Ben Yu Headlines $15k 8-Game Final Table; Phil Hellmuth, Jeremy Ausmus, and Bryan Micon in Contention

Ben Yu used the final few levels of play to mount a climb up the leaderboard to end as the overwhelming chip leader heading into the Event #6: $15,000 8-Game final table at the 2022 U.S. Poker Open. Yu bagged 2,400,000 in chips to lead the final seven players that include Damjan Radanov, Bryan Micon, Jeremy Ausmus, Scott Seiver, Phil Hellmuth, and Tamon Nakmamura.

The final table is set to air exclusively at 4 p.m. ET on Tuesday, March 22, on PokerGO.com and PokerGO’s YouTube channel. The final seven players have all locked up $28,200 in prize money, but all eyes are on the $239,700 first-place prize. Also on the line for Ausmus is extending his current lead on the U.S. Poker Open leaderboard where he sits on 305 points ahead of Shannon Shorr (302), Ren Lin (235), Adam Hendrix (234), and Nakamura (222). Ausmus is looking to become the second player to win back-to-back championships following Sam Soverel winning the Poker Masters and British Poker Open championships in 2019.

Event #6 of the 2022 U.S. Poker Open attracted a 47-entrant field that created a prize pool of $705,000. The change in game brought a plethora of new players into the PokerGO Studio for the first time this series and included high stakes mixed game players John Monnette, Eli Elezra, Jean-Robert Bellande, Richie Sklar, David “ODB” Baker, Marco Johnson, Craig Chait, Erik Sagstrom, and Nacho Barbero. Unfortunately for these players, they all fell short of reaching the final table, and after a long play down from the final two tables down to the final table, it would be Maxx Coleman eliminated on the money bubble by Yu when he made a superior flush against Coleman in a hand of Stud Hi-Lo.

Fresh off his 80th-place finish in the Wynn Millions Main Event, Yu was a late arrival in Event #6, and as the money began approaching, he soon begun accumulating chips. Yu won a big three-handed limit hold’em pot against Ausmus and Nakamura where he made a full house to surge to over 2.3 million before ending the day with 2.4 million. Trailing Yu are Radanov and Micon who witness their chip stacks go on a roller coaster of ups and downs as they played four-handed with Seiver and Hellmuth for several hours.

Sitting right in the middle is Ausmus who will be looking to capitalize on his position to extend his lead on the U.S. Poker Open leaderboard. Ausmus was in this position during the PokerGO Cup where he made four final tables on the way to being crowned the PokerGO Cup champion. Ausmus is fresh off his Event #5 win is now collecting his fourth cash of the series and is eyeing his third PokerGO-streamed final table.

When play resumes, there will be 24:00 remaining in Level 17 (60,000/120,000 limits) and the game and button will be randomly drawn.

The final seven players will return to the PokerGO Studio on Tuesday, March 22, at 12 p.m. PT with the final table airing on PokerGO.com and the PokerGO YouTube channel at 1 p.m. PT.

Connect with PokerGO.com on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. Use code “ USPO22WEB” for $20 off an annual PokerGO subscription now!