Event 1 Recap

Seminole Hard Rock Lucky Hearts Poker Open
Event 1:  $570 Deeper Stack No Limit Hold’em (Re-Entry)
$1,000,000 Guaranteed

January 22 – January 26, 2015

Total Entries:  1,724
Total Prize Pool:  $1,000,000

Evan Teitelbaum Event 1 Champion
Evan Teitelbaum
Event 1 Champion

> Download complete list of event results.

Recap:

The opening event of the 2015 Seminole Hard Rock Lucky Hearts Poker Open took one day longer to complete than expected. In the end it was Evan Teitelbaum (Coral Springs, FL) outlasting 1,723 other players to win Event 1 and the $174,010 along with it.

Event 1 was a $570 buy-in Deeper Stacks No Limit Hold’em tournament with a $1,000,000 prize pool. Players had six starting flights to advance to Day 2 for a chance at some big money. The tournament drew 1,724 entrants and 380 were able to move on to the next day where 200 of them would earn a piece of the pie.

Martin Robbins made it all the way through Day 1 and most of the way through Day 2 before he was knocked out in a tough hand. He was gone in 201st spot leaving the rest of the field in the money.

The tournament picked up the pace after the money bubble but the deep stacks caught up and slowed down the eliminations. The tournament was scheduled to end on Day 2 but they had to call it a night with 11 players still alive. Those players returned for bonus Day 3 with each was guaranteed at least $11,500 for a little work then it only got richer as the day progressed. Teitelbaum was the returning chip leader and he would go wire-to-wire.

TJ Shulman (Boynton Beach, FL) is no stranger to making big field final tables but he was the first one gone once they were all seated at the same table. That started a quick parade out of the door as Michael Daniel (Hollywood, FL), Pinchas Chakchakov (Plantation, FL), and Emerson Ward (Miami, FL) were sent to the payout cage shortly after Shulman.

Pasquale Caiazza (Cooper City, FL) and Harvey Freedman (Plantation, FL) lasted a little longer but it was the fun, vocal Al Gomez (Miami Beach, FL) who was making the most noise (along with his excitable rail) before his departure. He was unable to ride his momentum to a victory and had to settle for 4th place.

Jason Wandling was the short stack for much of the final table but shocked the table after hitting a miracle river. His Aces fell behind Stewart Newman’s 8c7c on the Jh8h8s flop but he came back with a river Ah. The hand would have sent him out in 6th place but instead kept him around to finish in 3rd.

The heads up battle between Teitelbaum and Steward Newman (Weston, FL) was relatively even at the start with Newman pulling a slight lead early. Teitelbaum turned this around quickly and was able to knock Newman out after a short match to earn the title.

“This is my home poker,” Teitelbaum commented. “I’m here all the time and I’ll be here for the rest of the series.”

“I already won my main event seat in a satellite.” he finished.

It was a long run to get there, but 200 people were able to get a share of the $1,000,000 prize pool with Teitelbaum getting the lion’s share along with the Seminole Hard Rock Lucky Hearts Poker Open trophy and custom-framed photo print from IMPDI.

Final Table Results:

1st: Evan Teitelbaum (Coral Springs, FL) – $174,010
2nd: Stewart Newman (Weston, FL) – $113,000
3rd: Jason Wandling (Iowa City, IA) – $74,000
4th: Al Gomez (Miami Beach, FL) $63,000
5th: Harvey Freedman (Plantation, FL) – $52,500
6th: Pasquale Caiazza (Cooper City, FL) – $42,500
7th: Emerson Ward (Miami, FL) – $33,000
8th: Pinchas Chakchakov (Plantation, FL) – $24,000
9th: Michael Daniel (Hollywood, FL) – $17,500
10th: TJ Shulman (Boynton Beach, FL) – $11,500

> Download complete list of event results.