From big wins to big news, it was a busy week in the world of poker. Here’s a recap of the key headlines we’ve been tracking:
Peters Wins United States Poker Open Main Event
The 2019 United States Poker Open was a 10-event extravaganza, capped off by a $100,000 Main Event. The smoke has cleared and David Peters has been crowned champion, taking home a cool $1.32 million and the overall USPO Championship crown for an additional $100,000.
The main event features a relatively small field of just 33 entries. Only nine made it to the second day. Peters was a real longshot to pull off the double – the tournament win and the bonus – as he was way back prior to the start of the main event. Not only did he need to win, he needed Sean Winter, the Poker Open leader going into the main event, to completely fail to cash. In addition, he needed Nick Schulman to finish outside of the top two. That also came to fruition.
In the end, it was actually Chris Hunichen who finished as the runner-up, winning $858,000. Rounding out the top five was Keith Tilston in 3rd ($528,000), Martin Zamani in 4th ($330,000) and Ryan Riess in 5th ($264,000).
In terms of the final overall standings from the U.S. Open Championship, Peters was first with 550 points on three cashes. Meanwhile, Winter was tied for second with 540 points on the strength of five cashes. Stephen Chudwick tied Winter for second with 540 points. Schulman ended up in fourth with 410 points.
WSOP.com To Host Nine Bracelet Events In 2019
The full 2019 World Series Of Poker schedule has been out for a while, but we didn’t have the full details of what will be played out online. Now we have those finer points as they’ve come into focus. In total, there will be nine online bracelet events for the coming summer, which will occur on Sundays throughout the series save for July 3 (holiday event) and June 19 (a Wednesday special).
This is a big increase in online bracelet events as there were only four in 2018. Of course, with the growth of the game online, we can expect more of these events each year.
Aria’s “The Ivey Room” Officially Renamed “Table 1”
Last week, the Aria Casino took down the sign for a room named after Phil Ivey and replaced it with a sign marked “Table 1.” Long viewed as one of the game’s most familiar faces, Ivey has been mired in legal trouble that has sullied his name. The casino felt it was best to disassociate themselves a little bit.
Ivey is currently immersed in debt and legal problems. A federal judge recently gave the Borgata Hotel and Casino the green light to seize Ivey’s assets in Nevada to collect money he owes Borgata. However, Aria officials insisted that Ivey’s problems had no connection to the decision to rename the room as “Table 1.”