Erik Seidel scooped the opening event of the 2024 US Poker Open last night in Las Vegas, pocketing $145,000 and lifting a Golden Eagle trophy after a final hand double KO.
The 8-event highroller series kicked off with a $5k buy-in that pulled in 116 entries, paying out 17 spots from the $580,000 prizepool. Joining Seidel were the likes of Stephen Chidwick, Alex and Kristen Foxen, as well as the polarizing Canadian, Eric Afriat.
All those players made it to the paid spots after Stephen Song and Mitchell Halverson busted at the same time, the latter running his ace-king into Seidel’s queens…
Seidel: Q♠Q♥
Halverson: A♠K♦
Flop: 5♥6♦Q♣
Turn: 3♥
River: 6♥
Seidel found queens again shortly afterwards to eliminate Brock Wilson, while Afriat was also finding the big hands at the right time, disposing of Perdigo and Laskowitz.
With Kristen Foxen (14th for $11,600) and Chidwick (11th for $14,500) falling by the wayside, the final table bubble saw Alex Foxen fall, Seidel first crippling him then following up with the execution.
That was enough for Seidel to end day one as the chip leader, but when play resumed he quickly lost four big hands in a row, though thankfully only doubling much shorter stacks.
Afriat was again favoured by the deck, his pocket kings hitting a set to eliminate William Lamar-Boone – a Texan player who is, curiously, a licensed marriage and family therapist – in 5th spot.
When John Khoury fell in 4th place (to Afriat’s flopped trips, which also took some chips from Seidel’s pocket kings) the podium trio was decided. The finale, however, was a rather unexpected three-way all-in…
For Seidel it was a second US Poker Open title and his 34th career win, with some early PGT leaderboard points towards the overall US Poker Open Golden Eagle trophy and $25,000 bonus.
MR MAN ON FIRE 🔥@Erik_Seidel with the Aces to get the double elimination and take the $145,000 first-place prize and Golden Eagle trophy. This is his third career PGT title.@EricAfriat finishes 2nd Place ($89,900)@DylanLinde finishes in 3rd Place ($63,800) pic.twitter.com/tZQPEcEycZ
— PokerGO (@PokerGO) April 10, 2024
Final results
| Place | Name | Prize (USD) |
| 1 | Erik Seidel | $145,000 |
| 2 | Eric Afriat | $89,900 |
| 3 | Dylan Linde | $63,800 |
| 4 | John Khoury | $49,300 |
| 5 | William Lamar-Boone | $37,700 |
| 6 | Justin Zaki | $29,000 |
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