Fabian Foster Wins Event 1 After Four Top-Four Finishes in Recent Years

2025 Lucky Hearts Poker Open
Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino
Hollywood, Florida
Event 1
$600 Deep Stack No-Limit Hold’em (Re-Entry)
$1,000,000 Guaranteed
Entries:  2,784
Prize Pool:  $1,447,680
January 9-13, 2025

Fabian Foster
Event 1 Champion Fabian Foster

On Monday afternoon, after five days of play, Event #1 of the Lucky Hearts Poker Open came to an end when Fabian Foster won the title, the trophy, and $141,365 in a three-way deal.

“It feels pretty good. I’ve made this final table quite a few times, but I’ve never won it,” said Foster. “I’m always in the running, but this one feels special because it’s my first win.”

That’s no exaggeration, as this is the fifth time that Foster has finished in the top four in the opening event of a big series between Seminole Hard Rock Hollywood and Seminole Hard Rock Tampa:

LHPO Event #1 (Hollywood)  –  Jan 2025
1st Place:  $141,365

WSOPC Event #1 (Tampa)  –  Feb 2020
2nd Place:  $102,705

LHPO Event #1 (Hollywood)  –  Jan 2021
3rd Place:  $143,366

RRPO Event #1 (Hollywood)  –  Nov 2022
4th Place:  $152,669

Showdown Event #1 (Hollywood)  –  April 2023
4th Place:  $78,700

There were six starting flights for this event over the first three days of the series, attracting a total field of 2,784 entries to generate a prizepool worth $1,447,680, easily beating the $1 million guarantee.

There were 349 players who survived to Day 2, where play began with the field in the money. That was a 12 1/2-hour day that dwindled the field down to the final 15.

When Day 3 began, Foster was the short stack with only 10 big blinds. He won a key race situation with ace-king by spiking an ace on the river, and worked his way to the final table, where he started fifth in chips.

“I started the final table in the middle,” said Foster. “Then I just got a rush of hands, and people were just giving me chips when I had the nuts, so the poker gods were smiling on me today.”

Smiling the poker gods were, because Foster scored the first four knockouts at the final table.

Steven Richardson shoved ace-queen into Foster’s ace-king. Richardson never improved, and was eliminated in eighth place.

About 15 minutes later, Kelly Black shoved after a flop of Js9c3d, and Foster quickly called with AdJc for top pair, top kicker. Black turned over 10d10c, and two cards later, he was out in seventh.

Less than five minutes after that, Foster saw a flop of 10s9c8h against Danilo Alvarenga. Foster checked, Alvarenga shoved, and Foster snap-called with QdJd for the nuts — a queen-high straight. Alvarenga had As9d for middle pair, and never caught up. Alvarenga finished sixth.

Less than 15 minutes later, Joe Shammas shoved 18 big blinds with KdQd, and Foster called with 4s4d. Shammas turned a straight draw, but improved no further, and Foster sent him to the rail in fifth place.

The final elimination of the day came when Christopher Corneroli shoved his short stack with Ah9s into Bryan Rosen’s AsKs. Rosen’s hand held up to knock out Corneroli in fourth place.

At that point, the final three players agreed to a deal to end the tournament, and Foster had a lead of 5 bb over Rosen. As chipleader, Foster was awarded the title, the trophy, and the most money — $141,365.

There was only a $1,000 difference between first and second, but first also comes with the trophy, which meant a lot to Foster.

“It’s meaningful because I have two trophies at home, and I have three daughters,” said Foster. “So this is going to be for my youngest daughter. She’ll be ecstatic when I hand this to her.”

Foster is a regular for the big tournament series here at Seminole Hard Rock Hollywood, and he loves playing here.

“This place is perfect,” said Foster. “The staff is perfect, the tournaments are well run, and the structure is great. Everything about this property is great. The guarantees are great, and there is always a lot of players. It’s a great environment and a great atmosphere.”


