Colorado Sees Largest Poker Tournament in State History

The largest tournament ever to be held in Colorado finished Sunday when Michael Haggard won the Heartland Poker Tour event that took place at Golden Gates Casino in Blackhawk, Colorado, this weekend.

The series started Oct. 1 with qualifying events, all of which sold out. Golden Gates had 1,545 entrants for the qualifying events and filled the $1,500 tournament with 309 players. The prize pool was $463,000.

Because of state law, there wasn't a direct buy-in option to this event, so all of the players had to get in through the qualifiers.

The top six finishers were: Haggard (Evergreen, Colorado), $129,780; Steven Klaus (Denver, Colorado), $64,890; Michael Banducci (Traverse City, Michigan), $41,715; Jonathan Lima (Colorado Springs, Colorado), $32,445; Oliver Schlemko (Broomfield, Colorado), $27,810; and Vernon Waite (Grand Junction, Colorado), $23,175.

Satellites are now running for the next HPT event at the Lucky Nugget Card Club in Deadwood, South Dakota. The $1,650 main event, which sold out last year, will have two starting flights at 9 a.m. and 5 p.m. on Oct. 20. The final table is scheduled to take place the next day.

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