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Raminder Singh Shows His Lion’s Will to Win on the Path to the Trophy in the 2024 Lucky Hearts Poker Open Championship

2024 Lucky Hearts Poker Open
Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino
Hollywood, Florida
Event 34
$3,500 LHPO Championship (Re-Entry)
Entries:  1,188
Prize Pool:  $3,801,600
January 18 – 23, 2024

One of South Florida’s own has taken home the top prize in the Championship at the Lucky Hearts Poker Open. Raminder Singh added to his robust trophy case by capturing the giant guitar pick trophy, along with the largest cash of his poker career worth $486,353. That puts his total career earnings close to $3 million. He topped a field of 1,188 entries to win the title, including a talented group of players on the final day of the tournament that concluded when the final three agreed to a chop when Singh had secured the chip lead against Dan Martin (second place), and Jesse Lonis (third place).

We caught up with Singh after he had the trophy in hand  for an interview about his victory, and here is what he had to say right after the win. “It feels really great, I don’t really ever play any big tournaments that go into the week. I need to have a pretty fine schedule to skip all my work and play, so normally I don’t play these. But this time my friends, they convinced me to play in this. This was the time to play. I’ve been in good form, I’ve been playing well, I couldn’t miss this tournament,” said Singh.

He can often be found playing in tournaments with his Team Singh shirt, and he showed a lion’s will down the homestretch of the tournament in his determination to win the trophy, even when chops had been previously offered. “Team Singh, the lion on my shirt was basically invented by my nephews. Harry, Jason, and Sandy, and like 20 of their friends and others that are in the network that call me uncle, so I’m the universal uncle. They are all my nephews. Even locally here, a lot of the players I play against – It’s in the family. Singh means lion actually in our language,” said Singh.

When you have over 90 tournament wins on your poker resume it’s probably time to get a trophy case, and this is the victory that’s got him thinking that way. “With this prestigious win, to be honest with you I may really have to think about a trophy case with this giant trophy. This is my No. 1 win. This is by far my largest score,” said Singh.

He continued, “I have a lot of respect for the players here, and the staff. Amazing fields, and it’s amazing the way they organize these tournaments and these series. It’s local here, so it’s so good, like a 45-minute drive for me. I really enjoy it here, Hard Rock is my favorite place to play poker.”

We followed with a question about how all those previous journeys to the end of a tournament helped him finish the job today, and he replied with this. “Your experience does help, in every field of your life, not just poker. This is the first time I’ve played until Day 4 in a tournament, but I have played the WSOP main a couple of times. This was really an interesting structure where the blind levels moved from 90 minutes and then to 60 at the final table, and we were very deep. I’m a businessman at my core, so i strongly believe in horses for courses. When you play a turbo it’s a different minefield, when you play a $3,500 it’s a different level of players and a different structure, so you have to adjust your patience and that animal instinct that’s inside that’s trying to really, really be aggressive. You’ve got to control it more, and tame it back a little. You’ve got to sit back and read people more,” said Singh.

If you spend any amount of time watching Singh play at a poker table you can quickly tell he is the conversation captain anywhere he is seated. We asked him about that outgoing personality, and here is how Singh responded, “To be honest I just like to talk as humans. I’m a businessman as I said. I was very introverted growing up, but I got some very good mentors in my life that helped me develop my people skills, and I enjoy life. If you love to talk it’s not so much about the hands or the strategy, it’s more about life.”

Our table-side chat finished with trying to settle the score if Singh still considers himself an amateur after so much success in closing out poker tournaments, but it doesn’t sound like he’s about to give that moniker up anytime soon. “An amateur is an amateur is an amateur for life [laughs]. So I would love to keep that title of a true poker amateur unless I win the WSOP main event one day. If I win that tournament then I will retire that title, and take whatever title comes with that,” said Singh.

The victory is also Singh’s 11th SHRP major series trophy, retaking the lead atop the all-time winners list.

