Joseph Molitor raised to 50,000 under the gun before Nicholas Verderamo three-bet to 125,000 on the button. Molitor then moved all in for 400,000, and Verderamo snap-called.
Joseph Molitor: A♠Q♣
Nicholas Verderamo: A♦A♥
Verderamo had Molitor crushed with his aces, while Molitor picked up some outs on the 6♥J♦10♠ flop with a straight draw. The 2♥ turn was no help, while the river came the 9♣ to send Molitor to the rail.
At another table, Mike Dentale raised to 75,000 in the cutoff, Tanupat Punjarojanakul moved all in for 350,000 from the big blind, and Dentale called.
Tanupat Punjarojanakul: 6♥6♦
Mike Dentale: A♥Q♣
Punjarojanakul remained in the lead through the turn on a board of 9♠5♦5♣10♣, but Dentale hit the Q♠ on the river to win the pot and earn the knockout.
Xiaoqiong Liu was also recently eliminated in a flurry of bustouts within the last few minutes.
Nicholas Verderamo chopped a battle of the blinds with Ricky Landais and then raised it up to 55,000. Adam Kim three-bet to 140,000 one seat over and Changfeng Fan then moved all-in thereafter.
Verderamo folded and Kim sigh-called with a near identical shorter stack.
Changfeng Fan: 10♠10♦
Adam Kim: A♥K♦
The board ran out A♦9♦2♠7♠9♠ and both stacks were counted. Kim's 615,000 covered by a mere two big blinds and Fan was the first casualty on Day 3.
At noon local time, the penultimate day of the 2026 Borgata $2,700 Summer Poker Open Championship Event is set to recommence and 24 players out of 565 total entries return to their seats in the poker room of the Borgata Hotel Casino & Spa in Atlantic City to battle for the largest slice of the B]$1,356,000 prize pool[/B].
During the final hands of last night, Ricky Guan took over the lead and will return with the largest tally of 2,145,000, but he is only five big blinds ahead of Nicholas Verderamo (2,035,000). The gap between third-placed Concetta Rinaldi (1,795,000) and Bin Weng (1,790,000) is even smaller and amounts to a single smallest chip denomination.
The top ten for Day 3 furthermore include Ricky Landais (1,010,000), Mike Dentale (1,000,000) and Gregory Bauer who likewise are separated by a mere fraction of a big blind.
Top Ten Chip Counts for Day 3
Rank
Player
Country
Chip Count
Big Blinds
1
Ricky Guan
United States
2,145,000
86
2
Nicholas Verderamo
United States
2,035,000
81
3
Concetta Rinaldi
United States
1,795,000
72
4
Bin Weng
United States
1,790,000
72
5
Michael Renna
United States
1,540,000
62
6
Sean Ruane
United States
1,130,000
45
7
Joel Mitchell
United States
1,060,000
42
8
Ricky Landais
United States
1,010,000
40
9
Mike Dentale
United States
1,000,000
40
10
Gregory Bauer
United States
995,000
40
Mike Dentale
Three women are still in the mix to potentially claim the top prize of $242,385 with Xiaoqiong Liu and Austen Yueh joining Rinaldi on the final three tables. Both have the exact same stack of 360,000, which is good enough for 14 big blinds when the action resumes.
Yueh and Liu gained their entry into the event in a $250 satellite on BetMGM Poker and that has also been the case for fellow BetMGM qualifier John McDonald (785,000), whereas James Tedrow (490,000) spent just $25 qualifier and made it through on a single bullet.
Day 3 is set to recommence with level 21, which contains blinds of 15,000-25,000 with a big blind ante of 25,000. The level duration increases to 90 minutes each and the goal for the penultimate day is reaching the final six players for tomorrow's grand finale.
Remaining Payouts
Place
Prize (in USD)
Place
Prize (in USD)
1
$242,385
8
$28,160
2
$167,985
9
$22,945
3
$116,525
10-11
$18,150
4
$77,345
12-15
$14,965
5
$54,100
16-23
$12,475
6
$42,975
24
$10,345
7
$34,620
Prize Pool
$1,356,000
All 24 players have locked up $10,345 for their efforts and the next pay jump will be secured at the very next elimination. With action clocks in play giving players 20 seconds to act preflop and 30 seconds thereafter, it shouldn't take long to whittle down the field either. The final nine will receive at least $22,945 and the first six-figure prize awaits for the final three players.
The PokerNews live reporting team will be on the floor from start to finish and you can also follow the cards-up coverage and commentary of the remaining two days on the BetMGM YouTube channel on a 30-minute delay.