Blake Vodges Is Crowned the New Borgata Winter Poker Open Champion

One other version of the Borgata Poker Open is within the books, as the ultimate occasions of the 16-day collection wrapped up in Atlantic Metropolis this weekend. Hundreds of gamers descended on the town to attempt their luck within the competition, together with quite a few on-line qualifiers who discovered their seats by BetMGM Poker and Borgata Poker.

A complete of 75 occasions have been performed with a mixed assure of $8,000,000, which was shattered over the course of the collection, though the Championship occasion itself didn’t handle to interrupt its $3,000,000 assure.

When all was mentioned and carried out, it was Blake Vodges who would carry the Borgata Winter Poker Open trophy together with $457,980 in prize cash, following a chop with second-place finisher Jack Kwon.

Different key occasions included the $400 Almighty Million, the $600 Deepstack Important Occasion, and the $580 Monster Mirror Thriller Bounty, all of which blew all prize pool expectations out of the water.

The Championship Attracts Practically 1,000 Entrants

The $3,500 Borgata Winter Poker Open Championship occasion was the spotlight of the collection. The match featured a boosted $3,000,000 assured prize pool and ended up attracting a grand complete of 895 gamers, which meant the prize pool would stay unchanged.

As is normally the case with Borgata occasions, the Championship was attended by plenty of high-profile gamers, together with 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 ultimate desk.

Busquet was ultimately eradicated in sixth place, and Blake Vodges was sitting because the quick stack on the 5-handed desk. With simply $237,451 in match cashes earlier than the occasion, he had locked up the most important win of his profession and was most likely able to take a bow.

But, his fortunes would shortly change, because it took solely a 45-minute heater, throughout which he was dealt pocket Aces twice, for Vodges and Kwon to eradicate all different title contenders.

When it got here all the way down to heads-up play, the 2 agreed to separate the prize cash, with Kwon taking dwelling simply over $407,000, and Vodges taking the lion’s share of the prize pool.

Here’s a have a look at all the ultimate desk payouts from the Championship occasion:

The $400 Almighty Winter Kickoff Ushers within the New 12 months

The $400 Almighty Winter Kickoff was the primary occasion of the yr at Borgata, and it marked the beginning of the Borgata Winter Poker Open for 2026.

With an reasonably priced buy-in and an enormous $1,000,000 prize pool, the occasion was at all times going to attract in a crowd, but it surely ended up surpassing expectations, as a complete of 4,082 entries have been made, making a prize pool of $1,306,240.

When all was mentioned and carried out, it was an area participant with loads of earlier success in Borgata Open occasions, Michael Renna, who took dwelling the most important slice of the prize pool, as he gained $190,740 within the $400 occasion, almost doubling his lifetime match winnings.

The likes of Thomas Cullis ($129,145), Jonathan Kim ($87,900), and Tin Chan ($58,220), additionally had an exceptionally good day, whereas a complete of 512 gamers turned their $400 buy-in into at the very least $815 by making the cash.

The Almighty Winter Kickoff set the best tone for the remainder of the competition and confirmed the poker world that Borgata continues to be one of the crucial engaging locations on the planet to play poker, although Atlantic Metropolis is now not the playing capital it as soon as was.

Yoon Choi Wins the Monster Mirror Thriller Bounty Occasion

Whereas it was removed from the most important buy-in or prize pool of the Borgata Winter Poker Open, the $580 Monster Mirror Thriller Bounty occasion was simply one of the crucial engaging tournaments of the competition.

As anticipated, the thriller bounty format noticed a whole lot of gamers select this specific match to take their shot, with a complete of 976 ultimately taking their seats. This created a prize pool of $488,000, almost double the preliminary $250,000 assure.

The primary-place prize went to Yoon Choi, who added $27,085 to his $259,000 in profession match winnings, however he was not the most important winner of the occasion.

One fortunate participant was lucky sufficient to tug the biggest bounty envelope price $41,500 from a pile of greater than 100 smaller prizes, making him the most important beneficiary of the thriller bounty occasion.