Winter Wins 2022 US Poker Open on PokerGO Tour
March was a busy month for the PokerGO Tour. High-stakes poker players focused on Las Vegas in March, first for action at the Wynn Las Vegas. There were five events in the Wynn High Roller series, and the Wynn Millions Main Event contributed to PokerGO Tour leaderboard points as well. After that, there were a dozen tournaments as a part of the 2022 US Poker Open.
With those in the books, let’s look at the results.
Wynn Millions & High Rollers
As a part of the 2022 PokerGO Tour – Season Dos, if you will – organizers had to include the Wynn Millions. Last year, the Wynn Millions was a singular tournament with a $10K buy-in and $10M guarantee. This year, the Wynn’s poker room created an entire series around that tournament. The Wynn Millions series offered nearly two dozen tournaments, but it was the Main Event that made the PokerGO Tour.
Again, with its $10K buy-in and $10M guarantee, the tournament was a huge success…again. It brought in 1,075 entries and created a $10,105,000 prize pool. We recapped that entire tournament when it finished earlier in March. The final table boasted of names like Sean Perry, Tony Tran, Vanessa Kade, and Alex Livingston. But in the end, it was Tony Sinishtaj who won it outright for $1,655,952.
The Wynn also hosted five Wynn High Roller tournaments for the PokerGO Tour. Those stats and winners are:
| Event 1 | $10K buy-in | Wynn High Rollers |
| Total entries: | 49 | |
| Total prize pool: | $490,000 | |
| Players paid: | 7 | |
| Final table results: | 1st place: | Jake Schindler (USA) $166,600 |
| Event 2 | $15K buy-in | Wynn High Rollers |
| Total entries: | 40 | |
| Total prize pool: | $600,000 | |
| Players paid: | 6 | |
| Final table results: | 1st place: | Daniel Negreanu (Canada) $216,000 |
| Event 3 | $10K buy-in | Wynn High Rollers |
| Total entries: | 60 | |
| Total prize pool: | $600,000 | |
| Players paid: | 9 | |
| Final table results: | 1st place: | Ali Imsirovic (Bosnia) $180,000 |
| Event 4 | $10K buy-in | Wynn High Rollers |
| Total entries: | 73 | |
| Total prize pool: | $730,000 | |
| Players paid: | 11 | |
| Final table results: | 1st place: | Bin Weng (USA) $189,800 |
| Event 5 | $15K buy-in | Wynn High Rollers |
| Total entries: | 43 | |
| Total prize pool: | $645,000 | |
| Players paid: | 7 | |
| Final table results: | 1st place: | Brekstyn Schutten (USA) $219,300 |
US Poker Open
The US Poker Open has been a part of the PokerGO high-stakes action since 2018. The last two series in 2019 and 2021 (missing 2020 because…you know) had only one champion. David Peters won the series title both years.
This year’s series played out over the second half of March and – spoiler alert – David Peters did not win the series again. This time, it was down to the wire for a new champion to take it. And for the 12 events, here were the stats and winners:
| Event 1 | $10K NLHE | US Poker Open (USPO) |
| Total entries: | 93 | |
| Total prize pool: | $930,000 | |
| Players paid: | 14 | |
| Final table results: | 1st place: | Shannon Shorr (USA) $213,900 |
| Event 2 | $10K PLO | US Poker Open (USPO) |
| Total entries: | 77 | |
| Total prize pool: | $770,000 | |
| Players paid: | 11 | |
| Final table results: | 1st place: | Justin Young (USA) $200,200 |
| Event 3 | $10K NLHE | US Poker Open (USPO) |
| Total entries: | 88 | |
| Total prize pool: | $880,000 | |
| Players paid: | 13 | |
| Final table results: | 1st place: | Adam Hendrix (USA) $211,200 |
| Event 4 | $10K Mix | US Poker Open (USPO) |
| Total entries: | 53 | |
| Total prize pool: | $530,000 | |
| Players paid: | 8 | |
| Final table results: | 1st place: | Tamon Nakamura (Japan) $169,600 |
| Event 5 | $10K NLHE | US Poker Open (USPO) |
| Total entries: | 66 | |
| Total prize pool: | $660,000 | |
| Players paid: | 10 | |
| Final table results: | 1st place: | Jeremy Ausmus (USA) $178,200 |
| Event 6 | $15K 8-Game | US Poker Open (USPO) |
| Total entries: | 47 | |
| Total prize pool: | $705,000 | |
| Players paid: | 7 | |
| Final table results: | 1st place: | Tamon Nakamura (Japan) $239,700 |
| Event 7 | $15K NLHE | US Poker Open (USPO) |
| Total entries: | 70 | |
| Total prize pool: | $1,050,000 | |
| Players paid: | 10 | |
| Final table results: | 1st place: | Alex Foxen (USA) $283,500 |
| Event 8 | $15K PLO | US Poker Open (USPO) |
| Total entries: | 67 | |
| Total prize pool: | $1,005,000 | |
| Players paid: | 10 | |
| Final table results: | 1st place: | Chino Rheem (USA) $271,350 |
| Event 9 | $25K NLHE | US Poker Open (USPO) |
| Total entries: | 63 | |
| Total prize pool: | $1,575,000 | |
| Players paid: | 9 | |
| Final table results: | 1st place: | Erik Seidel (USA) $472,500 |
| Event 10 | $25K PLO | US Poker Open (USPO) |
| Total entries: | 49 | |
| Total prize pool: | $1,225,000 | |
| Players paid: | 7 | |
| Final table results: | 1st place: | Dylan Weisman (USA) $416,500 |
| Event 11 | $25K NLHE | US Poker Open (USPO) |
| Total entries: | 55 | |
| Total prize pool: | $1,375,000 | |
| Players paid: | 8 | |
| Final table results: | 1st place: | Sean Winter (USA) $440,000 |
| Event 12 | $50K NLHE | US Poker Open (USPO) |
| Total entries: | 42 | |
| Total prize pool: | $2,100,000 | |
| Players paid: | 6 | |
| Final table results: | 1st place: | Sean Winter (USA) $756,000 |
Two players won two events in the 2022 US Poker Open – Tamon Nakamura and Sean Winter. But it all came down to points, and Winter’s points overtook those of Nakamura for the overall title. After finishing second in prior iterations of the USPO, Winter finally broke through and won it. He took home the Golden Eagle trophy and a $50K bonus.
