Last HPT Title of 2014 Goes to Illinois

"I've been excited and nervous for the last two days. I haven't been able to close my eyes." Mike Puccio;

When the tournament finally reached the heads-up phase, Puccio faced business owner Bledar ‘Blade’ Shaholli and it took three hours before the champion was named. After a lot of back and forth, Shaholli made a misstep and got it in with nothing but Ace-high against the two pair of Puccio. That was all she wrote for ‘Blade,’ who took home $100,405 for his efforts in East Chicago.

Joshua Turner, no stranger to final tables after finishing seventh earlier this year in St. Louis, improved on that finish. He landed in third place, but that was as far as he went despite holding the chip lead at one point during three-handed play. For his efforts, Turner took home $66,556.

For Shiva Dudani, it was also time to improve on a previous showing. After bubbling the final table the last time HPT was at Ameristar, Dudani was able to secure a fourth place finish this time around, securing $46,275 in the process.

Real estate agent Ben Castle was playing his third final table on the Heartland Poker Tour. That, combined with the total of twelve cashes, made him easily the most experienced in the bunch. However, that familiarity did not help him go all the way, as he finished in fifth, banking $34,635.

Arris Kontos came in sixth, earning $26,780, just ahead of Nick LaFata, who took home $21,781, and Yaroob ‘Ruby’ Kaskorkis, whose eighth place finish was worth $17,853.

Recent college graduate William Miner was the first one to leave the televised final table when he could not find any help against Dudani’s pocket Queens. Miner still walked away with $14,282.

The Heartland Poker Tour will take a short break now and return in January with a week-long cruise. The full schedule for 2015 can be found at the HPT website.