Stephen Chidwick loves playing at the US Poker Open. It must be something in the water at the Aria Casino. Chidwick won his second event of the 2019 USPO when he took down Event #6 $25K PLO for a score worth $351,000. He won the opening event of the USPO as well. He's banked over $705K through six events. Chidwick defeated Cary Katz heads-up for the victory.
Another day, another title for Stephen Chidwick. I'm pretty sure I'm recycling ledes and it's not out of sheer laziness. Rather, it's the straight dope. What can you really say when the best player in the room wins all the money?
As you know, Chidwick won back-to-back events at the 2018 USPO to win the Player of the Series. This year, he kicked off the 2019 USPO with a victory in Event #1. He picked up right where he left off. And less than a week later, Chidwick won his second event at the 2019 USPO. Two events in six. Sick. So, sick. This is why he's the British GOAT for a reason.
The latest $25K PLO affair, aka USPO Event #6, attracted 39 runners. It fell short of $1 million prize pool by only one entry. Only the top six places paid out with most of the cheesecake set aside for the champion. This was another one of those events when the other 38 runners were playing for second-place money, With Chidwick locked in, they were trying to win $234K.
The final table included Anthony Zinno, Cary Katz, Ben Lamb, Stevie Chidwick, Tom Marchese, and Sean Rafael. Yeah, the biggest shock was that Sean Winter did not make the final table. He final tabled all four of the first four events and shipped Event #4. Alas, he failed to cash in this event.
Zinno and Rafael were the first two to exit the final table. Ben Lamb went busto in fourth place. Tom Marchese hit the bricks in third place. That set up the heads-up finale between Cary Katz and Chidwick.
When the dust settled, Katz was picked off in second place. He took down $234K for a runner-up share. Cary Katz has shipped $580K through six events thus far.
Chidwick won the tournament and $351,000. That marked his second win this year at the USPO and his fourth title in the last two years. Through six events, Chidwick has won over $705K. Not too shabby, eh? The kid sneezes $10K stacks.
Katz is in the middle of a mini-heater as well. Katz was a bridesmaid two events in a row. He finished in second place in Event #5 when he lost heads-up against Ali Imsirovic, the Purple Jacket winner from last year's Poker Masters. With consecutive runner-ups, Katz moved into third overall in the standings behind Sean Winter and Chidwick.
US Poker Open Event #6 $25K PLO
Buy-in: $25,000
Entrants: 29
Prize Pool: $975,000
Payouts: 6
Final Table Results:
1. Stephen Chidwick (UK) $351,000
2. Cary Katz (USA) $234,000
3. Tom Marchese (USA) $156,000
4. Ben Lamb (USA) $97,500
5. Sean Rafael (USA) $78,000
6. Anthony Zinno (USA) $58,500
