Chino Rheem Wins U.S. Poker Open Event #8 for $271,350

Chino Rheem is back and he’s atop the 2022 U.S. Poker Open leaderboard with a victory in Event #8: $15,000 Pot-Limit Omaha. After finishing in second place in Event #7: $15,000 No-Limit Hold’em on Wednesday for $210,000, Rheem took first place in Event #8 for $271,350. He now has 481 leaderboard points and moved ahead of Tamon Nakamura at the top of the standings.

In Event #8, Rheem topped a field of 67 entries to get the victory. He defeated Scott Seiver in heads-up play at a final table that included 16-time World Series of Poker gold bracelet winner Phil Hellmuth.

Also in the month of March, Rheem finished 49th in the Wynn Millions $10,000 Main Event for $43,028 and second in the Wynn Millions $5,200 Progressive Bounty for $58,885.

2022 U.S. Poker Open Event #8 Results

Event #8: $15,000 PLO attracted a field of 67 entries and created a prize pool of $1,005,000. The top 10 spots finished in the money. Matthew Wantman placed seventh, Cary Katz took eighth, Alex Livingston was ninth, and Joseph Sanders took 10th. All players to cash earned both U.S. Poker Open and PGT leaderboard points.

Rheem’s Road To the Event #8 Title

Chino Rheem entered the final table third in chips, with Isaac Kempton out in front and Scott Seiver in second.

Dylan Weisman was the first player eliminated at the final table, busting to Phil Hellmuth and taking sixth place. After that, Adam Hendrix hit the rail, and he was eliminated by Rheem in fifth place.

A short-stacked Hendrix was all in with ace-ace-king-eight against Rheem’s king-king-ten-eight during the 15,000-30,000 level. Rheem found the case king on the king-five-three flop to take the lead and he held from there, ultimately making a flush as his final hand to get the knockout. That hand gave Rheem the chip lead with four players remaining.

Next to go was Phil Hellmuth in fourth place. Like Hendrix, Hellmuth was eliminated by Rheem. The two saw a flop of ten-eight-seven and the money went in. Hellmuth had ace-ace-eight-five but was out-flopped by Rheem who had jack-jack-nine-seven. Rheem’s straight held up to send the 16-time WSOP gold bracelet winner out the door.

Rheem would send Isaac Kempton to the payout window next, making a full house against Kempton’s trips. The third-place finish did secure enough PGT leaderboard points for Kempton to overtake Tony Sinishtaj atop the 2022 PGT leaderboard, though. Kempton now leads with 1,331 points. Sinishtaj and his 1,250 points dropped to second.

Entering heads-up play against Seiver, Rheem had a sizable lead with 6,510,000 in chips to Seiver’s 1,865,000. Seiver fought his way back to nearly 4,000,000 but ultimately fell short of getting the win.

On the final hand, Seiver raised on the button to 150,000 at the 25,000-50,000 level. He had king-jack-ten-six with king-jack of clubs. Rheem defended his big blind with king-nine-nine-three with the nine-three of diamonds. The flop was a rainbow queen-nine-six with one club, giving Rheem middle set. He checked, Seiver bet 150,000, and Rheem check-raised to 600,000. Seiver went all in for 1,640,000, and Rheem called. The turn was an ace and the river a seven to seal the deal for Rheem.

Rheem Now First On USPO Leaderboard

The Event #8 win vaulted Chino Rheem to the top of the 2022 U.S. Poker Open leaderboard. He’s now in first place with 481 points, which is 19 points ahead of Tamon Nakamura in second place. Rounding out the top three is Adam Hendrix with 356 points.

The player with the most leaderboard points at the end of the 2022 U.S. Poker Open will be crowned U.S. Poker Open Champion and take home the $50,000 Championship Bonus.

2022 U.S. Poker Open Leaderboard Top 10

Kempton Takes Lead On PGT Leaderboard

On the 2022 PGT leaderboard, Isaac Kempton moved into first place with his third-place finish in Event #8: $15,000 PLO. Kempton now has 1,331 points and is 81 points ahead of Tony Sinishtaj.

The top 21 point earners on the PGT leaderboard will be invited to a winner-take-all freezeout tournament at the end of the season, with the winner taking home $500,000.

Click here to view the complete PGT leaderboard.

2022 PGT Leaderboard Top 10

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