Wednesday's final table inside the PokerGO studio started out fairly normally, as Ping Liu eliminated Justin Saliba and David Peters to reduce the field of Event 1 of the US Poker Open to five. But from the moment Michael Arellano went out in fifth place, a chain reaction of wild runouts that would ultimately carry on for hours began.
Arellano, who won his way into the $5,100 event via satellite, seemed poised to double up his short stack through Kristen Foxen. His 
was well ahead on a board of 
, but Foxen's 
spiked a 
on the river — and it was off to the races from there.
Foxen would ultimately go on to survive the chaos, capturing the victory in the opening event of this PGT USPO festival along with the $158,025 first-place prize and 158 PGT points. But that victory would not come easily.
Three-handed battle
After Francis Anderson eliminated Anthony Hu in fourth place, he, Foxen and Liu settled in for well over two-and-a-half hours of battling three-handed — virtually unheard of with the way the structures and format of PGT events are set up. Each player spent significant time in the chip lead and as the short stack.
More than two hours into the three-headed showdown, it appeared Liu was finally going to be the one to bow out first. His 
was well behind Foxen's 
through the turn of an 
runout, only for the 
to save him on the river.
Anderson pulled away with the chip lead, looking to build upon a strong start of his own to 2025, and he found himself on the inside track to victory. In a blind-vs-blind showdown, Foxen shoved with 
and Anderson gladly obliged with 
. He would largely be sweating the dreaded ace or the occasional straight, but the way the hand turned around on Anderson was devastating.
The 
flop gave Foxen trip deuces and an iron grip on the hand. Her eyes went wide as she watched the flop, and then she reflexively looked over to Anderson.
"There's still a ten," Foxen said, fighting a smile that wouldn't be kept from her face following that flop. There would be no such ten, granting Foxen a massive chip lead and leaving Anderson a handful of chips that would soon be gone.
Foxen back to No. 1
From there, Foxen eliminated Anderson in short order and then turned a flush with 
to knock out Liu in second and seal her victory.
Foxen's third PGT win of 2025 follows victories during the PGT Kickoff and PokerGO Cup. She's the first player to three titles, and thus reclaimed the top spot on the full-season PGT leaderboard. Chino Rheem had briefly taken over the top spot following his performance during the recent PGT PLO Series.
The top 40 players at the end of the season will qualify for the season-ending PGT $1,000,000 Championship, and starting chips will be based on a player's position on the PGT leaderboard.
2025 US Open Event 1 results
| Place | Player | Prize |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Kristen Foxen | $158,025 |
| 2 | Ping Liu |
$96,750 |
| 3 | Francis Anderson |
$70,950 |
| 4 | Anthony Hu |
$51,600 |
| 5 | Michael Arellano |
$38,700 |
| 6 | David Peters |
$32,250 |
| 7 | Justin Saliba |
$25,800 |
| 8 | Masato Yokosawa |
$25,800 |
| 9 | Yifu He |
$19,350 |
| 10 | Patrick Leonard |
$17,738 |
Image courtesy of Antonio Abrego/PokerGO
