Going into Day 3 of this big event at the Borgata, 175 players managed to fight their way through the record breaking 1,042 who started. The average stack is roughly 178,600 with John D’Agostino, a pro from New Jersey leading the pack, followed by Giuseppe Pantaleo from Italy who inched his way up from 5th spot coming in at the start of Day 2.
Canadian Francis Lamothe from Le Gardeur, Quebec, who started the day in 23rd, won a big pot early on in the day and clocks in at 3rd spot at the end Day 2 with 611,800 chips.
Gavin Smith got all-in on the last hand of the night, racing his AK against pocket 6s. He failed to improve and was busted.
Also in the tournament and worthy of a mention for fans of poker television are the stars of an upcoming poker reality show called “Fatty’s” which is currently in production, Mike “The Nose” Castaldo and “Big Al” Riccobono. The show will be centered around Fatty’s Poker Club, where a group of local amateur poker players will interact with pros and celebrities while competing for seats at the World Series of Poker and other major events throughout the year. Lacey Jones is also a hostess who will be involved in the project.
The Fatty’s gang gained notoriety at this year’s WSOP Main Event. The players, who called themselves the “Fatty’s 10” were all decked out in their Fatty’s uniform catching the attention of the media, including ESPN.
Only the top 100 players will get paid as Day 3 resumes today.
John D'Agostino
Giuseppe Pantaleo
Francis Lamothe
Lars Bonding
Marc Goldman
Eric Salinas
Jens Eisner
Benjamin Klier
Brandon Novena
Daniel Makowsky
Dwyte Pilgrim
Jeffrey Papola
Kyle Loman
Michael Simhai
Stan Sinclair
Thomas Laviano
Top 20 chip counts going into Day 3:
| 1 | JOHN DAGOSTINO | $681,200 |
| 2 | GIUSEPPE PANTALEO | $668,100 |
| 3 | FRANCIS LAMOTHE | $611,800 |
| 4 | LARS BONDING | $521,900 |
| 5 | MARC GOLDMAN | $506,600 |
| 6 | ERIC SALINAS | $495,000 |
| 7 | JENS EISNER | $477,900 |
| 8 | STAN SINCLAIR | $449,300 |
| 9 | JEFFREY PAPOLA | $447,300 |
| 10 | BENJAMIN KLIER | $433,800 |
| 11 | TAHER ALISHEIK | $433,200 |
| 12 | EDWARD FOGLE | $425,700 |
| 13 | CHINMAY PATEL | $418,600 |
| 14 | TOM THOMAS | $410,500 |
| 15 | KYLE LOMAN | $406,100 |
| 16 | DWYTE PILGRIM | $400,000 |
| 17 | CHRISTIAN IACOBELLIS | $387,800 |
| 18 | DOUGLAS KIM | $380,800 |
| 19 | ALBERT STRICKLAND | $363,500 |
| 20 | GREGORY MERRITT | $361,400 |
