The World Poker Tour (WPT) Lucky Hearts Poker Open in the Seminole Hard Rock, Hollywood, Florida, has offered a respite for those abstaining from the long haul flight to Melbourne.
Two events lit up the festival like a streetlight.
The first was the $25,500 No-Limit Hold’em. 41-entrants stepped out of the shadows to compete in the high roller genre.
It was a final table containing a balanced range of $25k+ experience.
Byron Kaverman is the type of player that reminds you to lock your backdoor. He is a former Global Poker Index (GPI) Player of the Year and World #1. However, it’s been a quiet time of late with Kaverman winning a mere $356,219 in 2019 compared to the multi-millions earned in previous years while battling it out in the high roller scene, and he took the sixth place.
For all of Kaverman’s achievements, he’s never won a $25k at a WPT festival whereas Maria Ho has. The oft-time broadcaster turned it on during the 2019 WPT Los Angeles Poker Classic (LAPC), beating Kristen Bicknell, heads-up, to claim the $25k high roller tiara.
There was also two WPT Champions Club member at the final table. Jared Jaffee earned his honours after winning the 2014 WPT bestbet Fall Poker Scramble. It’s not Jaffee’s first $25k+ rodeo, having collecting four ITM finishes at the ARIA in 2018.
The other WPT Champions Club member was Jonathan Jaffe, and the Massachusetts man, took this one down, beating Arkaday Tsinis in heads-up action. Tsinis has a WSOP bracelet somewhere in his house but has never cashed in a $25k+ event before. Jaffe narrowly lost out to Chris Kruk in the $25,000 NLHE at the 2018 PokerStars Caribbean Adventure (PCA).
Jaffe’s win (his eighth title) moves the needle above the $4m mark in live tournament earnings. It’s his first win since taking down a small field $5k in 2018, and he only banked $393,662 in 2019 earnings, with most of that coming in his 6/606 finish in the WPT Five Diamond World Poker Classic Main Event.
Final Table Results
- Jonathan Jaffe – $340,285*
- Arkadiy Tsinis – $257,207*
- Jared Jaffee – $146,842
- Ping Liu – $101,270
- Maria Ho – $70,889
- Byron Kaverman – $55,699
- Kevin Rabinchow – $40,508
*Denotes a heads-up deal
Brian Altman Wins The Main Event; Makes History
Winning multiple WPT titles is becoming as common as stairs on a staircase with 24 people doing the do. Still, nobody had ever won the same WPT Main Event twice, until, today.
Brian Altman conquered a field of 843-entrants to win the $3,500 buy-in Lucky Hearts Poker Open Main Event, and now tops the Season XVIII WPT Hublot Player of the Year race, after securing his third in the money finish of the season.
Altman collected $482,636 for the win, after beating John Dollinger in heads-up action. Altman won the same event in 2015, beating 1,027-entrants to bank the $723,008 first prize.
Here are the final table results.
Final Table Results
- Brian Altman – $482,636
- John Dollinger – $311,751
- Chanracy Khun – $230,086
- Nadya Magnus – $171,642
- Nadeem Hirani – $129,438
- Peter Walsworth – $98,686