
Seat 2, Dustin Shank 3000
Seat 3, Brian Callahan 21500
Seat 4, Mike Fretz 16500
Seat 5, Denny Dee 6500
Seat 6, Tom Roginski 12000
Seat 8, Jonathan Van Sant 10500

4:06pm:  Break time.  15 minute break and I'll be bringing you an updated chip count.  Blinds will be going up to 800/1600 when we return.  8 Players still remain.

3:53pm:  Bob Dougherty puts a bad beat on Michael Sanguinetti and sends him to the rail.  The money goes in after the flop with Michael holding KK and Bob holding 8,9 with top pair.  Bob goes runner runner for a straight with a loud "ooohhhhh" from the table. 

3:40pm:  Chip count of Final Table -
Seat 1, Bob Dougherty 16000
Seat 2, Dustin Shank 4500
Seat 3, Brian Callahan 15000
Seat 4, Mike Fretz 20000
Seat 5, Denny Dee 6000
Seat 6, Tom Roginski 10000
Seat 7, Michael Sanguinetti 16000
Seat 8, Jonathan Van Sant 10000

3:38pm:  Update from the 11am tournament.  Barbara Cope runs her QQ into KK and busts out 20th.  The top 18 got paid.  Congrats to Barb and unlucky just an unlucky cooler there.

3:30pm:  Rob Lupo, our Eastern TOC winner, has busted out in 9th place.  Michael Sanguinetti got some TOC revenge by felting Rob as Michael lost to Rob heads up at the TOC.

3:21pm:  Earl Groft makes his exit in 11th place and Dave Collingwood makes his exit in 10th place.  We are down to 9 and at our Final Table. 

3:18pm: A slew of players make their exit hand after hand now.  Blinds are 300/600 and players with 2500 or less are making their stands.  Consecutively, Barb Brennan, Dave Hoffmaster, Tim Fierro, and Wayne Phillips have made their exits. 

3:06pm:  Rob Lupo is moved to Table 1 to balance tables.  Joelle is out at Table 2.  She pushed all in on a made straight at the turn and was rivered by a [ 5c,6c] flush on the river.   

3:02pm: Blinds 200/400 - Brian and Chris go at it again.  Tim raised preflop to 1200, Chris and Brian call.  The flop comes [ 5s 3c 2s].  Chris bets out and Brian comes over the top, putting Chris all in.  Tim folds and Chris is commited to the call.  Chris shows [As9c] and Brian shows [Ks5s].  The turn is Ηs] giving Chris top pair, but Brian the flush.  The river is a non spade and Brian takes Chris out.   

2:50pm:  Back to action.  We are getting updates from the 11am Borgata tournament as well.  RPT had at least 6 players enter into the tournament. They started with 14 tables and are down to 6.   First place will be paying over $4000.  Barbara Cope is the last remaining RPT player still in that tournament. 

2:30pm:  Chip counts- Short stack at Table 1-Dave Hoffmaster 1600, Short stack at Table 2-Barb Brennan 1400
      Big stack at Table 1- Brian Callahan 11,800, Big Stack at Table 2- Wayne Phillips 8600 (followed closely by Jonathan Van Sant and Dustin Shank)

2:25pm:  Brian doubles up on a big hand before the break.  Flop of Jc,10c,7h.  Brian moves all in at the flop for 3475, all folds around to Chris who is sitting to Brian's right.  Chris thinks about a call as it is for 1/3 of his stack.  Chris makes the call and tables J9, Brian shows JJ.  The turn of another 7 gives Brian the pot.  Break Time and we are still at 17 players. 

2:08pm:  Back to back hands, we have lost two more players.  Alex was shortstacked by Tom in the previous hand when Tom hit a river to save him.  Alex shoved his last 625 preflop with QdJd and Earl made the call with AcKc.  Alex flops the J but Earl turns the K to felt him.  Jamie Myers went out immediately after that with the same QJ.  We have 17 players left.

1:57pm:  Blinds are into the 3rd level now.  100/200.  Early chip leads are held by Tom Roginski and Jonathan Van Sant.

1:53pm:  We have our first exit of the tournament.  Jim Jones had the bottom end of a straight and lost to the top end by Dave Collingwood. 

1:34pm:  No early exits so far.  (knock on wood).  The infamous Leslie Gimbol is here with us at the table.  Congrats to Leslie and Brian who are getting married on Aug 31st!  Brian is a 2-time Championship Tabler... Brian finished runner-up to Dennis Nugent in our 2006 Grand Championship.

1:12pm:  Jamie Myers lost a decent sized pot early on.  Jamie flopped a set and couldn't dodge a runner runner flush. 

1:00pm:  Thanks to Jeffery D Morgan Photography for photographing this event for us.  The cards are in the air and we are off and running.