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Coleem Chestnut Roasts the Field on Day 2 of the Borgata Summer Poker Open $600 Deep Stack Kick Off
Borgata regular Coleem Chestnut felt right at home today on Day 2 of the $600 Deep Stack Kick Off, the first event of the 2026 Borgata Summer Poker Open.
Chestnut leads the six players who return tomorrow at noon local time for the live-streamed final table. The Brooklyn, New York native bagged up 19,725,000 to finish atop the chip counts. Chestnut’s wave of bustouts on his way to building a big stack included flopping a wheel against Paul Spitzberg. He has live recorded earnings of nearly $100,000 dating back to 2013 on The Hendon Mob, all of them coming here at Borgata.
Final Six Chip Counts
| Rank | Player | Country | Chip Count | Big Blinds |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Coleem Chestnut | United States | 19,725,000 | 66 |
| 2 | Derek Childress | United States | 15,750,000 | 53 |
| 3 | Lingyu Zen | United States | 13,450,000 | 45 |
| 4 | Jordan Williamson | United States | 13,375,000 | 45 |
| 5 | Craig Robertson | United States | 6,100,000 | 20 |
| 6 | Leo Saiag | United States | 2,975,000 | 10 |
Derek Childress is Chestnut’s closest challenger after two massive hands once the field reached the nine-handed final table. Childress first flopped the nut flush to bust defending champion James Lauer in eighth place, and then picked up aces in the big blind for a massive double up off Robert Hwang. The Virginia native ended up with 15,750,000 and is in second place heading into tomorrow’s final table.
Lingyu Zen was nearly the odd man out of the feature table. He was all in after flopping top pair with king-queen, but Chestnut showed down ace-king. Zen was on his way to being the last bustout of the day until a lucky queen fell on the turn to give him two pair and the double up. He finished with 13,450,000 and in third place.
Jordan Williamson (13,375,000) rounds out the top stacks, while Craig Robertson (6,100,000) and Leo Saiag (2,975,000) will be looking for help at the start of the final table tomorrow.
The Borgata Summer Poker Open got off to an astounding success, as the first event drew a massive field of 2,390 entries over six starting flights. Just 191 players returned for Day 2, and Lauer was one of the top stacks as he sought to go back-to-back over consecutive big fields. Lauer was left short after Saiag cracked his kings on the river, but he then loudly celebrated a series of double ups to get back into contention. His run at consecutive titles, though, came to an end after another bad beat to Childress. “Is this real?” Lauer lamented on his way to the rail.
Final Table payouts
| Place | Player | Country | Prize |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $195,925 | ||
| 2 | $133,055 | ||
| 3 | $90,775 | ||
| 4 | $60,205 | ||
| 5 | $40,975 | ||
| 6 | $31,260 | ||
| 7 | Robert Hwang | United States | $24,215 |
| 8 | James Lauer | United States | $19,205 |
| 9 | Chadd Beatty | United States | $14,985 |
From those 191, just these six remain for a chance at the $195,925 top prize and Borgata championship trophy. The six finalists have already locked up $31,260 for making it this far. The action on Day 3 picks up with 38 minutes remaining in Level 33 with blinds of 150,000/300,000 and a 300,000 big blind ante. Levels remain 40 minutes at the final table.
PokerNews will be back from inside the luxurious Borgata poker open tomorrow, following all the action from the feature table and providing updates until a champion is crowned.