Missouri Man Turns $375 Into $129,000 at HPT Event
St. Charles, MO - Matt Culberson invested $375 into Heartland Poker Tour's Main Event at Ameristar Casino Resort Spa St. Charles. The local baseball instructor knocked it out of the park and beat a tough field in the nationally-televised tournament, parlaying his investment into $129,147.
At the start of heads up play, Culberson had almost four times as many chips as his opponent, Michael Ross. In impressive fashion, Ross was able to quickly erase that deficit and even the stacks. In the end, the poker player from Chicago, Illinois lost all of his chips as quickly as he earned them. With the two players nearly dead even, they got all of the chips in the middle with Ross holding pocket queens to Culberson's aces. Culberson won the hand and Ross was crippled. He lost the remainder of his stack on the next hand, eliminating him in second place for $78,350.
Jeffrey Brin will likely have nightmares about the way he was knocked out. In his elimination hand, the Olathe, Kansas resident went all in with a flopped full house, only to be called by Culberson's bigger full house. The carpet store owner has nothing to be ashamed of as he took home $52,466 for third place.
Engineer Ron Amos was playing to put his two kids through college. The Quincy, Illinois native put a dent in tuition with a $36,592 payday in fourth place. Amos enjoyed his time at the St. Charles resort casino."The Ameristar property is awesome," he said. "The rooms are fantastic and it's been a really great experience."
Matt Cannella voiced a similar opinion about HPT's newest Missouri stop. "I couldn't be more pleased with this property... It's just a great facility." It's no wonder he liked the venue; the advertising executive fared especially well at Ameristar. He took ninth place in a side event earlier in the series. The O'Fallon, Illinois man played his way to fifth place in the Main Event for $27,444.
None of the players at the nationally-televised Final Table had as much HPT experience as Reginald "Shawn" Roberts, a two-time champion. Cannella forced him to share the wealth this time by ousting him in sixth place. The business owner from Springfield, Missouri adds $21,525 to his career earnings.
Coming into the day second in chips, Carl "Johnny" Masters was poised for a promising finish. Those plans changed when Masters, from Clarksville, Tennessee, found himself all-in against Culberson for nearly 40% of the chips in play. Masters, a junk dealer by trade, held pocket nines to Culberson's pocket queens. The queens held up and Masters was out of the tournament in eighth place, collecting $15,067.
Perhaps the biggest beneficiary to Masters' demise was Joshua Turner. He had less than one big blind and was forced to put his chips in the middle on the very next hand. The St. Louis poker player came into the day with the smallest stack, but managed to climb the pay ladder to a seventh-place finish for $18,188.
Matt Mueller was the first player sent to the rail Monday when his ace-ten squared off with Cannella's pocket queens. The poker player from Columbia, Illinois earned $12,915 for ninth place.
Next up for HPT is a return visit to Las Vegas. The 10-day series at The Stratosphere Casino, Hotel, and Tower kicks off next week. For a schedule, or to see information on other upcoming stops, visit HPTpoker.com.
