WPT Seminole Hard Rock Lucky Hearts Poker Open Championship
Level 1: Blinds 50/100
Entries: 92
The WPT hosts Vince Van Patten & Tony Dunst, along with Royal Flush Girls Tugba & Angelique, kick things off with the magic words.
“Shuffle up and Deal!”
The field starts with 30k in chips and 60 min levels. Registration and re-entry is open through the dinner break with the cage closing at ~7:20 pm.
Flight B is 12 pm Saturday.
The action is underway at Coconut Creek.
Today’s Events
Main Events
12 pm – Flight A: $3,500 WPT Seminole Hard Rock Lucky Hearts Poker Open Championship
3 pm – Day 2 Restart, Event 9 – $1,650 Purple Chip Bounty
6 pm – Event 11 – $200 Double Green Chip Bounty No Limit Hold’em (Re-entry)
Satellites
3 pm – $390 Mega into Champ Event ($1 Million Guaranteed prize pool)
8 pm – $390 Turbo Mega into Champ Event ($1 Million Guaranteed prize pool)
$1,650 Six-Max Purple Chip Bounty NLH (Re-entry)
They were unable to burst the money bubble, so the remaining 10 players will return at 3 pm to get into the money and play it out for the trophy. Joey Weissman holds a slight edge over Micah Raskin and Harrison Gimbel for the chip lead. It’s going to be a tough final 10 as it contains players such as Farid Jattin, Victor Figueroa, Ryan D’Angelo, and Jake Schwartz. Here is how the final ten sit in chips and who they will be sitting with when they return:
| 1 | Donald Gregory | 72,200 |
| 2 | Chad Richard | 53,300 |
| 3 | Joey Weissman | 243,100 |
| 4 | Farid Jattin | 172,100 |
| 5 | Victor Figueroa | 79,800 |
| 1 | Ryan D’Angelo | 58,200 |
| 2 | Harrison Gimbel | 226,900 |
| 3 | Micah Raskin | 232,200 |
| 4 | Seth Berger | 139,800 |
| 5 | Jake Schwartz | 148,500 |
$1,650 Six-Max Purple Chip Bounty NLH (Re-entry)
Blinds 600/1,200 Ante 200
We are down to 10 players and are playing hand for hand until we make the money or the end of this level, which ever comes first – at that time, they will bag and tag for the evening. Among those still playing are Victor Figueroa, Ryan D’Angelo, Seth Berger, Jake Schwartz, Harrison Gimbel, Joey Weissman, and Farid Jattin.
$1,650 Six-Max Purple Chip Bounty NLH (Re-entry)
Blinds 500/1K Ante 100
And just like that we are down to 2 tables, 12 players, just 3 spots away from the money. Among those who have hit the rail in the last hour are Ronit Chamani, Darryl Fish, Brian Hastings and Nick Schwarmann.
$1,650 Six-Max Purple Chip Bounty NLH (Re-entry)
Blinds 400/800 Ante 100
We have a little less than 10 minutes in this level as play starts to wind down for the evening and there are 23 players remaining including Ryan D’Angelo, Ronit Chamani, Darryl Fish and a table that includes Brian Hastings, Nick Schwarmann, Seth Berger, Jake Schwartz and Joey Weissman. The field is definitely leaning on the younger side, which is not a surprise in a 6-Max tournament.
We’ll have full chip counts and names of the remaining players when play has wrapped up for the evening.
$1,650 Six-Max Purple Chip Bounty NLH (Re-entry)
Blinds 300/600 Ante 75
Joey Weissman opened from the button to 1.3K and was re-raised by the player in the small blind to 3.4K. Joey thought for a few moments and announced another raise, this one to 7K. The small blind didn’t think long before announcing that he was all in. He was quickly called by Joey who turned over pocket Aces – well ahead of the pocket 9’s his opponent held. The board changed nothing and Weissman won the pot to move his stack to just over 130K. “It’s the pants,” Joey joked. “They never believe me.”
There are 35 players left with an average stack of 40K (67 big blinds) with slightly more than 3 hours left to play.
