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Joseph Cheong leads Final 6 in USPO $10k NLH

The 2^nd edition of the US Poker Open (USPO), one of the high-stakes series of the year, has just begun and Day 1 of the series is in the books. The first tournament of the series, Event #1 $10k NLH drew 84 entries to the felt.

The field then whittled down to the final 6 players on the day before play halted for the day. The chip leader to emerge from the grind of over 10 hours was Joseph Cheong, bagging 2,885,000 chips at the end. The bubble was burst on American pro Sam Soverel, busting at 14^th place.

Cheong, the chip leader, is an acclaimed live player and has over $13 million in live cash earnings till date. He is originally from Seoul, South Korea, but was brought up in the US and now resides in the poker capital, Las Vegas. He has recorded cashes dating back as far as 2008. His biggest live cash came in 2010 WOSP Main Event where he finished 4^th for a hefty pay-check of $4,130,049. He has numerous cashes from all major series and has a fair chance of shipping this one too.

The gameplay on the day lasted for over 10 hours. 2019 Aussie Millions Champion Bryn Kenney was eliminated at 10^th place for $27k by Stephen Chidwick. The latter had amassed plenty of chips and was the chip leader for the most part of the day, but a few key hands later in the game made Cheung the leader.

Cheung eliminated Jake Schindler at 9^th place with Kings and won 320k chips there. Cheong made a big call in the last few hands leading up to him being the chip leader. He called Joseph Cappello’s bluff and won the pot with bottom pair. The last bust for the day happened when Jerry Robinson was eliminated at 7^th by Cheong in an interesting hand with pocket Aces over pocket Queens.

Considering it is a high-stakes tournament, there were many top worldwide talents in contention. David Peters, 2018 SHR Bowl winner Justin Bonomo, Rainer Kempe, Phil Hellmuth, 2018 GPI Female Player of the Year Kristen Bicknell, Cary Katz, Ryan Riess, 2018 GPI Player of the Year Alex Foxen and Manig Loeser were some names in the run but were busted before the money bubble.

Final Table Chip Counts:

1. Joseph Cheong – 2,885,000
2. Lazaro Hernandez – 2,195,000
3. Stephen Chidwick – 1,950,000
4. Joseph Orsino – 1,635,000
5. Joseph Cappello – 1,380,000
6. Sean Winter – 1,190,000

The tournament will see its winner declared tomorrow, along with the start of the 2^nd one, the $10k PLO, so stay tuned to GutshotMagazine.com for timely USPO updates and for general poker news from around the world.

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