2021 Lucky Hearts Poker Open
Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino
Hollywood, Florida
Event 12
$600 Six-Max NLH (Single Re-Entry)
$50,000 Guaranteed
Entries:  434
Prize Pool:  $227,850
January 19, 2021

Event #12 of the 2021 Lucky Hearts Poker Open was a $600 Six-Max No-Limit Hold’em event, and the field of 434 entries more than quadrupled the guaranteed prizepool of $50,000.

Ryan Depaulo won the event outright (without the benefit of a deal) to claim the trophy, the title, and the first prize of $41,485. You might notice that Depaulo’s first prize was nearly as large as the guarantee on the entire prizepool.

Final Results:

$600 Six-Max NLH (Single Re-Entry)
$50,000 Guaranteed | Structure | Payouts
Level 23:  15,000/25,000 with a 25,000 ante
Players Remaining:  7 of 434

When the field for the six-max reached the final seven players, there was a random redraw for seats at the final table. Here’s the lineup, along with their chip counts:

Seat 1.  Chris Hewitt  –  795,000  (32 bb)
Seat 2.  Michael Esquivel  –  760,000  (30 bb)
Seat 3.  Ryan Depaulo  –  580,000  (23 bb)
Seat 4.  Alan Wentz  –  1,605,000  (64 bb)
Seat 5.  H. Harada  –  550,000  (22 bb)
Seat 6.  D.J. Swartz  –  650,000  (26 bb)
Seat 7.  Art Demmerley  –  1,575,000  (63 bb)

And here are the final table payouts they’re playing for:

1st:  $41,485 + LHPO Trophy
2nd:  $29,105
3rd:  $20,690
4th:  $14,935
5th:  $10,950
6th:  $8,150
7th:  $6,170

$600 Six-Max NLH (Single Re-Entry)
$50,000 Guaranteed | Structure | Payouts
Level 13: 1,500/2,500 with a 2,500 ante
Players Remaining:  59 of 434

The player on the button moved all in, and Jason Young called all in from the small blind for 21,500 with . The button turned over , and Young needed his hand to hold to stay alive.

The flop came , though the queen was the last card revealed, giving Young a brief moment where he thought he had been outflopped. Instead, he was in a dominant position with a set of queens against a lower two pair.

The turn card was the , the river card was the , and Young won the pot with quad queens to double up in chips.

Jason Young  –  48,000  (19 bb)

The next hand, the player in the big blind got it all in with against the of Aaron Thivyanathan in the small blind.

The board came , and Thivyanathan spiked a nine on the river to win the pot with a set of nines, eliminating his opponent.

The next hand, before Thivyanathan could finish stacking his chips, the player who doubled up Jason Young two hands earlier got it all in from the hijack with . But he was dominated and facing elimination against Thivyanathan’s on the button.

The board came — the short-stacked player flopped a gutshot straight draw, but improved no further. Thivyanathan won the pot with his pocket kings to eliminate yet another player.

Aaron Thivyanathan  –  297,000  (119 bb)

With only three players left on the table, they paused to wait for new players, but instead it was their turn in the breaking order, and these players departed for their new seats elsewhere in the tournament field.

With 59 players remaining, the average chip stack is about 110,000 (55 big blinds). The field is in the money, with the remaining players guaranteed at least $840 each.

$600 Six-Max NLH (Single Re-Entry)
$50,000 Guaranteed | Structure | Payouts
Level 12: 1,000/2,000 with a 2,000 ante
Players Remaining:  73 of 434

In the second hand of hand-for-hand play on the Money Bubble, two players got it all in after a flop of .

The player in the big blind was all in for 20,000 with , and he was covered by Javier Sarache on the button with . The short stack was ahead and poised to double up.

But the turn card was the , and the river card was the — Sarache rivered a higher pair to win the pot, eliminate his opponent, and burst the Money Bubble.

Javier Sarache  –  145,000  (73 bb)

With 73 players left, the average chip stack is about 89,000 (45 big blinds).

