David Peters and Keith Tilston won events, while Stephen Chidwick won everything

This was the third cash for Peters in the 8 events, while Tilston made it into the money four times. In the meantime, Stephen Chidwick is the official USPO champion.

The #07 $25,000 NLHE Event generated a total of 50 entries, which meant, that the total prize pool reached $1.25 million and $400,000 was awarded to the winner. This tournament was also filled with the best players in the world, as almost everyone who counts, spent the last week at Aria Casino.

Isaac Haxton reached the money for the third time in the USPO by finishing 8th, which this time meant a cool $50k for the poker wizard. Ike amassed a total of $341,250 in the series.
Matthew Hyman was the next player out, he finished 7th for $62,500. The final table saw plenty of familiar faces as Sean Winter was the only one who hadn't reached the final table at any of the 6 USPO events before. Other than him all players made big money in the debuting festival.

Daniel Negreanu busted at 6th place, increasing his USPO earnings by $75,000. He lost his remaining chips against Sean Winter. In the last hand for Daniel, Sean opened from the button with pocket Jacks and Negreanu moved in from the big blind with Ace-eight. Winter made the quick call and took down the pot to bust Daniel.

The seasoned pro was followed by online high-stakes crusher, Ben "Ben86" Tollerene. Ben - a USPO champion himself - was out when he 3-bet shoved from the big blind against the button open of Peters. Tollerene was ahead, holding ♠A♦4 against ♠Q♠T, but the flop was rather favorable for David as the ♦T♣T♣Q was turned up by the dealer. Ben could only hope for miraculous running aces, but he couldn't manage to do magic because the ♠4 on the river meant he was drawing dead. Tollerene left the table to pick up his $100,000 for finishing 5th.

Former runner-up of the series, Keith Tilston got 4th, for $125,000. Tilston made an unsuccessful bluff against Peters on the board of ♦3♥2♣7♠A♣4 with ♥8♥7. He was called quickly by his opponent who held ♣A♠7 for top two pairs.

As we mentioned before, this was the first deep run for Sean Winter in the US Poker Open. Sean shoved his last 690,000 chips from the small blind and David Peters in the big had an easy decision to call, holding ♠Q♦J. Unluckily for Winter, his ♣Q♣7 was dominated and even though he had some opportunities to chop the pot on the board of ♦8♦A♠K ♣A, the ♥3 on the river didn't bring the expected outcome and he was out in 3rd place for a nice $175,000 prize.

The heads-up play started with Stephen Chidwick holding a lead and he was able to stretch the gap after catching a bluff by David. At one point Chidwick was more than a 2-to-1 favorite and had pretty good chances to take down another one. However, David Peters is not known for giving up easily. He managed to double up and take the chip lead with ♣A♣9 against the ♦K♥T of Chidwick's in a pre-flop all-in confrontation.

David finally took down the title in the following hand. He even made it look easy. He looked down at ♠A♥A and raised to 175,000. Chidwick who held ♣Q♠2 3-bet to 500,000 which David called. The flop of ♦8♣A♣8 gave a full house to Peters. Although he had nothing but a bare Queen high, Stephen decided, to pull a huge bluff, firing on every street, with an all-in bet on the river. David was happy to call it down and capture the title.

Final results

USPO #08 – $50K NLH Main Event

Keith Tilston making a name for himself in the poker world

The last event of the US Poker Open was #08 $50K NLHE Main Event. The biggest buy-in event of the series attracted 33 players, who generated a prize pool of $1.65 million and the winner walked away with $660,000 and the pride of becoming the first ever USPO Main Event Champion. The final table kicked off with 5 players, who all belong to the creme of the poker world. Dan Smith finished 5th for $132,000 after he his two pairs couldn't hold against the pair+flushdraw of Tilson's.

The next player out was Tom Marchese, who lost the majority of his chips thanks to a three-barrel bluff against Negreanu. He was crippled in that hand and busted in the very next one. Tom earned $165,000 for his efforts. The three-handed play ended, when Daniel Negreanu ran into tens, holding nines against Jake Schindler. Daniel couldn't catch any of the two remaining nines, and he was sent to the rail, which this time was worth $264,000 for him.

The two remaining players hold a total of 350 big blind, with Tilson holding a commanding chip lead. However, Schindler managed to decrease the lead of his opponent for a short period of time. After this, Keith got the momentum, as he picked up some small to medium pots. In the last hand, Jake Schindler made a big bluff on the river, holding only eight high and got called by the nut flush of Keith's. The tournament was over and with this $660,000 score Tilson increased his total earnings for the series to $1,047,100 which is good for the second place. Jake cashed for $429,000.

Final results

Stephen Chidwick, the USPO Champion

Even though Keith Tilson made an impressive run and even caught the biggest single prize of the festival, it was none other than Stephen Chidwick who became the first USPO champion, with an incredible performance during the week. He won two of the eight events and also managed to reach 2nd and 3rd places in two other events. His combined earnings for the series amount for a whopping $1,256,600.

US Poker Open Championship Standings

(photo credit: pokercentral)