$1,100 WPTDeepStacks Hollywood
$1,000,000 Guaranteed | Structure
Level 15:  1,500/3,000 with a 3,000 ante
Flight A Players Remaining:  80 of 367

There are about 80 players remaining as the field begins the final level of the night, with an average chip stack around 138,000 (46 big blinds). The chipleader appears to be Paul Grigsby, who is the only player who has surpassed the 500K mark.

Paul Grigsby  –  545,000  (182 bb)

At Table 23, there is a bit of action before it reaches Carlos Garcia in the big blind, and he reraised it to 24,000. A player folded, and the small blind reraised to 60,000.

Garcia moved all in for about 155,000, and the small blind tanked for a while before he called all in for about 140,000 with . Garcia turned over .

The board came — the small blind paired his four on the flop, but improved no further. Garcia won the pot with his pocket queens to eliminate his opponent from Day 1A.

Carlos Garcia  –  305,000  (102 bb)

Shortly after that, a player got it all in from the button for about 60,000 with , but he needed to improve to stay alive against the of David Farber in middle position.

The board came — the button turned a gutshot straight draw, but missed his outs on the river. Farber won the pot with his pocket fives to eliminate his opponent from Day 1A.

David Farber  –  335,000  (112 bb)

$1,100 WPTDeepStacks Hollywood
$1,000,000 Guaranteed | Structure
Level 13:  1,000/2,000 with a 2,000 ante
Flight A Players Remaining:  126 of 367

The players return from break to begin Level 13, with increased blinds of 1,000/2,000 with a 2,000 ante. With 126 players remaining, the average chip stack is about 87,000 (44 big blinds).

A scan of the field during the break turned up four players with at least 300K in chips, creating an unofficial leaderboard with David Farber still in the lead:

1.  David Farber  –  332,000  (166 bb)
2.  Tony Zharnitsky  –  316,000  (158 bb)
3.  Paul Grigsby  –  312,000  (156 bb)
4.  Jerry Wong  –  305,000  (153 bb)

Tony Zharnitsky had a great run in the last level before the break to crack the leaderboard. At one point, he got it all in on the turn with on a board of , but his opponent snap-called with for two pair. Zharnitsky was getting up to leave when the dealer put out a on the river to keep him alive and give him the double-up.

Roughly an orbit later, the player who had the ace-six in that hand raised to 4,000, Zharnitsky reraised to 17,500, and another player moved all in for a bit less than 100K. The original raiser and Zharnitsky both got it all in for a little bit more, and all three players turned over their cards:

Tony Zharnitsky:  
Original Raiser:  
Short Stack:  

The pocket kings held up for Zharnitsky to scoop the entire pot, eliminating both players and catapulting up over 300K to reach the leaderboard.

Tony Zharnitsky  –  316,000  (158 bb)

$1,100 WPTDeepStacks Hollywood
$1,000,000 Guaranteed | Structure
Level 12:  800/1,600 with a 1,600 ante
Flight A Players Remaining:  155 of 367

The player in the cutoff raised to 4,500, Jacquelyn Scott moved all in from the small blind for about 114,000, and her opponent quickly called with . Scott turned over , and needed her hand to hold to stay alive.

The board came , and Scott’s flopped set of aces beat her opponent’s rivered set of kings to give her the double-up.

Jacquelyn Scott  –  232,000  (145 bb)

At Table 51, after a flop of , Shalom Elharar bet 10,000 from the small blind, and Brett Bader moved all in from the cutoff for 59,400. Elharar tanked for a long time before he folded, and Bader took the pot.

Brett Bader  –  80,000  (50 bb)
Shalom Elharar  –  246,000  (154 bb)

With about 155 players remaining, the average chip stack is about 71,000 (44 big blinds). The field is about to take their last 15-minute break of the day, with Day 1A scheduled to end around 10:45 pm.

$1,100 WPTDeepStacks Hollywood
$1,000,000 Guaranteed | Structure
Level 11:  600/1,200 with a 1,200 ante
Flight A Players Remaining:  175 of 367

David Farber has taken the chip lead with 370,000 here in Level 11, easily surpassing former chipleader Shalom Elharar, who has about 225,000.

