Marius Gierse Wins Seminole Lucky Hearts Poker Open Championship for $605,000

Marius Gierse – Photo Credit: Seminole Hard Rock Poker Blog

The Lucky Hearts Poker Open championship event crowned a winner late on Tuesday, Jan. 24 in Hollywood, Florida at the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino. Marius Gierse topped the field of 1,692 entries in the five-day event with a $3,500 buy-in when the final four players decided to chop.

Gierse was awarded $605,000 in the chop from the total prize pool worth $5,414,400 that easily topped the $2 million guarantee. The top 212 players all cashed for at least $5,915 in the tournament. The primarily online pro had not played in a live tournament for six months before the LHPO tournament series, but he made his time on the live felt count with a fifth-place cash at the final table of the $25,500 buy-in event last week, and the victory in the championship tonight.

There were 16 players that returned for the final day before the field played down to the nine players at the final table. Gierse was in fifth chip position when the day began, and he was still lingering in sixth chip position when cards got into the air at the final table. He came on strong at the final table while eliminating two players on the way to the final four.

Gierse took home his fourth tournament title as a result of the chop, and the tournament earnings for the poker pro from Germany now sit just above $5 million. This was the second largest cash of his career, only trailing the $1,005,740 he took home after finishing second in a €100,000 buy-in event at the 2022 European Poker Tour Monte Carlo tournament series.

The final table took just over six hours to decide a winner. Jerry Wong was the first player to fall in ninth place at the final table when his pocket nines ran into the pocket queens of Jacob Powers preflop. A short time later, Leonard Hermann pinned his tournament hopes on pocket tens, but Brian Scott had him covered holding A-K. The flop held an ace, and Hermann was out in eighth place.

The remaining seven players then took a dinner break before Daniel Clifford fell in seventh place. His pocket queens were no good against the suited A-K of Gierse when he made a flush on the river. Taylor Wilson was the next player to exit in sixth place when his pair of sevens couldn’t hold up against the pocket tens of Scott.

The final elimination that took place at the final table saw Gierse on top once again. Martin Carnero made his final stand with A-10 in the hole, but Gierse had him covered with pocket jacks. The jacks held, and Carnero was eliminated in fifth place. The remaining players then played through a couple of double-ups for the next hour-and-a-half before deciding on the chop that ended the tournament.

“It’s been a long four days, but it feels pretty damn good. It was quite the ride,” said Gierse to the Seminole Hard Rock Poker blog reporters. He continued, “I started with five million, went up to 10 million, went down to 4.5 million, went up to 17, went down to 7, so it was a roller-coaster for sure, but I can’t complain in the end.”

Other notables that made a deep run in the event included Matthew Wantman (22nd), Joe McKeehen (25th), James Carroll (27th), Chris Tryba (30th), Andrew Ostapchenko (32nd), Jon Borenstein (35th), Jesse Lonis (51st), Jacob Ferro (64th), Darren Rabinowitz (72nd), Joey Weissman (82nd), Billy Pilossoph (86th), Alex Foxen (96th), and Jeremy Ausmus (101st).

Here is a look at the payouts awarded at the final table:

The next major tournament series that will take place at the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino will be the Seminole Hard Rock Poker Showdown that will run from Apr. 13 – May 2. Click here to see the schedule for the tournament series.

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