Stephen Chidwick Leads Final 8 in Event #3: $10,000 No Limit Hold'em
Day 1 of Event #3 - $10,000 No Limit Hold'em has concluded from the U.S. Poker Open with Stephen Chidwick leading the remaining eight players once play was halted in the early hours of Saturday morning, inside the PokerGO Studio located just outside the ARIA Resort & Casino.
Chidwick will be coming into the final day of the tournament with 2,430,000 in chips and all the USPO experience needed to take down another event. He is the reigning 2018 USPO champion and has already taken down an event early in the 2019 series. Look for Chidwick to apply pressure on his opponents as he sets out to take down another tournament and collect even more points towards the championship.
Following close behind the chip leader is another familiar face in Sean Winter. He will be starting the day in second and is the only other person over the two million mark, having 2,045,000 in chips. This will be Winter's third final table, after playing just three events thus far. The Jacksonville native will be looking for revenge on Chidwick, after finishing runner-up to him in Event #1: $10,000 No Limit Hold'em.
A PokerGO studio regular will be coming into the final table third in chips - that being Brandon Adams (1,895,000). Adams joined the tournament late, but almost instantly spun up a stack, taking down a big pot from Koray Aldemir and lever looked back.
Coming in right behind Adams is Aldemir (1,835,000), who at the beginning of the day was running over his competition and suddenly was short-stacked, after losing a pot to Adams. The German pro did not give up, as he fought back and would ultimately be headed into the final day fourth in chips.
The other players to round out the final table include Ralph Wong (1,270,000), Lauren Roberts (815,000), Rodger Johnson (615,000) and Jerry Robinson (270,000).
Finale Table Seat Draw
| Seat | Player | Country | Chip Count |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Lauren Roberts | USA | 815,000 |
| 2 | Koray Aldemir | Germany | 1,835,000 |
| 3 | Ralph Wong | USA | 1,270,000 |
| 4 | Sean Winter | USA | 2,045,000 |
| 5 | Brandon Adams | USA | 1,895,000 |
| 6 | Rodger Johnson | USA | 615,000 |
| 7 | Jerry Robinson | USA | 270,000 |
| 8 | Stephen Chidwick | United Kingdom | 2,430,000 |
Event #3 Day 1 Action
The third event of the series saw a return to No Limit Hold'em, and a total of 91 entrants would create a prize pool of $910,000 that saw the final 13 players in the money. However, it would be the $218,400 first-place prize that everyone would have their eyes set on, along with joining the likes of Jordan Cristos, Stephen Chidwick, and Sean Winter on top of the U.S. Poker Open points leaderboard.
Another staggering field filled every table inside the PokerGO Studio, with some of the best players in the world sitting down to take a shot in Event #3. The action started off quickly, never really slowing down until the last few levels of the night.
Seth Davies seemed to have a final table seat locked in, but Chidwick had other plans when the two would move all in for one of the biggest pots of the night. Davies lost the classic race, leaving Chidwick with his biggest stack of the day and all the momentum in the world, as he pushed to lock in at the top of the leaderboard by the end of the night.
Day 2 of Event #3 is set to conclude on Saturday at 1 p.m. (PST) with the PokerNews Live Reporting Team providing continuous live updates of all the action until the next U.S. Poker Open Champion is crowned. The live stream will begin at 2 p.m. (PST) on PokerGO.
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