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Shannon Shorr Wins 5th PGT Title for $220,400
A record-breaking 98 entrants made their way through the threshold of the PokerGO Studio for Event #6: $15,100 No-Limit Hold'em of the 2025 U.S. Poker Open, setting a new high water mark for a $15,000 buy-in during the PGT, and when the water receded, Brandon Wilson came away with his third career PGT title and the $382,200 first-place prize plus 306 PGT points after defeating Matthew Wantman heads-up.
Wilson came into the day second in chips but took a back seat to Martin Zamani, who scored the first two eliminations of the final table when he sent start-of-day short stack Darren Elias home in seventh place for $58,800 plus 47 PGT points with quad kings to crack Elias' pocket queens. Zamani then picked up pocket fours in early position, and when David Coleman failed to find an ace or a queen from the big blind, Coleman hit the rail in sixth place for $73,500 plus 59 PGT points while Zamani assumed the chip lead.
The two quick eliminations left Alex Foxen and Wantman as the two short stacks at the table, and the two would go to war with Foxen holding queen-jack off from the cutoff and Wantman holding ace-king of spades in the small blind. Foxen made two pair by the turn, but the board also gave Wantman broadway, and when Foxen failed to boat up in the river, he headed to the payout desk in fifth place for $102,900 plus 82 PGT points.
Just before Foxen's elimination, Zamani handed a double to start-of-day chip leader Sean Winter to drop near the bottom of the counts. Zamani then tried to play bully ball with ace-queen on an eight high-board as he three-bet shoved for just over 2.6 million chips, but Winter snapped him off with top pair. The turn and river came up paint, but in the form of a jack and a king, leaving Zamani's roller coaster of a day over in fourth place for $132,300 plus 106 PGT points.
The elimination left Winter with over 55% of the chips in play to start the three-handed affair, but Wantman quickly moved up the counts by flush over flushing Winter and taking a pot off of Wilson, leaving the three players relatively even in chips. For the next two hours, all three players would take the chip lead at one point or another before Winter got almost all of his chips into the middle pre-flop with ace-five against the ace-eight of Wilson.
Winter held a single 25,000 chip behind as the board ran out jack-high, and when Wilson's kicker player, he was left with an eighth of a big blind. Winter was forced all in from the big blind the next hand with king-queen off, Wilson moved all in on the button with ace-five of hearts, and Wantman called for nearly three million with pocket ten from the small blind.
An ace in the window appeared to set up Wilson for the double knockout to end the tournament, but a ten on the turn sent Winter home in third place for $176,400 plus 141 PGT points, while Wantman doubled into the chip lead to start the heads-up match.
After Wilson pulled nearly even on the first few hands of heads-up play, Wantman moved all in for just over five million effective on the button with ace-four, only for Wilson to wake up with ace-king in the big blind. The board ran out jack-high with a pair of sixes, Wilson's ace-king held, and all of a sudden, a nearly even heads-up match turned into a runaway chip lead for Wilson.
Wantman had a shot at a double when he got his last 1.5 million into the middle with jack-ninie against Wilson's five-four of diamonds. A five on the flop turned into a runner-runner flush, and Wantman was out the door in second place for $242,550 plus 194 PGT points.
Event #6: $15,100 No-Limit Hold'em Final Table Payouts
| Place | Name | Country | PGT Points | Prize |
| 1st | Brandon Wilson | United States | 306 | $382,200 |
| 2nd | Matthew Wantman | United States | 194 | $242,550 |
| 3rd | Sean Winter | United States | 141 | $176,400 |
| 4th | Martin Zamani | United States | 106 | $132,300 |
| 5th | Alex Foxen | United States | 82 | $102,900 |
| 6th | David Coleman | United States | 59 | $73,500 |
| 7th | Darren Elias | United States | 47 | $58,800 |
Wantman Secures Top Spot In Race for 2025 Golden Eagle
Coming into the final table of Event #6, Eric Blair held a 13-point lead over Wantman in the race for the 2025 Golden Eagle trophy, but with Wantman already locking up 47 PGT points by just making the final table, it was just a matter of how high Wantman could push his lead at the top.
The runner-up finish for Wantman gave him 194 PGT points, and he now sits all alone at the top of the leaderboard with 512 points following his third cash and third final table of the series. Event #6 winner, Wilson, picked up with first cash of the series and now sits in fourth place with 306 points.
Two events remain in the race for the Golden Eagle as the second $15,100 buy-in of the series is already underway. You can catch all the action from day one from the PGT live reporting team here, or tune into the PokerGO YouTube channel starting at 8 pm for the Circus with Donnie Peters as we play down to a final table.
2025 U.S. Poker Open Top Ten
| Rank | Player | Points | Wins | Top 3 | FT | Cashes | Winnings |
| 1 | Matthew Wantman | 512 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 3 | $528,350 |
| 2 | Eric Blair | 331 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 5 | $330,975 |
| 3 | Yifu He | 319 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 4 | $350,500 |
| 4 | Brandon Wilson | 306 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | $382,200 |
| 5 | Kazuomi Furuse | 285 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | $285,075 |
| 6 | Michael Rossitto | 278 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | $277,950 |
| 7 | Jim Collopy | 244 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 4 | $244,225 |
| 8 | Shannon Shorr | 220 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | $220,400 |
| 9 | Nacho Barbero | 194 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 | $193,400 |
| 10 | Stephen Chidwick | 174 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 3 | $173,950 |
2025 PGT Leaderboard Top Ten
| Rank | Player | Points | Wins | Final Tables | Cashes | Winnings |
| 1 | Eric Blair | 1,124 | 2 | 6 | 12 | $1,119,820 |
| 2 | Chino Rheem | 1,026 | 2 | 8 | 11 | $1,006,775 |
| 3 | Kristen Foxen | 1,015 | 3 | 3 | 7 | $777,600 |
| 4 | Joey Weissman | 923 | 1 | 6 | 7 | $1,021,650 |
| 5 | Nick Schulman | 918 | 0 | 8 | 14 | $875,445 |
| 6 | Daniel Negreanu | 811 | 2 | 6 | 10 | $1,072,000 |
| 7 | Jesse Lonis | 786 | 1 | 5 | 9 | $912,490 |
| 8 | Alex Foxen | 759 | 1 | 5 | 8 | $800,410 |
| 9 | Jim Collopy | 731 | 1 | 2 | 13 | $879,817 |
| 10 | Patrick Leonard | 712 | 1 | 6 | 10 | $575,498 |
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