The Poker Tour for Everyone

The Heartland Poker Tour began with a conversation between Todd Anderson and Greg Lang. The two business associates had no television production experience, but they saw that regular, everyday players didn't have a poker-tour outlet, and the need for an every man's television poker tour was there. So, in late June 2005, the first HPT event was held at the Northern Lights Casino in Walker, Minnesota, after months of preparation. The first episode aired that October in a number of select Midwestern towns, like their hometown of Fargo, North Dakota, Chicago, and Minneapolis.

The show has grown immensely since then, and now reaches millions of households in television syndication from New York to San Francisco. The tournament fields also have grown, as each stop creates a festival poker atmosphere in which friendships are forged along with the increasing prize pools. Nine HPT events featured a first-place prize of six figures in 2008. And players keep coming back because of the social atmosphere present on this tour that they can't find elsewhere.

No player represents this better than 2008 HPT Player of the Year (POY) Mary Jo Belcore-Zogman, who travels the tour with her husband, Dan Zogman. Each of them has won a title on the tour that is rightly named for the heartland of the United States.

From 1 to 100 - A Lesson in Efficiency

Anderson admits that they had no idea what they were doing when producing the first episode. "We literally rented a TV truck and practiced on a Saturday afternoon, because we really didn't know what we were doing," he laughed. He chuckled intermittently while reminiscing about the first show, which led to the television milestone of 100 episodes. "The first episode was scary and the hundredth episode was easy. I know it will end, but there is nothing on the horizon, nothing I can see, that's going to make that happen. I can safely say that there is going to be a season five, and a season six, and a season seven. I'm already working on season six events right now."

Thirty-four television stations now broadcast the show to 75 million households across the U.S., as people tune in each week to watch those just like themselves play for thousands of dollars in prize money. Keep in mind that this is not the millions of dollars that players are gunning for on the World Poker Tour and at the World Series of Poker, but that is what gives the HPT its niche, and it also has taught Anderson and Lang a very valuable lesson in efficiency. "We are working on a fraction of the budget that any other poker show has to work with, but we have been able to do it. We just have to be more efficient. We aren't a Hollywood production company that has 10 people to do one job; we all wear a lot of hats," said Anderson. A great example of this efficiency is Dave Quenette, whose job title is event coordination/office manager. The hats that Quenette wears include those of a truck driver and a camera man, and he also sets up all of the signage at an event, sets up and breaks down the final-table stage, and updates the website at each stop. Anderson said that the whole show is run by just 15 people on the staff. That staff includes the television hosts, Chris Hanson and Fred Bevill, and hostess Katie O'Keefe.

Qualifiers Drive the Tour

Another quality that makes the HPT unique is the host casinos. These casinos don't have cavernous cardrooms, like Commerce Casino or The Bicycle Casino. Typically, they have 12-15 tables. This logistical factor led the HPT to the creativity that has created, perhaps, its greatest strength. Multiple satellite events are run at each tour stop, so that players can win their buy-ins into three qualifier events, or flights. The top 20 percent of the players in these flights advance to the HPT main event, where all players can buy in for the full amount, which is usually $1,500.

Many players on the HPT can afford to play only on the weekends, so most HPT main events begin early on Sunday, after the qualifiers have run on Friday and Saturday, so that things wrap up before everyone has to return to work. "Eighty percent of the field gets in through one of these systems - a qualifier, a satellite, or both. The second reason for qualifiers is that a lot of times, we are at a poker room that can't handle 500 players. So, how do you create a big field, and how do you get in as many people as possible? This is where we landed, and it works. Most of our qualifiers last six hours; the players start with 10,000 in chips, the blinds start at 100-100, and the levels are a half-hour, and sometimes 40 minutes. We want people to get their play, and we want them to have a great chance. They're tournaments in themselves," said Anderson.

It is truly a weekend-warrior tournament schedule. "I would say that the average player is a male who has a job, wants to come with his friends, and is looking for something to do during the weekend that is a lot of fun but isn't going to bust him. As long as they had fun, mission accomplished," said Anderson.

In 2009, the HPT will be running some tournaments in which the top 30 percent will advance from qualifiers into $1,000 buy-in main events (the lower main-event buy-in allows a larger percentage of the field to advance). This provides an even greater number of everyday folks an opportunity to play for large prizes in a major TV tournament.

Looking Ahead

There will be challenges in 2009 as the show embarks on its fifth season. The economy is faltering, especially in areas where the show operates - such as Detroit, Michigan, where two events were cancelled in 2008. But, the economic slowdown has created new opportunities. The first event on the season-five schedule of the HPT will be hosted by the Downstream Casino Resort in Quapaw, Oklahoma, which will be a new host casino for the tour. "Casinos are looking for ways to increase their business. So, I see casinos being more open to hosting poker tournaments. It didn't take too long to fill up those two tournaments we lost, because casinos are just looking for ways to get people there, and that's what we do," said Anderson. The HPT is busy looking for new casinos to host its events, and is hoping for a poker version of Manifest Destiny in the process. Anderson hopes to add a casino in the San Diego area to the season-six schedule. Las Vegas (one of the Station Casinos properties) is a strong possibility, as well, and he's also looking at Northern California.

Season five will also see the HPT partner with the nonprofit organization Disabled American Veterans. The HPT will donate 1 percent of every prize pool to the DAV, and also will provide free public-service announcements during broadcasts. There are also plans for a celebrity tournament in which all of the proceeds will go to the DAV. "It's just a way to give back … and I think a lot of people need to find out about what the DAV does. Having a TV show affords us the possibility to do that," said Anderson.

No one knows what the future holds for the HPT, or tournament poker in general, but the first four years of this tour for average Americans have proven that there is an outlet for this niche in the world of tournament poker. We will see just how much this brand of poker expands, but it is certain that many more friendships will be forged at the poker tables of HPT events, and that Todd, Greg, and their resourceful crew will draw on the knowledge that helped them reach 100 episodes, with many more on the horizon.