We have more Omaha coming to the Seminole Ballroom this afternoon at 3 pm. Event 13 is a Pot Limit Omaha 8 game with a $400 buy-in and dealers will be chopping up some pots.
They’ll start with 12,000 stacks out front and play through 30-minute levels all day long. Late registration and single re-entry is available until the start of Level 9 at 7:30 pm with a dinner break at 9 pm.
This should be another great field with a popular South Florida game bringing out the players.
Players begin with 12,000 in chips and 30-minute levels
Late registration/single re-entry until start of Level 9 (7:30pm)
This is a one-day tournament and plays until completion
$600 Six-Max NLH (Single Re-Entry) $50,000 Guaranteed | Structure Level 5: 200/400 with a 400 ante Entries: 360
Chris Hewitt
The first came to an end and players are back in action in the huge Six-Max field. We have 360 entries so far with no signs of slowing.
Chris Hewitt looks like the biggest stack in the room after running his 15,000 starting stack up to 62,000 in two hours. Four-time SHRP champ Allan Bieler isn’t far behind with right around 50,000 heading into Level 5.
$600 Six-Max NLH (Single Re-Entry) $50,000 Guaranteed | Structure Level 3: 100/200 with a 200 ante Entries: 273
Steve Trizis
The steady parade of entrants continues in the Six-Max and we will have a full house before the close registration in a couple of hours. They are piling in.
Two recent entries come from separate parts of the state. Steve Trizis, 2016 WPTDeepStacks Tampa Main Event final table member, came over to the east coast of the Sunshine State to take his shot. Jason Young is from this side and the 2019 WPTDeepStacks Hollywood Main Event champ means business today.
$600 Six-Max NLH (Single Re-Entry) $50,000 Guaranteed | Structure Level 2: 100/100 with a 100 ante Entries: 213
Fred Dabus
Running a big Six-Max tournament on Tuesday has not slowed the players down, they are still signing up as quick as they can be processed into the game. The entry count jumped over 200 in the first level and moving right along.
Fred Dabus had an early seat in the short-handed game, a familiar face around the SHRP poker rooms with big cashes here and in Tampa and in Coconut Creek. But Dabus had his top score a few years ago with a WSOP final table appearance in 2015, finishing eighth out of 2,497 in a $1,000 No Limit Hold’em bracelet event.
We are one hour into the Omaha 8/Stud 8 game and it’s already guaranteed to be one of our biggest ever. There are already 70 in the mix with more than two hours to push it higher. If they didn’t get a single additional entry, it would be our third biggest OE field.
David Shmuel is among the players here early and looking for his fifth SHRP title. A win here would be his first OE title to go along with his No Limit Hold’em and Omaha titles.
AJ Kelsall is making his first appearance in the Seminole Ballroom this series. The former SHRP H.O.R.S.E. champ cashed six times this summer during the WSOP online series including a big win in Global Casino Championship.
Rolling out some short-handed poker this afternoon for those who like a little more action. Event 12 is a $600 buy-in Six-Max No Limit Hold’em tournament with a $50,000 guaranteed prize pool that will get smashed pretty early.
They’ll sit down to 15,000 starting stacks and all levels will last 30 minutes during this one-day tournament. Late registration is open until the start of Level 9 at 4:30 pm with a single re-entry there if they need it. There is a dinner schedule at 6 pm and they will return to play down to a winner.
Cards fly at noon and we will cover them from start to finish.
$50,000 Guaranteed Prize Pool
Players begin with 15,000 in chips and 30-minute levels
Late registration/single re-entry until start of Level 9 (4:30pm)
This is a one-day tournament and plays until completion
Keeping things interesting with another mix game in the Seminole Ballroom. Event 11 is a $400 tournament that will switch games between Limit Omaha 8 and Seven-Card Stud 8 every eight hands. A lot of split pots to save the day.
