The U.S. Poker Open Event #9 was a $25,000 buy-in no limit hold'em event. Along with the usual high-roller regulars, there were a few additional big names including Erik Siedel and Phil Hellmuth, who ended up going all the way to heads up together.
Seidel, despite being easily one of the best in the game, has been perennially painted as poker's bridesmaid thanks to the WSOP clip of his second place finish that serves as a key plot point in the movie Rounders. Here — as in 31 other Hendon Mob verified events — Seidel was wearing the white dress.
He took first after sending Hellmuth to the rail with kicker v. kicker hand shortly after heads up play began.
This was the third time Seidel has gone one-on-one with Hellmuth.
“It’s pretty wild that the two of us got heads up,” Seidel said during his winners interview. “That’s the third time we’ve been heads up, so it was fun [...] I don’t think there’s any extra meaning to it that we were heads up, as I would’ve been happy to win against anybody. It’s just nice when things go your way for a few hours in a critical period like this. It’s great.”
Phil Hellmuth showing up for this event means also means he is finally chipping away at his end of the $400,000 prop bet between him and Daniel Negreanu. This bet requires Hellmuth to turn a profit over 50 events at the Aria with buy-ins of $25,000 or higher.
US Poker Open Event #9: $25,000 No Limit Hold'em complete final table results
| Position | Player Name | Payout |
| 1st | Erik Seidel | $472,500 |
| 2nd | Phil Hellmuth | $315,000 |
| 3rd | Alex Foxen | $220,500 |
| 4th | Sam Soverel | $157,500 |
| 5th | Tamon Nakamura | $126,000 |
| 6th | Ren Lin | $94,500 |
| 7th | Alex Livingston | $78,750 |
The Queen-Four hand
The fact that the tournament saw a butting contest between two goats was almost overshadowed by an unusual play on Hellmuth's part.
Earlier in the day, with blinds at 30k/60k and a 60k big blind in the pot, Hellmuth was raised by the big stack to 125k in the big blind. Hellmuth defended with Qd4h, raising to 350k. His opponent moved all-in, making the total bet 890k. Hellmuth tanked for a while before calling.
His opponent then turned over pocket nines. The poker gods were on his side though, and two queens hit the board on the rollout doubling him up.
His opponent went on to bust in 3rd.
The play has become a major source of discussion online, with defenders of Hellmuth's play being almost as vocal as his detractors.
You can watch the full hand below:
Current PokerGO Tour player of the year leaderboard standings
| Position | Player Name | PokerGO Tour POY Points |
| 1st | Isaac Kempton | 1,331 |
| 2nd | Tony Sinishtaj | 1,250 |
| 3rd | Sean Perry | 1,147 |
| 4th | Nick Petrangelo | 1,119 |
| 5th | Ali Imsirovic | 1,086 |
| 6th | Jeremy Ausmus | 1,049 |
| 7th | Alex Foxen | 986 |
| 8th | Alex Livingston | 886 |
| 9th | Daniel Negreanu | 743 |
| 10th | Brock Wilson | 685 |
Featured image source: PokerGO
