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Defending U.S Poker Open champion Stephen Chidwick has taken the Championship lead with another incredible win, taking down the $25,000 Pot Limit Omaha event for $351,000 after defeating Cary Katz heads up. This marks Chidwick’s second win of the series, his fourth in total, after making nine of a possible fifteen final tables.

“It does seem to be going pretty humorously well this week, I’m kind of expecting to wake up at some point, and winning is definitely not getting old. This is a lot of fun,” an exhausted but excited Chidwick said after his win.

Chidwick (540 points) had to overcome a big chip deficit heads up to defeat Katz, who was at his third final table of the series. Katz (340) now places third on the overall standings with Sean Winter (440) dropping down to second place.

Comparing his 2018 run to this year, Chidwick said, “It feels kinda similar, pretty unbelievable both times and I couldn’t have expected it to go any better.”

During the heads-up battle, Katz made a huge river bet to put Chidwick all in and at risk. Chidwick had made a flush and called to take an almost five-to-one chip lead. Katz had eliminated all but one player at the final table before the heads up match but could not find a way to eliminate the man who seems to be unbeatable at the PokerGO Studio.

Katz started the day by eliminating Anthony Zinno in sixth place ($58,500) when he made a flush to crack Zinno’s aces.

Then Chidwick sent Sean Rafael to the rail in fifth place. After getting most of his chips in preflop he got the rest in on the flop. Unfortunately, Chidwick flopped trips and had an easy call. He filled up on the turn and Rafael was left with just the $78,000 for his fifth-place finish.

Heads Up: Stephen Chidwick and Cary Katz at the 2019 US Poker Open.
Heads Up: Stephen Chidwick and Cary Katz at the 2019 US Poker Open.

Katz then went back to work eliminating Ben Lamb in fourth place ($97,500). Katz had two pair against Lamb’s wrap and filled up on the river to bust Lamb.

Shortly after, Katz sent Tom Marchese to the rail in third and took a lead into the heads up portion of the tournament. Marchese bet the pot with an overpair on the flop and Katz put him all in and then made a flush on the turn to eliminate Marchese and send him home with $156,000.

Katz and Chidwick battled for a few levels before Chidwick eventually took the win and extended his lead in the overall standings at the 2019 USPO. The full event payouts are as follows.

2019 U.S. Poker Open Event #6 Payouts
Name Points Cash
1 Stephen Chidwick 200 $351,000
2 Cary Katz 140 $234,000
3 Tom Marchese 100 $156,000
4 Ben Lamb 80 $97,500
5 Sean Rafael 60 $78,000
6 Anthony Zinno 40 $58,500

At the completion of this event, both Catz and Chidwick jumped straight into the Event #7 $25,000 No Limit Hold’em, updates of which you can find here.

“I don’t want to get ahead of myself, there’s still four events left to be played and a lot of points up for grabs in the $100k,” Chidwick humbly said about his chances to repeat as U.S. Poker Open champion.

“It would be very special to win it again. This, in my eyes, is the most prestigious thing you can win. To me, this is kind of like the $50,000 Poker Players Championship but stretched out over a week-long series. Competing with the best in the world in a variety of games would definitely be a career highlight to come out on top again.”

The overall U.S. Poker Open Championship standings are as follows.

2019 U.S. Poker Open Standings
Name Points Cash
1 Stephen Chidwick (4) 540 $705,950
2 Sean Winter (4) 440 $419,900
3 Cary Katz (3) 340 $580,200
4 Jordan Cristos (2) 240 $206,200
5 Ali Imsirovic 200 $442,500
6 Lauren Roberts 200 $218,400
7 Manig Loeser (2) 180 $146,200
8 Ben Lamb (2) 160 $139,500
9 Dan Shak (2) 140 $232,100
10 Koray Aldemir 140 $159,200

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Stephen Chidwick, Anthony Zinno, Sean Winter, Ben Lamb, Ali Imsirovic, USPO, Jordan Cristos, Tom Marchese, Sean Rafael