One hand after losing a chunk of his stack to John Michalak's nut straight, Jason Darland raised to 40,000 from the small blind, and Brad Smith three-bet shoved in the big blind.
Darland, who had 240,000 behind, tanked for two minutes before letting his hand go.
The final eleven players will play three more hands before bagging tagging for the night. Stay tuned for full chip counts and a full recap of the day's action.
On what would be the final hand of the evening, Paul Bianchi opened it up to 35,000 from under the gun.
At the same time, there was a misunderstanding over change between Bianchi and another player, Bianchi having broken a larger chip and accidentally been shorted 5,000. The cards must go on, though, and Neil Patel ripped in 117,000 next to act. Action folded back to Bianchi.
The player threw Bianchi the 5k he was owed, at which point Patel said, "Great. You gave him more ammo."
Bianchi, rightful ammunition in hand, saw the jam and asked, "How much is that?" but nonetheless, he instantly called.
Neil Patel:
Paul Bianchi:
The flop brought no assistance for at-risk Patel, but the gave chop outs. When the landed on the river, the two players shook hands, and play concluded for the night.
Just ten players managed to bag up chips after Day 2 of the HPT Season XV $2,500 Championship Event, and Hamid Izadi managed to navigate his way to the top stack, with 2,585,000 chips in the bag for Day 3. He managed to scoop up a big pot near the end of the night with pocket aces, as Freddy Williams held ace-queen suited, and an ace on the flop spelled doom for Williams.
Izadi, a Georgia native, already has one final table to his credit in Season XV of the HPT, finishing in 6th place at January's HPT Ameristar East Chicago $1,100 Main Event. He'll be looking to go a few steps further to secure his first HPT title, to go along with three WSOPC rings already in his possession.
Rounding out the top three spots are Justin Coliny (2,140,000) and Christopher Audrain (1,480,000), while Paul Bianchi (1,335,000) and John Michalak (865,000) are the only other players above thirty big blinds.
Headlining the shorter-stacked half of the chip counts is none other than reigning HPT Player of the Year Aaron Johnson (385,000), who spun up a start-of-the-day short stack of 45,700 all the way to the unofficial final table of ten. Rounding out the remaining field are Canadian Brad Smith (580,000), James Burns (550,000), Kevin Hopkins (403,000), and Jason Darland (260,000).
Day 3 Seat Draw
Table
Seat
Name
Country
Chip Count
15
1
Brad Smith
Canada
580,000
15
2
Justin Coliny
United States
2,140,000
15
3
Kevin Hopkins
United States
403,000
15
4
Hamid Izadi
United States
2,585,000
15
5
Christopher Audrain
United States
1,480,000
15
6
Paul Bianchi
United States
1,335,000
15
7
Aaron Johnson
United States
385,000
15
8
John Michalak
United States
865,000
15
9
James Burns
United States
550,000
15
10
Jason Darland
United States
260,000
Day 2 Action
110 players returned to Hollywood Casino St. Louis for Day 2 action, but with only 36 slated to earn a piece of the prize pool, two-thirds of the field would leave empty-handed. Two-time HPT champ Josh Reichard was looking to defend his title from last year's Season Championship, but BJ McBrayer sniffed out a huge bluff from the Wisconsin pro, and Reichard would end up falling short of a cash.
A bevy of former HPT champs also found themselves on the outside looking in of making the money, including Craig Casino, Bill Byrnes, Gary Herstein, Paul Belken, and Aaron Massey. After Dan Lowery fell in 38th place, it would take eleven hands of hand-for-hand play before Season XIV HPT Player of the Year Aaron Johnson got lucky to bust Cory Warner, leaving Warner as the bubble boy while the remaining field was guaranteed a minimum payday of $5,930.
Some of those fortunate enough to walk away with a cash include HPT The Meadows champ Dan Wagner (12th - $15,024), Day 1b chip leader Brent Barfield (16th - $8,856), WSOP Bracelet winner Stephen Song (18th - $8,856), HPT St. Louis champ Mike Shin (22nd - $7,116), and HPT Ameristar East Chicago champ Chris Moon (33rd - $5,930).
Nick Pupillo Wins HPT Season XV Player of the Year Honors
Coming into Day 2 play, Nick Pupillo had just two opponents standing between him and the coveted HPT Player of the Year title. Nick Davidson and Eric Salazar had to win to snatch the lead and the title from Pupillo after Pupillo fell short of the money, but Salazar also failed to cash, leaving Davidson as the last man standing to crash the party.
Davidson managed to make the money, but lost a flip to James Burns to finish 27th, leaving Pupillo as the Season XV HPT Player of the Year. He earns a $10,000 package to use for Season XVI, as well as complimentary hotel accommodations at six stops.
Nick Pupillo
Day 3 will kick off tomorrow at 1 p.m. local time, and one player will need to fall before the televised final table of nine is reached. All remaining players have already locked up $15,024 in prize money, but will be looking to take home the $181,874 top prize and the HPT trophy. Once we reach the final table, the HPT Twitch channel will host the final table (no hole cards will be shown due to Missouri gaming laws) on a fifteen-minute delay.
Be sure to tune in to PokerNews to catch all the exciting Heartland Poker Tour action here at the Hollywood Casino St. Louis, as we crown the final champion of HPT's fifteenth season.
flop brought no assistance for at-risk Patel, but the 
gave chop outs. When the 
landed on the river, the two players shook hands, and play concluded for the night.
