WPT on Day 3, Rivkin Wins Parx, Negreanu Gives

WPT Lucky Hearts Thins Field

The World Poker Tour didn’t take much of a break after the Borgata Poker Open, as the Lucky Hearts Poker Open was next on the schedule. Action kicked off on February 8 with two starting days for the $3,500 buy-in Main Event at the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel and Casino. When registration closed and reentries were tallied, the field was set at 369 for a $1,199,250 prize pool. The top 36 players were to be paid with the winner looking at a payday of more than $323K.

Day 2 started with 143 survivors and decreased that number to 36 players, with John Dibella, former PCA champion, bubbling the tournament late in the day. The rest of the players were guaranteed a minimum of $7,795.

Jason Rivkin Wins First Parx Event

The Parx Big Stax series kicked off with its first event, hosted by the Parx poker room ambassador Matt Glantz. The $330 NLHE reentry tournament had a $150K guarantee, but the 1,361 entries created an actual prize pool of $408,300. The top 81 players were paid, with the min cash set at $990 and the winner set to take home more than $73K. The final table played out with these results:

1^st place: Jason Rivkin ($73,161)

2^nd place: Brian Hayes ($51,289)

3^rd place: Sachin Ramrakhani ($33,070)

4^th place: Bryan Trischetta ($24,436)

5^th place: Hua Wei ($18,298)

6^th place: Peter D’Angelo ($14,773)

7^th place: Andrew Mullen ($12,238)

8^th place: Jose Melendez ($9,743)

9^th place: Michael Borovetz ($7,327)

Daniel Negreanu Raises St. Jude Funds

Team PokerStars Pro Daniel Negreanu established a fundraising page on the St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital website in order to raise funds. The hospital helps children with cancer and other diseases, never turning any child away.

Negreanu’s goal was to raise $100,000 by asking for donations. Any charitable gifts up to $50,000 will be match by Negreanu, and every person donating $2,500 or more will be eligible for a random drawing that will allow four people to attend dinner with him, as well as a poker lesson and evening of fun at his Las Vegas home. The largest donor so far was Phil Ivey, who is listed as giving $10,000.

At the time of this post, more than $40K had been raised. You can donate by visiting this page.