I found the Borgota fields to be much tougher pre-Covid than Foxwoods and Parx. My guess is that they will be tough now as well. The reason is that people travel to AC for the Million dollar guarantee events. Whereas its all locals at FW and Parx.

As for the dealers I hope they can manage but I doubt they will. There is a massive dealer shortage in the Northeast post Covid. Prior to Covid the Dealers at the large Borgota events were probably the worst anywhere. Their cash game dealers were excellent though.

Good luck!

This might be a dumb question, but after registering using BetMGM Poker, on the day of the tournament is there a separate location/line to "register" on the day of the tournament at the Borgata?

Hey Rick, I agree the cash games should be good. I've always found 1/2 or 1/3 to be excellent at borgata- i've played elsewhere around the US where its mostly tight nitty play. At Borgata, from a limited sample size- i've found games to be splashy and people actually want to gamble and get dicey which i love!

I just hope if i bust a tourny, i can get to a cash table in 20-60 min lol. Even in Vegas during WSOP, ive seen lists 70-80 players long which is disgusting. I don't mind calling in and showing up an hour late to get a table in 10-20 min but I don't want to be at the bottom of a 70 player list where i have no shot to play.

BTW on your softness comment- I kinda agree about AC bringing out a lot of good players that travel. I feel the field sizes are so big- you get a ton of dead money in fields with say 1k-3k players. I feel its super easy to typecast players based on how they dress and handle chips/ demeanor at the table- aka i feel its so damn easy to tell who is a crusher vs who is just a fun recreational player. You def get a lot of top level players but odds of them being at your table early in a 1-3k player field is super small. No question- its funny how in these tournies- even a 3k player field; its funny how tough the field gates later in the money when most of the dead money is gone and mostly "better" players are still around in the tourny. You always see a few bad players still around that sun run but normally they have a very limited chance at winning when you put them against better players and the sun run slows dow.

Yes, there’s a separate line for online registrants, which is WAY shorter than the regular line. During the fall mini-series there was no one on it when I used BetMGM Poker to register, but keep in mind that the Winter Poker Open is going to be MUCH bigger and busier than the fall series. Still, registering online ahead of time is the way to go, IMO.

Do you need to be in NJ to register online?

Unfortunately, yes. I told my brother-in-laws about it, who live in PA, and when they tried it, it wouldn't let them since they weren't in NJ at the time.

However, as soon as you get into NJ for the tournament, you can set up an account and register. It's pretty quick and easy to do, so that will still give you the benefit of not having to wait on the long lines.

I think Borgata mis calculated price point. $800 is not drawing huge interest or lines. So far only 300 players.

May be Event 5: Almighty Million Event - $1,000,000 will draw huge crowd !

up to over 400 now and with 5 starting flights the numbers will get there. Day 1A is always a little light. And yes if you registered online it is very easy to get your seat. There is a separate desk right outside the tournament area for online registrations. I was just there about 20 minutes ago... good luck!

477 final count

The structure for any of these events could be better. Event 1, only 25K chips SS. They should at least offer 35K to 40K. I challenge you to look at these structures; they are not great—one reason I elected to pass on Event #1


https://borgata.mgmresorts.com/conte...structures.pdf

Just adding chips doesn’t necessarily make for a better structure, but I agree, these structures are pedestrian at best.

2MM GTD event 1 ($800): rated 70 s-points.
1MM GTD event 5 ($500): rated 73 s-points.

Ratings like these would be a slight sub-standard for a single-day event. But for multi-flight 3 day events? Pure cash grab. It’s just another example of an east coast venue taking advantage of the pent up demand the east coast venues have artificially created.

When Borgata offers a real multi-day event with appropriate structure, 40k/40 min levels, I will become very interested. But for now, these seem to be targeted towards turbo players, or those who don’t pay attention to the quality of products they purchase.

I agree, adding chips doesn't make it a better structure; I prefer having 5 or 10 more minutes per level than more chips. With a series like this, every Event should be at least 30 minutes. Some of these events only have 25-minute levels.

Anyways, I read your S-Points rating. What is this exactly? I have yet to hear of that, can you tell me more?

JKPoker10 -- I'll be at the Borgata for the Friday bounty event. Hope we play together! Cheers!

A number of years back a 2+2 contributor (username: plog) came up with a tournament rating system which tries to balance all of the relevant factors which go into a structure and produce a single number to rate tournaments.

You can find more info, including an online calculator and examples here…

https://rainbowspuppiessunshine.com/...c/analysis.php

Each year, once series have posted their structure sheets, plog also inputs their info into his comparison tool so people can compare all the different events going on in Vegas during the summer WSOP. There is typically a 2+2 thread. Here is the one from a couple years ago.

https://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/6...lysis-1806909/

There are obviously multiple ways of an analyzing tournaments, but I think s-points have been adopted by a good number of people throughout poker. You will often see s-points quoted in online calendars and other tourney schedule tools.

Hey good luck Kevin Chapman! Hopefully we can get some success from the 2+2 crew. If anyone wants to say hi, just dm me as I’ll be around for the weekend.

Btw cash games looks like they are flowing well. I see no wait list for 1/3 now but who knows what happens on the weekend. I’m just hoping I can get some 1/3 and maybe a little 2/5 in if tournies don’t go well! Best of luck to anyone going? Idk about you guys but I’m so pumped borgata is back in the mid. I love the room and the action it brings from the northeast! Think the cash games can be very good especially during tourny series.

It's a very cool site; I was playing with the calculator. I'm not sure what plugs into "100% minutes" field. Do you know?

The number of minutes where the total of the forced pot contribution paid in a round is >= starting stack. For example, if the starting starting stack is 40k, and blinds are 30 min long. You look for the level where the combined SB + 2xBB (in a Big Blind Ante format) is >= 40k. So let’s say the level 18 blinds are 8k/16k/16k for the event. That total >= 40k, so the 100% minutes would be 18 x 30 minutes = 540.

This formula was created back before BBA, so at that time it counted all the antes plus blinds paid in a round. But it’s the same with BBA. You just count the SB + 2xBB.

This is for NLH, but I believe his formula can be used for other formats, though I’m not sure if you have to tweak anything.

Event 1 still need 880 players to cover the 2 million guarantee, in last of the day 1 flight today.

1A: 476.
1B: 268.
1C: 536.
1D: 666.

Do you think will they cover it.

Yes, definitely. I’d take the over if anyone wants a friendly bet

I’m coming in today and will be firing 3/4 bullets to do my part

Good Luck

Did they covered the guarantee ?They needed 880 runners for final day 1E flight.

Previously with $600 price point they always covered 2 Million guarantee for opening event. (4000 or more runners)

Seems like $800 price point for opening event didn’t go well with Borgata poker tournament fan .

I haven’t looked deeply into it, but I remember looking at the schedule when it came out and deciding it wasn’t really rec-friendly, meaning the lower buy-in events were mid-week. I would think that would have more to do with it than the $800. Of course a lot of more serious players might have also been turned off by the structure.

I think they covered with ease.

Final unofficial figure for event 1 is 3486 runners.

poker.org has partnered with MGM to cover the BWPO, and after registration closed, they said that there were 3,483 total entries for an estimated prize pool of $2.6 million. Yep, they crushed the guarantee, even with the higher price point than the previous opening events.