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.”

*denotes three-handed deal