February 12 2013, by Eric Danis

WPT Lucky Hearts: Final Table a Tale of Two Matts and a Fish

FPM logoWe have reached final table play at the WPT Lucky Hearts Poker Open in Hollywood, Florida.  And the final table is a tale of two Matts and a Fish!

Let’s first take a look at the two players I had featured heading into Day 2 play at the Seminole Hard Rock:

Matt Giannetti 3,005,000 chips (Chip Leader)
Jonathan Roy Eliminated on Day 2

And now a look at my own official team for WPT Lucky Hearts, which includes both Giannaetti and Roy::

TEAM DANIS (Player, Day 3 chip count)
Jonathan Roy Eliminated on Day 2
Matt Giannetti 3,005,000 (Chip Leader)
Raj Vohra Eliminated on Day 2
Ray Qartomy Eliminated on Day 2
Matthew Burnitz Eliminated on Day 2

FINAL TABLE SET AT SEMINOLE HARD ROCK

If you went to bed on Monday with around 12 players remaining at WPT Lucky Hearts, you may be catching yourself doing a double-take when looking at the final table chip counts.  No, it’s no mistake, despite being on life support for a bit on Monday, both Matt Giannetti (GPI #541) and Matt Salsberg (GPI #91) did indeed make it to final table play.

Former WPT Malta and WSOP November Niner Giannetti will start the day as the chip leader.  I hope you listened   earlier in this tournament when I told you to pick Giannetti for your Fantasy team.  Although his 2012 was a little quiet, his 2011 resume was spectacular.  Given his experience and his chip stack, Giannetti has to be the favourite to win it all later today at the SHR.

As for Salsberg, he is playing his second straight WPT final table.  After final tabling the WPT Borgata Winter Open about 10 days ago, Salsberg fought his way to this final table.  In fact, a critical double-up versus Giannetti saved his tournament last night.  He crippled Giannetti in the process yet, both players survived.

I had selected Salsberg as one of my picks fort the Borgata and he definitely came through.  Don’t believe in fluctuation when it comes to player market prices on the FPM?  Salsberg could have been had at 97,000 prior to the Borgata Winter, his stock has almost doubled – his market price stands at 188,000 at press time.  With the LAPC and Bay 101 coming soon, the defending WPT Rendez-Vous à Paris champ could be on his way to more success on the World Poker Tour.

It makes me sick to my stomach to see Darryll Fish (GPI #188) at the final table.   It’s not that I am not a Fish fan, it’s the exact opposite, actually.  I had Fish at the top of my list from the start for this tournament.  I even reached out to Fish to confirm he would be playing as I knew that he was out of the country a few days prior.  Everything was setup for me to add Fish to my team but, I got cold feet when he busted Day 1A and decided against releasing players to add him to my team when he survived Day 1B play.

Fish is a star player on the Florida poker scene and will begin the day with a very healthy second place chip stack, about 400K behind Giannetti.

Danny Shiff (who finished 10th and 1st in the last two Isle Classics), Hayden Fortini and Lily Kiletto (who earns her fourth score of the Lucky Hearts series) round-out the final six.

WPT LUCKY HEARTS FINAL TABLE SEAT ASSIGNMENTS

Seat 1: Matt Giannetti (GPI #541) 3,005,000
Seat 2: Lily Kiletto (GPI #28863) 860,000
Seat 3: Darryll Fish (GPI# 188) 2,660,000
Seat 4: Matt Salsberg (GPI# 91) 980,000
Seat 5: Hayden Fortini (GPI# 1148) 1,620,000
Seat 6: Danny Shiff (GPI# 595) 1,930,000

You can watch the final table live stream starting at 3:30pm ET/9:30pm CET

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About the author

Eric Danis’ passion for poker came at a very early age but it’s when writing about and covering the game he loves that Danis is most in his element. Danis is better known for creating www.PTPRpoker.com where he spent a few years covering poker events. Danis is also known for having worked on the poker shows Poker Eh! and The Pulse on the Quad Jacks Network.