Chidwick wins second 2019 US Poker Open title

(PRESS RELEASE) -- Defending U.S Poker Open champion Stephen Chidwick has taken the Championship lead with another incredible win, taking down the $25,000 Pot Limit Omaha event for $351,000 after defeating Cary Katz heads up. This marks Chidwick’s second win of the series, his fourth in total, after making nine of a possible fifteen final tables.

“It does seem to be going pretty humorously well this week, I’m kind of expecting to wake up at some point, and winning is definitely not getting old. This is a lot of fun,” an exhausted but excited Chidwick said after his win.

Chidwick (540 points) had to overcome a big chip deficit heads up to defeat Katz, who was at his third final table of the series. Katz (340) now places third on the overall standings with Sean Winter (440) dropping down to second place.

Comparing his 2018 run to this year, Chidwick said, “It feels kinda similar, pretty unbelievable both times and I couldn’t have expected it to go any better.”

2019 U.S. Poker Open Event #6 Payouts

Name/Points/Cash
1) Stephen Chidwick/200/$351,000
2) Cary Katz/140/$234,000
3) Tom Marchese/100/$156,000
4) Ben Lamb/80/$97,500
5) Sean Rafael/60/$78,000
6) Anthony Zinno/40/$58,500

At the completion of this event, both Catz and Chidwick jumped straight into the Event #7 $25,000 No Limit Hold'em, updates of which you can find here.

"I don't want to get ahead of myself, there's still four events left to be played and a lot of points up for grabs in the $100k," Chidwick humbly said about his chances to repeat as U.S. Poker Open champion.

"It would be very special to win it again. This, in my eyes, is the most prestigious thing you can win. To me, this is kind of like the $50,000 Poker Players Championship but stretched out over a week-long series. Competing with the best in the world in a variety of games would definitely be a career highlight to come out on top again."

2019 U.S. Poker Open Standings

Name/Points/Cash
1) Stephen Chidwick/540/$705,950
2) Sean Winter/440/$419,900
3) Cary Katz/340/$580,200
4) Jordan Cristos/240/$206,200
5) Ali Imsirovic/200/$442,500
6) Lauren Roberts/200/$218,400
7) Manig Loeser/180/$146,200
8) Ben Lamb/160/$139,500
9) Dan Shak/140/$232,100
10) Koray Aldemir/140/$159,200