Isaac Kempton won the latest U.S. Poker Open (USPO) $15,700 buy-in pot-limit Omaha tournament that Aria Resort & Casino hosted in the PokerGO Studio. The professional player bagged $279,000 and increased his poker earnings to $3,093,306. Still, he got his maiden USPO golden eagle trophy.
Kempton has excelled in the PokerGO Tour (PGT) as he finished third in one event last year. Besides, he has made four cashes at different PGT tournaments this month. They include three payouts he got in the just concluded PGT pot-limit Omaha poker series.
Even so, this was Kempton's third tournament to win among the 24 cashes he has made so far. He won the 2020 World Series of Poker Circuit (WSOPC) gold ring at the Seminole Hard Rock Tampa and a preliminary tournament at the World Poker Tour (WPT) Five Diamond series in 2022 at the Bellagio.
Kempton's biggest score is the $1,093,314 he won after finishing second in last year's Wynn Millions Main Event. The recent $15,700 pot-limit Omaha tournament attracted 62 entrants who formed a $930,000 prize pool. Its nine leading players won more than 27,000 each and four of them advanced to the final day.
What Were the Final Table's Prizes?
- Isaac Kempton-$279,000 and 432 Card Player Player of the Year (POY) points
- Gregory Shuda-$186,000 and 360 POY points
- Martin Zamani-$130,200 and 288 POY points
- Ben Lamb-$93,000 and 216 POY points
- Roussos Koliakoudakis-$74,400 and 180 POY points
- Erik Seidel-$55,800 and 144 POY points
- Jim Collopy-$46,500 and 108 POY points
- Chris Brewer-$37,200 and 72 POY points
- Michael Wang-$27,900 and 0 POY points
How Things Unfolded on the Final Day
Many poker enthusiasts got stunned when several talented players missed a seat at the final table. They got busted in the penultimate day's final stages.
Kempton had the largest stack when the four-handed table's action kicked off. Even so, Gregory Shuda eliminated Ben Lamb in fourth place and Martin Zamani in third place, posing a challenge to Kempton in their heads-up battle. Kempton used an aggressive playing style in the final match and it helped him regain the stack lead before the dealer dealt the tournament's final hand.
The pro made a 180,000 big blind preflop prompting Shuda to limp and make a 540,000 repot. Kempton called first and a QHeart SuitJDiamond Suit6Diamond Suit flop was dealt and he later went all in. his opponent made an all-in call and both of them flipped their cards.
Kempton held QSpade Suit10Spade Suit9Heart Suit8Heart Suit and Shuda had KClub Suit7Heart Suit6Heart Suit2Club Suit when 4Spade SuitKHeart Suit landed on the river and the turn. Kempton seized this opportunity to make a swift straight that earned him the top prize and pot as Shuda finished second with $186,000.
The latter increased his poker career earnings to $338,091. The PokerGO Studio is hosting the ongoing U.S. Poker Open $15,700 buy-in no-limit Hold'em event.
