Main Event
Day 3 Completed
Main Event
Day 3 Completed
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.
Place | Player | Hometown | Prize |
---|---|---|---|
1 | Nick Pupillo | Gilbert, Arizona | $194,478 |
2 | Reginald “Shawn” Roberts | Nixa, Missouri | $120,146 |
3 | John Sacha | Denver, Colorado | $78,743 |
4 | Daniel Wojcik | Las Vegas, Nevada | $54,714 |
5 | Karim Abuzar | Denver, Colorado | $39,761 |
6 | Jack Peterson | Littleton, Colorado | $30,858 |
7 | Ryan Dodson | Denver, Colorado | $25,931 |
8 | Mike Itoafa | Littleton, Colorado | $21,609 |
9 | Dapo Ajayi | Gainesville, 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.
Nick Pupillo open-shoved and Reginald Roberts called with 2.12 million remaining.
Pupillo:
Roberts:
The board ran , Pupillo paired his eight and Roberts was eliminated from his 13th HPT Final Table.
Player | Chips | Progress |
---|---|---|
Reginald Roberts | Busted |
Nick Pupillo and Reginald Roberts haven't played any significant pots yet. They've traded small pots back and forth with Pupillo getting an edge over Roberts.
Player | Chips | Progress |
---|---|---|
Reginald Roberts |
2,400,000
-2,560,000
|
-2,560,000 |
Player | Chips | Progress |
---|---|---|
Nick Pupillo |
12,690,000
-110,000
|
-110,000 |
|
||
Reginald Roberts |
4,960,000
1,460,000
|
1,460,000 |
John Sacha open-shoved all in on the button for 2.88 million and Nick Pupillo called.
Pupillo:
Sacha:
The board ran , Pupillo's hand was best and they paused to set up for heads up play.
Player | Chips | Progress |
---|---|---|
John Sacha | Busted |
Level: 32
Blinds: 100,000/200,000
Ante: 100,000
Nick Pupillo and John Sacha went to a raised flop of . Sacha check-called 350,000, the turn came and both players checked. The river came and Sacha bet 900,000.
Pupillo thought for a short bit, called and Sacha turned up for air and Pupillo showed to win the pot.
Nick Pupillo opened, John Sacha three-bet to 860,000 and Pupillo called. The flop came , Sacha bet 700,000 and Pupillo called. The turn came , 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.
John Sacha opened to 500,000 on the button and Nick Pupillo three-bet to 1.4 million. Sacha called, the flop came and Pupillo bet 950,000.
"I think we have around the same hand," Sacha said. "So that's why I'm folding."