That means a signifcant number of people are getting their first taste of real live tournament poker at a Heartland event, but it also points to a huge opportunity for US poker pros cut off from online poker.

And with its recent acquisition by Federated Sports and Gaming, owners of the Epic Poker League, the Heartland Poker Tour is only getting bigger.

Televised Poker for Recreational Players

From day one the Heartland Poker Tour has taken a grassroots approach to running poker tournaments.

The HPT has partnered with smaller regional casinos to offer recreational players an affordable chance to play poker for big money, on television.

“At the time the only thing on TV really was the WSOP Main Event and the World Poker Tour," Anderson told PokerListings.com, "and it just seemed impossible for regular players to get into a $10,000 event.

"So we were just kicking around the idea of creating our own show and that was the genesis of it.”

Todd Anderson, co-founder of the Heartland Poker Tour.

 

Heartland’s first season saw seven events across Minnesota and Wisconsin.

In 2011 the tour grew to 15 main events, a charity event and a Pro-Am Qualifier to a $20,000 Epic Poker League event, all spread over nine states.

Using a unique television syndication model that allows networks and stations to pick up the show virtually for free, Anderson and co-founder Greg Lang have run more than 90 events, awarded over $30 million in prizes and produced roughly 170 hours of content.

“I think a big part of why it’s working is because we really try to foster an environment where people get together to have fun, and poker is the thing that’s bringing them together,” said Anderson.

“It’s a great way to get out and play live comfortably and not get overwhelmed and make sure you have a great experience.

“It’s different than the big buy-in events where you really feel that pressure, because it’s a lot of money and people have so much riding on it,” he said.

That open-arms attitude and reach into the mainstream is what made HPT so attractive to Federated Sports + Gaming.

FS+G Chairman and former Commissioner of the World Series of Poker, Jeffrey Pollack, said he’d always admired what the HPT has been able to accomplish.

“I’ve long thought Heartland was one of the great success stories of the modern poker industry,” Pollack told PokerListings.com.

“Poker is America’s most popular card game and there are all sorts of ways to enjoy it, and HPT is a great way for the weekend warriors to enjoy the game in a context that Greg and Todd have really custom-designed for fun and affordability,” Pollack continued.

Untapped Value for Low to Mid-Level US Pros

Online legend Dan "KingDan" Smith won six figures on the HPT in 2008.

 

While the HPT has done everything it can to attract recreational players to its events, it still seems like profesional grinders have by and large given the tour a pass.

But it’s only a matter of time before US pros cut off from most online poker sites take notice.

“Let me put it this way: a pro in our field is going to have an advantage,” quipped Todd Anderson.

“I’m sort of surprised our events haven’t been targeted more by the sort of low- to mid-stakes grinders because they do offer such great value,” he said.

Dan Smith, recent $100k Challenge winner at the Aussie Millions, won a Heartland event in 2008 and there are usually a few notable names peppered into the results, but the pro contingent certainly feels underrepresented.

Location has a lot to do with that since in the tour’s early years events were hosted in just a few Mid-Western states.

Since then the HPT has expanded beyond the actual Heartland to locations like Las Vegas and Florida, and it’s safe to expect to see more familiar faces at HPT final tables.

In the short term, HPT attendance may see a spike during the Black Friday era but in the bigger picture predictions for continued growth have more to do simply with the popularity of live tournament poker.

And the HPT seems to have struck a balance between buy-in, field size and prize pool that seriously appeals to the recreational player.

“HPT has had some ups and some downs and that’s par for the course, but over time we think poker will not only maintain its popularity but continue to grow,” said Pollack.

Anderson echoes that prediction.

"Every day we’re exposing new people to this brand and our merger with Epic Poker has opened up a lot of new doors for us in that department,” he said.

“As long as we’re putting on fair tournaments and as long as we’re putting on a good quality TV show I don’t see any end in sight for the Heartland Poker Tour.”

To read more from Todd Anderson click through to the full interview transcript.

That means a signifcant number of people are getting their first taste of real live tournament poker at a Heartland event, but it also points to a huge opportunity for US poker pros cut off from online poker.

And with its recent acquisition by Federated Sports and Gaming, owners of the Epic Poker League, the Heartland Poker Tour is only getting bigger.

