$1,100 WPTDeepStacks Hollywood
$1,000,000 Guaranteed | Structure | Payouts
Level 27:  25,000/50,000 with a 50,000 ante
Players Remaining:  25 of 1,404

Here is a list of the players who have recently been eliminated, along with their payouts:

26th:  Jaime Weigrefe  –  $6,074
27th:  Evan Dahl  –  $6,074

28th:  Raminder Singh  –  $5,218
29th:  Lowell Kim  –  $5,218
30th:  Zoltan Czinkota  –  $5,218
31st:  Jordan Semel  –  $5,218
32nd:  Jason Atherley  –  $5,218
33rd:  Lazaro Rojas  –  $5,218
34th:  Louise Francoeur  –  $5,218
35th:  Brandon Lalloo  –  $5,218
36th:  Larry Hirschfield  –  $5,218

37th:  Zhen Cai  –  $4,389
38th:  Jason Young  –  $4,389
39th:  David Moses  –  $4,389
40th:  Yue Wang  –  $4,389
41st:  Paul Grigsby  –  $4,389
42nd:  Sharman Olsham  –  $4,389
43rd:  Nick Yunis  –  $4,389
44th:  Joseph Hernon  –  $4,389
45th:  Peter Vitantonio  –  $4,389

$1,100 WPTDeepStacks Hollywood
$1,000,000 Guaranteed | Structure | Payouts
Level 26:  20,000/40,000 with a 40,000 ante
Players Remaining:  28 of 1,404

Aaron Rosenthal min-raised UTG+1 to 80,000, Howard Mash moved all in from the big blind for 560,000, and Rosenthal waited for an exact count before he called with .

Mash turned over , and needed his hand to hold to stay alive.

The board came , and Mash won the pot with a flopped set of jacks to double up in chips.

Howard Mash  –  1,180,000  (30 bb)
Aaron Rosenthal  –  1,700,000  (43 bb)

With 28 players remaining, the average chip stack is about 1,505,000 (38 big blinds). Action will continue tonight until they reach the final nine players for tomorrow afternoon’s WPTDeepStacks final table, which begins at 2:00 pm and will be live-streamed on a 30-minute delay.

$1,100 WPTDeepStacks Hollywood
$1,000,000 Guaranteed | Structure | Payouts
Level 26:  20,000/40,000 with a 40,000 ante
Players Remaining:  35 of 1,404

David Moses got it all in preflop for about 675,000 with , but he ran into Trung Pham’s .

The board came — Moses flopped a heart flush draw and turned a gutshot straight draw on the board for a possible chop, but the river card missed all of his outs. The pocket aces held up for Pham to win the pot and eliminate Moses in 39th place.

Trung Pham  –  2,125,000  (71 bb)
David Moses  –  Eliminated in 39th Place  ($4,389)

A short while later, Jake Schwartz raised under the gun, Alcides Gomez called UTG+1, and defending champion Jason Young called from the small blind.

The flop came , and Young moved all in for about 250,000. Schwartz folded, and Gomez called with . Young turned over , and he needed to improve to stay alive.

The turn card was a , the river card was an , and the pocket kings held up for Gomez to win the pot and eliminate Young in 38th place.

Alcides Gomez  –  2,250,000  (75 bb)
Jason Young  –  Eliminated in 38th Place  ($4,389)

Level 25 came to an end, and Level 26 began with increased blinds of 20,000-40,000 and a 40,000 ante. Action will continue tonight until they reach the final nine players for tomorrow afternoon’s WPTDeepStacks final table, which begins at 2:00 pm and will be live-streamed on a 30-minute delay.

$1,100 WPTDeepStacks Hollywood
$1,000,000 Guaranteed | Structure | Payouts
Level 25:  15,000/30,000 with a 30,000 ante
Players Remaining:  41 of 1,404

Nick Yunis was just eliminated when he got it all in from the hijack with , but ran into two pairs of kings — Trung Pham held , and Zoltan Czinkota had .

The board came , and the kings held up for Pham and Czinkota to chop the pot as they eliminated Yunis in 43rd place.

Trung Pham  –  1,480,000  (49 bb)
Zoltan Czinkota  –  460,000  (15 bb)
Nick Yunis  –  Eliminated in 43rd Place  ($4,389)

A few minutes later, Zoltan Czinkota limped from the hijack for 30,000, Rafael Rodriguez raised from the cutoff to 85,000, and Sharman Olsham moved all in from the small blind for 365,000.

Czinkota folded, and Rodriguez asked for an exact count and thought for a while before he called with . Olsham turned over , and she needed to improve to stay alive.

