Through the first four events of the 2021 U.S. Poker Open, some of the best players in the world have claimed victory by dominating the final table. On Tuesday night, Joey Weissman arrived at the final table of Event #5 ($10,000 NLHE) with a middle-of-the-pack stack and watched as Adam Hendrix built up a monster stack and appeared to be on his way to claiming victory.
That’s when Weissman completely turned the tables and came back from holding just 14% of the chips in play when heads up play began to eliminate Hendrix and put an exclamation point on his comeback.
Down to just 11 big blinds, Vicent Bosca raised to 425,000 from middle position with 
. From Bosca’s direct left, Brock Wilson took some time before moving all in for 710,000 with 
. Action folded back to Bosca and he called off his last 110,000. The board ran out 
to send Bosca out in seventh place.
Nearly 90 minutes of play later, Wilson was the next to go and he was shown the door in a brutal fashion. Action folded to chip leader Adam Hendrix in the small blind and he raised to 1,230,000 with 
. Wilson called all in with 
and then connected hard with the 
flop. Hendrix picked up a gutshot straight draw on the 
but Wilson was still a 98% favorite to win the pot. The 
however filled Hendrix’s draw and left Wilson heading to the cashier to collect his sixth place payout.
That hand pushed Hendrix’s stack to 5,815,000 and put him 3,775,000 ahead of his next closest competitor. Ten minutes he got a chance to use his monster lead to end another competitor’s night. Hendrix raised to 160,000 with 
before Frankie Funaro moved all in from the button for 680,000 with 
. Hendrix called and then dodged Funaro’s outs on the 
runout to eliminate Funaro in fifth.
Not all of Hendrix’s big stack play paid off however. Holding a 4-1 chip lead over the second biggest stack, Joe McKeehen, Hendrix raised to 250,000 from the small blind with 
before Weissman moved all in for 350,000 with 
and Hendrix called. All of the drama evaporated on the 
flop as Weissman made a full house. The turn and 
river completed the board and Weissman double through Hendrix to begin his climb back up the chip counts.
Weissman doubled again a few hands later, this time against the second-shortest stack at the table, Cary Katz. That lead to Katz’s elimination on the very next hand. After Weissman and McKeehen folded, Katz moved all in blind for 200,000 from the small blind. Hendrix called from the big blind and tabled 
and Katz slowly revealed his hole cards only to find out he was dominated and needed some assistance with 
. Hendrix stayed ahead through the 
runout and Katz was eliminated in fourth place.
Hendrix continued to wield the big stack and didn’t have to wait too long to find his next opportunity to eliminate an opponent. After Weissman folded his button, McKeehen moved all in for 1,100,000 with and Hendrix called from the big blind with . McKeehen, who won Event #3 earlier this week, found no relief on the 
flop and could only watch as the 
turn and 
river made his third place finish official. That result moved McKeehen into first place on the U.S. Poker Open leaderboard.
Weissman was facing a 6-1 chip deficit when heads up play began. The pair played for an hour and 15 minutes as Weissman continued to find spots to double before eventually taking the chip lead for good. The final hand encapsulated exactly how hot Weissman ran during heads up play. First to act, Weissman moved all in with and Hendrix, down to his last 1,950,000, called with . The flop gave Weissman a flush draw which came in on the turn. The river was meaningless as Hendrix was eliminated in second place to give Weissman his first U.S. Poker Open title and a $204,000 score.
U.S. Poker Open Event #5 Final Table Payouts
- Joey Weissman – $204,000
- Adam Hendrix – $144,500
- Joe McKeehen – $102,000
- Cary Katz – $85,000
- Frank Funaro – $68,000
- Brock Wilson – $51,000
- Vicent Bosca – $42,500
