New Champion Crowned in Colorado

A full recap of this weekend's Golden Gates Casino HPT event written by Hill Kerby of PokerNews is below.

Austin Peck can claim he is the newest champion on the Heartland Poker Tour after outlasting a field of 732 entries en route to a first-place prize of $152,671. The victory was Peck’s second career victory after winning a World Series of Poker Circuit ring in 2016 and his first one on the HPT. With over $371,000 in live earnings coming into the day, the victory brought him up over half a million in career winnings.

Peck entered the day seventh in chips on the bottom end of a pack of players that was all separated by around five big blinds. Shortly after Igor Leshchinskiy was eliminated in ninth place, Peck found himself all in with ace-king suited to the ace-queen offsuit of Dapo Ajayi and had Ajayi drawing dead when a king hit on the turn to secure a double up and bring him to an average stack.

Ajayi then took the spotlight momentarily, winning two coin flips in short succession to knock out Rich Dixon (8th place - $16,544) when his sixes held versus Dixon’s ace-ten and Nick Pupillo (7th place - $19,810) when his nines held versus Pupillo’s ace-king. The eliminations had Ajayi sitting firmly in second place in the chip counts behind eventual fourth-place finisher and start-of-day chip leader Nathaniel Zoller.

Six-handed play lasted for nearly two hours at which point Peck had chipped up to around 6.9 million and taken the chip lead. Ajayi found himself as one of the short stacks and it was his turn to be on the losing end of a coin flip when his tens lost to Scott Horvath’s ace-queen after a queen hit on the river.

Horvath had spent much of the day as a short stack, finding himself as low as four big blinds at one point before doubling up multiple times to put himself in a position to knock out Ajayi. He then proceeded to record three more knockouts in a matter of minutes to take the chip lead.

The first of those hands happened in an all-in preflop situation, finding himself with ace-queen to put both Albert Winchester and Zoller at risk for their tournament lives with pocket fours and pocket kings, respectively. He spiked an ace on the river to take a field of five down to three and woke up with pocket queens in the big blind a few hands later. Maxx Holland was short and shoved into him with ace-three suited from the small blind. The queens held and that was all she wrote for Holland.

Heads-up play started with Horvath holding a two-to-one chip lead over Peck and he increased it from there to more than four-to-one after flopping a flush and getting three streets of value. However, Peck won a few pots before making a flush on his own to pull within reach of the chip lead, which he attained a few hands later after winning a hand at showdown with two pair. From there, he continued to grind Horvath down and eventually the two got stacks in preflop when Horvath called his remaining chips with ace-five and was unable to get there against Peck’s pocket fours.

When asked about what is next on his radar, Peck said that this was his last stop on his way home after spending the last six weeks in Las Vegas. He said that the victory helped recoup some of the losses he had over the summer and that the remaining balance would feed his poker bankroll in addition to taking his friends out to sushi for dinner tonight and going on a vacation with his sister in the fall.

Next up on the Heartland Poker Tour is HPT St. Louis with prelims beginning in just a few days’ time and the $1,650 Main Event set to get underway Thursday, August 1. Once again PokerNews will be live reporting that tournament.

For complete results from the $1,100 Main Event at Golden Gates Casino, click here.

Final Table Set at Golden Gates

See below for a recap of Day 2 action in Black Hawk from PokerNews. The final nine return to the felt tomorrow at 12:00pm to play down to a winner. The final table will be streamed, with hole cards, at twitch.tv/hptpoker. Visit https://bit.ly/2XVwxJt for more updates from Day 2.

Day 2 of the Heartland Poker Tour Golden Gates $1,100 Main Event saw 128 players come into the day with their hopes of making it to the final table of nine and after nearly eight hours of play, that number has been reached. Leading the way by a wide margin is Nathaniel Zoller (pictured) who bagged a massive stack of 7,485,000.

