2018 Lucky Hearts Poker Open
Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino 
Hollywood, Florida
Event 3
$300 Seniors 50+ No Limit Hold’em
Entries: 162
Prize Pool: $41,310
January 12, 2018

The WPTDeepStacks event drew a huge field in the ballroom but that didn’t stop our older players from piling into the meeting room to create a great field of their own. The Seniors Event drew 162 entries and produced a tough final table that saw SHRP regular Ira Schwartz walk away with the trophy.

Those 162 entries more than doubled the turnout in this event during last year’s Lucky Hearts Poker Open. They combined to create a prize pool over $40,000 with 21 players taking home some cash when they were through.

The stacks were deep and they had plenty of time to make their moves. The knockouts were slow in coming until they reached the money bubble after the dinner break. Then it only took one round of hand-for-hand action to burst the bubble and begin the process of paying out the prize pool.

Once they reached the final table ten, tournament staff moved them into the ballroom to play it out.

That table included players with several major SHRP series titles including Haim Toorgeman, Tim Kegel, and 2015 SHRP Player of the Year Ory Hen. John Gordon owns a WSOP Circuit ring and Brad “The Kid” Bargman was happy to be the youngest at the final table at the sprite age of 50 years old.

They were also a group of friends that enjoyed their time playing against each other and the final table had a nice rail cheering them along.

Carlos Cuevas began the final table with the shortest stack and he was unable to run up his five big blinds to exit in tenth place. Kegel followed in ninth place followed by Oscar Trestini in eighth. Fariborz Zojaji and John Gordon gave it a good fight but they hit the payout desk to leave only five left for the title.

Schwartz began the final table with the chip lead and was still out front when the five remaining players decided to chop up the remaining prize pool. Schwartz took the title and trophy as the chip leader and they all had a good laugh when the tournament was complete.

“I’m glad they decided to chop,” Schwartz laughed. “I’m so tired that I think I started seeing double at the end.”

Tournament Director Tony Burns came over to congratulate our Seniors Event champ and noted the Schwartz is one of the nicest players we see on a regular basis.

Congrats to Ira and good luck during the rest of the series.

Seniors Event results:

1st: Ira Schwartz – $6,624 + Trophy*
2nd: Brad Bargman – $6,570*
3rd: Sandy Tabin – $5,625*
4th: Ory Hen – $5,255*
5th: Haim Toorgeman – $2,910*
6th: John Gordon – $1,650
7th: Fariborz Zojaji – $1,429
8th: Oscar Trestini – $1,260
9th: Tim Kegel – $1,098
10th: Carlos Cuevas – $950
11th: Harry Eisenberg – $950
12th: Larry Paden – $950
13th: Sherriee Williams – $806
14th: Dean Rutledge – $806
15th: Robert Holcepl – $806
16th: Ronald Magers – $669
17th: Stephen Leahy – $669
18th: Juri Zaprudnov – $669
19th: Arlene Vazquez – $538
20th: Dennis Koltun – $538
21st: Gary Blais – $538
* – denotes a five-way deal