WPT Seminole Hard Rock Lucky Hearts Poker Open Championship

Level 2: Blinds 75/150
Flight B Entries: 123 (305 total)

The $1 Million Guaranteed Prize Pool has been easily met through the first level of the day.

Flight B’s 123  entries (and counting), along with Flight A’s 182 total, puts the two-flight total at 305+.

The next benchmark is the 369 entries that played in last year’s Lucky Hearts Championship Event at Hollywood.

Seminole Hard Rock Poker presents
Lucky Hearts Poker Open at Coconut Creek
$1,650 Six-Max Purple Chip Bounty NLH (Re-entry)
February 6-7, 2014

Entries: 95                   Prize Pool: $95,000

Recap

With the Championship Event about to start, it was no surprise that Event 9, the $1,650 Six Max tournament created perhaps the toughest field seen yet at the 2014 Lucky Hearts Poker Open and it would lead to the toughest, hardest fought final table yet with players that had seven figure scores and WSOP bracelets to their name taking part in the action.

It would be the player with the seven figure score that would emerge as the winner. Harrison Gimbel burst onto the poker scene in 2010 when he won $2,200,000 for his 1st place finish at the Pokerstars Caribbean Adventure Main Event. Gimbel has been relatively quiet after that point explaining “after Black Friday, I haven’t played as much. It’s harder to play live with everything that goes on.” Harrison has been playing more lately and a deep run at the WPT Borgata Poker Open Championship Event had him off and running in 2014.

Gimbel would edge out Joey Weissman – no slouch at the table himself as he won a WSOP bracelet back in the summer of 2012 and had already made two deep runs here in the past week. Gimbel said it best “it was a tough field period. Every table was good and the final table was filled with accomplished players.” Despite the slightly over $25,000 payday paling in comparison to his previous big score, Harrison would add that the win meant something. “You don’t get to play two or three handed often so of course it means something. It’s fun.”

Others at the final table were Seth Berger who was fresh off a win in Event 6, Victor Figueroa ($330,000+ in earnings), Micah Raskin ($1.9 million), and Farid Jattin ($625,000+ in earnings).  A tough final table that was matched by a tough overall field that included such notables as Ronit Chamani, Jesse Cohen, Ryan D’Angelo, Brian Hastings, Chris Hunichen, Byron Kaverman, Michael Laake, Joe McKeehen, Nick Schwarmann, and Marsha Wolak.

The 95 entrants would attempt to make the money on the first day of play, but the floor decided as the clock neared 4 am that the remaining ten would have to return the next day which would mean one unlucky person would play for two days with nothing to show for it. That person would be Ryan D’Angelo whose flush would run into a full house to send him home in 10th place. Jake Schwartz would finish in 9th when he ran into a cooler and Greg Lehn soon followed in 8th place.

Play was slow and deliberate through out most of the 2nd day with players carefully considering each decision. It would take several hours to go from four to three and that would happen when Chad Eveslage was eliminated at the hands of Gimbel when his K-J was no match for Harrison’s K-Q. Three handed looked like it was going to take nearly as long but Victor Figueroa and Joey Weissman would get it all in on a ten high flop with Victor holding Ace-Ten for top pair, top kicker but Weissman having him slightly beat with a pair of Jacks. That would take us to heads up play and the two decided at that point to call it a night. Harrison had Joey slightly covered and was awarded the trophy.

Both Weissman and Gimbel will be returning to the felt in the Championship Event today.

Results

Photo Gallery

Hard Rock Lucky Hearts Poker Open Championship

Level 1: Blinds 50/100
Flight B Entries: 120 (302 total)

Bout to start up 1B WPT Lucky Hearts 3500 main.Got dn to 2 tables in this last yr, looking to do better #OneChipAtATime #RunIt @STAX_Poker

— Sheddy♣♦ (@Sheddy88) February 8, 2014

Leaving Naples in 1 hour for @STAX_Poker @WPTlive @WPT to get heads up with James Caldo like WPT Jacksonville @bestbet_jax !

