button in SafariCherish Andrews Turns 'Big Sad Downswing' Into U.S. Poker Open Victory
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Cherish Andrews wasn't even going to play this week's Event #3: $5,000 NLH at the 2026 U.S. Poker Open (USPO) in Las Vegas and even joked that she was retiring amid a crushing downswing. But she showed up anyway and it resulted in her taking down the event for $117,407 and her second PokerGO Tour (PGT) title after defeating fellow pro Adam Hendrix during heads-up play.
Andrews, an accomplished pro and two-time GPI Female Player of the Year, bested a final table that included Day 1 chip leader Sam Laskowitz, poker vlogger Ethan "Rampage" Yau and Michael Berk, who ran about as poorly as is possible at a final table to go out in sixth place for $28,750.
"I've been on a really big sad downswing to where I actually told my friends over the weekend I wasn't coming to play the last $5k," Andrews told PokerNews in a winner's interview. "I was like 'I'm retired. I'm not coming back.'"
The event, the final $5,000 offering of the USPO, was the biggest of the three and drew 115 runners for a prize pool of $575,000.
Event #3 Final Table Results
| Place | Player | Country | Prize |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Cherish Andrews | United States | $117,407* |
| 2 | Adam Hendrix | United States | $115,468* |
| 3 | Yifu He | United States | $63,250 |
| 4 | Sam Laskowitz | United States | $48,875 |
| 5 | Ethan Yau | United States | $37,375 |
| 6 | Michael Berk | United States | $28,750 |
| 7 | David Stamm | United States | $23,000 |
*Denotes heads-up deal
"You Just Have to Keep Showing Up"
"I think you'll see ... her in the winner's circle again, hopefully soon."
Brock Wilson made this bold prediction last week about Andrews, his girlfriend, after his victory in Event #1. And it only took three days to manifest.
"It feels really good because poker's hard," Andrews said. "It is really hard to win. And having people like Brock and my friends and family in my corner still rooting me on and knowing I can do it, it means a lot."
Poker is indeed difficult and unforgiving. Berk had revenge on the mind after getting crushed by "Rampage" twice in the late stages of Day 1. But he would have no rampage of his own as he took yet another beat to start the day, having his ace-king lose to Andrews' ace-queen despite having his opponent dominated.
Berk's nemesis Yau was the next to go as he ran pocket threes into the tens of Andrews, which followed He getting a miraculous double-up with six-five against Yau's pocket jacks.
Day 1 chip leader lost a flip to Hendrix ahead of He going out in third place at the hands of Hendrix, who held a decent chip lead over Andrews as the two discussed and reached an ICM deal that left them playing for the trophy and $9,000.
Hendrix, who last year finished sixth in the WSOP Main Event for $1.9 million, couldn't get anything going during heads-up play and soon surrendered the chip lead.
"I'm getting scammed," Hendrix said at one point before asking Andrews what she planned to do with the extra $9,000.
"I don't know. Pay taxes."
Andrews chipped away at Hendrix before he found himself pipped with pocket eights against pocket nines to be denied the trophy. Andrews credited a hot run of cards during heads-up play for helping her win the tournament, but she was locked in long before the final table. On Day 1, she folded a big hand on the stone bubble after correctly surmising that He had flopped a set of nines.
"I don't want to say what I folded, I had a really big hand. But it kind of just felt like to me queens or nines."
*Photos courtesy of PokerGO
