2020 Lucky Hearts Poker Open
Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino
Hollywood, Florida
Event 22
$1,100 Six-Max NLH (Re-Entry)
$100,000 Guaranteed
Entries:  160
Prize Pool:  $155,200
January 19, 2020

When Justin Zaki busted out of the WPT Lucky Hearts Poker Open on Sunday afternoon, he got in his car to drive home to Tampa, about three-and-a-half hours away. He got as far as a gas station before he remembered something.

“I realized I had a slot machine ticket that I never cashed out,” said Zaki. “So I returned to cash the ticket. Then I figured ‘Whatever, I guess I’ll play.’ ”

Zaki entered the $1,100 Six-Max No-Limit Hold’em event, but his first entry didn’t go well — he was eliminated early in one of the most annoying ways possible when his ace-king lost against ace-king.

As frustrating as his day had been to that point, Zaki fired one more bullet, and his day finally turned around for the better. Zaki went on to win the event outright, defeating Ryan Jones heads-up for the title and the trophy.

Zaki has won more than $700,000 at Seminole Hard Rock Hollywood, but this is his first trophy here.

“It feels good,” said Zaki. “I’ve gotten close so many times, and I just never catch any breaks at the end. But I ran pretty good today.”

Zaki ran so well that he turned a bustout from the main event and an $80 slot machine ticket into $37,505 and his first Seminole Hard Rock Hollywood trophy.

Final Table Results:

1st:  Justin Zaki  –  $37,505
2nd:  Ryan Jones  –  $25,000
3rd:  Tim Vance  –  $17,060
4th:  Gregory Back  –  $11,925
5th:  Hector Pacheco  –  $8,545
6th:  Aleksandr Gofman  –  $6,285
7th:  Gaurav Krishan  –  $4,740

2020 Lucky Hearts Poker Open
Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino
Hollywood, Florida
Event 21
$400 Deep Stack Black Chip Bounty (Re-Entry)
$50,000 Guaranteed
Entries:  171
Prize Pool:  $41,040
Bounty Prize Pool:  $17,100
January 19, 2020

Antonio De La Cruz entered the $3,500 WPT Lucky Hearts Poker Open Championship, but didn’t make it to Day 2, which played out in the tournament area on Sunday. That freed up De La Cruz to enter Event 21 ($400 Deep Stack Black Chip Bounty), and he ended up winning that event to earn more money than any of the players who busted on Day 2 of the championship.

It’s also the first trophy of De La Cruz’s poker career.

“It’s nice,” said De La Cruz. “So many tournaments you final table, and you try so hard to win. I’ve been so close so many times, so I’m happy to win one.” Then De La Cruz pointed to the area where final 54 players in the championship event bagged up just an hour or two earlier. “I just wish it was that one.”

After the elimination of Jason Nablo in third place, De La Cruz had more than a 2-to-1 chip lead over Yulia Lisichkina (2,305,000 to 1,115,000). After a brief negotiation, De La Cruz and Lisichkina agreed to an ICM deal to split the remainder of the prizepool.

“Yulia was a really good player,” said De La Cruz. “I watched her play a lot during this tournament, and she played almost flawlessly. I really wanted to be heads-up with Nablo rather than her.”

Final Table Results:

1st:  Antonio De La Cruz  –  $9,598* + LHPO Trophy
2nd:  Yulia Lisichkina  –  $8,327*
3rd:  Jason Nablo  –  $4,209
4th:  Christopher Wilson  –  $2,561
5th:  David Howard  –  $1,976
6th:  Stephen Vecchio  –  $1,637
7th:  Oleksandr Vikhtiuk  –  $1,416
8th:  Solange Lucas  –  $1,239
9th:  Michael Hoch  –  $1,079

* Indicates a heads-up deal.

$1,100 Six-Max NLH (Re-Entry)
$100,000 Guaranteed | Structure | Payouts
Level 22:  10,000/20,000 with a 20,000 ante
Players Remaining:  1 of 160

After about 10 minutes of heads-up play, Ryan Jones got it all in from the button for 335,000 with , and he needed his hand to hold to stay alive against Justin Zaki’s .

The board came , and Jones won the pot with his ace to double up in chips.

Ryan Jones  –  690,000  (35 bb)
Justin Zaki  –  1,710,000  (86 bb)

About five minutes later, Jones got it all in again, this time with , but he was dominated by Zaki’s .

The board came , and the pocket sixes held up for Zaki to win the pot — and the tournament — with two pair, eights and sixes.

Stay tuned for a recap, which will be posted later tonight.

1st:  Justin Zaki  –  $37,505
2nd:  Ryan Jones  –  $25,000
3rd:  Tim Vance  –  $17,060
4th:  Gregory Back  –  $11,925
5th:  Hector Pacheco  –  $8,545
6th:  Aleksandr Gofman  –  $6,285
7th:  Gaurav Krishan  –  $4,740

$1,100 Six-Max NLH (Re-Entry)
$100,000 Guaranteed | Structure | Payouts
Level 22:  10,000/20,000 with a 20,000 ante
Players Remaining:  2 of 160

Tim Vance got it all in from the button for about 600,000 with , and he needed to improve to stay alive against the of Justin Zaki in the big blind.

The board came , and the pocket queens held up for Zaki to win the pot and eliminate Vance in third place.

