After sitting out most of the early PokerGO Tour events in 2021, it took very little time for David Peters to get back into top form at the 2021 U.S. Poker Open (USPO).
Peters, who won the U.S. Poker Open Championship when it was last held in 2019, claimed his second straight USPO title to pick up a $50,000 bonus and the 54-pound Golden Eagle trophy after impressively winning three USPO tournaments and avoiding a final day charge by USPO Event #2 champion Sam Soverel.
“It’s been a crazy week. I obviously ran pretty well. I haven’t played live poker in over a year and a half. It feels good to be back,” Peters said after watching Soverel bust out of the $50,000 USPO finale. “It feels good to jump back in there playing against all of these great players that I’ve battled with all these years.”
2021 U.S. Poker Open Championship Standings
| RANK | PLAYER | POINTS | WINS | CASHES | EARNINGS |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | David Peters | 646 | 3 | 4 | $832,950 |
| 2 | Sean Winter | 484 | 1 | 2 | $785,700 |
| 3 | Ali Imsirovic | 483 | 1 | 5 | $482,000 |
| 4 | Stephen Chidwick | 427 | 0 | 3 | $628,700 |
| 5 | Dan Shak | 371 | 0 | 4 | $459,750 |
| 6 | Jake Daniels | 323 | 1 | 2 | $391,000 |
| 7 | Sam Soverel | 316 | 1 | 4 | $382,300 |
| 8 | Andrew Lichtenberger | 308 | 0 | 3 | $308,000 |
| 9 | Joe McKeehen | 302 | 1 | 2 | $302,200 |
| 10 | Steve Zolotow | 289 | 0 | 3 | $289,000 |
Sweat for Peters
The series title didn’t come without a sweat, and Peters had to stand by after busting out of the final event as Soverel, Ali Imsirovic, Andrew Lichtenberger, Joe McKeehen, and Cary Katz all entered the tournament with an opportunity to take the USPO title with a victory. Only Soverel made it to the second day, and Peters clinched the win when Soverel busted out in fifth place.
Read More: Sean Winter Defeats Stephen Chidwick to Win USPO Event #12: $50K NLHE ($756,000)
Peters won the first of his back-to-back USPO titles in 2019 by winning the final event to pass Sean Winter in the standings on the last day.
“It’s very important. Winning back-to-back is a really cool thing. I was hoping he didn’t do what I did to Sean (Winter) last time, so it worked out well.”
2021 U.S. Poker Open Results
The 2021 U.S. Poker Open awarded more than $11 million in prize pools across a dozen events. Peters was the only player to win multiple titles by impressively winning three events on his way to back-to-back USPO championships.
Other big names also had their day in the sun after winning big events including Jake Daniels, McKeehen, John Riordan, Joey Weissman, Jared Bleznick, Imsirovic, and Sean Winter.