Eric Afriat Emerges Victoriously From the Penultimate PokerGO U.S. Poker Open Event
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The seventh of eight events on the 2024 PokerGO U.S. Poker Open schedule was a $15,100 buy-in No-Limit Hold'em affair that saw 64 entrants create a $960,000 prize pool. Eric Afriat was the last man standing and the recipient of $288,000, the sixth-largest score of the Canadian businessman's live poker career.
Afriat is best known for capturing a trio of World Poker Tour (WPT) titles. He won the $3,500 WPT Seminole Hard Rock Showdown in April 2014 for a still career-best $1,081,184, followed that up with a victory in the $3,500 WPT Borgata Winter Open Main Event in January 2018, and completed an impressive hat-trick by winning the C$5,000 WPT Fallsview in February 2020.
Now, Afriat has a PokerGO Tour trophy and first place finish on his ever-improving poker resume.
Event #7: $15,100 No-Limit Hold'em Final Table Results
| Rank | Player | Country | Prize |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Eric Afriat | Canada | $288,000 |
| 2 | Joey Weissman | United States | $187,200 |
| 3 | Stephen Chidwick | United Kingdom | $129,600 |
| 4 | Sam Laskowitz | United States | $96,000 |
| 5 | Sean Winter | United States | $72,000 |
| 6 | Bill Klein | United States | $52,800 |
The top ten finishers saw some sort of a return on their investment, so spare a thought for Clemen Deng, the unfortunate soul who crashed out in 11th and popped the money bubble. Deng min-raised with pocket tens before four-bet shoving for 32 big blinds after Joey Weissman three-bet him with ace-king. Those tens remained the best hand right until the river, when a king improved Weissman, busting Deng on the bubble.
Four more eliminations were required to conclude Day 1. They arrived in the shape of David Peters, Victoria Livschitz, Brock Wilson, and BetMGM ambassador Darren Elias.
Chidwick Leads As He Hunts a Tenth PGT Victory
Stephen Chidwick sat down at the six-handed final table with 2,685,000 chips, a shade over 26 big blinds more than Weissman. Afriat was third in chips at the restart, although his 1,265,000 stack was less than half the size of Chidwick's.
Sean Winter got off to a disastrous start, losing all but two big blinds in a clash with Chidwick. Winter managed to double-up, and that extra breathing space ultimately resulted in him laddering up the payouts because Bill Klein fell in sixth.
Klein three-bet all-in for 145,000 chips with ace-eight of clubs after Afriat had made it 75,000 to go at the start of the 15,000/30,000/30,000a level. Afriat called with ace-queen, and his queen-kicker played on a double-paired board.
Winter busted almost immediately after Klein. Forced all-in from the big blind with ten-deuce, Winter could not channel his inner Doyle Brunson and beat the suited ace-queen of Weissman despite pairing his deuce.
Chidwick had almost twice as many chips as anyone else, but Afriat doubled through him when his flush bested the British star's straight. However, Chidwick regained control after sending Sam Laskowitz to the cashier's desk having flopped trip fives, and with Laskowitz making an incorrect hero call with ace-king.
Afriat's Aggression Pays Off
Afriat dominated three-handed play, and he climbed to the top of the chip counts through pure aggression. The Canadian's often unconventional lines baffled Chidwick and Weissman.
Eventually, Chidwick found himself down to less than ten big blinds and in desperate need of a double. Flopping trip eights with king-eight against Weissman looked to have done the trick, but Weissman caught running cards and improved to a straight.
Despite helping himself to Chidwick's stack, Weissman still trailed Afriat by almost three-to-one, and it didn't take long for Afriat to seal the deal.
The final hand saw Afriat min-raise to 160,000 and call Weissman's 400,000 three-bet. Weissman fired a 200,00 bet on the queen-ten-eight board containing two hearts, and Afriat called. The dealer placed the ace of spades on the turn, prompting Weissman to check. Afriat moved all-in, Weissman snap-called for approximately 500,000, and flipped over ace-queen for two pair. Afriat revealed king-jack for a Broadway straight, which held when the board paired on the river.
Chidwick Leads the $25,200 Event; Zobian Has Overall Victory in His Sights
Chidwick again finds himself as the final table's chip leader, this time in the $25,200 No-Limit Hold'em event. The number one English all-time money winner has close to twice as many chips as his nearest rival.
Interestingly, both Jesse Lonis and Aram Zobian have navigated their way to the final table, albeit with 11 big blind stack. Lonis must take down this event and Zobian finish no higher than sixth if he wants to become the 2024 PokerGO U.S. Poker Open overall champion. Any other result hands the title to Zobian.
| Rank | Player | Country | Chips | Big Blinds |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Stephen Chidwick | United Kingdom | 3,075,000 | 123 |
| 2 | Andrew Lichtenberger | United States | 1,730,000 | 69 |
| 3 | Brandon Wittmeyer | United States | 1,120,000 | 45 |
| 4 | Dan Smith | United States | 900,000 | 36 |
| 5 | Cary Katz | United States | 440,000 | 18 |
| 6 | Jesse Lonis | United States | 275,000 | 11 |
| 7 | Aram Zobian | United States | 265,000 | 11 |
Play resumes at 2:00 p.m. PT on April 17, with PokerGO streaming the action on a two-hour delay from 4:00 p.m. PT.
