Japanese Newcomer Scores First Title At U.S. Poker Open

Kazuomi Furuse captured his first live poker tournament title in style, overcoming a stacked final table in event no. 2 at the 2025 U.S. Poker Open.

The Japanese newcomer to the high-stakes scene outlasted a field of 108 entries in the $10,000 no-limit hold’em to earn a career-high score of $275,400 and the golden eagle trophy.

Before Thursday, Furuse’s top score was a fourth-place finish in a $10,000 high roller at last year’s Wynn Summer Classic for $80,750. The Tokyo resident now has $504,091 in overall cashes to his name.

The 275 PokerGO Tour points that came with the title were enough to catapult Furuse into first place in the USPO series-long points race. He also cashed in event no. 1, finishing 16th for $9,675 and 10 PGT points.

This event ran over the course of two days inside the PokerGO Studio at ARIA Resort & Casino Las Vegas. The bubble burst late on day 1, with 16 cashing and notables like Daniel Negreanu (15th), Sam Soverel (13th), Chino Rheem (11th), Patrick Leonard (10th), and Francis Anderson (9th) all running deep.

Day 2 began with six remaining and Eric Blair in the lead. Furuse was in the middle of the pack when cards got in the air. Four-time bracelet winner David Peters came into the final day on the short stack and was unable to spin it up.

The 2016 POY award winner shoved his last nine big blinds with K-8 from the small blind and was looked up by the A-5 of Furuse from the big blind. Peters failed to come from behind and was sent packing in sixth place. The $54,000 score was enough to see him surpass $51.4 million in career earnings, which puts him just inside the top ten on poker’s all-time money list.

It's another U.S. Poker Open final table for dpeterspoker17</a>, but he'll have to settle for sixth place once again.<br><br>Watch every USPO final table on PokerGO, presented by <a href="https://twitter.com/official_glp?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">official_glp.

https://t.co/VfQwCzmdSh pic.twitter.com/GiotPlKQOc

— PokerGO (@PokerGO) April 10, 2025

World Poker Tour champion and six-time bracelet winner Nick Schulman ran pocket fours into the pocket sixes of Eric Blair, cutoff vs. small blind, to finish fifth. Schulman grew his lifetime haul to more than $23.3 million after adding $70,200 with this latest deep run. Schulman also scored 250 Card Player Player of the Year points for this deep run.

This was already his 11th final table of 2025, with 3,266 POY points and more than $1.1 million in earnings accrued across those scores. As a result of his strong start to the year, Schulman has climbed to second in the POY standings presented by Global Poker.

Four-handed play saw plenty of swings over the course of more than two hours, with Furuse falling to the short stack multiple times, only to bounce back. Ten-time bracelet winner Erik Seidel was ultimately the next to be eliminated. The 65-year-old Poker Hall of Famer lost a coin flip with A-J suited against the pocket fours of Furuse.

The Japanese player flopped a set and held from there to send Seidel to the rail in fourth place ($97,200). Seidel now has more than $49 million in career earnings, which is good for 12th on the tournament earnings leaderboard.

Blair’s tournament came to an end when he got all-in on a J964K board. Bracelet winner Jose ‘Nacho’ Barbero bet the end and snap-called when Blair shoved. Barbero held Q10 for the nut straight, while Blair could only produce the J10 for second pair. Blair earned $124,200 as the third-place finisher to push his career earnings to more than $3.9 million.

Barbero held 9,500,000 to Furuse’s 4,000,000 at the start of heads-up play. Furuse had closed the gap considerably ahead of the next key hand, though. He raised to 500,000 on the button with pocket jacks and quickly called a three-bet jam from Barbero, who held A2. Furuse’s pocket pair held up to see him take more than a 5:1 chip lead.

Kazuomi Furuse takes a commanding chip lead in heads-up play.

Watch every U.S. Poker Open final table on PokerGO, presented by @official_glp.

https://t.co/VfQwCzmdSh pic.twitter.com/6MLsCTInPm

— PokerGO (@PokerGO) April 10, 2025

Barbero had chipped up a bit by the time the final hand was dealt. He three-bet shoved from the big blind again, this time with KJ. Furuse had been dealt AK on the button, which merited another snap-call. The board came down 7326A to give Furuse top pair, top kicker for the win. Barbero earned $172,800 as the runner-up. The Argentinian now has more than $22.7 million in lifetime scores on the circuit.

Final Table Results

Photo credit: PokerGO.

Related Articles

Shannon Shorr Nabs Photo Finish Victory At USPO

Lawyer Turned Pro Makes His Mark On High Roller Scene

Foxen Family Triumphs For 2nd Time At USPO

Most Viewed Articles