2020 Lucky Hearts Poker Open
Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino
Hollywood, Florida
Event 27
$150 No Limit Hold’em (Re-Entry)
Entries:  619
Prize Pool:  $74,280
January 20-22, 2020

The 2020 Lucky Hearts Poker Open came to an end late Wednesday night with the conclusion of Event #27 ($150 No-Limit Hold’em), a two-day event that attracted 619 entries.

After a roller-coaster of a final table, the final four players agreed to an ICM deal, and chipleader Scott Roberts was declared the winner, receiving the title and the trophy.

There were a lot of dramatic all-in situations, and Roberts seemed to be involved in all of them.

“It was the craziest final table I think I’ve ever been at,” said Roberts. “My jacks against queens flopping quads. My nines against sixes and ace-king, and he hit his king, but then I hit my nine on the river to triple up. And then I hit my queen on the river against something else. The river has been good to me tonight.”

To be fair, Roberts was also on the losing end of a bad beat, getting it all in with pocket kings as the big stack against ace-king and pocket eights — there were two aces on the flop and an eight on the turn. That knocked Roberts down to 11 big blinds, but he may have forgotten about that one because two hands later is when he tripled up with pocket nines after spiking a nine on the river.

“It feels great,” said Roberts. “It’s finally nice to win a big one here at the Seminole Hard Rock.”

Final Table Results:

1st:  Scott Roberts  –  $13,584*
2nd:  David Shmuel  –  $13,406*
3rd:  David Coughlin  –  $10,042*
4th:  Al Gomez  –  $8,089*
5th:  Michael Tait  –  $3,974
6th:  Rene Noriega  –  $3,157
7th:  Antonio Campbell  –  $2,414
8th:  Evan Haw  –  $1,746
9th:  Andre Bryan  –  $1,263

* Indicates a four-way deal.

$150 No Limit Hold’em (Re-Entry)
$50,000 Guaranteed | Structure | Payouts
Level 29:  50,000/100,000 with a 100,000 ante
Players Remaining:  1 of 619

After the elimination of Michael Tait in fifth place, the final four players quickly agree to an ICM deal for the remaining prizepool.

These were the official chip counts:

1.  Scott Roberts  –  3,500,000  (35 bb)
2.  David Shmuel  –  3,375,000  (34 bb)
3.  David Coughlin  –  1,550,000  (16 bb)
4.  Al Gomez  –  850,000  (9 bb)

As chipleader, Scott Roberts was declared the winner, receiving the title and the trophy.

Stay tuned for a recap from this event, which will be posted later tonight.

1st:  Scott Roberts  –  $13,584*
2nd:  David Shmuel  –  $13,406*
3rd:  David Coughlin  –  $10,042*
4th:  Al Gomez  –  $8,089*
5th:  Michael Tait  –  $3,974
6th:  Rene Noriega  –  $3,157
7th:  Antonio Campbell  –  $2,414
8th:  Evan Haw  –  $1,746
9th:  Andre Bryan  –  $1,263

* Indicates a four-way deal.

$150 No Limit Hold’em (Re-Entry)
$50,000 Guaranteed | Structure | Payouts
Level 29:  50,000/100,000 with a 100,000 ante
Players Remaining:  4 of 619

Michael Tait got it all in from the button for about 1,100,000 with , and he needed to improve to stay alive against the of David Shmuel, who was under the gun.

The board came , and Shmuel flopped a set of kings to win the pot and eliminate Tait in fifth place.

David Shmuel  –  3,375,000  (34 bb)
Michael Tait  –  Eliminated in 5th Place  ($3,974)

With four players remaining, the average chip stack is about 2,325,000 (23 big blinds), and the next player to bust will earn $5,385.

