Aram Zobian Wins U.S. Poker Open After Event #8 Victory for Stephen Chidwick

The eighth and final event of the 2024 U.S. Poker produced great drama as Stephen Chidwick took the most lucrative title of the series and PokerStake player Aram Zobian was crowned the overall Championship winner in Las Vegas. With Zobian’s only remaining challenger at the start of the final table busting in seventh place, the American knew that meant he was the winner of the Golden Eagle trophy and $25,000 PGT Passport as a just reward for a stunning series.

Kristen Foxen Bubbles Final Event

Costing $25,000 to play, the final event of the series was populated by 52 entries, producing a prizepool of $1.3 million. Only eight players would be paid, with some greats of the game just missing out. Nick Schulman (12^th) was dominated to defeat, while David Peters (11^th) lost a flip before Sam Laskowitz got very unlucky to miss out for nothing in 10^th place.

All-in with , Laskowitz was well clear of David Coleman who had shoved with before Laskowitz correctly called off his stack. The board of was as cruel as it was possible to be, as Laskowitz to a triple-runner straight from the final card of the flop.

Kristen Foxen bubbled the final event of the 2024 U.S. Poker Open in a largely forgettable series for the Foxens. Having doubled through the eventual winner Stephen Chidwick, Foxen’s attempt to repeat the trick saw her head to the rail in ninth place. All-in with she called off her stack from the big blind after Chidwick had shoved from the button with . Foxen was ahead but that all changed as the board sent her home and boosted Chidwick’s hopes of victory in the process.

Coleman Shot Down by Chewy’s Rockets

With eight hopefuls left, the player who min-cashed was David Coleman. Falling away as a challenger to Zobian’s crown, Coleman shoved with and was snapped off by Andrew ‘Chewy’ Lichtenberger with . The flop of actually gave Coleman some hope but it was a false dawn, a and river rounding out the board to send him to the rail with $52,000.

That was the end of Day 1 in the event, with Jesse Lonis the only player still able to stop Zobian at this stage. Lonis would need the outright win and hope that Zobian couldn’t make it to fifth place, however, and with both players the lowest two chipcounts, it was going to be a tense opening to the final day. It didn’t take long for Zobian to start celebrating. Lonis shoved from the button with and Chidwick called with the dominating . Lonis needed a lot of help and didn’t get a scrap of it from the board as he left for $52,000 in seventh place and Aram Zobian raised his arms to the air in relief at a monumental victory, his first in a major PGT live series such as this.

Now no longer at risk of losing his Championship title, the Golden Eagle trophy and the attendant $25,000 PGT Passport, Zobian could make a move. His first was his last as he moved all-in with and Chidwick made the fateful call again, this time with . A safe board of Kh] played out for the British player and Zobian headed home with another cash, this time worth $78,000.

In winning the PGT U.S. Poker Open, Zobian had cashed four times, each time available to buy a part of on PokerStake. Racking up an incredible 616 PGT Points during the series, Zobian had one outright win from those four cashes and scored $613,540 in total – a tremendous return for buy-ins totalling less than $100,000.

Chidwick Seals Memorable Victory

After Cary Katz lost with to Chidwick’s , the writing looked to be on the wall for the final event champion and so it proved. Katz left with another great result of $104,000, before Dan ‘Cowboy’ Smith busted for $130,000 in fourth. Smith lost when dominated with [9d shot down by Brandon Wittmeyer’s , a ten arriving on the river for good measure as play moved three-handed.

Out in third was the popular professional Wittmeyer. All-in for 1.2 million with , he lost to Chidwick’s as  a flop of was followed by a turn of and a thoroughly underwhelming river. Cashing for $182,000, Wittmeyer could be very proud of his run, but it was Chidwick (5.7m) who went in the final duel with a big advantage, ‘Chewy’ having just 2.7 million chips to start the last battle of the event.

Heads-up was not a long. Drawn-out affair. Chewy took an initial lead but Chidwick won the crucial all-in, with over 98% of the chips in play when he called Chewy’s four-bet shove. The British player had while Chewy’s needed to hold. The flop of was safe but a on the turn left Chewy needing a miracle and it never came on the river. Chewy’s cash of $273,000 was not inconsiderable, but Chidwick it was who won the top prize of $429,000 for his fourth cash of the series, the same as Zobian. Chidwick’s were worth a little less, however, so his 427 PGT Points earned him second place on the final leaderboard and a take-home series total of $597,850.