2012 World Poker Tour Lucky Hearts Poker Open Day 3: Gagne Leads Into Final Table
On Day 3 of the World Poker Tour Lucky Hearts Poker Open at the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino, the remaining field of 34 was reduced to the official televised final table of six. After a day that lasted approximately nine hours, Gigi Gagne emerged as the chip leader, bagging up 2.708 million in chips. She now has more than a million-chip lead over Matt Juttelstad in second place.
Entering the day, Juttelstad held the lead for the second day in a row, but Gagne struck the big blow early to shoot into the pole position. The hand that got her to the top was about a half an hour into the day where she eliminated Michael Smith from action. Her K♣J♦ held up against Smith's K♥10♣ after the board ran out 6♦4♦3♦7♦10♦.
After a few more eliminations, it was time for the bubble with 27 players remaining. The last player sent home empty-handed was Fred Goldberg after his AxKx ran into Will Durkee's pocket aces, according to the WPT Live Update Team.
Angelo Miele was sent home in 27th place, Darryll Fish in 23rd place, Noah Schwartz in 18th place and Steve Karp in 16th place. Christian Harder fell in 13th place for $11,505 after moving all-in for approximately 155,000 with Q♣Q♠ and running into Omar Sider's A♣A♦.
From there, Alex Ivanov was eliminated in 11th place, and that sent the final 10 players to just one table, with Gagne holding the lead with 2.6 million in chips. Also making the final 10 was Harrison Gimbel, but his run ended in ninth place.
On the ninth hand of the 10-handed final table, Gimbel three-bet to 58,000 after Sharon Levin raised to 24,000 with the blinds at 5,000/10,000/1,000. Levin was acting from under the gun and Gimbel in middle position. Play folded back to Levin, who reraised all-in after requesting a count from Gimbel's stack. Gimbel made a quick call holding Q♦Q♣. He was flipping against A♦K♥, but couldn't hold after the board ran out A♥10♦2♣2♠3♠.
With Hal Klein bouncing to the exit in eighth place, it was time for the second important bubble of the day — the official final table bubble. After a few hands with seven players, the remaining competitors headed off to a dinner break with Gagne still in front. Omar Sider had the shortest stack going into dinner with just 274,000 in chips, or 23 big blinds.
Sider had a mountain to climb in front of him but couldn't do it and only lasted a couple of hands after the dinner break. He went out in seventh place for $32,598 and officially ended the day.
With the blinds in Level 21 at 6,000/12,000/2,000, Juttelstad opened to 26,000 from under the gun and Keith Ferrera three-bet to 61,000 from the cutoff seat. Action then moved over to Sider in the small blind, and he just called. When play got back to Juttelstad, his decision was to four-bet to 91,000. Ferrera quickly ducked out of the way and play was back on Sider.
It was reported that Sider asked Juttelstad, “You don't want me to see the flop?” Juttelstad stayed silent, though Sider kept prying and asked, “What do you have?”
“What do you have?” responded Juttelstad.
Sider then picked up his cards so everyone could see what he had. He revealed the J♠J♥, but Juttelstad said nothing. He then commented about how he wasn't likely to receive a better hand and moved all-in. Juttelstad called holding the A♣K♥. The dealer ran the flop, turn and river — A♦8♦8♥6♥7♦. Juttelstad won the race, finishing with aces and eights, and sent Sider out the door to set the official final table.
World Poker Tour Lucky Hearts Poker Open Final Table Draw
| Seat | Player | Chips |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Matt Juttelstad | 1,651,000 |
| 2 | Gigi Gagne | 2,708,000 |
| 3 | Uri Kadosh | 1,470,000 |
| 4 | Keith Ferrera | 1,094,000 |
| 5 | Sharon Levin | 1,208,000 |
| 6 | Todd Jacobson | 718,000 |
Gagne may hold the chip lead, but Ferrera is the one with the most live tournament experience. He has over $650,000 in live tournament earnings including a $348,036 score after winning the Wynn Classic Main Event in 2009. Uri Kadosh has just under $300,000 in live tournament winnings and is the second most experienced player in the final six. His largest result came from a win at a Bellagio Cup III event back in 2007 for $96,540.
Play will resume Tueday at 1300 EST (1800 GMT). There will be a live stream of the event on a 30-minute delay hosted by Mike Sexton, Tony Dunst and Dan O'Brien, which you can find on the WPT website. Be sure to 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.