Zoller entered the day well below the average stack with 88,000 in chips and a stack just shy of 18 big blinds. He built his stack as the tournament progressed, eclipsing the one million-chip mark when there were five tables left in the tournament. He secured a knockout and took down a few more pots before reaching the unofficial final table of 10 with a stack of 3.2 million, good to put him in second in chips. Then the fireworks flew.

Maz Keshavari had entered the unofficial final table as the chip leader with 4.1 million after winning a huge pot with pocket kings versus Anthony Piazza’s (12th place - $10,012) pocket queens shortly before the redraw was reached at 10 players. Zoller found himself on Keshavari’s left and took a chunk off of him with ace-king on an ace-high board to take the chip lead.

On the final hand of the night, both players called an under-the-gun raise by Rich Dixon from the blinds. Dixon got out of their way on the flop and the two both ended up making it to showdown with six-four suited. However, Zoller backed into a flush and ended up calling an all-in bet from Keshavari to knock him out in what was around a 6.5 million-chip pot to end play for the night.

Other notable players to make the final table include Dapo Ajayi who finished the day second in chips with 3,450,000 and Nick Pupillo who will enter the final table as the short stack after bagging 675,000.

HPT Golden Gates Final Table

Seat	Player	Chip Count
1	Nathaniel Zoller	7485000
2	Rich Dixon	2150000
3	Austin Peck	1615000
4	Maxx Holland	1350000
5	Igor Leshchinskiy	1115000
6	Dapo Ajayi	3450000
7	Albert Winchester	2110000
8	Nick Pupillo	675000
9	Scott Horvath	1970000

The action was loaded across the four Day 1 flights and was kicked up a notch today as the money bubble burst shortly before the first break of the day. Players to make the money and fall short of the final table included reigning HPT Player of the Year Aaron Johnson (81st place - $1,917), Chris Moon (55th place - $2,414), Mike Englert (22nd place - $4,473), and Neil Blumenfield (19th place - $4,473).

Play will resume Monday at noon local time upstairs in the overflow room with 2:14 remaining in Level 27 (30,000/60,000/60,000) and the final table will be live-streamed and televised. Come back to PokerNews for live updates and be sure to visit HPT’s Twitch channel to watch all the action unfold in real-time as a champion is crowned and presented the HPT trophy along with a first-place prize of $152,671.

732 Total for $1,100 in Black Hawk

PokerNews is reporting on this weekend's $1,100 Main Event from Golden Gates Casino from start to finish. Visit https://bit.ly/2XVwxJt to follow along with Day 2 action Sunday as we play down to the final nine players.

Here's a recap from the final starting flight as reported by PokerNews' Hill Kerby:

The largest day of all four starting flights by a long shot has been completed and the field for Day 2 has been set at HPT Golden Gates $1,100 Main Event. Day 1d saw a total of 318 entries to bring the entire total to 732 entries over four initial flights.

Of the 318 players, 60 players advanced with Maxx Holland bagging a total of 474,500 to find himself as the chip leader for the flight. The other two players to bag over 300,000 were Mike Englert (346,000) and Steve Harvey. Englert was seated in the upstairs overflow room to start the day and by the time those tables broke, he was seen in his seat inside the Golden Gates Poker Parlour with over 200,000. From there, he was moved to a table with Nader Wahdan and was able to take advantage of the action, building his stack to its final resting point for the evening.

Saturday’s flight saw a ton of recognizable faces make it up the mountain at their final shot at advancing to Day 2. Some players to advance in this flight after failing in previous flights include Danny Gonzales(246,500), Nick Pupillo (238,000), Alex Rocha (208,500), Nader Wahdan (150,000), and Chris Moon(114,000).

Other players who found a bag at the end of the day were Naval Subbarayan (274,500), Vincent Moscati(226,00), Jeff Grimes (191,500), and Bryan Devonshire (78,000).

A few players who were not fortunate enough to advance included Aaron Frei, James Pupillo, Craig Casino, and defending champion Ben Brown.

Day 2 will begin Sunday at 11 a.m. local time, one hour earlier than the noon starting time from the initial flights. There will be 129 players returning with 81 players making it into the money. Those who earn a first-level payout will receive $1,917 and payouts will climb from there to the eventual first-place prize of $152,671.

