button in SafariColeem Chestnut Tops Day 1b; Maurice Hawkins Among the Bigger Stacks
The second and penultimate starting flight of the 2026 Borgata $2,700 Summer Poker Open Championship drew a field of 156 entries to boost the overall attendance to 245 and set the crown jewel of the 2026 Borgata Summer Poker Open on track to meet and easily surpass the $1 million guarantee at the Borgata Hotel Casino & Spa in Atlantic City.
Once the ten levels of 60 minutes each were completed, only 43 players bagged up chips and Coleem Chestnut topped the Day 1b leaderboard with a stack of 359,000. Only a few days ago, Chestnut finished in fourth place in the $600 Deep Stack Kick Off for $60,205 and continued his run-good by accumulating one chip shy of nine starting stacks.
That puts him in second place overall across the 67 Day 2 survivors so far and John McDonald follows in third place after advancing with 324,500 from Day 1b. Among the top ten finishers tonight were also Joel Mitchell (232,500), Wesley Shi (226,000), and WSOP Circuit ring record winner Maurice Hawkins (225,000).
Top 10 Chip Counts for Day 1b
| Rank | Player | Country | Chip Count | BB Day 2 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Coleem Chestnut | United States | 359,000 | 144 |
| 2 | John McDonald | United States | 324,500 | 130 |
| 3 | Corbin Avery | United States | 262,000 | 105 |
| 4 | Gregory Fishberg | United States | 256,500 | 103 |
| 5 | Samuel Ick | United States | 255,000 | 102 |
| 6 | Joel Mitchell | United States | 232,500 | 93 |
| 7 | Wesley Shi | United States | 226,000 | 90 |
| 8 | Maurice Hawkins | United States | 225,000 | 90 |
| 9 | Nicholas Verderamo | United States | 224,000 | 90 |
| 10 | Adam Agaev | United States | 216,500 | 87 |
Among the notables advancing from this flight were also the 2015 WSOP Main Event champion Joe McKeehen (199,000), $650 Super Deep 6-Max winner Li Liang (186,000), Boris Kravets (186,000), Tanupat Punjarojanakul (81,000), and Michael Sydnes (60,000).
The already very jovial and banter-filled atmosphere at the tables in general was further boosted by the trifecta of Nicholas Palma, Mike Dentale and Hawkins on three neighbouring tables who didn't hold back to communicate back and forth with plenty of trash-talk. Palma was short-stacked in level three when his pocket queens were cracked by pocket eights but avoided a re-entry to bag up 88,000 in chips.
Dentale ran good early on to flirt with the top of the leaderboard, but once he was left short towards the end of the night, he got involved in a very vocal altercation in the last level. Floor staff responded instantly and awarded a full orbit penalty after which Dentale was escorted out of the tournament area. He returned to his seat thereafter but quickly lost the remainder of his stack.
Other well-known local players to bow out on Day 1b included Mitch Garshofsky, BetMGM ambassador Michael Lavin, Nick Pupillo, Will "The Thrill" Failla, Dylan Smith, last year's runner-up Abraham Gordon, and Alex Queen. Sharman Olshan had already bagged up chips on Day 1a and attempted to run up a larger tally, but she will return with her 65,500 from Day 1a for the time being.
Failla lost one of his tournament entries on Day 1b in a memorable clash with Dave Stefanski and his re-entry later on wasn't crowned by success either.
Matthew Zambanini was able to build a large stack mid-way through the day also aided by flopping a set to crack pocket aces, but his hot run was cooled down in the late stages to instead boost McDonald in a big clash before Samuel Ick claimed the rest of the chips.
One starting flight remains and Day 1c is set to kick off at 12.15 p.m. local time on Tuesday, July 28, 2026. The local Borgata staff expects a bumper field of more than 300 entries based on previous editions and that would put the 2026 Borgata Summer Open Championship with a chance to surpass last year's 685 total entries. The late registration remains open until the start of Day 2 at noon local time on Wednesday, July 29, 2026.
Stay tuned right here on PokerNews to follow the exclusive live updates from the Borgata Hotel Casino & Spa in Atlantic City until a winner has been crowned on July 31, 2026.