All posts by Mickey Doft

Event 14: Ben Yu Doubles Through Neil Patel

$2,200 No Limit Hold’em (Re-Entry)
$200,000 Guaranteed | Structure Payouts
Level 16: 1,500/3,000 with a 500 ante
Players Remaining: 22 of 167

On the seventh hand of hand-for-hand play, Neil Patel raised from the hijack and Ben Yu reraised all in for 37,000 from the button. Patel called with 6h6s, trailing Yu’s AhAc.

The board came down KcJh9d5h7h, safe for Yu to double up.

Ben Yu – 82,000 (27 bb)
Neil Patel – 97,000 (32 bb)

Event 14: Dylan Linde Doubles Through Ben Yu

$2,200 No Limit Hold’em (Re-Entry)
$200,000 Guaranteed | Structure Payouts
Level 16: 1,500/3,000 with a 500 ante
Players Remaining: 22 of 167

With play on the money bubble, Dylan Linde raised all in for 14,500 from the hijack and Ben Yu called from the cutoff.

Linde: JsJc
Yu: KhQc

The board came down 9d4c3s5h2s, safe for Linde to survive and double up.

Dylan Linde – 37,000 (12 bb)
Ben Yu – 48,000 (16 bb)

Event 14: Ray Qartomy Eliminated by Jeremy Ausmus

$2,200 No Limit Hold’em (Re-Entry)
$200,000 Guaranteed | Structure Payouts
Level 15: 1,200/2,400 with a 400 ante
Players Remaining: 25 of 167

Adrian Mateos raised to 5,500 from early position, Ray Qartomy called from the next seat over, and Jeremy Ausmus three-bet to 16,400 from middle position. Mateos folded, and Qartomy called.

The flop came down Js10d5c, Qartomy jammed for about 42,000, and Ausmus tanked for a bit before he called.

Qartomy: Ah10h
Ausmus: AcKc

Qartomy was ahead with a pair of tens, but the turn was the Ks to give Ausmus the lead with a pair of kings.

The river was the 4c, no help to Qartomy, ending his tournament.

Jeremy Ausmus – 125,000 (52 bb)
Ray Qartomy – Eliminated

Event 14: A Few Chip Counts From the Field

$2,200 No Limit Hold’em (Re-Entry)
$200,000 Guaranteed | Structure | Payouts
Level 13: 800/1,600 with a 200 ante
Players Remaining: 35 of 167

Faraz Jaka – 175,000 (109 bb)
Darren Rabinowitz -150,000 (94 bb)
Michael Tureniec – 90,000 (56 bb)
Olivier Busquet – 80,000 (50 bb)
Ray Qartomy – 68,000 (42 bb)
Adrian Mateos – 56,000 (35 bb)
Dylan Linde – 51,000 (32 bb)
Jeremy Ausmus – 48,000 (30 bb)
Jake Toole – 46,000 (29 bb)
Jeff Gross – 36,000 (23 bb)
Ben Yu – 27,000 (17 bb)
Ari Engel – 25,000 (16 bb)
Bruce Kramer – 20,000 (13 bb)
Bryn Kenney – 18,000 (12 bb)

Event 13: Ari Engel Wins After Heads-Up Deal

2018 Lucky Hearts Poker Open
Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino 
Hollywood, Florida
Event 13
$1,100 No Limit Hold’em (Re-Entry)
Entries: 232
Prize Pool: $225,040
January 17, 2018

                                                                                   Ari Engel

Event 13 of the 2018 Lucky Hearts Poker Open was an $1,100 No Limit Hold’em (Re-Entry) tournament. A total of 232 entries generated a prize pool of $225,040, more than doubling the $100,000 guarantee. The final table produced several of poker’s best, and in the end it was down to Loni Harwood and Ari Engel. The two accomplished professionals agreed to a deal and as chip leader, Engel was officially declared the winner.

“Chopping with Loni, who’s a friend, is really cool,” Engel said afterward. “We’ve been playing for so long together, so it’s always fun to both do really well.”

Engel is no stranger to winning poker tournaments. In fact, this marks his 24th official live tournament win according to Hendon Mob, and his second at the Seminole Hard Rock.

He scored the elimination on the money bubble to propel the remaining 29 players into the money, won a crucial hand with pocket aces to seize a hefty chip lead, and began the final table on top of the chip counts.

“I came into the final table with a huge chip lead, and usually, I mess those up. So it’s cool not to mess it up this time.”

Still, It was a tumultuous final table for Engel, one that saw him go from chip leader to the short stack with five players remaining. However, he battled back to retake the chip lead, thanks to a dramatic hand in which the odds of winning outright were less than 6%.

“I can’t believe I beat ace-king with ace-king, and also earlier in the tournament king-jack against king-jack. Earlier this week I also won with ace-king against ace-king suited, so that’s three times this week against the same hand that I won.”

