$300 H.O.R.S.E. (Re-Entry)
Upcoming Level 11: 1,500/3,000 Limits
Prize Pool: $14,790
Players Remaining: 20/58
Average Stack: 29,000 (9 bb)
The remaining 20 players are on a 40-minute early dinner break. On top of the chip counts is William “Bumpereno” Munley with about 75,000.
Here are the payouts:
1st: $4,584
2nd: $3,254
3rd: $2,071
4th: $1,479
5th: $1,183
6th: $887
7th: $740
8th: $592
$300 H.O.R.S.E. (Re-Entry)
Level 10: 1,200/2,400 Limits
Prize Pool: $14,790
Players Remaining: 25/58
Average Stack: 23,200 (9 bb)
Hold’em
The player under gun raised, Ben Matthews called from the cutoff, and David Prociak called from the small blind.
The flop fell 
and Prociak checked to the preflop raiser who continued. Matthews and Prociak both called.
The turn was the 
and Prociak checked to the UTG player who bet again. Matthews folded and Prociak called.
The river was the 
and both players checked.
Prociak tabled 
for a pair of jacks, his opponent flashed the 
and mucked, and Prociak collected the pot.
David Prociak – 33,000 (13 BB)
$300 H.O.R.S.E. (Re-Entry)
Level 10: 1,200/2,400 Limits
Prize Pool: $14,790
Players Remaining: 26/58
Omaha 8
With the board reading 
, Event 11 champion Ronnie Morone was all in for his last 1,400 with 
against his opponent’s 
.
“Need a six,” said Morone, looking for a scoop.
The river was the 
, no help to Morone, ending his tournament.
$300 H.O.R.S.E. (Re-Entry)
Level 8: 800/1,600 Limits
Prize Pool: $14,790
Players Remaining: 34/58
Event 15 drew 58 entries and the top 8 places will be paid. Among the 34 remaining players are Robert Campbell, Hal Klein, Event 11 champion Ronnie Morone, and Events 5 and 14 champion David Prociak.
1st: $4,584
2nd: $3,254
3rd: $2,071
4th: $1,479
5th: $1,183
6th: $887
7th: $740
8th: $592
$150 No Limit Hold’em (Re-Entry)
Upcoming Level 15: 1,500/3,000 with a 500 ante
Players Remaining: 119/1,239
Day 2 begins at 1pm.
| Table | Seat | First Name | Last Name | Chip Count |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 4 | 2 | Rick | Wang | 108,000 |
| 4 | 3 | Enrique | Perez | 67,000 |
| 4 | 4 | Amir | Susak | 78,500 |
| 4 | 5 | Danny | Alvarez | 172,500 |
| 4 | 6 | Robert | Kenney | 22,500 |
| 4 | 7 | Cornelius | Rogers | 94,500 |
| 4 | 8 | Ariel | Rosello | 103,500 |
| 4 | 9 | Kyle | Sorel | 68,000 |
| 5 | 1 | Robert | Smith | 204,000 |
| 5 | 2 | Gustavo | Vasquez | 261,500 |
| 5 | 3 | Robert | Transue | 23,500 |
| 5 | 5 | Austin | Rattet | 107,000 |
| 5 | 6 | Yigal | Hen | 28,000 |
| 5 | 7 | Marcello | Bellizzi | 68,000 |
| 5 | 8 | Luke | Doolittle | 50,500 |
| 5 | 9 | Andrew | Thompson | 135,500 |
| 6 | 1 | Jami | Kopacz | 176,000 |
| 6 | 2 | Rafael | Ramos | 20,000 |
| 6 | 3 | Jonathan | Booker | 125,000 |
| 6 | 4 | Robert | Blankenship | 102,500 |
| 6 | 6 | Giovanni | Sigurta | 125,000 |
