Event 12 Recap

Seminole Hard Rock Lucky Hearts Poker Open
$1,100 WPTDeepStacks No Limit Hold’em (Re-Entry)

January 29 – January 31, 2014

Laurence Whyte Event 12 Champion
Lawrence Whyte
Event 12 Champion

Total Entries:  396
Total Prize Pool:  $384,120

> Download complete list of event results.

Recap:

The WPTDeepStacks event at the Seminole Hard Rock Lucky Hearts Poker Open attracted a field of 396 players for the two-day tournament that ended late Saturday night. The champion that emerged was Lawrence Whyte, who was crowned the winner in a three-way chop that made Ory Hen the runner up, and gave Claudia Piedrabuena third place.

There were 59 players that returned today at noon and only the top 36 would make the money. Notables that cashed earlier today were John Dolan (36th), Abbey Daniels (32nd), Joey Weissman (31st), Allen Kessler (30th), Zo Karim (26th), Tristan Wade (25th), Hans Winzeler (24th), Steven Karp (21st), Joe Kuether (20th), Jacob Bazely (16th), Timothy Adams (15th), and Barry Hutter (14th). The relatively quick play-down period saw the final table of ten set by the time the dinner break rolled around. Ory Hen went on a tear during this stretch of play and ran his stack up to 3 million thanks to scoring multiple eliminations.

When the field returned from dinner they got down to the serious business of deciding the serious prize money in this event. Stuart Greenbaum (ninth), Cody Ferguson (eighth), and Brett Bader (seventh) all fell during the first hour of play at the final table.

The next batch of eliminations saw Carlos Loving and Stephen Diamantas fall in sixth place and fifth place respectively. Nick Pupilo was the final player in the event to bust out during a hand of poker. His 5h5d was unable to hold up against the AsQc of Whyte on a board dealt Qd7s4hJh6d, and Pupilo was out in fourth place, good for $27,849.

The remaining three players started to ponder a chop after that, but they decided to keep playing for a little bit and see what happened. After another stretch of play produced no elimination they agreed to the terms of a chop and the tournament came to a close with the chip leader Whyte as the champion.

“It feels great, this is a great way to start the year,” said Whyte of his tournament win. Whyte is a professional poker player who specializes in tournaments. He grew up in England and moved to Texas in 1978. Whyte is planning on moving to Las Vegas soon. “A lot of up and down. It got real bad there for a while and it looked like I was going to bust out in tenth place, but things turned around and I was back in business,” said Whyte about his journey at the final table.

Final Table Results:

1. Lawrence Whyte – $103,709
2. Ory Hen – $61,459
3. Claudio Piedrabuena – $40,333
4. Nick Pupilo – $27,849
5. Stephen Diamantas – $20,550
6. Carlos Loving – $16,325
7. Brett Bader – $12,484
8. Cody Ferguson – $9,027
9. Stuart Greenbaum – $6,053

> Download complete list of event results.