Results:

PlaceFirst NameLast NamePrize Amount
1FabianFoster$141,365 *
2BryanRosen$140,365 *
3RyanHogan$116,750 *
4ChristopherCorneroli$68,000
5JoeShammas$52,000
6DanielAlvarenga$39,500
7KellyBlack$30,500
8StevenRichardson$23,600
9ScottEpstein$18,500
10ShonPerez$18,500
11CharlemagneBenjamin$15,400
12MarkGruber$15,400
13MichaelRein$12,900
14JackNathan$12,900
15OzymanOzyman$12,900
16TimothyBanks$10,800
17GinoldRendel$10,800
18FredericKonowitz$10,800
19NicholasLay$10,800
20AaronFlores$9,000
21DavidNathaniel Jr$9,000
22A.J.Kelsall$9,000
23MiguelCapriles$9,000
24BaseemNsier$7,500
25RubenTorres$7,500
26KennethFrey$7,500
27BrianGoodman$7,500
28RobertoSchmeda$7,500
29EliasNassif$7,500
30DanielHughes$7,500
31CalebPiderit$7,500
32BenjaminZamani$6,300
33AntoineAsik$6,300
34NathanLee$6,300
35JavierFigueroa$6,300
36BaolongNguyen$6,300
37JustinTrant$6,300
38SergioGiha$6,300
39MichaelBruno$6,300
40YaymelBodes$5,300
41TylerKuhlman$5,300
42StuartPhillips$5,300
43JosephSoranno$5,300
44HenMizrahi$5,300
45JuanGelez$5,300
46RobertRogers$5,300
47JessicaBeyrer$5,300
48RyanBrown$4,460
49SagiZommer$4,460
50GafurTursunov$4,460
51AbdullahAbusafieh$4,460
52MichaelJohnson$4,460
53OnielMccalla$4,460
54TuanNguyen$4,460
55DanielLowe$4,460
56StephenSmith$3,740
57MichaelGarcia$3,740
58AndreGreene$3,740
59MatthewDahl$3,740
60EvanKahan$3,740
61FeiwenWu$3,740
62JohnStevenson$3,740
63ScottFrier$3,740
64MircoScharen$3,140
65WilliamKopp$3,140
66DylanSrulovic$3,140
67NicholasVerderamo$3,140
68DavidHewitt$3,140
69ScottWoodring$3,140
70Unclaimed$3,140
71JoshuaJohnson$3,140
72MarkDugay$3,140
73MichaelWeiss$3,140
74ScottRobbins$3,140
75AnthonyGuagliardo$3,140
76GregoryBlucher$3,140
77NeilZonenashvili$2,660
78RidleyJecrois$2,660
79AlanGold$2,660
80NicholasChong$2,660
81EmilianoGuido$2,660
82RolandWakim$2,660
83JasonRocha$2,660
84MatthewWhite$2,660
85RobertStam$2,660
86ElgujaGigauri$2,660
87SurminderSingh$2,660
88JamesCarroll$2,660
89JoostSchippers$2,660
90JamesOrleans$2,660
91RyanHoenig$2,240
92DonteWright$2,240
93IrfanKarajic$2,240
94BrianKeane$2,240
95AlbennesArmstrong$2,240
96Unclaimed$2,240
97DavidDibernardi$2,240
98JustinSwank$2,240
99SungwoonYoo$2,240
100JeffreySauer$2,240
101JohnRocaberte$2,240
102IevgenSmyrnov$2,240
103StephenStarr$2,240
104BogdanChornyy$2,240
105AlejandroCastillo$2,240
106TylerBentz$1,880
107RomanBorozan$1,880
108LucasJumalon$1,880
109SudhirKantamaneni$1,880
110TalAvivi$1,880
111YekaterinaLukina$1,880
112IvanStarostin$1,880
113MatthewMyers$1,880
114ShaiTsarfaty$1,880
115LannyVaysman$1,880
116AlessandroGuani$1,880
117LaurenMonosson$1,880
118KhariHutchings$1,880
119GaryLieberman$1,880
120EstebanGiraldo Rios$1,880
121Sudharshan KKaranam$1,880
