Michael Graffeo Wins WPTDeepStacks Main Event at LHPO ($290,687)
Michael Graffeo took down the WPTDeepStacks $1,100 Main Event of the Lucky Hearts Poker Open series at Seminole Hard Rock for $290,687. Graffeo bested a final table that included Loni Harwood and Aaron Massey to win the $1 million guaranteed event, which drew 1,509 players to surpass the guarantee by a considerable amount.
Official Final Table Results
| Place | Player | Prize |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Michael Graffeo | $290,687 |
| 2 | Dantonio Brown | $178,209 |
| 3 | Loni Harwood | $110,431 |
| 4 | Marc Levy | $93,049 |
| 5 | Charlemagne Benjamin | $77,127 |
| 6 | Timothy Banks | $62,081 |
| 7 | TK Miles | $47,766 |
| 8 | Luis Torres | $34,473 |
| 9 | Aaron Massey | $25,563 |
Joey Weissman, Zo Karim, Ben Zamani, Kathy Liebert, Mohsin Charania, Kelly Minkin and Jeff Gross were some of the 151 players who made the money in the event.
Stacks were quite short heading into the final table, with only Dantonio Brown over 50 big blinds, according to the live updates. Harwood and Massey were the headliners, but while Harwood had a solid stack of 34 big blinds, Massey had just eight, thanks to a late double on the penultimate day with ace-queen against Brown's ace-ten.
Massey tried to keep the momentum going on the final day when he got ace-queen in against the ace-jack of Harwood, but the World Series of Poker bracelet winner finagled a chop out of the community cards. Shortly thereafter, Massey got his remaining stack of about 11 big blinds in with ace-queen again, but this time, Graffeo woke up with aces to bust him.
With seven players left after Luis Torres' elimination, TK Miles found J♦10♦ and got his last eight big blinds or so in. Unfortunately for him, Harwood picked up the dominating ace-ten to bust him.
Stacks were extraordinarily short six-handed, with Graffeo and Harwood leading the way at around 25 big blinds apiece. A couple of races saw Timothy Banks' fives fall to Marc Levy's K♦9♦ and Charlemagne Benjamin's eights to Harwood's A♥J♣.
Down to seven big blinds and desperate four-handed, Levy shoved with 10♥8♦ and couldn't find improvement against Brown's A♦Q♦.
Harwood, who finished 41st in this event in 2016, got her remaining chips in ahead with A♠7♠ from the button against Brown, who called a shove of about 14 big blinds in the big blind. He had K♥3♥ and needed to improve. He did so when a three arrived on the flop, along with another on the turn. Harwood had picked up a flush draw with 10♠6♦3♣3♠ on the felt, but the 7♦ wasn't enough on the river.
It was Graffeo versus Brown, with similar stacks and Brown slightly ahead with 20 million at 250,000/500,000/75,000. Graffeo had taken the lead when the decisive hand went down, but Brown was the one with the equity edge. He held eights against A♣3♣, but Graffeo found a couple of aces on the board to win the tournament for his biggest live cash.
Photo courtesy of Seminole Hard Rock
