The Season XVI WPT Borgata Winter Poker Open Championship is down to its final 27 players from the field of 1,244 entries. Leading the way is Steven Greenberg (pictured) with a stack of 3.753 million, and he’s closely followed by Chase Bianchi with 3.698 million.
Greenberg and Bianchi may have similar chip stacks going into Day 4, but they’re both very different players. Greenberg is a self-proclaimed recreational player who has 12 live tournament results splashed across 15 years. Bianchi is a high-stakes cash game grinder with a WSOP gold bracelet and nearly $650,000 in live tournament earnings.
“It’s awesome,” Greenberg said after Day 3. “This is the most I’ve ever bagged and it came at the right time. I was catching hands literally all day long, so I was catching hands at the right time, which really helped.
“I was [knocking out a lot of players] at one point. I thought I had a 50-50 shot and every hand I played I was winning.”
Greenberg’s biggest live cash came in a WSOP Circuit event back in 2008 and it’s for $80,838. He’s now the chip leader with 27 left in his first foray into the money of a WPT Main Tour event and with that Greenberg has locked up $19,347, good for his third biggest result all time.
“It’s recreational,” Greenberg, a Randolph, New Jersey, resident said of his poker career. “In ’08, I had a two final tables in the Circuit for the World Series. I won like $32,000 in one and like $80,000 in another, but usually when I have the best hand, someone always out-flops me or I get unlucky. So, it’s nice to be on the other side and in the driver’s seat.”
As for playing on the big stage of a World Poker Tour event and facing some of the game’s most elite players, Greenberg is feeling a range of emotions.
“Maybe a little bit,” Greenberg said about feeling nervous nerves or intimidated at this stage. “I’ve played with these guys in the past, because I’ll jump in some of these tournaments when I get a chance. With a family of six, it’s a little hard. So, I guess normal nerves, but I’m excited. More tired, actually.”
Greenberg and Bianchi are the only two players with more than 3 million in chips, but plenty of firepower is lurking in the field.
Kane Kalas bagged 2.281 million, WPT Champions Club member David Paredes has 1.5 million, and former WSOP Main Event champion Joe McKeehen finished with 1.185 million. Furthermore, WPT Champions Club members Eric Afriat (1.123 million), Jonathan Little (1.1 million), and Kevin Saul (940,000) have advanced to Day 4, too.
Bringing up the rear with 27 remaining is Amnon Filippi with a stack of 484,000.
When Day 3 began, 159 players remained. With 156 spots set to pay, the field was on the verge of cashing. A few double ups occurred on the bubble before the tournament lost both Konstantinos Koufalis and Jonas Wexler on the same hand of hand-for-hand play to burst the bubble. Koufalis and Wexler didn’t go home empty-handed, though, as they chopped up the $6,129 min-cash to earn $3,064 each.
Following the bursting of the money bubble, plenty of players hit the rail with a cash, including WPT champions James Claderaro (30th – $19,347), Mike Linster (47th – $14,106), Tyler Patterson (63rd – $10,771), Will Failla (67th – $9,580), Chris Leong (95th – $7,247), Cornel Cimpan (124th – $6,399), Olivier Busquet (132nd – $6,399), and Keven Stammen (146th – $6,129).
The final 27 players have locked up $19,347 in prize money, and all eyes now point to the official World Poker Tour final table of six. Reaching the final table will guarantee a player a spot on Day 5 of the tournament and a minimum payout of $138,254, then it’s onwards to the $651,928 top prize.
Day 4 will see the cards in the air at 12 p.m. local time on Thursday from Borgata Hotel Casino & Spa in Atlantic City, and the plan is to play down until the official WPT final table of six is reached.
Stay tuned right here to WPT.com for continued coverage of the Season XVI WPT Borgata Winter Poker Open Championship.
Photography by Joe Giron / PokerPhotoArchive.com
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