Jesse Lonis Goes Wire-to-Wire to Win 3rd PGT Title

Jesse Lonis put on a clinic as he eliminated all six final table opponents going wire-to-wire with the chip lead as he secured his third PGT title and the $252,450 first-place prize in Event #2: $10,100 No-Limit Hold'em of the 2024 U.S. Poker Open.

Lonis started the day by handing short stack Sean Winter an early double during the first few hands of play but quickly sucked the momentum back when he flopped broadway against Winter's pocket fours to send the Flordia native home in seventh place for $39,600.

Lonis would continue his onslaught one hand later when his ace queen bested Victoria Livschitz's ace-three, sending the Octopi Poker co-founder to the rail in sixth place for $49,500 when a queen hit the flop. 

The chip leader's good fortune on the flop continued, as he sent Joey Weissman to the rail in fifth place for $64,350 when his queen-jack flopped against Weissman's ace-five, as Lonis's chip stack continued to grow. 

Aram Zobain would then pick up a huge double through Rodger Johnson four-handed as Johnson was left with just five big blinds and hit the payout desk in fourth place for $89,100 courtesy of Lonis moments later. 

Kristina Holst briefly wrestled the chip lead away from Lonis early in the day's first level of play, but her run would end at the hands of Lonis when her king-six found itself outkicked by Lonis's king-ten. Holst had outs to a spade flush to stay alive, but the river bricked, and she collected $113,850 for her third-place finish, leaving her just $13,000 short of one million in career earnings. 

The heads-up was a relatively quick affair. Lonis took a three-and-a-half to one chip lead over Zobian in the match and finished the story for his first major PGT title when he turned a straight flush against Zobian's turned pair and queen-high flush draw. 

Zobian was left drawing dead and headed to the payout desk in second place to collect his $163,350 prize. In the process, he scored his ninth six-figure cash of his career. 

Event #2: $10,100 No-Limit Hold'em Final Table Payouts

Lonis Takes Top Spot on Series Leaderboard

Event #2: $10,100 No-Limit Hold'em saw 99 entrants walk through the doors of the PokerGO Studio, creating a prize pool of $990,000. The final 15 players reached the money, and with 252 points up top for the winner, Lonis now sits alone atop the 2024 U.S. Poker Open Leaderboard.  

The win means Lonis tops Event #1 winner Erik Seidel by over 100 points. Runner-up Zobian also picked up enough points to pass Seidel with 163 to his 145. Holst picked up her first cash of the series and sits fourth on the overall leaderboard with 114 points. 

Rodger Johnson followed up his 10th-place finish in Event #1 with a fourth-place finish in Event #2, and he now has 106 points to round out the top five. 

PGT Regulars Stephen Chirdwick (11th), Brock Wilson (15th), and John Riordan (20th) also picked up their second cash in as many events but sat outside the top ten overall, with Chidwick just nine points shy of John Khoury for tenth. 

Just six events remain on the 2024 U.S. Poker Open schedule, and Event #3: $10,100 No-Limit Hold'em is already underway. You can catch all the day-one action here: https://www.pgt.com/live-reporting/us-poker-open-2024/event-3-10100-nolimit-holdem. 

Cards are scheduled to be in the air at 12 p.m. PT on April 11th for the conclusion of Event #3. A live stream of the Event #3 final table gets underway at 2 p.m. PT with Brent Hanks and Jeff Platt on the call. Viewers can catch the live stream exclusively on PokerGO.  

2024 U.S. Poker Open Leaderboard

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