$3,500 WPT Lucky Hearts Poker Open Championship
$2,000,000 Guaranteed | Structure
Level 9:  500/1,000 with a 1,000 ante
Entries:  423

The players return from break to begin Level 9 with increased blinds of 500-1,000 and a 1,000 ante.

A scan of the field during the break turned up three players with at least 200K in chips, and one more knocking on the door, to create an unofficial leaderboard:

1.  Alan Schein  –  282,400  (282 bb)
2.  Brian Batt  –  231,900  (232 bb)
3.  Darren Elias  –  216,700  (217 bb)
4.  Stanley Lee  –  199,000  (199 bb)

Action is scheduled to continue tonight until the end of Level 10 (about 11:15 pm), and Day 1B begins tomorrow at 11:00 am.

$3,500 WPT Lucky Hearts Poker Open Championship
$2,000,000 Guaranteed | Structure
Level 8:  400/800 with a 800 ante
Entries:  414

T.K. Miles raised under the gun to 2,000, Jeff Blenkarn called from the hijack, and the player in the cutoff raised to 7,500. Miles called, and Blenkarn folded.

The flop came , Miles checked, the cutoff bet 5,500, and Miles called.

The turn card double-paired the board with the , and both players checked. The river card was the , and they checked again.

Miles showed to win the pot with two pair, queens and jacks, and the cutoff mucked.

T.K. Miles  –  130,000  (163 bb)

A player raised to 1,800, Patrick Serda called from the hijack, and the player on the button reraised to 6,200. The first player folded, and Serda called.

The flop came , Serda checked, the button bet 5,500, and Serda called. The turn card was the , and both players checked.

The river card was the , Serda bet 13,000, and the button folded. Serda took the pot.

Patrick Serda  –  140,000  (175 bb)

Cord Garcia got it all in for 5,500 with , and he needed to improve to stay alive against the of Jonathan Bussieres in the small blind.

The board came , and Bussieres won the pot with his ace to eliminate Garcia.

Jonathan Bussieres  –  89,000  (111 bb)
Cord Garcia  –  Eliminated

Registration remains open with unlimited re-entries until the end of the upcoming break (about 9:15 pm), and action will continue tonight until the end of Level 10 (about 11:15 pm).

$3,500 WPT Lucky Hearts Poker Open Championship
$2,000,000 Guaranteed | Structure
Level 7:  300/600 with a 600 ante
Entries:  390

At Table 22, there were four players in the hand as the board came , and everybody checked the river and showed their cards.

Ping Liu:  
Kevin St. Clair:  
Scott Efron:  
Cutoff:  

Nobody had a heart in their hand, making it a four-way chop. Efron said it’s the most players he’s seen in a hand with a flush on the board where nobody had a card of the same suit.

Ping Liu  –  140,000  (233 bb)
Kevin St. Clair  –  127,000  (212 bb)
Scott Efron  –  65,000  (108 bb)

Registration remains open with unlimited re-entries until the start of Level 9 (about 9:15 pm), and action will continue tonight until the end of Level 10 (about 11:15 pm).

$3,500 WPT Lucky Hearts Poker Open Championship
$2,000,000 Guaranteed | Structure
Level 7:  300/600 with a 600 ante
Entries:  390

The players return from break to begin Level 7, with increased blinds of 300-600 and a 600 ante.

A scan of the field during dinner turned up six players with at least 155K in chips, creating an unofficial leaderboard:

1.  Michael Newman  –  198,700  (331 bb)
2.  Brad Coultas  –  186,700  (311 bb)
3.  Peter Nigh  –  179,700  (300 bb)
T4.  Brian Batt  –  173,600  (289 bb)
T4.  Trung Tran  –  173,600  (289 bb)
6.  Ryan Remington  –  163,600  (273 bb)
7.  Hiro Harada  –  161,300  (269 bb)
8.  T.K. Miles  –  159,700  (266 bb)
9.  Brian Altman  –  159,600  (266 bb)

Registration remains open with unlimited re-entries until the start of Level 9 (about 9:15 pm). Action will continue tonight until the end of Level 10, around 11:15 pm.

$3,500 WPT Lucky Hearts Poker Open Championship
$2,000,000 Guaranteed | Structure
Level 7:  300/600 with a 600 ante
Entries:  383

Level 6 comes to an end, and the players take a 90-minute dinner break. Action is scheduled to resume at 7:00 pm.

Registration remains open with unlimited re-entries until the start of Level 9 (about 9:15 pm). Action will continue tonight until the end of Level 10, around 11:15 pm.

$3,500 WPT Lucky Hearts Poker Open Championship
$2,000,000 Guaranteed | Structure
Level 6:  300/500 with a 500 ante
Entries:  383

After a flop of , Marvin Rettenmaier was short stacked and all in under the gun with (seven high), and he needed to improve to stay alive against the (eight high) of Jerry Wong in the big blind.

The turn card was the , and the river card was the . Rettenmaier spiked a six on the river to stay alive and double up in chips.

Marvin Rettenmaier  –  5,500  (11 bb)
Jerry Wong  –  115,000  (230 bb)

The next hand, Patrick Serda raised under the gun to 1,200, Athanasios Polychronopoulos moved all in from middle position for about 10,000, and Ami Alibay called from the hijack. Marvin Rettenmaier called all in from the big blind for 5,000, and Serda folded.