| 6 | 7 | Louis | Leo IV | 94,000 |
| 6 | 8 | Al | Gomez | 87,000 |
| 7 | 1 | Michael | Spiegel | 133,500 |
| 7 | 2 | Mark | Nahama | 202,000 |
| 7 | 3 | Nicholas | Lind | 162,500 |
| 7 | 5 | Alicia | Goldstein | 76,500 |
| 7 | 6 | Vincent | Spadavecchia | 188,500 |
| 7 | 7 | Carlos | Nieto | 50,500 |
| 7 | 8 | Robert | Seaton | 119,000 |
| 7 | 9 | Veronica | Rivera | 82,000 |
| 8 | 1 | Steven | Richardson | 52,500 |
| 8 | 2 | Michael | Foley | 207,500 |
| 8 | 3 | Oren | Maimon | 57,000 |
| 8 | 4 | Onipi | McCalla | 75,000 |
| 8 | 5 | Ben | Sriqui | 58,000 |
| 8 | 6 | Jean | Bissereth | 83,000 |
| 8 | 7 | Clifford | Conners | 70,000 |
| 8 | 8 | Ely | Levy | 230,000 |
| 12 | 1 | Howard | Wolina | 27,000 |
| 12 | 2 | Bradley | Young | 134,500 |
| 12 | 3 | Chris | Cristillo | 69,000 |
| 12 | 4 | Luiz | de Farias | 172,500 |
| 12 | 6 | Thomas | Gari | 55,000 |
| 12 | 7 | Alex | Faynshteyn | 94,500 |
| 12 | 8 | Andrew | Laroue | 184,500 |
| 12 | 9 | Phillip | Brill | 89,500 |
| 13 | 1 | Brian | O'Keefe | 123,000 |
| 13 | 3 | Eli | Herst | 71,500 |
| 13 | 4 | John | Dollinger | 189,000 |
| 13 | 5 | Carlo | Rodriguez | 292,500 |
| 13 | 6 | Brian | Phillis | 60,000 |
| 13 | 7 | Billie | Bowman | 239,000 |
| 13 | 8 | Gaston | Miculitzki | 142,000 |
| 13 | 9 | Paulette | Pipitone | 36,500 |
| 14 | 1 | Whitney | Nordelus | 34,500 |
| 14 | 2 | Abraham | Yehudai | 124,000 |
| 14 | 3 | Richard | Saunders | 101,500 |
| 14 | 4 | Matthew | Yorra | 108,500 |
| 14 | 5 | Elias | Nassif | 133,000 |
| 14 | 6 | Martin | Robbins | 158,000 |
| 14 | 7 | Julian Cesar | Guimaraes | 64,500 |
| 14 | 8 | Bob | Chow | 51,500 |
| 15 | 1 | Edward | Medoff | 221,500 |
| 15 | 2 | Sean | Anderson | 82,000 |
| 15 | 3 | Frank | Flowers | 298,000 |
| 15 | 4 | Jeffrey | Burgner | 46,500 |
| 15 | 5 | Washington | Gavilanes | 260,000 |
| 15 | 6 | Steve | Olivier | 115,000 |
| 15 | 8 | Adam | Perez | 92,500 |
| 15 | 9 | Devond | Marshall | 79,000 |
| 16 | 2 | Robert | Womack | 41,500 |
| 16 | 3 | Matthew | Gallen | 91,500 |
| 16 | 4 | Lee | Connell | 29,000 |
| 16 | 5 | Esteban | Garcia | 161,000 |
| 16 | 6 | Evan | Lash | 81,000 |
| 16 | 7 | Juan | Rodriguez | 78,500 |
| 16 | 8 | Robert | Lein | 57,500 |
| 16 | 9 | Jeff | Rodriguez | 113,000 |
| 20 | 1 | Alan | Santisteban | 77,500 |
| 20 | 2 | Luis | Arguelo | 173,000 |
| 20 | 3 | Stuart | Greenbaum | 196,000 |
| 20 | 4 | Gudmundur | Sigurjonsson | 89,000 |
| 20 | 5 | Chris | Asaro | 74,500 |
| 20 | 6 | Luke | Poljak | 67,000 |
| 20 | 8 | James | Jones | 64,500 |
| 20 | 9 | Michael | Marks | 135,000 |
| 21 | 1 | Wally | Madah | 45,000 |
| 21 | 2 | Song | Yim | 132,000 |
| 21 | 3 | Yaron | Lukshinski | 68,000 |
| 21 | 4 | Daniel | Mijal | 59,500 |
| 21 | 5 | Diana | Dinger | 57,500 |
| 21 | 7 | Ketan | Patel | 73,000 |
| 21 | 8 | Paul | Balzano | 138,500 |
