On Monday night, Casey Carroll from Wyoming, Michigan emerged victorious in the HPT Ameristar Casino East Chicago $1,650 No-Limit Hold’em Main Event for a payout of $174,469, his biggest live cash so far, and the special HPT champion bracelet. This has been the player’s first Heartland Poker Tour title. When asked what he would do with his prize, Carroll said that he would buy his mother something nice for Mother’s Day.
The $1,650 Main Event ran from May 5 through May 9. It drew as many as 541 entries from around the nation who created an overall prize pool of $779,040. Eventually, the top 63 finishers were paid a share of the money. Payouts started from $2,792 and gradually increased to the first-place prize of $174,469.
Andy Hwang was probably the most popular player at the nine-handed final table with career live earnings of more than $1.8 million. The player started the tournament’s final day as the chip leader.
As already mentioned, the televised final table was played on Monday, May 9. Andres German was the first to leave it. The player earned $15,509 for his 9th place in the event. Robert Castoire then left in 8th place, good for $19,386. Mark Oushanna finished 7th in the event for $23,263. Michael Esquivel was eliminated in 6th place for $27,683.
Chan Pelton took 5th place to scoop the amount of $35,670. Kevin Beck was busted in 4th place, good for a payout of $49,085. Start-of-the-day chip leader Andy Hwang found himself in 3rd place. The poker pro collected a total of $70,643 for his performance in the tournament.
At that point, there were only two players left at the table – Carroll and John Seyferth. Two-handed play began with the eventual champion holding a massive chip lead over his opponent. Shortly after the start of the heads-up match, Seyferth had nothing else left to do but to go all-in with eight-nine offsuit. Carroll called, holding pocket twos. A two appeared on the flop and only a miracle could have saved Seyferth. A miracle did not happen, however, and the player had to settle for the runner-up finish and the amount of $107,786 as a consolation prize.