2015 SHRPO – $250 No-Limit Hold’em – ($6,716)
2015 RRPO – $350 NLHE Black Chip Bounty – ($11,400)
2015 RRPO – $350 No-Limit Hold’em Big Stack – ($15,298)
2018 RRPO – $1,100 No-Limit Hold’em – ($37,706)
2019 SHRPO – $600 No-Limit Hold’em Deep Stack – ($200,000)
2020 LHPO – $600 No-Limit Hold’em Six Max – ($22,520)
2021 SHRPO – $200 Double Green Chip Bounty NLH – ($6,256)
2022 Showdown – $150 Big Stack No-Limit Hold’em – ($5,008)
2022 RRPO – $600 Deep Stack Turbo No-Limit Hold’em – ($7,897)
2023 Showdown – $400 Deep Stack No-Limit Hold’em – ($12,230)
2024 LHPO – $3,500 No-Limit Hold’em Championship – ($486,353)

PlaceFirst NameLast NamePrize Amount
1RaminderSingh$486,353*
2DanMartin$460,000*
3JesseLonis$404,247*
4JustinDatloff$229,900
5JonathanJaffe$173,500
6MitchGarshofsky$132,300
7BennyGlaser$102,000
8TobyJoyce$79,400
9BrianHastings$62,500
10ThomasWinschel$62,500
11SamuelWynder$49,700
12OlivierRebello$49,700
13LukeMcIntosh$40,000
14SeanTroha$40,000
15AndrewMoreno$32,500
16JoelDeutsch$32,500
17HarveyCastro$26,800
18EricLea$26,800
19JimCollopy$26,800
20SethFischer$26,800
21NicholasMahabee$22,300
22JeanGaspard$22,300
23NickolasVinson$22,300
24Benjamin Perez$22,300
25FabianGumz$18,700
26AndrzejRogowski$18,700
27T.K.Miles$18,700
28FrankWeigel$18,700
29JustinCarey$18,700
30JamesOrleans$18,700
31JonBorenstein$18,700
32EricYanovsky$18,700
33BenjaminGrise$16,000
34KristenFoxen$16,000
35PetarKalev$16,000
36RonKatz$16,000
37ScottBaumstein$16,000
38JoelGola$16,000
39JordanSparagana$16,000
40RossCorless$16,000
41ElanitHasas$13,700
42AaronGunn$13,700
43StevenSnyder$13,700
44KathyLiebert$13,700
45MattLambrecht$13,700
46AaronSteury$13,700
47IanGillespie$13,700
48DomMosley$13,700
49JosephBrum Pacheco$12,000
50JohnnyBromberg$12,000
51StephenMuschett$12,000
52JasonBlodgett$12,000
53GusRaptis$12,000
54SimonWilson$12,000
55ShaneSantacroce$12,000
56CobiCobian$12,000
57LukeBrereton$10,600
58ZhenCai$10,600
59TimothyMina$10,600
60JorgeManzur Duarte$10,600
61AlexanderZiskin$10,600
62EiderDa Cruz$10,600
63VamsiMagam$10,600
64LouOjeda$10,600
65StevenRosen$9,400
66TimothyMulroy$9,400
67BrianScott$9,400
68JeremyJoseph$9,400
69AlejandroGonzalez Olaechea$9,400
70DavidLevy$9,400
71JorisRuijs$9,400
72AlekseiIstomin$9,400
73FrederickAttias$8,500
74CarloRodriguez$8,500
75OleksandrGnatenko$8,500
76TylerDenson$8,500
77AnthonyBertuccio$8,500
78MaykolTrujillo Garcia$8,500
79MarkAbboud$8,500
80DennisStevermer$8,500
81JonathanMoschel$7,800
82PhilippeSouki$7,800
83DarryllFish$7,800
84StevenRichardson$7,800
85BrandonWittmeyer$7,800
86NicholasChong$7,800
87MichaelLaufer$7,800
88JeffersonZaminhan$7,800
89TylerCampbell$7,100
90JuanMembreno Orellano$7,100
91JoshArieh$7,100
92BassamMourad$7,100
93BrandonNavarrete$7,100
94NikitaKalinin$7,100
95GeraldCunniff$7,100
96RonnieAbro$7,100
97RichardFlach$7,100
98CarlCarodenuto$7,100
99VictorNissim$7,100
100JustinTurner$7,100
101Viktor Ustimov$7,100
102MichelBittan$7,100
103RayanChamas$7,100
104StephenKehoe$7,100
105JoeSerock$6,600
106DanHeimiller$6,600
107HaimGabay$6,600
108AndjelkoAndrejevic$6,600
109SpencerChamplin$6,600
110PaulVarano$6,600
111ConnorRash$6,600
112JoseGonzalez$6,600
113A.J.Kelsall$6,600
114AlejandroArana$6,600
115JasonRocha$6,600
116SergioGiha$6,600
117MichaelVanderWoude$6,600
118JohnSpaddavecchia Jr.$6,600
119StoyanMadanzhiev$6,600
120MichaelScoma$6,600
121ArielRosello$6,200
122AngelaLynn$6,200
123MichaelNewman$6,200
124AlGomez$6,200
125BlakeNapierala$6,200
126RichardAlsup$6,200
127NitisUdornpim$6,200
128FrankLagodich$6,200
129RodneyPinkham$6,200
130JeffTrudeau$6,200
131JudithBielan$6,200
132JessicaBeyrer$6,200
133ShawnLucas$6,200
134BenjaminMiner$6,200
135EricSiegel$5,900
136BrendanMurphy$5,900
137ToddIvens$5,900
138NorbertoCharuf Diab$5,900
139TylerRueger$5,900
140DaniGenov$5,900
141YordanPetrov$5,900
142SaberSalum Penayo$5,900
143DylanLinde$5,900
144BryanSchultz$5,900
145SebastienAube$5,900
146BrianNerney$5,900
147JeffreyHood$5,900
148JavierZarco$5,900
149DanielSmiljkovic$5,900

