The inaugural Texas Poker Open reached its final day overnight at the Champions Club in Houston, Texas and with 15 players remaining, some stellar names are chasing the $400,000 top prize. Day 2 of the three-day event saw 86 players reduced to just two tables as players such as Shaun Deeb, Ryan Riess and Jeremy Ausmus all survived to the final day as they pursue the TPO Championship Belt that will go to the winner.

Day 2 Brings the Drama with Field of Stars

The Champions Club in Houston, Texas is co-owned by The Poker Brat himself, Phil Hellmuth. On Day 2 of this $3,300-entry inaugural Main Event, 86 players were reduced to 15 in a style that Hellmuth himself would have been proud of. The penultimate day of action saw the 86 players who survived seven Day 1 flights in the Champions Club cardroom. With a prizepool of $2,205,000, everyone has locked up $27,000 but will be hoping to take home a lot more.

With a total of 735 entries in the $3,300 Main Event, it was announced that the winner would take home $400,000 and the Texas Poker Open (TPO) Championship Belt. When the dust settled, it was Yunkyu Song who took the chip lead and it was a massive one, his stack of 11.05 million chips way clear of his nearest challenger.

With over a quarter of the remaining chips, Song’s closest challenger is Miguel Use on 4.75 million choips, with Tyler Brown (4.25m) close behind. Daniel Moran (3.8m) and Jonathan Tamayo (2,775,000) round out the top five. Elsewhere in the upper limits of the leaderboard with a day to play, Jeremy Ausmus (2.7m), DJ Alexander (2.4m) and Bob Shao (2.15m) are the only other players with over 2 million chips.

Other Players to Watch as Deeb Goes for Broke

With 15 players in total still in with a chance of victory, Shaun Deeb (1,975,000) is perhaps the player still under most pressure. The six-time WSOP bracelet winner thrives on adversity and will be living it, as he is in for 13 bullets, meaning he needs to finish eighth or higher to meet with profit!

As he showed in this chaotic but brilliant interview with Drea Renee and a hilarious Josh Arieh, Deeb’s daring knows no bounds.

You have to give it to @DreaRenee_N – she has the patience of a saint 😂

📺: https://t.co/8drcZX1zEk pic.twitter.com/Se9HVJeENB

— PokerGO (@PokerGO) April 29, 2024

Deeb is not the only big name to be attempting to win to impress a teammate. Brent Hanks (1,875,000) is the only PokerGO player left after Jeff Platt made his exit on a dramatic Day 2 in 75^th place. Others to bust well outside the final two tables included Matthew Wantman (85^th), Upeshka De Silva (73^rd), Joey Weissman (57^th), Aram Zobian (56^th), the aforementioned Josh Arieh (55^th), PokerGO owner Cary Katz (48^th), Erik Seidel (44^th), Andrew Lichtenberger (33^rd), and David Coleman (27^th).

Short Stacks Battle for Survival

Others did make it to the final day, albeit with shorter stacks than average, as Chinese high roller Ren Lin  bagged up 1.65 million chips with one day to go in the event, chastising himself on camera for bluffing too much! The 2013 WSOP world champion Ryan Riess is keen to add another major title to his poker resume and will begin on the same number of chips.

Elsewhere, Daniel Holmes (1,350,000), David Mzareulov (1,100,000) and Spencer Champlin (650,000) all bagged up chips ahead of the tournament’s denouement which begins at 12.30 p.m. local time. After a series that has already seen big high roller victories for PokerStake players Victoria Livschitz and Aram Zobian, yet more winners who have sold action on the site will be in action.

Have you bought or sold action on PokerStake yet? If not, there’s never been a better time to do so, with tournaments such as the ARIA High Roller Series, the World Series of Poker in Las Vegas and many more right around the corner. Sign up here and take a look at all of our current packages that are for sale or sell some of your own action today!

Photographs courtesy of PokerGO – sign up today to watch all the action!