'I manifested this': Lion of Atlantic hunts BetMGM split-property win

When Kareem Cowart told his friends he was going to win the Lions of the Atlantic before it even started, he meant it. “I’ll show you my texts,” he said after the victory. “I already told everybody I’d won this tournament. I manifested this.”

That belief became reality late Sunday night inside the Borgata Poker Room, where Cowart turned a $600 entry into $305,000 and the biggest win of his poker career. The $2,000,000 guaranteed event, co-hosted by Borgata and MGM National Harbor, spanned two weeks and drew 3,693 total entries. And while the guarantee wasn’t quite hit, both venues stepped up and covered the small overlay to keep the full prize pool intact.

Kareem Cowart collected a new high score with $305K .

From the middle of the pack

Cowart didn’t start Day 2 among the big stacks. That distinction belonged to Shajan Paul, who led the 301 returning players when the cards went in the air for the $2 million guaranteed prize pool. By the end of the marathon session, Daniel Buzgon had taken control, bagging over 9 million and the chip lead among the final 27 players.

When the final table began, Buzgon was still the chip leader, but Michael McGrath was the one who came out flying. He surged to the top of the counts in the early going, winning a series of big pots to take the final table chip lead. Meanwhile, Cowart started in the middle of the pack, carefully navigating a mix of aggressive pros and tight grinders.

“Some of them were playing tight, some were aggressive,” he said. “I was just trying to stay away from the hot hand and figure everyone out.”

Michael McGrath jumped out to an early lead on Day 2.

Patience pays off

As the field narrowed, Cowart’s patience paid off in the biggest hand of the tournament. Buzgon moved all in with ace-jack and was called by Cowart, who held the same hand, but with him slightly covering Buzgon’s stack.

The flop and turn offered a flush draw to Cowart, and a diamond on the river gave Cowart the goods, sending Buzgon out in fifth place for $65,000. The brutal cooler flipped the momentum completely, and Cowart never looked back.

By the time the tournament was three-handed, it was Cowart who held the chip lead and all the confidence in the room.

From there, Cowart methodically pushed his advantage. “When you’re running good, you don’t force it,” he said. “You just keep applying pressure and make them figure it out.”

McGrath, who had controlled much of the early final table, ran into tough spots down the stretch, losing a few key all-ins when the cards were on their backs. McGrath fought his way to heads-up play, but Cowart’s momentum was unstoppable.

Heads-up play only took five hands.

Fast work

It took just five hands of heads-up play for Cowart to seal the win and claim the $305,000 first-place prize.

“This feels amazing,” Cowart said, beaming. “It’s something really big off my vision board. I’ve come in second before, I’ve won smaller tournaments, but I wanted a big one, something that felt like proof.”

Poker isn’t Cowart’s full-time pursuit. He owns a construction company, manages rental properties, and coaches his kids’ football teams. “I don’t travel on the circuit like I’d like to,” he said. “I don’t want to miss my kids’ activities. This is literally the first tournament I’ve played all year.”

That made the victory even sweeter. “It’s not about the money,” he said. “With all due respect, that part doesn’t change my life. It’s about knowing I could do it. It’s the bragging rights. I crossed something off my vision board.”

As Cowart held the trophy, his energy was pure joy mixed with conviction. “I was manifesting this every day,” he said. “During breaks, in the mornings, I was meditating, saying I already won. The last time I came in second in a big one, I did the same thing. So I repeated the process. Manifestation is real, man.”

BetMGM Lions of the Atlantic 2025 final table results