2025 Seminole Hard Rock Poker Open
Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino
Hollywood, Florida
Event 18
$1,100 Triple Stack No-Limit Hold’em (Re-Entry)
$250,000 Guaranteed
Entries:  525
Prize Pool:  $509,250
August 2-5, 2025

There were four starting flights over three days to create a field of 525 in the $1,100 Triple Stack, more than doubling the guarantee to create a prizepool worth $509,250. There were 68 players who made it to Day 2, and after more than 12 hours of play, Luckenson “Lucky” Pericles defeated Daniyal Gheba heads-up for the title, the trophy, and the top prize of $87,770.

“It feels great,” said Pericles about the biggest score of his career. “This is my first trophy. I worked hard for it.”

For Pericles, his key moment was late on his Day 1 when he doubled up with against another player’s pocket aces. He carried that momentum to bag the third-largest stack heading into Day 2, and it gave him a lot of confidence.

“I knew when I bagged 620,000 that I was going to win this tournament,” said Pericles. “Everybody said I had a great chance of making the final table. In my mind the whole time, I was saying I’m going to finish in first place.”

Pericles made the final table, again with the third-largest stack, and he made it to heads-up after knocking out Marc Goldman in third place. He was nearly even in chips with Daniyal Gheba, and they both had more than 95 big blinds.

Heads-up play lasted more than 90 minutes, but there was plenty of action. Pericles built up a solid 3-to-2 chip lead, but then Gheba doubled up with a set of nines against Pericles’ flush draw, giving Gheba more than a 3-to-1 lead.

But Pericles stayed aggressive, and he was willing to risk his entire stack whether he was the big stack or the short stack. Meanwhile, Gheba was carefully picking his spots.

“I was very aggressive, and he was playing tight,” said Pericles. “I’d go all in and he kept folding and folding.”

Eventually Gheba called one of his all-ins with , and Pericles turned over , needing to improve to survive. Pericles flopped an ace and turned a five to win the pot with two pair and retake the lead.

Pericles continued to grow his stack with smaller pots until he three-bet shoved with , and Gheba called all in with . Pericles flopped two pair, Gheba never caught up, and just like that, Pericles had won his first trophy and $87,770.

Pericles will put some of his earnings toward a seat in the $5,300 SHRPO Championship, which begins on Friday.

“That’s what I’m here for,” said Pericles. “I’m getting ready for the Championship.”

“I’ve lived here for 25 years,” said Pericles. “I travel, of course, but this is home. Whenever they have a tournament, I’m here. To me, Seminole Hard Rock runs the best tournaments in the world.”

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