Reginald Roberts Repeats HPT Victory
Wyandotte, OK - When Reginald “Shawn” Roberts of Springfield, Missouri walked into Indigo Sky Casino for Monday’s taping of Heartland Poker Tour, he tried to keep his expectations in check. “Honestly, I just feel grateful to be at the Final Table,” he said, “You never know how many times you will get to do this.” Last year, Roberts became one of just a few players to return to HPT’s televised Final Table. He finished fifth in Missouri after a win in Oklahoma in 2010. Not only did he make it back to the table for a third time on Monday, he took it down for another championship title and $52,237.
The heads-up battle between Roberts and Bill Donnally of Oklahoma City was the longest of Season IX. They played 97 hands against each other, many of them full of drama. Pocket queens got cracked. The shorter stack rivered a full house all-in against trips. Moments after catching a two-outer on the river to stay alive, Roberts dispatched Donnally with pocket aces. Donnally earned $31,342 for the battle.
Roberts joins a handful of players with multiple HPT wins. The elite group includes just Jeremy Dresch, Greg “Fossilman” Raymer, and Mike Harris. “Having been in this spot before,” said Roberts, “I think it’s a huge advantage. Not so much skill but having the experience of being at the Final Table.”
Roberts wasn’t the only rerun at Monday’s TV table. Gary Germann went out in eighth place again when he moved all-in with ace-queen and was called by Eric Bishop with pocket nines. It was a repeat performance for the Gillette, Wyoming retiree who finished eighth at HPT’s Colorado stop earlier this year. He earned $6,094 for his efforts this week.
Allen “Chainsaw” Kessler of Las Vegas was again the first player eliminated from the Final Table. Of his four visits to HPT’s Final Table this year, he finished in ninth place three times. This time, his pocket kings were unable to hold against Roberts’ ace-seven. Kessler now leads HPT’s Player of the Year race by 33 points and collected $4,788.
Kris Wagner improved on the fifth-place finish he got earlier this year with a third-place finish at Indigo Sky. He ultimately went all-in with ace-eight against Donnally's ace-queen. When no eight hit the board, the Albuquerque man collected $20,894 and forty POY points. The bump in points puts him in third place with five events to go this season.
Cash Carpenter was the unfortunate recipient of the bad beat of the day when he got all-in with a set of eights against Wagner's inside straight draw. Wagner caught one of his four outs to eliminate the aptly-named owner of a construction business. Carpenter, of Olathe, Kansas, took home $9,577 in sixth place.
Roberts did the rest of the dirty work himself at the Final Table, starting with Michael White from Prairie Village, Kansas. Going out in seventh place, White was all-in with pocket jacks against Robert’s king-queen. White was unable to catch any help on the turn or river after Roberts flopped a king. He took home $7,835.
“It was a very rough road to the Final Table,” said White about his first HPT event. “Competition was a little bit tougher down here than I thought.”
Roberts’ pocket sevens eliminated another first-timer, Eric Bishop of Bangs, Missouri. When his ace-queen did not improve, he walked away with $15,410 in fourth place.
