Stephen Chidwick Leads U.S. Poker Open Event #8 Final Table

The 2024 U.S. Poker Open culminated at the PokerGO Studio from ARIA Resort & Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada with the marquee tournament of the series, Event #8: $25,200 No-Limit Hold'em.

Stephen Chidwick bagged the chip lead and holds over 39% of the chips in play as seven players remain. Andrew Lichtenberger, Brandon Wittmeyer, Dan Smith, Cary Katz, Jesse Lonis, and Aram Zobian round out the players who will return for the final day as play resumes at 2 p.m. PT on Wednesday, April 17 with the delayed final table stream beginning at 4 p.m. PT on PokerGO.

The 52-entrant field created a prize pool of $1,300,000 and the top eight finishers earned a piece of it. Nick Schulman was eliminated in 12th place after losing the rest of his short stack, David Peters was eliminated in 11th place when he lost a big flip to Lonis, and Sam Laskowitz was eliminated in 10th place when he got queens in against ace-five and his opponent rivered a straight.

The bubble lasted over an hour as short stacks dwindled and several doubles occurred. Chidwick took an overwhelming chip lead during this time when he got queens in against the queen-jack of Lonis in a blind-versus-blind confrontation for a pot of over 125 big blinds. Eventually, Kristen Foxen got her short stack in with ace-ten against Chidwick's king-jack. Chidwick flopped top pair, and Foxen was eliminated in ninth place on the money bubble.

Shortly after the bubble burst, David Coleman got his chips in with pocket sevens and ran into Lichtenberger's pocket aces. Coleman found no help and was eliminated in eighth place, while the seven remaining players bagged to return for the streamed final table.

Only Zobian and Lonis are still in contention in the race to be crowned the U.S. Poker Open champion and receive the Golden Eagle Trophy and a $25,000 PGT Passport. Lonis needs a victory and needs Zobian to finish sixth or seventh, otherwise, Zobian will be the 2024 U.S. Poker Open series champion.

Each player has locked up $52,000 but all eyes will be on the $429,000 first-place prize, 257 PGT points, and Event #8 mini Golden Eagle trophy.

2024 U.S. Poker Open Event #8 Final Table

Seat	Player	Country	Chip Count
1	Cary Katz	United States	440,000
2	Brandon Wittmeyer	United States	1,120,000
3	Aram Zobian	United States	265,000
4	Dan Smith	United States	900,000
5	Jesse Lonis	United States	275,000
6	Stephen Chidwick	United Kingdom	3,075,000
7	Andrew Lichtenberger	United States	1,730,000

When play resumes, there is 7:00 remaining in Level 13 with blinds at 15,000/25,000 with a 25,000 big blind ante. The button will be drawn when play resumes.

Play will resume at 2 p.m. PT and the final table will be streamed on delay starting at 4 p.m. PT on PokerGO.com.

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