What Happened in U.S. Poker Open Events #7 – #9?

After nine events of the 2023 U.S. Poker Open, there have been nine different winners, meaning a total of five players could win the overall Championship title – and bonus prize of $50,000 – heading into the final table of the last event. After Nacho Barbero cashed each time during Events #1-#3 and Phil Hellmuth laid a hoodoo to rest in Events #4 -#6, what happened in the next three events of the ten in the series?

There was a first U.S. Poker Open win for the record-breaking World Poker Tour champion Darren Elias, Isaac Haxton continued to treat 2023 like his own personal piggy bank and Dan ‘Cowboy’ Smith galloped to victory for a win worth $400,000.

Elias Tames the Field in Event #7 for $313,000

In Event #7, Darren Elias ended up as champion as he won the first U.S. Poker Open (USPO) title of a glittering career in which he has claimed virtually every other major title. The record-holding four-time WPT Main Event winner took down the $15,000-entry event with 87 entrants. Just six players reached the final table and at that point, Elias took out Chris Brewer, pocket jacks too good for Brewer’s queen-ten.

Into the final five, there was an exit for Sean Winter, whose ace-king lost to Brandon Wilson’s pocket tens, meaning Winter again busted short of the podium places in the series, claiming $104,000 instead. He was swiftly followed by the Japanese player Masashi Oya, who has enjoyed a highly profitable series, and who added another $130,500 to the profit column.

Elias had timed his run perfectly and busted Wilson next, when the latter lost with a dominating ace-queen, Elias holding ace-deuce and hitting a duck on the flop. Wilson cashed for $156,600 in third place, and that gave Elias a huge chip lead in his pursuit of a first USPO title. That was his when he won a flip with ace-king against pocket sevens.

Haxton Heroics Continue with USPO Crown

Isaac Haxton won his fourth live title of 2023 as he sealed the deal in Event #8, the $25,000 buy-in NLHE Event. Masashi Oya (8^th for $54,000) and Chris Brewer (7^th for $67,500) both made the money again, before the final table of six was set. Once there, the most dramatic hand kicked off the eliminations as Phil Hellmuth busted Alex Foxen, the latter holding queen-four offsuit, the hand that made Hellmuth go viral not long ago in the poker world.

Hellmuth was hoping to win his second title of this year’s U.S. Poker Open and in doing so put himself top of the leaderboard with two events to go. That didn’t happen for the Poker Brat, however, as he lost his chips to Dan Smith in two brutal hands, losing with ace-high each time, the second time to Smith’s flopped set of sevens.

After Hellmuth busted for $108,000, Bill Klein lost his seat for $135,000, busting with ace-four when Isaac Haxton held pocket tens and held through the board to take an important step forward as play moved three-handed. Haxton doubled through Dan Smith when pocket kings were good enough to eclipse ace-five.

Despite that change of momentum, three-handed play lasted two hours. Smith was eventually the victim of the penultimate elimination of the event, his pocket deuces shot down by Haxton’s pocket sixes. Haxton held a 7:1 lead over Joey Weissman, the winner of the opening event, and eventually, Haxton’s flush got Weissman’s pair of queens.

Smith Gets Revenge in Event #9 for $400k

In Event #9, Dan Smith got revenge as he won the title, claiming the $399,500 top prize in the penultimate event of the USPO. Heading into the final table second in chips of the six remaining players, Smith had seen Daniel Negreanu bust last on Day 1. The final day began with the loss of another North American poker hero. Nick Schulman, the new host of High Stakes Poker in place of the retired Gabe Kaplan lost with queen-ten to Smith’s ace-king, cashing for $70,500.

Out in fifth place was Thai player Punnat Punsri, whose ace-jack was dominated by Smith’ ace-queen, which flopped a queen and held to further grow the advantage belonging to ‘The Cowboy’. Cary Katz was shortly out of the reckoning himself, cashing for $129,250 in fourth place when Katz lost to Smith’s runner-runner club flush.

Smith’s three-handed fortune was quite different from the conclusion of Event #8, as he cruised home. First, he watched as former event winner from earlier in the series Ren Lin took out overnight chip leader Brian Kim with a better straight, then in the next hand Smith took it down. Lin’s ace-nine wasn’t able to hold against a suite jack-seven, Smith flopping  a pair of jacks to win.