Event 20 Recap

Seminole Hard Rock Lucky Hearts Poker Open
$570 Pot Limit Omaha (Re-entry)
$30,000 Guarantee

Total Prize Pool: $39,000
Total Entries: 78

Event 20 Champion Jiaqi Xu
Event 20 Champion
Jiaqi Xu

Recap:
Some of poker’s finest lined up to take a shot at the Event 20 title and one came close to winning his second event in this series. But in the end, Jiaqi Xu stood tall and took down the Event 20 Championship.

It wasn’t easy as Xu had to overcome Event 2 Champion Robert Campbell who fell in 9th along with 6th place finisher Sean Shah and November Niner Chino Rheem who made an outstanding showing in 5th.

The drama came with three players left as they battled for hours after the rest of the table fell quickly.  Matt Stout was holding a significant chiplead but Xu managed to chip away.  After a hand where Xu had aces in the hole and held Stout off to take the biggest pot of the night, Xu never looked back.  Nicholas Petitti played a short stack as far he could taking third and then with Stout heavily outchipped, the final hand rolled off.

Xu’s Qs3hJd9h beat Stout’s 8cAs5c6s after a board of Jc3hTh3dTh gave Xu the winning full house and with it a long-awaited title denying Stout a second championship in this WPT Lucky Hearts Poker Open Series.

Xu was not intimidated by the big names at the table and reflected back on the win.  “I’d played with Chino before and I played with Matt on the first day.  He actually busted me. He’s really tough.  I was lucky to double up through him to give me the chip lead.  And he’s tough when he’s got a chip lead.  He never played a hand out of position with me.  But I felt very comfortable.  I play PLO a lot – it’s my main game.  I play it almost exclusively now.”

A calm Xu was quite pleased to get the victory tonight.  “There were a few times at Borgata where I got heads-up and got more money in chops so I gave up the trophy.  So this was the first time I tried to take it.  I play cash games pretty big so I wanted the trophy this time.”

Xu will have great memories of coming to Seminole Hard Rock taking this championship.  “This is my first time here.  The staff was very nice and the tournament was well run.  I’ll definitely come back again.”

Congratulations to our Event 20 Champion – Jiaqi Xu!

Final Table Results:
1st – Jiaqi Xu (Clarksburg, MD) – $11,700
2nd – Matt Stout (Clifton, NJ) – $8,190
3rd – Nicholas Petitti (Denver, CO) – $5,265
4th – Monte Adler (Miami, FL) – $3,900
5th – Chino Rheem (Los Angeles, CA) – $2,925
6th – Sean Shah (Delray Beach, FL) – $2,340
7th – Eitan Elbaz-Dahan (Plantation, FL) – $1,950
8th – Cory Blum (Charlotte, NC) – $1,560
9th – Robert Campbell (MIami, FL) – $1,170