Earlier this week, some players took to Twitter to complain about the chairs in the Pavilion for the Lucky Hearts Poker Open. You spoke and we listened. Late last night, a large majority of the STAX Poker Lounge staff (including managers) took out all the chairs and brought in an entire room of replacements. Players noticed today. Seth Berger said “these chairs are much more comfortable. It was good of them to do this for us.”
Abbey Daniels and Nancy Thomas took to Twitter to send out their thanks…
Thank you @STAX_Poker for the new chairs in the Pavillion. Soooo much better!
— Abbey Daniels (@abbeydaniels1) February 6, 2014
“@abbeydaniels1: Thank you @STAX_Poker for the new chairs in the Pavillion. Soooo much better!” Yes indeed
— Nancy Todd (@NancyTodd) February 7, 2014
Just goes to show you the care we have here for our players!
Lucky Hearts Poker Open
We’ve seen lots of players taking advantage of the partnership between Coconut Creek and the Marriott Heron Bay hotel. The list includes WPT winners Anthony Zinno and Will “The Thrill” Failla, and there’s been an “Uncle Krunk” Bob Panitch citing as well.
In addition to the $99 tournament rate, the hotel is offering free shuttle service to the Lucky Hearts Poker Open.
The first scheduled trip for Day 1A of the Championship Event is 11 am, which is plenty of time for the 20 minute ride and to get acclimated to the casino for the tournament’s noon start.
Players wishing to take the 11 am shuttle should meet at the Bell Desk at 10:55 am.
The hotel will make additional trips to Coconut Creek upon request, and based on availability, from 7 am – 10 pm. You can make reservation by calling the front desk or 954-753-5598.
WPT Seminole Hard Rock Lucky Hearts Poker Open Championship
The brash bravado of “Big Daddy” Bill Blanda (Galveston, TX) is on full display at the Coconut Creek Pavilion on the eve of the Luck Hearts Championship event.
“Big money, easy pickings,” says Blanda, who surveyed the room and what he called the “soft Florida market,” creating a whole new meaning for SoFla.
Blanda is just one of the many professional players descending on this South Florida WPT stop that boasts a $1 Million Guaranteed prize pool. The field already has more than 100 entries through satellites and promotions.
In addition to Blanda and his nearly $1 million in career recorded tournament earnings, the field will include WPT winning pros Will “The Thrill” Failla (Commack, NY), Jared Jaffee (Brooklyn, NY) and Anthony Zinno (Cranston, RI).
“I haven’t played as much poker as I should be,” said Zinno, who won his WPT title for $825,000 last September at Borgata (Atlantic City, NJ), “but after decent sleep tonight, I’ll be ready to tackle Day 1A.”
Zinno says escaping the Northeast snow, the Florida sun, a direct flight and a good poker room rate all added up to a winning play. “I’ve never been to Coconut Creek before, but it all hooked me in.”
Jaffee is also glad to escape the snow.
“It’s zero degrees here (New York) and nice weather down there, so it’s pretty much a no brainer,” said Jaffee prior to making another televised WPT final table last week in Atlantic City.
Jaffee pushed his career earnings to $1.6 million with a 4th place finish ($259,000) and is looking to keep the momentum going in Florida where he won his WPT title.
“This is the first year that I feel like I have a legitimate chance at making a run at the WPT Player of the Year,” Jaffee said, adding, “anything in the South seems to work for me.”
While Jaffee, Zinno and Blanda are set to play the Championship Event, Failla is already in the series. The 15-time winner with $4.2 million in live earnings, busted out of Event 9 ($1,650 Purple Chip Bounty) and immediately jumped into a Mega Satellite for the Championship Event.
Day 1A begins 11 am Friday, followed by Day 1B Saturday. The Friday schedule also features two satellites into the Championship Event (3 pm & 8 pm) as the tournament staff offers a player friendly series.
“That’s what we want,” says Blanda, “a customer friendly, well educated, knowledgeable and professional staff.”
Blanda says these are the primary reasons he’s in SoFla. Adding that basic poker is the same everywhere, but it’s the experience that separates one tournament from another.
Blanda’s also quick to add that the quality of the field “doesn’t hurt” when he booked his trip to Coconut Creek.