$600 Six-Max NLH (Single Re-Entry)
$50,000 Guaranteed | Structure | Payouts
Level 12: 1,000/2,000 with a 2,000 ante
Players Remaining: 84 of 434

The numbers were released and the $600 Six-Max NLH tournament officially drew 434 entries to push the $50,000 guaranteed prize pool up to $227,850. The biggest Six-Max field in our history will pay out the last 73 positions with $785 for a min-cash and $41,485 to the next LHPO champion.

2021 Lucky Hearts Poker Open
Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino
Hollywood, Florida
Event 12
$600 Six-Max NLH (Single Re-Entry)
$50,000 Guaranteed
Entries: 434
Prize Pool:  $227,850
January 19, 2021

1st: $41,485 + LHPO Trophy
2nd: $29,105
3rd: $20,690
4th: $14,935
5th: $10,950
6th: $8,150
7th-8th: $6,170
9th-10th: $4,745
11th-12th: $3,710
13th-14th: $2,950
15th-16th: $2,385
17th-18th: $1,965
19th-24th: $1,645
25th-30th: $1,405
31st-36th: $1,220
37th-42nd: $1,080
43rd-48th: $975
49th-54th: $895
55th-60th: $840
61st-66th: $805
67th-73rd: $785

$600 Six-Max NLH (Single Re-Entry)
$50,000 Guaranteed | Structure
Level 11: 1,000/1,500 with a 1,500 ante
Players Remaining: 90 of 434

The Six-Max field is moving right along, just about how you’d expect for a short-handed action-filled tournament. They are down to 15 tables and 90 players remaining with a dinner break on the horizon.

We found a few new faces in the Seminole Ballroom today including 2015 WSOP Main Event champ Joe McKeehen and WSOP Circuit Coconut Creek winner Hamid Izadi.

$600 Six-Max NLH (Single Re-Entry)
$50,000 Guaranteed | Structure
Level 9: 500/1,000 with a 1,000 ante
Entries: 434

The record-breaking day continued today in the Seminole Ballroom with the $600 Six-Max NLH field putting up 434 entries into the field when registration closed after the second break. That’s a clear beat of the 349 entries in the same event during the 2019 Seminole Hard Rock Poker Open.

• 2021 LHPO (January) – 434 entries
• 2019 SHRPO (August) – 349 entries
• 2016 Showdown (April) – 312 entries
• 2019 SHRPO (August) – 288 entries
• 2017 Showdown (March) – 274 entries

$600 Six-Max NLH (Single Re-Entry)
$50,000 Guaranteed | Structure
Level 5: 200/400 with a 400 ante
Entries: 360

The first came to an end and players are back in action in the huge Six-Max field. We have 360 entries so far with no signs of slowing.

Chris Hewitt looks like the biggest stack in the room after running his 15,000 starting stack up to 62,000 in two hours. Four-time SHRP champ Allan Bieler isn’t far behind with right around 50,000 heading into Level 5.

$600 Six-Max NLH (Single Re-Entry)
$50,000 Guaranteed | Structure
Level 3: 100/200 with a 200 ante
Entries: 273

The steady parade of entrants continues in the Six-Max and we will have a full house before the close registration in a couple of hours. They are piling in.

Two recent entries come from separate parts of the state. Steve Trizis, 2016 WPTDeepStacks Tampa Main Event final table member, came over to the east coast of the Sunshine State to take his shot. Jason Young is from this side and the 2019 WPTDeepStacks Hollywood Main Event champ means business today.

$600 Six-Max NLH (Single Re-Entry)
$50,000 Guaranteed | Structure
Level 2: 100/100 with a 100 ante
Entries: 213

Running a big Six-Max tournament on Tuesday has not slowed the players down, they are still signing up as quick as they can be processed into the game. The entry count jumped over 200 in the first level and moving right along.

Fred Dabus had an early seat in the short-handed game, a familiar face around the SHRP poker rooms with big cashes here and in Tampa and in Coconut Creek. But Dabus had his top score a few years ago with a WSOP final table appearance in 2015, finishing eighth out of 2,497 in a $1,000 No Limit Hold’em bracelet event.