Dan Smith Leads 2023 U.S. Poker Open Event #8 Final Table; Hellmuth Eyes Second Victory

The 2023 U.S. Poker Open continued from the PokerGO Studio at ARIA Resort & Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada, and the stakes have been raised as six players remain in Event #8: $25,000 No-Limit Hold'em.

Dan Smith holds the overnight lead with 2,710,000 in chips. He sits ahead of Isaac Haxton, Alex Foxen, Phil Hellmuth, Joey Weissman, and Bill Klein who will all return on Saturday at 12 p.m. PT to play out Event #8 on the PokerGO live stream that will air at 1 p.m. PT.

The 54-entrant field created a prize pool of $1,350,000 and the top eight players would finish in the money. Daniel Negreanu was eliminated in 11th place when he ran ace-queen into queens, and it would take nearly an hour until the next elimination when Sean Winter fell in 10th place when he got his last big blind in. It would be Cary Katz eliminated on the money bubble when he got ace-king in against Smith's king-queen, and a queen on the flop sent him to the rail.

When players combined at a single table, Masashi Oya was the next to go in eighth place. Foxen doubled through him and then Oya ran ace-jack into ace-king to just miss out on his second consecutive streamed final table appearance. Chris Brewer became the short stack and ran his last few blinds into Hellmuth's aces to be eliminated in seventh place, also just missing out on his second consecutive streamed final table appearance, and the remaining six players bagged and tagged to return for the streamed final table.

Weissman won Event #1 and Hellmuth won Event #5 and they will both be eyeing a second victory and the opportunity to overtake Sam Soverel atop the U.S. Poker Open series leaderboard. Soverel currently has 457 points, while Weissman and Hellmuth have 259 and 230 points, respectively. Foxen picked up his fourth cash of the series, while Smith, Haxton, and Klein notched their first.

The final six players have all locked up $81,000 in prize money, but all eyes remain on the grand prize of $432,000 in prize money, 259 PGT points, and the mini Golden Eagle trophy which will soar them up the U.S. Poker Open leaderboard. 

U.S. Poker Open Event #8: $25,000 No-Limit Hold'em Final Table

Seat	Player	Country	Chip Count
1	Alex Foxen	United States	1,140,000
2	Isaac Haxton	United States	1,520,000
3	Joey Weissman	United States	990,000
4	Dan Smith	United States	2,710,000
5	Phil Hellmuth	United States	1,065,000
6	Bill Klein	United States	680,000

When play resumes, the button will be on Alex Foxen. There is 14:57 remaining in Level 15 with blinds at 20,000 / 40,000 and a 40,000 big blind ante.

Play resumes at 12 p.m. PT on Saturday, April 1 for the Event #8: $25,000 No-Limit Hold’em final table from the 2023 U.S. Poker Open. The entire final table will be streamed exclusively on PokerGO.com starting at 1 p.m. PT with the eighth champion of the series to be crowned.

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