Ben Tollerene joined last night the club of winners in the inaugural US Poker Open by besting the field of a $10,000 High Roller event on the festival’s schedule. The player scooped his first cash in the brand-new series, once again presented by Aria Resort & Casino and Poker Central. His share of the tournament’s prize pool totaled $187,600.

It was a mad ride for Tollerene as the player was part of a star-studded field that included former WSOP Main Event champion Ryan Riess as well as seasoned high rollers Cary Katz and Jake Schindler.

In fact, Schindler made it all the way down to heads-up in the $10,000 buy-in event. This was his second final table appearance within the series. The player finished fourth in the $25,000 buy-in No-Limit Hold’em. While he may have not won last night’s event, his second-place finish was more than enough to secure him with a second place in the general US Poker Open leaderboard. Schindler scooped a $134,000 payout from the $10,000 tournament, adding to the $110,000 cash from several days ago.

With $244,000 from the series so far, Schindler is still way too far from the leader Stephen Chidwick. The popular UK poker pro won two US Poker Open tournaments in just as many days and finished 5th in another event within the series to top the standings with $810,900.

As mentioned above, Tollerene struggled a bit before claiming the $10,000 No-Limit Hold’em title. The player had to overcome quite some competition from seasoned fellows. The event’s six-handed final table kicked off with Schindler, Riess, and Tollerene leading the way with respective stacks of 2.38 million, 1.375 million, and 1.265 million.

Things went quite well for the three players until four-handed play. At that point of action, Tollerene found himself down to just five big blinds. However, the poker pro managed to fight his way back to eventually capture the title.

Rodger Johnson and Kristina Holst were the first to leave the official final table with payouts of $40,200 and $53,600, respectively. Cary Katz and Riess then went out in fourth and third place, good for $67,000 and $87,100.

It was thus up to Schindler and Tollerene to determine the winner. The latter entered the heads-up duel at a slight disadvantage, but quickly evened the stacks and then took the lead.

Tollerene came into the US Poker Open fresh from a triumph in the recently held Lucky Hearts Poker Open $5,000 No-Limit Hold’em. The player also recently made several final table appearances in high roller events. Including last night’s cash, Tollerene now has nearly $5.6 million in live tournament earnings.

The player locked his largest in-the-money finish last spring when he finished third in a $100,000 Super High Roller event at Aria Resort & Casino. His share of the prize pool totaled $1,026,416.

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