2016 Lucky Hearts Poker Open
Seminole Hard Rock Hotel and Casino Hollywood
Event #1
$350 Ultimate Re-Entry No-Limit Hold’em
Entries: 4,075
Prize Pool: $1,222,500
Multi-Stack Payouts: $137,500 (55 @ $2,500)
Day 2 Prize Pool: $1,085,000
January 7-12, 2016
Hollywood, Fla. (January 12, 2016) – The 2016 Seminole Hard Rock Lucky Hearts Poker Open kicked things off with a new tournament format and the results were huge. The tournament drew 4,075 entries across eight starting flights to create the biggest field in Florida poker history. When all was complete, Thai Ha was the last player standing to earn the tournament victory and its $230,423 top prize.
The huge field easily surpassed the $500,000 guarantee and built it up to $1,222,500 when registration closed Sunday evening.
The unique Ultimate Re-Entry format rewarded players who were able to make it into the money on multiple starting flights. They were given a $2,500 multi-stack award for the second stack advanced and another award for each time they managed the feat afterward.
There were a total of 55 multi-stack winners with local Gregory Marcus advancing four stacks out of the eight flights. Day 2 saw 345 players return, already in the money, and the field shrank in a hurry as the payouts increased.
The slow structure and deep stacks gave players plenty of room to make moves and it took longer than scheduled to find a winner. The tournament was paused during Day 2 to give the remaining 12 players a break before coming back for a bonus day.
Ha bagged up a big chip lead for the return and held it for most of Day 3. Raminder Singh and David Shaw also spent time at the top of the counts while the rest of the players fell away. Those three made the final table along with a gang of locals that included David Prociak, runner-up finisher in the 2015 Seminole Hard Rock “Rock ‘N’ Roll Poker Open” Championship a few months ago.
There were long stretches of time with no big hands followed by quick eliminations. Richard Hutchings was eliminated four hours into the action and set up a long three-handed battle. Shaw’s time at the top of the counts ended against Ha right before a break and he was gone shortly afterwards.
The heads up battle began with local favorite Singh holding a small lead over Ha but that quickly changed. Ha took a big lead with a rivered flush and the tournament was over a few hands later. It was a great result for Ha, the pro poker player who made the trek down from the frigid Northeast for some Sunshine State poker.
The big tournament win was a great start to 2016 for Ha after a year that saw him finish one spot from the winner several times. The 24-year-old Philadelphia resident finished in the runner-up spot in three Big Stax tournaments at Parx casino but he now has the biggest tournament win of his career.
“It feels really great!” Ha exclaimed. “I got second place three times at Parx and I’m very happy.”
Ha now has over $470,000 in career earnings and has his sights on another deep run, he hopes that will be in the WPTDeepStacks Main Event.
Event 1 Final Table Results:
1st: Thai Ha (Philadelphia, PA) – $230,423
2nd: Raminder Singh (Delray Beach, FL) – $141,227
3rd: David Shaw (Pompano Beach, FL) – $74,330
4th: Richard Hutchings (Boca Raton, FL) – $57,977
5th: David Prociak (Orlando, FL) – $41,996
6th: Evgeniy Catane (Sunny Isles Beach, FL) – $31,962
7th: Jordan Meltzer (Delray Beach, FL) – $24,529
8th: Claudio Piedrabuena (Hallandale, FL) – $17,839
9th: Daniel Perez (Caracas, Ven) – $12,636
10th: Ronald Campillo (Pembroke Pines, FL) – $8,176
Full results available from our friends at the TheHendonMob.com.