Poker Central announced its subscription-based app, PokerGO, will air the inaugural U.S. Poker Open, an eight-tournament high-stakes series, live Feb. 1-11. The event will take place at the Aria Resort and Casino in Las Vegas and will include a mix of no-limit hold’em, mixed games, and pot-limit Omaha tournaments.
PokerGO is continually adding original programming, including the recently completed Poker Masters, a five-event series of high-stakes tournaments also at the Aria. That series was dominated by German pro Steffen Sontheimer, who won two events and cashed in four (while bubbling the fifth). It’s hard to imagine he won’t make the trip to Las Vegas in February to attempt to continue his mastery of the high-stakes poker scene.
The Aria casino poker room in the heart of the Las Vegas Strip has become the go-to spot for high-stakes poker action. Not only has the property played host to the Poker Masters, but also it’s the home of Poker After Dark, the Super High Roller Bowl, a monthly high-roller series, and the Ivey Room, which attracts some of the biggest non-televised games in Sin City.
The US Poker Open, comprised of eight tournaments with buy-ins ranging from $10,000 to $50,000, also seems to be rounding out what’s becoming a series of high-roller “majors” for Poker Central to broadcast on PokerGO. The Poker Masters consisted of four $50,000 tournaments and a $100,000 main event, while the Super High Roller Bowl started as a $500,000 invitational in 2015, and since then has dropped to a $300,000 buy-in tournament.
The US Poker Open will be the first of these big buy-in broadcasts featuring games other than just Texas Hold’em.
US Poker Open Events
$10,000 No-Limit Hold’em (2)
$10,000 Pot-Limit Omaha
$25,000 No-Limit Hold’em (3)
$25,000 US Poker Open Mixed Game Championship
$50,000 No-Limit Hold’em Main Event
More Than Just Hold’em High Rollers
The series will begin on Feb. 1 with the first of two $10,000 buy-in no-limit hold’em tournaments, and concludes on Feb. 9, at the close of a three-day main event that costs $50,000 to enter.
The $25,000 Mixed Game Championship on Feb. 5 will feature eight forms of poker. The games are 2-7 lowball triple draw, limit hold’em, no-limit hold’em, Omaha hi-lo 8 or better, pot-limit Omaha, razz, seven-card stud, and seven-card stud hi-lo 8 or better.
Each event will be livestreamed with a 30-minute delay on PokerGO.
At the end of the series, the player who accumulates the most earnings will be crowned US Poker Open Champion and awarded a championship trophy.
Will Sontheimer go two-for-two in high-roller series? Or will another star such as Fedor Holz or Daniel Negreanu unseat “Goose” as the top high-stakes tournament player in the game? These are just some of the questions poker fans will be eager to see answered in 2018.
Daniel Negreanu seems excited about the prospects, telling Poker Central, “You’re not going to be able to see poker at this level anywhere else. Big Main Events are great but at the final table it’s always mixed bag of decent pros. You’re not going to see that during the U.S. Poker Open.”
RSVP Not Required
No poker pros have publicly committed to the upcoming series. And unlike the Super High Roller Bowls, the lineup for these open events won’t be set in advance. But there are certain players who almost always show up for tournaments such as these at Aria.
Sontheimer, of course, is a likely competitor given that he rarely misses similar events these days. His fellow German and good friend Fedor Holz, one of the winningest tournament players in history, would also be a surprise if he were a no-show.
Some other expected players include high-roller regulars such as Erik Seidel, Isaac Haxton, David Peters, Justin Bonomo, and Bryn Kenney, all of whom are expected to play.
What about Phil Ivey? Probably not.
