The return of a big, live poker series to South Florida was headlined by the 2021 WPT Lucky Hearts Poker Open Championship. The $3,500 buy-in tournament attracted players from around the country and Ilyas Muradi walked away with the win for $620,000, which includes a seat into the 2021 WPT Baccarat Crystal Tournament of Champions.

“It’s amazing. It’s really amazing. I feel like a million bucks,” said an emotional Muradi after the win. “Anybody’s dream can come true. You just have to work hard and put in the effort. If you want something, you have to go get it. It’s not something you can just get by thinking about it. If you want something, you gotta go get it, and that’s what I did.”

The Championship featured a $1,000,000 guarantee and the incredible turnout of 1,573 entries pushed the prize pool up to $5,033,600. The turnout sured all expectations as we brought back live tournament poker in a safe and sound environment.

There were two starting flights with 576 players advancing to Day 2 and only 69 survived for Day 3. That was moving day with players building stacks or getting paid.

SHRP favorite Francis Margaglione stayed in the middle of the pack until late into the evening. His patience paid off and he returned for the final table on Day 4 with the chip lead.

Margaglione was trying to go wire-to-wire while holding the chip lead while Jesse Lonis, Philip Shing, and WPT Champions Club member Andy Hwang crashed out. The four remaining players went on dinner break and that’s where Margaglione’s run began to fail. He sent a double up to Robel Andemichael, lost a huge pot to Ronnie Bardah, and fell in fourth place. The final three players then worked out a deal, leaving $25,000 and the $15,000 entry into the WPT Baccarat Crystal Tournament of Champions left to play for.

Ronnie Bardah ultimately fell in third place. He eventually found himself as the short stack, three-betting all in for 13 big blinds with ace-deuce suited — and he ran into Andemichael’s ace-nine. There was a deuce on the flop to give Bardah hope for a comeback, but a nine on the river sealed his fate, and Bardah was eliminated in third place.

The ensuing heads-up match between Muradi and Andemichael went back and forth for more than two hours, but in the end it was Muradi’s pocket fours that held up against Andemichael’s ace-six.

“I actually came here for small events because my bankroll wasn’t enough to play events like this,” itted Muradi. “But I got the opportunity because I missed my flight and I came back and played a satellite, and won a seat. In the field were a lot of amazing players. A lot of people that have played most of their lives. I don’t have as much experience as them, but now I’m the winner. This is amazing. This is…oh my God, it makes me about to cry. I still cannot believe I’m sitting here with these trophies.”

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Final table results:

1st:  Ilyas Muradi  –  $620,000* (includes a $15,000 entry to the 2021 WPT Baccarat Crystal TOC)
2nd:  Robel Andemichael  –  $545,000*
3rd:  Ronnie Bardah  –  $566,135*
4th: Francis Margaglione – $293,510
5th: Jesse Lonis – $223,895
6th: Philip Shing – $168,990
7th: Andy Hwang – $115,630

