Isaac Haxton Wins U.S. Poker Open $25,000 Event

Isaac Haxton has made an explosive start to 2023 on the live high-roller poker tournament circuit, racking up four titles, ten final tables, and over $5.1 million in tournament earnings. His latest victory came in the 2023 U.S. Poker Open $25,000 buy-in no-limit hold’em event, where he took down a field of 54 entries to add $432,000 to his career earnings, which now total nearly $37 million. Haxton’s dominance has not gone unnoticed, with him sitting in second place in the 2023 POY race standings presented by Global Poker and fourth place in the PokerGO Tour season-long points race.

Isaac Haxton’s latest triumph was sealed at the PokerGO Studio at ARAI Resort & Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada. The two-day, $25,000 buy-in tournament boasted a prize pool of $1,350,000, with six players reaching the final day. The money bubble burst late on day one, with Cary Katz’s A-K being outrun by Dan Smith’s K-Q. Masashi Oya and Chris Brewer were soon eliminated, leaving six contenders to battle it out on day two.

Smith held the lead going into the final day, with Isaac Haxton in second place. Alex Foxen was the first to be eliminated after going all-in with Q-4 and coming up against Phil Hellmuth’s A-K. Hellmuth, the 16-time World Series of Poker bracelet winner and recent USPO event no. 5 champion, was next to hit the rail after calling all-in from the small blind with A-Q suited, only to see Smith take the lead with a pair of sevens made on the turn.

Bill Klein’s run in the tournament came to an end when his A-4 suited was unable to beat out Haxton’s pocket tens. The final three players battled it out for over an hour and a half, with Smith’s 2Spade Suit2Heart Suit being dominated by Haxton’s 6Spade Suit6Heart Suit, which gave Haxton a superior flush on the board with four spades.

Heads-up play began with Haxton holding a significant lead of 6,775,000 to Joey Weissman’s 1,325,000. Despite winning a big pot with a flush beating the pocket aces of Haxton, Weissman was unable to level the playing field, and the final hand saw him limp in on the button with QHeart Suit10Diamond Suit. Haxton checked his option with AHeart Suit4Heart Suit, and the flop came down JDiamond Suit6Heart Suit6Heart Suit. Haxton check-raised to 4.5 big blinds, and Weissman called. The QClub Suit on the turn gave Weissman top pair, but Haxton’s check on the river, followed by a bet of 300,000 and a raise to 1,000,000 by Weissman, led to Haxton reraising all-in. Weissman eventually called, and Haxton revealed his nut flush to secure the pot and the title.

Weissman took home $283,500 as the runner-up and sits in second place in the player of the series standings with 429 total PGT points earned so far at the USPO. Meanwhile, Isaac Haxton’s incredible start to the year shows no signs of slowing down, with him continuing to dominate the high-roller poker scene and cementing his place among the game’s elite.

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