Brock Wilson had a strong advantage in the race for series champion heading into the final day of the 2026 PokerGO Tour U.S. Poker Open. Two wins, a third final table appearance, and four total cashes put him in position to win his second PGT series championship of 2026.
Only one player at the $25,000 buy-in final table could supplant him, and they had to win outright. Wilson was in attendance to watch the final table, and actively rooting for his lone remaining challenger to win the tournament. The player in question, Cherish Andrews, happens to be Wilson’s girlfriend, who also won a title earlier on in the U.S. Poker Open series.
“I wasn’t too thrilled to stone bubble,” Wilson said. “But I came back here and supported [Cherish], and it was fun. It was cool to watch.”
Andrews ultimately finished event no. 10 in sixth place, locking Wilson in as the USPO series champion. He accumulated 495 PGT points and $434,900 in earnings for the series. Just over a month earlier, Wilson earned series champion honors at the 2026 PokerGO Cup, with another pair of wins during that festival. His back-to-back series wins place him in the top spot on the yearlong PGT leaderboard with 1,219 points.
“This was the best case scenario, right?” said Wilson. “There were a bunch of people [at the start of the tournament] who could have gotten second place, or had to win or get top three. And fortunately, they all busted. It was a win-win, either [I win], or Cherish takes it down in a ninth-inning kind of comeback.”
“I see her success as just as good, if not better than mine,” Wilson continued. “I really root for her, almost more than I root for myself.”
Wilson’s Path To Another Series Championship
The 2026 U.S. Poker Open couldn’t have started any better for Wilson. In event no. 1, a $5,000 no-limit hold’em tournament, Wilson outlasted a field of 93 players on his way to a $120,900 victory. The 31-year-old poker pro came from behind, erasing a significant chip disadvantage heads up and eventually overcoming Jeremy Ausmus heads up.
Wilson followed that up with a fourth-place finish in event no. 4, and ninth in event no. 5, adding another $90,000 in cashes in the process. The Las Vegas resident’s third consecutive cash of the series, in event no. 6, brought him back to the winner’s circle. His victory in the $10,000 buy-in no-limit hold’em tournament came with $224,000 in prize money.
While he struck out in the last four events of the U.S. Poker Open, he had a couple of close calls. Wilson went out on the direct bubble in the $25,000 championship event of the U.S. Poker Open, preventing him from locking down the championship outright. Only Andrews could have caught him, and her sixth-place finish in the WSOP finale put her fifth on the final leaderboard. Kristen Foxen, who added a runner-up in the $25,000 buy-in event to a trophy earlier in the series, finished third, behind Wilson and Ausmus.
In the aftermath of locking up USPO series championship honors, Wilson reflected on his considerable success inside the PokerGO Studio thus far in 2026.
“I’ve definitely been getting more experience here. I’ve been playing here a lot,” said Wilson. “Whenever there’s a series, I always find a place on my calendar to come. I really enjoy playing, so I’m always trying to improve, and this place kind of brings it all together for me.”
Full PGT U.S. Poker Open Results
| Event | Entrants | Winner | 1st Prize | Runner-Up |
| Event 1: $5,300 No-Limit Hold’em | 93 | Brock Wilson | $120,900 | Jeremy Ausmus |
| Event 2: $5,300 No-Limit Hold’em | 98 | Clemen Deng | $127,400 | Peter Mugar |
| Event 3: $5,300 No-Limit Hold’em | 115 | Cherish Andrews | $117,407 | Adam Hendrix |
| Event 4: $10,500 No-Limit Hold’em | 66 | Kristen Foxen | $198,000 | Jeremy Ausmus |
| Event 5: $10,500 No-Limit Hold’em | 80 | Peter Placey | $224,000 | Qinghai Pan |
| Event 6: $10,500 No-Limit Hold’em | 80 | Brock Wilson | $224,000 | Nick Schulman |
| Event 7: $10,500 No-Limit Hold’em | 70 | Alex Foxen | $210,000 | Jeremy Ausmus |
| Event 8: $15,700 No-Limit Hold’em | 61 | Joao Simao | $292,800 | Zachary Bruch |
| Event 9: $15,700 No-Limit Hold’em | 61 | Aram Zobian | $292,800 | Brandon Wilson |
| Event 10: $26,000 No-Limit Hold’em | 48 | David Coleman | $420,000 | Kristen Foxen |
Final PGT U.S. Poker Open Leaderboard
| Rank | Player | PGT Points | USPO Wins | USPO Cashes | USPO Earnings |
| 1 | Brock Wilson | 495 | 2 | 4 | $434,900 |
| 2 | Jeremy Ausmus | 399 | 0 | 4 | $354,175 |
| 3 | Kristen Foxen | 377 | 1 | 3 | $475,950 |
| 4 | Aram Zobian | 359 | 1 | 3 | $431,425 |
| 5 | Cherish Andrews | 325 | 1 | 4 | $255,807 |
| 6 | Clemen Deng | 324 | 1 | 4 | $265,350 |
| 7 | Joao Simao | 266 | 1 | 2 | $324,800 |
| 8 | Brandon Wilson | 258 | 0 | 3 | $295,300 |
| 9 | David Coleman | 252 | 1 | 1 | $420,000 |
| 10 | Alex Foxen | 245 | 1 | 3 | $233,750 |
Photo credit: PokerGO
