Daniel Negreanu came up just short of a US Poker Open title on Wednesday, but Eli Elezra didn’t, as he won the $10,000 8-Game Mixed event for $183,600.
Negreanu hasn’t exactly been on a hot streak over the past couple of years. He lost $1.2 million to Doug Polk in a highly-publicized heads-up match earlier this year, hasn’t won a WSOP bracelet since 2013, and has struggled in high rollers for quite some time.
But the Poker Hall of Famer just might be back on the right track. In Event #5, he finished 10th for $25,500. On Thursday, he reached the final table of the 8-Game event, but was eliminated in third place, good for $88,400. Once again, bad luck was a contributing factor in his departure from the tournament.
Busted 3rd in the 8 Game, built up a 400k stack in the NLH only to go broke with AK vs AQ all in preflop.
I wish I could report better news y’all but it is what it is 😂
— Daniel Negreanu (@RealKidPoker) June 10, 2021
Elezra on top
The $10,000 buy-in, two-day event attracted 68 entrants, creating a $680,000 prize pool. After Negreanu busted, Steve Zolotow and Eli Elezra went heads-up for the US Poker Open 8-Game title with $47,600 separating first and second place.
Zolotow already had a fourth and fifth-place finish at the 2021 US Poker Open, so he was looking to finally get over the hump and win one. Had he done so, he would have bumped Joe McKeehen as the USPO series leader. Instead, it was the Israeli poker legend, Elezra, who took down the mixed-game tournament for $183,600. Zolotow received $136,000 for second.
Despite coming up just short in his quest for a tournament title, Zolotow received 136 USPO series points, bringing him to 289 for the series, good for second place. McKeehen, the 2015 WSOP Main Event champion, leads with 302, thanks in large part to his win in Event #3.
The 2021 US Poker Open still has five more events on the schedule, including Event #7, which began Thursday at the PokerGO Studio in Las Vegas. Out of 99 entrants in the $10,000 tourney, Andrew “Lucky Chewy” Lichtenberger held the chip lead following Day 1 with eight players remaining. Jared Jaffee, Alex Foxen, David Peters, and Dan Shak were among those advancing to Day 2, which takes place at 1 pm PT on the PokerGO app.
All remaining players are guaranteed at least $39,600, and the winner will take home $217,800.
