League Director's Blog

Heartland Poker League Champion Tom Stambaugh outlasted 340 main event entrants including 13 former Heartland Poker Tour Champions this past weekend to take 5th place and $45,771 at the Heartland Poker Tour Tournament of Champions.

12/12/2007

Tom qualified for the HPT Championship Open by winning the Fall 2007 Heartland Poker League at Northern Lights Casino in Walker, Minnesota.
The HPT Championship Open at Majestic Star Casino in Gary, Indiana concluded Monday, December 10th. It was the grand finale of another record-breaking year for the Heartland Poker Tour. Over 1,000 poker players competed in the qualifiers and main event to bring in a total prize pool of $835,200, another HPT record.

Tom Stambaugh played the Fall 2007 Heartland Poker League which ran from September to November. He competed at his local casino in weekly tournaments with a buy-in from $50-$100 each tournament. One hundred percent of the prize pool was paid back each night and Tom accumulated points based on how he finished each week. In the end, he had the most points at Northern Lights Casino and won a $2,700 seat into the HPT Championship event.

The HPL is great because it gives a player a longer time period to compete than a one-time tournament, and this allows you to take more advantage of your poker skills and decreases the effect of luck on the game. It is no surprise that we had an HPL Champion make the final TV table. There were only six HPL Champions here but all six had proven how good of poker players they were before they showed-up. Tom had previously made an HPT final table in 2006.

Tom is a school teacher from Nevins, Minnesota. He got bounced from the final table after he called a bet that put him all-in with Q10. It was the right read, his opponent and eventual tournament champion and winner of $233,016, Leon Morford turned over Q3 and caught a three on the river. “I almost mucked it but after playing with Leon for the last two days, I figured I was at least 40/60 and just had too much money in there with the big blind,” said Tom.

Tom’s final table of The Heartland Poker Tour Championship Open at Majestic Star will air the end of May, 2008 in 70,000,000 homes across the United States.

Tom hopes to win another Heartland Poker League Championship and back it up with a Heartland Poker Tour win in 2008. Winter 2008 Season of HPL kicks off the week of January 6th and will run through the week of April 6th. Players will be able to compete at their local casino for HPT Qualifier and Main Event Seats, as well as compete nationally for a World Poker Tour boot-camp package to Las Vegas.

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