Stephen Chidwick Wins Event #3: $25,000 No Limit Hold'em to Lead at the US Poker Open
After 156 hands on the final table, Event #3: $25,000 No Limit Hold'em has come to an end with Stephen Chidwick prevailing as the champion. Chidwick will happily pocket $374,000 and the lead in the US Poker Open after defeating Keith Tilston in heads-up play.
The two players battled heads-up for a little over 50 hands and the chip lead swung back and forth numerous times. Tilston held a comfortable lead at one point and had Chidwick on the ropes, drawing to just six outs on the river. Chidwick spiked the river to double into the chip lead and carried the momentum going forward.
After cracking Tilston's pocket queens with a flopped flush, Chidwick held the largest lead of the final table and secured the win just one hand later. Tilston moved all in with 
and Chidwick snap-called holding 
. The board ran out 
and Tilston was eliminated in second place for $242,000.
With the win, Chidwick moves into first place in the running for the inaugural US Poker Open title. This is Chidwick's second final table of the series, finishing in fifth place for $54,400 in Event #1. When asked about how it would feel to win the US Poker Open, Chidwick was full of confidence. "I'm feeling really good right now. I would love to win the trophy, even though it might be awkward to pack."
Final Results
| Place | Player | Country | Prize (USD) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1st | Stephen Chidwick | United Kingdom | $374,000 |
| 2nd | Keith Tilston | United States | $242,000 |
| 3rd | Daniel Negreanu | Canada | $165,000 |
| 4th | Jake Schindler | United States | $110,000 |
| 5th | Brent Hanks | United States | $88,000 |
| 6th | Seth Davies | United States | $66,000 |
| 7th | Nick Schulman | United States | $55,000 |
The first of four $25,000 events attracted a total of 44 entries that made up a prizepool of $1,100,000. The opening day played down to the official final table with Nick Schulman being eliminated in seventh place. Schulman was able to pocket a min-cash of $55,000 before he hit the rail.
Day 2 started out with six players returning to their seats after a day off on Sunday. Tilston and Daniel Negreanu shared the chip lead but it didn't take long for the chips to start flying. After a few double ups from Chidwick, Brent Hanks, and Seth Davies, the players knew they were in for the long haul.
It took until the 35th hand in a blind vs blind situation, bust out first bustout to occur. Davies was all in with pocket sevens and was up against the 
of Tilston. The flop gave Tilston two pair and Davies was unable to hit a seven as he became the first player eliminated.
Just a few hands later, Hanks was on the short stack and faced with an all in from Chidwick in the small blind. Hanks called from the big blind and was flipping against Chidwick's small pair. The turn card gave Chidwick a full house and Hanks was left drawing dead, becoming the fifth-place finisher.
Jake Schindler took over the chip lead at one point of four-handed play, but after a river-bluff gone bad against Chidwick, he was left with under eight big blinds. Schindler shoved all in with 
and was called by Chidwick holding 
. Schindler was unable to connect with the board and exited the tournament in fourth place.
When three-handed play began, the chip stacks were fairly even. It took a string of bad runouts for Daniel Negreanu to be chipped away at and the fan-favorite finally had enough. He moved his remaining stack of just over a million chips into the middle with 
from the big blind. He was called by Tilston with 
and Negreanu would need some help. Tilston hit an ace on the flop and Negreanu was drawing dead by the turn, as he headed off to play in the Mixed Game Championship. That left the final two, Chidwick and Tilston, to battle it out heads-up for the title.
With that, the majority of the players have headed back inside the Aria Resort and Casino poker room to join Event #4: $25,000 Mixed Game Championship. That event will also be playing down to a final table today before resuming on PokerGO tomorrow.
You can follow all of the live updates throughout the US Poker Open with the PokerNews live reporting team.