Play will resume at the beginning of Level 16, with blinds of 2,500/5,000 and a 5,000 big-blind ante. Levels 
will last 40 minutes throughout the duration of the day with 15-minute breaks at the completion of every three levels. From the time the cards are in the air, action will continue until the official final table of nine has been reached.

Which nine players will find themselves putting chips in bags when Day 2 concludes? Come back to PokerNews for updates along the way as that question is answered.

Final Flight in Black Hawk

The fourth and final flight of the $1,100 Main Event at Golden Gates Casino is underway. Today's flight is anticipated to be a big one with 300+ entries a possibility.

The first three flights generated a combined 414 entries with 69 players advancing to Day 2 so far. Though the average stack of those who have found a bag is around 180k, there are a few big stacks that are skewing that average. Denver's David Berger amassed 628,000 chips in Flight B and Jason Sater put 590,000 in the bag yesterday in Flight C.

Today's field will play 15 full 40-minute levels before bagging and tagging for the night. All players who advance from their respective flights return to the felt at 11am tomorrow for Day 2 action. Those remaining players should hit the money portion of the tournament within an hour or two tomorrow and Day 2 will play down to the final nine Sunday before stopping for the evening.

The final nine will take a seat on HPT's nationally televised set Monday at noon to play down to a winner. Monday's final table will be streamed at twitch.tv/hptpoker on a short delay.

To follow along with the action all day, and for the remainder of the tournament, visit PokerNews' updates page at https://bit.ly/2XVwxJt.

Sater Bags Day 1C Chip Lead

PokerNews is reporting on this weekend's $1,100 Main Event at Golden Gates Casino in Black Hawk, Colorado from start to finish. You can follow along with their reporting at https://bit.ly/2XVwxJt.

Here is a recap from the third of four starting flights in this tournament as reported by Hill Kerby of PokerNews:

The third of four starting flights at HPT Golden Gates $1,100 Main Event has become one with its two predecessors after 15 levels of action. Day 1c nearly doubled the total from the first two flights combined, seeing a massive 204 entries for the day. When the dust settled, it was Jason Sater who bagged 590,000 to find himself in pole position among the 34 players to advance.

After building his stack steadily throughout the day, Sater played one major hand where he backed into a straight in a three-bet pot against Jason Fielder and raised Fielder’s bet to 110,000. Upon being called, Sater found himself with over a half-million in his stack and he climbed further from there before play finished.

Sater finds himself second in chips among all players to have advanced to Day 2, following behind Day 1b chip leader David Berger who ended yesterday’s flight with 628,000. They are the only two people to bag stacks north of 500,000 after three flights.

Maz Keshavarzi (460,500) and Bruce Russell (419,000) round out the top three in chips for the flight with both players finding themselves above everybody else in the field besides Berger and Sater. Russell had a boisterous day, with “Bruce is on the loose” heard across the Poker Parlour throughout the day as he built his stack by way of making quads twice and getting paid both times.

Other players to bag large stacks include Eric Smidinger (348,500), Robert Brubaker (287,000), and WSOP 2019 Main Event 39th place finisher Dapo Ajayi (264,500).

Players who were not fortunate enough to advance to Day 2 in today’s heat include Nick Pupillo, Chris Moon, Ben Keeline, Danny Gonzales, and Alex Rocha, who lost a big pot at the end of the night to find himself crippled and chose to forfeit his stack and try again tomorrow rather than put crumbs into a bag for a 35-hour hiatus.

The fourth and final initial flight of the tournament begins at noon, local time on Saturday. How many players will join the 69 to have advanced through the first three flights and who will they be? Tune back in to PokerNews tomorrow to find out.

Day 1C Underway in Colorado

The floor staff at Golden Gates Casino & Poker Parlour in Black Hawk has just announced "Shuffle up and deal" for the third of four starting flights. Each player who enters today's flight gets a 30k starting stack and all levels are 40 minutes in length.

