BORGATA SPRING: LIU WINS AS STARS FIZZLE EARLY AT BORGATA CHAMPIONSHIP

PICTURE: BORGATA

Jia Liu lost his big chip on a few different occasions but managed to pick himself up, dust himself off ... and was crowned Champion of the Borgata Spring Open, defeating a solid final table.

It looked as if Liu had played his way out of the tournament a few times on Thursday, but he survived and ultimately picked up the 312K paycheque.

It was a disappointing day for those wishing that well-known pros Cliff "JohnnyBax" Josephy or Chad Batista would take the title down ... unfortunately, both JohnnyBax and Batista were eliminated fairly early during final table play ... bowing out in 7th and 6th place respectfully.

---

FT PAYOUTS (USD) 1st Jia Liu $312,483 2nd Larry Abrams $175,700 3rd Russ Dykshteyn $112,950 4th Robert Pardo $89,733 5th Cameron Cornell $70,280 6th Chad Batista $57,730 7th Cliff Josephy $45,808 8th Matt Woodward $35,768 9th Michael Borovetz $25,100 10th Mike Meskin $16,315

PTPR TIER 3 EVENT Borgata Spring Open NLH Championship April 15-19, 2012 Borgata Hotel Casino | Atlantic City Buy-in: $2,700 | Prizepool: $1,300,000 Entries: 520 PTPR POINTS DISTRIBUTION JIA LIU 105 LARRY ABRAMS 65 RUSS DYKSTEYN 40 ROBERT PARDO 30 CAMERON CORNELL 23 CHAD BATISTA 15 CLIFF JOSEPHY 13 MATT WOODWARD 10 MICHAEL BOROVETZ 10

BORGATA SPRING: BATISTA, JOHNNYBAX IN CONTENTION AT BORGATA CHAMPIONSHIP

We are set for what should be an exciting final table at the Borgata Spring Open Championship in Atlantic City!

Will someone be able to follow in the footsteps of Andrew Badecker? Badecker won the Borgata Fall Open Championship in November and has been red-hot on the poker circuit ever since, picking up cashes from around the world.

One person certainly looking to grab that type of momentum is Florida's Chad Batista. Batista enters final table play third in chips, and Batista has been playing some good poker for the past few days.

A man that is no stranger to these situations, especially in the Northeastern US, is Cliff Josephy. Josephy would be the pick of many people at any final table, but, the fact that his chip stack is a 4:1 underdog to chip leader's Jia Liu means that things won't come easy for the man they call JohnnyBax.

Matt Woodward, who entered Wednesday play as the chip leader, is still alive and kicking; Woodward's stack sits just below the average chip stack line.

FINAL TABLE CHIP COUNTS
Jia Liu 4,219,000
Russ Dykshteyn 2,400,000
Chad Batista 1,600,000
Larry Abrams 1,543,000
Matt Woodward 1,420,000
Mike Borovetz 1,261,000
Cliff Josephy 1,033,000
Robert Pardo 770,400
Mike Meskin 429,000

The players will return to The Signature Room at Noon ET today.

---

FT PAYOUTS (USD) 1st $312,483 2nd $175,700 3rd $112,950 4th $89,733 5th $70,280 6th $57,730 7th $45,808 8th $35,768 9th $25,100 10th $16,315 EVENT COVERAGE BORGATA SPRING OPEN

PTPR TIER 3 EVENT Borgata Spring Open NLH Championship April 15-19, 2012 Borgata Hotel Casino | Atlantic City Buy-in: $2,700 | Prizepool: $1,300,000 Entries: 520 PTPR POINTS DISTRIBUTION 1st Place 105 2nd Place 65 3rd Place 40 4th Place 30 5th Place 23 6th Place 15 7th Place 13 8th Place 10 9th Place 10

BORGATA SPRING: FINAL 54 BACK AT BORGATA ON WEDNESDAY

The Borgata Spring Open has reached it's Final 54 and the money bubble is well behind us - let's play some poker in AC!

Over 1M dollars on the line in this event with 312K USD going to the winner, a very impressive prizepool given these economic times.

Matt Woodward holds the overnight chip lead. Woodward has over 840K in chips, that's over 100K more than the man in second place, Larry Abrams. Woodward will be looking to increase his chip lead and solidify his place at the final table.

Chad Batista is in great position to make a move on Wednesday, Batista will start the day fourth in chips while Cliff Josephy and Vinny Pahuja are in contention again at a poker event in the US Northeast.

DAY 3 NOTABLE CHIP COUNTS
Matt Woodward 841,400 (Day 2 Chip Leader)
Larry Abrams 738,000
Chad Batista 680,600
Eric Ladny 420,600
David Stefanski 322,000
Cliff Josephy 309,100
Vinny Pahuja 285,600
Ali Tabatabai 263,800
Paul Darden 140,600
Ronnie Bardah 123,400

The players will return to The Signature Room at Noon ET today with final day play set for Thursday at The Borgata.

