Aram Zobian Takes the Lead in U.S. Poker Open with Two Events to Play

With other winners such as Matthew Wantman and David Coleman in Events #4 and #5, superstars of the game have starred at the purple felt this week on PokerGO.

David Coleman Wins Event #4 for $202,000

The American poker professional David Coleman won Event #4 and with it, $202,300. At a seven-handed final table that featured all American players, Coleman beat Shannon Shorr heads-up for the title and ‘golden eagle’ trophy inside the PokerGO Studio. Numbers were great as 83 players took to the purple felt, paying $10,100 to play.

After Michael Brinkenhoff bubbled the event in 13^th place, Rodger Johnson was eliminated in 12^th place for $20,750 when his pair of queens was topped by Phil Hellmuth’s Broadway straight on the river. The Poker Brat was on a roll, also busting Kristina Holst in 11^th place for $24,900 but after Victoria Livschitz (9^th for $24,900) and Ed Sebesta (8^th for $33,200) departed, John Riordan and Jonathan Little’s departurs were followed by that of Hellmuth himself. The 17-time WSOP bracelet winner cashed in sixth for $41,500, just behind Dylan Weisman in fourth for $78,850 on the leaderboard.

Aram Zobian cashed for $107,900 in third place, his pocket queens overtaken in cruel fashion by Shannor Shorr’s pocket tens with a four-flush coming for Shorr on the river. If the eventual runner-up had gotten lucky to make heads-up, it came back to bite him, as David Coleman came back from 3:1 down in chips to move ahead and take the title when his flush gave him the $202,300 top prize and the golden eagle trophy.

Matthew Wantman Wins Event #5 for $239,000

With superstars such as Daniel Negreanu and Erik Seidel went close, the fifth event of the U.S. Poker Open saw Matthew Wantman take the top prize of $239,200 as he won his first U.S. Poker Open title. With 92 entrants this time, a couple more places were paid, as 14 made money. That didn’t make Event #5’s ‘bubble boy’ Adekunle Olonoh any happier to receive nothing for his efforts, losing his chips to Bill Klein.

On the run-up to the seven-handed final table, players such as Rodger Johnson (14^th), Jeremy Ausmus (13^th) and Nick Schulman (12^th) all cashed for $23,000, while the aforementioned Klein crashed out in eighth place for $36,800, just missing the final table of seven.

At the final table, Lithuanian player Paulius Plausinaitis was the chip leader, but he endured a miserable day, going from the leader to out in seventh for $36,800. Daniel Negreanu got lucky to bust both David Peters and Victoria Livschitz and the 10-time WSOP bracelet winner Erik Seidel cashed for $110,400 in third when his ace-eight couldn’t beat Wantman’s ace-jack.

Heads-up, Wantman  was the one to get lucky, his king-queen winning against Kid Poker’s ace-five with almost all the chips on the line. Soon after, Wantman had the win for $239,200 as Negreanu’s event ended with the misfortune he had previously inflicted on others.

Aram Zobian Wins Event #6 for $264,000

In the sixth event of the 2024 U.S. Poker Open, Aram Zobian took home $264,290 as he outlasted stars such as Sam Laskowitz and Brock Wilson along the way. With a higher entry fee of $15,100, a total of 62 entries created a prizepool of $930,000. After players including David Coleman, Nick Schulman, David Peters and Dylan Linde all missed the money, others like Daniel Negreanu (9^th for $27,900) lost when his pocket tens were usurped by Wilson’s pocket deuces that flopped a set.

After  John Riordan (8^th for $37,200) missed out on the final table of seven, Sam Laskowitz led with 2.4 million chips. Event #2 winner Jesse Lonis busted to the pocket kings of Laskowitz before John Andress ran into Joey Weissman’s pocket aces. High roller regular Dan Shak  lost with ten-nine to Brock Wilson’s ace-ten,  and at that stage, Zobian had taken over the chip lead.

Joey Weissman was sent crashing out in fourth place for $93,000 when his trip sevens were crushed by Zobian’s rivered straight and in third place, Brock Wilson won $130,200 when he was out-kicked by Zobian, who entered the final heads-up duel with a better than 2:1 chip lead. After a deal was agreed, Zobian’s jack-ten rivered a flush and when Sam Laskowitz called with rivered trips, Zobian won the top prize of $264,290.