Tilston Lead US Poker Open Main Event Final Table, Negreanu Second
On the last hand of the night, Brian Rast ran into Daniel Negreanu's aces to bubble the $50,000 US Poker Open Main Event and halt play on Day 2. The penultimate day of the Main Event lasted just three and a half levels as the field was reduced from 13 to the final five.
Keith Tilston returns on Day 3 with the chip lead, chased by Negreanu, Jake Schindler, Dan Smith, and Tom Marchese. Tilston, who is making his third final table of the festival, also led the USPO #03 $25,000 NLHE into the final table before finishing runner-up to Stephen Chidwick.
| Seat | Player | Country | Chip Count | Big Blinds |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Keith Tilston | United States | 2,273,000 | 227 |
| 2 | Daniel Negreanu | Canada | 1,146,000 | 114 |
| 3 | Jake Schindler | United States | 669,000 | 67 |
| 4 | Dan Smith | United States | 299,000 | 30 |
| 5 | Tom Marchese | United States | 564,000 | 56 |
Day 2 kicked off with 13 players as US Poker Open Champion Stephen Chidwick, who had locked up the title when registration closed on Day 1, Poker Central founder Cary Katz, and Marchese all chose to re-enter and return to play when Day 2 got underway.
Chidwick was the first player to exit coming in with just 25 big blinds. Benjamin Pollak,Justin Bonomo, and Adrian Mateos were the next to depart leaving the field one elimination away from the unofficial final table. Ultimately, it would be Bryn Kenney running pocket sevens into Tilston's pocket aces to consolidate the field to the feature table.
Once the action got back underway, the field still needed to lose two players before the end of play as just the top fives spots would get paid. Katz nursed a short stack for the majority of play on Day 2, and the slump continued on the final table. Katz finally picked up a big hand and found a caller in Negreanu. Unfortunately, for Katz, Negreanu caught an ace on the flop with his ace-jack and Katz's jacks would not improve.
Play ended for the night not long after when Brian Rast three-bet shoved on Negreanu with ace-queen running right into Negreanu's pocket rockets. Though Rast did find some additional outs on the flop, the two aces held and the clock on Day 2 was paused.
Main Event Payouts
| Place | Prize (USD) |
|---|---|
| 1st | $660,000 |
| 2nd | $429,000 |
| 3rd | $264,000 |
| 4th | $165,000 |
| 5th | $132,000 |
