2020 Lucky Hearts Poker Open
Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino
Hollywood, Florida
Event 16
$1,100 Eight-Handed NLH (Single Re-Entry)
$100,000 Guaranteed
Entries:  219
Prize Pool:  $212,430
January 15, 2020

“I had fun and made some money.”

That’s how Zachary Mullennix summarized his day after he defeated a very tough final table to win $48,640 in the $1,100 Eight-Handed No-Limit Hold’em event.

“Honestly, I think I just held in every key spot, and I won a couple of flips,” said Mullennix, downplaying his own skill. “The hand against Ryan [Olisar] was huge, the kings versus the ace-nine. That was a huge hold. I just ran really good on the final table, and I got all the chips.”

Mullennix’s victory is even more impressive when you consider his competition.

“It was a tough final table,” said Mullennix. “We had five guys sitting in a row who all had huge Hendon Mobs, and I came in pretty short. So yeah, it was awesome.”

Those five players sitting in a row (with their career earnings according to HendonMob.com) were Aaron Massey ($4.1 million), Javier Zarco ($2.5 million), Marvin Rettenmaier ($7.3 million), Ryan Olisar ($1.7 million), and Brian Altman ($3.7 million).

As for Mullennix, this victory — the biggest cash of his career — puts him over $400K in career earnings. Mullennix does have two WSOP Circuit rings on his resume, which he won at Coconut Creek last year, but this is his first trophy from Seminole Hard Rock Hollywood.

“I’ve played all over the country, and I think this is one of the best venues in the country,” said Mullennix. “I play mostly in the $400 to $2,000 range, and for small-to-mid-stakes tournaments, this casino is way up there for me.”

Final Table Results:

1st:  Zachary Mullennix  –  $48,640
2nd:  Aidan Hynes  –  $32,425
3rd:  Brian Altman  –  $23,740
4th:  Manuel Amaro Alvarez  –  $17,615
5th:  Javier Zarco  –  $13,245
6th:  Ryan Olisar  –  $10,100
7th:  Jorge Cuesta  –  $7,805
8th:  Marvin Rettenmaier  –  $6,120
9th:  Aaron Massey  –  $4,865

$1,100 Eight-Handed NLH (Single Re-Entry)
$100,000 Guaranteed | Structure | Payouts
Level 26:  25,000/50,000 with a 50,000 ante
Players Remaining:  1 of 219

After nearly 10 minutes of heads-up play, and shortly after the blinds increased to 25,000-50,000 with a 50,000 ante, Aidan Hynes got it all in preflop for about 850,000 with .

Zachary Mullennix turned over , and Hynes was in a deep hole.

The board came , and the pocket aces held up for Mullennix to win the pot — and the trophy — with two pair, aces and sevens.

Stay tuned for a recap of this event to be posted later tonight.

1st:  Zachary Mullennix  –  $48,640
2nd:  Aidan Hynes  –  $32,425
3rd:  Brian Altman  –  $23,740
4th:  Manuel Amaro Alvarez  –  $17,615
5th:  Javier Zarco  –  $13,245
6th:  Ryan Olisar  –  $10,100
7th:  Jorge Cuesta  –  $7,805
8th:  Marvin Rettenmaier  –  $6,120
9th:  Aaron Massey  –  $4,865

$1,100 Eight-Handed NLH (Single Re-Entry)
$100,000 Guaranteed | Structure | Payouts
Level 25:  20,000/40,000 with a 40,000 ante
Players Remaining:  2 of 219

Brian Altman moved all in from the button for 710,000, and chipleader Zachary Mullennix thought for a bit before he moved all in over the top from the small blind with .

Altman turned over , and he needed to improve to stay alive.

The board came , and Mullennix flopped a set of nines to win the pot and eliminate Altman in third place.

