Mike Shin Leads Final Table After Day 2 of HPT St. Louis
Day 2 of the 2019 Heartland Poker Tour (HPT) $1,650 Main Event St. Louis came to its conclusion playing down from 76 players to its final nine. Leading the way is 2019 MSPT Majestic Star champion Mike Shin, who bagged up a massive 3,445,000.
Shin was grinding all day long until Level 20 when he flushed out Alexander Hoff and doubled his 337,000 stacks to 700,000. From then on, Shin went on a rampage with his first victim being Lisa Morrow-McBride. When blinds were 15,000/25,000/25,000, Morrow-McBride opened preflop for 100,000 and Shin defended his big blind. Morrow-McBride fired 225,000 on the flop and called Shin's 400,000 river bet to see he had turned trip kings leaving her with 200,000 from her 1,000,000 stack. She would be eliminated in 15th place ($8,451).
Next was Bill Haner, who lost the majority of his stack holding nines against Shin's Big Slick. Shin would continue his ascension as he hooked Hoff's 550,000 stack holding jacks to pocket fives. Hoff was eliminated in 13th place for $8,451. Shin's final knockout would be the last of the night when his ace-king took down Daniel Chamber's ace-nine all in preflop. Chamber bowed out in 10th place for $11,314.
Others joining Shin at the star-studded final table include 2019 World Series of Poker bracelet winner Robert Mitchell, seven-time WSOP Circuit gold ring winner Josh Turner, and two-time WSOP Circuit ring winner Nick Pupillo, who looks to add to his current first-place spot on the HPT Season XV Player of the Year list.
HPT St. Louis Final Table
| Seat | Player | Chip Count |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Mike Shin | 3,445,000 |
| 2 | Jeff Sauer | 1,315,000 |
| 3 | Robert Mitchell | 315,000 |
| 4 | Hal Kirkpatrick | 1,595,000 |
| 5 | Joshua Turner | 800,000 |
| 6 | Nick Pupillo | 2,810,000 |
| 7 | Thomas Gabriel | 2,965,000 |
| 8 | Jason Darland | 360,000 |
| 9 | Austin McCormick | 1,375,000 |
Day 2 Action
Day 2 started with 76 players, but of those only the top 54 got paid. Some notable players who started Day 2 but didn’t make the money were 2007 WSOP bracelet winner James Mackey, 2018 HPT Player of the Year Aaron Johnson, and 2016 HPT Player of the Year Ryan Gregor.
Anthony DeFazio was the 55th player out making him the bubble boy. Those to cash but fall short of the final table were John Richards (18th - $6,495), Nick Davidson (20th - $4,959), Blair Hinkle (23rd - $4,959), Derek Schroeder (31st - $3,282), Chris Moon (43rd - $3,282), defending champ Bill Byrnes (44th - $3,282), Brian Green (48th - $3,003), Craig Casino (49th - $3,003), and Stephen Green (51st - $3,003).
The final nine players will return to action Monday, August 5 at Noon local time and will play down to a winner. Action will pick up with 24 minutes left in the 24th level where blinds are(15,000/30,000/30,000) and the final table will be live-streamed and televised.
Come back to PokerNews for live updates and be sure to visit HPT’s Twitch channel to watch all the action unfold in real-time as a champion is crowned and presented the HPT trophy along with a first-place prize of $160,632.