Continuing FTR’s coverage of the WPT Lucky Hearts Poker Open at the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel and Casino in Hollywood, Florida, the second chance rebuy period has ended and the final field size has been finalized at 295 buyins for a total prize pool of just over $950,000. The champion will take home $268,444 plus a $25,500 seat into the WPT Championship event. Top 27 finishers are guaranteed a cash prize of at least $8629.
Matt Juttelstad was the chip leader by the end of Day 1B. He had busted out the previous day, and was originally not planning on taking the rebuy option. He, in the end, decided after finishing an interview for a grad schoool program at Florida Atlantic University in Miami to head back to the tables. He would be greatly rewarded for his decision as he turned his initial 30,000 chips into a big stack of 280,000 chips by the end of the night. He was quoted as saying that he was on the right end of several coolers, helping him gain the chip lead. He played a big hand vs Tony Dunst with 4-5 vs Dunst’s AQ on a A-K-2 flop. Juttelstad 3-bet the flop with his gutshot draw to be called by Dunst, then spiked a 3s on the turn to make his wheel.
Dunst was among 106 other players to bust out during Day 1B, out of a total player pool of 170. Other notable players who were eliminated included Matt Jarvis, Michael Mizrachi, Amnon Filippi, Tommy Vedes, Adam Geyer, Andrew Lichtenberger, Dan O’Brien, and Ebony Kenney. 112 players remain to battle it out on the felt on Day 2 of the tournament, including important names such as Keith Ferrera (200,600), Harrison Gimbel (143,200), Christian Harder (114,400), Darryll Fish (113,200), Tristan Wade (96,200), Matt Stout (94,800), Jonathan Little (63,700), Kathy Liebert (18,100), and Ashton Griffin (14,000).
Here are the top ten chip stacks going into Day 2, starting on Sunday at 12PM EST:
1. Matt Juttelstad – 280,000
2. Will Durkee – 233,100
3. Angeo Miele – 211,800
4. Alex Ivanov – 200,700
5. Keith Ferrera – 200,600
6. Hal Klein – 172,900
7. Lazaro Hernandez – 169,600
8. Harrison Gimbel – 143,200
9. Raj Vohra – 141,600
10. Christian Harder – 114,400