Televised Poker for Recreational Players

From day one the Heartland Poker Tour has taken a grassroots approach to running poker tournaments.

The HPT has partnered with smaller regional casinos to offer recreational players an affordable chance to play poker for big money, on television.

“At the time the only thing on TV really was the WSOP Main Event and the World Poker Tour," Anderson told PokerListings.com, "and it just seemed impossible for regular players to get into a $10,000 event.

"So we were just kicking around the idea of creating our own show and that was the genesis of it.”

Todd Anderson, co-founder of the Heartland Poker Tour.

 

Heartland’s first season saw seven events across Minnesota and Wisconsin.

In 2011 the tour grew to 15 main events, a charity event and a Pro-Am Qualifier to a $20,000 Epic Poker League event, all spread over nine states.

Using a unique television syndication model that allows networks and stations to pick up the show virtually for free, Anderson and co-founder Greg Lang have run more than 90 events, awarded over $30 million in prizes and produced roughly 170 hours of content.

“I think a big part of why it’s working is because we really try to foster an environment where people get together to have fun, and poker is the thing that’s bringing them together,” said Anderson.

“It’s a great way to get out and play live comfortably and not get overwhelmed and make sure you have a great experience.

“It’s different than the big buy-in events where you really feel that pressure, because it’s a lot of money and people have so much riding on it,” he said.

That open-arms attitude and reach into the mainstream is what made HPT so attractive to Federated Sports + Gaming.

FS+G Chairman and former Commissioner of the World Series of Poker, Jeffrey Pollack, said he’d always admired what the HPT has been able to accomplish.

“I’ve long thought Heartland was one of the great success stories of the modern poker industry,” Pollack told PokerListings.com.

“Poker is America’s most popular card game and there are all sorts of ways to enjoy it, and HPT is a great way for the weekend warriors to enjoy the game in a context that Greg and Todd have really custom-designed for fun and affordability,” Pollack continued.

Untapped Value for Low to Mid-Level US Pros

Online legend Dan "KingDan" Smith won six figures on the HPT in 2008.

 

While the HPT has done everything it can to attract recreational players to its events, it still seems like profesional grinders have by and large given the tour a pass.

But it’s only a matter of time before US pros cut off from most online poker sites take notice.

“Let me put it this way: a pro in our field is going to have an advantage,” quipped Todd Anderson.

“I’m sort of surprised our events haven’t been targeted more by the sort of low- to mid-stakes grinders because they do offer such great value,” he said.

Dan Smith, recent $100k Challenge winner at the Aussie Millions, won a Heartland event in 2008 and there are usually a few notable names peppered into the results, but the pro contingent certainly feels underrepresented.

Location has a lot to do with that since in the tour’s early years events were hosted in just a few Mid-Western states.

Since then the HPT has expanded beyond the actual Heartland to locations like Las Vegas and Florida, and it’s safe to expect to see more familiar faces at HPT final tables.

In the short term, HPT attendance may see a spike during the Black Friday era but in the bigger picture predictions for continued growth have more to do simply with the popularity of live tournament poker.

And the HPT seems to have struck a balance between buy-in, field size and prize pool that seriously appeals to the recreational player.

“HPT has had some ups and some downs and that’s par for the course, but over time we think poker will not only maintain its popularity but continue to grow,” said Pollack.

Anderson echoes that prediction.

"Every day we’re exposing new people to this brand and our merger with Epic Poker has opened up a lot of new doors for us in that department,” he said.

“As long as we’re putting on fair tournaments and as long as we’re putting on a good quality TV show I don’t see any end in sight for the Heartland Poker Tour.”

To read more from Todd Anderson click through to the full interview transcript.

The 2012 EPAs, held at the famous Aviation Club de Paris in France, honored the best players in the European poker arena for their performance over the 2011 calendar year. In the Player of the Year category, it was widely considered that Trickett and Cody were the top contenders for the award, with World Champion Pius Heinz, Bertrand “ElkY” Grospellier, Eugene Katchalov and Andrey Pateychuk also up for the award. After voting by the select eight member panel convened by the EPA, Trickett’s 2011 performance was viewed as superior.

