In the early hours of the morning in a mostly empty tournament room, the final four players of the Omaha 8 Championship began to discuss a chop, with the shortest stack among them being Tom Hedlund with just three big bets. As the talks continued and the odds dropped of any deal being reached, an agreement was struck that the players would continue for another level before bagging.
Three players would go on to put their chips in a bag, with Hedlund once more as the shortest stack, and they returned to play at 1pm the following afternoon. After two and a half hours of play, most of which was a lengthy heads-up match, Hedlund took down the tournament for his first title at Borgata and over $15K - his biggest lifetime score.
Tom Hedlund survived a lengthy heads-up battle to collect a new high score. "That was a grind," the champ told us just moments after his win. "1:15 to 5:15, I was on three or four cups of coffee, drinking lots of water, staying hydrated. I was focused and locked in. That's as good as I can play."
Being down to just a starting stack at the final table before bouncing back to eventually win, Hedlund discussed his own love of the game.
"O8 is basically my only game, hold'em kind of bores me. I love the multi-faceted nature, I like my acumen and ability in the game, I like my approach. Of the few things I'm confident in, this is one of the things I understand well, and that I can excel at."
'My dad taught me the game'
Hedlund had plans to make it down to Las Vegas over the summer, but was unable to make it down due to a family tragedy.
"I meant to go down to Vegas this summer to play the in the WSOP's Mixed Omaha and then the regular PLO, but my father had a heart attack the day I was going down. We didn't know if he was going to make it, so I called it off." Hedlund's father passed away in July.
After Hedlund won his title, he used a photo of his father in front of his chips to memorialize the man who taught him how to play.
"My dad taught me the game way back in the day. I used to play online, I played at Foxwoods for ten or so years and I just couldn't go back to hold'em. I started taking tournaments more seriously about a year ago and seriously pursuing it more.
With this win here, Hedlund now collects a handful of points on the mixed games leaderboard and the potential motivation to play some of the other events of the series.
"I don't know too much about this mixed leaderboard but I had already planned on playing in the mixed PLO this next Sunday. I live in northern Connecticut, so I may make it down to one more."
Borgata Winter Poker Open 2026 Omaha Championship final table results
| Place | Player | Prize |
|---|
| 1 | Tom Hedlund | $15,730 |
| 2 | Menachem Rosenberg | $9,660 |
| 3 | Ron Fast | $6,300 |
| 4 | John V. Comeau IV | $4,370 |
| 5 | Robert Michaels | $3,230 |
| 6 | Ilya Dyment | $2,710 |
