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$2,200 Big, Big Mystery Bounty
Day 2 Completed
2026 Borgata Big, Big Series
$2,200 Big, Big Mystery Bounty
Day: 2
Event Info
2026 Borgata Big, Big Series
Final Results
Event Info
Level Info
Players Info - Day 2
Buy-in
$2,200
Prize Pool
$500,000
Total Entries
232
Places Paid
24
Level
25
Blinds
25,000 / 50,000
Ante
50,000
Entries
24
Players Left
1
Players Left 1 / 232
Filter
Level 25
: Blinds 25,000/50,000, 50,000 ante
Mystery Bounty formats have become popularized all across the country over the past couple of years, having been adopted by casinos and tours all over the country. The most recent materialization of the Mystery Bounty format came here at the Borgata Hotel Casino and Spa in Event #5: $2,200 Big Big Borgata Mystery Bounty, an event that guaranteed two $50,000 bounties and two $25,000 bounties. What wasn't guaranteed was that one player would take home just about 40% of the $500,000 prize pool.
Aaron Pinson and Matt Glantz got heads up and chopped for the remaining tournament prize money and the chance to pull all of their remaining bounties. They flipped for the trophy and Pinson won the flip, then each player went to go pull their bounties. With Glantz holding six to Pinson’s one, it seemed that the odds were favorable for Glantz to pull the last $25,000 bounty. Pinson went first and took home the final $25,000 bounty, bringing his overall bounty total up to $150,000. Now crowned as the champion, his total haul from the tournament sits at $199,825.
“I was not imagining $200k this morning, that seemed crazy,” Pinson said just moments after his win. “Not my favorite format, but results oriented it’s my favorite format. I came into the day with a bottom third stack and I ran like fire today and had the luckiest run of cards. I got $200,000, it seems silly. I just gambled a lot today.”
The Maryland poker player has cashes dating back over a decade all along the East Coast. With over $2.4 million in recorded lifetime earnings and many cashes at Borgata as well, this marks his first victory on the property. He further broke down the series of events that led to the deal.
“Crucially, three-handed I got sevens in against Mike Wang who had tens. I hit a seven and he said ‘maybe that will be the $50k for you,’, I went and plucked the $50k. Came back, decided to chop the prize pool heads up because Matt’s better than me. He had saved all his bounties, I had been pulling them all day and I was like ‘alright I’m going to pull my bounty and you can keep the rest’ and then bam! $25,000!”
This large piece of the prize pool is usually not available for traditionally structured tournaments. It would only be in specific bounty tournaments that an 40% haul is available, albeit unlikely, for players to win. Pinson talked about whether or not he had done this before.
“I have once, a PKO in my home casino. It must have been a $350 buy-in, we played it down to a winner and I got 40% of the prize pool. That’s the only other time.”
While he admitted that it’s not his favorite format, a smile spread wide across the newest champion of the Borgata in the moments after pulling each of the massive bounties. A shout of exhilaration accompanied his first $50k pull early in the day, a look of happiness mixed with disbelief when he pulled the second $50k late in the day, and joyous laughter as Glantz thought he was joking on the final pull for $25k. A $10k, a $5k, and four $2,500 pulls were scattered throughout the day.
“420 bop,” Pinson joked about what his preparation for the day was. “I was lucky today. I beat better players, for sure. You just show up, try to keep a positive attitude. You sign up to lose tournaments most days you walk into a casino. Some people can’t handle it, all of us can’t handle it somewhat. As Andrew Chang said when he won the Kickoff ‘they picked me today.’”
“No thank you,” Pinson said on his likelihood of firing the neighboring tournament the $10,000 Big Big Baller. “I intended and am still most likely to go home for two days, maybe not. I’ll come back for the second flight of the $5k. That was the plan, maybe I’ll alter. I might stick around for the PLO.”
“Stick with the game for 16 years, I never had any money forever and then it changed 15 or 16 years in. The heater begins!”
