$3,500 WPT Lucky Hearts Poker Open Championship
$2,000,000 Guaranteed | Structure
Level 9:  500/1,000 with a 1,000 ante
Day 1A Players Remaining:  195 of 423

Ryan Remington raised UTG+1 to 3,000, Michael Newman called from the cutoff, and Ping Liu reraised from the button to 12,000. Remington and Newman both called.

All three players checked to the turn on a board of , and Remington bet 16,000. Newman called, and Ping raised to 64,000. Remington went all in for 153,300, and Newman called all in for nearly 150,000. Liu also called with a stack of 160,500.

These were their cards in descending order of chip counts:

Ping Liu:    (jack-high straight)
Ryan Remington:    (set of jacks)
Michael Newman:    (jack-high straight)

Remington was one card away from elimination, but the river card was — the .

Remington rivered quad jacks to win the entire pot, doubling thru Liu and eliminating Newman from Day 1A. Remington took the chip lead with nearly 500K in chips.

Ryan Remington  –  490,000  (490 bb)
Ping Liu  –  7,200  (7 bb)
Michael Newman  –  Eliminated

After the hand, Remington said, “I was only looking for a full house, not quads.”

Liu got his short stack all in on the next hand with against , but the board came — Liu flopped a set of sixes, only to see the board straighten out so they chopped the pot with a nine-high straight on the board.

A hand or two later, Liu was eliminated.

Ping Liu  –  Eliminated

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.