button in SafariAram Zobian Leads His Third Straight Final Table in Event #9: $15,000 NLH
The penultimate event of the 2026 U.S. Poker Open (USPO) is one step closer to awarding a winner after Day 1 of Event #9: $15,000 NLH.
Leading the way is Aram Zobian at his third straight USPO final table with a stack of 2,665,000, ahead of fellow American high-stakes pros Brandon Wilson, Chino Rheem, Nicholas Seward and Clemen Deng, as well as German pro Marius Gierse.
The event drew 61 runners for a prize pool of $915,000 — which are the exact same numbers of the previous tournament, Event #8: $15,000 NLH.
Event #9 Chip Counts
| Rank | Player | Country | Chip Count | Big Blinds |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Aram Zobian | United States | 2,665,000 | 89 |
| 2 | Brandon Wilson | United States | 2,535,000 | 85 |
| 3 | Chino Rheem | United States | 825,000 | 28 |
| 4 | Marius Gierse | Austria | 560,000 | 19 |
| 5 | Nicholas Seward | United States | 550,000 | 18 |
| 6 | Clemen Deng | United States | 495,000 | 17 |
Day 1 Action
Rheem is typically the clairvoyant one (he has put on dizzying hand-reading skills in the PokerGO Studio and elsewhere), but German grinder Gierse took a note from American pro's book early on Day 1.
"Where's Chino? It's awfully quiet in here," Gierse asked seconds before Rheem walked in the room, leading Kristen Foxen to declare that "we are living in a sim."
It was fitting, then, that Gierse and Rheem both it to the final table hours later. But it was a slow grind to the money as the field gradually dropped from 14 players down to nine.
This series has been all poker power couples, but not in this event. Two-time winner Brock Wilson bowed out early, Cherish Andrews followed suit as she had kings cracked, and Kristen Foxen followed later in the evening.
Alex Foxen then fell on the final table bubble as his ace-queen was out-flopped by the eight-five of Deng.
Action picked up from there as California businessman Bill Klein went out in ninth place at the hands of Deng.
Natalie Ferguson was the first to go at the final table, followed by entrepreneur Vinny Lingham, who was eliminated in the final hand of the evening that saw Seward rivering a two-outer.
Day 2 will kick off at 11:45 a.m. local time on Level 17 with blinds of 20,000/40,000/40,000. The final table action will be streamed by PokerGO, and PokerNews will provide updates on a delay.
Stay tuned as the PokerNews live reporting team will be back tomorrow to see out Event #9. Check out the live reporting hub in the meantime.
*Photos courtesy of PokerGO