Trickett earned more than $4.5 million during the 2011 tournament season while winning several high profile tournaments. He captured the championship of the $100K High Roller at the 2011 Aussie Millions, finished second in the $250K Super High Roller at the same event and also won the Partouche Poker Tour Main Event in November. These performances pushed him past Cody, who completed poker’s Triple Crown with a bracelet victory at the World Series of Poker last summer.

Although Grospellier was shut out of the Player of the Year award, he was able to capture the Rob Gardner Memorial Poker Personality of the Year award. Heinz also was able to pick up some hardware during the awards ceremonies, earning the Best Tournament Performance of 2011 for his World Series of Poker Championship Event victory over Fabrice Soulier, Benny Spindler, Trickett and Cody. Pateychuk, who captured World Poker Tour and European Poker Tour championships during 2011 (and also drove deep in the WSOP Main Event), was crowned as the Rookie of the Year.

In what was perhaps the most difficult category to handicap, Russia’s Natalya Nikitina was honored as Europe’s Leading Lady for her championship winning performance during the WPT Russia in 2011. Nikitina was able to defeat perennial nominees Liv Boeree and Victoria Coren and first time nominees Nesrine Kourdourli, Barbara Martinez and Cecilia Pescaglini to earn the award.

In one of the most important awards from the EPAs, legendary poker announcer Jesse May was honored with the Lifetime Achievement Award from the panel. This award was the only one that had no nominees; instead, the eight member panel chose to honor someone for their contributions to the game of poker. May was an excellent choice for the Lifetime Achievement Award from his longtime hosting skills of a plethora of poker events, including the seminal poker program Late Night Poker, and his writing endeavors.

Other awards handed out during the festivities at the Aviation Club included Warren Lush being honored as Staff Person of the Year for his work with bwin.Party, Ilari Sahamies for his efforts as Internet Player of the Year and the WSOP Cannes as the European Poker Event of the Year.

All of these players are worthy of joining the historic list of players who have previously captured an EPA. Dating back to 2000, EPA winners include Marcel Luske (a three time winner), Barny Boatman, Gus Hansen, David “The Devilfish” Ulliott, Rob Hollink, Roland de Wolfe, Annette Obrestad and Sandra Naujoks. Congratulations to all of the winners and to the EPAs for their twelfth annual awards show; the poker world looks forward to whom will be honored come next year!

The season, which will once again be broadcast on Fox Sports Net (FSN), will consist of 37 episodes, up 11 from Season IX. Part of the change is an increase in the number of episodes per tournament; the story of each tour stop will now be told across three episodes instead of just two. Strong ratings were likely another catalyst for the added episodes, as ratings increased 30 percent from Season VIII to Season IX.

“The steadfast effort put into revamping the World Poker Tour last season was rewarded with resounding fan and viewer support,” said WPT President Adam Pliska in a press release. “For WPT Season X, we’re debuting more innovations and giving our audience even more reasons to tune in each week.”

One of those innovations is a new segment called WPT Champions Cup in which some of the most memorable moments from WPT final tables will be relived. Another new segment, On the Road, will give viewers a sort of “behind the curtain” look at the lives of the WPT cast.

Speaking of cast, poker icons Mike Sexton and Vince Van Patten will again be the voices behind the microphones, just as they have been since the very first televised episode of the World Poker Tour. Kimberly Lansing is back as the WPT Anchor, while Tony “Bond18” Dunst returns as the analyst on Raw Deal.

The first episode of the new season will be a special Season X preview, setting viewers up for the months to come. The Legends of Poker will be the first tournament to air, running three consecutive Sundays from February 19th through March 4th. The season will continue from there with 11 more tournaments, each consisting of three weekly episodes. All tour stops in the United States will be broadcast except for the first Jacksonville and Seminole Hard Rock events. The second stops at both locations will be shown. Two different tournaments at the WPT World Championship will be aired: the $25,000 World Championship itself as well as the $100,000 Super High Roller event.

For those who miss the Sunday broadcasts, each episode will re-air every Wednesday at 11:00pm local time.

The complete World Poker Tour Season X television schedule is as follows:

Feb. 12 – Season X Special
Feb. 19-Mar. 4 – Legends of Poker
Mar. 11-25 – WPT Grand Prix de Paris
Apr. 1-15 – Borgata Poker Open
Apr. 22-May 6 – World Poker Final
May 13-27 – Five Diamond World Poker Classic
June 3-17 – WPT Venice Grand Prix
June 24-July 8 – LA Poker Classic
July 15-29 – Bay 101 Shooting Star
Aug. 5-19 – Seminole Hard Rock Poker Showdown
Aug. 26-Sep. 9 – WPT Jacksonville
Sep. 16-30 – WPT World Championship Super High Roller
Oct. 7-21 – WPT World Championship

Oh yeah, he also won nearly $4 million actually playing poker during that span.