$150 No Limit Hold’em (Re-Entry)
$50,000 Guaranteed | Structure | Payouts
Level 29:  50,000/100,000 with a 100,000 ante
Players Remaining:  5 of 619

There is a short break to color up the 5K chips after Level 27, and these were the official chip counts with the blinds increasing to 50K-75K:

Seat 1.  Al Gomez  –  850,000  (11 bb)
Seat 2.  Michael Tait  –  1,050,000  (14 bb)
Seat 3.  Scott Roberts  –  1,925,000  (26 bb)
Seat 4.  David Coughlin  –  1,500,000  (20 bb)
Seat 5.  David Shmuel  –  3,200,000  (43 bb)
Seat 6.  Rene Noriega  –  750,000  (10 bb)

A half hour later, the blinds increased to 50K-100K, and Scott Roberts raised under the gun to 225,000. Rene Noriega moved all in from the button for 425,000, and Roberts called with .

Noriega turned over , and needed to improve to stay alive.

The board came — Noriega paired his king on the flop, but Roberts rivered a set of queens to win the pot and eliminate Noriega in sixth place.

Scott Roberts  –  3,600,000  (36 bb)
Rene Noriega  –  Eliminated in 6th Place  ($3,157)

With five players remaining, the average chip stack is about 1,850,000 (19 big blinds), and the next player to bust will earn $3,157.

$150 No Limit Hold’em (Re-Entry)
$50,000 Guaranteed | Structure | Payouts
Level 27:  30,000/60,000 with a 60,000 ante
Players Remaining:  6 of 619

Two hands after a dramatic all-in hand, Antonio Campbell moved all in from the hijack for 630,000, Scott Roberts moved all in from the cutoff for 610,000, and David Shmuel moved all in over the top from the small blind.

David Shmuel:  
Antonio Campbell:  
Scott Roberts:  

The board came — Shmuel paired his ace on the turn to take the lead, but Roberts rivered a set of nines to win the main pot and triple up in chips.

Shmuel won the side pot with his pair of aces to take the last 20,000 in chips from Campbell, eliminating him from the tournament.

Scott Roberts  –  1,950,000  (33 bb)
David Shmuel  –  2,315,000  (39 bb)
Antonio Campbell  –  Eliminated in 7th Place  ($2,414)

With six players remaining, the average chip stack is about 1,550,000 (26 big blinds), and the next player to bust will earn $3,157.

$150 No Limit Hold’em (Re-Entry)
$50,000 Guaranteed | Structure | Payouts
Level 27:  30,000/60,000 with a 60,000 ante
Players Remaining:  7 of 619

Scott Roberts moved all in from UTG+1 for 610,000, and Michael Tait called from the big blind with . Roberts turned over , and needed to improve to stay alive.

The board came , and Roberts flopped quad jacks to win the pot and double up in chips.

Scott Roberts  –  1,310,000  (22 bb)
Michael Tait  –  640,000  (11 bb)

Two hands later, Michael Tait raised from the button to 175,000, Antonio Campbell moved all in from the small blind for 190,000, and Scott Roberts moved all in over the top from the big blind. Tait called all in for 610,000, and they turned over their cards.

Scott Roberts:  
Michael Tait:  
Antonio Campbell:  

The board came — Tait cheered the flop when he made trip aces, and Campbell cheered louder on the turn when he caught an eight for a full house. The river card was a blank, and Campbell won the main pot to triple up with his full house, while Tait won a larger side pot to double thru Roberts and make a 230,000 profit on the hand.

Antonio Campbell  –  630,000  (11 bb)
Michael Tait  –  840,000  (14 bb)
Scott Roberts  –  640,000  (11 bb)

With seven players remaining, the average chip stack is about 1,325,000 (2 big blinds), and the next player to bust will earn $2,414.

$150 No Limit Hold’em (Re-Entry)
$50,000 Guaranteed | Structure | Payouts
Level 26:  25,000/50,000 with a 50,000 ante
Players Remaining:  7 of 619

In the first hand after the break, chipleader David Shmuel raised UTG+1 to 120,000, Rene Noriega reraised from middle position to 250,000, and Evan Haw moved all in from the hijack for 770,000.

Shmuel folded, and Noriega called with . Haw turned over , and he needed to improve to stay alive.

The board came , and the pocket kings held up for Noriega to win the pot and eliminate Haw in eighth place.

Rene Noriega  –  2,085,000  (42 bb)
Evan Haw  –  Eliminated in 8th Place  ($1,746)

With seven players remaining, the average chip stack is about 1,325,000 (27 big blinds), and the next player to bust will earn $2,414.

