The Heartland Poker Tour River City Main Event was completed with Missouri-based player Paul Belken as its winner. He defeated three-time HPT champion Reginald Shawn Roberts and prevented him from winning the title for a record fourth time.
The event attracted a total of 296 players who created a prize pool of $426,240. Of those, only 36 were paid.
It took 31 levels before the name of the champion was announced and the nine-handed final table started in Level 24 with Jason Bliven as the chip leader. The player had 2,565,000 and was followed by Ryan White with 1,356,000 and Roberts with 1,096,000. Belken stood fourth with 1,002,000 at the very beginning of the final table.
The first elimination came in Level 26, when Phil Gilreath was busted after facing Paul Fehlig. His ninth place secured him with $10,439 of the prize pool.
Level 26 saw yet another player leaving. Vadim Kleydman was eliminated in eighth place by White. He was paid $12,061.
Jason Bliven and Mike Rieck were the next to go. The first was busted in seventh place by Roberts and received $14,556. The latter fell victim to White and took home $17,467 for his sixth place.
There were only five players left at the final table by the end of Level 27 and White was holding the majority of chips in play, followed by Roberts and Belken.
In Level 28, Cullen Oldham could not hold up against White and was eliminated in fifth place. White himself was the next to go. The player was defeated by Belken and took home $28,904 for finishing fourth in the event.
Fehlig was busted in Level 29 and his elimination marked the beginning of the heads-up play between Roberts and Belken. The first had 3,550,000 in chips against the latter’s 5,330,000. In fact, Belken managed to retain his chip lead throughout the heads-up play.
It took two more levels before the name of the champion was announced. On what turned out to be the last hand, Belken had [Ks][Qc] and his opponent held [Js][10s]. The board ran out [Kd][8s][3c][4s][Qc] securing Belken with two pair and the title.
Robert had to content himself with the consolation prize of $61,134 for his runner-up finish. As for the winner, he was paid the amount of $95,645 of the entire prize pool, his biggest live cash so far. Furthermore, his tournament winnings now amount to almost $105,000.