*Denotes Three-Way Deal

Place	First Name	Last Name	Prize Amount
1	Ilyas	Muradi	$620,000*
2	Robel	Andemichael	$545,000*
3	Ronnie	Bardah	$566,135*
4	Francis	Margaglione	$293,510
5	Jesse	Lonis	$223,895
6	Philip	Shing	$168,990
7	Andy	Hwang	$115,630
8	Albert	Barney Jr	$115,630
9	Carlos	Dorca	$79,455
10	Darren	Elias	$79,455
11	Esther	Taylor	$63,030
12	Richard	Pyne	$63,030
13	James	Anderson	$50,510
14	Matt	Bond	$50,510
15	Manuel	Labandeira	$40,895
16	Paul	Balzano	$40,895
17	Scott	Stewart	$33,455
18	Sean	Shah	$33,455
19	Jonathan	Lagace Bastien	$33,455
20	Carlo	Rodriguez	$33,455
21	Jorge	Gomez	$27,660
22	Justin	Liberto	$27,660
23	Ali	Ahmad	$27,660
24	Scott	Baumstein	$27,660
25	Aaron	Mermelstein	$23,110
26	Brendan	Murphy	$23,110
27	Jermaine	Gerlin	$23,110
28	Evan	Teitelbaum	$23,110
29	David	Montoya Mancera	$23,110
30	Pablo	Valdivieso	$23,110
31	Ivan	Zufic	$23,110
32	Thomas	Rasberry	$23,110
33	Ricardo	Eyzaguirre	$19,515
34	Ryan	Hiller Jr	$19,515
35	Adam	Travis	$19,515
36	Vuong	Do	$19,515
37	Yordan	Petrov	$19,515
38	Joel	Gola	$19,515
39	Rodney	Turvin	$19,515
40	Mike	Beasley	$19,515
41	David	Eldridge	$16,660
42	Andrew	Munier	$16,660
43	Ronnie	Abro	$16,660
44	Harvey	Vandeven	$16,660
45	Jason	Min	$16,660
46	Ari	Shin	$16,660
47	John	Graham	$16,660
48	Brian	Barros Vasquez	$16,660
49	Gary	Herstein	$14,380
50	Nick	Yunis	$14,380
51	David	Datashvili	$14,380
52	David	Papais	$14,380
53	Walter	Chambers	$14,380
54	Dustin	Schoonover	$14,380
55	Eric	Vanauken	$14,380
56	Kenneth	Neri Jr	$14,380
57	John	Barr	$12,550
58	Gary	Gelman	$12,550
59	Nathaniel	Bandy	$12,550
60	Tony	Sinishtaj	$12,550
61	Ross	Santos	$12,550
62	Philipe	Pizzari Pinto	$12,550
63	Haim	Gabay	$12,550
64	Joshua	Beckley	$12,550
65	Satoshi	Tanaka	$11,075
66	Tuan	Phan	$11,075
67	Mitchell	Garshofsky	$11,075
68	Henry	Fischer	$11,075
69	Michael	Beattie	$11,075
70	Vladimir	Dobrovolskii	$11,075
71	Robert	Taylor III	$11,075
72	Moshe	Shabat	$11,075
73	Bryce	McVay	$9,885
74	Jerry	Humphrey	$9,885
75	Justin	Ligeri	$9,885
76	Scott	Epstein	$9,885
77	Alex	Keating	$9,885
78	Steven	Wilkie	$9,885
79	Joseph	Hebert	$9,885
80	Ricardo	Tavares	$9,885
81	Ton	Tri	$8,920
82	Ryan	Remington	$8,920
83	Asaf	Ben Shushan	$8,920
84	Anthony	Ibrahim	$8,920
85	Daniela	Rodriguez	$8,920
86	Richard	Gayler	$8,920
87	Harrison	Dobin	$8,920
88	Lee	Markholt	$8,920
89	Eliot	Hudon	$8,230
90	Jerry	Wong	$8,230
91	Justin	Saliba	$8,230
92	Lawrence	Engerman	$8,230
93	Johnnie	Moreno	$8,230
94	Ignacio	Moron	$8,230
95	Alberto	Rodriguez	$8,230
96	Charlemagne	Benjamin	$8,230
97	Vikramdip	Singh	$7,880
98	Fares	Santana	$7,880
99	Anto	Slisko	$7,880
100	Art	Peacock	$7,880
101	Sami	Shurbaji	$7,880
102	Michael	Kilker	$7,880
103	Will	Failla	$7,880
104	James	Collopy	$7,880
105	Jorge	Confesor	$7,530
106	Rafael	Marcondes Dos Reis	$7,530
107	Michael	Stashin	$7,530
108	Edgar	Varas	$7,530
109	Michael	Melone	$7,530
110	Richard	Rogers	$7,530
111	Gary	Datro	$7,530
112	Ian	O'Hara	$7,530
113	David	Lee	$7,275
114	Patrick	Chan	$7,275
115	Ryan	Jones	$7,275
116	Haim	Or Krief	$7,275
117	Ronnie	Tate	$7,275
118	Jorge Manuel	De Oliveira Lopez	$7,275
119	Darin	Utley	$7,275
120	Alex	Rocha	$7,275
121	Jason	Prest	$7,025
122	Sergio	Giha	$7,025
123	Thomas	Paul	$7,025
124	Aaron	McEvoy	$7,025
125	Athanasios	Polychronopoulos	$7,025
126	Jeffrey	Tomlinson	$7,025
127	Ronald	Jackson	$7,025
128	Robert	Kessler	$7,025
129	Anes	Kovacevic	$6,825
130	Matthew	Stuff	$6,825
131	Joshua	Palmer	$6,825
132	Femi	Fashakin	$6,825
133	Noah	Bronstein	$6,825
134	Adam	Hendrix	$6,825
135	Uke	Dauti	$6,825
136	Rafael	Rodriguez	$6,825
137	Richard	Flach III	$6,625
138	Joe	McKeehen	$6,625
139	Adam	Fraley	$6,625
140	Vasu	Amarapu	$6,625
141	Michael	Rossitto	$6,625
142	Richard	Bai	$6,625
143	Brandon	Misfud	$6,625
144	Charles	Davis	$6,625
145	Dean	Baranowski	$6,475
146	Nicholas	Getzen	$6,475
147	Rogen	Chhabra	$6,475
148	Alex	Ribiero	$6,475
149	Narimaan	Ahmadi	$6,475
150	Ido	Ashkenazi	$6,475
151	Jared	Hemingway	$6,475
152	Ryan	Luker	$6,475
153	Maxwell	Worth	$6,380
154	Joseph	Reddick	$6,380
155	Andrew	Blake	$6,380
156	Karl	Manouchakian	$6,380
157	Gintautas	Putinas	$6,380
158	Dennis	Rodriguez	$6,380
159	Oleksandr	Vikhtiuk	$6,380
160	Kristopher	Rundquist	$6,380
161	Michael	Perrone	$6,300
162	Kenneth	Begnoche	$6,300
163	Shankar	Pillai	$6,300
164	Jaime	Salcedo	$6,300
165	Yulia	Lisichkina	$6,300
166	Michael	Miller	$6,300
167	Kevin	Eyster	$6,300
168	Fredy	Moreno	$6,300
169	Matthew	Zarcadoolas	$6,225
170	Anton	Bojaj	$6,225
171	Andrew	Barfield	$6,225
172	Mike	Sowers	$6,225
173	Thang	Nguyen	$6,225
174	Vlastimil	Pustina	$6,225
175	Shane	Pierce	$6,225
176	Luis	Torres	$6,225
177	John	Dolan	$6,150
178	George	James	$6,150
179	Diego	Miyashiron Uechi	$6,150
180	Willie	Lawrence	$6,150
181	Richard	Alsup	$6,150
182	Christopher	Doan	$6,150
183	Andy	Li	$6,150
184	Nadeem	Hirani	$6,150
185	Eric	Siegel	$6,150
186	Noah	Shefrin	$6,150
187	Steven	Sanzone	$6,150
188	Sam	Taylor	$6,150
189	Sam	Panzica	$6,150
190	Kenneth	Christopher	$6,150
191	Benjamin	Miner	$6,150
192	Vladimir	Alexandrov	$6,150
193	Fabian	Foster	$6,150
194	Michal	Wetcher	$6,150
195	Bud	Gibson	$6,150
196	Riley	Fuller	$6,150
197	Lynn Sean	Patrick	$6,150

