Giuseppe Iadisernia Claims WPT Lucky Hearts Poker Open for $611,700
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Giuseppe Iadisernia led entering Wednesday's final table in the $3,500 buy-in WPT Lucky Hearts Poker Open Championship, and he held on to win it for $611,700.
The defending champion, Martins Adeniya, nearly went back-to-back, but was eliminated in fourth place out of 1,229 entrants for $220,000. Thomas Boivin, one of the hottest players in tournament poker the past month, also reached the final table.
But it was Iadisernia, who defeated Jorge Gomez in an intense heads-up match, who couldn't be stopped.
Competitive Final Table
The final table was highly competitive and there was plenty of back-and-forth action. It was no cakewalk for the champion at the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in Hollywood, Florida.
Eddie Blumenthal came into the session — Day 5 — with the smallest stack at 18 big blinds, enough chips to make a run. But he never got anything going, and went out just 10 hands into the day with a small pocket pair losing to Boivin's superior pocket pair. He was eliminated in sixth place for $127,000.
About an hour later, Anatoly Nikitin, one of the big stacks entering play, ran out of chips in fifth place for $167,000 when his pocket nine's couldn't crack the pocket 10's Gomez held.
Final Table Results
| Place | Player | Prize |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Giuseppe Iadisernia | $611,700 |
| 2 | Jorge Gomez | $395,000 |
| 3 | Thomas Boivin | $295,000 |
| 4 | Martins Adeniya | $220,000 |
| 5 | Anatoly Nikitin | $167,000 |
| 6 | Eddie Blumenthal | $127,000 |
The four-handed final table would soon turn into a two-way battle, with Gomez and Iadisernia having all the chips. Adeniya's chase for a repeat title came to an end in fourth place for $220,000. He outlasted 1,162 entrants last year to win $512,600 in the same event, although it wasn't a World Poker Tour-branded tournament.
Boivin was the short stack entering three-handed play. He'd quickly double-up, but was still stuck well behind the chip leaders and would inevitably bust in third place for $295,000 when he jammed Ax7x and ran into Iadisernia's AxAx. Boivin won a $25,500 High Roller for $310,255 earlier in the series and had two final table finishes last month during the World Series of Poker Paradise (WSOPP) series in the Bahamas.
Iadisernia held better than a 2:1 chip lead when heads-up play started. It took him little time to significantly increase his lead. Gomez would battle, however, and refused to give in. But he'd fall to just seven big blinds before 9♠5♣ couldn't suck out against JxJx. Gomez was eliminated as the runner-up for $395,000.
Iadisernia earned his first WPT Main Tour title and now has over $3.5 million in live tournament cashes, The Hendon Mob database shows. He also won a side event — $10,000 High Roller — at the 2021 WPT Five Diamond World Poker Classic. The victory on Wednesday makes the champ $611,700 richer and gives him a ticket into the season-ending $10,400 buy-in WPT World Championship at Wynn Las Vegas in December.
*Images courtesy of the World Poker Tour/Omar Sader.
