Eric Afriat Captures First Career PGT Title in Event #7: $15,100 No-Limit Hold'em

Eric Afriat made a name for himself by winning three WPT titles and after putting on a clinic at the Event #7: $15,100 No-Limit Hold'em Final Table of the 2024 U.S. Poker Open to add his first PGT title to his resume, plus the $288,000 first place prize. 

Afriat started the day as one of three players with over a million chips but let the short stacks do the heavy lifting early, as Sean Winter, Bill Klein, and Sam Laskowitz cannibalized themselves during the early portion of play. 

Winter dropped to under to big blinds after the first few hands of play but scored a double through Klein to stay alive and then scored a ladder when Klein's ace-eight was outkicked by Laskowitz's ace-queen, sending him home in sixth place for $52,800. 

Winter was then forced all-in from the big blind with ten-duece off against the ace-queen of Joey Weissman. Both players flopped a pair, but the duck was no good for Winter as he collected his belongings and headed to the payout desk in fifth place for $72,000. 

Afriat would then double into the chip lead through start-of-day chip leader Stephen Chidwick, only for Chidwick to retake it on the very next hand when he sent Laskowitz to the rail in fourth place for $96,000. 

It was all Afriat from there as the long-time pro began to take creative line after creative line, leaving both Chidwick and Weissman scratching their heads at various points during the prolonged three-handed play. 

Nearly an hour after he sent Laskowitz to the rail, Chidwick would suffer the same fate as Weissman jammed from the small blind with nine-six offsuit only to be called by Chidwick's king-eight from the big blind. 

Chidwick appeared to be in great shape as he flopped trip eights, but the river brought in a gutshot straight draw for Weissman, and the United Kingdom's all-time money leader hit the rail to collect his $129,600 third-place prize. 

Even with the elimination going in favor of Weissman, Afriat still garnered a nearly three-to-one chip advantage to start heads-up play and never took his foot off the gas as his relentless pressure continued, with the deck providing good fortune as well. 

The final nail in Weissman's coffin came brutally when his ace-queen turned top two pair only to get all the money in and be shown a broadway straight when Afriat rolled over king-jack. Weissman needed a board pair to stay alive, and while the board did pair, it was the ten, and Weissman finished his second straight U.S. Poker Open final table in second place for $187,200. 

Event #7: $15,100 No-Limit Hold'em Final Table Payouts

Aram Zobian Remains on Top, Top Ten Shaken Up

The penultimate event of the 2024 U.S. Poker Open saw 64 hopefuls make their way through the doors of the PokerGO studio, but after the dust settled, none could overtake Aram Zobian and his 569 points atop the overall series leaderboard. 

However, courtesy of his second cash of the series, Event Champion Afriat vaulted Jesse Lonis for second place and now has 378 points but still trails Zobian by nearly two hundred points with just the championship to go. 

Runner-up Weissman picked up his third cash of the series to move into fourth place with 344, while fellow back-to-back event final tablist Laskowitz picked up his fourth cash of the series to move into fifth with 320 points. 

Victoria Livschitz continued her impressive run as the Octopi Poker co-founder scored her fifth overall cash of the series, but thanks to how the rest of the event played out, she dropped from the top ten and now sits eleventh with 212 points, trialing Event #3 winner Dan Smith by 18 points. 

The 2024 U.S. Poker Open Championship Event is already underway, and you can catch all the day-one action as Zobian, Lonis, Afriat, and the rest battle for the added PGT passport here: Event #8: $25,200 No-Limit Hold'em.

The final table of Event #8 is scheduled to get underway at 2 p.m. PT on April 17th. Ali Nejad and Maria Ho will be in the booth for the delayed livestream beginning at 4 p.m. PT on PokerGO. 

2024 U.S. Poker Open Leaderboard

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