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September 18th 2006
WPT Borgata Open: Jennifer Tilly dominates
It is still early days and with 27 players left anything can happen, but Jennifer Tilly, the Oscar nominated actress and girlfriend of Phil “The Unabomber” Laak, is possibly on the verge of a seminal moment in her poker career.
Jennifer has of course already won the WSOP Ladies NL Hold’em event (in 2005) but she will be well aware that true recognition in the poker world can only come with success in the mixed field competitions, and it doesn’t come much bigger than a WPT main-event.
It has been a fantastic few days for the Bullets Over Broadway actress, as she has powered her way into fourth place with a significant $874,000 in chips. Already she has long outlasted her more experienced other half along with 518 other hopefuls. Could this be the moment she emerges from the shadows of Phil Laak (and her own acting career) to become an independently successful and recognised poker player in her own right? You can bet the WPT hopes so.
Truth be told Jennifer Tilly’s presence in the penultimate day has added some much needed glamour to a filed shorn of many of poker’s biggest stars. With Gus Hansen, Phil Ivey, Joe Hachem, Mike Matusow, Kenna James, Marcel Luske, John Gale, and Andy Black in action in the EPT Barcelona Open and Johnny Chan, David Williams, Jeff Madsen, Dave “Devilfish” Ulliot and Jamie Gold reportedly in action in the TCI invitational, the Borgata Open was looking rather thin for a WPT event.
Still, there are some big names left in the draw. Seven places below Tilly the cerebral David Sklansky is lurking in 11th, with $462,000 in chips, while in 19th place the Robin Hood of tournament poker, Barry Greenstein, is a constant threat.
But heading into the penultimate day with the outright chip lead is Athanasio Diakos who, with $1,555,000 has a $455,000 lead over second placed William Blanda. Diakos will be hoping he can push on for the $1.519 million first prize, but as history has shown the brutal blind structures at the end of WPT tournaments rarely allows such a smooth transition from chip leader to tournament winner. There will be twists and turns round the corner, of that you can be sure.
The top ten chip counts going into Day Four are as follows:
1 Athanasio Diakos $1,555,000
2 William Blanda $1,100,000
3 Mark Newhouse $1,004,000
4 Jennifer Tilly $874,000
5 Anthony Argila $803,000
6 John Parker $787,000
7 Louis Russo $756,000
8 Chris Bell $696,000
9 Shawn Chaconas $546,000
10 Mark Zulkiewicz $492,000
Submitted: 18/09/2006 11:37:44
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