Event #5: $2,200 Big Big Borgata Mystery Bounty
| Place | Player | Country | Prize |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Aaron Pinson | United States | $44,825* |
| 2 | Matt Glantz | United States | $44,825* |
| 3 | Michael Wang | United States | $25,500 |
| 4 | Michael McNicholas | United States | $17,225 |
| 5 | Dylan Lemery | United States | $12,725 |
| 6 | Victor Ramdin | United States | $10,325 |
| 7 | Paul Spitzberg | United States | $8,525 |
| 8 | Pashk Gjini | United States | $7,125 |
| 9 | Justin Arnwine | United States | $5,950 |
Day 2 Action
It was an action-packed day as the final table was reached before the first break of the day was. Chips were flying, bounties were pulling, and many of the game’s biggest names battled it out. Matthew Beinner (24th-$3,475), Bijay Lama (22nd-$3,475), and Bartley Dowling (20th-$3,475) were some of the first to fall. It was Dowling’s elimination at the hands of Pinson that saw the first $50k bounty pulled and awarded to him. After that; Joe McKeehen (18th-$3,475), Justin Liberto (15th-$4,200), BetMGM Ambassador Michael Lavin (14th-$4,200), and WPT champion Kharlin Sued (13th-$4,200) all fell.
The final player eliminated before the final table was Richard Newman at the hands of Michael McNicholas. Newman’s ace-queen could not hold up on the river against McNicholas’ jack-ten. A tenth place finish for Newman brought him $4,950, while McNicholas pulled a $25k just prior to the final table starting.
Final Table Action
It wouldn’t be long at the final table before the fireworks started flying. Just before the first break of play, Justin Arnwine would limp back-jam his stack with pocket twos in the small blind, only for Michael Wang to look him up with pocked queens. Wang would take over a third of the chips remaining with eight players left while Arnwine took home $5,950 for his ninth place finish.
Pashk Gjini started the final table as the shortest stack and his laddering journey came to an end shortly after. He moved in his final chips from first position holding king-queen and McNicholas looked him up from the big blind holding jack-ten. It would prove fruitful for McNicholas once more as he made three jacks while Gjini finished in eighth place, collecting $7,125 for his efforts.
Next to go would be Paul Spitzberg in seventh place, also at the hands of McNicholas. He got in his pocket kings in preflop and McNicholas held him at risk with ace-queen. An ace-high flush would come in on the end for McNicholas to put him in a steady second place at the table while Spitzberg went to the payout cage to collect $8,525
Despite starting the day as the chip leader, nothing could get going for Victor Ramdin at the final table. Eventually Ramdin would get his final few chips in with king-queen against Matt Glantz’ ace-queen. Glantz flopped top two and left Ramdin drawing dead on the turn and the WPT champion won $10,325 for his sixth place run.
Glantz would be the executioner on the next elimination as Dylan Lemery got in his final chips with ten-nine against Glantz’ ace-king and McNicholas’ pocket fives. An ace-high board would send the pot Glantz’ way while Lemery finished in fifth place for $12,275, his second final table of the week.
There would be no recovery for McNicholas after this and his last chips would go to Pinson a little while later. A river was seen on a board containing two deuces, with McNicholas holding top trips with ace-two. He would bet and then call off against Pinson who had rivered eights full to take another bounty into his haul. McNicholas’ fourth place run was good for $17,225 and his selection of sizable bounties.
Wang’s luck came to an end when his pocket tens got in against Pinson’s sevens. A seven on the flop would spell the end for the WPT champions’ run and Pinson took a lead into the heads up portion of play. “This bounty is the $50k” said Wang as he handed Pinson on his way to the payout cage, collecting $25,500 for his third place finish. Wang wouldn’t be lying as Pinson pulled the slip out of the drum just moments later.
