Martin Zamani Crowned U.S. Poker Open Champion, Wins Finale for $666,000

Martin Zamani has blasted his way through the Event #10: $50,000 No-Limit Hold'em final table by eliminating each of his opponents to collect the $666,000 first-place prize. Zamani was also crowned the U.S. Poker Open champion for 2023 after topping the leaderboard with 570 PGT points to dethrone start-of-day leader Ren Lin, and three of his fellow final tablists who were all drawing live at the start of the final table.

Throughout the 2023 U.S. Poker Open, Zamani cashed a total of four times on his way to earning $835,800 in prize money. He performed when it mattered, including a third-place finish in the $15,000 Pot-Limit Omaha and win in the $50,000 No-Limit Hold'em finale. Alongside the Golden Eagle trophy for winning Event #10, he will take home the giant Golden Eagle trophy and the $50,000 championship bonus. Zamani now joins fellow PGT regulars Stephen Chidwick (2018), David Peters (2019 and 2021), and Sean Winter (2022) and U.S. Poker Open champions.

2023 U.S. Poker Open Leaderboard

The final event of the series attracted a 37-entrant field and created a prize pool that just fell shy of $2 million. Following a quick Day 1 from inside the PokerGO Studio, just six players remained with three-time Super High Roller Bowl champion Justin Bonomo holding the chip lead. Bonomo was trailed closely by Zamani, while Jeremy Ausmus, Chris Brewer, and Dan Smith were all eyeing the U.S. Poker Open series title. Nick Petrangelo was also at the final table and was collecting his first cash of the series in similar fashion to Bonomo.

Brewer would be the first to fall when he ran into the pocket aces of Zamani, before Smith exited next when he was all-in with pocket jacks against Zamani's pocket queens. Smith flopped a jack, but Zamani went runner-runner straight to put the final table down to four players. Following nearly three hours of four-handed play, Bonomo's tournament came to an end in fourth when he shoved ten-eight suited from the small blind but ran into Zamani's ace-ten suited. Zamani turned a flush and would take a massive chip lead into three-handed play.

Both Petrangelo and Ausmus took their turns at doubling through Zamani, but unfortunately for Ausmus, his run of luck with all-ins came to an end when his ace-six was outdrawn by Zamani's jack-seven. Zamani entered heads-up play against Petrangelo with just under a two-to-one advantage, but that was soon expanded after he picked off Petrangelo with top pair, and then spiked the river in another hand. Down to 19 big blinds, Petrangelo called all-in with queen-ten to be against the king-six of Zamani. Both players flopped a pair, but Zamani's top pair held on to see him eliminate Petrangelo in second place, while also being crowned the Event #10 champion.

Event #10: $50,000 No-Limit Hold'em Final Table Results

Zamani's dominance at the Event #10 final table would ensure he locked up the U.S. Poker Open title and $50,000 championship bonus heading into the upcoming 2023 World Series of Poker. Zamani has also entered the top ten on the PGT leaderboard where he currently sits in ninth place overall behind Jeremy Ausmus, and ahead of Daniel Negreanu.

2023 PGT Leaderboard

When the 2023 PGT season concludes, the top 40 players on the PGT leaderboard will partake in the 2023 PGT Championship $1,000,000 freeroll. There is a guaranteed $500,000 first-place prize, while the final table will also be paid out. In 2022, the PGT Championship was open to the top 21 on the PGT leaderboard, and Jason Koon defeated Sean Winter to win the $500,000 winner-take-all first-place prize.

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