Justin Young Wins U.S. Poker Open Event #2 for $200,200

On Friday, Justin Young emerged victorious in Event #2: $10,000 Pot-Limit Omaha at the 2022 U.S. Poker Open. Young topped the field of 77 entries to win $200,200.

“This means a million times more than anything I’ve ever done in this room, cash games or otherwise,” Young said. “Just to play with the best of the best in this room just means the world to me.”

Coming into the final table, Young was second in chips with six players remaining to only Tommy Le. Young ended up getting heads up with Le and ultimately came out on top. Doing so in pot-limit Omaha is certainly no small feat, as Le has quite the record in the game that includes winning the $10,000 PLO Championship at the WSOP twice.

“Playing against Tommy was fantastic,” Young said. “He’s a great player, a great competitor. He actually ran pretty poorly today, in all honesty. I’m sure he ran well to get all the chips but, man, it was a tough battle. I’m happy to have had a little ignorance coming in, not to know a whole lot, and just run really well.”

For Young, the victory was his first tournament win inside the PokerGO Studio. Young’s been around the tournament scene a little less in recent years but has had a recent competitive itch to get back into things.

“I’ve been playing way more cash the past three years and have really felt like getting back into tournaments the past two or three months,” Young said. “This justifies my desire to get back into them and I’ll probably be playing a lot more.”

2022 U.S. Poker Open Event #2 Results

Event #2: $10,000 PLO drew a field of 77 entries, creating a prize pool of $770,000. The top 11 places reached the money. All players that cashed also earned PokerGO Tour (PGT) leaderboard points.

How Young Won Event #2

Young found a double up through Damjan Radanov in Level 8, and then he doubled through Ren Lin in Level 9.

Young maintained good position as the field narrowed. Then the bubble burst when Alex Livingston busted in 12th place to Zak Laikin. After that, Adam Hendrix went out in 11th place before Young won a chunk of chips from Dylan Weisman to push his stack to 1,500,000. Young won some more pots after that.

It was then Joseph Wagganer falling in 10th, Philip Long busting in ninth, and Sam Soverel hitting the rail in eighth place.

With seven players left, Young took a small hit when Alex Foxen doubled through him in Level 14. Foxen then took out Laikin in seventh place to end play for Day 1. When action concluded for the day, Young was second in chips with 2,100,000. Le was out in front with 4,160,000.

At the final table, Young knocked out Foxen in sixth place before he knocked out Dylan Weisman in fifth place. Radanov busted in fourth place to Le, then Le took out Dan Shak in third place to set up the final duel. To start heads-up play, Le had the lead with 7,200,000 to Young’s 2,425,000.

It took about 10 minutes for Young to find his first double through Le. He didn’t take long after that to find another double, with the second one moving Young into the chip lead. Although Le got down to around 2,000,000 in chips, he fought back to get the stacks nearly even before the final hand came up.

On the final hand, Young had the button at the 75,000-125,000 level and raised to 300,000 holding ace-queen-jack-five. Le called with jack-jack-seven-three. The flop was king-nine-two and Le checked. Young bet 350,000, and Le made the call to see a ten come on the turn. Le led with a bet of 800,000, and Young, holding the nut straight, made the call. The river was an ace and Le announced that he was all in for 2,850,000. Young called with the winning hand. With the stacks being so close, Le’s chips were counted down to confirm Young had him covered and he did, meaning Le was eliminated in second place to give the title to Young.

“Everything in this PokerGO Studio was amazing,” Young said. “Everything PokerGO does, Cary Katz, hats off and a huge congrats to everything that’s done here.”

Young Now Second On USPO Leaderboard

With the win, Justin Young picked up 200 points for the 2022 U.S. Poker Open leaderboard. He’s now in second place and behind only Shannon Shorr, who won Event #1 of the series. Tommy Le moved into fourth place with 146 points, and Dan Shak jumped up into fifth place with 119 points. Shak is the only player on the leaderboard to have cashed in both events to start the 2022 U.S. Poker Open.

2022 U.S. Poker Open Leaderboard Top 10

Tony Sinishtaj Remains Atop PGT Leaderboard

Tony Sinishtaj, winner of the 2022 Wynn Millions $10,000 Main Event, remains atop the PGT leaderboard for the 2022 season. He has 1,250 points and is 50 points ahead of Isaac Kempton. Alex Foxen improved to 11th place on the season-long leaderboard with 544 points.

2022 PGT Leaderboard Top 10