Another edition of the Borgata Poker Open is in the books, as the final events of the 16-day series wrapped up in Atlantic City this weekend. Thousands of players descended on the city to try their luck in the festival, including numerous online qualifiers who found their seats through BetMGM Poker and Borgata Poker.
A total of 75 events were played with a combined guarantee of $8,000,000, which was shattered over the course of the series, although the Championship event itself didn’t manage to break its $3,000,000 guarantee.
When all was said and done, it was Blake Vodges who would lift the Borgata Winter Poker Open trophy along with $457,980 in prize money, following a chop with second-place finisher Jack Kwon.
Other key events included the $400 Almighty Million, the $600 Deepstack Main Event, and the $580 Monster Mirror Mystery Bounty, all of which blew all prize pool expectations out of the water.
The Championship Attracts Nearly 1,000 Entrants
The $3,500 Borgata Winter Poker Open Championship event was the highlight of the series. The tournament featured a boosted $3,000,000 guaranteed prize pool and ended up attracting a grand total of 895 players, which meant the prize pool would remain unchanged.
As is usually the case with Borgata events, the Championship was attended by a number of high-profile players, including the BetMGM ambassador Darren Elias and the likes of Ryan DePaulo, Paul Volpe, and the legendary heads-up specialist Olivier Busquet who even made the final table.
Busquet was eventually eliminated in 6th place, and Blake Vodges was sitting as the short stack at the 5-handed table. With just $237,451 in tournament cashes before the event, he had locked up the biggest win of his career and was probably ready to take a bow.
Yet, his fortunes would quickly change, as it took only a 45-minute heater, during which he was dealt pocket Aces twice, for Vodges and Kwon to eliminate all other title contenders.
When it came down to heads-up play, the two agreed to split the prize money, with Kwon taking home just over $407,000, and Vodges taking the lion’s share of the prize pool.
Here is a look at all the final table payouts from the Championship event:
| Place | Player | Prize Money |
|---|---|---|
| 1st | Blake Vodges | $457,980* |
| 2nd | Jack Kwon | $407,110* |
| 3rd | Zachary Fischer | $243,245 |
| 4th | Duane Mitchell | $159,570 |
| 5th | Benjamin Morgan | $109,925 |
| 6th | Olivier Busquet | $85,300 |
| 7th | Kyle Grupp | $67,655 |
| 8th | Greg Himmelbrand | $53,995 |
The $400 Almighty Winter Kickoff Ushers in the New Year
The $400 Almighty Winter Kickoff was the first event of the year at Borgata, and it marked the start of the Borgata Winter Poker Open for 2026.
With an affordable buy-in and a massive $1,000,000 prize pool, the event was always going to draw in a crowd, but it ended up surpassing expectations, as a total of 4,082 entries were made, creating a prize pool of $1,306,240.
When all was said and done, it was a local player with plenty of previous success in Borgata Open events, Michael Renna, who took home the biggest slice of the prize pool, as he won $190,740 in the $400 event, nearly doubling his lifetime tournament winnings.
The likes of Thomas Cullis ($129,145), Jonathan Kim ($87,900), and Tin Chan ($58,220), also had an exceptionally good day, while a total of 512 players turned their $400 buy-in into at least $815 by making the money.
The Almighty Winter Kickoff set the right tone for the rest of the festival and showed the poker world that Borgata is still one of the most attractive places in the world to play poker, despite the fact that Atlantic City is no longer the gambling capital it once was.
Yoon Choi Wins the Monster Mirror Mystery Bounty Event
While it was far from the biggest buy-in or prize pool of the Borgata Winter Poker Open, the $580 Monster Mirror Mystery Bounty event was easily one of the most attractive tournaments of the festival.
As expected, the mystery bounty format saw hundreds of players choose this particular tournament to take their shot, with a total of 976 eventually taking their seats. This created a prize pool of $488,000, nearly double the initial $250,000 guarantee.
The first-place prize went to Yoon Choi, who added $27,085 to his $259,000 in career tournament winnings, but he was not the biggest winner of the event.
One lucky player was fortunate enough to pull the largest bounty envelope worth $41,500 from a pile of more than 100 smaller prizes, making him the biggest beneficiary of the mystery bounty event.
