Matthew Wantman Leads 2025 U.S. Poker Open Win at Halfway Stage

The PokerGO Studio at ARIA on the Las Vegas Strip was the place to be this past weekend as players such as Stephen Chidwick, Daniel Negreanu and Erik Seidel battled for supremacy in the 2025 U.S. Poker Open (USPO) as the action reached the halfway stage. Who leads the way after four different winners claimed a USPO PGT Gold Cup?

Let’s find out.

Kazuomi Furuse Wins Event #2 for $275,400

The second event of the 2025 U.S. Poker Open ended in a win for Japanese player Kazuomi Furuse after he followed the Event #1 winner Kristen Foxen into the record books. Furuse was the pick of a 108-entry field as 16 players cashed, with the poker crusher Jeremy Ausmus acting as ‘Bubble Boy’, losing out in 17^th place for nothing when his king-four couldn’t hold against the queen-six of WSOP legend Erik Seidel.

Once the money places were reached, Isaac Kempton (16^th for $16,200) and Daniel Negreanu (15^th for $21,600) both made profit, with GGPoker Global Ambassador Negreanu missing pair and straight outs against David Peters to depart. Chino Rheem doubled up the eventual winner Furuse when the Japanese player’s pocket kings hit a third cowboy against the pocket aces of Rheem.

Rheem eventually cashed for $27,000 in 11^th place and he was followed from the felt by legends such as Patrick Leonard (10^th for $32,400), Nick Seward (8^th for $43,200) and David Peters, who began the six-handed final table shortest in chips and lost out first as Furuse claimed his latest victim, sending Peters home with $54,000. PokerGO commentator Nick Schulman cashed in fifth for $70,200 before Erik Seidel went from chip leader to the rail with four left. Losing a big coinflip didn’t help, with Seidel’s ace-jack unable to outrun Furuse’s pocket fours.

Eric Blair missed out on heads-up when his second pair ran into the Americas Cardroom professional Nacho Barbero’s nut straight, and that left Blair on the rail with $124,200 while Barbero enjoyed a 9.5 million chip to 4 million chip lead over the outsider Furuse. The Japanese first-time PGT winner sealed that debut victory after pocket jacks doubled through Barbero’s ace-deuce before ace-king beat king-jack, proving that two hands can change anything in No Limit Hold’em. As the Japanese player celebrated winning the $275,400 top prize, Barbero collected $172,800 as runner-up.

Michael Rossitto Wins Event #3 for $277,950

With 109 total entries, Event #3 of the 2025 USPO saw 16 players make the money places. The last player to miss out was Jeremy ‘JBex’ Becker who lost a crucial coinflip to PGT regular Christian Roberts. Once in the money, players dropped like flies, with Joey Weissman (16^th for $16,350), Eric Blair (13^th for $21,800), and Dylan Linde (12^th for $27,250) all missing out on the final nine.

Jeremy Ausmus made profit on this occasion, running to ninth place for a score of $32,700, the same amount Stephen Chidwick won in 10^th place, and after Bin Duan busted in eighth place for $43,600, Aram Zobian lost a coinflip ace-king against Jim Collopy’s pocket jacks, meaning just six were left.

That elimination saw Collopy lead the final table. Soon after it began, Matthew Wantman lost a coinflip to Andrew Moreno to bust in sixth place for $54,500, before Isaac Kempton bowed out in fifth place for $70,850 when Roberts’ ace-king beat his queen-jack. It was at that stage that Rossitto forged a path up the leaderboard and he watched on with glee as first Christian Roberts then Andrew Moreno were busted.

Heads-up was a quick affair, as Collopy moved all-in with a smaller stack holding pocket threes, losing to Rossitto who called with ace-jack. A board of A-Q-9-8-T gave Rossitto the victory for a top prize of $277,950, while Collopy claimed $174,400 as runner-up.

Wantman Wins Event #4 to Take Half-Time Lead

In Event #4, Matthew Wantman made up for finishing sixth in the previous event to take the title and $231,300 into the bargain. With 103 entries in the fourth event of eight PokerGO owner Cary Katz (13^th for $25,750), Event #3 runner-up Jim Collopy (11^th for $30,900), and Andrew Moreno (9^th for $30,900) were all among the 15 players who cashed.

The final table saw Yifu He lead from Matthew Wantman and British poker hero Stephen Chidwick with the other three players a seriously short-stacked trio. Patrick Leonard busted for $51,500 in sixth after an all-English showdown, Leonard losing with two pair against the turned straight of Stephen Chidwick. Leonard was followed from the felt by Isaac Kempton, who lost with a dominated king-to go home with $66,950 and when Masato Yokosawa followed in fourth for $92,700, the final three were set.

Three-handed, Wantman doubled up holding pocket aces before taking more from Chidwick when a king-high flush beat against Chidwick’s top pair. Chidwick hit the rail soon after, cashing for $118,450 after dominated ace-deuce was sunk by Yifu He’s ace-four.

Heads-up a deal was struck when the chips were almost even and He’s two-pair was shot down by Wantman’s trip sevens on the flop, meaning the latter had all the chips and claimed the top prize of $231,300, with Yifu He winning $201,300 as runner-up.

Pictures courtesy of PokerGO, the only place to watch the 2025 U.S. Poker Open and the 56^th annual World Series of Poker from Las Vegas this summer.