Martins Adeniya Takes Down Lucky Hearts Poker Open Main Event

Martins Adeniya has live poker tournament results dating back to 2009, with multiple millions in earnings to his name. The UK poker pro locked up his biggest victory yet in the early weeks of 2025, topping a field of 1,162 entries to win the Lucky Hearts Poker Open $3,500 buy-in no-limit hold’em main event at Seminole Hard Rock Hollywood in South Florida. Adeniya cashed out for $512,600 as the champion, bringing his lifetime haul to nearly $2.3 million.

This surpassed the $333,625 payday that Adeniya secured as the third-place finisher in a $2,200 mystery bounty event at the 2023 Wynn Summer Classic to become his new largest payday.

In addition to the money and the hardware, Adeniya also earned 1,440 Card Player Player of the Year points for the win. That was enough to catapult him into the outright lead in the early 2025 POY race standing presented by Global Poker.

This tournament ran from Jan. 17-21. The strong turnout saw the $2,000,000 guarantee nearly doubled, with $3,718,400 in total prize money ultimately paid out among the top 146 finishers.

Adeniya was the chip leader when the final day began. Ricardo Eyzaguirre (9th – $56,000) was the first to fall at the final table, with his K-Q suited unable to overcome the A-J suited of Ryan Hogan. While one Ryan’s stock was rising, another’s fell all the way down to zero. Ryan Hoenig got all-in with Q-J trailing the A-K of Adam Nattress. Neither player connected with the board and Hoenig was knocked out in eighth place ($71,000).

The next elimination also saw a couple of live connected undercards fail to overcome a good ace high. Kyle Taddei made his last stand with 10-9 facing the A-Q of Martins Adeniya. Aces and jacks with a king kicker won the pot for Adeniya in the end, while Taddei walked away with $92,000 as the seventh-place finisher.

Nattress’ run in this event concluded in sixth place ($119,000) when his Q-J was bested by the dominating A-Q of Spencer Champlin. Both players paired their live card, which meant that Champlin dragged the pot. Natress, who hails from Oregon, secured his first-ever live six-figure tournament score with this deep run.

Joost Schippers got his last chips in preflop with JJ leading the A5 of Champlin, but the pocket pair was unable to hold through an ace-high runout. Champlin made aces and fives on the river, in fact, to drag the pot and narrow the field to four. Schippers was awarded $156,000 as the fifth-place finisher.

Hogan was not quite as fortunate with a low A-X facing a pocket pair in his final hand. He shoved as the first to act with A4 for a bit more than eight big blinds. Adeniya called with 99 from the big blind. Hogan picked up a gutshot straight draw on the flop and made a pair of fours on the turn, but a brick river meant he was sent to the rail in fourth place ($205,000).

The next key hand began with Caio De Lucca min-raising to 600,000 from the button with K8. Champlin defended his big blind with 105 and the flop came down 1084. It checked through to the 9 turn and Champlin bet 1,200,000 with top pair and a flush draw. De Lucca called with his third pair and the river brought the 9. Champlin shoved for 6,600,000 effective with his rivered flush and De Lucca went into the tank. He eventually made the hero call and was shown the winner by Champlin. De Lucca earned $275,000 as the third-place finisher.

Heads-up play began with a virtual tie, with Champlin having an ever-so-narrow lead when the final two took their seats after a short break in the action. The final two eventually agreed to redistribute the prize money a bit, making it $425,000 for second and $512,600 for the winner.

Adeniya had taken nearly a 3:2 lead by the time the final hand of the tournament arose, though. He limped from the button with 83 for 400,000 total and Champlin raised to 1,400,000 with K2 from the big blind. Adeniya called and the flop came down Q106. Champlin checked and Adeniya checked behind. The turn brought the J and Champlin bet 2,800,000 with his open-ended straight draw. Adeniya called with his backdoor heart draw and the river brought the 4 completed the board. Champlin moved all-in for 19,000,000 with his busted draw and Adeniya called fairly quickly with his flush to bring the event to a close. Champlin earned $425,000 as the runner-up.

Check out the payouts and POY points awarded at the final table:

Photo credits: Seminole Hard Rock Poker Blog.