| 21 | 9 | Kevin | Blewitt | 28,500 |
| 22 | 1 | Lazaro | Ruiz | 147,500 |
| 22 | 2 | Alberto | Niebla | 40,000 |
| 22 | 4 | Arif | Amirali | 117,000 |
| 22 | 5 | Ryan | Redey | 39,500 |
| 22 | 6 | Roman | Peshekhonov | 53,000 |
| 22 | 7 | Deborah | Dana | 109,500 |
| 22 | 8 | Scott | McInnis | 119,500 |
| 22 | 9 | Ricardo | Marte | 77,500 |
| 23 | 1 | Elliott | Zaydman | 30,500 |
| 23 | 2 | Robert | Grindell | 76,500 |
| 23 | 3 | Gregg | Silverstein | 88,500 |
| 23 | 4 | William | Farnan | 192,500 |
| 23 | 5 | Ethiel | Garcia | 65,000 |
| 23 | 6 | Elliott | Commings | 24,000 |
| 23 | 8 | Ken | Bruno | 60,000 |
| 23 | 9 | Di | Wang | 64,000 |
| 24 | 1 | Craig | Witz | 108,500 |
| 24 | 2 | Luis | Bastidas | 95,500 |
| 24 | 3 | Melissa | Kaiser | 39,000 |
| 24 | 5 | Jordan | Meltzer | 235,000 |
| 24 | 6 | Samir | Husaynue | 63,500 |
| 24 | 7 | Voitto | Rintala | 149,500 |
| 24 | 8 | Anthony | Vidmer | 135,000 |
| 24 | 9 | Daryl | Cahuasqui-Vega | 103,500 |
$150 No Limit Hold’em (Re-Entry)
Upcoming Level 15: 1,500/3,000 with a 500 ante
Players Remaining: 119/1,239
Day 2 begins at 1pm.
| Rank | First Name | Last Name | Chip Count |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Frank | Flowers | 298,000 |
| 2 | Carlo | Rodriguez | 292,500 |
| 3 | Gustavo | Vasquez | 261,500 |
| 4 | Washington | Gavilanes | 260,000 |
| 5 | Billie | Bowman | 239,000 |
| 6 | Jordan | Meltzer | 235,000 |
| 7 | Ely | Levy | 230,000 |
| 8 | Edward | Medoff | 221,500 |
| 9 | Michael | Foley | 207,500 |
| 10 | Robert | Smith | 204,000 |
| 11 | Mark | Nahama | 202,000 |
| 12 | Stuart | Greenbaum | 196,000 |
| 13 | William | Farnan | 192,500 |
| 14 | John | Dollinger | 189,000 |
| 15 | Vincent | Spadavecchia | 188,500 |
| 16 | Andrew | Laroue | 184,500 |
| 17 | Jami | Kopacz | 176,000 |
| 18 | Luis | Arguelo | 173,000 |
| 19 | Luiz | de Farias | 172,500 |
| 20 | Danny | Alvarez | 172,500 |
| 21 | Nicholas | Lind | 162,500 |
| 22 | Esteban | Garcia | 161,000 |
| 23 | Martin | Robbins | 158,000 |
| 24 | Voitto | Rintala | 149,500 |
| 25 | Lazaro | Ruiz | 147,500 |
| 26 | Gaston | Miculitzki | 142,000 |
| 27 | Paul | Balzano | 138,500 |
| 28 | Andrew | Thompson | 135,500 |
| 29 | Anthony | Vidmer | 135,000 |
| 30 | Michael | Marks | 135,000 |
| 31 | Bradley | Young | 134,500 |
| 32 | Michael | Spiegel | 133,500 |
| 33 | Elias | Nassif | 133,000 |
| 34 | Song | Yim | 132,000 |
| 35 | Giovanni | Sigurta | 125,000 |
| 36 | Jonathan | Booker | 125,000 |
| 37 | Abraham | Yehudai | 124,000 |
| 38 | Brian | O'Keefe | 123,000 |
| 39 | Scott | McInnis | 119,500 |
| 40 | Robert | Seaton | 119,000 |
| 41 | Arif | Amirali | 117,000 |
| 42 | Steve | Olivier | 115,000 |
| 43 | Jeff | Rodriguez | 113,000 |
| 44 | Deborah | Dana | 109,500 |
| 45 | Matthew | Yorra | 108,500 |