*Denotes Three-Way Deal

$3,500 WPT LHPO Championship
$1,000,000 Guaranteed | Structure | Payouts
Level 38:  600,000/1,200,000 with a 1,200,000 ante
Players Remaining:  1 of 1,573

Robel Andemichael moved all in button for 14,300,000, and Ilyas Muradi called from the big blind with .

Andemichael turned over , and needed to improve to stay alive.

The board came — Andemichael flopped a gutshot straight draw, but improved no further. Muradi won the pot — and the WPT title — with his pocket fours.

Ilyas Muradi wins the 2021 WPT Lucky Hearts Poker Open, earning $620,000, which includes his $15,000 seat into the WPT Baccarat Crystal Tournament of Champions. Robel Andemichael finishes as the runner-up, earning $545,000.

Congratulations to Ilyas Muradi!

1st:  Ilyas Muradi  –  $620,000* (includes a $15,000 entry to the 2021 WPT Baccarat Crystal TOC)
2nd:  Robel Andemichael  –  $545,000*
3rd:  Ronnie Bardah  –  $566,135*
4th:  Francis Margaglion  –  $293,510
5th:  Jesse Lonis  –  $223,895
6th:  Philip Shing  –  $168,990
7th:  Andy Hwang  –  $115,630

*Denotes Three-Way Deal

$3,500 WPT LHPO Championship
$1,000,000 Guaranteed | Structure | Payouts
Level 38:  500,000/1,000,000 with a 1,000,000 ante
Players Remaining:  2 of 1,573

Robel Andemichael raised from the button to 2,000,000, and Ilyas Muradi called from the big blind.

The flop came , Muradi checked, Andemichael bet 2,300,000, and Muradi called.

The turn card was the , Muradi checked, Andemichael bet 3,000,000, and Muradi called.

The river card was the , and Muradi moved all in. Andemichael folded, and Muradi took the pot.

Ilyas Muradi  –  39,200,000  (39 bb)
Robel Andemichael  –  22,100,000  (22 bb)

$3,500 WPT LHPO Championship
$1,000,000 Guaranteed | Structure | Payouts
Level 38:  500,000/1,000,000 with a 1,000,000 ante
Players Remaining:  2 of 1,573

Ilyas Muradi raised from the button to 2,500,000, and Robel Andemichael called from the big blind.

The flop came , Andemichael checked, Muradi bet 1,500,000, and Andemichael called.

The turn card was the , and both players checked.

The river card was the , and they checked again. Andemichael turned over , and Muradi mucked. Andemichael won the pot with king high.

