button in SafariFinal Stretch of U.S. Poker Open Gets Underway with First $15K Event
The 2026 U.S. Poker Open (USPO) in Las Vegas is in full swing, and continues today with Day 1, of the first of two $15,000 events, Event #8: $15,000 NLH, an event that kicks off at noon local time inside the PokerGO Studio.
Event #8 will be followed by another $15,000 event, and a $25,000 finale, which will likely play a determining factor in the series leaderboard race.
Brock Wilson is currently leading the standings for the U.S. Poker Open player of the series after winning his second title of the series in Event #6.
USPO Current Leaderboard Standings
| Rank | Player | PGT Points | Wins | Cashes | PGT Earnings |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Brock Wilson | 495 | 2 | 4 | $434,900 |
| 2 | Clemen Deng | 284 | 1 | 3 | $215,025 |
| 3 | Cherish Andrews | 282 | 1 | 3 | $183,807 |
| 4 | Jeremy Ausmus | 262 | 0 | 3 | $217,675 |
| 5 | Peter Placey | 224 | 1 | 1 | $224,000 |
| 6 | Kristen Foxen | 219 | 1 | 2 | $211,950 |
| 7 | Nick Schulman | 176 | 0 | 2 | $176,000 |
| 8 | Peter Mugar | 155 | 0 | 3 | $103,975 |
| 9 | Yifu He | 146 | 0 | 2 | $97,550 |
| 10 | Qinghai Pan | 144 | 0 | 1 | $144,000 |
The event will start off with blinds of 500/1,000/1,000 and players having 125,000 starting stacks. Levels will be 30 minutes in duration through Level 12, at which point they will increase to 40 minutes. The two-day event will play down to a five-handed final table and then to a winner on Thursday.
Stay tuned as the PokerNews live reporting team is on-site and ready to provide coverage of Event #8. Check out our coverage of the rest of the series in the meantime.