Jordan Cristos Wins 2019 USPO Event #2: $10K PLO for $179,200
World Poker Tour champ Jordan Cristos began the final table of the 2019 US Poker Open Event #2: $10,000 Pot-Limit Omaha as the chip leader, and despite a back-and-forth heads-up match against German Manig Loeser, he wound up with all the chips.
Cristos topped a 64-entry field to win the tournament for $179,200, which along with the $27,000 he won for finishing 11th in Event #1: $10,000 NLH gives him the overall lead in the USPO points race. The ultimate winner of that race, which spans all ten tournaments, will walk away with a $100,000 bonus courtesy of PokerGO.
"It's cool. It's sweet," Cristos told USPO officials after the win. "The structure was turbo-ish and I feel like I didn't out-skill anyone here. There were 50 people in the field and I was probably the 44th best player, honestly. It feels good to come out on top though. I don't think I made many mistakes but I can't really gauge whether or not I did because I'm no PLO expert, but I won so that's good."
He continued: "I want to win the overall championship. If you do good the first two tournaments and you're leading, you might as well finish it out. There's no reason to stop now. It would be awesome to win the U.S. Poker Open. I would love to have the trophy at home to just stare at them every day for a year until it comes back again and be the U.S. Poker Open champion."
Cristos, who prior to the win had $2,329,116 in lifetime earnings, is best known for winning the 2012 WPT Legends of Poker for a career-high $613,355. Last summer, he also had a deep run in the 2018 World Series of Poker Main Event finishing in 69th place for $108,745.
USPO Event #2: $10,000 PLO Final Table Results
| Place | Player | Country | Prize |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Jordan Cristos | United States | $179,200 |
| 2 | Manig Loeser | Germany | $128,000 |
| 3 | Martin Zamani | United States | $83,200 |
| 4 | Adam Hendrix | United States | $64,000 |
| 5 | Cary Katz | United States | $51,200 |
| 6 | Sean Winter | United States | $38,400 |
Final Table Action
Cristos got off to a hot start winning the first two hands and then notching the first elimination a short time later. It happened when Sean Winter, who was fresh off finishing runner-up to Stephen Chidwick in the opening event, and Cristos both had a Broadway straight plus redraw outs. Cristos hit his flush draw to improve and send Winter out in sixth place for $38,400.
Cary Katz, who the year before finished sixth in the same event, then got his chips in on a king-high flop holding aces and was up against Cristos’ bottom two pair. Cristos boated up and Katz was sent packing in fifth place for $51,200.
Immediately after, Adam Hendrix got his short stack all in preflop holding big cards in the small blind and Cristos looked him up with low cards in the big. The latter flopped bottom set and Hendrix had to settle for fourth place and $64,000 in prize money.
Cristos then dispatched an extremely short-stacked Martin Zamani in third place to set up his heads-up match against Loeser. The duo battled for longer than it took to get to heads-up play, and the chip lead changed on four occasions.
Eventually, Cristos flopped a pair with straight and flush draws against Loeser, who had two pair and an inferior flush draw. The chips went in and Cristos turned a bigger two pair. The river was a blank and Loeser, who credits fellow German poker pro Dominik Nitsche with helping him improve his game, fell in second place for $128,000.
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and Manig Loeser defended holding the 
. 
, Loeser checked and Cristos bet 600,000. Loeser check-raised and got all in for 2.38 million.
turn gave him two pair. The 
river was no help to Loeser and he had to settle for second place and a $128,000 prize.
turn and 
flop gave Cristos a set and Hendrix was looking to fill a gutshot. The 
turn. With that, Cristos scored another knock out and Hendrix headed for the exit.
, Cristos bet pot with his two pair and Katz called off for 405,000.
turn gave Cristos a full house and left Katz looking for an ace on the river, but it wasn't in the cards as the 
bricked.
, Winter bet 275,000 and then called off for 375,000 total when Cristos raised. The 
river gave Cristos his as he made a flush and sent Winter to the rail in sixth place. It marked back-to-back cashes for Winter after he finished runner-up to Stephen Chidwick in Event #1: $10,000 NLH.