button in SafariThis Poker Power Couple is Dominating the U.S. Poker Open
There is a poker couple that is totally dominating the 2026 U.S. Poker Open (USPO) in Las Vegas, and, despite the fact that she won Wednesday's Event #4: $10,000 NLH, it isn't Kristen and Alex Foxen. No, the couple that it in control of the series is Cherish Andrews and Brock Wilson, who both won events, ran deep in Event #4, and then made the money in Wednesday's Event #5: $10,000 NLH.
Wilson, the champion of last month's PokerGO Cup, started the day by finishing fourth in Event #4 for $66,000 before bowing out in ninth place in Event #5 for $24,000. Meanwhile, Andrews, who finished eighth in Event #4 for $26,400, bagged the short stack as she continues to turn her "big sad downswing" into a career month.
The series leaderboard currently shows Wilson and Andrews in second and third place behind Jeremy Ausmus, who has had two runner-up finishes. But there will certainly be a leaderboard shake-up once the points from Event #5 are factored in.
There are six players left at the final table, including recent PokerGO Cup crusher Qinghai Pan, longtime pro Justin Zaki and rapper turned rounder Brandon Wilson, who bagged the chip lead.
Event #5 Chip Counts
| Rank | Player | Country | Chip Count | Big Blinds |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Brandon Wilson | United States | 3,585,000 | 72 |
| 2 | Qinghai Pan | United States | 2,175,000 | 44 |
| 3 | Justin Zaki | United States | 1,585,000 | 32 |
| 4 | Peter Placey | United States | 1,375,000 | 28 |
| 5 | Anil Jivani | United States | 825,000 | 17 |
| 6 | Cherish Andrews | United States | 455,000 | 9 |
Just Beat It
The second $10,000 buy-in event of the series drew 80 runners for a prize pool of $800,000.
Much of the banter on Day 1 focused on a side bet going between the likes of Jeremy Becker, Chino Rheem, Justin Zaki, and the Foxens.
"It's me and you, Krissy!" Becker celebrated as he put Zaki on risk. But it was an early celebration as his opponent had pocket aces to double up and stay in contention — both in the tournament and the side bet.
Becker, who was wearing what Andrews described as Michael Jackson pants, may have jinxed himself and Foxen, who fell a few spots off the money. Becker then went out in 11th place, leaving Zaki to collect on the side bet.
Another highlight of the day occurred on the money bubble, when Jesse Lonis correctly guessed Anil Jivani's hand and even gave a free poker lesson to the table about his thought process.
"That's why you're the gorilla," Jivani told him.
Eight might be Nick Schulman's new least favorite number. The Poker Hall of Famer bowed out in eighth place on the final table bubble as his queens were cracked by Zaki's pocket eights, which were greeted by an eight in the window.
After that, Lonis lost two straight flips to be left with crumbs before a final confrontation with Zaki.
Day 2 action will kick off at 11:45 a.m. local time on Level 19 with blinds of 30,000/60,000/60,000. The action will be streamed on PokerGO, and the stream and PokerNews live updates will both be on a one-hour delay.
Stay tuned as the PokerNews live reporting team will be back tomorrow to see out Event #5. Check out the live reporting hub in the meantime.
*Photos courtesy of PokerGO