Stephen Chidwick Leads Event #6 Final Table; Cary Katz Scores Third Cash

Stephen Chidwick is on his way to do it again! The No. 1 on the UK all-time money list has made his ninth U.S. Poker Open final table and on Tuesday he’ll look to win his fourth event. Chidwick is the reigning U.S. Poker Open champion and a big result at the Event #6 final table could put him in the driver’s seat for a title defense.

The $25,000 Pot Limit Omaha event drew a field of 39 entries creating a prize pool just shy of a million dollars. Right now, just six players remain to battle over the $351,000 first prize live on PokerGO at 5:00 pm ET. The six finalists are guaranteed at least $58,500.

The big stars were out in full force as Phil Galfond, Alex Foxen, Justin Bonomo, Brandon Adams, Ali Imisirovic, and Erik Seidel gave it their best shot. Meanwhile, the rivalry between Stephen Chidwick and Sean Winter’s intensified with the latter drawing the short straw.

Winter was eliminated by Chidwick in eighth-place with  against  on a board of  . Winter’s heater might’ve slowed down a tiny bit, he’s still a strong contender to become the U.S. Poker Open champion with 440 points and the standings lead.

Chidwick now has an opportunity to tie or overtake the lead with a top three finish at the final table. He currently has 340 points and is guaranteed at least 40 more.

Phil Galfond, a PLO master, was a surprise participant. He’s been a bit busy launching his online poker site Run it Once and hadn’t played live poker in six months. But he couldn’t turn down an opportunity to play his favorite game at the PokerGO Studio which is just a few miles from his house. “OMGClayAiken” hung tough for a few hours before bowing out long before the final table was achieved.

Ben Yu was among the early chip leaders but his heater didn’t last long. He lost on a failed bluff attempt to Jared Bleznick and was eventually eliminated by Chidwick.

Ali Imsirovic late registered for PLO after shipping the Event #5 title. He never built up a large stack and busted long before the money.

Watch the final table of that event live and exclusively on PokerGO starting at 5 p.m. EST or follow along with the coverage on PokerCentral.com.

John Riordan was the first to top the million-chip mark when he busted Erik Seidel well short of the money. Seidel moved all-in with his short stack for 62,000 on the turn with and was up against . The board showed , and then Riordan hit gin on the river when the appeared, giving him the stone-cold nuts.

Unfortunately, for Riordan, his run good didn’t last. He was eventually eliminated by Jared Bleznick.

Chance Kornuth was cruising through much of the session and was among the chip leaders at certain points of the day. But he was yet another casualty of Chidwick’s heater. Kornuth was all-in with against and Chidwick hit a flush to send the Chip Leader Coaching founder to the rails.

At around 11:55 pm PST, Bleznick became the bubble boy. Like so many other players throughout this series, he was eliminated by Chidwick. On a flop of , Bleznick put his remaining 255,000 chips into the pot with and was called by . The turn was the and the river was the , giving Chidwick the nut straight and Bleznick a trip home while simultaneously ensuring the final six players a Day 2 berth on the PokerGO live stream.

Joining Chidwick at the final are five renowned poker pros. Anthony Zinno, one of the most consistent players in the game is second in chips. Cary Katz is appearing at his third final table for the series, while Ben Lamb is at his second. Sean Rafael and Tom Marchese reached the final table in their first 2019 U.S. Poker Open event.

You can follow the final table action on PokerGO Monday beginning at 5 p.m. ET with cards in the air at 4 p.m. EST. We’ll also have live updates for Day 1 of Event #7 – $25,000 No Limit Hold’em right here at PokerCentral.com from 5 p.m. EST. New to PokerGO? Subscribe right now to not miss a minute of the action.