Juttelstad ended every day of play in the top two chip counts

Matt Juttelstad came to Miami to interview for a grad school program.  He left with a World Poker Tour title.  Juttelstad went nearly wire to wire at the first-ever Seminole Hard Rock Lucky Hearts Poker Open to win the $3,500 re-entry event and earn the $268,444 first place payday.

Juttelstad, admittedly, did not begin the final table with the chip lead.  That honor went to Gigi Gagne, who came in with a big lead, but lost a huge pot early when she flopped two pair to Keith Ferrera’s top pair, got it all-in, then could only watch as Ferrera turned a bigger two pair to double through her.  Ferrera seemed to be the player to beat in the early goings of the six-handed final table, but he and Juttelstad clashed in a preflop raising war that saw Ferrera four-bet all-in with Q-J.  Juttelstad called with nines and fell behind in the hand when Ferrera spiked a jack on the flop, but Juttelstad managed to find a nine on the river to send one of the more seasoned players at the table home in sixth place.

Short stack Todd Jacobson exited in fifth place, but did manage to hold on through 180 hands of action.  Sharon Levin followed in fourth place a short while later when he took a stand with A3 only to run into Gagne’s AT.

Uri Kadosh, Gagne, and Juttelstad each spent time as a dominant chip leader at the final table, but when three-handed play began they were all relatively close in chips.  However, first Kadosh distanced himself from his competitors, then Juttelstad jumped out to the lead after doubling thru him.  Then Juttelstad dispatched with Kadosh by picking off Kadosh’s reraise all-in with J8 while holding AJ.

That left Juttelstad and Gagne who was on the precipice of making history as a female open event winner, but behind in the counts by a more than 3-1 margin.  Gagne put up a fight for around 30 hands, but ran into a cooler of a pot where she moved all-in holding 4-10 on a 532A board only to run into Juttelstad’s 4-6 which had flopped him a higher straight.

So, in addition to picking up the title, Juttelstad also prevented Gagne from making history, which is the second time in Season X that a man has defeated a woman heads-up for the title (the first time coming back at Malta last fall).

Juttelstad is the top finisher in the event, which drew 295 entries (around 40 of which were re-entries) and generated a prize pool of more than $950,000.  He will also be back in action at the WPT Championship at Bellagio in May.

Next week, the WPT heads to the Commerce Casino for the LA Poker Classic.  The $10,000 buy-in Main Event gets underway on February 24th.

Here are the final table results from the Lucky Hearts Poker Open Main Event:

1st: Matt Juttelstad – $268,444
2nd: Gigi Gagne – $158,194
3rd: Uri Kadosh – $105,463
4th: Sharon Levin – $73,344
5th: Todd Jacobson – $54,649
6th: Keith Ferrera – $42,185

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