Baruch Fishman had cashed five times in his tournament career before this summer, banking a combined $6,172 along the way. None of that history hinted at what was coming at the 2026 Borgata Summer Poker Open, where Fishman fired a single $500 bullet into the Almighty Stack and outlasted 2,209 entries to win the title and $108,840.
A Massive Field for a Low Buy-In
The $500 Almighty Stack drew 2,209 entries, building a prize pool of $927,780 for an event that most players treated as a lower-stakes, high-volume side event rather than a marquee attraction on the Borgata Summer Poker Open schedule. That kind of turnout at a $500 price point is exactly why low buy-in events with deep structures have become such a fixture on major series calendars. They pull in a mix of grinders trying to build a bankroll and recreational players like Fishman who show up without much expectation of running deep, and the sheer size of the field means whoever wins it has genuinely beaten a small city’s worth of competition.
From Cash Games to a Career-Best Score
Fishman’s background sets his run apart from the usual tournament grinder profile. Originally from Israel and now living in Philadelphia, where he works as a dental technician, Fishman has spent roughly 15 years playing cash games rather than building a tournament résumé. “It feels unreal to be honest,” Fishman said after the win. “I just started playing tournaments, and this is obviously the deepest I’ve ever run.” Going from five career cashes worth a combined $6,172 to a six-figure tournament score in a single event is the kind of jump that only really happens in poker, where a single deep run can rewrite a player’s entire tournament track record overnight.
An Unusual Twist in the Final Deal
The Almighty Stack final table whittled down to nine players before a three-way ICM deal reshaped the payouts among the last three names standing. Fishman locked up the win with $108,840, which included $15,480 reserved specifically for whoever took the title outright. Runner-up Yuriy Kudrynskyy of Ukraine collected $92,920, while third-place finisher William Shaw of the United States actually walked away with more than Kudrynskyy, banking $107,340. That outcome, third place outpacing second, is not a misprint. ICM deals are built around chip stacks at the moment the deal is struck rather than final finishing order, so it is entirely possible for a player who eventually busts in third to have held more equity in the deal than the player who ultimately finishes second.
The Rest of the Final Table
Behind the top three, the remainder of the final table featured a mix of players chasing smaller but still significant scores. John Malczan finished fourth for $44,375, followed by John Wilson in fifth for $30,225, Raymond Ferretti in sixth for $23,075, Toby Gafner in seventh for $17,895, Will Failla in eighth for $14,210, and Michael Mann rounding out the table in ninth for $11,100. The steep payout curve from ninth to first illustrates just how much value was concentrated at the very top of a field this size, and why a deep run in an event like this can transform a player’s year in a single weekend.
A Familiar Story in Deep-Field Events
Low buy-in events with structures deep enough to reward patience have a long track record of producing exactly this type of champion. A $500 price point keeps the door open for players who might never consider firing a $1,500 or $3,000 tournament, which in turn pulls in a wider mix of skill levels and experience than a higher-stakes event would. When a field balloons past 2,000 entries, the eventual winner has to survive dozens of hours of play against a constantly shifting mix of opponents, some grinding for a living and others, like Fishman, simply hoping to see a few late levels. That combination is part of what makes low buy-in results so unpredictable, and the 2,209-entry turnout at this year’s Almighty Stack shows just how much appetite there still is for accessible buy-ins on a stacked summer schedule.
What the Win Means Going Forward
For a field of this scale, the eventual champion is almost always someone whose name was not on anyone’s shortlist beforehand, and Fishman fits that mold perfectly. His background as a longtime cash game player rather than a tournament regular also fits a familiar pattern seen throughout deep-stacked, high-volume events, where strong post-flop instincts built at the cash tables can translate cleanly once a player decides to give tournaments a real run. For players hoping to make a similar leap from cash games into tournament results, understanding how payout structures and bankroll swings work is essential groundwork. Poker Pro Academy’s how to play poker guide is a useful starting point for anyone considering their first low buy-in event with a field this deep. Fishman, for his part, now heads into the rest of the poker calendar with a career-best score and a story that instantly outweighs his previous five tournament cashes combined.
