WPT Seminole Hard Rock Lucky Hearts Poker Open, Day 1A Recap

By BJ Nemeth

The poker room at the Seminole Hard Rock Casino is split into two levels, and the tournament is starting out on the upper level while cash games continue below. There were 125 players who started on Day 1A. =

WPT Raw Deal analyst Tony Dunst is flanked by Royal Flush Girls Brittany Bell and Jeannie Duffy, along with TD Jessica Hudson, as he welcomes the players to the event.

Matt Stout (seat 10, far right) arrived near the end of the first level, and found himself seated at the toughest table in the room with players like Corey Burbick (seat 2, not pictured), Matt Waxman (seat 4, far left), Jesse Cohen (seat 5), Noah Schwartz (seat 6), and Christian Harder (seat 7). They called it the late-reg table, filled with the types of top players who don’t show up early for WPT events.

WPT Champions Club member Rhynie Campbell played his first WPT tournament since last season’s event here at the Seminole Hard Rock Casino, probably because the south Florida location is a short flight away from his home country of Turks & Caicos, in the Caribbean.

WPT Raw Deal analyst Tony Dunst (left) also provides live commentary on the WPT Final Table Live Stream. On Day 1A, he was seated next to Season VI WPT Player of the Year, Jonathan Little. In addition to two WPT titles and more than $4.7 million in career earnings, Little won the Seminole Hard Rock’s $1,100 prelim event the night before.

Will Failla, the current points leader in the WPT Player of the Year race, took his seat during Level 3. His arrival prompted Matt Stout to say, "Will Failla walks in and the room instantly becomes 100 decibels louder. Not just his voice, but everyone else talking louder to compensate."

Matt O’Donnell was the early chipleader on Day 1A, tripling his starting chip stack in the first four levels to 91,000.

Last summer, Shaun Deeb (center left) backed his grandmother Ellen Deeb (center) into the WSOP Main Event. She was 91 years old, and had been playing poker since she was a child. Ellen came down to the Seminole Hard Rock Casino to sweat her poker-playing grandson on Day 1A.

When Shaun introduced his grandmother to the players at his table, he told them he backed her into the WSOP Main Event. Somebody asked her how well she did, and she just soured her face and shook her head to indicate she didn’t do too well.

Shaun smiled and said, "She plays like I do in live tournaments."

WPT Champions Club member Jeff Forrest can be seen above the logo for the Seminole Hard Rock Lucky Hearts Poker Open.

Vitor Coelho (left) lives in Tampa, and final tabled the most recent WPT event here in Florida when he finished second at WPT Jacksonville in November. Jason Mercier (right) is frequently named as one of the best poker players in the world, and is from this part of south Florida.

Mercier finished the day third in chips, with 176,400, while Coelho survived with 50,100.

Will Failla (seated, left) is more interested in Royal Flush Girls Jeannie Duffy (center) and Brittany Bell (right) than the action at his table.

At the end of the day, there were only two players with more than 200,000 in chips, and they were seated right next to each other. Ely Levy (left) finished with 218,500, while Uri Kadosh eliminated a player on the second-to-last hand to finish with 275,500.

Day 1A came to an end after 10 levels with 48 players. Here’s a look at the top of the leaderboard:

1.  Uri Kadosh  –   275,500
2.  Ely Levy  –   218,550
3.  Jason Mercier   –   176,400
4.  Omar Sider  –   170,600
5.  Nick Avera  –   133,200

Day 1B begins Saturday at 12:00 noon ET, when some players take their first shot (and others their second) at making Tuesday’s WPT Final Table. Return to WPT.com for continuing live coverage throughout the day.