The times are changing for Hachem, however, as last month he announced he was leaving long-time sponsor PokerStars, which he helped build into the biggest online poker room in the world.

It turns out the whirlwind tour that Hachem has been on since winning the Main Event is finally starting to take its toll.

 “I’ve been on the road for seven years now and I’m totally exhausted,” he said during a break in the 2012 Aussie Millions Main Event.

Hachem is one of the few players who has actually defined poker for an entire country and it’s never more apparent then when the Aussie Millions rolls around and thousands of Australian poker players and fans converge on the Crown Casino.

“It’s our pride and joy to be honest,” said Hachem, who lives lives in Melbourne. “It’s a special event and it stands alone in that regard. It’s not connected to the EPT, LAPT, WPT or whatever.”

Joe Hachem winning the 2005 WSOP Main Event

 

It’s questionable if the tournament would even exist if it weren’t for Hachem’s record-setting haul at the WSOP in 2005.

Since Hachem became the first Australian to win the Main Event poker has exploded Down Under and where there used to be only one poker room in the entire country there is now one or more in every state.

Therefore it was somewhat of a shock when PokerStars and Hachem parted ways in December. The two brands had been synonymous since 2005.

A few days ago Hachem announced that he had reached an agreement to work with the lesser-known AsianLogic and help develop their future strategies for the online poker market.

It was a somewhat surprising move for the Australian considering there’s a good chance he received attention from major industry players like 888poker, PartyPoker or Titan Poker.

“I had a big offer from a large poker room on the table,” he said.

“I thought ‘OK, do I sign on as an ambassador for a big room or do I partner up with a solid company that’s close to home and looking to expand with plenty of opportunities to let me help it grow?’ It was a no-brainer for me.”

Hachem went on to say that he was tired of “dancing like a monkey” and wanted to be more involved in the day-to-day business for a company.

AsianLogic, he said, was the natural fit.

With his new deal Hachem will also limit the amount of travelling he does and right now only has plans to play the LAPC, WPT Bay 101, WSOP, WSOPE, Epic Poker Tour and the two AsianLogic-backed APT events.

It’s a big difference for a guy who lives thousands of miles from every major tournament outside of the Aussie Millions.

Joe Hachem flashing his PokerStars patch in 2010.

 

“Every trip that I go on takes at least a day,” he said. “It’s a hell of a lot of time to spend on an airplane.”

At this point it would be easy to say that Hachem has lost an edge in his poker playing abilities or he’s now in the twilight of his career but the feisty Australian would beg to differ.

Earlier this week Hachem outlasted some of the best poker players in the world – including Phil Ivey, Tom Dwan and Gus Hansen – to take third place in the massive $100k buy-in tournament at the Aussie Millions for an impressive $330k.

It was his biggest cash since 2006 and the most he’s ever won in his hometown casino.

In the past Hachem has been a somewhat decisive figure in the industry thanks to his penchant for taking it personally when the cards don’t go his way.

Although a fan of rising Aussie online stars Jonathan Karamalikis and Jarred Graham, Hachem has been critical of young online poker players in the past and encouraged them to “grow up.”

He still maintains that it takes more than skill to become a true star in the poker world.

“A lot of these kids don’t have any manners or respect,” he said. “They live and die behind their computer screens so they don’t feel like they have to own up to anything.”

Despite his desire to remain closer to home and work behind the scenes, Hachem will always have fond memories of the last seven years where he seemed to have a PokerStars patch tattooed to his chest.

“I feel blessed that I’ve had the opportunity to do this,” he said. “It’s been amazing but at the same time I’ve worked my ass off to be the best ambassador and best poker player I could be.”

The 2012 EPAs, which will be held at the Aviation Club de Paris on January 25, recognize excellence for the previous calendar year on the European continent, and there were plenty of viable candidates for each of the ten categories (an eleventh, the Lifetime Achievement Award, does not accept nominees but is chosen by a special panel). Cody, Trickett and Heinz will be vying for what is arguably the two biggest awards handed out, Player of the Year and Best Tournament Performance.