---

EVENT PAYOUTS (USD) 1st $312,483 2nd $175,700 3rd $112,950 4th $89,733 5th $70,280 6th $57,730 7th $45,808 8th $35,768 9th $25,100 10-12 $16,315 13-15 $12,550 16-18 $9,413 19-27 $6,903 28-36 $6,275 37-45 $5,648 46-54 $5,020

PTPR TIER 3 EVENT Borgata Spring Open NLH Championship April 15-19, 2012 Borgata Hotel Casino | Atlantic City Buy-in: $2,700 | Prizepool: $1,300,000 Entries: 520 PTPR POINTS DISTRIBUTION 1st Place 105 2nd Place 65 3rd Place 40 4th Place 30 5th Place 23 6th Place 15 7th Place 13 8th Place 10 9th Place 10

BORGATA FALL: BADECKER'S SECOND BIG WIN OF THE SEASON

PHOTO: POKERNEWS.com
SOURCE: BORGATAFALLPOKEROPEN2011.blogspot.com

Many poker players would die to collect one big score per season. Andrew Badecker just scored his second major victory in the past five months - not a bad half-season for the Connecticut man.

After winning a WSOP bracelet this past summer, Badecker won the inaugural Borgata Fall Open NLH Championship early this morning. Badecker defeated a strong field and a final table that included two other bracelet winners.

Badecker's win has seen him gain 80 spots on the 2011 PTPR Poker Tournament Player of the Year Leaderboard. Badecker now sits 18th on the list, just a couple of spots outside our Top 15...

PTPR LEADERBOARD LIVE LOOK-IN:
15. Phil Hellmuth, 254 PTPR Points
16. Roberto Romanello, 247
17. Galen Hall, 245
18. Andrew Badecker, 245
19. Owais Ahmed, 241
20. Sam Stein, 233

JohnnyBax - Cliff Josephy - finished sixth in the event.

BORGATA FALL POKER OPEN TOP 10 PAYOUTS
1st Andrew Badecker $388,657
2nd Tony Nguyen $218,531
3rd Ari Albilia $137,594
4th Peter Park $111,694
5th Mike Devinsky $89,031
6th Cliff Josephy $73,653
7th Freddy Rouhani $59,084
8th Mike Linster $44,516
9th Tom Maguire $30,756
10th Joe Wertz $21,044

RELATED:
THE GREAT TURKEY RACE IS ON AT BORGATA
2011 WSOP: BADECKER, BONKOWSKI WIN BRACELETS
GLANTZ, BRECHER WIN BIG
CLOSING OUT BORGATA, PARTOUCHE

PTPR TIER 3 EVENT
Borgata Fall Poker Open
Fall Poker Open NLH Championship
November 20-23, 2011

Borgata Hotel, Casino & Spa | Atlantic City
Buy-in: $2,700 | Prizepool: $1,675,000 | Entries: 670

FINAL RESULTS:
ANDREW BADECKER 106
TONY NGUYEN 66
ARI ALBILIA 41
PETER PARK 31
MIKE DEVINSKY 24
CLIFF JOSEPHY "JOHNNYBAX" 16
FREDDY ROUHANI 14
MIKE LINSTER 11
TOM MAGUIRE 11

PTS AT STAKE: THE GREAT TURKEY RACE IS ON AT BORGATA

PHOTO: POKERNEWS.com
SOURCE: BORGATAFALLPOKEROPEN2011.blogspot.com

As the U.S. prepares for their Thanksgiving festivities (starting tomorrow), the final 63 players are in a race to the finish line, they too would like to celebrate Thanksgiving with their families so ... we're going down to one today at the Borgata Fall Poker Open NLH Championship! That's right, our players will rest tomorrow but for today, it's time to get to work!

It may be a long day at Borgata, but pros Alex Queen, Toddy Terry, Victor Ramdin, Johnny Bax and the remainder of the 63 player field are up to the task.

New Jersey native Paul Spitzberg will enter final day play with the chip lead. Spitzberg is one of four players with at least 700k in chips.

NOTABLE CHIP COUNTS:
Paul Spitzberg 792,000 (chip leader)
Yat Cheng 766,000
John Myung 737,000
Bob Hwang 728,500
Thang Nguyen 645,000
Andrew Badecker 591,000 (2011 Bracelet Winner)
Cliff Josephy 495,500
Alex Queen 426,000
Todd Terry 411,500
Victor Ramdin 226,500
Sean Knitter 215,000
Joe Cappuccio 195,000
Steve Ryan 193,000
Sirous Jamshidi 79,000

BORGATA FALL POKER OPEN PAYOUTS
1st $388,657
2nd $218,531
3rd $137,594
4th $111,694
5th $89,031
6th $73,653
7th $59,084
8th $44,516
9th $30,756
10-12 $21,044
13-15 $15,378
16-18 $11,331
19-27 $8,903
28-36 $7,932
37-45 $7,123
46-54 $6,313
55-63 $5,504

RELATED:
GLANTZ, BRECHER WIN BIG
CLOSING OUT BORGATA, PARTOUCHE

PTPR TIER 3 EVENT
Borgata Fall Poker Open
Fall Poker Open NLH Championship
November 20-23, 2011

Borgata Hotel, Casino & Spa | Atlantic City
Buy-in: $2,700 | Prizepool: $1,675,000 | Entries: 670

PTS AT STAKE:
1st place 106
2nd place 66
3rd place 41
4th place 31
5th place 24
6th place 16
7th place 14
8th place 11
9th place 11