Tamon Nakamura Wins U.S. Poker Open Big Bet Mix Event

The fourth event of the 2022 U.S. Poker Open was the lone multi-game mix tournament of the series. The $10,000 buy-in big bet mix featured three games: no-limit hold’em, pot-limit Omaha, and no-limit deuce-to-seven single draw lowball. After two days of action, Japan’s Tamon Nakamura emerged victorious from a field of 53 total entries to secure his first PokerGO Tour title and the top prize of $169,600.

This was by far the largest live tournament score of Nakamura’s career, blowing away the $76,270 he earned as the runner-up finisher in the $25,000 buy-in no-limit hold’em high roller at the 2019 L.A. Poker Classic. He now has $433,228 in career live earnings to his name.

Nakamura also earned 300 Card Player Player of the Year points as the champion of this event. This was his first POY-qualified score of the year. The 170 PokerGO Tour points he took home were enough to move him into 41st place when combined with the 19 points he secured for a 14th-place showing in this kickoff event of the USPO a few days earlier.

Nakamura came into the final day of this event in third chip position, with six-time World Series of Poker bracelet winner and 2021 PokerGO Cup champion Daniel Negreanu leading the final six.

John Riordan was the first player to be eliminated, getting the last of his very short stack in before the draw in lowball with a J-10-9-6-3. Negreanu raised to isolate with a one-card draw at 7-6-3-2 and picked up a 9 to make the winning hand, sending Riordan home with $31,800 for his latest deep run in a PGT event.

Bracelet winner Dylan Weisman was the next to fall. He moved all-in from the small blind with pocket fives and Nakamura made the call out of the big blind with A-J. A jack on the turn gave Nakamura the lead, which he maintained through the river. Weisman was awarded $42,400 for his second fifth-place showing of the series.

2019 Card Player Player of the Year award winner Stephen Chidwick was left as the clear short stack heading into four-handed action. He eventually got his last 13 big blinds in pre-draw in lowball, shoving with J-9-8-7-3 as the first to act. Nakamura raised to isolate with 10-8-6-5-2 from the small blind and everyone else got out of the way. Nakamura stood pat and Chidwick ditched his jack to draw to a nine but paired his top card to hit the rail in fourth place ($53,000).

Nakamura and Negreanu were relatively close at the top of the leaderboard after that, with Rok Gostisa sitting in third chip position as play continued. The final three battled it out for more than two hours, with Negreanu eventually falling to the bottom of the counts. In his final hand, Gostisa raised all-in from the small blind with 10-9-4-3-3. Negreanu called with 7-7-3-2-2. Gostisa drew one and picked up a five to make a ten low. Negreanu hit a queen and a six and was eliminated in third place ($74,200) This was his seventh final-table finish of the year, with more than $920,000 in year-to-date POY earnings already accrued. He now sits in 15th place in the overall standings and is eighth in the PGT race. Negreanu’s lifetime earnings grew to $45,267,433, which keeps him in third place on poker’s all-time money list.

Nakamura held almost a 2:1 chip lead despite Gostisa having scored the most recent knockout. In the final hand, Gostisa called for 50,000 total from the button with 107 playing no-limit hold’em. Nakamura checked his option with 95 and the flop came out 954. Nakamura checked his two pair and Gostisa bet 75,000. Nakamura called and the 8 gave Gostisa an open-ended straight draw to go with his flush draw. Nakamura checked again and Gostisa bet 300,000. Nakamura called and the 2 completed the board. Nakamura checked a third time and Gostisa moved all-in for just shy of 2,000,000. Nakamura went deep into the tank, but eventually made the call to lock up the pot and the title. Gostisa earned $111,300 as the runner-up. The 2021 2021 World Poker Tour World Online Championships main event winner surpassed $3 million in career earnings with this latest score.

Here is a look at the payouts and rankings points awarded in this event:

Photo creditL PokerGO / Enrique Malfavon.

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