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Joey Weissman bagged an early lead in the race to the 2023 US Poker Open title by taking down the opening event – a $10k NLHE that included Alex Foxen and Daniel Negreanu – for a $231,000 payday…
There were 105 entries to event #1 on the USPO schedule, a record-breaking number that highlights the continuing popularity of the big buy-in highroller series: last month saw similarly huge turnouts at Triton Poker’s stop in Vietnam.
The two-day tournament inside the PokerGO studios at the Aria saw 15 player make the paid spot, with Dylan Linde falling on the bubble this time in a brutal rollercoaster of a hand...
Linde: A♦ Kâ™
Lin: Q♥ Q♦
Flop: J♥ K♦ 3♣
Turn: K♣
River: Qâ™
♠♣ ♦ ♥
That left the remaining players with $21k locked up, and Daniel Negreanu was among, though he’d fall next to Justin Young, and he’d be followed to the rail a while later by Alex Foxen in 10th spot.
By the time the day ended, six players were left, among them popular poker coach and author Jonathan Little, with Justin Young holding the chip lead.
Little’s race was run when his pocket pair couldn’t hold up against Moreno’s big ace...
Little: 7♠7♣
Moreno: A♠J♦
Flop: J♠4♠10♥
Turn: Q♥
River: 4♣
♠♣ ♦ ♥
Barbero and McEwan followed Little to the cash desk, 4th and 5th for $78,750 and $99,750 respectively and some early points racked up in the leaderboard race.
It had taken only half an hour to halve the final table and within another 10 minutes they were heads up after pocket sevens again failed to hold up. This time it was Moreno who faced the big ace of Weissman and had to settle for 3rd spot and $126,000.
Heads-up between Young and Weissman was a ding-dong affair, but the latter eventually got the better of his rival...
Final results
| 1 | Joey Weissman | $231,000 |
| 2 | Justin Young | $168,000 |
| 3 | Andrew Moreno | $126,000 |
| 4 | Matthew McEwan | $99,750 |
| 5 | Nacho Barbero | $78,750 |
| 6 | Jonathan Little | $63,000 |
| 7 | Ren Lin | $52,500 |
| 8 | Joao Simao | $42,000 |
| 9 | Darren Elias | $42,000 |
Weissman, celebrating his second USPO title having bagged his first in 2021 said of the PokerGO Studio setup: “It's really cool. I love playing here. They do everything right, and it's just catered to the players so the experience is just super high quality.
He added: “To be able to win under those conditions obviously is even more special. So not only is it somewhere that I look forward to playing, but I also associate it with running good and making money. It's just special, you know, it's great.”
Taking an early lead in the race for the overall title, Weismann explained: “I do consider myself a competitive person, and I really love the game and I just love to show up and play with guys who I consider the best, people that I really respect.”
“To come out on top, obviously, you know, this is just a small sample, this is just one tournament and anybody in this room can win, so I feel grateful that it happens to me. I’m just going to keep trying to play my best and hopefully put myself in more situations like this.”
