Clutch wins, life-changing scores bring heat to Borgata Winter Open

Posted on: January 18, 2026 19:43 PST

The curtain has come down on the Borgata Winter Poker Open, where the last two weeks featured a total of 75 tournaments and satellites, headlined by the $3,000,000 Winter Open Championship and other Atlantic City favorites.

PokerOrg was on scene from tip to tail with live coverage of the marquee events and thousands of photos from every other tournament throughout the 16-day series.

Big stories and live-changing scores dominated the marquee events all week. An unlikely comeback lifted Blake Vogdes to the Main Event title from the short stack in five-handed play, while Akash Hotwani took down the Deepstack Main Event after a pep talk from his wife.

Let's take a look at a few other champions from throughout the winter festival:

Aubrey Williams closes Hybrid Championship

Aubrey Williams took an online chip lead into real life and finished the job.

Aubrey Williams, who came into the final tale of Event #4: BetMGM Hybrid Championship as the chip leader, saw the chip lead disappear during the first few hands of play as the final seven players made their way to live streets from the online felt. Those first few hands quickly turned into a distant memory as the Williams steamrolled the rest of the field enroute to the $52,540 first-place prize, her first career BetMGM/Borgata Trophy, and her largest career cash.

"I just kind of played my hands," Williams said of the momentum she was able to build early at the final table. "In the big picture, this doesn't change too much, but it sure does feel good for the confidence. I played well at the final table, but I mean, I maxed late regged this online, so I ran pretty pure."

BWPO BetMGM Hybrid Championship final table results

Aubery Williams - $52,540
Tyler Hirschfeld - $39,625
Sanat Mehrotra - $27,875
Jacob Modert - $20,750
Eric Vanauken - $16,125
Julian Penze - $12,375
Corey Malinowski - $9,625

Reporting from Keegan McCann.

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Mann gets Nguyen

Michael "Casey" Mann took down the $2,200 PKO.

The day couldn't have started any better for Michael "Casey" Mann as he came into the final table of Event #26: $2,200 Progressive Bounty Knockout with the chip lead and scored one of the first three eliminations of the day. However, from there, it turned into a slugfest as he battled back and forth with Jason Nguyen for the chip lead, with both players trading punch after counter punch.

About two hours into the match, Mann called down Nguyen with bottom pair to turn the tables and eventually closed out the tournament in style, capturing his second Borgata/BetMGM trophy, the $76,910 first-place prize, and a staggering $105,000 in bounties over the three-day event.

"I just wanted to come in and play my game, obviously be very aggressive, play big bully stack," Mann said of his early final table performance. "I was playing with really solid players, two of whom are pretty well known, and I respected the ton out of their game, but I just kept coolering people. Then heads-up was a whole different story."

The two players Mann referred to, Samuel Taylor, who won the 2017 Borgata Spring Championship, and WPT Champion Fred Normand, were handcuffed in chips to start the day thanks to Mann's chip lead, which made things a little easier for the eventual champion.

BWPO Progressive Knockout Bounty final table results

Michael "Casey" Mann - $76,910 + ~$105,000 in bounties
Jason Nguyen - $76,860
Frederic Normand - $54,180
Samuel Taylor - $40,070
Aaron Hendi - $30,040
Xiang Zou - $23,435

Reporting from Keegan McCann.

Ladies winner mixes it up

Mixed-games player Lee Ilagan held on for a big win.

As the hours ticked into the morning and the room cleared out of the Event Center at Borgata Spa and Casino on a late Saturday night, just one tournament was left playing to a winner.

Event #36: $380 Ladies Championship drew a total of 113 to generate a prize pool of $35,030 that 15 women saw a piece of. 1:30 rolled around and the two trophies found their place with a new owner, the newest champion of the series.

Lee Ilagan ended up victorious after defeating Emily Flax in their heads up match. Hailing from New Jersey, Ilagan has secured herself a new career high score to add to her Hendon Mob resume as well as new biggest NLH cash.

"I do still prefer mixed," the newly crowned champion said, making reference to her cashes in HORSE, O8, and Stud over her past tournament cashes.

Throughout the final table, Ilagan was hovering around the top chip stack while Lana O'Brien was holding a commanding lead of the table. Ilagan eventually found a couple of clashes with her that would see O'Brien taking third place while Ilagan took a sizable lead into the heads up portion of the tournament.

"I was just trying to hang on," Ilagan told us after the win.

Reporting from Liam Gannon.

Borgata Winter Poker Open Ladies Championship final table results