For Engel, the victory pushes him above the $5.3 million mark in career live poker tournament winnings.

“I don’t even know what’s happening, I’m just running amazing. It’s ridiculous.”

Results 
1st: Ari Engel – $45,688*
2nd: Loni Harwood – $44,582*
3rd: John Richards – $23,067
4th: Haim Toorgeman – $14,031
5th: Michael Pearson – $10,836
6th: Kelly Minkin – $8,979
7th: Paul Balzano – $7,651
8th: Maria Ho – $6,526
9th: Jeremy Ausmus – $5,304
10th: David Finkelstein – $4,631
11th: Ira Schwartz – $4,631
12th: Scott Efron -$4,631
13th: Stephen Song – $3,972
14th: Jake Bazeley – $3,972
15th: Eduardo Christ – $3,972
16th: Tajesh Patel – $3,313
17th: Philipp Kampf – $3,313
18th: Vladislav Varlashin – $3,313
19th: Jeffrey Soffer – $2,653
20th: Arunas Sapitavicius – $2,653
21st: Dylan Linde – $2,653
22nd: Darren Rabinowitz – $2,082
23rd: Ryan McKnight – $2,082
24th: Roland Israelashvili – $2,082
25th: Kenneth Slater – $1,771
26th: Aaron Massey – $1,771
27th: Almedin Imsirovic – $1,771
28th: Shea Smith – $1,555
29th: Bienvenido Santiago – $1,555

*denotes heads-up deal

Event 13: We Have a Deal!

$1,100 No Limit Hold’em (Re-Entry)
Structure Payouts
Level 26: 15,000/30,000 with a 5,000 ante
Players Remaining: 2 of 232

              Loni Harwood (left), Ari Engel (middle), and GOAT railbird Darren Rabinowitz (right)

Ari Engel and Loni Harwood agreed to an ICM deal before heads-up play began.

Here were the chip counts:

Ari Engel – 1,490,000 (50 bb)
Loni Harwood – 1,295,000 (43 bb)

As chip leader, Engel is officially the winner of Event 13 of the 2018 Lucky Hearts Poker Open.

Here were their payouts:

Ari Engel – $45,688
Loni Harwood – $44,582

A recap of the tournament will be posted later tonight.

Event 13: John Richards – 3rd Place ($23,067)

$1,100 No Limit Hold’em (Re-Entry)
Structure Payouts
Level 26: 15,000/30,000 with a 5,000 ante
Players Remaining: 2 of 232

                                                                           John Richards – 3rd Place

John Richards raised to 65,000 from the button, Loni Harwood reraised all in from the small blind for about 650,000, Ari Engel folded his big blind, and Richards tanked for a bit before he called all in for roughly 600,000.

Richards: As8c
Harwood: QsJh

The board came down 8s6c4d5hJs, giving Harwood a pair of jacks on the river to eliminate Richards in third place for $23,067.

Loni Harwood – 1,295,000 (43 bb)
John Richards – Eliminated

Event 13: Haim Toorgeman – 4th Place ($14,031); Ari Engel Retakes the Chip Lead In Dramatic Fashion

$1,100 No Limit Hold’em (Re-Entry)
Structure Payouts
Level 26: 15,000/30,000 with a 5,000 ante
Players Remaining: 3 of 232

Haim Toorgeman – 4th Place

Haim Toorgeman raised all in from the button for 350,000, Loni Harwood reraised all in with a chip-leading stack from the small blind, and Ari Engel called all in from the big blind for 580,000.

Toorgeman: 8s8d
Harwood: AhKh
Engel: AdKd

The flop came KcJd7d, pairing both Harwood and Engel to give them the lead with a pair of kings. Engel, though, picked up a flush draw.

Toorgeman was well behind now with his eights, but the turn was the 8h to vault him back ahead with a set.

However, the 9d river completed the board to give Engel an ace-high flush to eliminate Toorgeman and double through Harwood.

Toorgeman finished in fourth place for $14,031.

Ari Engel – 1,530,000 (51 bb)
Loni Harwood – 750,000 (25 bb)
Haim Toorgeman – Eliminated

Event 13: Michael Pearson – 5th Place ($10,836)

$1,100 No Limit Hold’em (Re-Entry)
Structure Payouts
Level 26: 15,000/30,000 with a 5,000 ante
Players Remaining: 4 of 232

                                                Michael Pearson – 5th Place

John Richards raised to 60,000 from the cutoff, Michael Pearson called all in for 30,000 from the button, Loni Harwood reraised all in with a chip leading stack from the big blind, and Richards folded.

Pearson: Ad8d
Harwood: 4h4d

The board came down JdJh9c2s10s, no help to Pearson, ending his tournament in fifth place for $10,836.

Loni Harwood – 1,300,000 (43 bb)
Michael Pearson – Eliminated