Today's flight will play 15 full levels before the remaining contestants bag-n-tag their chips for the night. Those players will join the 35 players who have already advanced from the first two flights.

Flights A and B drew a total of 210 entries. Denver's David Berger has bagged the top stack so far with 628,000 chips.

For more details, including up to the minute updates all weekend long, head to PokerNews.com. The direct link for PokerNews' reporting on this HPT event is https://bit.ly/2XVwxJt.

Berger Bags Monster Stack

David Berger caught fire in the second flight of the Main Event at Golden Gates Casino Thursday to bag an impressive 638,000 chips. The Denver native bagged nearly twice as much as his nearest competitors.

In all 18 players advanced from 128 entries in Flight B. Add the 82 entries from the opening flight and the current entry total for this $1,100 nationally televised event is 210.

The two remaining flights are expected to be the biggest of the tournament. Flights C and D are scheduled for a noon start on Friday and Saturday. Greg Geller bagged the top stack in Day 1A with 336,000 chips.

Michael Sherry and Neil Blumenfield amassed 357,500 and 320,500 respectively in Day 1B. Matt Livingston, Andreas Ramadanis, Rex Clinkscales and Aaron Johnson were among the other notables to advance through the flight and secure a seat for Day 2 action on Sunday.

Hill Kerby of PokerNews is reporting on this weekend's event in Black Hawk, Colorado all weekend long at https://bit.ly/2XVwxJt. Visit that link for up to the minute coverage, including names and chip counts for all players that have advanced from the first two flights.

Cards in the Air for Flight B in Black Hawk

Play is underway in the second of four flights at Golden Gates Casino & Poker Parlour in Black Hawk, Colorado. There are already several notables in the field including Chris Moon, Aaron Johnson, Matt Livingston, and Neil Blumenfield.

Flight A drew 82 total entries with 17 finding a bag at the end of the night. That opening flight did play the full 15 levels at 40 minutes each. That means that all three remaining flights will also play 15 full levels before the bag-n-tag each night.

Day 2 is scheduled for an 11am start Sunday and the nationally televised final table will take place upstairs at noon Monday.

Poker News will be reporting on this weekend's Main Event at Golden Gates. To follow along with their coverage, visit https://bit.ly/2Sx75Jv.

Geller Leads Day 1A in Colorado

Golden Gates regular Greg Geller bagged the top stack at his home casino Wednesday. Geller put 336,000 chips in the bag for Flight A of the $1,100 Main Event.

The flight drew 82 total entries, 17 of which played out the full 15 levels and advanced to Day 2 on Sunday. The second of four flights kicks off today (Thursday) at noon. Visit https://bit.ly/2XVwxJt for a full Day 1A recap as well as names and counts of those 17 players who advanced.

PokerNews will be reporting on this event start to finish throughout the weekend at PokerNews.com.

$1,100 BLACK HAWK MAIN EVENT

Cards are in the air for the $1,100 Main Event at Golden Gates Casino & Poker Parlour. PokerNews (@PokerNews) will be reporting on this tournament all weekend long at PokerNews.com.

Golden Gates has been a staple on the HPT schedule since the first time the tour visited back in 2007. Over $25M has been awarded at the Black Hawk, Colorado venue since that first stop.

This weekend's big blind ante event features four starting flights (Wednesday through Saturday). Each flight will play fifteen 40-minute levels or down to 13% of the field, whichever comes first. At that point, the remaining players will bag and tag their chips for the night.

Players who advance from their respective flights will combine and return to the felt Sunday for Day 2 action at 11am. The field will play down to the final nine Sunday before stopping for the day. Those final nine participants will take their seat under the lights of HPT's nationally televised set Monday at noon to play down to a winner. The final table will be streamed at twitch.tv/hptpoker and will also be aired on TV in the near future.

Last July this event drew 763 total entries across four flights. In the end, Ben Brown came out on top for a $159,131 score.

Be sure to follow along with the tournament action from Golden Gates all weekend long through PokerNews' updates at https://bit.ly/2XVwxJt.