Cody, who already has two EPA trophies under his belt from last year’s awards show, was nominated for Player of the Year for his completion of the mythical poker “Triple Crown” (career championships on the World Poker Tour, the European Poker Tour and the World Series of Poker) after his WSOP bracelet victory in Las Vegas last summer. Jake became the quickest to complete the “Triple Crown” following that victory.

Trickett, for his part, only earned more than $4.5 million during the 2011 tournament season. Sam took down the championship of the $100K High Roller at the Aussie Millions, a second in the $250K Super High Roller at the same event and a championship victory during the Partouche Poker Tour Main Event in November to garner a majority of his cash in 2011.

Heinz earned his nomination for Player of the Year by just winning the biggest poker tournament on the planet, the WSOP Championship Event, in November. Joining the trio on the nominees list for the Player of the Year are Cody’s fellow “Triple Crown” winner Bertrand “ElkY” Grospellier, Eugene Katchalov and Andrey Pateychuk.

The triumvirate also earned nominations in the category of Best Tournament Performance for their achievements during the 2011 tournament poker season. Other nominees for this award include France’s Fabrice Soulier and Germany’s Benny Spindler, the winner of the EPT London.

While Heinz may have some difficulties in taking one of those two top awards, he is also nominated for Rookie of the Year, which is more than likely the award he will receive. Nominated alongside the World Champion are France’s Adrien Allain, England’s Sam Holden, the Ukraine’s Oleksii Kovalchuk and Pateychuk.

There will be some difficult choices for another award, Europe’s Leading Lady. While there are stalwarts in the field such as Liv Boeree and Victoria Coren (previous EPA winners), there are challengers who may rise up to take them down. Nominated alongside Boeree and Coren in the category are Nesrine Kourdourli, Barbara Martinez, WPT Russia Regional champion Natalya Nikitina and WPT Malta runner up Cecilia Pescaglini.

For Internet Player of the Year, there are some familiar faces that have been nominated. 2011 WSOP Europe runner up Chris “Moorman1” Moorman, 2012 PCA Super High Roller champion Viktor “Isildur1” Blom and PLO wizard Ilari “Zigmund” Sahamies are joined by Jude Ainsworth and newcomer Rui Cao of France.

Other awards that will be handed out include Poker Staff Person of the Year, Best European Event of the Year and the Rob Gardner Memorial Award for poker personality of the year, along with the Lifetime Achievement Award.

The decision of who will win these prestigious honors rests in the hands of an eight person jury, headed by veteran poker player and 2010 EPA Lifetime Achievement Award winner Nic Szeremeta. This eight person panel will vote on each category using a “blind ballot,” meaning the other members of the jury do not know how their fellow members voted. Whoever receives the most votes has their name placed in an envelope but is not announced to anyone until the awards ceremony on January 25. If there is a tie during the voting, the jury is informed who the tie is between, opens discussion on the tied candidates and the voting continues until a winner has been chosen.

The European Poker Awards history dates back to the beginning of this century, with several notable names having taken home the prestigious award. European poker professionals such as Marcel Luske (a three time winner, including a Lifetime Achievement Award), Barny Boatman, Gus Hansen, David “The Devilfish” Ulliott, Rob Hollink, Roland de Wolfe, Annette Obrestad and Sandra Naujoks all have earned the highest achievement in European poker and look to add to their illustrious roster with the 2012 version of the European Poker Awards.

Jaka made his run early on Monday, growing his chip stack to right around 700,000 within just the first level.  He later scooped one of the most significant pots of the tournament to soar to over a million chips.  He was up against Chino Rheem, who went into the day with the second largest chip stack.  On each street – after the Ks-Js-6d flop, the 4d turn, and and Ad river – Jaka led out with a bet and every time Rheem called him.  At showdown, Jaka turned over Ah-Kc for top two pair.  Rheem mucked and found himself crippled.  Jaka grabbed Rheem’s last few chips shortly thereafter and just like that, one of the toughest players in the tournament was gone.

