Event 7: 5th Place, Nicolas Pensa – $682

$240 Black Chip Bounty No Limit Hold’em (Re-entry)

Pocket 10’s is a big hand five handed – unfortunately for Nicolas Pensa, Chris Lewis had a slightly bigger hand in pocket Jacks. That was enough to cripple Pensa down to 2K and he was eliminated the next hand when Lewis delivered the final blow to pick up the bounty. Pensa finishes in 5th place for $682.

5th place - Nicolas Pensa
5th place – Nicolas Pensa

Tournament Updates

Lucky Hearts Poker Open

Event 6: $1,100 Deep Stack No Limit Hold’em (Re-entry)

We’re down to 10 players, one away from making the money. Adam Levy, Joey Weissman, and Seth Berger are still among the hopefuls.

Event 7: $240 Black Chip Bounty No Limit Hold’em (Re-entry)

Jay Romano has gone from the penthouse to the outhouse in a matter of two hands. First he called Nicolas Pensa’s all in raise with JsTs when Pensa held pocket Queens. Pensa would have to fade some outs on the 9c8h6dJh5h board but he would prevail to move into the chip lead. Then Romano would lose again with J-T but this time he had flopped the nuts on a [9]8d7d board. Chris Lewis had pocket 6’s and was in bad shape. The turn was the 2d giving Lewis some outs since he had the 6d (and Romano did not have a diamond). Sure enough the river was a diamond, the 5d and Lewis laughed and said “I’m like Nostradamus” as he crippled Romano and scored a big double up.

 

Event 7: 6th Place, Joe Pusateri – $525

$240 Black Chip Bounty No Limit Hold’em (Re-entry)

Blinds 1K/2K Ante 300

On a flop of J-x-2, Joe Pusateri got the last of his chips in with A-J. Unfortunately for him, Nicolas Pensa had flopped a set of deuces. The turn and river would not help Joe any and he is our 6th place finisher.

6th place - Joe Pusateri
6th place – Joe Pusateri

Event 7: 7th Place, Jamael Rahill – $409

$240 Black Chip Bounty No Limit Hold’em (Re-entry)

Jamael Rahill opened the pot to 6K and was called by Jay Romano and Tom Hand. The flop came AcTs4h and Jamael bet 16K and was called by Romano with Hand folding. The turn was the 9s and Rahill moved all in for 32.5K. Romano counted out the call, made a joke about the next pay jump being $100 adding “this is tempting” and then placing the call into the middle while turning over 5s2s for a gutsthot straight draw and a flush draw. Rahill had AhKs. The river was the 4s giving Romano the flush. All Rahill could say was “that’s just disgusting” as he headed to the rail.

7th place, Jamael Rahill
7th place, Jamael Rahill

Event 6: 14 Remain

$1,100 Deep Stack No Limit Hold’em (Re-entry)

Blinds 500/1,000 Ante 100

Vlad Varlashin from Russia just scooped a monster pot with pocket 9’s against pocket Kings when they got it all in on a J-J-9 flop. The pot was approximately 300K. For some perspective, there is a total of 936K chips in play meaning Vlad has nearly 1/3 the chips in play with 14 players remaining. The average stack is 67K so there is still plenty of play in this deep stacked, slow structured tournament. Among those still playing are Seth Berger, Joey Weissman, David Diaz, Jake Schindler (who recently won the PCA High Roller event for over a million dollars) and Adam Levy.

Vlad Varlashin
Vlad Varlashin

Event 7: Down to 7

$240 Black Chip Bounty No Limit Hold’em (Re-entry)

With the recent elimination of Gaurav Mirchandani in 8th place, we are down to the final seven in Event 7. Here is the remaining players and what their approximate stack sizes were before Gaurav’s elimination:

Seat 1: Jay Romano (Boca Raton, FL) – 150K
Seat 2: Joe Pusateri (Chicago, IL) – 25K
Seat 3: Tom Hand (Boston, MA) – 120K
Seat 4: Jeff Trudeau (Orlando, FL) – 40K
Seat 5: Nicolas Pensa (Montreal) – 65K
Seat 6: Chris Lewis (Hollywood, FL) – 135K
Seat 7: Jamael Rahill (Ft. Lauderdale, FL) – 50K

 

8th place - Gaurav Mirchandani
8th place – Gaurav Mirchandani

 

PlaceNameWinnings
8thGaurav Mirchandani$304.00
9thJohn Cummings$252.00
10thHoward Mostisser$220.00
11thLouis Chiofalo$220.00
12thCrystal Utley$220.00

Event 4: Jermaine Phang Wins

$350 Deep Stack No Limit Hold’em (Re-entry)

Five handed, the players decided to chop the money and it was Jermaine Phang who was declared the winner. Payouts and order of finish was as follows:

1stJermaine Phang$17,000.00
2ndJonathan Marks$14,000.00
3rdDennis Rodriguez$12,750.00
4thDarryl Fish$12,750.00
5thRay Nalbandian$5,890.00

Jermaine is a 34 year old electrical engineer from Pompano Beach. “I play tournaments all the time at the Creek,” said Phang. “I’m going to play the Main,” he said, also adding that this was his biggest tournament win ever. “I’m going to Disney,” he joked. Jermaine said the biggest hand for him was when Wendy Freedman moved all in from the small blind with A-8 when he was in the big blind with A-Q. “That was the hand that got me going,” Phang said. Congratulations on your win Jermaine!

Event 4 Winner - Jermaine Phang
Event 4 Winner – Jermaine Phang

 

Event 4: 6th Place, Harold Lamm – $3,887

$350 Deep Stack No Limit Hold’em (Re-entry)

Blinds 25K/50K Ante 5K

Harold Lamm survived for quite a while with a short stack, even quadrupling up when he hit two pair with A-8. His stack could never gain any momentum, however, and when he moved all in for about four big blinds with AcQd, Darryl Fish looked him up out of the big blind with 9d6c. The first card out of the dealers hand was the Qs prompting Fish to say “not a good start” the next two cards, however, would change that as it was the [9]6d to give Fish bottom two pair. That would end up holding up to send Lamm to the rail in 6th place.

Harold Lamm
Harold Lamm

Event 4: 7th Place, Jason San – $2,983

$350 Deep Stack No Limit Hold’em (Re-entry)

Blinds 20K/40K Ante 5K

A short stacked Jason San was all in for less than 10 big blinds against chip leader Jermaine Phang. Jermaine was in the lead with AsQd as San held Ac4c. “Clubs,” pleaded San as the dealer put out the flop of 9c3s2s. “Five,” said Jason, rooting for the wheel. The turn was the 7s and the river was the 6h and there was no miracle for San.

Jason San
Jason San

Event 7: Prize Pool and Payout Information

$240 Black Chip Bounty No Limit Hold’em (Re-entry)

There was a total of 105 registered entrants creating a prize pool of $10,500. Twelve players will get paid with 1st taking home $3,469. Full payouts below:

PlaceWinnings
1st$3,469.00
2nd$1,963.00
3rd$1,302.00
4th$934.00
5th$682.00
6th$525.00
7th$409.00
8th$304.00
9th$252.00
10th – 12th$220.00