Michael Hahn Wins HPT Ameristar East Chicago ($190,417)
Michael Hahn surpassed $1 million in live tournament cashes by winning Heartland Poker Tour Ameristar East Chicago $1,675 Main Event for $190,417. It's the biggest career live cash for the Indiana native.
Official Final Table Results
| Place | Player | Prize |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Michael Hahn | $190,417 |
| 2 | Nikola Budrakoski | $117,631 |
| 3 | Daniel Loizzo | $77,095 |
| 4 | Jacob Baumgartner | $53,569 |
| 5 | Vihn Tran | $38,928 |
| 6 | Joseph Elpayaa | $30,212 |
| 7 | Brekstyn Schutten | $25,388 |
| 8 | Jerry Siemienas | $21,157 |
| 9 | Stan Jablonski | $16,925 |
The tournament got 590 players on the busy tournament weekend, creating a prize pool just shy of $850,000. Some of the players among the 63 to cash in the event included Ravi Raghavan, Eddie Ochana, Shiva Dudani, Dash Dudley, Fadi Hamad and Nadya Magnus. The latter bubbled the unofficial final table when she flopped a nut straight but couldn't hold when Hahn put her at risk with J♥6♥ on a 7♠8♥10♥ flop, according to the live updates.
That pot gave Hahn the lead with over 100 big blinds as the final table kicked off, but Joseph Elpayaa moved in front when he eliminated HPT regular Stan Jablonski with ace-king against jacks. Jerry Siemienas ran his queens into Daniel Loizzo's aces and then Elpayaa busted Brekstyn Schutten with kings against king-queen.
However, it was Elpayaa finding himself down to 18 big blinds six-handed, which is when he jammed over a Hahn open with fours. Hahn called with ace-king and had too many outs to miss after J♣10♣10♦ flopped, turning a king for the win.
After Vihn Tran went bust, Hahn scored another elimination when he opened king-ten and called the shove of a short-stacked Jacob Baumgartner, who turned over queen-ten. No queen arrived and it was down to three with Hahn holding about half of the chips. Things continued to go his way as he hit a straight with 6♣5♥ and busted Loizzo, who couldn't get away from top pair.
Nikola Budrakoski was down in chips but found a double when he was dealt queens and Hahn, sixes. He moved into a slight lead, but Hahn retook control and had about a 2-1 lead when the final hand went down. Budrakoski shoved for about 13 big blinds with fives and Hahn called with A♦6♦ hitting a flush on the river to end the tournament.
Lead image courtesy of HPT
