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Heartland tour sees 164 players buy in

2007-07-23 16:22:12

The Heartland Poker Tour (HPT) is slowly gaining recognition and publicity and its numbers are steadily growing, reports pokerplayernewspaper.com.

An unprecedented 164 players signed up for last weekend's $1,000 buy-in event, thanks to many internet players wanting to experience the real thing for the first time.

And the final event on Sunday had a pool of $260,850, with 111 players from up and down the east coast and the Midwest competing.

It was the veteran Mike Baran, 57, from New York who took the first prize of $88,442, after relying on his 45 years of experience to help him a play a calm and measured game.

He came face-to-face with sports bar-owner Bill Kontaratos of Quebec. After picking up pocket queens he flopped a full house to end the game.

Mr Baran claims that he will give a major percentage of his wins to charity.

The HPT's next stop is Buffington Harbor in Chicagoland.

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