Brian Altman  –  Eliminated in 3rd Place  ($23,740)

And these were the chip counts at the start of heads-up play, followed by the remaining prizepool:

Zachary Mullennix  –  3,565,000  (89 bb)
Aidan Hynes  –  815,000  (20 bb)

1st:  $48,640
2nd:  $32,425

$1,100 Eight-Handed NLH (Single Re-Entry)
$100,000 Guaranteed | Structure | Payouts
Level 25:  20,000/40,000 with a 40,000 ante
Players Remaining:  3 of 219

After a flop of , Brian Altman moved all in from the big blind for 425,000, and Zachary Mullennix called from the button with for a pair of sevens.

Altman turned over for a pair of sevens with a lower kicker, and he needed to improve to stay alive.

The turn card was the , and the river card was — the .

Altman spiked a deuce on the river to win the pot with two pair and double up in chips.

Brian Altman  –  1,070,000  (27 bb)
Zachary Mullennix  –  2,480,000  (62 bb)

About 10 minutes later, after a flop of , Brian Altman checked the small blind, Zachary Mullennix checked the big blind, and Aidan Hynes bet 55,000 from the button.

Altman check-raised to 160,000, and then Mullennix check-three-bet-all-in, easily covering both players. Hynes and Altman both folded, and Mullennix took the pot.

Seat 1.  Zachary Mullennix  –  2,750,000  (69 bb)
Seat 2.  Aidan Hynes  –  795,000  (20 bb)
Seat 3.  Brian Altman  –  830,000  (21 bb)

With three players remaining, the average stack is about 1,460,000 (37 big blinds), and the next player to bust will earn $23,740.

$1,100 Eight-Handed NLH (Single Re-Entry)
$100,000 Guaranteed | Structure | Payouts
Level 25:  20,000/40,000 with a 40,000 ante
Players Remaining:  3 of 219

Manuel Amaro moved all in from the small blind for 415,000, and Zachary Mullennix called from the big blind with .

Amaro turned over , and he needed to improve to stay alive.

The board came , and Mullennix won the pot with his king to eliminate Amaro in fourth place.

Amaro took a few photos and shaked all their hands, and the other players sincerely congratulated him and said it was a lot of fun playing with him.

Zachary Mullennix  –  2,950,000  (74 bb)
Manuel Amaro  –  Eliminated in 4th Place  ($17,615)

With three players remaining, the average stack is about 1,460,000 (37 big blinds), and the next player to bust will earn $23,740.

$1,100 Eight-Handed NLH (Single Re-Entry)
$100,000 Guaranteed | Structure | Payouts
Level 24:  15,000/30,000 with a 30,000 ante
Players Remaining:  4 of 219

First, a little context.

Manuel Amaro is having a great time at this final table, and as soon as he made it to eighth place, he locked up the biggest cash of his career. He’s engaging with the other players, and asking for selfies with them, and generally having a lot of fun.

The tournament clock shows the chop value of the remaining prizepool if the players agreed to split it evenly (the current chop value with four players remaining is $30,605). And ever since they reached the final table, Amaro has been asking the other players to chop up the prizepool, saying most people would have to work a long time to make that much money.

Now that we’ve set that up, this update will make more sense.

Brian Altman raised under the gun to 65,000, and Manuel Amaro said he hadn’t looked at his cards yet, but as a one-time thing, he was going to go all in blind without looking at his cards. Amaro was all in from the button for 340,000.

Action folded to Altman, who asked if Amaro really hadn’t looked at his cards. Amaro swore he hadn’t looked at them, and with about half a dozen people watching the action from the rail, nobody said they saw him look. One person was confident that Amaro had not looked.

While Altman thought, Amaro kept insisting that this was a one-time offer, and he wouldn’t be doing it again.

Altman thought for a little while longer before calling with .

Amaro turned over his cards one at a time, and the first one was the . The second one was the , and Amaro was ahead preflop.

The board came , and Amaro won the pot with his ace to double up in chips.

After the hand, Zachary Mullennix told Amaro that he believes him that he didn’t look at his cards. Because if he did look at his ace-eight before he shoved, then it wasn’t a very good play.

Manuel Amaro  –  755,000  (25 bb)
Brian Altman  –  800,000  (27 bb)

With four players remaining, the average stack is about 1,095,000 (37 big blinds), and the next player to bust will earn $17,615.

