The second event of the 2025 U.S. Poker Open ended in a dramatic victory for Japanese player Kazuomi Furuse as he topped the 108-player field to take home a top prize of $275,400. The Tokyo-based player, who took home his first PGT trophy and the biggest score of his career to date, outlasted players such as PokerStake’s Erik Seidel, who banked $97,200 in fourth place.

Kid Poker Collects Pocket Money

Just 16 players cashed in the second event of the 2025 USPO, and one PokerStake legend was eliminated for nothing in 17^th place. Jeremy Ausmus was all-in for just 110,000 chips with and ahead of Erik Seidel’s until the river brought a queen, busting Ausmus and guaranteeing Seidel profit for the second tournament running.

Once inside the money places, Isaac Kempton (16^th for $16,200) and Daniel Negreanu (15^th for $21,600) both reached profit for the night, with the GGPoker Global Ambassador Negreanu missing pair and straight outs from the flop against David Peters. There was also a crucial double-up in the period of play that saw Kid Poker busted, as the eventual winner Furuse doubled up with against the of the luckless Chino Rheem. A flop of put Furuse in the driving seat and the board ran out clean to preserve his tournament life.

Further cashes for players such as Christian Roberts (12^th for $27,000), Rheem (11^th for $27,000), Patrick Leonard (10^th for $32,400), Event #1 third-place finisher Francis Anderson (9^th for $32,400) and Nick Seward (8^th for $43,200) followed, before Philip Pinto bubbled the final table for $43,2000. All-in with , he was dominated to defeat by Eric Blair’s as a jack-high board came to end play on Day 1.

Blair Shows He Has Flair

With six players remaining, Eric Blair was the chip leader with 4,075,000 chips. Second in chips was Erik Seidel (3,135,000), with Furuse (2.15m), Nacho Barbero (1.91m), Nick Schulman (1.44m) and David Peters (895,000) playing catch-up. The man known as ‘D Peters’ to many busted first, all-in soon after the restart on Day 2 with , only to lose to Furuse’s , with both men hitting their highest card on the flop.

Peters left with $54,000 and soon he had company on the rail. Long-time PokerGO commentator Nick Schulman was all-in with a small pocket pair of but unfortunately for him, Eric Blair had a slightly bigger one, calling with . A board of sent Schulman home with a score of $70,200 as he missed out on the final four by just a single place.

At that stage, Furuse was the short stack and Erik Seidel led the foursome, but that situation was reversed after a long period without any eliminations. Seidel was lowest in chips when he called off his stack with . He was tossing a coin against Furuse’s and a flop of left Seidel dead to anything other than running straight cards for Broadway. They didn’t come and the 10-time WSOP bracelet winner cashed for an impressive $97,200 in fourth place.

Furuse Claims Maiden PGT Title

Seidel’s exit was swiftly followed by that of his near-namesake Eric. Blair bubbled the heads-up when he shoved on the river of a board showing with . Nacho Barbero snap-called with , the nuts, and sent Blair home with $124,200.

Heads-up, Barbero had the chip lead with 9.5 million chips to Furuse’s 4 million. The Americas Cardroom player couldn’t seal the deal, however, as Furuse caught up with a hand that didn’t go to showdown before doubling into the lead with pocket jacks against Barbero’s ace-deuce.

The Argentinian was on the ropes and Furuse, sending his chance to pick up his first PGT trophy, landed a quick knockout blow. All-in with , Furuse was dominating Barbero’s shoved hand of and soon, it was all over, no help for Barbero coming on the ace-high board as the Japanese player claimed the $275,400 top prize – putting him in the top 100 players in Japanese poker history on The Hendon Mob – with Barbero collecting $172,800 as runner-up. Furuse now leads the 2025 USPO leaderboard with 285 points after 275 points for his win in Event #2, added to the 10 points he claimed for min-cashing in 16^th place in Event #1 putting him in the lead.

PokerGO Tour U.S. Poker Open $10,100 Event #2 Final Table Results:
Place	Player	Country	Prize
1st	Kazuomi Furuse	Japan	$275,400
2nd	Nacho Barbero	Argentina	$172,800
3rd	Eric Blair	United States	$124,200
4th	Erik Seidel	United States	$97,200
5th	Nick Schulman	United States	$70,200
6th	David Peters	United States	$54,000