Blake Vogdes has taken an early lead in the 2026 Card Player Player of the Year race thanks to a big win in Atlantic City. The New Jersey resident outlasted 895 entries in the Borgata Winter Poker Open $3,500 buy-in $3,000,000 guaranteed no-limit hold’em championship event to earn $457,980 and 1,368 POY points. He now has a 228-point lead over second-ranked Jack Kwon in the POY standings presented by CoinPoker.
Kwon was the runner-up in this event. The two cut a heads-up deal to redistribute the payouts a bit, bringing the event to an end with Kwon earning $407,110 for his second-place showing.
This win was by far the largest score yet for Vogdes, easily surpassing the $50,400 he secured with a fourth-place finish in a $5,000 event at last year’s PokerGO Tour Kickoff festival. He now has nearly $725,000 in recorded cashes to his name.
Vogdes had plenty of tough competition to contend with down the stretch in this event, including bracelet winner and World Series of Poker main event final tablist Thomas Cannuli (9th – $42,970), 2013 Borgata Fall Poker Open champion Greg Himmelbrand (8th – $54,995), and 2009 World Poker Tour Borgata Poker Open winner Olivier Busquet (6th – $85,300). The former online heads-up sit-and-go crusher now has nearly $9.2 million in lifetime earnings after this latest deep run.
Five-handed action began with Vogdes as the clear short stack, but he strung together several double-ups to overtake the lead. He then outlasted Benjamin Morgan (5th – $109,925) and Duane Mitchell (4th – $159,570) before eliminating Zachary Fischer (3rd – $243,245) with A♥A♣ against A♠5♥.
Vogdes held more than a 2:1 lead after scoring that knockout. The tournament-ending deal soon followed. Kwon was awarded 1,140 for his efforts. This was his first six-figure score.
Final Table Results
| Place | Player | Payout | POY Points |
| 1 | Blake Vogdes | $457,980 | 1,368 |
| 2 | Jack Kwon | $407,110 | 1,140 |
| 3 | Zachary Fischer | $243,245 | 912 |
| 4 | Duane Mitchell | $159,570 | 684 |
| 5 | Benjamin Morgan | $109,925 | 570 |
| 6 | Olivier Busquet | $85,300 | 456 |
| 7 | Kyle Grupp | $67,655 | 342 |
| 8 | Greg Himmelbrand | $54,995 | 228 |
| 9 | Thomas Cannuli | $42,970 | 114 |
Photo credit: Poker.Org
