Paul Belken Closes a $95k Paintjob in HPT St. Louis

Heartland Poker Tour stop in St. Louis, Missouri, has crowned its winner. A local paintjob contractor, one Paul Belken Jr., held his own at the televised final table, outlasting the competition and bagging the first place in the amount of $95,645.

River City Casino and Hotel hosted the HPT Main Event, which kicked off on April 13 and gathered a total of 296 entrants, all of them paying the $1,650 for their shot at the title, generating the prize pool just shy of $416,000.

There were many familiar faces in the crowd, most notably the 2004 WSOP champ Greg 'Fossilman' Raymer and reigning HPT player of the year Aaron Massey. Neither of them made it to the final nine, however, as local players dominated the final table with only one player not hailing from Missouri or neighboring Illinois.

Not surprisingly, the heads up confrontation saw two local men battling it out for the title. Belken had a tough job ahead of him as he was facing one of the best known and most decorated players in the history of Heartland Poker Tour, Reginald 'Shawn' Roberts, who was making his seventh final table appearance.

Of the seven times Roberts made it to the final table, he was able to capture three titles and was in a good spot to add another one to his resume, but it wasn't meant to be this time around. Poker gods favored Belken and awarded him with his first HPT title and the biggest prize in his poker career.

As for Roberts, his runner up finish was good for $61,134 and secured him the place at the top of the HPT Player of the Year standings for the time being, but there is a lot of work ahead of him if he wishes to keep his spot.

Seven other players fell along the road to the heads-up battle. Coming up just short of the final confrontation was Paul Fehlig, who was eliminated by Roberts in third spot, earning $41k for his efforts, brining his lifetime winnings to just shy of $300k.

Ryan White, who qualified for the tournament via $375 satellite, got a nice return on his investment, as he was able to go all the way to the fourth spot, for a great payday of $28,904. Cullen Oldham, who fell before White, pocketed $21,626, after losing a coinflip holding pocket Jacks.

Mike Rieck and Jason Bliven were sent out in 6th and 7th, earning $17,467 and $14,556 respectively for their efforts. Vadim Kleydman took home $12,061 for his 8th place finish, while it was Phil Gilreath who was the first to leave his final table seat, still earning five-figures for making a deep run.

After a short pause, Heartland Poker Tour will return to Chicago on April 30, and all the details about this event can be found at the official HPT pages.