Borgata Poker Open: The Ultimate Player Guide 2026
Jerry Yang, the winner in 2007, had only been playing poker for two years prior to his victory. In 2023, the World Series of Poker introduced a $300 no-limit hold ’em bracelet event called Gladiators of Poker, its lowest-priced event. While the Main Event is the biggest – according to prize pool – event in the series; the Millionaire Maker ($1,500 buy-in) is next up top with its latest edition bearing a prize pool of $14,603,565. The 2006 Main Event, won by Jamie Gold, was the largest single poker tournament by prize pool or by entrant numbers in history; Gold pocketed US$12 million for his victory. In recent years, there have been non-bracelet events at the WSOP; two of the most notable are the “World Series of Rock Paper Scissors” and “Ante Up for Africa.” Crandell Addington is the only player to place in the top ten of the World Series of Poker Main Event eight times, albeit in earlier years with small fields compared to modern times.
Will came heartbreakingly close to winning a bracelet especially in 2-7 finishing second once, third twice, and fourth once. Huck Seed came really close to winning his first bracelet since 2003 (!) but ultimately lost heads-up to Blaz Zerjav, who is half his age. In the final hand, he hit a runner-runner flush on the river, while his opponent made a straight and committed all of his chips to the pot. Just last Tuesday, Pelz finished 3rd in the $3,000 Limit Hold’em, but now he has proven himself as a No-Limit Hold’em player as well. There were 24,629 entries, and the winner earned the equivalent of about 1,400 buy-ins in a single event.
WSOP Paradise Main Event winners
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On June 2, 2011, the World Series of Poker and Cirque du Soleil founder Guy Laliberté announced plans for an officially sanctioned special fundraising event, known as The Big One for One Drop, starting on July 1, 2012, with a record US$1 million entry fee. The 2023 Main Event took the record for entries, first-place prize, and prize pool. In July 2010, it was announced that the winner of the 2010 Main Event would receive just under US$9 million. Currently, Texas hold ’em, Omaha hold ’em and Seven-card stud and their lowball variants are played.
With the first seven-figure payday of his career, he moved up to second place in the rankings of the best players from his home state. Among the players who finished in the top 20 were Daniel Negreanu, Alex Foxen, Phil Hellmuth, and Shaun Deeb. Before this victory, Philip Ardire had recorded just six WSOP Circuit cashes over a 16-year span, with total live earnings of only $13.6K in WSOPC events. Among Liberto’s opponents at the final table were Brandon Shack-Harris (two WSOP bracelets) and Brad Ruben (five WSOP bracelets).
GGPoker Publishes the 2026 WSOP Online Schedule
- To close out the heads-up match in his favor, Liu needed just one showdown after nearly an hour of play against Justin Shiao.
- However, as often happens in the decisive stages of such tournaments, the situation at the table shifted dramatically more than once.
- This product consolidation isn’t growing the game.
- In the Venetian tournament, the $30,150 prize pool was paid out to the top 12 finishers including Stephen Sola (3rd – $3,901), Samy Dighlawi (5th – $2,059), Gary Moon (10th – $821), Sebastian Crema (11th – $821), and Tolga Karakaya (12th – $821).
- Since then, the WSOP Main Event has gone from strength to strength and in 2023 saw the biggest entry field with 10,043 players paying the $10,000 entry and produced the biggest winner ever!
Today, we continue that tradition with fresh daily updates, breaking news, tournament coverage, player stories, and expert insights that keep you connected to the fast-moving poker world. Among other things, visitors will find a daily dose of articles with the latest poker news, live reporting from tournaments, exclusive videos, podcasts, reviews and bonuses and so much more. The best place to watch live poker tournaments is usually by tuning in to live streams. Or you can register for live events online or register at the venue itself. There are many ways to enter a live poker tournament, a lot of operators will let you qualify online via online satellites or live satellites. Most Casino’s that offer poker will also allow you to play either cash game poker and or tournament poker.
Each year the popularity of the tournaments grows and new locations are added to the schedule to cater to the growing interest in poker in the region. The EKA’s reputation for excellence stems from its meticulously crafted tournaments, which boast sizable prize pools and a stringent commitment to preserving the integrity of the game. Beyond the games, the EPT is renowned for its electrifying atmosphere, offering players a chance to compete against world-class talent. The European Poker Tour (EPT), established in 2004, is one of the most prestigious live poker tournament series in Europe.
