The Largest Poker Tournament in Colorado’s History Ends

The Heartland Poker Tour (HPT) at the Golden Gates Casino comes to end with Michael Haggard winning first place. HPT arrived with a vengeance to Black Hawk, Colorado on October 1st. The qualifying poker tournaments were quickly sold out with 1545 poker players in the qualifying events. On Sunday, the HPT final table was dominated by Colorado residents with five of the six poker players from Colorado. The Texas No-Limit Hold’em poker tournament was the largest in Colorado’s history with $463,000 in the prize pool.

Jef Bauer, Vice President and General Manager of Golden Casino Group stated, “This HPT event has exceeded our wildest expectations. We’re thrilled to have hosted the largest poker tournament with the largest prize pool in Colorado history.”

The main event began on Saturday, October 13th with 309 players. The poker players started with $10,000 in chips. As the Texas No-Limit Hold’em poker tournament continued, the number of players lessened throughout the day. The final table was reached on Sunday afternoon and completed late Sunday evening.

There was not a direct buy-in option to the main event unlike other HPT Texas No-Limit Hold’em events. All players had to qualify through single table satellites and HPT qualifiers to play in the main event. The poker room was overflowing the past two weeks. The final results are below.

Final results:

Prize Pool – $ $463,500

Entrants to Main Event – 309

Buy in – No direct buy-in due to Colorado Gaming Law

Entrants to qualifiers – 1545

1st Place — Michael Haggard – Evergreen, CO $129,780

2nd Place — Steven Klaus – Denver, CO $64,890

3rd Place — Michael Banducci –Traverse City, MI $41,715

4th Place — Jonathan Lima – Colorado Springs, CO $32,445

5th Place — Oliver Schlemko – Broomfield, CO $27,810

6th Place — Vernon Waite – Grand Junction, CO $23,175

With all the excitement and goal breaking number of players, Golden Gates Casino is already looking ahead. Bauer continued, “We can’t wait to bring the HPT back to Colorado and the Golden Gates Poker Parlor in the spring. It has been a fantastic experience to work with HPT and everyone associated with it. What an incredible event!”

The HPT is packing up and traveling to the Lucky Nugget Card Club in Deadwood, South Dakota. The satellites into the HPT qualifying events begin today with a full week of satellites and qualifiers. The Main Event starts on Saturday, October 20th.

Founded by Todd Anderson and Greg Lang in 2005, Heartland Poker Tour is built on a grass roots strategy, “Real People, Unreal Money”. HPT provides poker enthusiasts a televised Texas No Limit Hold’em poker tour with affordable buy-ins. HPT owns and operates the Heartland Poker League where poker players can build their skills through local weekly tournaments. HPT is currently in Season III and is viewed in over 60 million homes throughout the United States.

Final results:

Prize Pool – $ $463,500

Entrants to Main Event – 309

Buy in – No direct buy-in due to Colorado Gaming Law

Entrants to qualifiers – 1545

1st Place — Michael Haggard – Evergreen, CO $129,780

2nd Place — Steven Klaus – Denver, CO $64,890

3rd Place — Michael Banducci –Traverse City, MI $41,715

4th Place — Jonathan Lima – Colorado Springs, CO $32,445

5th Place — Oliver Schlemko – Broomfield, CO $27,810

6th Place — Vernon Waite – Grand Junction, CO $23,175

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