They’ll sit down to 12,000 starting stacks and run 30 minutes levels front to back. Late registration is available until the start of Level 9 at 3:30 pm but the Freeze-Out format means no re-entries allowed. Players will take a 40-minute dinner break at 5 pm and then come back to find our next mix champion.
Cards go in the air at 11 am and we will be here all day.
Players begin with 12,000 in chips and 30-minute levels
Late registration/single re-entry until start of Level 9 (3:30pm)
This is a one-day tournament and plays until completion
2021 Lucky Hearts Poker Open Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino Hollywood, Florida Event 1 $600 Deep Stack NLH (Single Re-Entry Per Flight) $300,000 Guaranteed Entries: 3,004 Prize Pool: $1,577,100 January 14-17, 2021
Fernando Rodriguez, Event 1 champion
The much-anticipated return of a big poker series to South Florida began on January 14 and the opening tournament of the 2021 Lucky Hearts Poker Open was everything we hoped it would be. Event 1 drew more than 3,000 entries and Tampa regular Fernando Rodriguez outlasted them all to book a $205,000 win.
Players were eager to come out and play live poker in a safe and sound environment. The $600 buy-in Deep Stack tournament had six starting flights that combined to put 3,004 entries in the field. The $300,000 guarantee was bested before Flight B even started and they pushed the prize pool up to $1,577,100 by the time registration closed Saturday evening.
Rodriguez came into Day 2 with the third biggest stack among the 375 returners and only had a few problems along the way.
“I lost a couple bad hands but I got moved to a new table.” Rodriguez said of his run. “They didn’t know me and I didn’t tilt or make bad plays. It was good from then.”
Rodriguez had a clear lead at the end of Day 2 when nine players advanced to a bonus day of poker. He was joined by fellow Tampa Poker regular Peter Walsworth and Fabian Foster with the biggest stacks and all three would be there at the end.
Walsworth was in control to start the final table and quickly amassed a huge stack. But those chips did not last after a series of tough hands while Scott Blackman built a stack and Jason Johnson stayed alive with a handful of nice doubles.
Rodriguez regained the lead in a big way when he sent both Walsworth and Johnson out within a few minutes. Those two hands left only three players in the tournament and Rodriguez holding the lion’s share of the chips. They worked out a deal to divide up the remaining prize pool with Foster earning $143,355 for third place, Blackman $200,000 for second, and Rodriguez took home $205,000 along with the LHPO trophy.
“It feels really great,” Rodriguez said. “I said I’d be back here and here I am.”
This is the first Hollywood win for Rodriguez and the biggest score of his career. He is a familiar face in our sister room in Tampa and his previous best cash was a fourth-place finish in the 2020 Tampa Winter Poker Open Main Event in December.
“I’m going to play everything,” Rodriguez laughed when asked about his plans for the series. “I want to play everything I can.”
Final table results:
1st: Fernando Rodriguez – $205,000 + LHPO Trophy * 2nd: Scott Blackman – $200,000 * 3rd: Fabian Foster – $143,366 * 4th: Jason Johnson – $86,047 5th: Peter Walsworth – $63,762 6th: Jesse Lott – $46,877 7th: Brandon Navarrete – $34,557
$150 Big Stack NLH (Double Re-Entry) $10,000 Guaranteed | Structure | Payouts Level 12: 1,000/2,000 with a 2,000 ante Players Remaining: 112 of 458
Closing out a busy day, Event 10 had a smaller buy-in and the $150 Big Stack tournament drew 458 entries on a Monday evening. They combined to blase the $10,000 guaranteed prize pool up to $54,960 and the last 58 will make some cash.
The min-casher will earn $201 while the Event 10 champ will cash for $10,964 and a fine return on their investment.
2021 Lucky Hearts Poker Open Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino Hollywood, Florida Event 10 $150 Big Stack NLH (Double Re-Entry) $10,000 Guaranteed Entries: 458 Prize Pool: $54,960 January 18, 2021