Championship: Dan Martin Doubles Through Jesse Lonis

$3,500 LHPO Championship (Re-Entry)
$2,000,000 Guaranteed | Structure | Payouts | Results
Level 33:  200,000/400,000 with a 400,000 ante
Players Remaining:  3 of 1,188

Dan Martin

Jesse Lonis made it 1.6 million to go preflop from the small blind Dan Martin moved all in for 12,575,000 om the big blind, and Lonis called to cover. The two players then flipped over their cards.

Martin: Ac4h
Lonis: AhJs

Board: Kd5c4c8s6d

Martin spiked the four to double up and survive with 26.15 million, and Lonis was at 11.3 million after the hand.

Dan Martin – 26,150,000 (65 bb)
Jesse Lonis – 11,300,000 (28 bb)

Jesse Lonis pays out the double to Dan Martin

Championship: Raminder Singh vs. Dan Martin

$3,500 LHPO Championship (Re-Entry)
$2,000,000 Guaranteed | Structure | Payouts | Results
Level 33:  200,000/400,000 with a 400,000 ante
Players Remaining:  3 of 1,188

Raminder Singh

The minimum price of admission was in the pot preflop when the first three cards were dealt 7s4s2h. Both Dan Martin (small blind), and Raminder Singh (big blind) each contributed 500,000 more before the turn fell Kc.

Singh bet 1.3 million , and Martin check-called. The river then delivered the 8d, Singh bet 4.7 million, and Martin check-called after using a time chip.

Singh showed Kh8s, and Martin folded his cards. Singh was up to 18.2 million, and Martin was at 13.55 million after the hand.

Raminder Singh – 18,200,000 (45 bb)
Dan Martin – 13,550,000 (33 bb)

Championship: Justin Datloff – 4th Place ($229,900)

$3,500 LHPO Championship (Re-Entry)
$2,000,000 Guaranteed | Structure | Payouts | Results
Level 33:  200,000/400,000 with a 400,000 ante
Players Remaining:  3 of 1,188

Justin Datloff

Jesse Lonis raised to 1.3 million from the button, Justin Datloff reraised all in for 6.4 million from the big blind, and Lonis called to cover him. The two players then flipped over their cards.

Lonis: AhKs
Datloff: 6c6s

Board: Kh8d4h8hJc

Datloff was eliminated in fourth place for a payday good to the tune of $229,900, and Lonis stacked up 23.3 million after collecting the pot.

Jesse Lonis – 23,300,000 (58 bb)
Justin Datloff – Eliminated in 4th Place ($229,900)

Championship: Jesse Lonis Doubles Through Justin Datloff

$3,500 LHPO Championship (Re-Entry)
$2,000,000 Guaranteed | Structure | Payouts | Results
Level 32:  150,000/300,000 with a 300,000 ante
Players Remaining:  4 of 1,188

Jesse Lonis raised to 650,000 preflop from the button, Justin Datloff reraised to 1.9 million on the big blind, and Lonis reraised all in for 7.2 million. Datloff called to cover so the two remaining players revealed their cards.

Lonis: 7d7h
Datloff: KhQc

Board: 8c7c6s10s6d

Lonis doubled up to survive with 15.15 million after collecting the pot, and Datloff was at 9.55 million.

