US Poker Open Will Give Someone an Early Leg Up in 2019 GPI Player of the Year Race

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The second annual US Poker Open kicks off tomorrow with the first of 10 high-stakes events that may have an impact later in the year on who wins the 2019 GPI Player of the Year award.

2019 US Poker Open
Are you ready for some high-stakes live poker action at the 2019 US Poker Open? (Image: Poker Central)

PokerGo will live-stream the series from February 13-23. You need a paid subscription ($10 per month), however, to catch the high roller action from Las Vegas.

Stephen Chidwick, who cashed in five events last year, looks to defend his series crown. He’s been one of the most consistent tournament pros the past few years and is always a GPI POY contender.

Never too Early

Much like in baseball, you can’t win a championship early in the season, nor can you lose it. But an early head-start sure doesn’t hurt.

Rainer Kempe, with three high roller titles already this year, has the early GPI POY lead. It’s far too early to hand him the crown or even project his victory. But if he performs well during the US Poker Open, everyone else will be playing catch-up at least for the next few months.

If Chidwick performs as impressively as he did last year in this series, he’ll overtake Kempe. During the 2018 US Poker Open, he cashed in five of the eight events – winning two – for over $1.25 million in total earnings. The Brit went back-to-back in events #4 and #5 ($25,000 No-Limit Hold’em and $25,000 Mixed Game Championship), both for over $370,000.

Alex Foxen is the defending GPI POY champion. You can expect to see him at the tables during the upcoming high-stakes series.

Multiple Poker Variants Scheduled

To win the US Poker Open championship, you must be skilled in multiple games, not just Texas hold’em. The schedule features short-deck hold’em, mixed games, pot-limit Omaha, and no-limit hold’em. Buy-ins for this series range from $10,500 to the series ending $103,000 Main Event.

2019 US Poker Open Schedule

  • $10,500 (Event #1) No-Limit Hold’em (Feb 13)
  • $10,500 (Event #2) Pot-Limit Omaha (Feb 14)
  • $10,500 (Event #3) No-Limit Hold’em (Feb 15)
  • $10,500 (Event #4) Short Deck Poker (Feb 16)
  • $26,000 (Event #5) No-Limit Hold’em (Feb 17)
  • $26,000 (Event #6) Pot-Limit Omaha (Feb 18)
  • $26,000) (Event #7) No-Limit Hold’em (Feb 19)
  • $26,000 (Event #8) Mixed Game (Feb 20)
  • $52,000 (Event #9) No-Limit Hold’em (Feb 21)
  • $103,000 (Event #10) No-Limit Hold’em Main Event (Feb 22)

Each tournament lasts two days with Day One in all events concluding when the final table is achieved. Players will then come back the following day to finish it off.

Poker fans in Las Vegas can attend the filming of the 2019 US Poker Open. All sessions take place at the PokerGo Studio which is located outside the Aria Resort and Casino on the Strip.



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