Sam Soverel and Joe McKeehen both secured U.S. Poker Open (USPO) titles over the weekend. Soverel triumphed in the $10,000 Pot-Limit Omaha event while McKeehen helped himself to the $10,000 No-Limit Hold’em top prize.
Sixty-five players bought into the USPO Event #2: $10,000 PLO, and only six reached the final table. Soverel entered the final table in a commanding position thanks to holding 3.5 million of the 8 million chips in play.
Matthew Ploff busted in sixth place when his single-suited kings lost to the single-suited aces of Jordan Cristos. Maxx Coleman did not last much longer, busting at the hands of Soveral. Coleman got his stack in with Jx-Tx-9x-3x on a Jx-8x-4x flop only for Soverel to look him up with Kx-Kx-Tx-9x.
Soverel busted Dylan Weisman in fourth some two hours after Coleman departed.
Marc Brody was a short stack with only four big blinds when he crashed out in third. Brody committed the last of his chips with Ax-Tx-9x-7x and Cristos called with Kx-9x-8x-4x. The board improved Cristos to a full house, and heads-up was set.
Soverel held a 2:1 chip lead going into heads-up and it proved too substantial for Cristos to bridge. Cristos opened with Ax-Jx-4x-2x and Soverel called with Tx-9x-7x-4x with two diamonds An Ax-9x-7x flop saw Soverel check-call a 400,000 bet. The 7x turn improved Soverel to trip sevens. Soverel check-called Cristos’ shove and became the USPO PL Omaha champion.
USPO Event #2: $10,000 PLO Final Table Results
| Place | Player | Prize | Championship Points |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Sam Soverel | $175,500 | 176 |
| 2 | Jordan Cristos | $130,000 | 130 |
| 3 | Marc Brody | $84,500 | 85 |
| 4 | Dylan Wiesman | $65,000 | 65 |
| 5 | Maxx Coleman | $52,000 | 52 |
| 6 | Matthew Ploof | $39,000 | 39 |
Former World Series of Poker Main Event winner Joe McKeehen added a USPO title to his already impressive resume this weekend. McKeehen came out on top of a 77-strong field in the USPO Event #3: $10,000 NLHE.
McKeehen took his seat at the seven-handed final table as the chip leader and emerged a worthy winner. He first sent Barry Hutter to the rail in sixth before busting Justin Saliba in fifth.
The former WSOP Main Event champion took a short break from his role of executioner to allow Ali Imsirovic to dispatch Jake Schindler in fifth. Schindler’s jack-nine proved no match for Imsirovic’s ace-ten.
Steve Zolotow crashed out in fourth and secured a $77,000 payout, the last prize not to be six figures. The two-time WSOP champion Zolotow’s stack was a meager couple of blinds. He shipped them into the middle with the lowly nine-five, and lost to McKeehen’s king-eight.
Third and second place were decided in the same thrilling final hand. Imsirovic lost all but a single big blind to Ray Qartomy. The very next hand saw McKeehen open with jacks, Qartomy three-bet all-in with pocket fives, and Imsirovic toss in his last big blind. McKeehen improved to quad jacks to bust both opponents, and lock up his first USPO title.
USPO Event #3: $10,000 No Limit Hold’em Final Table Results
| Place | Player | Prize | Championship Points |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Joe McKeehen | $200,200 | 200 |
| 2 | Ray Qartomy | $146,300 | 146 |
| 3 | Ali Imsirovic | $100,100 | 100 |
| 4 | Steve Zolotow | $77,000 | 77 |
| 5 | Jake Schindler | $61,600 | 62 |
| 6 | Justin Saliba | $46,200 | 46 |
| 7 | Barry Hutter | $38,50000 | 39 |
2021 U.S. Poker Open Championship Standings
Event #1 champion Jake Daniels is the man to catch in the overall rankings. Whoever finishes at the top of the pile wins a custom trophy plus $50,000 cash. Only three of the scheduled eight events are completed, so there is a long way to go.
| Place | Player | Points | Wins | Cashes | Earnings |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Jake Daniels | 219 | 1 | 1 | $218,500 |
| 2 | Joe McKeehen | 200 | 1 | 1 | $200,200 |
| 3 | Sam Soverel | 195 | 1 | 2 | $194,500 |
| 4 | Steve Zolotow | 153 | 0 | 2 | $153,000 |
| 5 | Barry Hutter | 153 | 0 | 2 | $152,500 |
| 6 | Dan Shak | 152 | 0 | 1 | $152,000 |
| 7 | Ray Qartomy | 146 | 0 | 1 | $146,300 |
| 8 | Jordan Cristos | 130 | 0 | 1 | $130,000 |
| 9 | Ali Imsirovic | 100 | 0 | 1 | $100,100 |
| 10 | Stephen Chidwick | 95 | 0 | 1 | $95,000 |
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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.