On Tuesday night, the Seminole Hard Rock in Hollywood, Florida wrapped up its 2021 Lucky Hearts Poker Open. The series culminated with a $3,500 buy-in, $1 million GTD World Poker Tour (WPT) Main Event, which was won by Ilyas Muradi for $620,000. You can read our recap of that tournament here.
In addition to the series, which ran from January 14-26, crowned more than two dozen side event winners. In the early stages of the series, Yuval Bronshtein and Fernando Rodriguez were among the big winners, while we recap some of the bigger winners and storylines from the latter half of the series below.
David Nathaniel Jr Named POY
During the series, Seminole Hard Rock also revealed David Nathaniel Jr as their 2019-20 Player of the Year due to his performances in all the Championship/Main Events throughout the year. That included six majors, and Nathaniel Jr did well in half of them.
First, he finished 10th out of 617 entrants in the 2019 Coconut Creek WSOP Circuit Main Event for $14,537, and then just a few weeks later won the $1,100 buy-in 2019 Tampa Pinktober Main Event for $93,345.
He also earned a min-cash in the WSOP Circuit Seminole Hard Rock Tampa Main Event to secure the title. Well-known poker player James Calderaro finished as runner-up on the points leaderboard.
For winning POY, Nathaniel Jr earned entries into select SHRP Main Events as well as hotel and dining credits.
Popular Blogger Ships Event #12
On January 19, Event #12: $600 Six-Max NLH (Single Re-Entry) attracted 434 entrants and created a $227,850 prize pool, which was more than four times the $50K guarantee. While the tournament wasn’t streamed, poker fans are sure to get a glimpse of the action down the road via the popular vlog of Ryan Depaulo, who emerged victorious to the tune of $41,485.
Depaulo, who this summer won a World Series of Poker online gold bracelet, began the final table as the second-shortest stack but managed to play his way to a live title with a first-place prize nearly the size of the guarantee. He did so by defeating Daniel Swartz in heads-up play. Swartz not only took down $29,105 in prize money but also went on to win Event #20: $1,700 Purple Chip Bounty for $42,219.
Event #12 Final Table Results
| Place | Player | Prize |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Ryan Depaulo | $41,485 |
| 2 | Daniel Swartz | $29,105 |
| 3 | Arthur Demmerley | $20,690 |
| 4 | Christopher Hewitt | $14,935 |
| 5 | Alan Wentz | $10,950 |
| 6 | Hiroaki Harada | $8,150 |
Baumstein’s Winning Streak Continues
When it comes to winning tournaments at the Seminole Hard Rock Hollywood, Scott Baumstein is a pro. Since late 2020, he had won three titles headed into the 2021 Lucky Hearts Poker Open Event #8: $600 Double Black Chip Bounty NLH, a tournament that drew 430 runners and offered up a $139,750 prize pool.
Baumstein’s win streak continued as he finished as the last player standing to win $28,040 and his fourth title since the pandemic began.
“I’ve been really, really lucky the last few months,” Baumstein told SHR officials. “I’ve won three tournaments since September here, and this is the fourth one. It feels good to be on a hot streak, and I hope to win a bigger one during the series.”
Last September, Baumstein won a $360 NLH Deep Stack event for $14,832 followed by a victory in the September Big Slick $1,100 NLH for $26,229. Then, in October, he took down the $360 NLH Deep Stack for $13,838.
He added: “I feel really focused. I’ve been concentrating a lot more on tournaments recently, and I feel like I’m seeing things very clearly at the moment. It helps to run well.”
It wasn’t Baumstein’s first taste of Lucky Hearts success as back in 2018 he won the WPTDeepStacks Lucky Hearts Poker Open for $220,238.
Event #8 Final Table Results
| Place | Player | Prize |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Scott Baumstein | $28,040 |
| 2 | Frederick Goldfarb | $18,675 |
| 3 | Yulia Lisichkina | $13,770 |
| 4 | Daniel Kuntzman | $10,265 |
| 5 | Michael Hudson | $7,740 |
| 6 | Stephen Hilowitz | $5,900 |
| 7 | Christopher Vincent | $4,050 |
| 8 | Josias Santos | $4,050 |
Collopy & Kaverman Notch Six-Figure Scores in Event #25
On Tuesday, January 26 on the penultimate day of the series, the one-day Event #25: $5,000 No-Limit Hold’em attracted 134 runners and offered up a $636,500 prize pool.
