Federated Sports + Gaming Acquires Heartland Poker Tour

Federated Sports + Gaming (FS+G) on Tuesday announced its acquisition of the Heartland Poker Tour (HPT).

“HPT is one of the great success stories in the poker industry,” said Jeffrey Pollack, chairman of Federated Sports + Gaming.  “In a relatively short period of time, the Heartland Poker Tour has firmly established itself as an important national brand with a passionate, loyal player base. We are committed to poker entertainment in the broadest sense and to serving players and fans across the spectrum. The addition of HPT to the FS+G family fits perfectly with our approach.”

The Heartland Poker Tour was founded in 2005 by Todd Anderson and Greg Lang.  Both men will continue to oversee the tournament from its Fargo, North Dakota base. 

“I believe our partnership with FS+G goes a long way to round out the American poker market,” said Todd Anderson, president and co-founder of Heartland Poker Tour. “Our tour, combined with the new FS+G professional poker league, creates an offering that serves aspiring enthusiasts of the game, as well as top poker professionals. This alliance will create bigger fields for HPT events, and even greater television coverage and viewership, which will ultimately benefit players, fans and the game.”

HPT has hosted more than 81,500 entrants, awarded more than $28.6 million in prize money, produced more than 170 hours of “high quality poker” television content, and staged nearly 90 events since 2005. 

“Uniting with Federated Sports + Gaming is a natural fit because we share the common goal of innovating and growing the poker market,” said Greg Lang, executive producer and co-founder of Heartland Poker Tour. “As entrepreneurs with an established history of forging an independent path, we look forward to breaking new ground in poker by leveraging the talents of the accomplished team that FS+G has assembled.  As poker players, we are fired up about taking HPT to a new level of excitement and fun for our players and fans.”

Earlier this year, FS+G, in conjunction with the Palms Casino Resort, announced the launch of a revolutionary new professional poker league to serve more than 200 of the world’s top live tournament players. The first of four inaugural tournaments kicks off this August. A complete roster for players that have qualified for Season 1 of the league can be found on the FS+G website at: http://www.federatedinc.com/poker-league/season-one-roster.  The professional league’s detailed player qualifying criteria can be found at: http://www.federatedinc.com/poker-league/qualification-criteria. 

The four professional league main events will feature different formats of No-Limit Texas Hold’em, including six-handed play, a heads-up tournament with an innovative seeding structure and a special multi-format tournament to round out the season.  Each event week will include a Pro-Am event, a charity tournament, and a $20,000 buy-in rake-free main event (http://www.federatedinc.com/our-companies/poker-league/event-schedules).

2011 Heartland Season VII Tour Schedule

2011-12 Federated Sports + Gaming Season I Tournament Schedule

                                Pro-Am                                                                Charity Tournament                       League Main Event

Event #1              August 5 - 8, 2011                             August 7, 2011                                   August 9 - 12, 2011   

Event #2              September 2 - 5, 2011                  September 4, 2011                        September  6 - 9, 2011  

Event #3              December 9 - 12, 2011                   December 11, 2011                         December 14 - 18, 2011

Event #4              January 27 - 30, 2012      January 29, 2012                               February 9 - 12, 2012

Championship                    ----                                                        ----                                         February 13 - 14, 2012