The Heartland Poker Tour returned to Daytona Beach Kennel Club and Poker Room with a bang in October and with it 343 of the South’s finest players. The $1,650 event garnered a $512K prize pool and saw nothing but Sunshine State players at the final table.
While no victory at a final table is easy, especially in a field as tough as the HPT, champion Vincent Fiorenza of Ovieda did his best to make it look like a cakewalk, eliminating five players en route to a $122K payday.
Another notable at the final table was pro Corey Burbick of Davie, who made $34K to push his live career earnings to $721K.
There was another Corey at the table: Corey Zarnoch, who has been working toward playing poker for a living. He lost a monster hand to Fiorenza just before the final table that would have eliminated Fiorenza and left Zarnoch with 40 percent of the chips in play. Instead, he went home with his biggest career cash ($17K).
John Holley was the first casualty of the final table before it even started, as the pro from Destin went out on a double-elimination the night before the recording of the televised final table. This made back-to-back HPT final tables for him at DBKC.
BESTBET: Hot on the heels of its next $1 million televised World Poker Tour event, bestbet Jacksonville will host a Mid-States Poker Tour event (Jan. 15-25). The MSPT has run more than 50 events since its first in 2009 at Canterbury Park in Shakopee, Minn. Bestbet will have high hands and satellites this month for the $1,100 event, which sports a $200K guarantee. Next issue, I’ll have all of the details of bestbet Jacksonville’s fall series as well as coverage of the $5K bounty scramble. Also, as part of its $400K high-hand promotions this month, the bestbet Jacksonville poker room is giving away Ante Up Poker Cruise packages plus $300 cash to the room’s high hand every 30 minutes from noon- 5 p.m. on Dec. 24. The poker cruise is Feb. 9 out of Port Canaveral, Fla., and travels to the Bahamas.
EBRO: Ebro is making strides in big cash payouts for high hands. Every Monday through Thursday (9 a.m.-noon), any player lucky enough to hit a royal flush in spades will be paid $4,999. The poker room also is giving out more than $2,500 in guaranteed tournament entries. Tuesday high hands pay $700 to the winner and $200 to the table.
Why not head to beautiful Ebro Greyhound Park to claim some of that free money?
— Email Charles at anteupcharles@gmail.com.
