While the British pro outlasted a field of 800 in Melbourne, two events finished in Las Vegas.
Main Event champion Toby Lewis
Toby Lewis started the final table as the chip leader. He also had the most amount of live cashes, so he was considered a hefty favour, before the start. He clearly lived up to the expectations. In the 3-handed period, the remaining players started to discuss a deal. They came to an agreement after some talk. Lewis banked A$1,383,198, A$1,177,103 went Solaas’ way, while Huber got A$909,699 and the three continued playing for A$75,000 and the trophy.
After the deal, the play started in a quick fashion and it didn’t take long for the players to finish the tournament. Espen Solaas from Norway got 3rd after losing his last chips against Lewis in a pre-flop all-in confrontation.
Solaas: :Ad :9c
Lewis: :Kd :Kh
Board: :8d :Js :4d :Jd :Jh
The Norwegian earned A$1,177,103 for his performance. It only took 16 more hands for the remaining two to end things. In hand 179 Stefan Huber opened for 400,000 from the button with , and Toby defended with . The flop came , giving Lewis three of a kind, while two pairs for Stefan. The latter continued with 225,000. Toby raised to 625,000 and Stefan called. The hit the turn and Lewis decided to check. Huber bet 700,000 and called the all-in of his opponent’s. The river was a meaningless , as Huber was drawing dead, so Toby Lewis took down the trophy and the A$1,458,198 coming with it, while Stefan earned A$909,699.
"I’ve been working really hard on my game lately, more than ever. I just felt really comfortable. I had an understanding of the players I was playing against. I tried to stay off social media as much as possible and tried not to hype myself up too much." – said the champion after the event.
Final results
| Place |
Player | Country | Prize |
| 1 | Toby Lewis | United Kingdom | AU$1,458,198 $1,156,653* |
| 2 | Stefan Huber | Switzerland | AU$909,699 $721,579* |
| 3 | Espen Solaas | Norway | AU$1,177,103 $933,686* |
| 4 | Chul-Hyon Park | Australia | AU$470,000 $372,807 |
| 5 | Mike Del Vecchio | United States | AU$370,000 $293,486 |
| 6 | Ben Richardson | Australia | AU$300,000 $237,962 |
| 7 | Johan Schumacher | Belgium | AU$235,000 $186,403 |
US Poker Open
In the meantime, an elite tournament series made its debut in Las Vegas. The US Poker Open started on February 1 with the $10,000 No Limit Hold’em event. 68 of the best players entered the tournament, creating, a $680,000 prize pool, with $190,400 going for first. As expected, the final table was full of top-notch players, with the likes of Stephen Chidwick, David Peters or Justin Bonomo.
It was Justin, who came out ahead and became the first ever US Poker Open champion. "I’ve just had an incredible run of cards in the last two months and I hope it continues," said Bonomo after the event. He’s currently ranking #1 on the GPI Player of the Year Leaderboard. He beat Boutros Nadim from Lebanon in the heads-up.
Final results
| Place |
Country | Player | Prize |
| 1 |
United States | Justin Bonomo | $190,400 |
| 2 | Lebanon | Boutros Nadim | $136,000 |
| 3 | United States | David Peters | $88,400 |
| 4 | United States | Justin Young | $68,000 |
| 5 | United Kingdom | Stephen Chidwick | $54,400 |
| 6 | United States | Sam Soverel | $40,800 |
| 7 | United States | Cary Katz | $34,000 |
| 8 | United States | Andy Park | $27,200 |
| 9 | United States | Jake Schindler | $20,400 |
| 10 | United States | Anthony Zinno | $20,400 |
In USPO #02 – $10,000 Pot Limit Omaha 64 players sat down to play. High-stakes cash regular, Mike "gordo16" Gorodinsky was the best player that day, as he confidently won the event, busting all of his last 5 opponents to scoop the title and the $179,200 first prize.
Gorodinsky praised his good run in his winner interview: "I was prepared but also feeling pretty good. I feel like I played fine but it’s hard to complain when you have a set every hand." Runner-up Richard Kirsch also had a high opinion on his peer: "Mike played really great. He ran well too, and that’s, you know, the combination of winning. So hats off to him. He played really great."
Final results
| Place | Player | Country | Prize |
| 1 | Mike Gorodinsky | United States | $179,200 |
| 2 | Richard Kirsch | United States | $128,000 |
| 3 | Rainer Kempe | Germany | $83,200 |
| 4 | Anthony Zinno | United States | $64,000 |
| 5 | Andjelko Andrejevic | Serbia | $51,200 |
| 6 | Cary Katz | United States | $38,400 |
High-stakes crusher, "gordo16"
USPO #03 – $25,000 No Limit Hold’em event is underway with only 6 players still in the tournament.
Final Table Seating
| 1 | Brent Hanks | 213,000 |
| 2 | Daniel Negreanu | 1,700,000 |
| 3 | Jake Schindler | 999,000 |
| 4 | Seth Davies | 335,000 |
| 5 | Keith Tilston | 1,734,000 |
| 6 | Stephen Chidwick | 519,000 |
Daniel Negreanu and Keith Tilson are leading the field, almost head to head. Daniel certainly needs a big score to cash in on his side bets, he made against several of his fellow players. The $374,000 first prize would help him a lot. The game will start February 5 at 12:00 P.M. PST – stay tuned for the updates.
