2012 World Poker Tour Lucky Hearts Poker Open Day 1b: Juttelstad Shoots To the Top
Day 1b of the World Poker Tour Lucky Hearts Poker Open held at the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino wrapped up on Saturday. Joining the 125 players from Day 1a in the $3,500 buy-in event were another 170 players, to put the total number of entrants at 295. There's $268,444 plus a $25,500 WPT Championship seat on the line for the winner, and Matt Juttelstad led the way into Day 2 with 280,000 in chips.
Since the event had a re-entry format, plenty of players tried their hand again at Day 1b after busting Day 1a. Some of those included Adam Geyer, Andrew Lichtenberger, Tony Dunst, Jeff Forrest, Brian Hawkins and Dan O'Brien.
Although O'Brien began the tournament a bit later than normal to ensure that he would last longer than he did in his first go-around, his fate turned out the same as he failed to advance to Day 2. According to the WPT Live Update Team, O'Brien busted during Level 7 with the blinds at 250/500/50.
A player in middle position raised to 1,500, and one player in late position called. O'Brien called from late position as well and then Matt Stout defended with a call from the big blind. All four players took the J♥6♣5♣ flop and action checked over to the third player. He moved all-in for approximately 11,000 and O'Brien called after tanking for a bit. After he made the call, it was reported that O'Brien had just 6,000 chips behind. Stout reraised all-in and the next player folded. With one player already all-in, O'Brien made the call to put his tournament life on the line.
Stout: A♣J♣
O'Brien: 10♣10♦
Third Player: K♥J♠
Stout's hand was best on the flop and he had plenty of power behind his hand with the nut flush draw. The turn was the 8♠ and river the A♠, giving Stout two pair and winning the pot to eliminate both O'Brien and the other player.
Dunst was another player who gave it a second-chance effort of Day 1b, but things didn't go his way. During one of the last levels of the night, Dunst raised to 1,700 from the hijack seat before Juttelstad three-bet to 4,900 from the small blind. Dunst called to take a flop in position and watched the A♥K♥2♦ roll out. Juttelstad fired 5,100 and Dunst raised to 12,500. Juttelstad came back with a reraise and made it 19,100 to go, and Dunst called.
The turn brought the 3♠ and Juttelstad checked his hole cards before sliding out enough chips to put Dunst all-in. Dunst made the call and tabled A♦Q♥. His top pair was behind the 5♠4♠ for Juttelstad's turned wheel. The river completed the board with the 4♥ and that was the end of the line for Dunst.
Other notables who failed to make it to Day 2 were former WPT champions Victor Ramdin, Tommy Vedes, Michael “The Grinder” Mizrachi and Sam El Sayed. They were joined on the rail by James Calderaro, Ebony Kenney, Amnon Filippi and Matthew Jarvis.
Despite the loss of all of those notable players, Jonathan Little fought back after a Day 1a defeat to move to Day 2 and he'll be joined by Kathy Liebert, Todd Terry, Tristan Wade and Christian Harder.
World Poker Tour Lucky Hearts Poker Open Top 10 Chip Counts
| Place | Player | Chips |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Matt Juttelstad | 280,000 |
| 2 | Uri Kadosh | 275,500 |
| 3 | Will Durkee | 233,100 |
| 4 | Ely Levy | 218,550 |
| 5 | Angelo Miele, Jr. | 211,800 |
| 6 | Alex Ivanov | 200,700 |
| 7 | Keith Ferrera | 200,600 |
| 8 | Jason Mercier | 176,400 |
| 9 | Hal Klein | 172,900 |
| 10 | Omar Sider | 170,600 |
With 112 players remaining, Day 2 will commence on Sunday at 1200 EST (1700 GMT). Stay tuned to PokerNews for daily recaps of the WPT Lucky Hearts Poker Open in Hollywood, Florida.
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*Photo courtesy of the World Poker Tour.
