Brock Wilson Among Winners in Big, Big Series at Borgata
The Big Big Series is taking place all week at the Borgata in Atlantic City and Brock Wilson was among those to make money in the $10,200 Big, Big Baller event. With 69 total entries into sixth event of the series, David Stefanski took the title after a three-way deal saw the final heads-up match between Michael Wang and the eventual winner.
Variety Appeals in Atlantic City
The Big, Big Series has definitely struck a chord with locals and national players alike. Over the course of the $10,200 event, just nine players made the money but the level of excitement was dialled up to 11 and players who made the latter stages certainly made plenty of noise about it online.
When the final day began, only 13 players remained, but not all of them were in the money, meaning four more unlucky players needed to bust. The former WSOP Main Event winner Joe McKeehen was the first to fall, the 35-year 2015 world champion busted. Kharlin Sued followed him before the PokerStake player Cherish Andrewsfell just short of profit after a deep run.
There was another high-profile elimination when the four-time WPT Main Event winner Darren Elias headed for the exit door despite having started the day in a strong position to run deep himself. Elias’s elimination was followed by some players who had only late regged on Day 2 of the event, with Matthew Beinner, Salvatore Evola, David Kinane and Alex Queen all falling short of profit.
Bubble Bursts, Final Table Begins
Before the bubble burst, some of Day 1’s finest couldn’t survive to the final table. Daniel Monosson, lost with a full house, when the eventual winner David Stefanski made a superior boat of his own to reduce the field. Nicholas Verderamo lost his chips with ace-king when neither card hit and the same fate befell Edward Leonard, who left the other table in the tournament with Big Slick too.
Michael Wang took out the 2024 WSOP Main Event winner Jonathan Tamayo before Stefanski survived another elimination, sending play hand-for-hand when he took out Brandon Hamlet in 11th place. Out in 10th was the unfortunate Daniel Escherich as PokerStake seller Brock Wilson got lucky to put the remaining players in the money.
Nine still needed to go into eight to reach the official final table, and it was the unlucky Nick Palma, also known as ‘Nicky P’ who missed out on the lights and cameras to go with the action. All-in twice with the best hand, the truth is that Nicky P was unlucky, his ace-queen beaten by Wilson’s king-queen for the chip lead before Stefanski’s pocket nines overtook Palma’s pocket queens on the river, leaving a super-salty Palma (below) to sum up his feelings after cashing for $26,040.
“Oh well, lost AQ to KQ on stone bubble with 10 left to be chiplead then lost QQ to 99 when 9 hit the river to cash 26k,” he wrote on X. “All good, I’ll just show up and dominate every tourney I play until I’m dead.”
That’s one way of looking at it.
Glantz Defeated, Wilson Whiffs
With eight left, the popular player Jeremy Becker busted for a score of $29,325. Running his ace-queen into Clemen Deng’s ace-king, Becker’s bust-out was followed by that of Brock Wilson. He hay have sucked out to eliminate Palma, but winning a coinflip against David Stefanski proved beyond anyone at the final table, and left Brock on the outside looking in with $33,380 in seventh place.
The 2026 WSOP Main Event finalist Michael Gagliano busted in sixth place for $38,785. Stefanksi was at it again and continued his red-hot streak by removing Deng from the reckoning with top two pair, the latest casualty of a runaway chip leader departing with $46,295.
Soon, play was three-handed, as Matt Glantz lost his chips to Wang in a blind-on-blind battle that left him heading for the cash desk and $62,530. With just a trio of players left, a deal was both discussed and agreed, as each player was guaranteed to leave with six figures.
With the deal agreed, Stefanski picked up where he’d left off, and picked up his scythe once again. Chopping down O’Connell in third for a deal-boosted score of $156,675, the winner had the lead heads-up and made good use of it, sending Wang home with $127,750. Stefanski claimed $169,220 as the winner and his biggest win of a poker career since he took down The Wynn Summer classic in June last year.
The Latest Big, Big Champion Speaks
After his excellent win, Stefanski spoke about riding it out to claim the title, four events after he lost a 5:1 chip lead to end Event #2 as runner-up instead of champion.
“It was a much different heads-up experience last time,” he said. “I had a huge chip lead, just nothing went my way. Today against Mike [Wang], I got very good hands. I was able to close it up.”
Starting the day with a huge stack, Stefanski credited his work on Day 1 as laying the foundations for his success at the denouement of the event.
“It was nice that I came in with six and a half starting stacks. There were some incredible players [here] – some of the best players in the area.”
Now over $3 million in live tournament cashes in ranking events, Stefanski deserves plenty of credit for victory with so many great players in the mix, including plenty of PokerStake’s finest.
“It’s a great accomplishment in my career. I’m happy with how my year has gone and hope to keep it going.”
| Borgata 2026 Event #6 $10,200 Big, Big Baller Final Table Results: | |||
| Place | Player | Country | Prize |
| 1st | David Stefanski | United States | $169,220* |
| 2nd | Michael Wang | United States | $127,750* |
| 3rd | Drew O’Connell | United States | $156,675* |
| 4th | Matt Glantz | United States | $62,530 |
| 5th | Clemen Deng | United States | $46,295 |
| 6th | Michael Gagliano | United States | $38,785 |
| 7th | Brock Wilson | United States | $33,380 |
| 8th | Jeremy Becker | United States | $29,325 |