2023 Seminole Hard Rock Lucky Hearts Poker Open
Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino
Hollywood, Florida
$3,500 LHPO Championship
$2,000,000 Guaranteed
Entries:  1,692
Prize Pool:  $5,414,400
January 20–24, 2023

Marius Gierse hasn’t played in a live poker tournament since last summer’s WSOP, but he showed up at the Lucky Hearts Poker Open and entered two tournaments — the $25,500 High Roller, where he finished fifth to earn $110,500, and the $3,500 LHPO Championship, which he won on Tuesday night for $605,000.

“It’s been a long four days, but it feels pretty damn good,” said Gierse. “It was quite the ride.”

This final day of the event started with 16 players at the final two tables, and Gierse had an average chip stack.

“I started with five million, went up to 10 million, went down to 4.5 million, went up to 17, went down to 7, so it was a roller-coaster, for sure,” said Gierse. “But I can’t complain in the end.”

The key hand for Gierse happened during the first 15 minutes of the nine-handed final table.

“I had a big flip against Jerry Wong at the start,” said Gierse. “That hand was the most important, otherwise I would have been out in ninth.”

Gierse held , and needed it to hold against Wong’s . They got it all in preflop, but it seemed inevitable after the flop came , giving Gierse a set of queens to Wong’s gutshot Royal Flush draw.

“It was almost a flip at the flop,” said Gierse. “You’ve got to win these in order to win tournaments.”

The turn was the , the river was the , and Gierse doubled up to 68 big blinds with a full house. (Click here for details.) As for Wong, he was knocked down below 20 big blinds and would eventually finish ninth.

With seven players left, Gierse found himself on the other side of this same flip, getting it all in preflop with against Daniel Clifford’s . This time, the board brought three spades, and the ace-king won the pot to knock out Clifford in seventh place and propel Gierse back into the lead. (Click here for details.)

After Gierse knocked out Martin Carnero in fifth place (pocket jacks held against ace-ten), the final four players battled for about an hour before agreeing to a deal. As chipleader, Gierse was awarded the title and the trophy.

I’m pretty blessed,” said Gierse, “and I’m lucky to win the Lucky Hearts Poker Open.”

Despite his success here, Gierse is primarily an online player, which he generally prefers over live tournaments.

“I really don’t enjoy live poker as much, mostly because people are too serious and take a lot of time,” said Gierse. “But that isn’t the case here at all. People play super fast, and people are talking, and not taking themselves too seriously. It’s super nice. So I’m very, very happy to play here and I will for sure to come back.”

Final Results:

* Indicates a four-way deal.