| 46 | Craig | Witz | 108,500 |
| 47 | Rick | Wang | 108,000 |
| 48 | Austin | Rattet | 107,000 |
| 49 | Ariel | Rosello | 103,500 |
| 50 | Daryl | Cahuasqui-Vega | 103,500 |
| 51 | Robert | Blankenship | 102,500 |
| 52 | Richard | Saunders | 101,500 |
| 53 | Luis | Bastidas | 95,500 |
| 54 | Alex | Faynshteyn | 94,500 |
| 55 | Cornelius | Rogers | 94,500 |
| 56 | Louis | Leo IV | 94,000 |
| 57 | Adam | Perez | 92,500 |
| 58 | Matthew | Gallen | 91,500 |
| 59 | Phillip | Brill | 89,500 |
| 60 | Gudmundur | Sigurjonsson | 89,000 |
| 61 | Gregg | Silverstein | 88,500 |
| 62 | Al | Gomez | 87,000 |
| 63 | Jean | Bissereth | 83,000 |
| 64 | Veronica | Rivera | 82,000 |
| 65 | Sean | Anderson | 82,000 |
| 66 | Evan | Lash | 81,000 |
| 67 | Devond | Marshall | 79,000 |
| 68 | Amir | Susak | 78,500 |
| 69 | Juan | Rodriguez | 78,500 |
| 70 | Alan | Santisteban | 77,500 |
| 71 | Ricardo | Marte | 77,500 |
| 72 | Robert | Grindell | 76,500 |
| 73 | Alicia | Goldstein | 76,500 |
| 74 | Onipi | McCalla | 75,000 |
| 75 | Chris | Asaro | 74,500 |
| 76 | Ketan | Patel | 73,000 |
| 77 | Eli | Herst | 71,500 |
| 78 | Clifford | Conners | 70,000 |
| 79 | Chris | Cristillo | 69,000 |
| 80 | Kyle | Sorel | 68,000 |
| 81 | Yaron | Lukshinski | 68,000 |
| 82 | Marcello | Bellizzi | 68,000 |
| 83 | Enrique | Perez | 67,000 |
| 84 | Luke | Poljak | 67,000 |
| 85 | Ethiel | Garcia | 65,000 |
| 86 | Julian Cesar | Guimaraes | 64,500 |
| 87 | James | Jones | 64,500 |
| 88 | Di | Wang | 64,000 |
| 89 | Samir | Husaynue | 63,500 |
| 90 | Brian | Phillis | 60,000 |
| 91 | Ken | Bruno | 60,000 |
| 92 | Daniel | Mijal | 59,500 |
| 93 | Ben | Sriqui | 58,000 |
| 94 | Diana | Dinger | 57,500 |
| 95 | Robert | Lein | 57,500 |
| 96 | Oren | Maimon | 57,000 |
| 97 | Thomas | Gari | 55,000 |
| 98 | Roman | Peshekhonov | 53,000 |
| 99 | Steven | Richardson | 52,500 |
| 100 | Bob | Chow | 51,500 |
| 101 | Carlos | Nieto | 50,500 |
| 102 | Luke | Doolittle | 50,500 |
| 103 | Jeffrey | Burgner | 46,500 |
| 104 | Wally | Madah | 45,000 |
| 105 | Robert | Womack | 41,500 |
| 106 | Alberto | Niebla | 40,000 |
| 107 | Ryan | Redey | 39,500 |
| 108 | Melissa | Kaiser | 39,000 |
| 109 | Paulette | Pipitone | 36,500 |
| 110 | Whitney | Nordelus | 34,500 |
| 111 | Elliott | Zaydman | 30,500 |
| 112 | Lee | Connell | 29,000 |
| 113 | Kevin | Blewitt | 28,500 |
| 114 | Yigal | Hen | 28,000 |
| 115 | Howard | Wolina | 27,000 |
| 116 | Elliott | Commings | 24,000 |
| 117 | Robert | Transue | 23,500 |
| 118 | Robert | Kenney | 22,500 |
| 119 | Rafael | Ramos | 20,000 |
$1,650 Pot Limit Omaha
Level 13: 3,000/6,000
Players Remaining: 1 of 34
Oren Maimon raised to 18,000 from the button, David Prociak reraised the pot to 54,000 from the big blind, Maimon shoved for about 86,000, and Prociak called.
