Joao Simao Scoops $292,800 Score For Winning US Poker Open Event #8

How It Started

A field of six returned to play for the title. Leading the way was our eventual winner Simao, who had a sizeable advantage on the field with 3,325,000. The Brazilian has amassed $17,739,780, the largest total in the field, and is atop Brazil’s All-Time Money list for live tournament earnings.

Heading the chasing pack was entrepreneur Zach Bruch. A wildcard amongst the field of seasoned pros, Bruch came into the day with 2,070,000 and only five recorded cashes according to thehendonmob.com, totalling It is an interesting selection of cashes: the lowest is a 616th place cash for $780 in 2023 for a 616th place finish in the $400 No Limit Hold’em Deep Stack at the Seminole Hard Rock Poker Open. His biggest came in 2024, at the same event in a $10,000 Deep Stack Event, finishing 5th for $80,000.

Aram Zobian, who has featured regularly throughout the series, was in third with 805,000. Dylan Linde, Justin Zaki, and Shannon Shorr were all on short-stack duties, but all very capable of making a comeback.

Shorr Stacked Early

Unfortunately for Shorr, he was the first to fall in the open exchanges. He raised J 10 on the button for most of his 5 big blind stack. Bruch three-bet all in with A 4 from the small blind. Simao got out of the way, and the players showed down. Bruch hit a flush across 9 2 6 3 3 to send Shorr to the rail. Zaki was on the up, courtesy of a double up through Bruch. Bruch moved all in over a Zaki three-bet, leaving a blind and change behind. Zaki was ahead when the cards were revealed, his A J dominating Bruch’s K 10 . Zaki stayed ahead, flopping two pair across the A J 8 7 2 runout.

Zobian Coolered By Bruch

Zobian was on the wrong end of a cooler for his tournament life, again, Bruch was involved. Zobian was at risk for 590,000, and Bruch had moved all in himself for 1,500,000. He had 9 9 . He was dominated preflop by Zobian’s {qs] Q . The 6 A 10 flop did nothing for Bruch, but he then went runner-runner across the 7 turn and the 8 river to make a ten-high straight.

Bruch Came to Play

Bruch tangled with chipleader Simao in a button v blind situation. Simao min-raised J J , and Bruch defended the big blind with 10 5 . Bruch check-raised a 150,000 bet to 300,000 on the 4 5 2 flop. Simao called. Bruch then check-raised again, this time all in for 1,540,000 over a 315,000 bet on the Q turn. Simao gave it some thought but sent his hand into the muck. It didn’t take Simao long to get those chips back, as he was the beneficiary of a three-way pot between Bruch and Zaki.

Linde and Zaki Next to Go

Linde couldn’t get much going during the final table. Ultimately, his fate was sealed by Simao, as his 6 7 bested Lindes A 10 . Simao flopped an open-ender and turned a pair to secure Linde’s short-stack across the 8 9 3 7 2 runout. Zaki secured a crucial double versus Bruch to come back into contention. He was all in for 700,000 with the blinds at 30,000/60,000 with A K having called a four-bet jam from Bruch with A 3 . Bruch bricked all the outs possible across the 6 5 2 10 K runout to lose a healthy portion of his stack. He continued on the downtrend, leaving Simao the clear chip-leader. Zaki was also on the downtrend post double up, and his chips ended up in the stack of Simao.

Zaki moved in his last 405,000 from the small with J 10 and was called by Simao in the big with Q 10 . Both hit the ten, but Simao had his opponent outkicked, and the 9 10 K 5 3 runout took play heads-up.

Heads-Up and Payouts

Bruch needed a small miracle to overcome a deficit of just over 10:1. He got a double up off the bat with 10 10 versus Simao’s 5 5 . The 8 4 4 8 K secured Bruch the double up. However, the comeback was quickly extinguished by Simao. He jammed K J and Bruch called with J 10 . Simao rivered two pair across the 5 8 K 6 J runout to seal the deal and a $292,000 payday. Below are the payouts.

Event #8 $15k Payouts

Place	Player	Country	Prize
1	Joao Simao		$292,800
2	Zach Bruch		$183,000
3	Justin Zaki		$128,100
4	Dylan Linde		$91,500
5	Aram Zobian		$68,625
6	Shannon Shorr		$50,325
7	Paul Roy		$36,600

What’s Next?

Day 1 of the penultimate event of the series has concluded, and Aram Zobian leads the way in Event #9 $15,000 NLH. Brandon Wilson is his clearest rival. They are all clear of Chino Reem, Marius Gierse, Nicolas Seward, and Clemen Deng. Stay tuned to find out how that tournament concludes tomorrow.

That’s all for now, folks. Until next time.