2021 U.S. Poker Open Begins Thursday With First of 12 Events

For the first time in more than a year, the PokerGO Studio will play host to one of its proprietary poker tournament series as the U.S. Poker Open returns on Thursday with the first of 12 high-stakes events.

For the following week-plus — the USPO is scheduled for June 3-15 — daily events with buy-ins of at least $10K will run, usually alternating between eight-handed (seven-handed after the end of registration) no-limit hold'em and a different game or format. At the conclusion of the series, the top points earner will be awarded an extra $50,000 along with a special trophy.

Schedule and Information

The U.S. Poker Open begins with Event #1: $10,000 No-Limit Hold'em, with the first livestreamed action kicking off the next day with the final table of that tournament. From June 4 on, a daily stream will be provided so PokerGO subscribers can follow the action on a short delay.

Tournaments on the docket include pot-limit Omaha, "big-bet mix," 8-game and short deck. Structure sheets and rules are posted here.

Everything builds up to the $50,000 No-Limit Hold'em Main Event, set to run June 14.

PokerNews will provide daily recaps of the play. Among those confirmed to be playing this year include Ali Imsirovic, Daniel Negreanu, Phil Hellmuth, Sam Soverel, Chris Brewer, Dan Smith, Sean Winter, Alex Foxen, Kristen Bicknell, Jake Schindler, and Randall Emmett.

Past champions of the USPO were Stephen Chidwick in 2018 and David Peters in 2019. An archive of past coverage of the event can be found here, and PokerGO subscribers can go back and watch past streamed coverage here.

Full U.S. Poker Open Schedule

PokerGO Tour and Fantasy Poker Implications

While this is the first big festival to be held by Poker Central since last year, high roller action has already returned to ARIA, with players getting back to their usual schedules competing for hundreds of thousands of dollars each month.

For the first time, though, poker fans can get a little sweat as well thanks to SuperDraft. PokerGO has partnered with the fantasy sports company to bring a fantasy poker offering, increasing the potential rooting interest of those who don't have the bankroll or willingness to pony up $10K or more for the tournaments themselves.

“Adding poker into fantasy sports is an idea that we’ve discussed for years," said SuperDraft CEO Steve Wang in a press release. "Our innovative development team in partnership with PokerGO finally brought that idea to life. As the popularity of pro poker grows, this partnership will help us deliver what everyone immersed in the world of poker has been waiting for.”

The plan appears to be for SuperDraft to offer fantasy poker for a slew of events going forward, including the World Series of Poker — the company remains partnered with WSOP parent company Caesars as well.

They'll celebrate the opening of the PokerGO partnership with a $10,000 freeroll, according to the press release announcing the game. Scoring will be based on stats provided by PokerGO, including "player performance and chip stacks."

Speaking of player performance, another subplot attached to the USPO will be the continued race for points on the PokerGO Tour leaderboard.

Announced in late April, the PokerGO Tour will allow players to accrue points toward a year-long leaderboard with the goal of claiming up to $100K in additional prize money.

More than a dozen events have already been played out of the 150-plus promised by PokerGO, and Ali Imsirovic has emerged as top dog thus far with five wins and 12 cashes worth just shy of $2 million. Here's a look a the current top five:

A full list of the rankings can be found here.

All USPO events will count toward the leaderboard, so expect some big moves up the ladder when the dust settles at the end of the high-stakes series.