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Kansas City, MO - Frank Patti led the way from start to finish at Monday's Heartland Poker Tour Final Table to earn the Title and $103,326. The poker player from Gladstone, Missouri beat out over 300 entrants during the Main Event at Ameristar Casino Hotel Kansas City on his way to the championship. Patti plans to put his newfound winnings to good use.
"I think I'm going to start a college fund for my daughter with the money," said the new champ.
By the time the players got down to heads up, Patti had more than three times the chips of eventual runner-up Matthew Lawrence. On the final hand of the tournament, the Tulsa, Oklahoma man got his remaining chips in with bottom pair to Patti's top pair. Lawrence's hand did not improve and he was sent to the rail in second place for $65,415.
One of the quieter players on the set of the nationally televised Final Table was local man Aaron Wilt. The Kansas City native came into the day with the second smallest stack, but he made the most of it. Wilt, a professional poker player, managed to avoid elimination and climb the pay ladder all the way to third place, earning $43,805 in the process.
Travis Remmert is no stranger to the lights and cameras of an HPT Final Table. Remmert, from Cedar Rapids, Iowa, finished third in an event at the end of 2014. Unfortunately, the Title eluded him once again this time around as the computer consultant exited in fourth place. Remmert took home $30,551 for his efforts.
Allen "Chainsaw" Kessler and current HPT Player of the Year Aaron Massey were among the notables who made the trip to play in the Main Event. This was the first of two 2015 HPT stops at Ameristar Kansas City. The Tour will return in September for another 10-day series with a similar schedule.
Daniel Lowery invested just $375 into the Main Event. When it was all said and done, he managed to turn that investment into a fifth-place finish for $22,913. Lowery managed to chip up early in the day, but in the end he went from chip leader to out of the tournament after losing two big pots to Patti.
Another player who fell at the hands of the eventual champion was Martin Abraham. The used car dealer from Overland Park, Kansas listed his career winnings at $0. He can now adjust that figure to $17,971 as that is the sum he won for finishing in sixth place.
Chicago, Illinois' Bryan Moon came into the table with an average stack. The investor and part-time poker player wasn't able to get much traction early in the day. Eventually, he went all-in before the flop with ace-three only to be called by Patti's ace-ten. Moon's hand did not improve and he was knocked out in seventh place for a $15,186 payday.
Pete Rios had the smallest chip stack of all nine players when play began. The Houston, Texas poker player managed to outlast one of his competitors for a slight pay increase before making his exit. Rios took home $12,580 for eighth place.
The first player to be eliminated was Kenny Baggett. Baggett, a poker dealer from Rogers, Arkansas, got involved in several big hands right away before coming out on the losing end of a massive pot with Lowery that sent him to the rail. He earned $10,828 for the ninth-place finish.
Next up for HPT is a return trip to Ameristar Casino Hotel Vicksburg. The Main Event at that Mississippi property will take place next weekend. From there, the tour will head to St. Louis. Visit HPTpoker.com for a full list of upcoming stops.
