WPT Main Event at Borgata Down to 33 Players

ATLANTIC CITY, New Jersey - (PRESS RELEASE) -- As more and more fans arrive to see the best players in the game battle for poker supremacy, the intensity increases and the pressure goes up another
Borgata at Sunset  notch. Three hundred and eighty-one players shelled out $10,000 each for a shot at the World Poker Tour title with a first-place cash prize of over $1.1 million, a brand new 2006 Cadillac Escalade, and a $25,000 seat in to the World Poker Tour's championship event in April. In the end, Day Two saw the number of players drop from 165 to 33, with the top 76 finishers making it to the cash payouts.

Day One saw Cliff "Johnny Baxx" Josephy with the chip lead throughout much of the day. While "Johhny Baxx" remained standing, many of the biggest names in the game were mere casualties on the battlefield on Day Two.

Andy Black, Joe Sebok, Barry Greenstein, Scotty Nguyen, John Juanda, Freddy "My Main Man" Deeb, Matt Hiilger, Carlos Mortenson, Chris "Triple Draw" Fargis, Gavin Smith, David Williams, Matt Matros, Steve Dannenmman, Brian Hveson, Steve Brecher, Alan Schein, and Tex Barch, all saw their dreams of a Borgata Winter Poker Open title dashed. Poker machine, Ted Forrest, was the "bubble boy" and earned an entry into September's Borgata Poker Open main event for finishing one out of the many.

The surprise story of the day came from one of September's World Poker Tour final-table participants. Full Tilt's John D'Agostino made a major charge toward the end of the night and bulldozed over everyone in his path, taking over as the chip leader. D'Agostino currently has close to $1 million in chips and looks to be a lock for making his second consecutive Borgata main event final table. Last year, "D'Ags" finished in fourth place after having a monstrous tournament and is looking to have even more success with this tournament than September's main event.

In a special surprise for players, several celebrities made cameo appearances on Day Two. Although players remained focused on the cards being dealt, they took a brief minute to say hello and have their pictures taken with current Miss America, Jennifer Berry and World Poker Tour hosts Mike Sexton and Courtney Friel.

The hand of the day belonged to the always-dangerous Erick Lindgren, who vaulted to the top ten when he rivered a royal flush. The cards hit at the right time for Lindgren and he improved his position, placing himself in the thick of the title race.

Still alive and a big threat to D'Agostino's chip lead are 2006 Ladies' event third-place finisher, Louise Francouer, Michael "the Grinder" Mizarachi, European Poker Tour creator, John Duthie, and World Series of Poker bracelet winners Denis Ethier and Erik Seidel.