Strong turnout at WPT Lucky Hearts Poker Open

After two Day 1 flights the final attendance number for the 2013 World Poker Tour Lucky Hearts Poker Open at the Hard Rock Casino in Hollywood, Florida, with a final tally of 369 players registering (and reentering) on Friday and Saturday. 153 players took part in the Day 1a flight on Friday, and 216 players registered on Day 1b.

This is the third year the WPT has stopped at the Seminole Hard Rock Casino in Hollywood, Florida, and this year the tournament featured a $3,500 buy-in and allowed for multiple reentries. The turnout is a huge increase from last year’s tournament, also a $3,500 tournament, that saw just 295 entrants, but still well off the total prize-pool for the 2011 Seminole Hard Rock Showdown, which featured a $9,600 buy-in and attracted a field of 433 entrants.

Day 2 will begin with 143 players, 63 survivors from Day 1a and 80 survivors from Day 1b. Only 36 players will make the money in the tournament, with a min-cash worth just under $7,800, while the winner of the Lucky Hearts Poker Open will walk away with over $323,000.

There were plenty of big names in the field for the tournament, including Joe Serock, Andy Frankenberger, Brian Hastings, Matt Salsberg, Adam Levy, Victor Ramdin Allen Kessler, Harrison Gimbel, Micah Raskin, and Guillaume Darcourt.

Here is a look at the Top 10 chip counts heading into Day 2 of the WPT Lucky Hearts Poker Open:

1. Raj Vohra – 262,700
2. David To – 260,100
3. Evan Teitelbaum – 206,900
4. Mark Darner – 195,000
5. Todd Jacobsen – 193,600
6. Ceasar Fuentes – 185,000
7. Paul McCaffrey – 184,800
8. Fundaro Giacomo – 177,700
9. Leif Oskarsson – 172,000
10. Patrick Madden – 168,300

Here is a look at the payouts for the WPT Lucky Hearts Poker Open Main Event:

• 1^st place: $323,804
• 2^nd place: $191,880
• 3^rd place: $125,921
• 4^th place: $86,946
• 5^th place: $64,160
• 6^th place: $50,968
• 7^th place: $38,976
• 8^th place: $28,182
• 9^th place: $20,387
• 10 – 12^th place:  $15,590
• 13 – 15^th place: $12,592
• 16 – 18^th place: $10,793
• 19 – 27^th place: $8,994
• 28 – 36^th place: $7,795

Day 2 will begin at 1 PM local time with the players in Level 11 of the tournament, playing with 600/1,200 blinds and a 200 chip ante. Heading into Day 2 the average chip stack will be roughly 77,000, so there is still a lot of four-street poker to be played before players start finding themselves short-stacked.