$25,000 No-Limit Hold’em win for Seidel at US Poker Open

(PRESS RELEASE) -- Erik Seidel picked another high roller victory in his illustrious career by winning Event #9: $25,000 No-Limit Hold’em at the 2022 U.S. Poker Open. Seidel topped the one and only Phil Hellmuth in heads-up play after the pair was the final two players from the 63-entry field. Seidel took home the lion’s share of the prize pool, winning $472,500.

“It’s pretty wild that the two of us got heads up,” Seidel said. “That’s the third time we’ve been heads up, so it was fun.”

Seidel later added that every time he’s gotten heads up with Hellmuth, he’s been the one to come out on top and is now a perfect 3-0 against him. The first time was in the $1,000 No-Limit Hold’em tournament at the Bicycle Casino in 1988. Then in 1992 at Binion’s, Seidel topped Hellmuth in the WSOP $2,500 Limit Hold’em event to win his first-ever gold bracelet.

“It’s always fun to play a final table,” Seidel said. “I don’t think there’s any extra meaning to it that we were heads up, as I would’ve been happy to win against anybody. It’s just nice when things go your way for a few hours in a critical period like this. It’s great.”

In addition to scooping up $472,500 in prize money, which pushed him to fourth on poker’s all-time money list ahead of David Peters, Seidel improved his standing on the 2022 U.S. Poker Open leaderboard to fifth. Seidel has 428 points and is now right behind Hellmuth, who has 464. Seidel said after that he plans to continue competing at the U.S. Poker Open in hopes of winning the series title.

2022 U.S. Poker Open Event #9 Results

1st: Erik Seidel - $472,500
2nd: Phil Hellmuth - $315,000
3rd: Alex Foxen - $220,500
4th: Sam Soverel - $157,500
5th: Tamon Nakamura - $126,000
6th: Ren Lin - $94,500
7th: Alex Livingston - $78,750

Event #9: $25,000 NL Hold’em attracted a field of 63 entries and created a prize pool of $1,575,000. The top nine spots finished in the money. Zhuang Ruan took ninth and Shannon Shorr placed eighth before the final seven players competed at Friday’s final table. All players to cash earned both U.S. Poker Open and PGT leaderboard points.