Maimon: 
Prociak: 
The board came down 
, giving both players a pair of kings. Prociak, though, had the better of it with an ace kicker to win the pot and his second event of the 2017 Lucky Hearts Poker Open. The victory earned him $20,400.
Maimon pocketed $14,280 for his second-place finish.
$1,650 Pot Limit Omaha
Level 13: 3,000/6,000
Players Remaining: 2 of 34
Average Stack: 255,000 (42 bb)
John Palace raised from the button, Oren Maimon reraised the pot from the big blind, and Palace called all in for about 45,000 with 
. Maimon showed 
.
The board rolled out 
, giving Maimon a pair of aces to eliminate Palace in third place.
Oren Maimon – 140,000 (23 bb)
John Palace – Eliminated in 3rd Place ($9,180)
$1,650 Pot Limit Omaha
Level 12: 2,500/5,000
Players Remaining: 3 of 34
Average Stack: 170,000 (34 bb)
Juuso Leppanen was all in for about 25,000 from under the gun with 
against David Prociak in the big blind with 
.
The board came down 
, giving Prociak a queen-high flush to eliminate Leppanen in fourth place.
David Prociak – 340,000 (68 bb)
Juuso Leppanen – Eliminated in 4th Place ($7,140)
2017 Lucky Hearts Poker Open
Seminole Hard Rock Hotel and Casino
Event 12
$1,650 No-Limit Hold’em Purple Chip Bounty (Re-Entry)
Total Entries: 129
Prize Pool: $135,500
January 23-24, 2017
Hollywood, Fla. (January 24, 2017) – Event 12 of the 2017 Lucky Hearts Poker Open, a $1,650 No-Limit Hold’em Purple Chip Bounty (Re-Entry) , drew 129 entries and generated a prize pool of $135,500. The event lasted two days, and 15 players came back on Tuesday to battle it out for a first-place prize of nearly $40,000. When the dust settled, a deal was agreed upon by the final three players and Igor Merda earned the victory as the chip leader.
The 30-year old husband and father was born and raised in Croatia. He moved to Germany at the age of 13 and after traveling for a while, he settled down with his wife and child in Miami a few years ago.
“I’ve been playing poker professionally since 2010, mostly cash games locally,” said Merda. “This is the first tournament I’ve won, and I’m very happy about it. That’s why I was so willing to do the deal. Just having the feeling of winning a tournament.”
Despite his success playing cash games, Merda plans to transition into tournament poker.
“I played tournaments every so often over the years, but I plan to play a lot more this year and really focus on it. I think I played maybe 15 at the Seminole Hard Rock last year, but I’ll be playing more this year, especially after getting this win.”
| Place | First Name | Last Name | Prize Money |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Igor | Merda | $33,361* |
| 2 | Frank | Silverstein | $23,218* |
| 3 | Stewart | Newman | $19,301* |
| 4 | Joey | Weissman | $10,840 |
| 5 | Stanley | Lee | $8,130 |
| 6 | Larry | Baxter | $6,775 |
| 7 | Dmitry | Savelyev | $5,420 |
| 8 | Mike | Comisso | $4,065 |
| 9 | Jeff | Manders | $3,049 |
| 10 | Gilbert | Diaz | $2,710 |
| 11 | Erik | Christensen | $2,710 |
| 12 | Jack | Duong | $2,710 |
| 13 | Joseph | Zelnick | $2,371 |
| 14 | Griffin | Abel | $2,371 |
| 15 | Richard | Rice | $2,371 |
| 16 | Craig | Feldman | $2,033 |
| 17 | Barry | Pevner | $2,033 |
| 18 | Joshua | Cranfill | $2,033 |
*denotes three-handed deal