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Ike Haxton’s stellar year continued this weekend with a US Poker Open title to add to his resume, his 4th win of the year coming in the $25k buy-in event #8 of the highstakes series and worth $432,000...
With the buy-in bumped up there were ‘only’ 54 entries, but the 41 unique players included the biggest names in the game – Daniel Negreanu, Phil Hellmuth, Alex and Kristen Foxen, Justin Bonomo, Erik Seidel and Dan Smith all in the mix.
Bonomo fell short of the eight paid spots when he ran big slick into Brewer’s pocket queens, and then Negreanu followed him to the rail in 11th spot when Cary Katz turned up with the ladies...
Negreanu: A♦ Q♣
Katz: Q♥ Q♦
Board: 10♥ 7♥ 3♥ K♥ 9♠
Unfortunately for Katz, there was to be no happy ending, dominating Dan Smith pre-flop when at risk, but unable to avoid the queen that sent him crashing out on the money bubble.
Katz: A♠ K♦
Smith: K♣ Q♥
Board: Q♣ 4♣ 3♣ J♠ 6♥
♠ ♣ ♦ ♥
With $54k locked up, Phil Hellmuth was looking for a victory to add to his list of poker accolades, and things were looking good when he sent Alex Foxen packing...
However, things didn’t work out for big Phil from there and he fell next when Dan Smith conjured up a pair on the turn, leaving Hellmuth to count $108,000 and what might have been.
Fourth place went to billionaire businessman Bill Klein, the highstakes amateur with over $6million in tournament winnings a victim of Haxton’s pocket 10s.
Dan Smith also fell to Haxton when his pocket deuces ran into 6s, leaving ‘Hollywood Ike’ to fight it out for the title with Joey Weissman, with $150k the difference between 1st and 2nd.
A spirited fightback from Weissman came to naught when the river decided to force matters...
Final results
| 1 | Ike Haxton | $423,000 |
| 2 | Joey Weissman | $283,500 |
| 3 | Dan Smith | $189,000 |
| 4 | Bill Klein | $135,000 |
| 5 | Phil Hellmuth | $108,000 |
| 6 | Alex Foxen | $81,000 |
“It's been a good year,” Haxton told reporters after his win – his fourth of 2023, a year which so far has brought him more than $5million in cashes.
“I don't give it too much thought,” Haxton explained when asked about the all-time money-winners list, in which he currently lies 15th.
Haxton added: “You know, the number of high buy-in events just goes up every year. And at this point, if I broke even for the next five years, and other people stopped playing, I'd pass them all.
“You just play so much now that the all-time money list tracks more who's playing a lot, than who's winning the most. Although, obviously you do have to win to move up.”
