Erik Seidel Adds to His Resume with Second U.S. Poker Open Title

Erik Seidel came into the Event #1 final table with a sizable chip lead but, after going zero for four in his first four all-ins on the day, seemed poised to fall short of capturing the $145,000 first-place prize and his second career U.S. Poker Open Title. 

However, the Poker Hall of Famer didn't let the early run bad shake his confidence, and the deck rewarded him when he scored a double elimination three-handed to send Eric Afriat and Dylan Linde packing to wrap up the tournament in grand fashion. 

While Linde kicked off the day's festivities by sending Justin Zaki packing in sixth place for $29,000, it was Afriat who benefited from Seidel's early tumble. The three-time WPT Champion would take the chip lead into three-handed play after sending William Lamar-Boone home in fifth place for $37,700 and John Khoury home in fourth place for $49,300. 

The chip lead would quickly swing back in Seidel's favor as he scored a double through Linde and then took a large chunk of Afriat's stack when his rivered full house found value from Afriat's rivered full house to set the stage for the final hand. 

With Afriat and Linde sitting just under ten big blinds a piece, Afriat scored a double through his fellow short stack to leave Linde with just a small blind and looked to finish him off the next hand when he picked up nines on the button, but Seidel woke up with aces in the big blind. 

All the money got in before the flop, and when the board ran out jack-high, Seidel raised the trophy above his head as Afriat collected his $89,900 second-place prize while Linde hit the rail in third place for $63,800.

Event #1: $5,100 No-Limit Hold'em Final Table Payouts

Seidel in Pole Position for $25K PGT Passport

The win marks Seidel's sixth cash of the 2024 PGT season, and with it, he collects 145 points on the Play of the Year Leaderboard to move into 16th place with 307 points, 24 points behind Maxx Hoffman for 15th. 

More importantly, Seidel now sits in the pole position for the 2024 Golden Eagle Trophy with seven events to play as Event #1: $5,100 No-Limit Hold'em kicked off the 2024 U.S. Poker Open with 116 entrants to create a prize pool of $580,000 with the final 17 players reaching the money. 

PGT Regulars John Riordan (17th), Stephen Chidwick (11th), Brock Wilson (16th), Kristen Foxen (14th), and Alex Foxen (7th) all picked up their first cash of the series in Event #1. 

PGT Newcomers Lamar-Boone and Khoury each made a splash on their poker resumes. According to the HendonMob, Khoury nearly tripled his lifetime earnings with his fourth-place cash, while Lamar-Boone nearly doubled his lifetime earnings with his fifth-place cash. 

The 2024 U.S. Poker Open continues with Event #2: $10,100 No-Limit Hold'em, and you can catch all the day-one action here: https://www.pgt.com/live-reporting/us-poker-open-2024/event-2-10100-nolimit-holdem.

The final table of Event #2 gets underway at 12 p.m. PT on April 10th, with the delayed live streaming starting at 2 p.m. PT with Jeff Platt and Brent Hanks on the call on PokerGO.com.  

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