---

Chris Hunichen leads 2019 USPO Main Event FT

The 2^nd edition of US Poker Open (USPO) declared all its winners except for the ongoing final event, Main Event. Stephen Chidwick made two title wins already and has added it to previous two title wins from USPO 1.

The $100k Main Event also attracted a decent field of 33 players, the same turnout for 2018. It’s better than last year’s since this year, the buy-in saw a two-fold increase. The prize pool created was a colossal $3.3 million in the ME and the first-place cash prize of $1,320,000 (~INR 9.37 Crores) would be awarded out of it.

Leading in chip counts out of the 9 progressors is Chris Hunichen of USA. He has just one cash in the series so far, of $59k, but sits with a stack of 1,790,000 in this one and has great odds for him to ship the tournament. He has secured at least $264k in the tournament.

Each player in the event is a notable one since already high buy-in has filtered only the high-stakes grinders. USPO Event #8 winner Nick Schulman is with 125k chips and sits at 9^th position. Ryan Reiss is just above him at 8^th. Other notables like Bonomo, Winter, Peters, Koon, are also on the FT and will put up a tough fight for the crown.

Coming to the chip leader, Hunichen finished 4^th recently in PCA $100k SHR for $627,340, making his best live cash. Before that, he finished 3^rd in a 2018 WPT Five Diamond event for $592k. He has numerous cashes from a lot of high-stakes tournaments around the world, overwhelmingly in the US. He is now with $4.4+ million in live earnings and will be looking to add some more through this final USPO event.

Heavyweights like 2019 USPO Event #5 winner Ali Imsirovic, Rainer Kempe, Issac Haxton, Chidwick, 2018 GPI POY Alex Foxen, etc. were in the race but didn’t make it to the FT, Chidwick becoming the FT bubble boy at 10^th.

Final Table Chip Counts –

1. Chris Hunichen – 1,790,000
2. Keith Tilston – 1,300,000
3. Martin Zamani – 805,000
4. David Peters – 640,000
5. Jason Koon – 630,000
6. Justin Bonomo – 595,000
7. Sean Winter – 375,000
8. Ryan Riess – 340,000
9. Nick Schulman – 125,000

Day 2 will start today, 23^rd Feb, and will be live streamed on PokerGo starting 2 pm local time. Keep reading GutshotMagazine.com to see who won 2019 USPO ME and for similar poker news from around the world.

Check out our online poker rooms section, where you can read reviews on the biggest and best poker rooms in the country, while also taking advantage of their bonuses and promotions. Check out these top poker rooms HERE.

---

---