2019 Heartland Poker Tour Golden Gates

Main Event
Day: 3
Event Info

2019 Heartland Poker Tour Golden Gates

Final Results
Winner
Winning Hand
k8
Prize
$194,478
Event Info
Buy-in
$1,100
Prize Pool
$864,360
Entries
588
Level Info
Level
32
Blinds
100,000 / 200,000
Ante
100,000

Main Event

Day 3 Completed

Nick Pupillo Wins HPT Black Hawk for $194,478

Level 32 : 100,000/200,000, 100,000 ante
Nick Pupillo (Photo courtesy of Hold'em Radio)
Nick Pupillo (Photo courtesy of Hold'em Radio)

On Sunday, the $1,650 Heartland Poker Tour Black Hawk Main Event came to an end as poker pro Nick Pupillo topped a 588-entry field to win his second HPT title and a $194,478 first-place prize. He did so by defeating HPT legend Reginald “Shawn” Roberts in heads-up play.

"I got lucky when I needed to and played well throughout," Pupillo said after the victory. "I'm pretty happy with how I played. Shawn's a very good competitor and it was a good match. I'm going to try to keep [the money] this time. And play more HPTs, of course."

Pupillo’s first HPT win came back in 2015 when he took down the HPT East Chicago for $120,537. More recently, he won the WSOP Circuit Thunder Valley Main Event in September of last year for $170,286, which he followed by finishing runner-up in the WSOPC Horseshoe Hammond Main less than a month later for $186,823. All told, Pupillo has won more than $2.3 million in his poker career.

PlacePlayerHometownPrize
1Nick PupilloGilbert, Arizona$194,478
2Reginald “Shawn” RobertsNixa, Missouri$120,146
3John SachaDenver, Colorado$78,743
4Daniel WojcikLas Vegas, Nevada$54,714
5Karim AbuzarDenver, Colorado$39,761
6Jack PetersonLittleton, Colorado$30,858
7Ryan DodsonDenver, Colorado$25,931
8Mike ItoafaLittleton, Colorado$21,609
9Dapo AjayiGainesville, Florida$17,287

Other to cash the Main Event were WSOP bracelet winner Adrian Buckley (11th - $13,311), Craig Casino (18th - $7,606), Matt Livingston (28th - $4,754), Aaron Frei (31st - $4,754), Colossus II champ Ben Keeline (42nd - $3,976), Khoa Nguyen (52nd - $3,371), and Wally Printz (59th - $3,112).

Final Table Action

The first player to fall was Dapo Ajayi, who lost ace-queen to Jack Peterson’s pocket sevens, and he was followed out the door by 2018 MSPT Denver Poker Open champ Mike Itoafa, a dentist by trade. Itoafa busted after running ace-queen smack dab into Karim Abuzar’s Big Slick.

Ryan Dodson bowed out in seventh place losing a flip with pocket nines to Roberts’ ace-queen, and Peterson took his leave after losing ace-jack to the ace-king of Daniel Wojcik. Abuzar was then straightened out by John Sacha, a 2009 HPT Black Hawk champ, before Wojcik jammed ace-deuce and failed to get there against Pupillo’s ace-queen.

Pupillo proceeded to bust Sacha in third place – the result of the latter’s queen-ten suited failing to get there against the former’s king-queen – and that allowed him to take a more than 2:1 chip lead into heads-up play. Before long, Roberts shoved with ace-nine and Pupillo called with king-eight. An eight on the flop was the final nail in the coffin for Roberts, who owns a solar company in Missouri.

Roberts, a three-time HPT champ who was making his 13th appearance at an HPT final table, earned $120,146 for his runner-up finish, which puts him within an HPT win of overtaking the all-time HPT money list from Craig Casino.

"I'm pretty happy with the way things went today," Roberts said. "I felt like I maximized what I had."

The HPT heads to St. Louis next for the first event at the Hollywood Hotel & Casino. The series kicks off March 7 and runs through March 18.

Tags: Nick Pupillo

Reginald Roberts Eliminated in 2nd Place ($120,146)

Level 32 : 100,000/200,000, 100,000 ante
Reginald Roberts (Image c/o HPT & Hold'em Radio)
Reginald Roberts (Image c/o HPT & Hold'em Radio)

Nick Pupillo open-shoved and Reginald Roberts called with 2.12 million remaining.

Pupillo: {K-Clubs}{8-Clubs}
Roberts: {A-Hearts}{9-Diamonds}

The board ran {Q-Hearts}{8-Hearts}{7-Diamonds}{7-Spades}{2-Diamonds}, Pupillo paired his eight and Roberts was eliminated from his 13th HPT Final Table.

Player Chips Progress
Profile photo of Reginald Roberts us
Reginald Roberts
Busted

Tags: Reginald RobertsNick Pupillo

Level: 32

Blinds: 100,000/200,000

Ante: 100,000

Pupillo Catches Sacha Bluffing

Level 31 : 80,000/160,000, 80,000 ante

Nick Pupillo and John Sacha went to a raised flop of {9-Hearts}{5-Clubs}{5-Hearts}. Sacha check-called 350,000, the turn came {Q-Diamonds} and both players checked. The river came {9-Spades} and Sacha bet 900,000.

Pupillo thought for a short bit, called and Sacha turned up {8-Clubs}{6-Hearts} for air and Pupillo showed {K-Spades}{Q-Spades} to win the pot.

Pupillo Turning Tables on Sacha

Level 31 : 80,000/160,000, 80,000 ante

Nick Pupillo opened, John Sacha three-bet to 860,000 and Pupillo called. The flop came {K-Spades}{9-Clubs}{6-Hearts}, Sacha bet 700,000 and Pupillo called. The turn came {2-Spades}, Sacha checked and Pupillo bet 1.85 million.

Sacha folded and Pupillo put a dent into Sacha's chip towers he had that were stacked around 50 high. Pupillo took over the chip lead after the hand.

Pupillo Pushing Chips Around the Table

Level 31 : 80,000/160,000, 80,000 ante

John Sacha opened to 500,000 on the button and Nick Pupillo three-bet to 1.4 million. Sacha called, the flop came {10-Spades}{8-Diamonds}{6-Diamonds} and Pupillo bet 950,000.

"I think we have around the same hand," Sacha said. "So that's why I'm folding."