Darryll Fish Captures First World Poker Tour Title and $511,604 at LHPO

January 25, 2018

The $3,500 buy-in WPT Lucky Hearts Poker Open Championship attracted 911 participants to compete for a WPT title at Seminole Hard Rock in Hollywood, Florida.

Complete Final Table Results

*_{Includes $15,000 WPT ToC seat}

Final Table Action

According to the WPT live updates, the final six returned on Wednesday to play down to a champion. Alan Krockey was the first casualty when he ran his ace-queen into the kings of Ness Reilly and couldn’t find a miracle ace.

Brett Bader ended up committing his stack with pocket queens after Aleksandr Shevelev raised under the gun with ace-king suited. Reilly three-bet on the button and Bader four-bet to 1.35 million from the small blind. Shevelev had everyone covered and decided to move all in. After a quick fold from Reilly, Bader thought for a while and committed his remaining stack. A king on the flop meant Shevelev won the flip and Bader had to settle for fifth place.

Daryll Fish's total tournament earnings now sit over $3.7 million.

Andy Frankenberger was the biggest beneficiary of Bader’s bust in terms of ICM as he was the only shortie at the time. The two-time bracelet winner and former WPT champion was able to hang around patiently, getting key doubles to stay alive. One such double came through Reilly who had Frankenberger on the ropes with ace-eight against Frankenberger’s jack-ten. The flop was safe for Reilly, but running jacks followed to keep Frankenberger alive.

Reilly was the next out after losing several pots and then getting it in with jacks against Darryll Fish’s ace-ten suited. The ace on the flop sprung Fish into the lead in the hand, and Reilly couldn’t find help, resulting in elimination in fourth place.

After laddering up significantly, Frankenberger got his stack in on a flip he would not win. This time, it was pocket sevens against the ace-jack suited of the only player at the table that seemed able to out-run him — Fish. Fish found a jack on the turn to send Frankenberger to the rail, just short of his second WPT title.

With the first four eliminations coming relatively quickly, the heads-up battle between Shemelev and Fish started quite deep, Shemelev holding the lead with 132 big blinds to Fish’s 95 bigs.

The two competent tournament players traded the lead several times in a match that lasted 122 hands and finally ended with Fish calling with king-jack to put Shemelev at risk. Though he was behind the ace-ten of Shemelev preflop and on the Q♣9♦8♦ flop, Fish took the lead on the K♣ turn and improved to a straight on the 10♦ river to lock up the win.

Fish finally captured his first WPT title after making plenty of deep runs. After getting third and second in previous WPT Main Events at the Seminole Hard Rock property, he was able to complete the cycle with a first-place finish at what he considers his home casino.

The $511,604 win exceeded his previous best score of $453K that came for his second-place finish at the same venue in the WPT Showdown Championship last March. His total tournament earnings now sit over $3.7 million.

Darryll Fish Stats

Darryll Fish Biggest Cashes

Photos courtesy of WPT

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  World Poker Tour Lucky Hearts Poker Open Seminole Hard Rock Darryll Fish Andy Frankenberger Ness Reilly Brett Bader Aleksandr Shevelev Alan Krockey

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  Andy FrankenbergerDarryll FishBrett BaderAleksandr ShevelevAlan Krockey