Paul Volpe Wins Big, Big Championship as Brock Wilson Finishes Fourth
The latest big winner in the Big, Big Series was a name known to everyone in the poker industry – Paul Volpe. At a high-quality final table, PokerStake seller Brock Wilson ran all the way to fourth place for yet another six-figure score, while Frank Lagodich agreed to a deal when heads-up that gave him almost as much as the winner.
A Big, Big Field
The Big, Big Series at the Borgata in Atlantic City has featured big fields and a lot of winners. With 519 total entries in the $5,300-entry Big, Big Championship, a prize pool of $3,000,000 was paid out to 65 players, including the 2024 WSOP Main Event winner Jonathan Tamayo (53rd for $17,025), WPT legend Bin Weng (42nd for $17,025), 2026 World Championship finalist Michael Gagliano (32nd for $20,450), Team Lucky’s Matt Glantz (24th for $24,235), TV writer and former WPT Player of the Year Matt Salsberg (21st for $29,345), and the WSOP Ladies Event runner-up Aubrey Williams (20th for $29,345).
On the bubble of the final table, Lucas Bernui cashed for $42,095 in tenth place, his king-jack losing out to David Kinane’s ace-ten. All the money went in on the flop of J-T-4, only for a ten to land on the turn and give Kinane trips that eventually sent Bernui home and preserved Kinane as the short stack.
The leader when the nine-handed finale commenced was Frank Lagodich, who led from Volpe and the former WSOP Main Event winner Scott Blumstein. The first player to leave the action busted to the eventual winner, as Paul Volpe called off his stack on the turn of a jack-high board by the turn with pocket jacks and was correct to do so, with the at-risk Sead Duraku shoving with pocket aces. No two-outer miracle came on the river of a king and Duraku headed home with $53,865.
Brock Wilson Wins Big Again
With eight players left, the Argentinian player Julian Altieri busted for $64,585. All-in with king-queen, he was dominated to defeat by Volpe’s ace-king, which flopped an ace to easily knock out another opponent. Big Slick might have worked for Volpe, but the at-risk David Kinane found it unable to help him. He moved all-in with ace-king only to lose to Tyler Hirschfield’s suited queen-nine, which turned trip nines to send Kinane home with $79,100.
The former world champion Blumstein raise-called off his stack with pocket sevens, only to lose a flip to Brock Wilson’s ace-king. The PokerStake seller’s overcards hit when an ace fell on the flop and no sevens or running cards arrived to save Blumstein. He cashed for $97,865 as Brock’s tournament looked likely to run deep. Certainly deeper than the Indian player Sanat Mehrotra, who soon won $122,850 in fifth place. His ace-king was overtaken by Volpe’s ace-ten, as the chip leader grew more powerful.
Brock Wilson had been more than surviving, but his ace-eight only served to double up the stack of Hirschfield, whose ace-queen served the purpose at Brock’s expense. Soon, Brock was all-in again. This time, he had the best hand, his king-queen ahead of Hirschfield whose jack-ten prevailed after a ten landed on the flop to reduce play to three-handed, sending Brock (below) home with $175,080.
Volpe Vaults to Victory
“I think even though poker is growing, we’re seeing less of the wild man. Having characters is important for poker.”
Hirschfield had ridden his luck to defeat Wilson but lost his stack to Paul Volpe soon after. All-in on the river of an 8-7-2-9-9 board, Volpe had the goods with jack-ten and Hirschfeld paid the price, wrongly calling off his stack with ace-nine for rivered trips, cashing for $263,150 in third. That pot gave Volpe a very healthy lead of almost 3:1 heads-up, with his stack of 15.25 million way ahead of Lagodich’s 5.5 million chips.
The remaining duo decided that enough cards had been played and a deal was struck. With the chip lead, Volpe agreed to take the title and $492,415, while Frank Lagodich won $420,000 as the tournament’s runner-up.
“I wouldn’t chop with everyone for sure,” said Volpe after making the deal that ended the event early. “We both were kind of tired. I’ve played against Frank a bunch here, some at the WSOP, he’s a no-limit solver studier, he’s super tough. There are certain people that I wouldn’t chop with, and maybe certain people wouldn’t chop with me. I know the audience loves to see the finish but that’s not the reality sometimes, it’s generally up to the players.”
Asked about characters in the game of poker, Volpe was revealing in his defense of them.
“You need them,” he said. “I think even though poker is growing, we’re seeing less of the wild man. Having characters is important for poker. They’re still here and we need to keep them in the game for sure.”
The day had gone smoothly for Volpe and while he deferred on No Limit Hold’em being his best game, still considering himself more of a mixed game player, he explained how he negotiated the day in detail.
“At one point I was down to eight blinds, then I just managed to spin it up,” he said. “Early on I won my nines versus kings. After that I just continued to keep going, I made a lot of hands. To win one of these you have to run good, you have to play good, luck is more important in the short term.”
| Borgata 2026 $5,300 Big, Big Championship Final Table Results: | |||
| Place | Player | Country | Prize |
| 1st | Paul Volpe | United States | $492,415* |
| 2nd | Frank Lagodich | United States | $420,000* |
| 3rd | Tyler Hirschfeld | United States | $263,150 |
| 4th | Brock Wilson | United States | $175,080 |
| 5th | Sanat Mehrotra | India | $122,850 |
| 6th | Scott Blumstein | United States | $97,865 |
| 7th | David Kinane | United States | $79,100 |
| 8th | Julian Altieri | Argentina | $64,585 |
| 9th | Sead Duraku | United States | $53,865 |