Masashi Oya Leads 2023 U.S. Poker Open Event #7 Final Table

The 2023 U.S. Poker Open continued from the PokerGO Studio at ARIA Resort & Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada, and only six players remain in Event #7: $15,000 No-Limit Hold'em.

Japan's Masashi Oya holds the overnight lead with 3,460,000 in chips. He sits ahead of Darren Elias, Sam Soverel, Brandon Wilson, Chris Brewer, and Sean Winter who will all return on Friday at 12 p.m. PT to play out Event #7 on the PokerGO live stream that will air at 1 p.m. PT.

The 87-entrant field created a prize pool of $870,000 and the top 13 players would finish in the money. John Riordan and Dylan Linde fell as the bubble neared before Erik Seidel would be the unfortunate player eliminated on the bubble. Seidel got ace-queen in against Oya's ten-nine and a nine on the turn sent the poker legend to the rail.

David Peters (13th), Carlos Chadha (12th), Alex Foxen (11th), Benjamin Miner (10th), and Justin Saliba (9th) were all eliminated prior to reaching the final table of eight. When players combined at a single table, there would be five double-ups before the first elimination. Soverel doubled through Kempton in a classic ace-king against queens race to take the chip lead at the time, and Winter and Brewer both doubled through Mike Lang to leave the latter short-stacked.

Lang secured a short-stacked double of his own before he fell with eight-seven suited against Oya's nines. Kempton won Event #6 earlier in the day and came into this final table with a big stack, but was on the losing side of four all-ins and lost the rest of his chips to Soverel with ace-nine against eights. The remaining six players played out the level when they bagged and tagged to return for the streamed final table.

Soverel, Brewer, Elias, and Winter each picked up their third cash of the series, while Wilson and Brewer notched their second. Isaac Kempton temporarily holds the lead on the USPO series leaderboard after his victory in Event #6 and seventh-place finish in Event #7, but that will likely change soon. Kempton now has 344 series points, but Soverel and Brewer have 235 and 186 points, respectively. Either could vault into the top spot depending on their finish at the final table.

The final six players have all locked up $78,300 in prize money, but all eyes remain on the grand prize of $313,200 in prize money, 313 PGT points, and the mini Golden Eagle trophy which will soar them up the U.S. Poker Open leaderboard. 

U.S. Poker Open Event #7: $15,000 No-Limit Hold'em Final Table

Seat	Player	Country	Chip Count
1	Brandon Wilson	United States	1,240,000
2	Chris Brewer	United States	940,000
3	Masashi Oya	Japan	3,460,000
4	Sean Winter	United States	765,000
5	Sam Soverel	United States	1,965,000
6	Darren Elias	United States	2,505,000

When play resumes, the button will be on Sam Soverel. There is 40:00 remaining in Level 16 with blinds at 25,000 / 50,000 and a 50,000 big blind ante.

Play resumes at 12 p.m. PT on Friday, March 31 for the Event #7: 15,000 No-Limit Hold’em final table from the 2023 U.S. Poker Open. The entire final table will be streamed exclusively on PokerGO.com starting at 1 p.m. PT with the seventh champion of the series to be crowned.

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