Three Day Ones have been completed in the 2015 World Poker Tour’s Lucky Hearts Poker Open at the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel and Casino in Hollywood, FL. From that trio of Day Ones, a massive field has been built, guaranteeing a sizeable first place prize.
The WPT changed the Lucky Hearts event for 2015, going to a set of Day Ones rather than the two Day Ones that was used last year (that tournament, won by James Calderaro, brought in a 415 player field). As with some other WPT events, the rules allowed players who were eliminated on Day 1A to come back for Day 1B and, if eliminated from that, to also play Day 1C. In addition to the multiple Day One entries, players were also allowed unlimited re-entries until the late registration period expired after each Day One’s dinner break. As a result, the players flooded the Hard Rock (even with the $3500 buy-in), filling out the three Day Ones with a grand total of 1027 entries.
Day 1A kicked things off on Thursday by drawing in a sizeable 357 entry field. Going through a 10-level day, the players were able to whittle themselves down to 125 players by the end of the night. Coming out of the fray on Day 1A with the chip lead was Alexander Denisov, who bagged up 220,100 by the time action ended. Other players with big stacks included Timothy Miles (208,000), Allen Kessler (158,900), Danny Suied (138,800) and Jeff Gross (134,600).
While Friday’s action was a bit slower, there were still plenty of chips around the Seminole Hard Rock tournament arena. 294 entries were generated from the Day 1B field and 94 of those players were able to punch their ticket to the Day 2 festivities. The Day 1B chip leader, Joelle Guarino, set herself up for a deep run by bagging 284,100, while former WPT champions Anthony Zinno (188,400) and Taylor von Kriegenberg (162,500), Josh Arieh (160,800) and 2015 PokerStars Caribbean Adventure Main Event champion Kevin Schulz (156,500) were arranged behind her.
As is typical with the final Day One of major tournaments, Saturday’s action was the largest of the three Day Ones at the Lucky Hearts. 379 entries were built up during Day 1C, with 142 players wiping their brows after earning their seats for Day 2’s play. With the larger field, the overall chip leader was bound to come from Saturday’s action and David Farber (410,000) will be the man in command. Farber was “only” sitting on roughly 330K in chips before the final hand of the night saw Farber catch with his A-Q on a 10-6-4-7-Q board against an all-in opponent’s A-K to shoot over the 400K mark.
After the close of late registration yesterday, the official prize pool was determined for the Lucky Hearts. 100 players would take home something from the $3,286,400 prize pool, with the minimum payday of $6573. Everyone has their eyes on the big prize, $723,008 in cash, the WPT bracelet, having their name etched onto the WPT Champions’ Cup and earning their seat to the 2015 WPT World Championship this April.
With the final Day One completed, there were several notable pros who won’t be heading to Day 2. The reigning WPT Player of the Year, Mukul Pahuja, David Tuthill, Matt Affleck, Chino Rheem, Blake Bohn and Bobby Oboodi were all eliminated during the Day 1C play. 361 players will be back on the tables this afternoon in Florida with the overall leaderboard sizing up like this:
1. David Farber, 410,000 (Day 1C)
2. Joelle Guarino, 284,100 (1B)
3. Austin Peck, 266,700 (1C)
4. Travell Thomas, 236,400 (1B)
5. Alexander Denisov, 220,100 (1A)
6. Sean Posner, 209,000 (1B)
7. Timothy Miles, 208,000 (1A)
8. Andy Philachack, 205,200 (1C)
9. Gregory Anda, 201,100 (1B)
10. Scott Efron, 197,800 (1C)
Other players bubbling under the Top Ten include Erik Cajelais (192,900), Zinno (188,400), Jared Jaffee (163,700), two-time WPT champion Darren Elias (152,000) and Zo Karim (150,700).
The 361 contenders for the WPT Lucky Hearts Poker Open championship will reconvene at noon on Sunday (Eastern Time). It is expected that the field will be cut down to the final 100 players that will earn a payday in the event but, if that fails to occur, it will set up for some tense moments on Monday when the tournament continues. The winner will be determined on Wednesday, crowning the latest champion for Season XIII of the World Poker Tour.
