Marius Gierse Wins LHPO Championship for $605K; John Holley Claims Two Titles

Marius Gierse

From January 12-24, the Seminole Hard Rock Hollywood in South Florida played host to the 2023 Lucky Hearts Poker Open (LHPO). Through its 43 events, the 2023 LHPO catered to a combined 16,320 entrants and awarded $14,776,880 in prize money. That made it the biggest LHPO in history based on the number of entries!

Among those to win titles were Matt Bretzfield, who won the $600 Mixed PLO title and became the first player to ever win an SHRP trophy in four consecutive series; Alessio Isaia, who won two tournaments in back-to-back days (he nearly won a third but finished runner-up in another tournament to Valerie Novak); and Yuval Bronshtein winning what was his eighth career SHRP title.

While the series was a remarkable success, it was a little bittersweet as shortly after Director of Poker Marketing for Seminole Hard Rock Tony Burns was leaving after a more than seven-year run offering some of the best poker in the country.

Championship Ends in Four-Way Deal

Marius Gierse
Marius Gierse

From January 20-24, the $3,500 LHPO Championship took place. The tournament blew away its $2 million guarantee as 1,692 entries created a $5,414,400 prize pool. One player in the field was Marius Gierse, who hadn’t played a tournament since the 2022 World Series of Poker (WSOP) before finishing fifth in the $25,500 LHPO High Roller for $110,500.

He then turned around and shipped the LHPO Championship for $605,000 after a four-way deal at the final table.

“It’s been a long four days, but it feels pretty damn good,” Gierse told LHPO officials. “It was quite the ride.”

Gierse got off to a hot start at the final table when his pocket queens held against the Big Slick of Jerry Wong.

“I had a big flip against Jerry Wong at the start,” said Gierse. “That hand was the most important, otherwise I would have been out in ninth.”

Gierse, primarily an online player, added: “I really don’t enjoy live poker as much, mostly because people are too serious and take a lot of time, but that isn’t the case here at all. People play super-fast, and people are talking, and not taking themselves too seriously. It’s super nice. So, I’m very, very happy to play here and I will for sure to come back.”

2023 LHPO Championship Final Table Results

PlacePlayerPrize
1Marius Gierse$605,000*
2Brian Scott$555,078*
3Jacob Powers$500,000*
4Peter Mugar$498,177*
5Martin Carnero$238,635
6Taylor Wilson$181,950
7Daniel Clifford$140,055
8Leonard Hermann$108,850
9Jerry Wong$85,410

*Denotes four-handed deal.

Others to cash the tournament were Cero Zuccarello (11th - $67,680), Wasim Assaf (12th - $67,680), Frank Funaro (15th - $43,780), Joe McKeehen (25th - $24,570), Chris Tryba (30th - $24,570), Landon Tice (39th - $20,690), and Nadya Magnus (48th - $17,605).

John Holley Claims Two Titles

John Holley
John Holley

Alessio Isaia wasn’t the only player to win two titles in the series as John Holley also accomplished the feat. First, he topped a 78-entry field to win Event #15: $600 Deep Stack Turbo NLH for $13,760 and what was his seventh Seminole trophy.

A week later, he was back at it besting a 193-entry field to win Event #37: $600 Seniors 50+ NLH for $25,715 and his eighth title. That tied him in second place along with Yuval Bronshtein and Michael Newman, who all trail Raminder Singh’s nine titles.

John Holley's SHRP Titles

SeriesEventPrize
2013 SHRPO$240 PLO8$5,919
2013 SHRPO$240 Seniors No-Limit Hold’em$9,207
2015 RRPO$350 Six-Max No-Limit Hold’em$5,304
2018 SHRPO$300 Seniors No-Limit Hold’em$6,924
2022 RRPO$400 Omaha 8/Stud 8$8,950
2022 RRPO$600 Pot-Limit Omaha$30,191
2023 LHPO$600 Turbo No-Limit Hold’em$13,760
2023 LHPO$600 Seniors No-Limit Hold’em$25,715

Check out our profile on Seminole Hard Rock Crusher Michael Newman here!