Jesse Lonis – 15,150,000 (37 bb)
Justin Datloff – 9,550,000 (23 bb)

Championship: Jonathan Jaffe – 5th Place ($173,500)

$3,500 LHPO Championship (Re-Entry)
$2,000,000 Guaranteed | Structure | Payouts | Results
Level 32:  150,000/300,000 with a 300,000 ante
Players Remaining:  4 of 1,188

Jonathan Jaffe

Justin Datloff raised to 600,000 preflop under the gun, and Jonathan Jaffe reraised all in for 4.85 million from the button. Datloff called so the two players flipped over their cards.

Datloff: KhJh
Jaffe: AdJs

Board: Kd5h5sQcJd

Jaffe was in great shape for a big double but Datloff caught a king on the flop to take the lead.  Neither the turn nor the river helped our two-time High Roller champ catch up and he was eliminated in fourth place, good for $173,500

Justin Datloff – 11,250,000 (37 bb)
Jonathan Jaffe – Eliminated in  5th Place ($173,500)

Championship: Mitch Garshofsky – 6th Place ($132,300)

$3,500 LHPO Championship (Re-Entry)
$2,000,000 Guaranteed | Structure | Payouts | Results
Level 32:  150,000/300,000 with a 300,000 ante
Players Remaining:  5 of 1,188

Mitch Garshofsky

Jesse Lonis raised to 650,000 preflop, Dan Martin called, and Mitch Garshofsky moved all in for 5.4 million. Lonis got out of the way, and Martin called so the remaining two players revealed their cards.

Martin: JsJd
Garshofsky: 9s9h

Board: 8h5d2c6d3c

Garshofsky was eliminated in sixth place, good for a payday worth $132,300, and Martin stacked up 19.7 million after the hand.

Dan Martin – 19,700,000 (65 bb)
Mitch Garshofsky – Eliminated in 6th Place ($132,300)

Event 52: Payout Structure

2024 Lucky Hearts Poker Open
Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino
Hollywood, Florida
Event 52
$300 Quad Stack Black Chip Bounty NLH (Re-Entry)
Entries:  245
Prize Pool:  $37,975
Bounty Prize Pool: $24,500
January 23, 2024

Here is a look at the payout structure for Event 52, with $8,410 up top for the winner along with the LHPO guitar pick trophy. The final 31 players will all finish with a cash worth at least $350 for their deep run in the tournament.

1st: $8,410
2nd: $5,890
3rd: $3,890
4th: $2,370
5th: $1,830
6th: $1,515
7th: $1,290
8th: $1,085
9th-10th: $880
11th-12th: $750
13th-15th: $640
16th-18th: $540
19th-21st: $440
22nd-24th: $375
25th-31st: $350

Championship: Another Double for Mitch Garshofsky

$3,500 LHPO Championship (Re-Entry)
$2,000,000 Guaranteed | Structure | Payouts | Results
Level 31:  125,000/250,000 with a 250,000 ante
Players Remaining:  6 of 1,188

Mitch Garshofsky

Jesse Lonis raised to 625,000 preflop under the gun, and Mitch Garshofsky reraised all in for 2.6 million this time around from the cutoff. Lonis called to cover him, and the two players flipped over their cards.

Garshofsky: 9d9c
Lonis: 3c3h

Board: QdJc2dJh5c

Garshofsky scored another double to stack up 5,825,000, and Lonis was at 10.15 million after the hand.

Mitch Garshofsky – 5,825,000 (23 bb)
Jesse Lonis – 10,150,000 (40 bb)

Championship: Benny Glaser – 7th Place ($102,000)

$3,500 LHPO Championship (Re-Entry)
$2,000,000 Guaranteed | Structure | Payouts | Results
Level 31:  125,000/250,000 with a 250,000 ante
Players Remaining:  6 of 1,188

Benny Glaser

Benny Glaser moved out 1.3 million preflop under the gun to leave 300,000 behind, and Jonathan Jaffe got all in over the top of him to put Glaser on a decision for his tournament life.

Glaser called all in with Qh10c, and Jaffe was ahead with AhKh. Things became even more dire for Glaser when the flop fell Jh8h4h to give Jaffe a flush, and the turn and river followed 6dAs.

Glaser was eliminated in seventh place, good for $102,000, and Jaffe was close to 7 million after collecting the pot.

Jonathan Jaffe – 6,950,000 (27 bb)
Benny Glaser – Eliminated in 7th Place ($102,000) 

Jonathan Jaffe (sitting, left) and Benny Glaser (standing, right) fist bump