A part-time poker player and full-time kitchen designer now owes his wife a horse after winning the Heartland Poker Tour event that wrapped up at Golden Gates Casino in Black Hawk, Colo. Monday.
Michael Thulson promised his wife a pony is he won the event. Call the breeders because Thulson now has $180,810 to spend on one. Although overused, “Lucky” might not be such a bad name.
The HPT event at Golden Gates had 402 entrants all who won their way into the event through satellites the casino ran for weeks. A total of 2,006 satellite buy-ins were made. Colorado law keeps poker tournament buy-ins low, so this is the only way to hold a larger buy-in event in the state.
HPT events are filmed and broadcast via syndication on networks that broadcast to more than 80 million viewers all over the country. The top 30 player were paid and five of the six players final table players live in Colorado
They were:
- Mike Thulson, Centennial, Colo., $180,810
- Michael Pempin, Parker, Colo., $90,405
- Xue Vang, Thornton, Colo. $54,243
- Brian Johnson, Grand Forks, N.D. $42,189
- John Reno, Commerce City, Colo., $36,162
- Mark “Spanky” Herrera, Denver, Colo., $30,135
The next HPT event takes place at Majestic Star Casino in Gary, Ind. HPT is expecting to get close or even pass a $1 million prize pool for the $2,200 buy-in main event, which starts Friday, April 25.
Satellites have been running for this event since March 24 and $450 super-satellites into the main event run every day starting Thursday, April 17, until the start of the tourney. Single-table sats into the mega run around the clock. Times of the mega’s vary so check with the casino or www.heartlandpokertour.com for times. Players can also buy-in directly to this event.