$150 No Limit Hold’em (Re-Entry)
$50,000 Guaranteed | Structure | Payouts
Level 26:  25,000/50,000 with a 50,000 ante
Players Remaining:  8 of 619

In the last hand of Level 25, Andre Bryan moved all in from the button for 555,000, and Michael Tait called all in from the small blind with an identical stack of 555,000.

Bryan showed , but Tait turned over .

The board came — Bryan turned a club flush draw, but improved no further. Tait won the pot with his pocket kings to double up and eliminate Bryan in ninth place.

Michael Tait  –  1,190,000  (24 bb)
Andre Bryan  –  Eliminated in 9th Place  ($1,263)

After that hand, the players took a 15-minute break. These were the official chip counts with the blinds increasing to 25K-50K:

Seat 1.  Evan Haw  –  770,000  (15 bb)
Seat 2.  Al Gomez  –  835,000  (17 bb)
Seat 3.  Michael Tait  –  1,190,000  (24 bb)
Seat 4.  Antonio Campbell  –  575,000  (12 bb)
Seat 5.  Scott Roberts  –  735,000  (15 bb)
Seat 6.  David Coughlin  –  1,285,000  (26 bb)
Seat 7.  David Shmuel  –  2,690,000  (54 bb)
Seat 8.  Rene Noriega  –  1,190,000  (24 bb)

With eight players remaining, the average chip stack is about 1,160,000 (23 big blinds), and the next player to bust will earn $1,746.

2020 Lucky Hearts Poker Open
Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino
Hollywood, Florida
Event 29
$2,200 Deep Stack PLO (Re-Entry)
Entries:  35
Prize Pool:  $70,000
January 21-22, 2020

Timothy Banks survived more than two hours of three-handed play against David Prociak and Melisa Singh before building up a big chip lead and winning the trophy in a three-way deal.

“It feels great,” said Banks, who hails from Charlottetown, the capital of Prince Edward Island in Canada. “I’m a PLO player by nature. I play it all the time as a cash game, but I never get to play tournaments because they never have any back home.”

Banks finished fourth in his last two PLO tournaments — the $1,100 PLO in last year’s Lucky Hearts Poker Open, and a $400 PLO event at Coconut Creek last February.

After his success in his last two Pot-Limit Omaha events, Banks said, “I just thought I better give this tournament a shot to see what happens.”

Banks faced some very tough competition at this final table. When play resumed on Wednesday afternoon with the final four players, Andrei Mitsiuk was eliminated in the first five minutes. Then the final three players battled it out for more than two hours.

One of the players battling Banks for the title was David Prociak, who has the career record for most wins here at Seminole Hard Rock Hollywood (seven), including five in PLO.

The other was Melisa Singh, who is on an incredible hot streak right now, with 18 final tables and three victories in the past eight months.

“They’re both really good competitors,” said Banks. “They’re young and they’re making a living at it. I’m recreational, so I’m glad to be able to make this deal with them, and get the trophy as well.”

Three-handed play lasted nearly two-and-a-half hours, with all three players holding the chip lead and the short stack at different points. Banks reached the lowest point, with just 40K in chips, but was able to bounce back.

“That’s my style,” said Banks. “I’m like a yo-yo. If I feel that the hand’s there, then I’m putting it all in. If I go home, I go home.”

Eventually, Banks built up a sizeable lead when the average chip stack was about 23 big blinds, and that’s when the three players agreed to an even chop of the remaining prizepool. As chipleader, Banks won the title and the trophy.

Banks wrapped up his winner’s interview by praising the staff. “What impresses me the most about the Seminole Hard Rock is the dealers,” said Banks. “They’re very nice people, and they’re very courteous to others, and I always have a great time here.”

Final Results:

1st:  Timothy Banks  –  $18,484* + LHPO Trophy
2nd:  Melisa Singh  –  $18,483*
3rd:  David Prociak  –  $18,483*
4th:  Andrei Mitsiuk  –  $8,280
5th:  Emmanuel Sebag  –  $6,270

* Indicates a three-way chop.