$1,100 Eight-Handed NLH (Single Re-Entry)
$100,000 Guaranteed | Structure | Payouts
Level 24:  15,000/30,000 with a 30,000 ante
Players Remaining:  4 of 219

With the board showing on the turn, Aidan Hynes checked from UTG/cutoff, Brian Altman bet 115,000 from the button, and Hynes thought for a while before he called.

The river card was the , Hynes checked, Altman moved all in, and Hynes snap-called with for a turned king-high straight.

Altman turned over for eight high, and Hynes won the pot with his straight to double up in chips.

Aidan Hynes  –  1,140,000  (46 bb)
Brian Altman  –  1,100,000  (44 bb)

One hand later, the level came to an end and the players took a 15-minute break. These were their official chip counts:

Seat 1.  Zachary Mullennix  –  1,855,000  (62 bb)
Seat 2.  Aidan Hynes  –  1,125,000  (38 bb)
Seat 3.  Brian Altman  –  910,000  (30 bb)
Seat 4.  Manuel Amaro  –  490,000  (16 bb)

The players returned from break to begin Level 24, with increased blinds of 15,000-30,000 with a 30,000 ante.

With four players remaining, the average stack is about 1,095,000 (37 big blinds), and the next player to bust will earn $17,615.

$1,100 Eight-Handed NLH (Single Re-Entry)
$100,000 Guaranteed | Structure | Payouts
Level 23:  15,000/25,000 with a 25,000 ante
Players Remaining:  4 of 219

Javier Zarco was all in from the button for 275,000 with , and he needed it to hold to stay alive against the of Brian Altman in the big blind.

The board came , and Altman flopped two pair, aces and tens, to win the pot and eliminate Zarco in fifth place.

Brian Altman  –  1,550,000  (62 bb)
Javier Zarco  –  Eliminated in 5th Place  ($13,245)

In a span of just 10 minutes, this final table has dropped from seven players to four. With four players remaining, the average stack is about 1,095,000 (44 big blinds), and the next player to bust will earn $17,615.

$1,100 Eight-Handed NLH (Single Re-Entry)
$100,000 Guaranteed | Structure | Payouts
Level 23:  15,000/25,000 with a 25,000 ante
Players Remaining:  5 of 219

After a flop of with more than 300K in the pot, Ryan Olisar checked under the gun, Zachary Mullennix bet 125,000 from the button, and Olisar check-raised all in for about 840,000.

Mullennix tanked for a while before he called all in for 710,000 with . Olisar turned over for a diamond flush draw with an overcard, and Mullennix needed his kings to hold to stay alive.

The turn card was the , the river card was the , and the pocket kings held up for Mullennix to win the pot and double up in chips, knocking Olisar down to just five big blinds.

Zachary Mullennix  –  1,750,000  (70 bb)
Ryan Olisar  –  130,000  (5 bb)

The next hand, after a flop of , Olisar got it all in from the big blind with for queen high, and he needed to improve to stay alive against the of Brian Altman (UTG).

The turn card paired the board with the , the river card double-paired the board with the , and Altman won the pot with his ace to eliminate Olisar in sixth place.

Brian Altman  –  1,275,000  (51 bb)
Ryan Olisar  –  Eliminated in 6th Place  ($10,100)

With five players remaining, the average stack is about 875,000 (35 big blinds), and the next player to bust will earn $13,245.

$1,100 Eight-Handed NLH (Single Re-Entry)
$100,000 Guaranteed | Structure | Payouts
Level 22:  10,000/20,000 with a 20,000 ante
Players Remaining:  6 of 219

Jorge Cuesta moved all in from the small blind for about 200,000, and Zachary Mullennix called from the big blind with .

Cuesta turned over , and he needed to improve to stay alive.

The board came — Cuesta flopped a gutshot straight draw and rivered a pair of tens, but it wasn’t enough. Mullennix won the pot with his pocket jacks to eliminate Cuesta in seventh place.

Zachary Mullennix  –  850,000  (43 bb)
Jorge Cuesta  –  Eliminated in 7th Place  ($7,805)

With six players remaining, the average stack is about 730,000 (37 big blinds), and the next player to bust will earn $10,100.