David ‘Pocket Aces’ Peters Wins US Poker Open Event 7 for $400K

It looks unlikely that anyone will prevent Stephen Chidwick from lifting the overall title at the US Poker Open this week, but David Peters at least managed to stave off a hatrick of victories for the Englishman, taking him out with his second pair of aces in their heads-up battle to claim a $400K payday at the Aria Casino in Vegas last night.

With 50 entries, including Daniel Negreanu who was still chasing his dream of topping the leaderboard and the likes of Ben Tollerene and Isaac Haxton both in great form, the $1.25million prizepool for the second $25K No Limit event in as many days would be among the toughest of the week to secure, with Phil Hellmuth the final addition to the half-century of entries.

While Negreanu has been focused on poker all week, posting updates and hand histories for discussion (I voted fold by the way)…

…Hellmuth’s mind seems to have been more on his new book than on cards if his Twitter feed is anything to go by…

…and the ‘Poker Brat’ would soon be taking his ‘positivity’ elsewhere after busting out early, while ‘Kid Poker’ would be going all the way to the final table on day two and yet another cash, his 4th of the series.

Tollerene and Negreanu were battling to stay alive as the short stacks and it was the Canadian who would hit the rail first, his small blind Ace-eight shove not enough to scare off Winter and his pocket jacks, the flop bringing him a set and the river avoiding Negreanu’s Broadway draw to send him packing.

Tollerene didn’t last much longer either, and when first Tilston, and then Winter were knocked out of the race, it was the Peters/Chidwick show heads-up - one in which the cards smiled on the former for a change.

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As the PokerNews live reporting described it: ‘For the second time during this heads-up match, David Peters looked down at A♠ A♥. He raised to 175,000 and what happened next was a dream spot for anyone who's ever peeled the best starting hand. Stephen Chidwick three-bet to 500,000 with Q♣ 2♠ and Peters had no desire to scare him off of his hand, calling.’

What followed was the Englishman barrelling all three streets in a futile bid to get Peters off his flopped full house, the board reading 8♦ A♣ 8♣ and the 4♦ 5♣ turn and river changing nothing.

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"Look at this cooler!" joked Chidwick when he saw what he had been up against, and the title and $400,000 was Peters’ to take home.

Final results: