Eli Elezra Outlasts Poker Legends to Claim $10,000 8-Game Title at 2021 U.S. Poker Open

Eli Elezra outlasted a stacked field of 68 entrants that included Steve Zolotow and Daniel Negreanu at the final table to claim his first live tournament win since capturing his third career World Series of Poker bracelet in 2019. Elezra collected $169,900 for his win making this the fifth-biggest score of his tournament career.

The final table of this event started with seven players as David ‘ODB’ Baker held the overnight lead. That lead, however, lasted a mere minutes as he was knocked out on the fourth hand of play. First, Baker doubled up Negreanu before busting to Zolotow in a tough cooler that turned into a bad beat. Zolotow showed up with ace-king of hearts for his tournament life and hit running hearts to make a flush versus Baker’s black aces.

After Baker’s departure, Elezra picked up the pace and quickly chipped down both Nick Guagenti and Richard Sklar. Guagenti bubbled the PokerGO final table stream when he busted during Stud Hi-Lo against Elezra when he finished with just a pair of threes after missing a strong low draw versus Elezra’s pair of fives.

Sklar had less than one big bet left when five-handed action started on the PokerGO stream but he mounted a nice comeback by winning a few all-ins right off the bat to avoid elimination.

Online poker legend and Bobby’s Room regular Erik ‘Erik123′ Sagstrom ultimately busted in fifth during Pot-Limit Omaha as he ended up all in with queen-queen-four-four with one suit versus Negreanu’s ace-king-nine-three with one suit as well. Sagstrom called Negreanu’s raise before the flop and bet pot to commit himself with just two big blinds behind on jack-nine-three with two diamonds. Sagstrom held diamonds and called all-in when Negreanu raised only to see the Hall of Famer’s flopped two pair hold up.

During a round of No Limit Hold’em, Sklar found himself all in with eights versus Negreanu’s ace-jack of hearts. The flop gave Negreanu a pair of jacks and Sklar did not manage to spike one of his remaining two outs to stay alive.

Despite starting the final table very strong, Negreanu himself ultimately fell in third place. During Pot-Limit Omaha, Negreanu called a pot-sized raise from Elezra holding ace-seven-five-five with two spades. Elezra held king-queen-jack-nine and the flop showed three-eight-three. Elezra put Negreanu all in and he called with just a pair of fives and some backdoor outs. The turn brought a seven to keep Negreanu in the lead but the queen of clubs on the river gave Elezra the win.

Elezra chipped away at Zolotow’s stack before busting him during Stud Hi-Lo. On the final hand, Elezra took an aggressive approach which resulted in Zolotow being all-in on fifth street with equities running very close. Zolotow held split fives and Elezra a strong low draw, but a seven on sixth street turned the tables. Neither player improved on seventh street and Elezra’s pair of sevens took the whole pot down.

The full event payouts are as follows.

The 2021 U.S. Poker Open continues right now as Event #7: $10,000 No Limit Hold’em is in full swing. Check out our Live Reporting right here and tune into the final table of that event at 1:00 pm PT on PokerGO. Here are the Top 10 of the Championship Standings.