The good news about my Green Bay Packers getting completely outclassed yesterday to end their season is that the next couple weeks won’t be filled with overloading my brain with Super Bowl info. As a result, I should have more time to write wonderful poker content. For example, the World Poker Tour (WPT) Lucky Hearts Poker Open Main Event is well underway at the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in Hollywood, Florida. They are already through Day 2 while sitting inside in a location that is actually warm and it is Brian Altman holding the chip lead with just 54 players remaining.
Altman is quite used to deep runs in major tournaments, so he should feel quite at home. He already has third and tenth place finishes in the current World Poker Tour season (WPT at Maryland Live! and WPT Legends of Poker, respectively).
He also won this very same event five years ago, cashing for nearly three quarters of a million dollars.
“Winning another WPT, in particular this one, would be amazing,” Altman told WPT.com at the end of Day 2. “I don’t think anyone has won the same tournament twice, so that would be really special. If it happens that’s great, but right now I’m just taking it one hand at a time.”
All told, Altman has almost $3.8 million in live tournament earnings during his poker career. His best cash was the aforementioned WPT Lucky Hearts Poker Open victory in 2015.
Altman is the only player above 2 million chips to start Day 3, holding 2.085 million. Scott Drobes is hot on his heels, though, with 1.990 million. The entire top ten of the leaderboard has at least 1 million chips.
With unlimited re-entries allowed until the start of Level 9, the tournament drew 843 entries. Of those, 106 players will make the money. The 54 players still in the field are guaranteed at least $9,374 for their $3,500 buy-in. Six-figure payouts do not start until fifth place and the winner will receive $482,636.
On of the biggest hands for Brian Altman on Day 2 was the one in which he took the chip lead. There were already 200,000 chips in the middle on a board of J-4-K-6-2. Barbaro Diaz bet 100,000 and Altman, holding 5-3 for a runner-runner straight, raised to 400,000. Diaz made the call, flipping over A-K, which was nice through the turn, but got killed on the river. Altman had nearly 1.5 million chips after that hand.
Day 3 of the WPT Lucky Hearts Poker Open Main Event has just gotten going down in Florida as the players look to advance toward the final table. The plan for today is to play five 90-minute levels.
World Poker Tour Lucky Hearts Poker Open Main Event – Day 2 Chip Leaders
- Brian Altman – 2,085,000
- Scott Drobes – 1,990,000
- Victor Figueroa – 1,600,000
- Mukul Pahuja – 1,500,000
- James Calderaro – 1,435,000
- John Dollinger – 1,200,000
- Matt Affleck – 1,200,000
- Davian Santana – 1,175,000
- Timothy Banks – 1,140,000
- Darren Elias – 1,035,000