David Peters won the Poker Central US Poker Open when it last ran in 2019. He successfully defended his title after a flurry of awe-inspiring results in the 2021 US Poker Open’s biggest events.
Peters won Event #7: $10,000 No-Limit Hold’em on June 10 to give himself a chance of retaining his title. He cashed in Event #8: $10,000 Pot-Limit Omaha, but failed in Event #9, which Ali Imsirovic to put him top of the pile by some distance.
Event #10 was the $10,000 Short Deck event. Only 27 players bought into this specialized tournament, and Peters outlasted them all. The talented American banked $124,200 for his victory in addition to 124 championship points.
Peters Takes Down Back-to-Back Tournaments
Peters secured back-to-back victories when he shone brightest in Event #11: $25,000 No-Limit Hold’em. The man from Ohio was the last man standing from a field of 69. His reward? A cool $465,750.
That final table started six-handed and lost its first player on the first hand. Frank Funaro busted after a clash with Ivan Zufic.
Vanessa Kade went from hero to zero when she fell in fifth place. Kade was sat with almost half the chips in play at the start of five-handed play but lost a couple of substantial pots to crash out. It was Peters who sent Kade to the rail, his ace-king holding against Kade’s ace-eight.
Event #1 champion, Jake Daniels, busted in fourth place. Daniels found himself nursing a short-stack of eight big blinds when his tournament ended. He open-shoved with ace-five, Peters called with queen-ten, and a queen on the flop resigned Daniels to a fourth-place finish.
Peters sent Dan Shak to the showers after an intense three-handed battle. Heads-up lasted only a single hand. Zufic raised to 475,000, and Peters called. A three-eight-queen flop saw Zufic lead for 375,000, and Peters called. Both players checked the ten on the turn, and Zufic checked the four river. Peters set his opponents all-in for his 1.2 million stack, and Zufic called. Zufic showed pocket nines, but Peters’ set of ten was more than enough to seal the win.
| Place | Player | Prize | Points |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | David Peters | $465,750 | 279 |
| 2 | Ivan Zufic | $345,000 | 207 |
| 3 | Dan Shak | $224,250 | 135 |
| 4 | Jake Daniels | $172,500 | 104 |
| 5 | Vanessa Kade | $138,000 | 83 |
| 6 | Frank Funaro | $103,500 | 62 |
Winter Wins Final Event, Overall Title Stays in Ohio
A $50,000 No-Limit Hold’em event was the final tournament of the series. Peters held the lead for the overall title, but Imsirovic had a chance to pip him at the post. A third-place finish for Imsirovic would win the title if Peters failed to cash.
As it happens, neither player reached the top six finishing positions, which handed the title to Peters. However, Imsirovic ultimately finished in third place in the championship standings because Sean Winter’s impressive win saw him catapult the man from Bosnia & Herzegovina.
Forty-two players bought in, and the top six finishers shared the $2,100,000 prize pool.
Bill Klein busted in sixth for $105,000, with Sam Soveral finishing fifth for $168,000.
Jonathan Little’s exit in fourth-place was worth $231,000, and Jason Koon collected $336,000 for his third-place finish.
Winter and Stephen Chidwick battled heads-up for the title and the $756,000 top prize. The final hand saw all the chips go into the middle on the river of a jack-six-deuce-queen-ten board. Chidwick moved all-in with his queen-four, and Winter snap-called with ten-six.
2021 US Poker Open Championships Top 10
| Place | Player | Points | Wins | Cashes | Earnings |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | David Peters | 646 | 3 | 4 | $832,950 |
| 2 | Sean Winter | 484 | 1 | 2 | $785,700 |
| 3 | Ali Imsirovic | 483 | 1 | 5 | $482,000 |
| 4 | Stephen Chidwick | 427 | 0 | 3 | $628,700 |
| 5 | Dan Shak | 371 | 0 | 4 | $459,750 |
| 6 | Jake Daniels | 323 | 1 | 2 | $391,000 |
| 7 | Sam Soverel | 316 | 1 | 4 | $382,300 |
| 8 | Andrew Lichtenberger | 308 | 0 | 3 | $308,000 |
| 9 | Joe McKeehen | 302 | 1 | 2 | $302,200 |
| 10 | Steve Zolotow | 289 | 0 | 3 | $289,000 |
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Matthew Pitt
If it’s something you can play online for real money, chances are Matthew knows a bit about it. He’s been writing about slots, craps and poker for the better part of the last decade. He’s written for PokerNews, PartyPoker and many other respected online gambling websites during the last nine years.