April 18-20
Hendon Mob entries for Zach Bruch before his runner-up finish against Joao Simao on Monday.
-
1ST
Joao Simao
$292,800
-
2ND
Zach Bruch
$183,000
-
3RD
Justin Zaki
$128,100
-
4TH
Dylan Linde
$91,500
-
5TH
Aram Zobian
$68,625
-
6TH
Shannon Shorr
$50,325
-
7TH
Paul Roy
$36,600
-
8TH
Matthew Wantman
$36,600
-
9TH
Sam Soverel
$27,450
It was smooth sailing for Joao Simao at the PokerGO Studio on Monday, where he wrapped up his fourth career PGT title at the US Poker Open.
The Brazilian entered the final table with over 40% of the chips in play and the only player within smelling distance was PGT rookie Zach Bruch, who would later be the only one standing between Simao and victory. They were on top of a field of six that survived 61 entries on Day 1.
No sweat for Simao
Shannon Shorr was out first, dropping to Bruch in the opening salvos of the day. Aram Zobian wasn't far behind, pocketing $68K for fifth place after his pocket queens were no good against Bruch's nines.
Dylan Linde and Justin Zaki remained to challenge the top two, but Linde would leave in fourth and Zaki would fall in third after a hope spot double put Bruch on the ropes. Bruch held on while Simao extended his lead, bouncing Zaki with queen-ten. It was a 10-to-1 chip lead at the beginning of heads-up play, but Bruch couldn't do anything about it.
Simao jumped into the fifth spot on the overall USPO leaderboard with the win, joining a group in chase of Brock Wilson and his two series victories. Behind Wilson is Jeremy Ausmus, who has four cashes but no wins, and Clemen Deng, who won Event #2 and cashed two other times.
2026 US Poker Open leaderboard
- Brock Wilson - 495 PGT points
- Jeremy Ausmus - 399 PGT points
- Clemen Deng - 284 PGT points
- Cherish Andrews - 282 PGT points
- Joao Simao - 266 PGT points
- Alex Foxen - 245 PGT points
- Justin Zaki - 242 PGT points
- Qinghai Pan - 239 PGT points
- Peter Placey - 224 PGT points
- Kristen Foxen - 210 PGT points
Next up at the USPO is Event #9, a $15K playing out in the PokerGO Studio on Monday. That final table returns for a livestream on Tuesday while Day 1 of the $25K finale plays its first of two days.
Images courtesy of Antonio Abrego/PokerGO.
