Welcome to Day 1B of the $2 Million Guarantee WPT Lucky Hearts Poker Open

By Tim Duckworth

Season XVIII of the World Poker Tour returns to Hollywood, Florida, and the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino for Day 1B of the WPT Lucky Hearts Poker Open that features two starting flights and a $2 million guaranteed prize pool.

The World Poker Tour has always been a popular tour in Florida, and with the success of their past events, Season XVIII saw a total of three events hosted by the Seminole Hard Rock. Following the WPT Seminole Rock ‘N’ Roll Poker Open in November 2019, and the upcoming WPT Seminole Hard Rock Poker Showdown in May 2020, the WPT Lucky Hearts Poker Open has returned after a Season XVII hiatus.

In Season XVI, 911 entrants created a $2,915,200 prize pool that paid the top 114 players as the likes of WPT Champions Club members Tyler Patterson, Olivier Busquet, Aaron Mermelstein, Zachary Smiley, Mohsin Charania, Jason Brin, Matas Cimbolas, and Andjelko Andrejevic all finished in the money. With the likes of Ness Reilly (4th) and WPT Champions Club member Andy Frankenberger (3rd) also at the final table, it would inevitably be Darryll Fish (pictured) emerging victorious to collect his first WPT title and the $511,604 first-place prize.

On Day 1A a total of 423 entrants took to the felt, and after ten levels of play, just 151 players would survive into Day 2. Ryan Remington finished the day as chip leader with 475,000 on the back of a three-way clash that saw him river quads against Michael Newman and Ping Liu. Remington is joined at the top by Alan Schein (344,500), Vladimir Vasilyev (323,500), and Davian Santana (307,500). Others to survive into Day 2 include WPT Champions Club members Jonathan Jaffe, Jared Jaffee, Matthew Waxman, Patrick Serda, Jason Brin, Darren Elias, Donald Maloney, Sam Panzica, Chanracy Khun, Noah Schwartz, Anthony Zinno, Brian Altman, and defending champion Fish.

Hublot WPT Player of the Year Standings for Season XVIII

Heading into 2020 and the second half of Season XVIII, Alex Foxen holds the lead on the Hublot WPT Player of the Year leaderboard with 1,400 points following his WPT Five Diamond World Poker Classic win. Following his second place finish behind Foxen, and a deep run at WPT Rock ‘N’ Roll Poker Open, Toby Joyce sits second overall also on 1,400 points. Rounding out the top five are WPT Borgata Poker Open champion Donald Maloney (1,350 points), WPT Legends of Poker champion Aaron Van Blarcum (1,275 points), and WPT Montreal champion Geoffrey Hum (1,250 points). With the WPT Gardens Poker Championship paused until the final table plays out on Tuesday, March 31, the most points any of the final six players can move to is 1,250 points.

With Season XVIII now well underway on the WPT Main Tour, great prizes are on offer for whoever can follow in the footsteps of defending WPT Player of the Year Erkut Yilmaz and other WPT legends before him.

Included in the World Poker Tour’s enhancements for Season XVIII are added Hublot WPT Player of the Year prizes. Not only will the Hublot WPT Player of the Year for Season XVIII win a custom Hublot timepiece and complimentary accommodation at select WPT Main Tour stops for Season XVIII, but he or she will earn $15,000 in WPT tournament buy-in credits. Prizes have been added for second- and third-place finishers in the race, as well. The runner-up receives $7,500 in WPT tournament buy-in credits and third place receives $2,500 in WPT tournament buy-in credits.

WPT tournament buy-in credits can be used in any global WPT event, including WPT Main Tour, WPTDeepStacks, WPT500, and WPT Special Events.

WPT Lucky Hearts Poker Open Structure and Schedule
The WPT Lucky Hearts Poker Open features a $3,500 buy-in and players are allowed unlimited re-entries on Day 1A and 1B until the start of level nine on each Day 1; approximately 9:15 p.m. (ET).

As is the case with all Season XVIII WPT Main Tour stops, it comes with the World Poker Tour structure that includes the big blind ante format and 40,000 in starting chips. The first two levels will be 100-100 and 100-200 with no ante before the big blind ante kicks in for Level 3 and onward. Level 3 will be 100-200 with a 200 ante, and the big blind ante will be the same price as the big blind from there on out.

The WPT Lucky Hearts Poker Open schedule will see play start at 11 a.m. (ET) on Day 1A and 1B with ten 60-minute levels with a 15-minute break after every two levels, and a 90-minute dinner break after level six beginning at approximately 5:30 p.m. (ET). Day 2 will play ten 60-minute levels, while for Day 3 and 4, levels will be extended to 90-minutes in duration with Day 4 playing down until the final table of six is reached. When play resumes on Day 5, levels will be 60-minutes in duration until heads-up is reached where they will be reduced to 30 minutes in length until the newest WPT Champion is crowned. The final table will be streamed on WPT.com from 2:30 p.m. (ET).

To view complete information on the WPT Lucky Hearts Poker Open structure and schedule, click here.

With that, the stage is now set for the start of Day 1B the WPT Lucky Hearts Poker Open Main Event to begin at 11 a.m. (ET) from the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino. Stay tuned right here to WPT.com for the exclusive live coverage of the tournament from start to finish to see who becomes the WPT Lucky Hearts Poker Open champion, and wins his or her way to the season-ending Baccarat Crystal WPT Tournament of Champions.

Photography by Melissa Haereiti / PokerPhotoArchive

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