From an exceeding field of 555 entries, the Heartland Poker Tour Lawrenceburg $1,100 Main Event is now down to the final nine players. George Janssen closed out Day 2 on a massive heater to take an overwhelming chip lead into the final table.
Janssen has already secured his largest career cash but with over $100,000 for first place, his sights will be set on locking up the title. The Michigan native will bring 6,695,000 to the table when the final day gets underway, more than 40% of the total chips in play. Sitting in second place is Gregory Wood with 2,300,000 and is the only player who has previous HPT final table experience. Rounding out the top three stacks is Douglas Songer with 1,760,000 chips.
Final Table Seat Draw
Seat
Player
Chip Count
Big Blinds
1
George Janssen
6,695,000
112
2
Joey Hiudt
1,510,000
25
3
Gregory Wood
2,300,000
38
4
Gary Breslauer
815,000
14
5
Douglas Songer
1,760,000
29
6
Donald Kalb
1,120,000
19
7
Mike Shin
695,000
12
8
Angela Shade
1,005,000
17
9
Ian Richardson
755,000
13
The action is slated to get underway at 12pm EST inside the ballroom of the Hollywood Casino in Lawrenceburg, Indiana. There will be 6:40 remaining in level 27 with the blinds at 30,000/60,000 and a 60,000 big blind ante. The levels will continue to be 40 minutes in length and will be reduced to 30 minutes when heads-up play begins.
Most of these players will get their first taste of playing in front of an audience on a live stream. The live stream will begin at the start of play and will be on a 30-minute delay with hole cards being shown. It can be seen on Twitch or by clicking on the 'Livestream' tab.
The PokerNews live reporting team will be syncing its live updates with the stream and you can follow all of the action until a winner is crowned.
Joey Hiudt opened to 200,000 in middle position and Mike Shin shoved all in for 1,215,000 from the small blind. The action was back on Hiudt who asked for a count and thought for a minute before making the call.
Joey Hiudt:
Mike Shin:
Hiudt held on to the lead in this massive flip through the flop of . The on the turn changed nothing and the on the river was the dagger to eliminate Shin.
Angela Shade limped in from the cutoff and Ian Richardson shoved all in for 1,030,000 on the button. George Janssen re-shoved all in over the top and Shade called off her stack of 525,000.
Ian Richardson:
Geroge Janssen:
Angela Shade:
The flop fell to give Shade a flush draw but Richardson was still out front with his pocket tens. The on the turn and the changed nothing sending Shade home in eighth place.
Douglas Songer opened to 255,000 on the button with and Donald Kalb pushed all in for 550,000 in the small blind with . Ian Richardson folded his big blind and Songer instantly called to put Kalb's tournament in jeopardy.
The flop fell and Songer remained in the lead with the only pair. The on the turn left Kalb drawing to just three aces in the deck. The river was the and Kalb was eliminated in seventh place.
George Janssen raised to 250,000 in the hijack with and Douglas Songer pushed all in for 590,000 in the big blind with . Janssen made a quick call and Songer's tournament life was on the line.
The flop fell to give Songer a straight draw to go along with his two live cards. However, the on the turn and the on the river gave Janssen the best hand with a pair of aces. Songer headed to the payout desk in sixth place.
George Janssen raised it up to 275,000 in the cutoff with and was called by Joey Hiudt on the button with , Gregory Wood in the small blind with and Gary Breslauer in the big blind with .
The flop fell to give Wood the only pair and the action checked around to the on the turn. Wood checked again and Breslauer counted out a bet of 300,000. Janssen called and Wood also came along to the on the river.
Wood checked one more time and Breslauer shoved all in for 1,275,000. Janssen folded and Wood asked for a count before making the call with two pair. The cards were tabled and Breslauer was eliminated in fifth place.
Gregory Wood limped in from the small blind with and Ian Richardson checked his option with . The flop came and Wood led out for 120,000. Richardson shipped all in for 775,000 and Wood snapped him off.
Richardson had an open-ended straight draw and the on the turn gave him even more outs. Unfortunately for him, the on the river missed everything to eliminate Richardson in fourth place.
George Janssen raised to 400,000 on the button with and Joey Hiudt called with in the small blind. Gregory Wood also came along from the big blind with and the flop came .
Hiudt led out for 550,000 with top pair and Wood got out of the way while Janssen called with a pair of fives. The turn brought the and Hiudt shoved all in for 2,295,000. Janssen made a quick call after making the best hand and Hiudt couldn't believe what he saw.
Hiudt was drawing to just two outs and the on the river was not one of them. Hiudt exited the tournament in third place but will still take home nearly $50,000 for his efforts today.
