In a battle of the poker titans (and two Poker Hall of Famers), Erik Seidel was able to top Phil Hellmuth to capture the championship of the latest event at the 2022 U. S. Poker Open. The $25,000 No Limit Hold ‘Em tournament, Event #9 on the schedule, saw Seidel pick up a sizeable chunk of cash for his finish and push his name up the leaderboard for the overall championship of schedule.
Sizeable Field for Event
63 entries were received in the tournament, which began on Thursday, and the Day 1 action was fevered as the players fought to be one of the nine players who would take a cash. Ali Imsirovic was one of the unlucky players on the felt, falling short of the money after he was knocked out by Alex Foxen. Seidel had his hands in the mix also, taking out Zhuang Ruan in ninth place when his K♣ Q♥ was able to four-flush Ruan’s A♥ 10♥ on a 9♣ 8♥ 7♣ J♣ 6♣ board.
Foxen was the player in charge of the felt at the end of Day One, though. The champion of Event #7 on the schedule, Foxen came to Friday’s action with 2.775 million chips in his stack, but the lead was not a huge one. Sam Soverel lurked with 2.395 million in chips, while another champion during this schedule, Tamon Nakamura, held the third spot on the leaderboard with 1.58 million. Seidel was situated in the middle of the pack, healthily stacked with 1.11 million chips, while Alex Livingston (680K), Hellmuth (575K) and Ren Lin (340K) had some work to do.
Seidel struck early in making his move towards the championship. An early clash with Foxen would shift the balance of power to Seidel after he sneakily flopped middle set with pocket nines against Foxen, who had flopped the bottom set. Naturally, the money went to the center and Seidel’s hand stood, catapulting him to the lead.
The nine-time World Series of Poker bracelet winner continued his onslaught against the table, taking out Nakamura in fifth place and Soverel in fourth before Hellmuth awoke. “The Poker Brat” would be responsible for taking out Foxen, but it was going to be an uphill battle for the 16-time WSOP champion. Entering heads up play, Seidel held a sizeable 6.825 in chips, while Hellmuth could only conjure 2.625 million with his “white magic.”
The heads-up battle would see Hellmuth get the stacks nearly back to even, but that was as close as it would get. On the final hand of action, Seidel raised the stakes to 275K with a Q-J and Hellmuth called with a J-9. The J-3-2 flop was enough for both legends to get their stacks in action. Hellmuth check-raised a 200K bet from Seidel to 500K, which was enough to get Seidel to push his remaining stack to the center. Hellmuth made the call and slumped as he saw Seidel’s hand turned up; the turn and river did not bring the nine that was necessary for Hellmuth to survive, earning Seidel the title of Event #9.
1. Erik Seidel, $472,500
2. Phil Hellmuth, $315,000
3. Alex Foxen, $220,500
4. Sam Soverel, $157,500
5. Tamon Nakamura, $126,000
6. Ren Lin, $94,500
7. Alex Livingston, $78,750
Nakamura Seizes Overall Lead for U. S. Poker Open
With his fifth-place finish in Event #9, Nakamura was able to push his way into a slim lead over Foxen on the overall leaderboard for the 2022 U. S. Poker Open. Hellmuth and Seidel were also able to improve their station with their Event #9 performance, making for an interesting next few days of the USPO festivities.
1. Tamon Nakamura, 538 points
2. Alex Foxen, 488
3. Chino Rheem, 481
4. Phil Hellmuth, 464
5. Erik Seidel, 428
6. Adam Hendrix, 356
7. Shannon Shorr, 340
8 Jeremy Ausmus, 333
9. Ren Lin, 292
10. Scott Seiver, 261
There are three tournaments left on the schedule for the 2022 USPO. Event #10, a $25,000 Pot Limit Omaha tournament, will conclude on Saturday, while another $25K NLHE tournament begins on Saturday and concludes on Sunday. The penultimate event will begin on Sunday, the $50,000 No Limit Hold’em Main Event, and crown a champion on Monday. At that point, we will also learn who the next overall champion of the 2022 U. S. Poker Open will be.
(Photos provided by PokerGO.com)