World Poker Tour Events Heat Up in Atlantic City, Malta

The Borgata Poker Open has played down to its final table, and another World Poker Tour event is also in full swing halfway around the world in what is a busy week for the tournament series.

At the WPT Borgata Poker Open, Bobby Oboodi has taken the chip lead into the final table. He holds just over 11 million chips, giving him a slight lead over Fred Goldberg, who has also passed the 11 million chip mark. Other final table participants include Darren Elias (7.3 million), Dan Buzgon (4.7 million), Ricky Hale (2.3 million), and Jin Hwang (2.2 million).

Day Four saw most of the biggest names remaining in the tournament hit the rail, though every player who made it to the fourth day of play had already gone deep into the money. Vanessa Selbst was eliminated in 23^rd place, and was followed out the door by Anthony Rivera (18^th), John Cernuto (14^th), and Matt Glantz (12^th). Former chip leader Will Failla was eliminated in 11^th place, losing all but a single big blind on a single hand to quad jacks, and being knocked out on the very next hand.

The final table of six will play out on Friday. The action will be televised on a future WPT broadcast.

Meanwhile, Cecilia Pescaglini has put on a dominating performance early in the WPT Malta Main Event. At the end of Day 2, 30 players remained, with Pescaglini holding the chip lead with 976,000 in chips. That’s more than double the stack anyone else in the field can boast; Marvin Rettenmaier is in second place, and has just 415,000 chips.

Many notables were eliminated on the second day of play, including Phil Hellmuth and Steve O’Dwyer. However, quite a few notables remain, including Tony G, Isaac Haxton and Matt Giannetti.

Interestingly, the money bubble hasn’t quite broken in Malta yet, as only 27 of the 30 players remaining will make the money. Ultimately, the winner will take home just over $273,000. Players will play down to a final table of six on Friday, before returning to crown a winner on Saturday.