The final two players are taking a quick break while the table is prepared for heads-up play.
Gregory Wood shipped all in on the button with and George Janssen made the call for his last 2,300,000 with . Janssen's tournament life was on the line while Wood was looking to take the title with two live cards.
The flop came to give Wood the lead with a pair of fives. The on the turn left Janssen drawing to a king or a jack. The river brought the and Janssen whiffed on everything to be eliminated in second place.
In just under five hours at the final table, Gregory Wood captured the title of the Heartland Poker Tour Lawrenceburg $1,100 Main Event. In his third HPT final table of the year, and fifth overall, Wood defeated George Janssen heads-up to take home the $119,101 first-place prize.
While Janssen came into the final table as the overwhelming chipleader, it was Wood who did most of the damage by claiming three eliminations. Janssen took the early lead in heads-up play, but back-to-back key value bets from Wood propelled him into a massive lead. In the last hand of the tournament, Janssen got his nine big blind stack in the middle with king-jack against Wood's seven-five of hearts. Wood picked up a five on the flop and held on wrap things up in a timely manner.
As mentioned, this is Wood's third HPT final table of the year so far, finishing in eighth and ninth places previously. He had just over $100,000 in career earnings coming into the HPT Lawrenceburg and now he will more than double his lifetime earnings. Wood also picked up the $3,500 HPT Championship package that will take place a to be determined location later this year.
Wood plans on continuing to make a presence at most of the stops on the HPT throughout the rest of the year. He also indicated that he would like to take his family on a trip to Europe with his newly found wad of cash.
As for Janssen, he only had two recorded cashes on his poker resume, both coming in his home state of Michigan. Unfortunately, things didn't quite go his way once he reached heads-up.
"I made a few light calls but it was still a huge success for me," he said. "Once you get this far in the tournament you just have to enjoy it." He mentioned that he is still pleased with the result as he will be pocketing $73,573 for his efforts.
Final Table Results
Place
Player
Prize (USD)
1st
Gregory Wood
$119,101
2nd
George Janssen
$73,573
3rd
Joey Hiudt
$48,219
4th
Ian Richardson
$33,505
5th
Gary Breslauer
$24,348
6th
Douglas Songer
$18,896
7th
Donald Kalb
$15,879
8th
Angela Shade
$13,233
9th
Mike Shin
$10,586
The final table kicked off with nine players returning to the felt and Mike Shin started out as the short stack. He managed to nearly double his chips in the first orbit, but he soon found himself all in with ace-queen against Joey Hiudt's pocket nines. Shin was unable to connect with the board and became the first elimination in ninth place.
Angela Shade was the only lady to reach the final table but she also found herself on the short stack not long after. Shade got the last of her chips in the middle in a three-way all in against Ian Richardson and Janssen. Unfortunately, she held the same cards as Janssen and despite flopping a flush draw, was unable to improve, sending the pot to Richardson who had the only pair.
After the first break of the day, Donald Kalb returned with just over five big blinds and got his chips in the middle with ace-ten. Douglas Songer woke up with pocket tens and Kalb was drawing to just three outs. A queen-high board was no good for Kalb and he was ousted in seventh place. It was a quick turn of events for Songer who ran ace-queen into Wood's pocket queens and then put his short stack in the middle in the next hand with two small live cards. Janssen looked him up with ace-high and Songer missed the board completely to bow out in sixth place.
Gary Breslauer remained fairly quiet for most of the final table but still managed to gather some chips and ladder his way up the paytable. He eventually decided to turn second pair into a bluff on the river but he was picked off by the two pair of Wood. Breslauer headed to the payout desk in fifth place good for nearly $25,000.
With just four players remaining, Richardson was playing some sound poker and was looking to build his stack even further when he called Hiudt's all in. Hiudt held ace-nine and was dominated by Richardson's ace-ten; however, a nine on the flop gave Hiudt a big double up. Richardson fell to the short stack and finally found a spot to get it all on after flopping an open-ended straight draw. Wood trapped him with a pair of kings and Richardson was unable to catch up on the turn or river.
The final three players went on their second break of the day and Hiudt returned as the chip leader after dragging in some healthy pots. However, the tides turned in a hurry when he lost multiple three-bet pots to Wood. With Hiudt on the short stack, he flopped top pair against Janssen's middle pair. All the chips went in on the turn when Janssen made trips and Hiudt walked away in third place for $48,219. That led to the heads-up battle between Wood and Janssen with the trophy and a big payday on the line.
That wraps up the PokerNews coverage from Hollywood Casino Lawrenceburg. The next HPT stop will take place at Pittsburgh's The Meadows Racetrack and Casino from April 11-15. Click here for more information about that event.