Jake Daniels took down the first event of the 2021 US Poker Open at the PokerGO Studio in Las Vegas on Friday afternoon. The champion of the $10,000 buy-in no-limit hold’em tournament shipped the very first USPO tournament he’d ever competed in, and won $218,500, the second biggest win of his poker career.
Event #2, a $10,000 pot-limit Omaha tournament, also kicked off Friday afternoon. That event attracted a field of 65 entrants, which is quite large for a $10k PLO. Ten players have or will cash, with the money bubble bursting before play concluded around 11 pm.
Johan Guilbert took 10th place, good for $19,500. Ben Yu then busted in ninth place, a $26,000 payday, followed by Joseph Sanders in eighth place ($26,000), and then Alex Foxen bubbled the final table (seventh place for $32,500), which brought a conclusion to the 11-hour session. The remaining six players — the final table — will return to the PokerGO Studio Saturday at noon PT to finish it off. Each player still standing is guaranteed at least $39,000, but the champion will take home $175,500.
Sam Soverel, one of the top high rollers in the world, bagged the chip lead at 3,480,000. He’ll enter the final table with a significant advantage over his five competitors. Dylan Weisman sits in second place with just 1,735,000, about half Soverel’s stack. Marc Brody is next in line with 1,185,000, followed by Jordan Cristos (645,000), Matthew Ploof (640,000), and Maxx Coleman (440,000).
The final table will air on a one-hour delay on the PokerGO Saturday beginning at 1 pm PT.
Daniels Dominates, Negreanu Stumbles
Jake Daniels came to play throughout the first even of the 2021 US Poker Open, a 12-event high roller series. But he was quite fortunate after Dan Shak pulled off a huge bluff against him at the final table. Daniel Negreanu, on the other hand, can’t seem to find a cash.
With five players remaining and Daniels holding a pair of jacks (Q-J), second pair to the king on board, Shak turned his pair of 6’s (A-6) into a bluff with a big river bet for more than half his remaining chips. Daniels used a time extension chip before eventually folding and went from chip leader to one of the small stacks. But he bounced back quickly and eventually pulled it out, getting revenge on Shak in the end. Shak lost heads-up to Daniels and took second place for $152,000. Barry Hutter went out in third place, good for $114,000.
Stephen Chidwick, who always seems to cash in US Poker Open events, earned $95,000 for fourth place out of 95. Steve Zolotow was the fifth place finisher ($76,000). Sergi Reixach (sixth place for $57,000) and Tim McDermott (seventh place for $47,500) rounded out the final table.
Negreanu took a shot at the first two events of the US Poker Open, but came up empty. He continues his bad run, which includes only one cash at last week’s Venetian high roller series, a $1.2 million loss to Doug Polk in a heads-up match, and two straight losses to Phil Hellmuth on PokerGO’s High Stakes Duel II show. The GGPoker ambassador, however, still has 10 more opportunities in the USPO, along with a June 23 rematch against Hellmuth, to turn it around.
