With the World Series of Poker and two busy months of poker on the horizon, it's the right time of year for a player to get hot. That's good news for both of the top two finishers in Event 5 of the PokerGO Tour's US Poker Open.
Shannon Shorr, who is coming off of winning the WSOP Circuit Main Event a few weeks ago at Horseshoe Las Vegas, ultimately walked away with the $220,400 first-place prize and the Golden Eagle trophy. But there was plenty of silver lining for runner-up Eric Blair as well.
Clean sheet for Blair
In addition to taking home $144,400 for second place, at his second final table of this 2025 PGT USPO, Blair made it 5-for-5 in cashing every event of this series thus far. This result put him on top of a tight race in the 2025 USPO Player of the Series race, but more importantly elevated Blair to the No. 1 spot on the season-long PGT leaderboard, jumping him past Chino Rheem and Kristen Foxen.
Eric Blair is in pole position in the USPO points race. Shorr and Blair both battled to the bitter end for the Event #5 title. Blair pulled ahead early with a 4-to-1 lead and had Shorr all-in for his tournament life. On a board of 
, Blair's 
had the edge over Shorr's 
, but the 
on the river gave Shorr the flush, the double and the chip lead in one fell swoop.
Blair doubled back into the lead when his 
held off Blair's 
, but Shorr quickly returned the favor with an ace-high domination of his own as 
held against 
.
On the final hand, the lead was seemingly set to shift once more as Blair got a dream 
flop for his 
. Shorr had four outs with 
, but the 
on the river was one of those key cards, ending the tournament in dramatic fashion.
Three more events at USPO
Shorr joins Kristen Foxen, Kazuomi Furuse, Michael Rossitto and Matthew Wantman among the champions crowned thus far in the PGT USPO series.
Blair's 331 PGT points put him narrowly ahead of Yifu He (319), Wantman (318), Furuse (285), and Rossitto (278) with three tournaments left to be played. He, who finished third to Shorr and Blair, has now matched Blari with both a second and a third-place finish thus far in the festival.
Event #6 represents a jump in buy-ins from $10,100 to $15,100, with an identical buy-in Event 7 set to kick off on Tuesday. The eighth and final event of the 2025 US Poker Open is a $25,200 buy-in Championship, which kicks off on Wednesday with the final table set to wrap up the festival on Thursday.
PokerGO Tour US Poker Open Event #5 ($10,100 NLH) final table results
| Place | Player | Prize |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Shannon Shorr | $220,400 |
| 2 | Eric Blair | $144,400 |
| 3 | Yifu He | $102,600 |
| 4 | Isaac Haxton | $72,200 |
| 5 | Brock Wilson | $53,200 |
Images courtesy of Antonio Abrego/PokerGO.
