Wednesday January 27, 2021 at 2:51 pm

Down at the Seminole Hard Rock Casino in Hollywood, Florida, the World Poker Tour finished out a live tournament. Ilyas Muradi outlasted a field of 1,573 players to take down the $3,500 buy-in 2021 WPT Lucky Hearts Poker Open. When the dust settled, Ilyas Muradi edged out Robel Andemichael heads-up to win the first place prize worth over $809,515. Ronnie Bardah busted in third place. The final table also included Francis Margaglione, Jesse Lonis, Tsz Shing, and Andy Hwang.

IlyasWPTMuradi
Ilyas Muradi wins! (Pic by Joe Giron/PokerPhotoArchive, Courtesy WPT)

Sometimes, you can't stop poker players from doing what they do best, which is play on despite insane things happening all around them. Kudos to the Seminole Hard Rock and the World Poker Tour for pulling off a live event during a pandemic. Alas, the first rule of show biz is... the show must go on! And go on it did in Florida.

Yes, it's a time for celebration, so ship it to Ilyas Muradi. The World Poker Tour returned to the felt for the 2021 WPT Lucky Hearts Poker Open at the classy Seminole Hard Rock Casino in Hollywood, Florida.

The WPT Lucky Hearts Poker Open attracted 1,573 runners who took a shot at the $3,5000 buy-in anchor event. The prize pool topped over $5 million with over $890K set aside to the champion.

The final seven at the WPT Lucky Hearts Poker Open included Ronnie Bardah, Robel Andemichael, Ilyas Muradi, Francis Margaglione, Jesse Lonis, Tsz Shing, and Andy Hwang. Ronnie Bardah cut his teeth play at Foxwoods in Connecticut many moons ago. He also took a shot at being a reality television star with a stint on Survivor in 2019, which was shot on location in Fiji. Alas, Roonie Bardah didn't get to achieve his super stardom when he was one of the first player voted off in Survivor: Island of Idols.

But that was then, and nowadays, Bardah is back to the table where he went on a deep run and nearly binked a WPT event.

Andy Hwang busted first at the final table when he exited in seventh place. Tsz Shing was the next one to bow out when hit the rail in sixth place, but banked $168K.

Jesse Lonis' run ended in fifth place, which paid out approximately $224K. Francis Margaglione had a deep run that came to a halt in fourth place. He banked $293,510 for his efforts.

Ronnie Bardah hit the bricks in third place and earned a payout worth $392,430. Not too shabby for a couple of days of work. After Bardah busted in came down to a heads-up battle to determine the next WPT champ.

Robel Andemichael and Ilyas Muradi squared off in a heads-up battle with Ilyas Muradi trailing 31.4M ro 29.9M in chips.

Ilyas Muradi took pocket fours into battle against Robel Andemichael's Carte As de carreauCarte 6 de carreau. Muradi's red fours held up on the flop, but Andemichael flopped a gutterball draw and needed a seven to fill in a straight. The turn and river bricked for Andemichael and Muradi's pocket fours held up.

Robel Andemichael earned a runner-up payout worth $529,690 for second place.

Muradi took down the WPT title and $809,515 in cash. He also won a freeroll (worth $15K) into the 2021 WPT Baccarat Crystal Tournament of Champions.

Albert Barney Jr bubbled the final day of action when he busted in eighth place.

Notable names and familiar faces who went deep and cashed at the 2021 WPT Lucky Hearts Poker Open included... Darren Elias, Esther Taylor, James Anderson, Aaron Mermelstein, Matt Bond, Scott Stewart, Scott Baumstein, Justin Liberto, Joel Gola, Vuong Do, Mike Beasley, Walt Chambers, Nick Yunis, Ross Santos, Josh Beckley, Tony Sinishtaj, Suzanne Greenburg, Rob Taylor, Tuan Phan, Alex Keating, Ryan Remington, Jerry Wong, Lee Markholt, Don Becker, Larry Engerman, Molly Katz, Will the Thrill, Jim Collopy, Patrick Chan, Alex Rocha, Adam Hendrix, Noah Bronstein, Richard Flach, Joe McKeehen, Mike Miller, Shankar Pillai, Kevin Eyster, Walt Fagen, John Dolan, Sam Panzica, and Mike Sowers.

2021 WPT Lucky Hearts Poker Open

Buy-in: $3,500

Entrants: 1573

Prize Pool: $5,033,600

Payouts: 197

 

Final Table Results:

1. Ilyas Muradi$809,515

2. Robel Andemichael $529,690

3. Ronnie Bardah $392,430

4. Francis Margaglione $293,510

5. Jesse Lonis $223,895

6. Tsz Shing $168,990

7. Andy Hwang $115,630

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