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Day 1b Completed
2019 Heartland Poker Tour Ameristar East Chicago
Main Event
Day: 1b
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Level 15
: 2,000/4,000, 4,000 ante
Day 1b of the HPT East Chicago $1,650 Main Event saw 169 entrants battle it out to attempt and advance to Day 2 along with the 20 players that made it through on Day 1a. After fifteen levels of play, Mike O'Neill leads the way with a massive 573,000 chips but Josh Reichard is right on his tail with 570,000 as 24 advance to Day 2. Both players put on a clinic while sitting at the same table for the last six levels of the night eliminating players left and right to bag over one million chips combined.
The closest player to O'Neill and Reichard is over 200,000 chips behind as Brek Schutten bagged 341,000 which is still a very healthy stack. Kyle Pikorz comes next as the only other player to crest 300k (334,000) and JBrett Apter's (288,000) rounds out the top five stacks.
Others advancing includes Roger McKinney (284,000), Kenneth Baime (260,000), Todd Sladek (227,000), Nick Davidson (125,000), Yoon Kim (113,000) and Mike Shin (108,000).
The field saw many notable faces unfortunate enough to advance to Day 2 which included Craig Casino, Chris Moon, Aaron Massey, Jacob Bazeley, Nick Pupillo, Shawn Roberts and reining HPT Player of the Year Aaron Johnson.
Johnson and the other players without Day 2 tickets will have one last chance to get a crack as Day 1c kicks off at noon local time on Saturday.
Come back to PokerNews to see what develops on the third and final starting day of the HPT Main Event.
Level 15
: 2,000/4,000, 4,000 ante
Level 15
: 2,000/4,000, 4,000 ante
The dealers have just been told to deal the final five hands of the night.
End of day chip counts and recap will follow.
Level 15
: 2,000/4,000, 4,000 ante
The Heartland Poker Tour (HPT) Player of the Year race is always competitive, and right now Nick Pupillo by a wide margin with 301.20 points. His closest competition right now is Nick Davidson in second place with 176.80 points, while Mike Shin sits third with 160 points.
Sitting in fourth thanks to back-to-back final tables and winning the HPT Lawrenceburg for $119,101 is Greg Wood with 152.5 points.
Whoever wins the POY title will claim more than bragging rights. Our POY earns a $10,000 package to use next season as well as complimentary hotel accommodations at those six stops. In case of a tie, all winning players will split the POY prize package evenly.
Here's a look at the current top 10 headed into the HPT East Chicago stop:
| Place | Player | Points |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Nick Pupillo | 301.20 |
| 2 | Nick Davidson | 176.80 |
| 3 | Mike Shin | 160.00 |
| 4 | Greg Wood | 152.50 |
| 5 | Chris Moon | 146.50 |
| 6 | Mike Sabbia | 146.40 |
| 7 | Spenser Cramer | 140.00 |
| 8 | Bill Byrnes | 140.00 |
| 9 | Shawn "Reginald" Roberts | 132 |
| 10 | Austin Peck | 130 |
Level 15
: 2,000/4,000, 4,000 ante
Bryan Skreens opened for 9,000 from early position and Nick Davidson called sitting directly on his left.
Action on the table folded around to Josh Reichard who three-bet to 36,000 and the big blind player jammed for 80,500.
Skreens and Davidson got out of the way and Reichard called.
Josh Reichard: 
Opponent: 
Reichard was far behind the pocket kings of his opponent and didn't receive any help from the 
flop.
The turn brought a flush draw for Reichard with the 
and he would get there after the dealer dropped the 
on the river to send his opponent to the rail.
Level 15
: 2,000/4,000, 4,000 ante
Level 15
: 2,000/4,000, 4,000 ante
Level: 15
Blinds: 2,000/4,000
Ante: 4,000
Level 14
: 1,500/3,000, 3,000 ante
Bryan Skreens opened for 6,500 from the cutoff and was called by Nick Davidson on the button along with Kenneth Baime from the big blind.
The 
flop was checked to Skreens who bet 12,000 and was called by Davidson while Baime folded.
The turn brought the and Skreens check-called Davidson's 17,000 bet to see the fall on the river.
Skreens checked and Davidson bet 37,000 to send Skreens into the tank. After some table talk and deep thinking, Josh Reichard called the clock on Skreens.
After about ten seconds, Skreens called and Davidson tabled 
for the winner.
