$3,500 Championship No Limit Hold’em (Re-Entry)
Level 4: 100/200/25 Ante

Matt Stout in now in the 1A field, just a few hours after hoisting a trophy.

Stout was the last player standing after a very tough final table in the $2,200 6-Max event which included Jason Mercier (2nd), Darryll Fish (3rd), and Shannon Shorr (4th). The jovial grinder picked up more than $53,000 for his title and he’s back in action sitting next to Faraz Jaka.

$3,500 Championship No Limit Hold’em (Re-Entry)
Level 4: 100/200/25 Ante

Opinions vary on the vocal Allen Kessler but you can’t deny he gets results. He is now among the chip leaders after cracking two big hands.

It was three-ways to the when the small blind player tossed out 5,000, a big bet in relation to the pot. UTG+1 raised to 13,000 and Kessler had to be holding strong when he put in a third bet to 25,000. The small blind called all-in and UTG+1 only had 3,000 more than the raise, they went in to finish building the huge pot.

Kessler flopped well with for a big lead against and . The turn/river was no drama for “Chainsaw” and he moved up to 92,000.

$3,500 Championship No Limit Hold’em (Re-Entry)
Level 4: 100/200/25 Ante

Ory Hen is one of our locals mixing it up in the Championship today and he’s been on a big roll the entire series. The Cooper City, FL resident was already a fixture in the Seminole Hard Rock Poker games but is standing out over the last few weeks.

Hen has cashed five times during the 2015 Seminole Hard Rock Lucky Hearts Poker Open series with four final tables and just missing a fifth by single spot. Enough results to put him on top of the series Leaderboard with only a few events remaining.

He earned nearly $85,000 so far this series adding to his $800,000 tournament earnings for his career including a win in November during the Seminole Hard Rock “Rock ‘N Roll Poker Open”.

$3,500 Championship No Limit Hold’em (Re-Entry)
Level 3: 75/150/25 Ante

We noticed former November Niner Chino Rheem was a recent edition to the field and he made an impact right off the bat.

The board was reading when they lit the fireworks in a 5-way pot. Blake Bohn led out for 1,000, Rheem called the bet and Vendel Johnson raised to 2,500. Two other players folded before Bohn three-bet to 6,200. Rheem called once again before John four-bet shoved ~22,000 to get snap calls from both Bohn and Rheem.

Bohn was third best with his turned straight and Johnson’s top boat was also looking up at Rheem’s flopped quads . Bohn couldn’t hit his river one-outer and just slid his cards into the muck before counting out another 29,550 to send over to Rheem. Bohn was left with a 6,500 but Johnson was gone for this entry.

The hand jumped Rheem up near 85,000 and the among the early leaders.

$3,500 Championship No Limit Hold’em (Re-Entry)
Level 3: 75/150/25 Ante

Players are back in their seat and the early front-runner is Noah Schwartz with 88,450. Timothy Burt isn’t far behind after knocking out Justin Zaki and the only other players over 80,000.

80k at 25-75-150. running good early at tough aggro table @shrpo #LuckyHearts #MainEvent

— Tim Burt (@TimBurtPoker) February 5, 2015

Notable counts:

Noah Schwartz – 88,450
Timothy Burt – 80,025
Chase Steeley – 75,400
Daren Stabinski – 72,725
Luis Bueno – 68,775
Timothy “TK” Miles – 68,325
Russell Dohan – 66,875
Chris Bolek – 66,450
Ian Davis – 66,250
Aleksandr Denisov – 61,275
Raymond Ruszkowski – 59,100
Michael Grenadier – 56,925
Vinny Pahuja – 55,625
Mark Gaudino – 53,100
Gaston Miculitzki – 51,125
Allen Kessler – 47,925
Dor Geller – 46,800
Cornel Cimpan – 43,025
Jonathan Duhamel – 30,400
Stuart Paterson – 29,475
Barry Hutter – 27,100
Ryan Van Sanford – 26,850

$3,500 Championship No Limit Hold’em (Re-Entry)
Level 2: 75/150

The tournament board is showing 260 entrants as the field hits their first break of the day. All but a handful of them are still around and we’ll have the first round of counts when they return.

$3,500 Championship No Limit Hold’em (Re-Entry)
Level 2: 75/150

The blinds are up in the Championship as the field closes in on 230 entrants for 1A. New faces in the crowd include John Dolan, Chance Kornuth, David Diaz, Nigel Murray, Vinny Pahuja, and Robert Campbell.

$3,500 Championship No Limit Hold’em (Re-Entry)
Level 1: 50/100

With 300 big blinds at the start, it takes a special circumstance to get them all in the middle this early. Table 13 had one of them going down and it was easy to notice with Allen Kessler waving down anyone with a notepad.

There was a discussion going down between two players with the board reading . The 6-seat saw his get cracked by bu the conversation was about whether he was eliminated. Turned out he wasn’t technically all-in when the Yaron Wasserman called leaving his opponent with one small blind.

No special story to end the post, he was gone on the next hand and wouldn’t be hitting the care for another bullet.

$3,500 Championship No Limit Hold’em (Re-Entry)
Level 1: 50/100

The entrant count jumped over 190 shortly after the start of play and we’re seeing that fine mix of pros and locals. Angel Vu, Adam Rouse, Daren Stabinski, and Luis Santoni are mixing it up with Allen Kessler, Tyler Patterson, Jeff Gross, and 2010 WSOP Main Event Champion Jonathan Duhamel.

Action will be deliberate in the early going with the deep stacks and slow structure. That will change as the day moves along.

@OA72 @shrpo Lets play some poker. #MainEvent#believe#rungood pic.twitter.com/twnFZqnIGC

— Jason Levine (@brbptb1) February 5, 2015

Have a very good feeling about this @WPT event @shrpo playing on day 1a here in Hollywood, FL. $3,00,000 guarantee let’s get it!

— Jeff Gross (@Jgross5) February 5, 2015

Starting up this WPT main event @shrpo

— john holley (@hohnjolley) February 5, 2015

First bullet day 1 ME $3500! Feeling determined! @shrpo

— Angel Vu (@AngelVufl) February 5, 2015

$3,500 Championship No Limit Hold’em (Re-Entry)
Level 1: 50/100

The big tournament is finally upon us with the start of the 2015 WPT Lucky Hearts Poker Open Championship. The high-profile event will draw some of the biggest names in poker along with a large number of local grinders and regulars.

The $3,500 buy-in tournament features a $3,000,000 guaranteed prize pool with three starting flights. Players begin with 30,000 starting stacks with 60-minute levels for all opening days. Late registration is open until the start of Level 7 and unlimited re-entries during that time if players lose their stack.

Play is scheduled to wrap up today after Level 10 when survivors will bag up their ships for Day 2 around midnight. We’ll be here for all the action, stay tuned.