— Shawn Cunix (@CunixShawn) February 8, 2014

(UPDATED Feb 8th)

Participate in any event during the Seminole Hard Rock Lucky Hearts Poker Open (LHPO) tournament series to earn leaderboard points …

See poker room for details

SEMINOLE HARD ROCK HOLLYWOOD TOURNAMENT LEADERBOARD
(Final – updated through Feb 7 events):

WPT Seminole Hard Rock Lucky Hearts Poker Open Championship

Level 1: Blinds 50/100
Flight B Entries: 93 (275 total)

The second starting day of the $1 Million Guaranteed Championship event is underway with lots of familiar faces in the field.

Harrison Gimbel (Jupiter), fresh off his win in the 6-max ($25,205), is here, along with Ryan D’Angelo (Brooklyn, NY) who bubbled the event.

Players start with 30k in chips and levels are 60 minutes long.

Registration and re-entry is open through the dinner break, with the cage closing at ~7:30 pm.

WPT broadcaster Vince Van Patten and the Royal Flush Girls officially kick off today’s action.

WPT Seminole Hard Rock Lucky Hearts Poker Open Championship

Albert Balayn (St. Barth,France) makes quick work of the 10 am Turbo Mega Satellite and earns his seat minutes before the start of Flight B of the Championship Event, and at a huge discount.

Balyan’s $3,500 seat only cost him the $390 Mega ticket (89% savings!)

Balayn is a world traveler who has several WPT Championship Events on his resume, but no results. He cashed in Event 8 (Seniors) of the Lucky Hearts Poker Open for $1,513.

Stax Poker Lounge

Players descending on the Coconut Creek Pavilion for the Lucky Hearts Poker Open tournament series will also want to check out the cash games in the vibrant Stax Poker Lounge.

Pablo Perez is the Poker Room Manager and a familiar face seen on a daily basis. Perez, along with Tournament Director Peter Fisher, work together tirelessly to keep both the Stax Lounge and Pavilion running smoothly.

Perez and Fisher welcome player feedback as they continue to offer the best games Seminole Hard Rock Poker has to offer.

Stax Poker Lounge Fact Sheet:

• 29 Non Smoking Poker Tables
• 28 Flat Screen HDTVs
• Free Wi-Fi
• Glass Enclosed Ultra High Limit Room
• Specialized Open Face Chinese Poker Table
• Full Service Stax Bar & Lounge with Specialized Menu
• Tableside Dining
• Fully Enclosed Smoking Lounge

For more information please call the Poker Shift Manager at 954-465-5373

Today’s Events

Satellite

10 am – $390 Turbo Mega into Champ Event ($1 Million Guaranteed prize pool)

• 1 Seat Guaranteed
• 7,500 Starting Stack
• 15 minute levels
• Full Structure Details

Main Events

12 pm – Flight B: $3,500 WPT Seminole Hard Rock Lucky Hearts Poker Open Championship

• $1 Million Guaranteed Prize Pool
• 30k Starting Stack
• 60 min levels (Days 2 & 3, 90 min)
• Registration & Re-Entry for 6 levels (cage closes at ~7:30 pm)
• Full Structure Details & Days 2-4 Schedule

6 pm – Event 12 – $560 No Limit Hold’em (Re-entry)

• $30,000 Guaranteed Prize Pool
• 10k Starting Stack
• 40 minute levels (Levels 10+ / 60 min)
• Registration & Re-entry closes at ~10:20 pm
• Full Structure Details

$1,650 Six-Max Purple Chip Bounty NLH (Re-entry)

After Joey Weissman eliminated Victor Figueroa in 3rd place when they got it all in on a ten high flop with Victor holding A-T and Joey pocket jacks, Weissman and Harrison Gimbel decided to make a deal. Harrison had a slight chip lead and would receive $25,205 and the trophy while Weissman would receive an excellent consolation prize of $25,000 – a nice follow up to the 7th place finish he had a few days earlier. Gimbel, best known for his $2 million + win at the PCA a few years back was all smiles after the win. “You don’t get two or three handed all that often in poker so when you do it’s a lot of fun.” Both Weissman and Gimbel are going to get some rest before taking part in the Championship Event later today. Congratulations Harrison!

$1,650 Six-Max Purple Chip Bounty NLH (Re-entry)

Blinds 5K/10K Ante 1K

What happens when you have deep stacks and skilled players? You don’t see many all in confrontations or big pots and it takes some time to get down to the end. Such is the case in this event as Victor Figueroa, Harrison Gimbel, and Joey Weissman have exchanged the chip lead at some point in the past two hours and no player is in immediate danger of being eliminated due to being a short stack.