Tim Vance  –  Eliminated in 3rd Place  ($17,060)

Heads-up play is underway, and these were their chip counts after Vance’s eliminations:

Justin Zaki  –  1,720,000  (86 bb)
Ryan Jones  –  680,000  (34 bb)

1st:  $37,505
2nd:  $25,000

$1,100 Six-Max NLH (Re-Entry)
$100,000 Guaranteed | Structure | Payouts
Level 21:  10,000/15,000 with a 15,000 ante
Players Remaining:  3 of 160

With the board showing on the turn, Gregory Back got it all in from the small blind for about 200,000 with for a turned set of tens.

But Ryan Jones turned over on the button for a flopped set of aces, and Back needed to catch the case ten on the river to stay alive.

The river card was the , and Jones won the pot with his higher set to eliminate Back in fourth place.

Gregory Back  –  Eliminated in 4th Place  ($11,925)

Seat 1.  Tim Vance  –  500,000  (33 bb)
Seat 2.  Ryan Jones  –  900,000  (60 bb)
Seat 3.  Justin Zaki  –  1,000,000  (67 bb)

$1,100 Six-Max NLH (Re-Entry)
$100,000 Guaranteed | Structure | Payouts
Level 21:  10,000/15,000 with a 15,000 ante
Players Remaining:  4 of 160

They are down to the final four players in the six-max tournament, and here are their approximate chip counts:

Seat 1.  Tim Vance  –  600,000  (40 bb)
Seat 2.  Ryan Jones  –  475,000  (32 bb)
Seat 3.  Gregory Back  –  225,000  (15 bb)
Seat 4.  Justin Zaki  –  1,050,000  (70 bb)

And here are the final table payouts:

1st:  $37,505
2nd:  $25,000
3rd:  $17,060
4th:  $11,925

5th:  Hector Pacheco  –  $8,545
6th:  Aleksandr Gofman  –  $6,285
7th:  Gaurav Krishan  –  $4,740

We will be providing live updates for the rest of the night until they reach a winner.

$3,500 WPT Lucky Hearts Poker Open Championship
$2,000,000 Guaranteed | Structure | Payouts
Level 21:  10,000/15,000 with a 15,000 ante
Players Remaining:  54 of 843

Flight A:  423 Entries; 151 Advanced
Flight B:  420 Entries; 167 Advanced
Day 2:  318 Started; 54 Advanced
Day 3:  Monday at 12:00 noon

$3,500 WPT Lucky Hearts Poker Open Championship
$2,000,000 Guaranteed | Structure | Payouts
Level 21:  10,000/15,000 with a 15,000 ante
Players Remaining:  54 of 843

Flight A:  423 Entries; 151 Advanced
Flight B:  420 Entries; 167 Advanced
Day 2:  318 Started; 54 Advanced
Day 3:  Monday at 12:00 noon

$1,100 Six-Max NLH (Re-Entry)
$100,000 Guaranteed | Structure | Payouts
Level 19:  5,000/10,000 with a 10,000 ante
Players Remaining:  7 of 160

After the elimination of Toby Boas in eighth place, the final seven players redraw for random seats at the final table, and they will play down to a winner tonight.

Here are their updated chip counts, followed by the payouts:

Seat 1.  Hector Pacheco  –  405,000  (41 bb)
Seat 2.  Tim Vance  –  325,000  (33 bb)
Seat 3.  Ryan Jones  –  210,000  (21 bb)
Seat 4.  Gregory Back  –  345,000  (35 bb)
Seat 5.  Gaurav Krishan  –  465,000  (47 bb)
Seat 6.  Aleksandr Gofman  –  230,000  (23 bb)
Seat 7.  Justin Zaki  –  455,000  (46 bb)

1st:  $37,505
2nd:  $25,000
3rd:  $17,060
4th:  $11,925
5th:  $8,545
6th:  $6,285
7th:  $4,740

8th:  Toby Boas  –  $4,740
9th:  Daniel Podheiser  –  $3,675
10th:  Christopher Staats  –  $3,675
11th:  Shea Smith  –  $2,925
12th:  Gil Morgensztern  –  $2,925
13th:  Zachary Caspe  –  $2,400
14th:  Yordan Petrov  –  $2,400
15th:  Milen Stefanov  –  $2,025
16th:  Rayan Chamas  –  $2,025
17th:  Jerry Humphrey  –  $1,760
18th:  Charles Odenz  –  $1,760
19th:  T.K. Miles  –  $1,575
20th:  Guy Naimi  –  $1,575
21st:  Ory Hen  –  $1,575
22nd:  Daniel Couzens  –  $1,575
23rd:  Filipp Khavin  –  $1,575
24th:  Abbey Daniels  –  $1,575
25th:  Vladislav Varlashin  –  $1,460
26th:  Viktor Kovachev  –  $1,460
27th:  Anatoly Zharnitsky  –  $1,460

$3,500 WPT Lucky Hearts Poker Open Championship
$2,000,000 Guaranteed | Structure | Payouts
Level 21:  10,000/15,000 with a 15,000 ante
Players Remaining:  54 of 843

Day 2 comes to an end with 54 players remaining, and the big stack belongs to Brian Altman, who bagged up 2,085,000 (139 big blinds).

The full list of official chip counts and the Day 3 seat draw will be posted soon, but here is a preview of the top of the leaderboard:

1.  Brian Altman  –  2,085,000  (139 bb)
2.  Scott Drobes  –  1,990,000  (133 bb)
3.  Victor Figueroa  –  1,535,000  (102 bb)

Day 3 begins tomorrow (Monday) at 12:00 noon EST, and as always, we will have updates right here at SHRPO.com.