Faraz Jaka, who goes by the colorful handle “The Toilet” in his online games, has developed the reputation of being one of the best young tournament players in the world and definitely one of the best without a World Series of Poker (WSOP) or World Poker Tour (WPT) title.  The 26-year old has just shy of $2.4 million in lifetime earnings on the live tournament circuit, the bulk of which came in 2009 during a tremendous streak of three cashes.  In June of that year, he placed 3rd in the $5,000 No-Limit Hold’em Six-Handed event at the WSOP for $400,525, then finished 2nd the next month in the $15,000 No-Limit Hold’em Championship Event at the Bellagio Cup V, winning $774,780.  His next cash came in December in the $15,000 No-Limit Hold’em Main Event of the Doyle Brunson Five Diamond World Poker Classic, a $571,374 score.  All told, that’s $1,746,679 over the course of three cashes.

A number of well-known names, including Bertrand Grospellier, Dario Minieri, Christian Harder, Vanessa Selbst, John Racener, Michael Mizrachi, and Humberto Brenes, fell by the wayside on Monday.  Several other players that people might recognize remain, though, including Arnaud Mattern, Galen Hall, Phil Collins, David Benefield, Barry Shulman, Adam Levy, Shane Schleger, Shawn Buchanan, Andrew Lichtenberger, and Yevgeniy Timoshenko.

Day 3 picks up at noon local time as the remaining players head towards the money bubble.

2011 WPT PokerStars Caribbean Adventure – End of Day 2 Chip Leaders

Faraz Jaka – 902,500
Cristian Folescu – 555,500
Erik Cajelais – 528,000
Connor Drinan – 436,000
Alex Kuzmin – 425,500
Jens Patzner – 423,000
Phil D’Auteuil – 413,500
Ruben Visser – 372,000
Robin Van Gils – 360,500
Brian England – 354,000
Ashley Mason – 354,000

Here were the chip counts to start the final table:

David Shallow – 6,155,000
Steve Watts – 1,600,000
Patrik Vestlin – 1,100,000
Charles Chattha – 835,000
Ronan Gilligan – 775,000

While the final table was very short by World Poker Tour standards, coming in at under three hours, it wasn’t a totally smooth ride for Shallow.  Right off the bat, he doubled-up both Patrik Vestlin and Ronan Gilligan, causing his chip stack to fall to 4,276,000.  Gilligan rode the momentum, eliminating Steve Watts in 5th place.  Watts had moved all-in pre-flop with T-T for his remaining 1,130,000 and Gilligan called him with A-K.  The flop was Q-J-7, which was generally good for Watts, but it did give Gilligan a straight possibility if he could hit one of the remaining two Tens to go along with the 6 outs he already had.  No dice on the turn, but the river produced one of those Tens, allowing Gilligan to knock Watt out with a Broadway straight.  That pot took Gilligan up to 2,898,000, which was still a good chunk behind Shallow, but nothing that couldn’t be overcome.  It looked a whole heck of a lot better than the more than 5,000,000 chip deficit he faced about a half-hour earlier.

Just a few minutes later, Gilligan continued his hot streak.  Patrik Vestlin raised pre-flop and Gilligan called from the big blind.  The two saw a flop of 9s-7s-3s and Vestlin made the first bet with As-Qc, giving him the nut flush draw.  Gilligan check-raised to 450,000 with Js-9d – top pair and a flush draw – and Vestlin shoved for 1,750,000.  Gilligan thought a bit about his decision, but decided it was worth the risk and called.  The turn was the Tc; black, but the wrong black.  Another tease presented itself to Vestlin on the river in the form of the 8c and Gilligan’s hand held up.  Vestlin was gone in 4th place and just like that, less than an hour into play, Ronan Gilligan, the shortest stack to start the final table, was the chip leader.  He had 4,852,000, Shallow had 4,259,000, and Chaz Chattha had 1,029,000 chips.

After that, though, it appeared that Gilligan’s confidence may have gotten too high, as he began making some reckless raises and calls with marginal holdings.  Having watched his stack take several hits, he once again made a call of a David Shallow pre-flop raise with just 3-4 in the hole.  Shallow had T-9 and the flop was friendly to both, giving top pair to Shallow and an open-ended straight draw to Gilligan.  Shallow led out on the turn for 215,000, Gilligan raised to 525,000, Shallow moved all-in, and Gilligan called.  Gilligan couldn’t find the outs to complete the straight on either the turn or river and he was eliminated in 3rd place.

