Nearly Wire-to-Wire for Yordan Petrov As He Wins $82,265 and His First Trophy

2020 Lucky Hearts Poker Open
Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino
Hollywood, Florida
Event 17
$2,200 No Limit Hold’em (Re-Entry)
$200,000 Guaranteed
Entries: 149
Prize Pool: $298,000
January 16, 2020

Event 17 Champ Yordan Petrov and RRPO Champ Milen Stefanov — Reigning WPT Rock ‘n’ Roll Poker Open champion Milen Stefanov (right) was on the rail to see his friend Yordan Petrov win the first poker trophy of his career.

Yordan Petrov built up a big chip lead on the Money Bubble, and carried that momentum all the way to the finish line to win Event #17, earning $82,265 and the first trophy of his poker career.

When the nine-handed final table began, Petrov had 40% of all the chips in play. When asked if he ever felt in danger, Petrov said, “Every hand during the final table, I was the chipleader, so I don’t think so. The guy who came in second had almost the same stack as me a few times, but all the time I had the chip lead. I was running good. I think I was playing good as well.”

Bustouts at the final table came relatively quickly, averaging one elimination every 15 minutes or so until there were three players left — Petrov, Ian O’Hara, and Brock Wilson. The average stack was worth 66 big blinds at that point, and they hit a wall, playing three-handed for more than two hours before their first all-in-and-call situation.

It would be another 15 minutes or so before Wilson was eliminated with his couldn’t hold up against Petrov’s — Wilson paired his ace on the flop, but Petrov turned an ace-high straight to knock him out in third place.

Petrov began heads-up play with more than a 12-to-1 chip lead over O’Hara, and it only took Petrov five hands to dispatch O’Hara in second place.

Petrov is from Bulgaria, and when asked why he traveled so far to be here, Petrov said, “It was my dream to come here. I love the game. I love to play poker. And the weather is also very nice. In my country, it’s winter, so here, I feel amazing.”

Will Petrov be playing in the WPT Lucky Hearts Poker Open this weekend?

“Definitely,” said Petrov. “My plan was to play tomorrow, but we’ll see. If I get good sleep, I’ll play tomorrow.”

Final Table Results:

1st: Yordan Petrov – $82,265
2nd: Ian O’Hara – $52,150
3rd: Brock Wilson – $30,694
4th: Steve Ekin – $18,634
5th: Hiro Harada – $14,453
6th: Aleksandr Gofman – $11,935
7th: Jeffrey Lehouillier – $10,430
8th: Robert Cahill – $9,313
9th: Paul Balzano – $8,228