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2015 Main Event Champion Joe McKeehen heads into the final table of Event #3 $10,000 No-Limit Hold’Em with a slim chip lead and will be looking to parlay that into the first-place prize of $200,200 when play resumes. Joining McKeehen at the final table are Ali Imsirovic, Justin Saliba, Steve Zolotow, Jake Schindler, Ray Qartomy, and Barry Hutter.

Event #3 of the U.S. Poker Open drew 77 entrants for a total prize pool of $770,000 and the remaining players are guaranteed at least $38,500, but all eyes are on the first-place prize.

Zolotow and Hutter will be making their second appearance at the final table of the U.S. Poker Open after they both final-tabled Event #1 earlier in the week. Zolotow finished in fifth place, while Hutter finished in third.

The final table was reached quickly after the bubble burst, as in the span of 20 minutes, the field narrowed from eleven down to the final table. Getting to the money, however, proved to be a different story.

Hand for Hand play lasted just over an hour, and it took a classic cooler to burst the bubble as Johan Guilbert ran his pocket kings into the pocket aces of Imsirovic for over 1.5 million in chips.

Manig Loeser, who was down to just over two big blinds before the bubble burst, was the first player out in the money when he ran his pocket nines into the pocket kings of Schindler.

Cary Katz and Sergio Aido would follow shortly thereafter as they were knocked out almost simultaneously but at different tables. Katz would finish in tenth place while Aido held more chips to start the hand and finished in ninth.

Andrew Lichtenberger would be the final causality of the evening when he ran his ace-seven in the ace-jack of Saliba on the first hand of the unofficial final table. Saliba would flop a jack to eliminate Lichtenberger in eighth place and suspend play for the evening.

Event #3 Final Table
Seat Name Country Chip Count
1 Barry Hutter United States 710,000
2 Justin Saliba United States 1,110,000
3 Joe McKeehen United States 2,230,000
4 Ray Qartomy United States 1,375,000
5 Steve Zolotow United States 1,455,000
6 Ali Imsirovic Bosnia and Herzegovina 2,015,000
7 Jake Schindler United States 930,000

When play resumes the button will be in seat 2 and with 28:09 remaining in Level 15 with the blinds at 30,000/60,000 with a 60,000 big blind ante.

The final seven players will return to the PokerGO Studio on Sunday, June 6, at 12 p.m. PT with the final table airing on PokerGO.com at 1 p.m. PT.

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Steve Zolotow, Jake Schindler, Ali Imsirovic, US Poker Open, Joe McKeehen, Justin Saliba, Barry Hutter, Ray Qartomy