The board came , and the pocket eights held up for Rodriguez to win the pot and eliminate Olsham in 42nd place.

Rafael Rodriguez  –  2,450,000  (82 bb)
Sharman Olsham  –  Eliminated in 42nd Place  ($4,389)

With 41 players remaining, the average chip stack is about 1,025,000 (34 big blinds), and action will continue tonight until they reach the nine-handed final table.

$1,100 WPTDeepStacks Hollywood
$1,000,000 Guaranteed | Structure | Payouts
Level 25:  15,000/30,000 with a 30,000 ante
Players Remaining:  43 of 1,404

Nick Palma raised under the gun to 65,000, Joseph Hernon called UTG+1, Joseph Bianco called from the button, and Zhen Cai moved all in from the big blind for about 1,275,000.

Palma called all in for 780,000, Hernon called all in for 565,000, and Bianco folded.

These were their cards in descending order of chip counts:

Zhen Cai:  
Nick Palma:  
Joseph Hernon:  

The board came , and Palma flopped a set of queens to win the entire pot, doubling thru Cai and eliminating Hernon in 44th place.

Nick Palma  –  2,235,000  (75 bb)
Zhen Cai  –  500,000  (17 bb)
Joseph Hernon  –  Eliminated in 44th Place  ($4,389)

With 43 players remaining, the average chip stack is about 980,000 (33 big blinds), and action will continue tonight until they reach the nine-handed final table.

$1,100 WPTDeepStacks Hollywood
$1,000,000 Guaranteed | Structure | Payouts
Level 25:  15,000/30,000 with a 30,000 ante
Players Remaining:  45 of 1,404

A scan of the field during the dinner break turned up 10 players with at least 1.5 million in chips, creating an unofficial leaderboard:

1.  Vadim Rozin  –  2,490,000  (83 bb)
2.  Edwards Muñiz  –  2,225,000  (74 bb)
3.  Jake Schwartz  –  2,180,000  (73 bb)
4.  Aaron Rosenthal  –  2,150,000  (72 bb)
5.  Rafael Rodriguez  –  2,135,000  (71 bb)
6.  Raminder Singh  –  1,850,000  (62 bb)
7.  Claudio Kalili  –  1,780,000  (59 bb)
8.  Yue Wang  –  1,750,000  (58 bb)
9.  Alcides Gomez  –  1,700,000  (57 bb)
10.  Justin Bianco  –  1,575,000  (53 bb)

Action is scheduled to resume at 7:38 pm.

$1,100 WPTDeepStacks Hollywood
$1,000,000 Guaranteed | Structure | Payouts
Level 25:  15,000/30,000 with a 30,000 ante
Players Remaining:  45 of 1,404

Here is a list of the players who have recently been eliminated, along with their payouts:

46th:  Lumni Zhuta  –  $3,805
47th:  Allan Bieler  –  $3,805
48th:  Leo Ojeda  –  $3,805
49th:  Jason Dollinger  –  $3,805
50th:  Jason Thomas  –  $3,805
51st:  David Farber  –  $3,805
52nd:  Robert Jonsson  –  $3,805
53rd:  Robert Pollmeier  –  $3,805
54th:  Scott Arnold  –  $3,805

55th:  Steven Cabas  –  $3,397
56th:  David Wolff  –  $3,397
57th:  Huicun Qiao  –  $3,397
58th:  Jonathan Ounjian  –  $3,397
59th:  Richard Whitebrook  –  $3,397
60th:  Steve Wilkie  –  $3,397
61st:  Kevin Buldo  –  $3,397
62nd:  James Hoeppner  –  $3,397
63rd:  Kareem Marshall  –  $3,397

64th:  Martin St. Amaant  –  $3,125
65th:  Jonathan Shapiro  –  $3,125
66th:  Darryll Fish  –  $3,125
67th:  Robert Cahill  –  $3,125
68th:  Jennifer Parker  –  $3,125
69th:  Gil Nagar  –  $3,125
70th:  Tomas Soderstrom  –  $3,125
71st:  Lenol Clark, Jr.  –  $3,125
72nd:  Donys Agnelli  –  $3,125

73rd:  Eric Snyder  –  $2,962
74th:  Paul Domb  –  $2,962
75th:  Robert Kessler  –  $2,962
76th:  Byron Schenk  –  $2,962
77th:  Travis Jackson  –  $2,962
78th:  Robert Kostesky  –  $2,962
79th:  Duane Felix  –  $2,962

$1,100 WPTDeepStacks Hollywood
$1,000,000 Guaranteed | Structure | Payouts
Level 25:  15,000/30,000 with a 30,000 ante
Players Remaining:  45 of 1,404

With about three minutes remaining before the dinner break, Lumni Zhuta lost an all-in situation to drop down to 15,000 — a single small blind.

