Andrew Chang has won the $2,200 Big, Big Kick Off at Borgata for $182,000 after recovering from a stack that fell as low as five big blinds. The American beat a 456-entry field and then overturned a huge heads-up deficit against David Stefanski to secure the biggest recorded live tournament cash of his career.
The result came during the BetMGM-powered Big, Big Series at Borgata Hotel Casino & Spa, where the opening event generated a $1 million prize pool. Chang entered heads-up play roughly five-to-one behind before gradually turning the match around.
Chang Survives the Short-Stack Danger Zone
Chang’s route to the title was anything but comfortable. During the final day he dropped to around five big blinds and repeatedly had to survive all-ins just to stay in the tournament.
By the time the field reached five-handed play, Chang had already locked up more than his previous best live cash of roughly $38,000. That milestone could easily have become the story of the day, but he kept climbing instead.
The final table also included Nick Pupillo, Jeremy Becker and Michael Wang, while former WSOP Main Event champions Jonathan Tamayo and Joe McKeehen were among the players who cashed earlier in the event. It was therefore a strong field rather than a soft local event that happened to carry a large guarantee.
Five-to-One Down Heads-Up
Chang reached heads-up play against Stefanski with only around 10 big blinds and a stack deficit of roughly five to one. In tournament poker that is the sort of spot where one lost race can end the night before momentum has any chance to develop.
Instead, Chang chipped away at the gap over the next two levels. He eventually moved ahead and closed the tournament when king-jack held against Stefanski’s ace-three after Chang paired his jack on the flop.
The final board ran jack-seven-seven-eight-nine, leaving Chang with two pair using the paired board and his jack. Stefanski collected $126,375 for second, while Namit Patel finished third for $87,725.
Big, Big Kick Off Final Table
| Place | Player | Prize |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Andrew Chang | $182,000 |
| 2 | David Stefanski | $126,375 |
| 3 | Namit Patel | $87,725 |
| 4 | Dylan Gordon | $58,425 |
| 5 | Nick Pupillo | $40,950 |
| 6 | Jeremy Becker | $32,625 |
Another Career-Best Circuit-Style Breakthrough
Chang’s win fits a pattern Poker Type has covered repeatedly this year: one strong live run can completely reshape a player’s tournament résumé. Curtis King’s WSOP Cherokee victory provided a recent example, with a difficult year suddenly turning into a career-best title.
The Borgata result is not a WSOP Circuit event, but the dynamic is similar. Large regional festivals create fields where experienced pros and local grinders collide, and the eventual winner can leave with a payday that changes the scale of every previous result.
Chang now has exactly that kind of score on his record. A player who began the final day trying to survive with a handful of blinds left Borgata with $182,000, a trophy and the biggest win of his career.
The Big, Big Series continues with larger events still to come, including the $10,200 Big, Big Baller and $5,300 Championship. Chang has already set a high bar for the stories that follow.