122GeorgeRuby$1,880
123GilLevy$1,880
124ZhiYang$1,880
125JesseFreeman$1,880
126CarloRodriguez$1,880
127MarkNahama$1,880
128AndreuFerragut Lluch$1,880
129GeorgeShenoda$1,880
130JuanMarquez$1,880
131TarunGulati$1,880
132SatishSurapaneni$1,880
133UtNguyen$1,880
134MarcSacheli$1,880
135JosephOlivieri$1,880
136EricGansman$1,880
137JorgeCuesta$1,880
138BrendenGluck$1,880
139LouOjeda$1,880
140DarioPistalo$1,560
141JorgeGomez$1,560
142HaimToorgeman$1,560
143JamesKerr$1,560
144NealCorcoran$1,560
145CyrilDarmouni$1,560
146DanAvitsur$1,560
147JulioDelgado Reyes$1,560
148LiorRusinek$1,560
149DejanPetkovic$1,560
150RichardFleming$1,560
151StevenFlacco$1,560
152TimShane$1,560
153AlexanderYen$1,560
154RobertAntunes$1,560
155JeffreyMoore$1,560
156EugeneKotlyarevskiy$1,560
157JorgeRivera$1,560
158DimitriVorbe$1,560
159HarveyFreedman$1,560
160RaimundoNogueira Da Silva$1,560
161LyleDiamond$1,560
162DanielCouzens$1,560
163SamuelKim$1,560
164DerekNold$1,560
165EricPenner$1,560
166MauricioAmmeller$1,560
167ChristianEstevez$1,560
168AnthonySchneider$1,560
169ConradoFrancisco$1,560
170JamesReynolds$1,560
171JeremiahLafrance$1,560
172JonathanSeltzer$1,560
173ManthanDesai$1,560
174CristianTamas$1,560
175ErnestoGomez$1,320
176RuthComeau$1,320
177RichardGreen$1,320
178ChristopherAlen$1,320
179RonaldWillard$1,320
180RobertHagan$1,320
181AleksandrTishchenko$1,320
182IanKramer$1,320
183ParkerDrew$1,320
184WernerAlvarado$1,320
185MarcWoolf$1,320
186SatishSingh$1,320
187WilliamMartel$1,320
188SebastianCrema$1,320
189LawrenceKlur$1,320
190JoseArdila$1,320
191NicolaDavimos$1,320
192HowardBecks$1,320
193RobertBrown$1,320
194IvanIvanou$1,320
195CharlesBragg Jr$1,320
196IvanGrigorev$1,320
197GabrielBurlacu$1,320
198ElliottKampen$1,320
199MatthewLambrecht$1,320
200BenjaminAllen$1,320
201PhillipWhitington$1,320
202DavidPoces$1,320
203EdgarVaras$1,320
204LarryHirschfield$1,320
205RobertShallenberger$1,320
206MiguelFernandez$1,320
207NicolasYunis$1,320
208AnthonySalgado$1,320
209CarlosBermudez$1,320
210RaymondNalbandian$1,320
211ChristopherConrad$1,320
212JoshuaWallace$1,320
213CoryWard$1,320
214BenjaminPollan Y Brizuela$1,320
215AdamMajchrzak$1,320
216Unclaimed$1,320
217ZacharyEichenbaum$1,320
218ZhiWu$1,320
219EricKolodny$1,320
220AlessioIsaia$1,320
221MarkPukhov$1,320
222RoniZelichonok$1,320
223MatthewMetallic$1,320
224JoshuaCranfill$1,140
225GregoryHead$1,140
226MichaelNewman$1,140
227JordanHopper$1,140
228MaryReyes$1,140
229EricPereira Lima$1,140
230MarceloAagesen$1,140
231BorisKisliuk$1,140
232JosephMontervino$1,140
233MichaelTufaro$1,140
234ClaudioPiedrabuena$1,140
235AmarnathChayanam$1,140
236VeselinKatrandzhiev$1,140
