Also on Friday, two 2-day events were on the schedule at the US Poker Open (USPO) in the PokerGO Studio. Among the last five, the decision was made in the $10,100 No-Limit Hold’em (Event #6), while the “identical” $10,100 No-Limit Hold’em (Event #7) kicked off and was also played down to a shorthanded final table for Day 2. In addition to the iconic small Golden Eagle PokerGO Tour trophies of the USPO, there was also fierce competition for points in the overall standings for the big eagle trophy.
Read more That’s crazy! All-In & Call after 6-Bet … and J-high wins! (Video inside!)
Event #6: $10,100 No-Limit Hold‘em – Final Day
5 of the original 80 entries were able to take a seat at the final day TV table. $56,000 from the $800,000 prize pool was guaranteed to them, as well as the chance at the $224,000 first prize along with the trophy. Clemen Deng and Brock Wilson were already winners of USPO 2026 events. The latter was also set to overtake his partner Cherish Andrews, who held the top spot after Event 5, in the U.S. Poker Open overall standings with a good result.
In one of the first hands on Day 1, there was an absolutely crazy min-raise battle between Jeremy Becker and Chino Rheem, during which Brock Wilson temporarily folded his pocket aces on the 6-bet flop. Wilson’s hero fold and Jeremy Becker’s hand win with J-high(!) were a good omen for both when they met again at the final table. And on the final day, hand 1 immediately exploded when Justin Vysman went all-in with an overpair of kings against Nick Schulman on the flop. Schulman hit his nut flush draw on the turn and gave fifth-place Justin Vysman ($56,000) a short workday.
Another premium hand then set the course for the next bustout as Clemen Deng went all-in with pocket aces against Jeremy Becker’s pocket eights. But an eight on the board crippled Deng. A few hands later, he left Event #6 in 4th place ($76,000). Jeremy Becker’s stack eventually went into the middle on an A-5-6-2-J rainbow board. After some time in the tank and several used time banks, Nick Schulman decided on a hero call with 76s, which was correct when Becker showed K4o. For the Jack-high winner of the previous day, the event with a $104,000 payout was worthwhile.
The heads-up between Nick Schulman and Brock Wilson featured numerous lead changes. And Brock Wilson’s first match point was defended by Schulman winning a flip with KJ against Wilson’s pocket fours. But the second match point hit when, after some action on the previous streets, they landed on the river of a Q-Q-T-J-6 board with KQo (Wilson) and J8o (Becker). Schulman finally called Wilson’s all-in move on the river with his turned two pair and had to congratulate his opponent with flopped trips for the title.
While runner-up Schulman earned $144,000, the already second US Poker Open 2026 title along with the $242,000 first prize went to Brock Wilson, who had already won two titles at the PokerGO Cup and increased his PGT wins to six. This catapulted him to first place in the U.S. Poker Open with 495 points after 6 of 10 events, with a clear lead over Clem Deng (284 PGT points), which could be a kind of preliminary decision or at least a clear indication. – With this run, it is not surprising that he is also clearly number 1 in the annual ranking with 1,219 points on the PGT leaderboard ahead of Qinghai Pan (967 PGT points).
The payouts:
| Place | Player | Nat | Prize (USD) |
| 1 | Brock Wilson | USA | $224,000 |
| 2 | Nick Schulman | USA | $144,000 |
| 3 | Jeremy Becker | USA | $104,000 |
| 4 | Clemen Deng | USA | $76,000 |
| 5 | Justin Vaysman | USA | $56,000 |
| 6 | Michael Berk | USA | $40,000 |
| 7 | Darren Elias | USA | $32,000 |
| 8 | Joao Simao | BRA | $32,000 |
| 9 | Nicholas Seward | USA | $24,000 |
| 10 | Landon Tice | USA | $24,000 |
| 11 | Sam Laskowitz | USA | $24,000 |
| 12 | Cary Katz | USA | $20,000 |
The PokerGO Livestream VoD of Event #5 Day 2:
Here is the PGT live blog of Day 2!
Event #7: $10,100 No-Limit Hold‘em – Day 1
The 7th event of the US Poker Open is also the last with a $10k buy-in. Traditionally, the buy-ins and thus usually also points and prize money increase as a PokerGO Tour festival progresses. From today, participation costs at least $25k. The last “bargain” was not missed by 70 entries, which provided $700,000 in the prize pool for the top 10. The min-cash was $21,000, and the first prize will be $210,000.
As the last player without a cash, Cary Katz was eliminated. The PokerGO boss held the bottom set against Alex Foxen when all chips went in on the turn, but the river turned Foxen’s two pair into a full house and made Cary Katz the bubble boy of Event #7.
By the end of the day, the $10k event lost 5 more players: Chino Rheem (10th, $21,000), Sean Winter (9th, $21,000), Shannon Shorr (8th, $28,000), John Andress (7th, $28,000), and Sam Laskowitz (6th, $38,500).
Alex Foxen took over the chip lead with the Katz knockout, which he did not give up until the end of the day. Instead, he gradually increased it and was able to bag an impressive 96 BBs after 17 levels played. The 2nd chip leader Jeremy Ausmus holds not even half of that with 42 BBs, and the other three remaining players, Qinghai Pan, Aram Zobian, Michael Berk, are short with 16 down to 10 BBs. If anyone can still catch Foxen, it is probably Jeremy Ausmus, who is also the most promising in the overall standings with 262 points.
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The PokerGO Livestream VoD of Event #7 Day 1:
The chip counts after Day 1:
| Pos (CC) | Player | Country | Chip Count | Seat |
| 1 | Alex Foxen | United States | 4,820,000 | 1 |
| 2 | Jeremy Ausmus | United States | 2,095,000 | 5 |
| 3 | Qinghai Pan | United States | 820,000 | 2 |
| 4 | Aram Zobian | United States | 545,000 | 4 |
| 5 | Michael Berk | United States | 485,000 | 3 |
The payouts:
| Place | Player | Country | Prize (USD) |
| 1 | $210,000 | ||
| 2 | $136,500 | ||
| 3 | $94,500 | ||
| 4 | $70,000 | ||
| 5 | $52,500 | ||
| 6 | Sam Laskowitz | USA | $38,500 |
| 7 | John Andress | USA | $28,000 |
| 8 | Shannon Shorr | USA | $28,000 |
| 9 | Sean Winter | USA | $21,000 |
| 10 | Chino Rheem | USA | $21,000 |
Here is the PGT live blog of Day 1!
2026 US Poker Open Leaderboard (after Event #6)
| Rank | Player | Points | Wins | Cashes | Winnings |
| 1st | Brock Wilson | 495 | 2 | 4 | $434,900 |
| 2nd | Clemen Deng | 284 | 1 | 3 | $215,025 |
| 3rd | Cherish Andrews | 282 | 1 | 3 | $183,807 |
| 4th | Jeremy Ausmus | 262 | 0 | 3 | $217,675 |
| 5th | Peter Placey | 224 | 1 | 1 | $224,000 |
| 6th | Kristen Foxen | 219 | 1 | 2 | $211,950 |
| 7th | Nick Schulman | 176 | 0 | 2 | $176,000 |
| 8th | Peter Mugar | 155 | 0 | 3 | $103,975 |
| 9th | Yifu He | 146 | 0 | 2 | $97,550 |
| 10th | Qinghai Pan | 144 | 0 | 1 | $144,000 |
US Poker Open Schedule:
