U.S. Poker Open Ends with Aram Zobian and Stephen Chidwick as Champions

Players such as Joey Weissman, Jonathan Little, Jesse Lonis, and Dan Smith all had stellar tournaments while event winners such as Matthew Wantman and Eric Afriat went close, but after eight events, it was rising American poker star Aram Zobian who sealed a memorable Championship title, winning the $25,000 PokerGO Tour Passport as a Championship bonus and taking home the huge Golden Eagle USPO trophy in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Event #7 Won by Eric Afriat for $288,000

With two events to play, the Golden Eagle trophy was anyone’s. The final $15,100 buy-in event of the series saw Eric Afriat scoop up the chips and pile them in front of his winning poker hand. The Canadian beat Joey Weissman heads-up to win the $288,000 top prize after a dramatic final table.

With 64 entries, only 10 players were paid in the PokerGO Studio at ARIA as stars of the poker scene such as Chino Rheem, Jonathan Little, Erik Seidel and Nick Schulman all missed out on the money places. Clemen Deng was eliminated on the money bubble, as his pocket tens lost to Joey Weissman’s ace-king. David Peters busted soon after with ace-deuce, losing to Stephen Chidwick’s pocket sixes.

Cashes for players such as Victoria Livschitz, Bill Klein and Darren Elias followed, with the latter shot down in seventh for $38,400 when his ace-nine was ousted by Weissman’s pocket jacks. Sean Winter was another victim of Weissman, before Sam Laskowitz lost to Stephen Chidwick’s trip fives. Chidwick himself busted next for $129,600 when he lost with the better hand to Weissman, but having done all the hard work, the American lost heads-up to Afriat, the former WPT champion winning with a straight as Weissman called off his stack with top two pair. He won $187,200 but Afriat took home the trophy and $288,000.

Stephen Chidwick Wins Event #8 Victory for $429,000

The eighth and final event of the 2024 U.S. Poker Stephen Chidwick win the $429,000 top prize in Las Vegas. Costing $25,000 to enter, the final event of the series saw 52 entries, with $1.3 million divided up between the players. Only eight would reach profit, with players such as Nick Schulman, David Peters and Sam Laskowitz all missed out.

Kristen Foxen bubbled the final event of the 2024 U.S. Poker Open losing with ace-ten to Stephen Chidwick’s king-jack. David Coleman made the money to min-cash, before players such as Cary Katz lost out, the PokerGO owner also falling to Chidwick as the British player’s ten-nine got there against king-queen. Dan ‘Cowboy’ Smith lost to Brandon Wittmeyer before he himself busted in third, cashing for $182,000.

Chidwick (5.7m) went in the final duel with the lead, with Andrew Lichtenberger on 2.7 million chips. After falling behind, Chidwick regained the lead then won a flip for almost all of the chips, his ace-king getting an ace on the turn to overtake ‘Chewy’ who held pocket tens. Chidwick’s top prize of $429,000 was his fourth cash of the series for a total of $597,850 in winnings.

Zobian Takes Overall Crown

At the end of Day 1 in the final event, only Jesse Lonis could theoretically stop Zobian winning, needing the outright win and to hope that Zobian couldn’t finish fifth or higher,  and both players held the fewest chips. Lonis shoved from the button with jack-eight early and Chidwick’s king-jack was perfect for Zobian.

A board of A-5-2-J-6 followed and Aram Zobian raised his arms into the air as he became champion for his first major PGT live series, capturing the Golden Eagle trophy and the $25,000 PGT Passport. By winning the 2024 U.S. Poker Open, Zobian had cashed four times, for an incredible 616 PGT Points – worth $613,540 in total winnings.

The runner-up position in Event #2: ($163,350) was added to by a third-place finish in Event #3 for $107,900. Winning Event #6 for $264,290 was the highlight of the series for Zobian, with another 6^th-place finish in the final event earning him $78,000.