Main Event Day 2 | 2019 Heartland Poker Tour Golden Gates Casino

07-21-2019 13:31 UTC-6

Here's What's in Store for Season XV of the HPT

HillKerby

Level 19 : 5,000/10,000, 10,000 ante

Season XV of the Heartland Poker Tour (HPT) is a big one with stops at the Hollywood Casinos in St. Louis and the Cincinnati area (Lawrenceburg, Indiana), The Meadows Racetrack and Casino in Pittsburgh, and Ameristar East Chicago. What's more, the PokerNews Live Reporting Team plans to be at each of them to capture all the action.

“HPT is excited to have PokerNews providing additional event coverage in 2019,” said Korey Stewart, HPT Marketing Manager. “Season XV is shaping up to be another record-breaking year for the tour. We’ve already added several new venues to the schedule and we’re hoping to announce a few more new additions soon. There will be plenty of opportunities for poker enthusiasts across the country to take a shot at winning life-changing money at nationally televised final tables. We’re looking forward to having an industry leader like PokerNews there to report on it every step of the way.”

Here’s a look at the remaining Season XV schedule. For more information, visit hptpoker.com and follow them on Twitter @HPTPoker.

Remaining HPT Season XV Schedule

Series Dates	Venue	Location	Main Event Buy-In
July 10-22	Golden Gates Casino & Poker Parlour	Black Hawk, CO	$1,100
July 25 - August 5	Hollywood St. Louis	St. Louis, MO	$1,650
August 1-12	Ameristar Vicksburg	Vicksburg, Mississippi	$1,100
August 22-September 2	Ameristar East Chicago	Gary, Indiana	$1,650
September 9-15	Mini Series at Hollywood Casino Toledo	Toledo, Ohio	$350
September 11-23	Golden Gates Casino & Poker Parlour	Black Hawk, CO	$1,650
September 26 - October 7	The Meadows Casino	Pittsburgh, PA	$1,100
October 17-28	Daytona Beach Racing & Card Club	Daytona Beach, Florida	$1,100
January 25-February 1, 2020	HPT on the High Seas	Western Caribbean	$1,100

Level: 19

Blinds: 5,000/10,000

Ante: 10,000

07-21-2019 13:10 UTC-6

Break Time

HillKerby

Level 18 : 4,000/8,000, 8,000 ante

The bubble has burst and several eliminations have occurred since as Level 18 has come to a close and the remaining 72 players take their first 15-minute break of the day.

07-21-2019 13:03 UTC-6

Peck Eliminates Gonzales on the Bubble

HillKerby

Level 18 : 4,000/8,000, 8,000 ante

Austin Peck opened to 20,000 from middle position and Danny Gonzales shoved all in from the button. Action folded back to Peck and he made the call.

Danny Gonzales:
Austin Peck:

Goznales was at risk of becoming the bubble boy, needing a queen to stay alive. The runout was of no help to him and he was eliminated as the 82nd place finisher of the tournametn.

Player	Chips	Progress
Austin Peck	570,000 349,500	349,500
Danny Gonzales	Busted

Tags: Austin Peck Danny Gonzales

07-21-2019 12:54 UTC-6

Rocha Doubles Through Itoafa on Bubble

HillKerby

Level 18 : 4,000/8,000, 8,000 ante

Action was on Mike Itoafa in the hijack facing a reraise all in from Alex Rocha who was under the gun. The board read and Rocha had a bet of 5,500 in front of him. Evan Shaughnessy had called the bet from Rocha's left and Itoafa raised to 38,500. Rocha in turn shoved, prompting a fold from Shaughnessy.

Eventually, Itoafa decided to call.

Alex Rocha:
Mike Itoafa:

Itoafa had made the call with top pair and found himself in position to double Rocha up after he had flopped a set. The turn and river came and Rocha secured the double to stay alive as hand-for-hand continues.

Player	Chips	Progress
Alex Rocha	435,000 145,000	145,000
Mike Itoafa	290,000 -4,000	-4,000
Evan Shaughnessy	215,000 -12,500	-12,500

Tags: Alex Rocha Evan Shaughnessy Mike Itoafa

07-21-2019 12:46 UTC-6

Hand-For-Hand

HillKerby

Level 18 : 4,000/8,000, 8,000 ante

There are 82 players remaining and the tournament director has announced for dealers to deal one hand and stop until play is complete on all tables before dealing another hand. The tournament will be in the money when one more elimination occurs.

07-21-2019 12:41 UTC-6

Eliminations Nearing The Money

HillKerby

Level 18 : 4,000/8,000, 8,000 ante

Player	Chips	Progress
Ryan Brown	Busted
Lukas Volman	Busted
Bryan Devonshire	Busted
Luke Graham	Busted
Southisak Seunsom	Busted
Anthony Martinez	Busted
Wayne Edelman	Busted
Naval Subbarayan	Busted
Joel Terranova	Busted
Bruce Carter	Busted

07-21-2019 12:34 UTC-6

Get to Know Reigning HPT Player of the Year Aaron Johnson

HillKerby

Level 18 : 4,000/8,000, 8,000 ante

One of the best stories of 2018 was the incredible year of Minnesota’s Aaron Johnson. Back in May, PokerNews spoke with Johnson about leading the Player of the Year races on both Season 9 of the Mid-States Poker Tour (MSPT) and Heartland Poker Tour (HPT) Season XIV.

Over the next seven months, Johnson maintained his lead on the MSPT, and while he lost the HPT lead for a bit, he ultimately ended with it thanks to a deep run in the season finale. That allowed Johnson to become the first player to ever win POY titles on two different tours in the same year.

For doing so, Johnson won a $10,000 prize package for each tour.

“It feels amazing,” Johnson told PokerNews. “Coming into the year I certainly wanted to make a run at MSPT POY (which has always been a goal of mine), but I never imagined that I’d be in contention for multiple POY titles. To actually achieve it is unreal.”

Johnson, who was out at the 2019 WSOP, is in action at the HPT Golden Gates.

For more on the reigning HPT POY, check out his full interview here on PokerNews.

Tags: Aaron Johnson

07-21-2019 12:28 UTC-6

Some Chip Counts

HillKerby

Level 18 : 4,000/8,000, 8,000 ante

Player	Chips	Progress
Nick Pupillo	770,000 532,000	532,000

Pat Pineda	437,000 342,500	342,500
Steve Harvey	372,000 41,500	41,500
David Levi	310,000 113,500	113,500
Danny Gonzales	265,000 18,500	18,500
Brendan Hocker	212,000 -74,000	-74,000
Chris Tryba	165,000 -1,000	-1,000

Barb Visher	155,000 11,000	11,000
Chris Moon	117,500 3,500	3,500
Nader Wahdan	115,000 -35,000	-35,000
Keith McCarthy	75,000 -208,000	-208,000

Level: 18

Blinds: 4,000/8,000

Ante: 8,000