Main Event
Day 1a Completed
Main Event
Day 1a Completed
The opening day of the Heartland Poker Tour $1,100 Main Event at Hollywood Casino Lawrenceburg has drawn to a close after a full 15 levels were completed. Sneaking in under the radar, Mike Hahn captured the chip lead late in the day to top the remaining 13 players moving on to Day 2.
While Hahn was one of the most talkative players on the felt, he let his poker skills quietly surge him to the top of the leaderboard. The Indiana native should feel right at home in his home state and on the HPT. Hahn has over $1.3 million in career earnings along with a 2017 HPT Main Event title in Chicago for his biggest score of over $190,000.
Luckily for him, he stayed away from the table with the majority of the action towards the end of the night to avoid any disasters. The other big stacks at the day's end, Daniel Sepiol (399,000), Doug Holland (374,000), and Joey Hiudt (314,000) all duked it out multiple times in the latter stages. The largest pot of the day was pulled in by Holland when he flopped flush over flush against Hiudt. It turned out to be a pot of over 400,000 chips but Holland wasn't able to maintain his lead with the amount of action taking place.
The day kicked off with around 30 players taking their seats in the opening level and most notably, 2004 WSOP Main Event champion Greg Raymer was among the early hopefuls. Unfortunately for Raymer, he was unable to find some of the magic that propelled him to the top of the poker world 15 years ago and he was eliminated early on in the day.

The numbers continued to pile up in what the tournament staff considered to be a successful day with a total of 90 entries. With two more flights still on the docket, there is no question that the $250,000 guaranteed prizepool will be reached, potentially as early as tomorrow.
Some more familiar faces to take part in Day 1a included Jake Bazeley, Adam Friedman, Nick Pupillo, Bruce Hugon, Timothy Burden, Mike Scarborough, and Keven Stammen, all of which failed to find a bag by the end of the day's proceedings. They will have another opportunity tomorrow to do so if they choose, with Day 1b taking place at 2pm again.
The PokerNews live reporting team will be back tomorrow to bring you all of the coverage of the Main Event from the tournament floor.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
|
445,000
268,500
|
268,500 |
|
|
399,000
34,000
|
34,000 |
|
|
374,000
2,000
|
2,000 |
|
|
314,000
129,000
|
129,000 |
|
|
286,000
112,000
|
112,000 |
|
|
183,000
5,000
|
5,000 |
|
|
140,000
13,000
|
13,000 |
|
|
127,000
6,500
|
6,500 |
|
|
112,000
38,500
|
38,500 |
|
|
100,000
25,000
|
25,000 |
|
|
98,000
64,500
|
64,500 |
|
|
86,000 | |
|
|
42,000
90,000
|
90,000 |
The tournament clock has been paused with 10 minutes remaining and there will be three more hands to finish off the night.
Connor Burchwell opened to 9,000 from the hijack and Jeremy Brown moved his stack of 60,500 into the middle from the big blind. Burchwell asked for a count and went into the tank for over two minutes before finally making the call.
Jeremy Brown: ![]()
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Connor Burchwell: ![]()
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Brown was in a dominating position preflop and the board of ![]()
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provided a little sweat on the turn but Brown held on for the double up. Burchwell was down to just 14,000 chips after that hand and would go on to be eliminated shortly after.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
|
127,000
127,000
|
127,000 |
|
|
Busted |
Level: 15
Blinds: 2,000/4,000
Ante: 4,000
The action folded around to Donnie Phan in the small blind who bumped it up to 13,000. Doug Holland called from the big blind and the flop fell ![]()
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. Phan led out for 11,000 and Holland called to see the
on the turn.
Phan fired out another bet of 11,000 and Holland still called as the
paired the board on the river. Phan checked this time and Holland quickly checked behind. Phan tabled ![]()
while Holland showed the inferior ![]()
.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
|
372,000
35,000
|
35,000 |
|
|
188,000
91,000
|
91,000 |
In a five-way limped pot, the dealer fanned the flop of ![]()
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and Joey Hiudt led out for 8,000 from the small blind. James Huffman called from under the gun and Doug Holland also called from middle position.
The turn brought the
and Hiudt fired out another 25,500. Huffman folded and Holland min-raised to 51,000. Hiudt reached back for a three-bet to 151,000 only to have Holland move all in for 182,500. It wasn't much more for Hiudt to call and the cards were tabled once he did so.
Holland tabled ![]()
and Hiudt was left with one out to a straight flush, holding ![]()
. The river was the
, the wrong suit for Hiudt and Holland scored a huge double up towards the end of the day.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
|
407,000
155,000
|
155,000 |
|
|
185,000
194,000
|
194,000 |
Level: 14
Blinds: 1,500/3,000
Ante: 3,000
Joey Hiudt opened to 5,500 in early position and James Huffman called on the button. Jerry Martin was in the small blind and pushed all in for 44,000. Hiudt gave it some thought and eventually called while Huffman folded.
Joey Hiudt: ![]()
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Jerry Martin: ![]()
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It was a race and Martin needed to connect with the board in order to stay alive. The dealer revealed the ![]()
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board which favored Hiudt and Martin was eliminated.
| Player | Chips | Progress |
|---|---|---|
|
|
379,000
119,000
|
119,000 |
|
|
Busted |