2023 LHPO Winners

DateTournamentEntriesPrize PoolWinnerPrize
January 12-16Event #1: $600 Deep Stack NLH4,535$2,358,200Scott Woodring$190,939
12-JanEvent #2: $400 HORSE109$36,515Mark Hurst$7,640
12-JanEvent #3: $150 Big Stack NLH320$37,760Joseph Burns$4,845
13-JanEvent #4: $400 DeepStack Turbo NLH34$11,560Javier Gomez Marquez$4,740
13-JanEvent #5: $400 Limit Omaha 8129$43,215David Shmuel$12,025
13-JanEvent #6: $400 Black Chip NLH183$18,300Gilles Dalco$9,170
14-JanEvent #7: $1,100 Deep Stack 5-Card PLO132$128,040Taylor Lipson$32,615
15-JanEvent #8: $400 Deep Stack NLH515$172,525Jeremy Becker$33,615
January 15-16Event #9: $1,100 Deep Stack NLH254$246,380Alessio Isaia$55,835
January 15-16Event #10: $600 Mixed PLO134$70,350Matt Bretzfield$14,963
15-JanEvent #11: $200 Quad Stack Double Green Chip Bounty248$27,330Darin Kaplan$4,336
January 16-18Event #12: $200 Big Stack NLH2,325$372,000Dejan Petkovic$42,962
16-JanEvent #13: $600 Big O101$53,025Yuval Bronshtein$13,405
16-JanEvent #14: $400 Black Chip Bounty PLO206$48,410Michael McKuin$11,175
January 16-18Event #15: $600 Deep Stack Turbo NLH78$41,340John Holley$13,760
17-JanEvent #16: $400 Seniors 50+ NLH238$79,730Amir Baron$18,435
17-JanEvent #17: $600 NLH 6-Max235$123,375Alessio Isaia$20,592
January 17-18Event #18: $1,100 6-Max PLO 894$91,180Zhen Cai$27,880
January 17-18Event #19: $2,200 Deep Stack NLH257$514,000Aaron Flores$97,935
January 18-19Event #20: $10,000 High Roller PLO22$209,000Dylan Smith$91,960
January 18-20Event #21: $600 Deep Stack PLO465$241,800William Kopp$47,595
January 17-18Event #22: $200 Quad Stack Double Green Chip Bounty NLH323$35,530Pierre Xavier-Laurent$4,608
18-JanEvent #23: $1,100 Deep Stack Turbo NLH126$126,000Sam Panzica$28,082
January 18-19Event #24: $1,100 Deep Stack NLH332$322,040Ryan Hogan$66,790
January 19-20Evet #25: $25,500 High Roller NLH74$1,827,800Aram Oganyan$480,175
19-JanEvent #26: $150 Big Stack NLH175$20,650David Oshry$5,205
19-JanEvent #27: $1,100 Deep Stack Turbo NLH92$92,000Jorge Cuesta$28,360
January 20-24Event #28: $3,500 LHPO Championship1,692$5,414,400Marius Gierse$605,000
20-JanEvent #29: $600 HORSE70$36,750Steven Idels$11,131
20-JanEvent #30: $400 Black Chip Bounty Turbo NLH164$16,400James Weidenborner$10,025
21-JanEvent #31: $400 Deep Stack Big O116$38,860Sue Sanders$11,130
21-JanEvent #32: $600 Deep Stack Turbo NLH81$42,930Robert French$14,045
22-JanEvent #33: $400 Black Chip Bounty NLH384$90,240Stephen Thomas$12,382
January 22-23Event #34: $1,700 Purple Chip Bounty NLH201$201,000Andrew Esposito$49,380
January 22-23Event #35: $1,100 Mixed PLO87$84,390Renny Barrett$23,670
January 22-24Event #36: $400 Deep Stack NLH917$302,610Valerie Novak$52,030
23-JanEvent #37: $600 Seniors 50+ NLH193$101,325John Holley$25,715
23-JanEvent #38: $5,000 PLO30$142,500Benjamin Juhasz$64,125
23-JanEvent #39: $600 Deep Stack Turbo NLH72$38,160Brandon Duvdivani$13,360
24-JanEvent #40: $400 Omaha 8/Stud 875$25,125David Bach$8,460
24-JanEvent #41: $5,000 Deep Stack NLH89$422,750Brock Wilson$129,350
24-JanEvent #42: $1,100 Six-Max PLO135$130,950Eddy Nedialkov$35,955
24-JanEvent #43: $300 Quad Stack Black Chip Bounty NLH278$43,290Jonathan Qunjian$7,562

The next series at the Seminole Hard Rock Hollywood will be the 2023 Poker Showdown from April 13-May 2.

*Images courtesy of Seminole Hard Rock.

Sharelines
  • Check out all the big winners from the @SHRHollyPoker Lucky Hearts Poker Open #LHPO.

Name Surname
PR & Media Manager

PR & Media Manager for PokerNews, Podcast host & 2013 WSOP Bracelet Winner.

More Stories

Other Stories

Recommended for you

Corey Wade Wins WPT Seminole Hard Rock Tampa for $471,686 Corey Wade Wins WPT Seminole Hard Rock Tampa for $471,686