top corner

David Peters Wins USPO Main Event and USPO Championship

The 2019 US Poker Open is officially in the books and it was definitely an eventful one. For a while, it seemed that Sean Winter would lock up the USPO Championship title, but in an exciting turn of events, David Peters managed to take down the USPO Main Event and earned just enough points to wrestle the title away from Winter.

David Peters Survives a Stellar Final Table to Win USPO Main Event

Heading into the final day of the $100,000 USPO Main Event on Sunday, a stellar field looked to make the money and take down the $1.32 million top prize. Chris Hunichen was the chip leader heading into the final day of action with Keith Tilston right behind. Other players at the final table included Jason Koon, Justin Bonomo, Nick Schulman, Sean Winter, David Peters, Martin Zamini, and 2013 WSOP Main Event champion Ryan Riess.

Winter was the overall points leader heading into the final day and seemingly controlled his own fate. Fifth place or better would lock up the title. Nick Schulman also had a shot at winning the points title, but he had to finish runner-up or better. David Peters came in with an outside chance of winning the title, but the only way to do so was to win the event and for Winter to brick the final.

Schulman never had a realistic chance and started the day as the short stack. He was quickly eliminated by Hunichen. Shortly after, Sean Winter also hit the rail when his A-10 failed to improve against Tilston’s pocket fives.

With seven players left, David Peters had to win in order to win the points title, and it seemed a long-shot as he was fifth in chips. Peters is the type of player that has the ability to go on an amazing run or to flame out as the bubble boy.

On Saturday, it was his turn red hot as he proceeded to knock out Jason Koon and steadily climb the leaderboard. By the time the money was reached, Peters had climbed into the chip lead. He took a stranglehold on the lead after knocking out Keith Tilston in third place. Tilston was all-in with K-Q and Peters called with A-6. The board failed to hit Tilston and Peters was heads-up against Chris Hunichen with a 2.5 to 1 chip lead.

Hunichen got a few back but then decided to shove with Ah-8c against Peters who made an easy call with pocket nines. Hunichen caught an eight on the turn but bricked the river to finish in second place. He still earned a very respectable $858,000.

David Peters made his third final table of the 2019 USPO in this event, but this time he managed to take down the title. It was the perfect time to do so as it earned him a nice $1.32 million prize.

Peters Wins USPO Championship by 10 Points

Much to the chagrin of Sean Winter, David Peters victory in the USPO Main Event gave him enough points to win the USPO Championship title. He finished the series with 550 points, beating Winter and Stephen Chidwick by 10 points. Winter takes second officially because he had more prize money than Chidwick.

When asked about winning the Championship, he told Poker Central, “This feels amazing. This is obviously a very prestigious tournament, a great series, and to come from behind and to pass Sean by 10 points at the very end, that’s a pretty-pretty crazy feeling.”

When asked how he is able to continuously compete so well in high stakes events, Peters responded, “I’m just always trying to get better. I put in an endless amount of hours away from the table and it feels great to see all the hard work pay off. I’m always very hungry, always wanting to get better and better and better and better and that’s not going to stop. I hope to keep that keep that going.”

For winning the USPO Championship, Peters earned a snazzy championship trophy along with a $100,000 bonus. “This is my favorite trophy and one of my favorite all-time wins for sure,” Peters said after winning the championship.

His win also helped Peters to rise to the #1 spot in the Poker Central High Roller of the Year rankings. He has a total of 550 points and $1.58 million in earnings. While it’s still very early in the year, we expect to see Peters near the top of this list for most of the year.

bottom corner