That was reserved for the top 17 players, and some of those to cash but fall short of the final table were Carl Diveglia (17th - $11,675), Landon Tice (15th - $11,675), Jake Schwartz (13th - $12,590), Adam Hendrix (10th - $16,280), Randall Emmett (9th - $16,280), and Lee Markholt (8th - $21,760).
After Ivan Zufic bowed out in third place for $75,825, Jim Collopy and Bryon Kaverman worked a heads-up deal. The latter secured $129,596 in prize money while the former got the trophy and $141,714.
Event #25 Final Table Results
| Place | Player | Prize |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Jim Collopy | $141,714* |
| 2 | Byron Kaverman | $129,596* |
| 3 | Ivan Zufic | $75,825 |
| 4 | Valery Litvak | $54,470 |
| 5 | Nikola Minkov | $40,260 |
| 6 | Alexander Butcher | $30,650 |
| 7 | Martin Zamani | $21,760 |
2021 Lucky Hearts Poker Open Results Thus Far
| Date | Tournament | Entries | Prize Pool | Winner | Prize |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| January 14-18, 2021 | Event #1: $600 Deepstack NLH | 3,004 | $1,577,100 | Fernando Rodriguez | $205,000 |
| January 14, 2021 | Event #2: $400 Limit Omaha 8 | 123 | $41,205 | Yuval Bronshtein | $7,535 |
| January 15, 2021 | Event #3: $400 H.O.R.S.E. | 102 | $34,170 | Nick Pupillo | $9,570 |
| January 16, 2021 | Event #4: $400 Deepstack PLO | 225 | $75,375 | Matthew Stuff | $17,169 |
| January 17, 2021 | Event #5: $400 Deepstack NLH | 337 | $112,895 | Jose Pacheco | $19,359 |
| January 18, 2021 | Event #6: $1,100 Deepstack NLH | 301 | $291,970 | Carlos Rodriguez Rojas | $62,090 |
| January 18, 2021 | Event #7: $400 Seniors 50+ | 221 | $74,035 | Mitchell Mantin | $16,955 |
| January 18, 2021 | Event #8: $600 Double Black Chip Bounty | 430 | $139,750 | Scott Baumstein | $28,040 |
| January 18, 2021 | Event #9: $400 Black Chip Bounty PLO | 201 | $47,235 | Dash Dudley | $10,945 |
| January 18, 2021 | Event #10: $150 Big Stack NLH | 458 | $54,960 | Richard Paradis | $9,038 |
| January 19, 2021 | Event #11: $400 Omaha 8/Stud 8 | 97 | $32,495 | Byron Hubert | $7,903 |
| January 19, 2021 | Event #12: $600 Six-Max NLH | 434 | $227,850 | Ryan Depaulo | $41,485 |
| January 19, 2021 | Event #13: $400 6-Max PLO 8 | 139 | $46,565 | Leif Force | $11,635 |
| January 19, 2021 | Event #14: $600 Deepstack Turbo NLH Freezeout | 167 | $87,675 | Alex Ortiz Vazquez | $19,022 |
| January, 20, 2021 | Event #15: $1,100 NLH | 556 | $539,320 | Chad Eveslage | $101,572 |
| January 21, 2021 | Event #16: $2,200 NLH | 335 | $670,000 | Dominique Mosley | $140,342 |
| January 22-26, 2021 | Event #17: $3,500 WPT Main Event | 1,573 | $5,033,600 | Ilyas Muradi | $620,000 |
| January 23, 2021 | Event #18: $400 Deep Stack NLH | 86 | $28,810 | Matt Figlesthaler | $9,289 |
| January 24, 2021 | Event #19: $400 Black Chip Bounty | 296 | $29,600 | Bryan Munoz | $15,331 |
| January 24-25, 2021 | Event #20: $1,700 Purple Chip Bounty | 229 | $229,000 | Daniel Swartz | $42,219 |
| January 24, 2021 | Event #21: $600 Big Stack Turbo NLH/PLO | 69 | $36,225 | Fabian Soler | $12,677 |
| January 25, 2021 | Event #22: $600 Big Stack NLH | 415 | $217,875 | Adam Hendrix | $43,814 |
| January 25, 2021 | Event #23: $400 Six-Max PLO | 139 | $46,565 | Andrei Mitsiuk | $11,635 |
| January 25-25, 2021 | Event #24: $150 NLH | 770 | $92,400 | Kevin Rines | $16,460 |
| January 26, 2021 | Event #25: $5,000 NLH | 134 | $636,500 | Jim Collopy | $141,714 |
| January 26-27, 2021 | Event #26: $2,200 Deep Stack PLO | 113 | $226,000 | John Orfanos | $66,671 |
