Heartland Poker Tour Reno Main Event Gets Underway

All three starting flights of the Heartland Poker Tour (HPT) Reno Main Event have now officially ended, and it looks set to be a highly competitive affair over the next three days.

Overall the event attracted 261 entrants, with a number of professional poker players converging on the Nevada desert city for their chance at some poker accolades. 57 players made the cut to the second day of play, and Zak Gilbert will be chip leader of the remaining group when play resumes tomorrow.

Gilbert played on the second starting flight and was able to finished Day 1B with 412,000 chips to his name, which puts him in a solid position to go far in the event. He is closely followed by Clint Harris, who will enter the Day 2 with a stack of 401,000 chips. Like Gilbert, Harris also took part in the second flight, where he and Gilbert dominated to earn themselves some big chips to work with.

Day 1C’s overall chip leader, Justin Bradford, will have the third highest stack of the remaining lot when the Main Event resumes. Bradford finished the third starting flight with 343,000 chips after he had a strong start to the tournament.

Stephen Foutty had an up and down first day on the felt as he won and lost several big hands that saw his chip count seesaw up and down in big ways. At the end of Day 1C, though, Foutty finished second on the chip ladder, with 324,500 chips, which is good enough for fourth on the overall chip count going into the second day of play.

The total prize pool for the HPT Reno Main Event was also announced yesterday, and the top 27 players will be making the money.

The winner of this year’s Main Event is set to get US$89,484, while the runner up stands to leave the event US$55,180 richer. The top eight players in the event will receive five-figure cash prizes.