Another round-up from the US Poker Open live from the PokerGo Studios at the ARIA, Las Vegas including victories for Jordan Cristos and Lauren Roberts in the $10,000 Pot-Limit Omaha and $10,000 No-Limit Hold’em.
People stand in basketball courts shooting free throws, others walk around the gym afraid to use the ‘complicated’ equipment, and a line of people wearing trousers, blazers and ties line up at McDonald’s hoping to catch a sausage and egg McMuffin before the boards change.
Then you have the PokerGO Studios at ARIA.
No hoops.
No ‘complicated equipment.’
Not a tie in sight.
Only poker.
The US Poker Open is three events old. The last time our whorls pressed on the strange hieroglyphics we call ‘letters’, Stephen Chidwick, began the defence of his title by taking down Event #1: $10,000 No-Limit Hold’em with the nonchalance of a Sunday UK drinker mopping up his gravy with the thick end of a Warburton’s loaf.
Two more events have come and gone like digestive biscuits breaking into a cup of hot tea, both of which were $10,000 events, one with two cards in the hole and one with four.
Event #2: $10,000 Pot-Limit Omaha (PLO) pulled in a 64-entrant field, and Jordan Cristos dominated Day 2 like a potato masher in a pan of soft King Edwards.
The World Poker Tour (WPT) Champions Club member, eliminated every member of the six-handed final table most of which were men bang in form. Sean Winter and Martin Zamani had both won $25,000 events at the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure (PCA). Cary Katz had won the AUD 100,000 Challenge at the Aussie Millions, and Manig Loeser only lost the AUD 50,000 Challenge after agreeing to move all-in blind when heads-up with Toby Lewis.
Boom!
Kapow!
Bish!
Bash!
Crunch!
Five Batman like speech bubbles later only Cristos had chips.
It was the seventh time Cristos had won a live poker tournament; the first time in a PLO contest, and he was humble about it claiming to be one of the weakest players in the tournament.
Final Table Results
1. Jordan Cristos – $179,200 (200 points)
2. Manig Loeser – $128,000 (140 points)
3. Martin Zamani – $83,200 (100 points)
4. Adam Hendrix – $64,000 (80 points)
5. Cary Katz – $51,200 (60 points)
6. Sean Winter – $38,400 (40 points)
Lauren Roberts Wins Event #3: $10,000 No-Limit Hold’em
You’re more likely to see an astronaut in work’s attire in a dirty movie than a woman competing in a high roller competition, and it’s even rarer to see them holding the winning hand in the air.
The high stakes cash game star, Lauren Roberts, defeated 91-entrants to take the $218,400 first prize in Event #3: $10,000 No-Limit Hold’em, and that included beating the likes of Stephen Chidwick, Sean Winter and Koray Aldemir.
Chidwick was making his second final table of the three, and Winter appeared in his third. Winter’s tournament ended in the fifth position, but Chidwick would make it to the final three spots before clearing the way for Aldemir and Roberts to duke it out.
Aldemir began the heads-up phase with a chip lead as wide as a bull’s neck, but Roberts doubled once and caught the German bluffing to take over before ending things when A4 beat Q3 for all the snowflakes.
It’s the first time that a female has won a US Poker Open event in it’s short and sweet history.
Final Table Results
1. Lauren Roberts – $218,400
2. Koray Aldemir – $159,250
3. Stephen Chidwick – $113,750
4. Brandon Adams – $91,000
5. Sean Winter – $72,800
6. Ralph Wong – $54,600
7. Rodger Johnson – $45,500
8. Jerry Robinson – $36,400
The defending champion holds the overall lead going into Event #4: $10,000 Short-Deck.
2019 US Poker Open Standings
1. Stephen Chidwick – 300 points
2. Jordan Cristos – 240 points
3. Sean Winter – 240 points
4. Lauren Roberts – 200 points
5. Manig Loeser – 180 points
