Main Event Day 1a | 2019 Heartland Poker Tour St. Louis

03-15-2019 20:49 UTC-6

Get to Know Reigning HPT Player of the Year Aaron Johnson

Chad Holloway

Level 10 : 600/1,200, 1,200 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.”

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

Tags: Aaron Johnson

03-15-2019 20:59 UTC-6

Updated Chip Counts

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Anthony Thompson

Level 10 : 600/1,200, 1,200 ante

Player	Chips	Progress
Brett Apter	240,000

Shawn McCracken	212,000
Ryan Gregor	110,000 10,000	10,000
John Richards	75,000 15,000	15,000
Mike Rieck	70,000 7,000	7,000
Ian Matakis	65,000 28,000	28,000

Ryan Tepen	50,000 40,000	40,000
Kou Vang	45,000 13,000	13,000
Craig Casino	45,000 37,000	37,000
Cathy Stahr	40,000 15,000	15,000
Mike Kamenjarin	18,000 2,000	2,000
Mike Shin	17,000 53,000	53,000
Nick Davidson	4,000 46,000	46,000

03-15-2019 21:08 UTC-6

The Rich Get Richer

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LoriAnn Persinger

Level 10 : 600/1,200, 1,200 ante

Action folded around to the button, who raised it to 2,600, and got called by the player in the small blind and William McCracken from his big blind.

After all three players checked the flop and the small blind checked the turn, McCracken put out a bet of 6,000, which got a fold from the button and a check-call from the small blind.

Both players then checked the river and tabled their hands.

Small Blind:
McCracken:

McCracken showed two pair, took down the pot and added to his already large chipstack.

Player	Chips	Progress
Shawn McCracken	230,000 230,000	230,000

Tags: William McCracken

03-15-2019 21:16 UTC-6

A Burden for Mangold

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Chad Holloway

Level 10 : 600/1,200, 1,200 ante

With around 30,000 in the pot and a board reading , Jason Mangold fired out 18,000 from middle position and MSPT Tropicana Evansville champ Tim Burden called from the hijack.

Reigning MSPT and HPT Player of the Year Aaron Johnson folded from the cutoff and it was heads-up action to the river.

Mangold be again, this time 20,000, and Burden wasted little time in flicking his cards to the muck.

Player	Chips	Progress
Jason Mangold	170,000 50,000	50,000
Tim Burden	50,000 40,000	40,000

Tags: Jason Mangold Tim Burden

Level: 11

Blinds: 800/1,600

Ante: 1,600

03-15-2019 21:26 UTC-6

The HPT Thousandaire Maker

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Chad Holloway

Level 11 : 800/1,600, 1,600 ante

This weekend’s $1,650 Main Event is the culmination of the Heartland Poker Tour (HPT) series here at Hollywood St. Louis. There were several prelims going back to last weekend.

One of them was Event #5: $125 Thousandaire Maker, which meant all players that got paid would get $1,000. The tournament had a $16,300 prize pool which meant the top 17 got paid.

Final Results

Place	Player	Hometown
Christopher Paisley	Caseyville, IL	$1,000
David Oppenhelm	Mercer Island, WA	$1,000
Linhua Xu	St.Louis, MO	$1,000
Dennis Giger	Highland, IL	$1,000
Leonard Lewandowski	West Allis, WI	$1,000
Drew Hoffman	Ballwin, MO	$1,000
David Mogil	St.Louis, MO	$1,000
Eric Ewing	St.Louis, MO	$1,000
Joseph Welch	Hot Springs, AR	$1,000
Christopher Stanford	Edwardsville, IL	$1,000
Jerod Smith	St.Jacob, IL	$1,000
Raymond Poole	O'fallon, MO	$1,000
William Dettmer	St.Peters, MO	$1,000
Dean Young	St.Charles, MO	$1,000
Kum Dollison	St.Charles, MO	$1,000
Kevin Brown	Chapel Hill, TN	$1,000
Duane Cowsette	Florissant, MO	$300

03-15-2019 21:29 UTC-6

Rusty's Running it Up

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LoriAnn Persinger

Level 11 : 800/1,600, 1,600 ante

A player in middle position raised to 3,600, Rusty Montague called from the hijack, and they were heads up after both blinds folded.

The middle-position player continued with a bet of 4,800 on the flop, which got called by Montague.

After the middle-position player checked the turn, Montague bet 12,000.

The middle-position player folded, Montague smiled and showed the .

Player	Chips	Progress
Rusty Montague	225,000 225,000	225,000

Tags: Rusty Montague

03-15-2019 21:48 UTC-6

Lupo's Lucky Diamonds

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Anthony Thompson

Level 11 : 800/1,600, 1,600 ante

Fireworks started right away as the player sitting UTG raised to 3,000. Action folded to Joey Lupo in the small blind and Kou Vang in the big blind, both players called the raise.

The UTG player bet 3,000 on the flop. Lupo three-bet to 15,000. Kou Vang folded his hand and the UTG player called.

The turn came the and Lupo bet out 20,000, only to get raised. Lupo shoved all-in for 28,000 and was called. Lupo's was behind a flopped set of the UTG's .