However, as often happens in the decisive stages of such tournaments, the situation at the table shifted dramatically more than once. Josh won his first bracelet in a $2,500 NLH event, and that victory pushed his career earnings past $6 million. Although Lionel Barracano eliminated Donald Briggs in 3rd place, he entered heads-up against the Korean player with a smaller stack. Later, Barracano did not play a single significant pot until the final five, and his stack dropped to 12 big blinds. It’s the pinnacle of achievements in mixed games, and this event is something really special to me.”
But when he does show up, Mike is still one of the toughest mixed-game players in the world. Daniel Negreanu made his fifth final table of the series but couldn’t convert it into another bracelet. Bruno Furth won one of the first PLO tournaments of the series after being down to just a single chip (100K — a little more than one big blind).
The winner beat Linus Goh heads-up for the win, while Goh earned $30,349 for his near win. The field reached 215 entries before registration closed, making for a $209,625 prize pool, more than double the $100,000 guarantee. He beat Arie Kliper, who received $45,261, heads-up to close out the win.
These tournaments become a meeting place for the best players where their skills, strategies and psychology are put to a serious test. July 10 was a busy day for the poker room cashier at the Wynn Las Vegas, where four tournaments played down to winners at the Wynn Summer Classic. Three poker players escaped difficult fields to win sizable amounts of money and a coveted Wynn replica trophy. A total of 253 players bought into the tournament, putting $130,295 in the prize pool.
Maranz previously worked on ESPN’s football pre-game show, and has also produced taped segments for NBC’s Olympic coverage. They included coverage of the entire tournament, with a “Featured Table”. In 1977, the first ladies-only event was introduced in the form of $100 buy-in Stud Poker Tournament. In 2025, Leo Margets of Spain became the first woman in 30 years, and second woman overall, to reach the Final Table; she would finish in seventh place, cashing for $1.5 million. Vanessa Selbst, Barbara Enright and Nani Dollison all have won three WSOP bracelets.
It took just over three hours of play to knock out the first seven players, but McKeehen and Greufe were very deep, so finding a winner lasted even longer than that. The annual migration cycle of poker players to Las Vegas for the WSOP is now over, and runners are now returning to the other poker hot spots for more action. The PLO event will end on Day 2 and the NLH edition will play down to a final table on September 1.
Eelis Pärssinen ranks second among Finnish players in all-time live tournament earnings and has focused primarily on PLO for the past 15 years. Homan Mohammadi is a professional chess player who only began playing live poker tournaments regularly later in life. The most accomplished player at the final table was Dennis Weiss, who already owned three WSOP bracelets, including one won earlier during this year’s series.
He captured his first title in a No-Limit Hold’em event back in 2015, while at the 2026 WSOP he came out on top in an Omaha mixed-game tournament. Like Schulman, Seiver is also a seven-time WSOP bracelet winner. First place in one of the few Seven Card Stud events at WSOP 2026 was claimed by cash game regular James Cheung. But once play got down to two or three players, he became more aggressive.
Everything — Texas Hold’em, Omaha, mixed games, tournaments, cash games, home games, and online sessions. “It didn’t take long for me to realize I absolutely sucked in certain limits against a group of players. My bankroll is fatter because of this software.” Set stop-loss, time limit, and win target alerts to stay disciplined and avoid tilt during live sessions.
Up to the final four, he did not make a single elimination, but his chip lead kept growing. The final table of Event #48 lasted more than 11 hours, and Anderson started it as the chip leader. Pärssinen entered the final day of Event #47 as the chip leader, holding half of the chips in play.
Carlos Leiva pulled off a surprise victory in the $1,000 Pot-Limit Omaha (PLO) event. He started playing Limit Hold’em at 18 and spent years learning and honing his skills. The High Roller event for seniors was only added to the WSOP schedule last year.
Mariano Balfagon gave his poker career a huge boost by winning $252,386 in an $800 event. Rostyslav Sabishchenko finished second, despite knocking out seven players in a row. Meanwhile, the bracelet went to Ferenc Deak, who speedran the final table in just 2.5 hours. After two wins at Aria and Venetian, he once again improved his biggest cash and this time earning $355,110 and a bracelet in the Ultra Stack, which drew 7,057 entries. Catz, one of the biggest poker enthusiasts in the world and founder of PokerGO, finally captured his first bracelet after three previous heads-up losses. They worked in his favor twice at the final table, including the final hand of heads-up play.
