Keith Tilston Holds Big Lead at US Poker Open Main Event Final Table
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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 could 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.
The final table action will resume at noon local time at the Aria Resort & Casino and play down to a winner. Every hand will be streamed live with hole cards on PokerGO beginning at 1 PM and you can follow along with the PokerNews blog starting then.
Main Event Payouts
| Place | Prize (USD) |
|---|---|
| 1st | $660,000 |
| 2nd | $429,000 |
| 3rd | $264,000 |
| 4th | $165,000 |
| 5th | $132,000 |
Some of the game's best are clashing at this final table of the $50,000 Main Event at the US Poker Open, starting Sunday at 4pm ET on PokerGO. Live updates will be provided by PokerNews in case you can't watch it all, but if you have the time, sign up for PokerGO and see the first big televised mixed game final table of the year!
in the cutoff and raised to 22,000. Brian Rast also looked down at a premium holding of 
on the button. Rast shipped all in for 392,000 and was instantly called by Negreanu.
and as they say in poker, "There's always a sweat". The turn brought the 
and the river landed the 
. Rast was unable to improve and was eliminated on the money bubble.
and Cary Katz shipped all in for his last 80,000 in the hijack holding 
. The action folded back to Negreanu who made an easy call.
and Negreanu jumped out front with a pair of aces. The turn was the 
and Katz was left drawing to a single out once again. The 
rolled off on the river and that spelled the end of Katz's run here in the Main Event.
board swept out and Katz scored a big triple up.
flop and Tollerene bet 30,000.
hit the turn. Tollerene bet 70,000 and Negreanu check-called bringing the 
on the river. 
with Rast and Tilston left to battle in a side pot. Rast led out for 35,000 and Tilston made the call as the 
landed on the turn. Rast checked this time and Tilston fired a bet of 40,000. Rast called and the 
and was thus eliminated, bringing the tournament down to just 10 players.
