2025 Lucky Hearts Poker Open
Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino
Hollywood, Florida
Event 35
$3,500 LHPO Championship
$2,000,000 Guaranteed
Entries:  1,162
Prize Pool:  $3,718,400
January 17-21, 2025

From a field of 1,162 entries, the Lucky Hearts Poker Open Championship came down to nine players on Tuesday afternoon. It was a long four days leading up to this, including a very late night the night before, but on Tuesday the nine-handed final table played down to a winner in just four hours.

The final hand was simultaneously dramatic and anti-climactic, as Spencer Champlin made a bold bluff on the river with king high, unaware that Martins Adeniya had made a flush. Adeniya quickly called to win the title, the trophy, and $512,600.

It’s the biggest live tournament win of Adeniya’s career, and it comes at a great time — and a not-so-great time.

“It’s just perfect timing,” said Adeniya after his victory. “I’ve got a baby on the way in April, and I’m getting married in two weeks. The only problem is I’m missing my fiancée’s birthday today.”

When Adeniya returns home with a championship trophy and half a million dollars, we expect his fiancée Dana will forgive him.

The Championship had two starting flights with unlimited re-entries, but Adeniya only needed one entry. But that’s not to say it was an easy path.

“I lost nearly half my stack in the first couple levels of the tournament,” said Adeniya. “Then someone ran a big bluff on me, but I hero called.”

Adeniya bagged a nice stack on Day 1, but he was down to about 20 big blinds by the time the Money Bubble came around on Day 2.

“I had two of the chipleaders to my left,” said Adeniya, “so it was quite a tricky bubble to navigate. And I was actually put all in on the bubble with aces, and had to fold aces on the bubble.”

Adeniya went on to finish Day 2 among the larger stacks (15th of 56), but Day 3 would be an incredibly long day. Luckily for Adeniya, he got better as the day went on.

“Yesterday was pretty long,” said Adeniya about Day 3. “We played until 3:30 in the morning, and we were on the featured table the entire time so it was quite tiring and draining.”

With 15 players left, Adeniya doubled thru then-chipleader Yingui Li, getting it all in on the turn with pocket queens on a ten-high board against Li’s flush and straight draw. Li missed his outs, and that kickstarted a run for Adeniya where he would take the lead with 14 players left, and hold onto it for most of the rest of the tournament.

Day 3 played so long because they were trying to reach the final eight players, but they went three hours with no eliminations. The blinds kept increasing, so when they returned on Tuesday afternoon to play to a winner, the average chip stack was only worth 26 big blinds, even though they had been playing a slow structure with 90-minute levels.

Well, the math caught up to the players, and on Tuesday afternoon it only took four hours to play down from nine to a winner.

Incredibly, the top seven finishers in this event all earned the top live tournament cash of their careers. For Ryan Hogan, it was the second career-high cash of this series, as he finished third in Event #1 to earn $116,750, then nearly doubled it by cashing for $205,000 for fourth place here in the Championship.

Even though he is from London, Adeniya has been a regular presence in our big events here at Seminole Hard Rock Hollywood.

“It’s a nice place with good weather,” said Adeniya. “Right now in London it’s like zero degrees, so it’s nice to have some sunshine. The people here are great, there’s lots of stuff to do, and there are good cash games and good tournaments. I love it here.”

Results:

* Indicates the adjusted payouts from a heads-up deal.

2025 Lucky Hearts Poker Open
Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino
Hollywood, Florida
Event 53
$300 Quad Stack Black Chip Bounty NLH (Re-Entry)
Entries:  188
Prize Pool:  $28,300
Bounty Prize Pool:  $18,700
January 21, 2025

Event 54 of the 2025 Seminole Hard Rock Lucky Hearts Poker Open was a $300 Quad Stack Black Chip Bounty No-Limit Hold’em (Re-Entry). A field of 188 entries generated a prize pool of $28,300, with an additional $18,700 set aside for bounties.

Earning the victory was Anderson Montana, winning outright for $6,980.

2025 Lucky Hearts Poker Open
Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino
Hollywood, Florida
Event 51
$400 Triple Stack Six-Max NLH (Re-Entry)
Entries:  158
Prize Pool:  $52,140
January 21, 2025

Event 51 of the 2025 Seminole Hard Rock Lucky Hearts Poker Open was a $400 Triple Stack Six-Max No-Limit Hold’em (Re-Entry), drawing a field of 158 entries and a prize pool of $52,140.

A heads-up chop took place and Mitchell Ellis was the chip leader at the time, making him the official Event 51 winner for $11,328.