Robel Andemichael  –  28,200,000  (28 bb)
Ilyas Muradi  –  33,100,000  (33 bb)

$3,500 WPT LHPO Championship
$1,000,000 Guaranteed | Structure | Payouts
Level 38:  400,000/800,000 with a 800,000 ante
Players Remaining:  2 of 1,573

Robel Andemichael raised from the button to 1,800,000, and Ilyas Muradi called from the big blind.

Both players checked to the turn on a board of , Muradi bet 800,000, and Andemichael called.

The river card was the , and both players checked. Muradi showed for king high, and Andemichael turned over to win the pot.

Robel Andemichael  –  24,300,000  (30 bb)
Ilyas Muradi  –  37,000,000  (46 bb)

$3,500 WPT LHPO Championship
$1,000,000 Guaranteed | Structure | Payouts
Level 37:  300,000/600,000 with a 600,000 ante
Players Remaining:  2 of 1,573

Ilyas Muradi limped for 600,000, Robel Andemichael raised from the big blind to 2,200,000, and Muradi called.

The flop came , Andemichael bet 1,800,000, Muradi raised to 6,000,000, and Andemichael folded. Muradi took the pot.

Ilyas Muradi  –  46,200,000  (77 bb)
Robel Andemichael  –  14,900,000  (25 bb)

$3,500 WPT LHPO Championship
$1,000,000 Guaranteed | Structure | Payouts
Level 37:  300,000/600,000 with a 600,000 ante
Players Remaining:  2 of 1,573

Ilyas Muradi limped for 600,000, Robel Andemichael raised from the big blind to 2,000,000, and Muradi called.

The flop came , Andemichael bet 1,300,000, and Muradi called.

The turn card was the , Andemichael checked, Muradi bet 3,000,000, and Andemichael called.

The river card was the , Andemichael checked, Muradi bet 5,500,000, and Andemichael called. Muradi showed to win the pot with a full house, fives full of aces, and Andemichael mucked.

Ilyas Muradi  –  37,000,000  (62 bb)
Robel Andemichael  –  24,300,000  (41 bb)

$5,000 No Limit Hold’em (Re-Entry)
$100,000 Guaranteed | Structure | Payouts
Level 20:  5,000/15,000 with a 15,000 ante
Players Remaining:  7 of 134

After the elimination of Lee Markholt in eighth place, the final seven players redraw for random seats at the final table. Here is the lineup:

Seat 1.  Martin Zamani  –  450,000  (30 bb)
Seat 2.  Valery Litvak  –  630,000  (42 bb)
Seat 3.  Alex Butcher  –  120,000  (8 bb)
Seat 4.  Nikola Minkov  –  415,000  (28 bb)
Seat 5.  Jim Collopy  –  505,000  (34 bb)
Seat 6.  Byron Kaverman  –  150,000  (10 bb)
Seat 7.  Ivan Zufic  –  400,000  (27 bb)

Here are the final table payouts, followed by the players who have finished in the money so far:

1st:  $162,785 + LHPO Trophy
2nd:  $108,525
3rd:  $75,825
4th:  $54,470
5th:  $40,260
6th:  $30,650
7th:  $21,760

8th:  Lee Markholt  –  $21,760
9th:  Randall Emmett  –  $16,280
10th:  Adam Hendrix  –  $16,280
11th:  Raffaello Locatelli  –  $14,070
12th:  Timothy Capretta  –  $14,070
13th:  Jake Schwartz  –  $12,590
14th:  Joel Gola  –  $12,590
15th:  Landon Tice  –  $11,675
16th:  Giuseppe Iadisernia  –  $11,675
17th:  Carl Diveglia  –  $11,235

$3,500 WPT LHPO Championship
$1,000,000 Guaranteed | Structure | Payouts
Level 37:  300,000/600,000 with a 600,000 ante
Players Remaining:  2 of 1,573

Level 36 comes to an end, and the players take a break. Here are the official chip counts:

Robel Andemichael  –  36,300,000  (61 bb)
Ilyas Muradi  –  25,000,000  (42 bb)

$3,500 WPT LHPO Championship
$1,000,000 Guaranteed | Structure | Payouts
Level 36:  300,000/500,000 with a 500,000 ante
Players Remaining:  2 of 1,573

Ilyas Muradi limped for 500,000, Robel Andemichael raised from the big blind to 1,500,000, and Muradi called.

The flop came , Andemichael bet 1,000,000, and Muradi claled.

The turn card was the , Andemichael checked, Muradi bet 2,500,000, and Andemichael called.

The river card was the , Andemichael checked, Muradi bet 5,100,000, and Andemichael called with for two pair, queens and nines. Muradi mucked, and Andemichael won the pot.

Robel Andemichael  –  38,000,000  (76 bb)
Ilyas Muradi  –  23,100,000  (46 bb)