Borgata Summer Poker Open Championship Opens With $1 Million Guarantee
Atlantic City’s festival runs through July 31, and PokerNews is live from six marquee events across the series.
The 2026 Borgata $2,700 Summer Poker Open Championship opens at Borgata Hotel Casino & Spa in Atlantic City with a $1 million guaranteed prize pool and three starting flights set for July 26 through July 28. The first Day 1 heat starts at 12:15 p.m. local time.
According to PokerNews, the festival runs from July 16 through July 31 and carries more than $4 million in guarantees across no-limit hold’em, pot-limit Omaha, and mixed-game events. Its live reporting team will follow the championship from the first shuffle until a winner is crowned on July 31.
The championship gives every player 40,000 chips, including the voluntary add-on. Unlimited reentries are available during the first ten 60-minute levels, late registration stays open until the start of Day 2, and level lengths remain 60 minutes on Days 1 and 2 before stretching to 90 minutes on Day 3.
PokerNews also said it will cover six marquee events with chip counts, hand updates, photos, and winner interviews. That list includes the $600 Deep Stack Kick Off, $650 Pot-Limit Omaha Championship, $650 Super Deep 6-Max, $500 Borgata Almighty Stack, and $580 Monster Mirror Mystery Bounty.
BetMGM Poker’s blog said online qualifiers start at $10, and that seats come with cash for gas or other transportation, meals, and accommodations. It also said the live section of the BetMGM YouTube channel will include four cash game streams and numerous live final tables during the festival.
The opening $600 Deep Stack Kick Off has already produced a winner. Derek Childress beat a field of 2,390 and took $170,610 after a heads-up deal with Lingyu “Roger” Zen.
That opening event’s guarantee rose from $600,000 in 2025 to $1 million this year. Childress said he came in hoping for a min-cash, then made Day 2, reached the final table, and won the whole thing.
The series also has deeper New Jersey roots. The historical notes cited in the coverage reach back to June 2008, when the schedule had 14 tournaments. One archive example shows a $2,700 Championship drawing 685 entries, building a $1,644,000 prize pool, and ending with Olivier Busquet beating Abraham Gordon for $255,135; another $5,200 Championship drew 399 entries and paid Allen Bari $500,250.
Day 3 is set to play down to the final six if possible.