237JosephRossi$1,140
238MatthewMeyers$1,140
239JasonSaltzman$1,140
240MatthewAvery$1,140
241WilliamUnderdown$1,140
242AnthonyMoreda$1,140
243PauliusBikus$1,140
244IraSchwartz$1,140
245CalaisCampbell$1,140
246TimothyMulroy$1,140
247PeterUfret$1,140
248RajasekarGovindan$1,140
249JoseChapui$1,140
250Greg-EliotRosen$1,140
251JeevanNomula$1,140
252MatthewBaker$1,140
253PatrickUpp$1,140
254MichaelJagroo$1,140
255JasonKlapman$1,140
256AngelRosete$1,140
257ChristopherBarkey$1,140
258TomerAkerman$1,140
259JoseSilva$1,140
260SaberSalum Penayo$1,140
261RobertMantin$1,140
262BryanSchultz$1,140
263ScottBlackman$1,140
264MartinsAdeniya$1,140
265BrianKent$1,140
266PaulaAlibrandi$1,140
267SheikhAlkhter$1,140
268DavidTuchinsky$1,140
269GregoryBaird$1,140
270MatthewZarcadoolas$1,140
271AllanRabinovich$1,140
272DavidJohansson$1,140
273ArturChimchirian$1,140
274MarkAmabile$1,140
275KeithMccormack$1,140
276WinstonJohnson$1,140
277ChristianDelgado Sergeev$1,140
278AaronKlausman$1,140
279MichaelLu$1,140
280LilyKornik$1,040
281LowellKim$1,040
282JacquelynScott$1,040
283AngeloMiele$1,040
284GarethMcmahon$1,040
285HenryBillete$1,040
286IraFriedman$1,040
287LuisSoriano$1,040
288NicholasRaio$1,040
289DominicDaulton$1,040
290DavidNastal$1,040
291CangirElcin$1,040
292EricPolirer$1,040
293YaroslavNakonechnyy$1,040
294RafaelRodriguez Arang$1,040
295MichaelJacobson$1,040
296RichardLeger$1,040
297IgorHoldaiy$1,040
298RobertNoel$1,040
299RobertoBendeck$1,040
300FilipCvetinovic$1,040
301RobertWing$1,040
302MohammedJaafar$1,040
303LorneGreenberg$1,040
304AliakseiTsiareshka$1,040
305AdamZwick$1,040
306RichardAlsup$1,040
307RichardStolar$1,040
308Luis AlfredoZedan$1,040
309KevinMacdonald$1,040
310MichaelMascitelli$1,040
311GlenCressman$1,040
312CarrollHandy$1,040
313BrookSmith$1,040
314ThomasWallis$1,040
315GertZumkehr$1,040
316AlexanderRosenblatt$1,040
317MichaelGraffeo$1,040
318MilesReinhard$1,040
319JosephBurns$1,040
320MarquisBennett$1,040
321DevonMarshall$1,040
322JavierSarache$1,040
323RichardWhitebrook$1,040
324LakishiaJefferson$1,040
325TraceMankowski$1,040
326AltonMendelson$1,040
327MichaelSpagnolo$1,040
328DylanJaijairam$1,040
329ChadLipton$1,040
330PatrickIbrahim$1,040
331JaydenKrnyaich$1,040
332AlejandroArana Torres$1,040
333HakanObrink$1,040
334ShawnLucas$1,040
335SalvatoreOrlando$1,040
336AyedShweihat$1,040
337JuanMontoya Bernal$1,040
338TaylorWilson$1,040
339MichaelAmato$1,040
340DavidLane$1,040
341JustinQuinn$1,040
342MichaelMc Conchie$1,040
343PasqualeCaiazza$1,040
344AdamBrody$1,040
345ArtimZhuta$1,040
346AnibalPabon$1,040
347SergiuCornea$1,040
348MichaelMccartney$1,040
349FelixRamirez$1,040

* Indicates the results of a three-way deal.