Chopping the heads up evenly saw both players flipping for the trophy, with the flip going Pinson’s way and giving him one bounty to draw versus Glantz’s six. He pulled the biggest one remaining and Glantz collected $44,825 for his second place finish and $30,000 for his bounty pulls.
That will conclude today’s coverage of Event #5: $2,200 Big Big Borgata Mystery Bounty. Be sure to check back into PokerNews tomorrow for continued coverage of the Big Big Series.
*denotes deal made
Level 25
: Blinds 25,000/50,000, 50,000 ante
The players drew their bounties and Pinson took home the final $25,000 Bounty.
With his pull of this final bounty, he wins $150,000 in bounties on top of his first-place prize.
Final Table Results
| Place | Player | Country | Prize |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Aaron Pinson | United States | $44,825* |
| 2 | Matt Glantz | United States | $44,825* |
| 3 | Michael Wang | United States | $25,500 |
| 4 | Michael McNicholas | United States | $17,225 |
| 5 | Dylan Lemery | United States | $12,725 |
| 6 | Victor Ramdin | United States | $10,325 |
| 7 | Paul Spitzberg | United States | $8,525 |
| 8 | Pashk Gjini | United States | $7,125 |
| 9 | Justin Arnwine | United States | $5,950 |
Stay tuned to PokerNews for a full recap later to come.
*Denotes heads-up deal
Level 25
: Blinds 25,000/50,000, 50,000 ante
The players opted to pull their own bounties and flip for the title, with each player taking home $44,825.
Matt Glantz: 10♦6♥ 
Aaron Pinson: 9♠3♦
The board ran out K♦9♥9♣6♦4♣ and the three tens were good for Pinson to win the trophy.
Level 25
: Blinds 25,000/50,000, 50,000 ante
The two players have agreed to an even chop with the winner of the trophy determined by a flip. Each player will pull their own bounties, with Glantz holding six bounties and Pinson holding one.
Aaron Pinson - $44,825*
Matt Glantz - $44,825*
Stay tuned to see who wins the flip.
*denotes deal made
Level 25
: Blinds 25,000/50,000, 50,000 ante
As the players stepped away for a few minutes, Aaron Pinson walked away to go pull his most recent bounty collected.
He reached in and pulled out the final $50k bounty of the tournament. Pinson now sits with $130,000 in collected bounties so far, with the chance to pull just one more if he beats Matt Glantz heads up.
Here are the remaining bounties in play.
| Bounties | Number |
|---|---|
| $50,000 | 0 |
| $25,000 | 1 |
| $10,000 | 1 |
| $5,000 | 3 |
| $2,500 | 2 |
Level 25
: Blinds 25,000/50,000, 50,000 ante
Aaron Pinson called in the small blind and Michael Wang raised to 175,000 in the big blind. Pinson moved all in for 1,350,000 effective and Wang called to put himself at risk.
Michael Wang: 10♥10♣
Aaron Pinson: 7♦7♣
The board ran out A♠9♦7♥6♠9♠ and the sevens full of nines was good to take down the pot.
"This bounty is the 50k," said Wang as he handed over his bounty slip to Pinson.
Level: 25
Blinds: 25,000/50,000
Ante: 50,000
Level 24
: Blinds 20,000/40,000, 40,000 ante
Matt Glantz raised to 80,000 on the button and in the big blind, Michael Wang called.
The flop rolled out 10♦6♣5♦ and Wang check-called a bet of 75,000 from Glantz.
Wang checked the turn J♠ over to Glantz who bet 250,000 and Wang released his hand.
Level 24
: Blinds 20,000/40,000, 40,000 ante
Aaron Pinson raised to 80,000 from the button and Michael Wang moved all in for 670,000 in the small blind to see Pinson call.
Michael Wang: A♠7♠
Aaron Pinson: 5♥5♣
The board ran out A♣Q♦3♥Q♥6♦ and the aces and queens was good for Wang to take down the pot.