These were their cards in descending order of chip counts:

Ami Alibay:  
Athanasios Polychronopoulos:  
Marvin Rettenmaier:  

The board came — Polychronopoulos turned a gutshot straight draw, but that was as close as anyone go to Alibay, who flopped a set of kings. Alibay knocked out both players just a few minutes before the dinner break.

Ami Alibay  –  80,000  (160 bb)
Athanasios Polychronopoulos  –  Eliminated
Marvin Rettenmaier  –  Eliminated

There will be a 90-minute dinner break after this level (in just a few minutes), and registration remains open with unlimited re-entries until the start of Level 9 (about 9:15 pm). Action will continue tonight until the end of Level 10, around 11:15 pm.

$3,500 WPT Lucky Hearts Poker Open Championship
$2,000,000 Guaranteed | Structure
Level 6:  300/500 with a 500 ante
Entries:  380

After a flop of , Cord Garcia (UTG) and the player in the cutoff put in 2,400 each, and a third player folds from one of the blinds.

The turn card was the , Garcia checked, the cutoff bet 4,700, and Garcia check-raised to 11,200. The player in the cutoff moved all in, and Garcia snap-called all in for 38,600 with for trip trees.

The cutoff turned over , and Garcia needed to avoid a queen on the river to stay alive.

The river card was the , and Garcia won the pot with his trip threes to double up in chips.

Cord Garcia  –  85,000  (170 bb)

At another table, Jonathan Jaffe raised from the hijack to 1,100, the player in the cutoff reraised to 3,100, and Anton Wigg cold-four-bet it from the button to 8,000.

Jaffe folded, and the player in the cutoff thought for a while before he folded as well. Wigg took the pot to reach 68K.

Anton Wigg  –  68,000  (136 bb)

There will be a 90-minute dinner break after this level (about 5:30 pm), and registration remains open with unlimited re-entries until the start of Level 9 (about 9:15 pm). Action will continue tonight until the end of Level 10, around 11:15 pm.

$3,500 WPT Lucky Hearts Poker Open Championship
$2,000,000 Guaranteed | Structure
Level 5:  200/400 with a 400 ante
Entries:  351

A player limped under the gun for 400, the UTG+1 player limped for 400, and Mike Chiappetta raised from middle position to 1,600. The small blind called, the big blind called, and the UTG player moved all in for 7,100.

Everyone folded except for Chiappetta and the player in the big blind, who both called. Any further betting would create a side pot.

The flop came , the big blind checked, Chiappetta bet 5,000, and the big blind folded.

The UTG player showed for a gutshot straight draw, and he needs to improve to stay alive against Chiappetta’s (two pair, queens and eights).

The turn card was the , and Chiappetta clinched the pot with a full house. The meaningless river card was the , and the UTG player was eliminated.

Mike Chiappetta  –  83,000  (208 bb)

There will be a 90-minute dinner break after Level 6 (about 5:30 pm), and registration remains open with unlimited re-entries until the start of Level 9 (about 9:15 pm). Action will continue tonight until the end of Level 10, around 11:15 pm.

$3,500 WPT Lucky Hearts Poker Open Championship
$2,000,000 Guaranteed | Structure
Level 5:  200/400 with a 400 ante
Entries:  335

The players return from break to begin Level 5, with increased blinds of 200-400 and a 400 ante.

A scan of the field during the break turned up five players with at least 130K in chips, creating an unofficial leaderboard:

1.  Michael Newman  –  151,100  (378 bb)
T2.  Zachary Caspe  –  146,200  (366 bb)
T2.  Alan Schein  –  146,200  (366 bb)
4.  Kenneth Frey  –  134,200  (336 bb)
5.  Darren Elias  –  132,800  (332 bb)

There will be a 90-minute dinner break after Level 6 (about 5:30 pm), and registration remains open with unlimited re-entries until the start of Level 9 (about 9:15 pm). Action will continue tonight until the end of Level 10, around 11:15 pm.

$3,500 WPT Lucky Hearts Poker Open Championship
$2,000,000 Guaranteed | Structure
Level 4:  200/300 with a 300 ante
Entries:  319

After a flop of with about 8,000 already in the pot, Larry Lipman checked the big blind, and 2014 WPT Seminole Hard Rock Poker Showdown winner Eric Afriat bet 2,000 from under the gun.

Fred Goldberg raised from middle position to 6,000, and Lipman folded. Afriat reraised to 13,000, and Goldberg tanked for a while before moving all in for about 40,000.

Now it was Afriat’s turn in the tank, and he asked Goldberg if he was on his first bullet. “Second,” said Goldberg. They briefly discussed the re-entry rules, because Afriat thought players were only allowed two entries per day, but this event has unlimited re-entries until registration closes around 9:15 pm.

Goldberg said, “Show me when you muck, and I’ll show you what I have.”

“I know what you have,” said Afriat.

Goldberg asked, “What do you think I have?”

“Ace-seven of diamonds,” said Afriat.

Goldberg laughed. “With a 2,500 raise?”

Eventually, Afriat folded, and Goldberg showed his cards anyway — for a gutshot Royal Flush draw. Goldberg took the pot to reach about 62K.

Fred Goldberg  –  62,000  (207 bb)
Eric Afriat  –  30,000  (100 bb)

There will be a 90-minute dinner break after Level 6 (about 5:30 pm), and registration remains open with unlimited re-entries until the start of Level 9 (about 9:15 pm). Action will continue tonight until the end of Level 10, around 11:15 pm.