The next hand, Zhuta called all in from the hijack for 15,000, Jason Young raised button to 110,000, and everyone else folded.

Zhuta turned over , but he was dominated by Young’s .

The board came , and Young won the pot with a pair of sevens and his ace kicker to eliminate Zhuta in 46th place.

Level 24 came to an end, and the players took their one-hour dinner break. With 45 players remaining, the average chip stack is about 935,000 (31 big blinds), and the field is playing down to the nine-handed WPTDeepStacks final table tonight.

Action is scheduled to resume at 7:38 pm.

$1,100 WPTDeepStacks Hollywood
$1,000,000 Guaranteed | Structure | Payouts
Level 24:  15,000/25,000 with a 25,000 ante
Players Remaining:  53 of 1,404

David DiBernardi raised UTG+1 to 60,000, Larry Hirschfield moved all in from the button for 320,000, and DiBernardi called with . Hirschfield turned over , and needed his hand to hold to stay alive.

The board came — DiBernardi turned a gutshot straight draw, but improved no further. Hirschfield won the pot with his pocket sevens to double up in chips.

Larry Hirschfield  –  705,000  (28 bb)
David DiBernardi  –  990,000  (40 bb)

At Table 8, Steven Cabas moved all in UTG+1 for 145,000, and Brandon Lalloo moved all in over the top from the cutoff for about 450,000 with . Cabas turned over , and needed to improve to stay alive.

The board came — Cabas turned a diamond flush draw, but improved no further. Lalloo won the pot with two pair, nines and sixes, to eliminate Cabas in 55th place.

Brandon Lalloo  –  650,000  (26 bb)
Steven Cabas  –  Eliminated in 55th Place  ($3,397)

With 53 players remaining, the average chip stack is about 795,000 (32 big blinds), and the field is playing all the way down to the nine-handed WPTDeepStacks final table tonight. The final table begins tomorrow at 2:00 pm, with the WPT Live Stream beginning at 2:30 pm on a 30-minute delay.

2020 Lucky Hearts Poker Open
Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino
Hollywood, Florida
Event 5
$400 Big O (Re-Entry)
Entries:  87
Prize Pool:  $29,580
January 11, 2020

Edwards Muñiz came to Seminole Hard Rock Hollywood for the weekend to play the $1,100 WPTDeepStacks event, and on Friday night he bagged up the Day 1B chip lead with 412,000 in chips.

That left Muñiz with a day off on Saturday, and there was only one other trophy event running that day — $400 Big O, a five-card version of PLO-8.

There was only one problem for Muñiz, who is a self-proclaimed hold’em player. “I’ve literally never played Big O before.”

“I’ve played dealer’s choice at home games with friends where Omaha would come up,” said Muñiz, “but I’ve never played an Omaha tournament, and I’ve never played an Omaha cash game.”

But beginner’s luck worked in Muñiz’s favor today, and he wound up with a massive chip lead when the final three players made a deal to end the tournament. As chipleader, Muñiz was declared the winner, receiving the title and the trophy.

The final hand of the tournament, where Muñiz eliminated Claudangelo Beaudouin in fourth place, was the most memorable for him.

“I can’t believe I hit that miracle three on the river,” said Muñiz. “I have no idea how I won, but I will take it.”

Muñiz will be back tomorrow at 12:00 noon for Day 2 of the WPTDeepStacks event, where he will start the day 10th in chips. Will playing a full day of Big O have any effect on Muñiz’s hold’em game?

“I’m sure my brain is a little bit scrambled,” said Muñiz. “I hope I can get some rest and be prepared for tomorrow. I’m going to have to reset my brain altogether.”

Final Results:

1st:  William Edwards Muñiz  –  $8,725 + LHPO Trophy*
2nd:  Harry Eisenberg  –  $5,815*
3rd:  Miami John Cernuto  –  $3,940*
4th:  Claudangelo Beaudouin  –  $2,775
5th:  Gabriel Ramos  –  $2,025
6th:  Barak Zaken  –  $1,540
7th:  Bobbi Smith  –  $1,220
8th:  Kevin Love  –  $1,010
9th:  Stephen Allen  –  $870
10th:  Joseph Treffiletti  –  $870
11th:  Barry Levy  –  $790

* Denotes results of a three-way deal.