The recent Borgata Spring Poker Open Main Event came down to a heads-up battle between PocketFives Traininginstructor Mike Gags30Gagliano (pictured) and fellow New Jersey resident Bahbak Oboodi. The result was a heads-up chop that saw Gagliano pocket $220,000 and officially finish in second place. The New Jersey pokercommunity player was kind enough to give PocketFives a few minutes in the days following his monumental live score. Read our recap of the Main Event.

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PocketFives: Tell me how you’re feeling after the chop.

Michael Gagliano: I’m feeling great. That was my biggest score to date, so it definitely feels good. We started discussing the possibility of chopping with five or six players left, but per New Jersey law, the Borgata doesn’t facilitate chops, so we would have to do it on our own and it just wasn’t working out.

I was okay with playing because I had a really great seat at the final table with all of the good, aggressive players on my right. Once we got heads-up and the stacks had evened out, we were over 100 big blinds deep and were both good players, so we didn’t want to play an almost $150,000 heads-up match. Therefore, we decided to split it. We left a little bit to play for plus the trophy, which I unfortunately did not win.

PocketFives: How do you enforce a chop if the Borgata (pictured) won’t help?

Michael Gagliano: It’s all just a verbal gentlemen’s agreement, which is part of the reason why a six-way chop would have been nearly impossible to do. I’ve actually known Bobby Oboodi for quite some time. We used to grind tournaments together about six or seven years ago when I was first starting to play poker and even though we hadn’t seen each other in quite some time, I was still comfortable chopping with him.

After it was over, he got paid the full first place amount and simply gave me the difference that we agreed upon. I suppose I should also say that Tab and everyone at the Borgata do a really great job of running tournaments, so if anyone is ever on the East Coast, check them out.

PocketFives: You’ve now recorded three straight six-figure scores when you’ve finished in the money of a live MTT, according to the Hendon Mob. What do you think that stat says about your game?

Michael Gagliano: I think I’m just playing really well. I think I’ve finally fine-tuned my live game to where I’m not only really comfortable at the table, but also have learned a lot more about how different opponents play in different situations, and so I am able to adjust constantly. I’m still looking for that elusive straight-up win, though, so I’m hoping to get that this summer.

PocketFives: Speaking of this summer, tell us about your World Series of Poker plans.

Michael Gagliano: I’ll be there for the whole series. I’m getting there for the first weekend and will be staying with fellow PocketFivers doubledave22and shanetrain22 (no relation with the 22s). We have a condo right off the Strip, so it should be pretty close to the Rio, but far enough where we can relax without being in the middle of all of the tourists. I’ll be playing basically every No Limit Hold’em event plus a handful of other events such as PLO and 10-Game.

PocketFives: How do you prepare for something as grueling as the WSOP?

Michael Gagliano: I just try to prepare as much as possible. This will be my fifth WSOP and the one thing I’ve learned the most is that you have to be mentally and physically prepared for the long days. That includes getting plenty of sleep and eating a relatively healthy meal before you play.

I really have high hopes for this WSOP. I feel like I’m playing all-around great poker, both live and online, and can’t wait to play a full summer’s worth of tournaments.

You can get free poker training from Gagliano by signing up for 888 Pokeror signing up for WinnerPokerthrough PocketFives (use code PF30 on WinnerPoker) and making a deposit of at least $30. E-mail support@pocketfives.com after you’ve created your account and deposited to claim your Training.

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