2018 Lucky Hearts Poker Open Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino Hollywood, Florida Event 11 $570 Six-Max No Limit Hold’em (Freeze-Out) Entries: 153 Prize Pool: $76,500 January 16, 2018
Event 11 of the 2018 Lucky Hearts Poker Open was a $570 Six-Max No Limit Hold’em (Freeze-Out) tournament. A total of 153 players came to play and created a prize pool of $76,500, with the top 20 places being paid. A deal was agreed upon by the final four players and 26-year-old Chris Tham was the chip leader, making him the official winner.
Hailing from San Francisco, California, Tham is a software engineer that dabbles in poker quite a bit as well. He is primarily a cash-game player, but has also enjoyed recent tournament success. In November, Tham placed third in a WSOP circuit event for $112,503 and has been on the tournament trail since.
Tham commanded a hefty stack for a large portion of the day, and he entered the final table as chip leader with nearly 100 big blinds.
“I ran absurdly well,” said Tham about his victory. “I got like 16 or 17 knockouts today. It’s like I had almost nothing to do with this.”
Luck will always be a factor in poker tournaments, but Tham’s big results of late are proving he has the skill needed for long-term success.
Final Results 1st: Chris Tham – $15,311*+ trophy 2nd: David Moreno – $12,870* 3rd: Wenhao Ying – $9,331* 4th: Brian O’Keefe – $9,027* 5th: Roberto Berrocal – $3,691 6th: Lawrence Whyte – $3,060 7th: Dean Rutledge – $2,658 8th: Wataru Nippa – $2,387 9th: James Salmon – $2,056 10th: Charles Gomez – $1,798 11th: Alberto Fonseca Pinilla $1,798 12th: Peter Vitantonio – $1,798 13th: Ory Hen – $1,549 14th: Kenneth Slater – $1,549 15th: Jacobo Milhem Mugrabi – $1,549 16th: Toby Boas – $1,308 17th: Ryan Galpern – $1,308 18th: Stephan Mehl – $1,308 19th: Scott Efron – $1,071 20th: Jonah Miller – $1,071
$570 Six-Max No Limit Hold’em (Freeze-Out) $50,000 Guarantee | Structure | Payouts Level 21: 5,000/10,000 with a 1,000 ante Players Remaining: 4 of 153
The remaining four players agreed to a deal. Here were their chip counts at the time, followed by their subsequent payouts.
Chris Tham – 849,000 (85 bb) David Moreno – 523,000 (52 bb) Wenhao Ying – 241,000 (24 bb) Brian O’Keefe – 223,000 (22 bb)
As chip leader, Chris Tham is officially the winner of Event 11 of the 2018 Lucky Hearts Poker Open.
Chris Tham – $15,311 David Moreno – $12,870 Wenhao Ying – $9,331 Brian O’Keefe – $9,027
$570 Six-Max No Limit Hold’em (Freeze-Out) $50,000 Guarantee | Structure | Payouts Level 20: 4,000/8,000 with a 1,000 ante Players Remaining: 4 of 153
Roberto Berrocal raised to 21,000 from the cutoff, and Chris Tham called from the small blind.
The flop came down ,and Tham check-called 26,000 from Berrocal.
The turn was the , Tham checked, Berrocal shoved for about 100,000, and Tham called with for the nut flush. Berrocal was drawing dead with , rendering the river moot.
Berrocal finished in fifth place for $3,691.
Chris Tham – 900,000 (113 bb) Roberto Berrocal – Eliminated
$570 Six-Max No Limit Hold’em (Freeze-Out) $50,000 Guarantee | Structure | Payouts Level 20: 4,000/8,000 with a 1,000 ante Players Remaining: 5 of 153
Lawrence Whyte raised from the hijack, David Moreno reraised all in with a covering stack from the big blind, and Whyte called all in for about for 140,000.
Whyte: Moreno:
The board ran out , no help to Whyte, ending his tournament in sixth place.
David Moreno – 450,000 (56 bb) Lawrence Whyte – Eliminated
$570 Six-Max No Limit Hold’em (Freeze-Out) $50,000 Guarantee | Structure | Payouts Level 19: 3,000/6,000 with a 1,000 ante Players Remaining: 8 of 153
Wataru Nippa opened to 15,000 under the gun, and Chris Tham three-bet shoved for about 140,000 effective in the big blind. Nippa called all in for that amount, putting himself at risk.
Nippa: Tham:
The flop left Nippa drawing almost dead, and the turn ended his day one card early. The river was the meaningless , and Tham won the pot with eights full.
Nippa was eliminated in eighth place, earning $2,387.
Chris Tham – 585,000 (98 bb) Wataru Nippa – Eliminated
$570 Six-Max No Limit Hold’em (Freeze-Out) $50,000 Guarantee | Structure | Payouts Level 14:1,000/2,000 with a 300 ante Players Remaining: 21 of 153
Stu Patterson was all in from under the gun for about 18,000 with , racing with James Salmon’s in the hijack.
The flop came down , giving Patterson the lead with a pair of queens. However, the turn and river completed the board to give Salmon a flush to eliminate Patterson.
James Salmon – 102,000 (51 bb) Stu Patterson – Eliminated
With that, 21 players remain and play is now on the money bubble.