It was an early night on Day 3 of the Borgata Winter Poker Open Championship Event, and nobody had better reasons to sleep sweeter than chip leader Joe Reddick.
Just before the scheduled dinner break, players had nearly reached the planned hard stop for the evening of two tables. They decided to forego dinner break to reach that mark, and it didn't take long. After two subsequent eliminations, only 17 players will return for Day 4 today to play for the $613,063 up top.
Hailing from the Bronx, NY, and wearing his "CHIP BULLY" hoodie, Reddick bagged biggest with 4,290,000. They'll soon be advancing to the 15k/25k/25k level, so that's good for 172 big blinds.
Borgata Winter Poker Open Championship Event Day 4 chip counts
| Seat | Player | Chip Count | Seat | Player | Chip Count |
| 1/1 | Frank Lagodich | 1,055,000 | 2/1 | Yunkyu Song | 1,425,000 |
| 1/2 | ---Empty--- | ---Empty--- | 2/2 | John Pannucci | 3,480,000 |
| 1/3 | Aaron Massey | 680,000 | 2/3 | Anthony Zinno | 845,000 |
| 1/4 | Abraham Faroni | 1,880,000 | 2/4 | Leo Taffe | 2,865,000 |
| 1/5 | Jeff Gross | 810,000 | 2/5 | Joe Reddick | 4,290,000 |
| 1/6 | Brian Yoon | 2,385,000 | 2/6 | Paul Volpe | 1,600,000 |
| 1/7 | Alex Queen | 1,200,000 | 2/7 | Casey Hatmaker | 1,030,000 |
| 1/8 | James Gilbert | 320,000 | 2/8 | Kevin Stammen | 420,000 |
| 1/9 | Matt Wantman | 770,000 | 2/9 | Carlos Chadha | 2,510,000 |
Day 4 action from Atlantic City
With 27,560,000 chips in play, the 17 remaining will have an average of 65 big blinds in the upcoming level. That's fairly deep-stacked poker with big pay jumps in play; that's just what you want from a Championship Event.
Will there be a reprise?
Somewhere in the middle of the pack is Yunkyu Song with 1,425,000 in chips. He looks to bookend this series with another big score.
He started this Winter Poker Open with a third-place finish in The Opener for a career-best $181,430. Looking at the payouts, a fourth-place finish in this one would earn him another new personal best. He'll have to get through some crushers to reach that final table, including one of the most assiduous grinders in the game.
Missing flights and stacking chips
If he had missed Day 4, he planned on immediately hopping on a plane for WPT Cambodia. From a tournament grinder, what more could you want, man?
Matthew "Bucky" Wantman racked up 60 reported cashes last year, according to Hendon Mob. He's already scored three here at Borgata this series, including a third-place finish in Event 16: $2,100 NLH 8-Max for $47,326.
Bucky will look to make missing Cambodia worth it. He's already locked up $33,784 and is looking for more to take to Asia.
Remaining payouts
| Place | Prize | Place | Prize |
| 1 | $613,063 | 7 | $102,589 |
| 2 | $429,863 | 8 | $81,670 |
| 3 | $277,123 | 9 | $61,319 |
| 4 | $203,473 | 10-12 | $50,793 |
| 5 | $155,387 | 13-15 | $40,634 |
| 6 | $123,875 | 17-18 | $33,784 |
Playing to the final table today
With only 17 players remaining, the goal is to reach the final table before bagging up one more time in this event.
Once they do, they'll bag up to return on Friday, January 26 at 1 pm for a streamed final table to close it out.
Who will secure their seat in the spotlight? Who will be left on the outside looking in? With some big names and big money in play, follow the action on instant.poker.org as we watch it all play out.
All photos by Matthew Berglund by 8131 Media/Poker.org