Upon winning, he told Jeff Platt of PokerGO: “It means a lot. I’m kind of speechless right now .I was just getting destroyed all series, obviously, and I was kind of grateful for that because it motivated me to do well, and the buy-ins went up. I kind of just got lucky in that regard and good winning when I needed to.”
After finishing runner-up in the 2019 & 2021 Championship, @Nolez7 takes down the 2022 U.S. Poker Open by winning the final two events for a total of $1,196,000!
Big shout out to @OYAMASASHI88 for finishing runner-up in this tough $50k after just six months of playing poker! pic.twitter.com/AgBBqrGnsj
— PokerGO (@PokerGO) March 29, 2022
Kempton Atop Leaderboard
The 2022 PokerGO season is only three months in, but the competition is already heated. Isaac Kempton recently took over first place, followed by last year’s champion Ali Imsirovic.
| 2022 PokerGO Tour Player of the Year Standings |
| 1. Isaac Kempton = 1375 points ($1,297,464 earnings) |
| 2. Ali Imsirovic = 1369 points ($1,972,000 earnings) |
| 3. Tony Sinishtaj = 1250 points ($1,655,952 earnings) |
| 4. Sean Winter = 1217 points ($1,855,100 earnings) |
| 5. Sean Perry = 1147 points ($1,615,508) |
Next up, players have numerous choices, but they must choose. Many events will be in Cyprus for the first half of the month, with Aria in Las Vegas hosting the rest. However, there are two high rollers in Florida in the first part of April that comprise parts of the PokerGO Tour as well.
| PokerGO Tour | Season 2 | Upcoming… |
| 2-Apr | $50K NLHE | Triton Cyprus #1 |
| 3-Apr | $100K NLHE | Triton Cyprus #2 |
| 4-Apr | $25K NLHE | Merit Poker High Roller (Cyprus) |
| 5-Apr | $75K Short Deck | Triton Cyprus #3 |
| 6-Apr | $50K NLHE | Seminole Hard Rock Super High Roller (US – FL) |
| 6-Apr | $125K Short Deck | Triton Cyprus #4 |
| 7-Apr | $25K PLO | Super High Roller Series Europe #1 (Cyprus) |
| 8-Apr | $25K NLHE | SHRS Europe #2 (Cyprus) |
| 9-Apr | $50K Short Deck | SHRS Europe #3 (Cyprus) |
| 10-Apr | $25K PLO | SHRS Europe #4 (Cyprus) |
| 11-Apr | $25K NLHE | Seminole Hard Rock High Roller (US – FL) |
| 11-Apr | $50K NLHE | SHRS Europe #5 (Cyprus) |
| 12-Apr | $100K Short Deck | SHRS Europe #6 (Cyprus) |
| 13-Apr | $250K NLHE | Super High Roller Bowl Europe (Cyprus) |
| 13-Apr | $25K PLO | SHRS Europe #7 (Cyprus) |
| 14-Apr | $50K NLHE | SHRS Europe #8 (Cyprus) |
| 15-Apr | $50K NLHE | SHRS Europe #9 (Cyprus) |
| 19-Apr | $3K NLHE | Stairway to Millions #1 (US – NV) |
| 20-Apr | $10K NLHE | Aria High Roller #4 (US – NV) |
| 21-Apr | $25K NLHE | Heads-Up Showdown (US – NV) |
| 22-Apr | $10K NLHE | Aria High Roller #5 (US – NV) |
| 23-Apr | $15K NLHE | Aria High Roller #6 (US – NV) |
