Today at the Open: Winter Is Coming

The 2019 U.S. Poker Open is officially underway. From February 13-23, the world’s best will compete across ten high stakes events for the USPO Championship. The USPO trophy, $100,000, and the first High Roller Triple Crown title of 2019 is up for grabs and each day, “Today at the Open” will recap the action and prepare fans for PokerGO‘s final table streams. 

The penultimate season of HBO’s Game of Thrones has been on my Must Rewatch List for a while now. Since April 14, 2019 was announced as the date of the Season 8 premier, I’ve been meaning to go back. Winter looks like it is finally here and (serious spoiler alert) they have a dragon.

What’s that? We’ve heard this before?

Yes, I know. Winter has been coming for a long time. The same can be said about Sean Winter, who is playing the best poker of his life heading into the Event #1 final table. Winter has been a high stakes tournament regular since late 2015, but it is the last few months that have people talking.

We know @bhanks11's #PlayerToWatch for the #USPO, who are you watching? 👀
The Event #1 final table starts at 5 PM ET: https://t.co/xYdVgZ7A39
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— PokerGO (@PokerGO) February 14, 2019

Winter ended the 2018 World Series of Poker with a $1,000,000 runner-up finish in the $50,000 NLH High Roller event. Then he ended 2018 with an even bigger score. Winter battled inaugural Poker Masters champion Stephen Sontheimer heads up for the $250,000 partypoker CPP Super High Roller Championship. He earned just shy of $2.5 million in a losing effort.

Momentum, among other things that you can relive through Poker Central’s Live Reporting from the opening day of Event 1, have given Winter a chance to build off a strong 2019 start. He already has one $500,000 win and multiple big buy-in cashes. One of the biggest things in Winter’s way is Stephen Chidwick.

If Sean Winter is poker’s White Walker, Stephen Chidwick is the U.S. Poker Open’s Protector of the Realm. The defending champion is also at the Event 1 final table, looking to pick up where he left off. Chidwick dominated the 2018 USPO, cashing for over $1.2 million across the seven-event series. That week-long stretch doesn’t give the British high roller realm protecting status on it’s own though. Chidwick is one of the most established and well respected players in poker and arguably the best player that will enter the PokerGO Studio over the next ten days.

Reigning U.S. Poker Open Champion Stephen Chidwick is Ready for His Title Defense

There are 59 days until the final season premier of Game of Thrones. Whether that means 59 days until winter remains to be seen, although it is not the betting favorite. As the short stack, Sean Winter likely isn’t the betting favorite to rule today’s final table either. That won’t stop him from trying though and the struggle for the U.S. Poker Open Championship trophy begins today.

Subscribe to PokerGO now to watch the 2019 USPO live. All ten final tables and early access streams are available exclusively on PokerGO. Follow along, get in the game, and visit PokerGO.com for information.