Going into heads-up play, David Shallow once again had a large chip lead over Chaz Chattha, 7,280,000 to 2,860,000.

Shallow was very aggressive heads-up, a style for which he is known, but that style came back to bite him less than 20 minutes into the one-on-one match.  Looking at just K-3 suited, he watched Chattha raise pre-flop to 140,000 and decided to three-bet it to 360,000.  Chattha took it up to 600,000, Shallow moved all-in, and Chattha quickly called.  And no wonder.  Holding pocket Queens, Chattha was a big favorite over most hands.  Shallow hit a 3 on the flop, but nothing else materialized and all of a sudden, Chattha had a slight chip lead, 5,180,000 to 4,960,000.

Just after that, Shallow regained a small edge, taking a couple small pots, and that was all he needed when the big hand was dealt.  With Q-Q, Shallow raised pre-flop to 135,000, only to see Chattha re-raise him to 380,000 with 9-9.  Shallow raised him back, making it 825,000 and Chattha moved all-in.  Shallow made the call.  The flop ran out K-K-2, pretty much as bad as it could get for Chattha without a Queen showing up.  The turn 8 and river 3 sewed it up for David Shallow, who won WPT Ireland along with the €222,280 first prize and a $25,000 seat in the season-ending WPT World Championship.

World Poker Tour Ireland – Final Table Results

1.    David Shallow – €222,280 ($289,031)
2.    Charles Chattha – €111,130 ($144,502)
3.    Ronan Gilligan – €74,090 ($96,339)
4.    Patrik Vestlin – €52,600 ($68,396)
5.    Steve Watts – €39,270 ($51,063)

From March 2-12, the HPT will be in action with their 100th tournament in the heartland of America, St. Louis, MO. For the first time ever, two casinos – the River City Casino and the Lumiere Place Casino & Hotel – will play as dual hosts of the HPT tournament. Lumiere Place will serve as a satellite play area as well as offer extra hotel and dining options, while the River City Casino (located approximately ten minutes from downtown St. Louis) will serve as the home of the Main Event and other qualifiers.

“The heartland has been good to us,” HPT co-founder Greg Lang stated during the announcement of their St. Louis event. “We’re pleased to bring our centennial celebration right into the backyard of our most loyal supporters.” Anthony Chester, the poker manager of Lumiere Place, echoed Lang’s sentiments in saying, “Not only will it be a thrilling tournament, but what a great opportunity to show St. Louis and the surrounding cities the incredible poker experience a player can have at both the River City Casino and Lumiere Place.”

For players who stay at Lumiere Place, shuttle service will be provided for them to be able to reach the action at River City Casino.

Beginning on March 2, players will contest for seats in the St. Louis HPT Main Event for as little as $45 in the qualifying rounds. The Main Event will feature three Day Ones from March 8-10 and Day Two play will take place on March 11, when the field will be whittled down to the final six players. On March 12, the champion of the 100th event in HPT history will be determined in front of television cameras taping the event for the HPT syndicated broadcasts.

Leading up to the tournament in March will be two events that should also prove to be popular with poker players of any bankroll or experience level. Beginning February 2, the HPT will make a sojourn to the Florida beaches for ten days of tournament action at the Daytona Beach Kennel Club and Poker Room. The HPT has announced that two of the top female players in the game, Maria Ho and Tiffany Michelle, will be at the HPT Main Event in Daytona Beach to take on the best that the HPT has to offer.

Following the Daytona Beach tournament, the HPT will traipse off to one of their more popular destinations, the Downstream Casino Resort in Quapaw, OK. From February 16-26, the HPT will have qualifiers for their $1650 Main Event, which begins February 25. In a unique twist, Downstream Poker Room Manager Dale Hunter has stated that there will be re-entry allowed in the HPT Main Event, which could create a huge prize pool for the combatants.

Both the Daytona Beach and Downstream tournaments are allowing players as young as 18 to participate in the tournament, while the centennial St. Louis stop will be an over 21 affair.

These three tournaments should get the 2012 calendar year off to a roaring start for the Heartland Poker Tour as players look to take down a nice chunk of change for a minimal buy in. For more details on the HPT and their upcoming events, visit hptpoker.com to learn more.