WPT Seminole Hard Rock Lucky Hearts Poker Open, Day 2 Recap

By BJ Nemeth

Royal Flush Girls Jeannie Duffy (left) and Brittany Bell record an intro to Day 2 outside the poker room here at the Seminole Hard Rock Casino.

Mike Sexton was on hand to mingle with the players before Day 2, and hung around to watch the early action. Here, he watched as Kathy Liebert moved her short stack all in after a flop of [KsQc2c]. Liebert would win the pot, but unfortunately not survive the day.

After four-betting preflop, Jason Mercier (left) and Angelo "J.R." Miele (far right) saw a flop of [Qc7h2s]. They reraised each other all in, and Miele turned over [AdQs] for top pair, top kicker. But Mercier showed [KcKd] for an overpaid. It was a huge pot, and Mercier was on the verge of becoming tournament chipleader.

But the turn was the [Ah], the river was the [Jd], and Miele turned two pair to crack Mercier’s kings and win the pot. Mercier lost most of his stack, but he wasn’t critical, and still had enough chips to mount a comeback.

Royal Flush Girls Brittany Bell (left) and Jeannie Duffy check out the action at this table, with Matt O’Donnell (seated, center) and Christian Harder (seated, right).

Allen Kessler appears to be sleeping as a hand plays out between two other players. Kessler was short-stacked with less than 20,000 in chips, and was eliminated a short while later when he got it all in with pocket jacks, but they couldn’t hold up against K-Q offsuit.

Angelo "J.R." Miele (far right) takes a cellphone photo of Jason Mercier with Royal Flush Girl Jeannie Duffy. It was actually Miele who requested a photo of Mercier and Duffy together.

Miele and Mercier played a few big pots against each other on Day 2. Late in the day, they battled over a board of [10s10d9dQd], and Mercier three-bet all in with [Jh10h] (trip tens, open-ended straight draw). But Miele flipped over [8d2d] for a diamond flush.

The river was the [3s], and that was the end of Jason Mercier’s tournament as Miele became a contender for the chip lead.

Noah Schwartz found himself in an interesting situation on Day 2. He had a summons to appear for jury duty on Monday, which would be Day 3. He began playing more aggressively than usual, figuring he’d win big or go home. That strategy served him well on Sunday; even though he had an up-and-down stack, he survived the day with an average chip stack, and the field is only seven spots away from the money.

We’ll have to wait and see until play begins on Day 3 to see whether Schwartz was able to get out of his jury duty. (Or if he decided to play hooky.)

Royal Flush Girls Brittany Bell (left) and Jeannie Duffy highlight the "WPT" shoes that Vitor Coelho was wearing on Day 2. Coelho custom ordered the shoes, choosing the color "Victory Green" and having the back monogrammed with the letters "WPT."

Coelho final tabled WPT Jacksonville earlier this season, finishing fourth to earn more than $75,000.

In the final level of the day, Angelo "J.R." Miele (foreground right) found himself in another big pot, this time against Harrison Gimbel (center left). Gimbel had three-bet the flop of [Qh10d4s], and then moved all in when the [4h] paired the turn. Miele tanked for several minutes, trying to get coax a reaction, but Gimbel stayed silent and motionless.

Eventually, Miele asked, "If I fold, will you show?" Gimbel ignored him, and he repeated the question several times. Miele eventually folded, and Gimbel took the pot worth nearly 300,000 in chips.

Day 1 chipleader Matt Juttelstad (left) kept his momentum going, becoming the Day 2 chipleader as well with 805,000. Gigi Gagne (right) went on a run after the dinner break, busting several players as she built her stack up to 725,000, good enough for second place on the leaderboard.

With 34 players remaining (but only 27 finishing in the money), here’s a look at the top of the leaderboard:

1.  Matt Juttelstad  –  805,000
2.  Gigi Gagne  –  725,000
3.  Uri Kadosh  –  685,000
4.  Angelo Miele  –  570,000
5.  Harrison Gimbel  – 456,000

Day 3 begins Monday at 12:00 noon ET, when the final 34 players will burst the money bubble (27 get paid) and play down to the six seats at Tuesday’s WPT Final Table. Stay tuned to WPT.com for continuing live coverage, and hand-for-hand action beginning once they reach the final ten players.