*denotes heads-up chop

2025 Lucky Hearts Poker Open
Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino
Hollywood, Florida
Event 53
$1,100 Deep Stack Six-Max Pot-Limit Omaha (Re-Entry)
Entries:  115
Prize Pool:  $111,550
January 21, 2025

Event 53 of the 2025 Seminole Hard Rock Lucky Hearts Poker Open was a $1,100 Deep Stack Six-Max Pot-Limit Omaha (Re-Entry), drawing a field of 115 entries for a prize pool of $111,550.

Taking it down was Steven Levy, winning outright for $31,595.

2025 Lucky Hearts Poker Open
Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino
Hollywood, Florida
Event 52
$5,000 Deep Stack No-Limit Hold’em (Re-Entry)
$200,000 Guaranteed
Entries:  153
Prize Pool:  $726,750
January 21, 2025

Event 52 of the 2025 Seminole Hard Rock Lucky Hearts Poker Open was a $5,000 Deep Stack No-Limit Hold’em (Re-Entry), drawing a field of 153 entries for a prize pool of $726,750.

Emerging victorious was Michael Berk, winning outright for $175,350 and his second six-figure score of the series, having previously chopped the one-day $10K event for $179,260

$5,000 Deep Stack No-Limit Hold’em (Re-Entry)
Prize Pool:  $726,750  | Structure  |  Payouts
Level 25:  25,000/50,000 with a 50,000 ante
Players Remaining:  1 of 153

Michael Berk raised all in with his chip-leading stack from the button and Artem Metalidi thought for a bit before he called all in for 470,000 in the big blind.

Berk showed , while Metalidi showed .

The board ran out , giving Berk a set of fours to eliminate Metalidi and win Event 52 outright for $175,350. Metaldi finished runner-up for $117,000.

A recap of Event 52 will be posted later tonight.

$5,000 Deep Stack No-Limit Hold’em (Re-Entry)
Prize Pool:  $726,750  | Structure  |  Payouts
Level 25:  25,000/50,000 with a 50,000 ante
Players Remaining:  2 of 153

Artem Metalidi raised all in for 235,000 from the button and Michael Berk called in the big blind .

Metalidi showed and needed his hand to hold up to survive.

The board ran out , safe for Metalidi to double up.

Artem Metalidi  –  520,000  (10 bb)
Michael Berk  –  2,540,000  (51 bb)

1st:  $175,350 + LHPO Trophy
2nd:  $117,000

$5,000 Deep Stack No-Limit Hold’em (Re-Entry)
Prize Pool:  $726,750  | Structure  |  Payouts
Level 25:  25,000/50,000 with a 50,000 ante
Players Remaining:  2 of 153

Kyle Julius raised to 100,000 from the button, Michael Berk reraised all in for 1,240,000 in the small blind, and Julius called with .

Berk showed and needed to improve to survive.

The board ran out , giving Berk a flush right off the bat to double through Julius.

Michael Berk  –  2,580,000  (52 bb)
Kyle Julius  –  225,000  (5 bb)

The next hand, Berk raised all in with his chip-leading stack from the button, Artem Metalidi folded his small blind, and Julius called all in for about 175,000.

Berk: 
Julius: 

The board came , giving Berk queens and nines to eliminate Julius in third place.

Michael Berk  –  2,825,000  (56 bb)
Artem Metalidi  –  235,000  (5 bb)
Kyle Julius  –  Eliminated in 3rd Place  ($87,000)

1st:  $175,350 + LHPO Trophy
2nd:  $117,000

$5,000 Deep Stack No-Limit Hold’em (Re-Entry)
Prize Pool:  $726,750  | Structure  |  Payouts
Level 25:  25,000/50,000 with a 50,000 ante
Players Remaining:  3 of 153

Johan Schumacher was all in for 445,000 on the button against Michael Berk in the small blind.

Schumacher: 
Berk: 

The board came , giving Berk aces and tens to eliminate Schumacher.

Michael Berk  –  1,240,000  (25 bb)
Johan Schumacher  –  Eliminated in 4th Place  ($65,000)

$5,000 Deep Stack No-Limit Hold’em (Re-Entry)
Prize Pool:  $726,750  | Structure  |  Payouts
Level 23:  15,000/30,000 with a 30,000 ante
Players Remaining:  4 of 153

Brock Wilson was all in from the small blind for 225,000 against Michael Berk in the big blind.

Wilson: 
Berk: 

The board came , not enough help to Wilson, ending his tournament in fifth place.

Michael Berk  –  1,150,000  (38 bb)
Brock Wilson  –  Eliminated in 5th Place  ($49,000)

With four players remaining from the field of 153 entries, the average stack is about 765,000 (26 big blinds). The remaining players are guaranteed $65,000.