button in Safari$600 Deep Stack Kick Off Returns Bigger Than Ever with $1M Guarantee
The Borgata Summer Poker Open powered by BetMGM Poker gets underway today with one of the festival's marquee events, and it's bigger than ever.
After carrying a $600,000 guarantee last summer, the $600 Deep Stack Kick Off has received a major upgrade for 2026, with Borgata raising the prize pool guarantee to $1,000,000.
The event features six starting flights running from July 16-18, with players beginning each flight with 30,000 chips. Unlimited re-entries are available while registration remains open through the start of Level 13, and each Day 1 flight will play down until just 8% of the field remains.
Those survivors will return for Sunday's Day 2, which uses a Big Blind Rewind format to reset the blinds around a 40-big-blind average stack before play continues toward Monday's live-streamed final table.
The tournament has already proven it can generate a massive turnout. Last year's edition attracted 2,026 entries, easily surpassing its guarantee to create a $1,053,520 prize pool.
New Jersey local James Lauer emerged victorious, taking home $164,830 after defeating Angel Lopez heads-up.
The win remains the biggest live tournament score of Lauer's poker career and put his name on one of Borgata's signature titles.
| Place | Player | Country | Prize |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | James Lauer | United States | $164,830 |
| 2 | Angel Lopez | United States | $112,060 |
| 3 | Stephen Press | United States | $76,510 |
| 4 | Ryan McDonald | United States | $50,800 |
| 5 | Mark Grassi | United States | $34,630 |
| 6 | Maksym Pylypenko | United States | $26,450 |
| 7 | Jean Brillant | United States | $20,535 |
| 8 | Xiang Zou | United States | $16,325 |
| 9 | Marcus Banks | United States | $12,770 |