At the same table, after a flop of with a little more than 30K in the pot, Tom Gity got it all in from the small blind for 28,400 with . Gity needed his eights to hold to stay alive against the of Ryan Van Sanford in the big blind.

The turn card paired the board with the , the river card was the , and Gity won the pot with two pair, jacks and eights, to double up in chips.

Tom Gity  –  90,000  (75 bb)
Ryan Van Sanford  –  32,000  (27 bb)

Two hands later, there was a preflop all-in cooler situation between a middle-position player with and Kevin Buldo, who had him covered with in the hijack.

The board came , and Buldo flopped a set of kings to win the pot and eliminate his opponent from Day 1A.

Kevin Buldo  –  155,000  (129 bb)

With about 175 players remaining from a Day 1A field of 367, the average chip stack is about 62,900 (52 big blinds). Action is scheduled to continue tonight until the end of Level 15, around 10:50 pm.

$1,100 WPTDeepStacks Hollywood
$1,000,000 Guaranteed | Structure
Level 10:  500/1,000 with a 1,000 ante
Flight A Entries:  367

The field returns from dinner to begin Level 10, and registration has now closed. There were 367 entries here on Day 1A, which is pretty much in line with the 369 entries Day 1A got when this same event opened the Lucky Hearts Poker Open two years ago.

Action will continue today until the end of Level 15, around 10:45 pm.

$1,100 WPTDeepStacks Hollywood
$1,000,000 Guaranteed | Structure
Level 9: 400/800 with a 800 ante
Flight A Entries: 355

Level 9 came to an end and tournament staff sent the WPTDeepStacks Flight A players on their one-hour dinner break. Plenty of time to refresh, relax, and regroup before the push for a Day 2 bag.

Registration will close when they return and we’ll know our number heading into the weekend.

$400 Limit Omaha 8 (Re-Entry)
$25,000 Guaranteed | Structure | Payouts
Level 9: 800/1,600 Limits
Players Remaining: 63 of 88

Registration closed on Event 2 and the Limit Omaha 8 tournament had a great turnout, no surprise a lot of players came out for the four-card game. They combined to put together a $29,920 prize pool to easily cruise past the $25,000 guarantee.

The last 11 spots will earn some money with $838 for a min-cash and $9,649 to the Event 2 champion along with the LHPO trophy and custom-framed winner’s photo courtesy of IMPDI.

2020 Lucky Hearts Poker Open 
Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino 
Hollywood, Florida
Event 2
$400 Limit Omaha 8 (Re-Entry)
$25,000 Guaranteed
Entries: 88
Prize Pool: $29,920
January 9, 2020 

1st: $9,649 + LHPO Trophy
2nd: $5,834
3rd: $3,628
4th: $2,453
5th: $1,870
6th: $1,496
7th: $1,242
8th: $1,047
9th: $965
10th: $898
11th: $838

$1,100 WPTDeepStacks Hollywood
$1,000,000 Guaranteed | Structure
Level 8: 300/600 with a 600 ante
Flight A Entries: 336

Players continued to enter the WPTDeepStacks event and they are very close to hitting the 2018 numbers we had the last time we opened a series with this tournament. With registration available until 6:30 pm, there’s a chance to top it.

Among those entries, Shalom Elharar is having the best day so far. He is up to 242,000 after eight levels to easily sit as the leader. He knows how to run deep in these big field tournaments as well. Elharar came one spot short of winning the 2019 SHRPO Championship when he finished second to Sean Winter and collected a very nice $487,695 for his run.

$1,100 WPTDeepStacks Hollywood
$1,000,000 Guaranteed | Structure
Level 7: 300/500 with a 500 ante
Flight A Entries: 316

The second break is complete and the WPTDeepStacks Flight A field crossed over 300 before they walked away. We now have 316 entries with a lot of time remaining to join up.

Former SHRP Deep Stacks series champ Almog Biton is the new leader with 126,000 followed by Paul Smith with 104,000. Other big stacks include Benjamin Short (97,500), Hector Pacheco (92,000), Greg Spinder (92,000), and Anes Kovacevic (91,500).