Stephen Chidwick takes down USPO #03 - $25,000 NLHE event

The UK pro made back to back finals, as he's currently sitting on the final table of the $25,000 Mixed Game Championship with a healthy stack.

A total of 44 players attended the third event of the debuting US Poker Open in Aria Casino, Las Vegas, generating a prize pool of $1.1 million. As expected the final table of the prestigious event was made up of top players, only professionals remained in the top 7. The first one to make the money was Nick Schulman, who finished 7th which earned him $55,000.

Stephen Chidwick, who started out with the shortest stack but managed to double up early when he open-shoved with ♥J♦T against Daniel Negreanu's pocket-eights. The board ran out ♦5♦4♠A ♦6♥T so the river saved Chidwick.

After a few hands, it was Seth Davies, who busted out in a blind versus blind confrontation against fellow US player, Keith Tilston. Davies limped in from the small blind with pocket sevens and decided to back-raise for all of his chips after Tilston made it 70,000 from the big blind. After some thanking the latter finally called, holding ♠A♣T and the two were flipping.

Board:

Tilston took the lead on the flop and managed to hold. Seth Davies earned $66,000 for finishing 6th.
 

Chidwick was patiently climbing the ladder. He doubled up again against the chip leader, Tilston in a hand where Keith open-shoved from the button against the short stacks in the blinds. Stephen made a quick call from the small.

Chidwick:
Tilston:

Board:

The next player out was Brent Hanks. He couldn't win a coin-flip against Chidwick, who shoved from the small blind against Brent in the big.

Chidwick:
Tilston:

Board: :

Stephen locked it on the turn, hitting one of the last remaining deuces in the deck to make a full house. Hanks cashed for $88,000 in the 5th place.
 

Although he became short stack again for a short period of time, Chidwick climbed back and busted also busted the next player. Jake Schindler open-shoved from the button and Chidwick made a quick call in the big blind.

Schindler:
Chidwick:

Board:

Even though Jake picked up an open-ender on the turn, to increase the number of his outs to 12, he wasn't able to spike any of them. He left the table in 4th place to pick up $110,000 at the cage.
 

Hand #104 started with a button raise of 100,000 from Tilston and continued with an all-in for 1,020,000 from the big blind, by Daniel Negreanu. Keith called, so the two were turning up their cards.

Negreanu:
Tilston:

"Alright, drawing live, I love it," said Negreanu when looking at his opponent's cards, but he couldn't remain that optimistic for too long as the board ran out ♦A♣3 ♣6 ♥3 ♣9. Daniel earned $165,000 for finishing on the third step of the podium but was probably more excited about the $25,000 Mixed Game Event, than the prize. He certainly needs to cash for more to win his side-bets.

At one point of the heads-up play, Keith was 6 outs away from the trophy but this time luck was on Chidwick's side. The hand in question, saw Chidwick limping in with pocket nines from the button and Tilston checking his option in the big blind, holding ♠Q♦7. On the flop of ♠J♥8♥Q Tilston bet out for 200,000 and his opponent called. On the ♠7 turn the aggressor decided to over-shove for 1.14 million. Chidwick made the call to see the bad news. He only had 6 outs with his pocket pair and gutshot straight draw.

However, the river was a miraculous ♦9 and Chidwick took the chip lead. From this point, the Englishman started to increase his lead over the American. He was a 9-to-1 overdog before the last hand of the tournament. In Hand #156 Keith shoved for his last 6 blinds from the button and Stephen made a quick call.

Tilston:
Chidwick:

Board: :

Tilston finished 2nd, which made him $242,000, while Chidwick took down the trophy and the $374,000 coming with it.

Man of the day, Stephen Chidwick (photo credit: pokergo)

Stephen now has almost $10.5 million in live tournament earnings, but odds on him increasing that number very quickly are pretty low, as he has the 3rd biggest stack in the $25,000 Mixed Game Event with only 6 players left. Daniel Negreanu finished this event in 7th place, which earned him $56,250.

Mixed game tournaments are rarely seen, so it was no wonder many players will show up to prove their all-around poker talent. The event generated 45 events, generating a prize pool of $1.125 million, $382,500 going for the winner. Recently introduced Partypoker Ambassador, Isaac Haxton is leading the field, but he has several sharks to swim with on his way to victory, as players like the great Phil Hellmuth or Benjamin Pollak are still in.

Final table chip counts:

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