Per the terms of the new deal, CBS Sports was set to broadcast 15 hours of WSOP Main Event coverage plus 36 additional hours from select gold bracelet events. POKER PROductions has filmed WSOP bracelet final tables and the WSOP Main Event for PokerGO, a subscription video on demand service. The 2010 WSOP had the same number of bracelet events as in 2009, again with no rebuy events.
After the victory, Daniyal admitted that the prize money could change his life. All games are lottery games controlled by the Delaware Lottery. The next event on the schedule is the 2026 Borgata Summer Poker Open, taking place July 15 – 31. The Borgata Poker Open series takes place at the Borgata Hotel and Casino in Atlantic City, New Jersey. If you can’t make it to the Borgata Poker Open, don’t worry, you can find some of the livestream action over on YouTube. A brand-new, 18-table, cross-branded poker room at Borgata in Atlantic City, created through a collaboration between BetMGM and MGM Resorts International, opened in early September 2025.
With four players left, Chad Eveslage closed the gap on Yockey after knocking out two opponents in a row. The decisive hand in the one-on-one battle was a big pot where both players hit a pair of tens, but the American had the better kicker. The decisive hand came when both players made two pair, but Lou’s hand was stronger. The $387,110 payday immediately doubled his lifetime live tournament earnings.
In the tournament’s final preflop all-in, Shepsky secured the victory by pairing his second card. In Pot-Limit Omaha tournaments, Shepsky had never won more than $52K. However, heads-up play against Henry Benamram began with nearly even stacks, as the Frenchman had collected Mikko Torkki’s chips. Liu started the final table with a big stack of 65 BB and initially stayed out of major pots.
The World Poker Tour has an extensive history within the poker community, and the tour’s inception was an important part of poker history. Winning WPT Player of the Year is a prestigious honor that many tournament grinders strive to achieve, much like the World Series of Poker Player of the Year. Each tour stop awards points toward the Player of the Year race, which is awarded to one skillful winner at the end of each season. The World Poker Tour is one of the most prestigious poker tours in the world, as the name states. You can find WPT news, photos, videos, schedules, live reporting and see results all on PokerNews.com.
With this win, Koon passed Justin Bonomo to move into third place on the all-time money list. After winning his 7th bracelet, Nick Schulman is one step closer to being inducted into the Poker Hall of Fame. It seems his fearless and aggressive play was the key to cracking the high roller tournament. Nearly five hours of back-and-forth, laced with friendly trash talk, finally ended with Guagenti locking up his third career bracelet.
Please play responsibly and only bet what you can afford to lose. Online gambling regulations vary by country and state — always verify that any platform is licensed and legal in your jurisdiction before playing. Lucas Jumalon leads with 194M chips, followed by Rami Hammoud (79M), Jamie Shaevel (56M), Greg Mueller (48.5M), and Michael Gagliano (46.5M).
Winning consecutive bracelets in mixed-game championship events requires a level of versatility and stamina that few players possess. Since 1972, the Main Event of the WSOP has been the $10,000 buy-in no-limit Texas Hold ’em (NLHE) tournament (in 1971 the buy-in was $5,000 and the inaugural 1970 event was an invitational with winner determined by a vote from the players). It dates its origins to 1970, when Benny Binion invited seven of the best-known poker players to the Horseshoe Casino for a single tournament, with a set start and stop time, and a winner determined by a secret ballot of the seven players.
Michael Mizrachi is getting closer to his dream of catching Phil Hellmuth in the all-time WSOP bracelet race. In the final hand of the tournament, Atchison made sixes full of fives to defeat Fedunov’s flush. The American admitted that he usually plays the game at home with friends or as part of mixed-game rotations. She started the final day of Event #68 with 45 big blinds and shared second place in the chip counts with Lisa Teebagy. In the final hand of the tournament, Koji opened with a button raise, Nick called, and the hand went through all three draws. The Brazilian team significantly improved its position in the chip counts after eliminating the U.S. duo Jennifer Zewe / Vincent Moscati in seventh place.
