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Jeff Madsen Wins Heartland Poker Tour Commerce Main Event

Santa Barbara Native Wins California State Poker Championship For $157,060

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Jeff Madsen A total of 584 entries were made in the Heartland Poker Tour California State Poker Championship $1,650 no-limit hold’em main event, the $500,000 guaranteed tournament that was the centerpiece of the HPT’s stop at the Commerce Casino this week in Los Angeles. The strong turnout saw the prizepool grow to nearly $850,000 to easily beat the guarantee.

From the sea of tables the field was narrowed down to a final table of nine, one that featured a number of recognizable names including Doug Lee (4th – $53,430) and Amit Makhija (3rd – $72,150) and eventual champion Jeff Madsen. The 28-year-old California native earned $160,060 and 840 Card Player Player of the Year points for the win. This was Madsen’s second title of 2014, having won a $1,090 six-max no-limit prelim at the WPT World Championship at the Borgata in April for $52,150 and 336 POY points. As a result of these two wins Madsen now sits in 55th place in the overall POY standings.

Madsen began the final day as the shortest stack, but was able to rebuild and by the time he git to heads-up play with eventual runner-up Alexander Greenblatt Madsen held a solid chip lead. From there it only took 14 hands until it was all over.

The final hand featured qutie the preflop raising war. With blinds of 60,000 – 120,000 with a 20,000 ante, Madsen raised to 60,000. Greenblatt three-bet to 140,000, only to have Madsen four-bet to 390,000. Greenblatt then five-bet to 745,000, Madsen six-bet to 1,755,000 and Greenblatt finally seven-bet shoved all-in. Madsen made the call with the QHeart Suit5Heart Suit which was behind Greenblatt’s TSpade SuitTClub Suit, that is until the board ran out AHeart Suit9Diamond Suit8Heart SuitASpade Suit6Heart Suit, giving Madsen a flush on the river to secure the pot and his first-ever HPT title.

Here is a look at the payouts and POY points awarded at this final table:

Place Player Earnings (USD) POY Points
1 Jeff Madsen $157,060 840
2 Alexander Greenblatt $112,200 700
3 Amit Makhija $72,159 560
4 Doug Lee $53,430 420
5 Luther Quach $40,050 350
6 Brett Murray $32,090 280
7 Jasmin Oh $26,760 210
8 Wes Nally $21,340 140
9 Steve Ayoub $16,000 70