This year’s Heartland Poker Tour televised final table was action-packed at Majestic Star. Jerry Gumila, who made last year’s final table, started as the overwhelming chipleader.But it was Daniel Acevedo who came out on top, winning $133K after surviving an early all-in against Gumila.
Acevedo, from Belvidere, Ill., is a product developer who has aspirations to play professionally. Runner-up James Chestnut, an Internet pro from De Witt, Mich., won $75K. Dawn Sanders was only the third woman to make the televised final table at Majestic Star.
“It was a phenomenal experience,” said Sanders, who said this was her second Heartland Poker Tour event. “I am a rookie at this and all my opponents are very, very good. I’ve never played with people like this before.”
Starting short-stacked, Sanders’ conservative style allowed her to slip into third.
NO MORE FOUR WINDS: Four Winds Casino in New Buffalo closed its poker room on Memorial Day. In 2007, the WPT poker room was the first in the nation to open with all electronic PokerTek tables. Antonio Esfandiari flew in to play during the opening.
NEW ROOM IN AURORA: Hollywood Casino in Aurora recently opened a 15-table poker room. Its bad beat has been creeping up; it was at $198K at press time.
WSOP UPDATE: Nick Jivkov from Des Plaines became the first Chicago-area player to win in this year’s World Series of Poker, winning the $1,500 pot-limit hold’em tournament and nearly $190K. Jivkov originally hails from Bulgaria.
— “Chicago” Joe Giertuga is Ante Up’s Chicagoland Ambassador. Email him at chicago.joe@comcast.net.
