2016 HPT Player of the Year Ryan Gregor Leads As 28 or 164 Survive Day 1a of HPT St. Louis
Day 1a of the Heartland Poker Tour (HPT) Hollywood Casino St. Louis attracted 164 runners, but after 15 levels of play, just 28 remained with 2016 HPT Player of the Year Ryan Gregor and his stack of 565,000 leading the way.
Gregor went on a late heater that included eliminating Mike Rieck in the last level of the night. It happened when Rieck got his stack of 100K all in preflop with pocket tens against Gregor’s Big Slick. Rieck flopped top set but Gregor had a flush draw, which he hit on the turn. Rieck failed to pair the board on the river and Gregor scooped a monster.
Others to bag big stacks were Jason Mangold (357,000), Joe Landazzi (322,000), Rusty Montague (303,000), and Preston Phelps (299,000), who round out the top five.
They were joined by the likes of Cory Bogert (255,000), Brett Apter (179,000), David Davenport (138,000), Shawn McCracken (132,000), Danny Hoeft (119,000), Kyle Parrish (119,000), reigning HPT and MSPT POY Aaron Johnson (98,000), and Ian Matakis (92,000).
One player who failed to find a bag on Friday was Brandon Elmore, who in Level 9 (500/1,000/1,000) got his last 8,000 all in on an ace-high flop holding ace-ten only to discover nine-time WSOP Circuit ring winner Robert Hankins had flopped two pair with ace-seven. Neither the turn nor river helped Elmore and he was sent to the rail. Hankins would follow him there before night’s end.
Likewise, HPT’s all-time money leader Craig Casino fell holding 
on a king high flop. He jammed and Jason Mangold, who had 
, called him and promptly spiked an ace on the turn to put an end to Casino’s day.
Others to fall on 1a were former World Series of Poker November Niner Dennis Phillips, MSPT Majestic Star champ Mike Shin, two-time HPT champ Nick Davidson, John “Farmboy” Kurfman, and Illinois players Gary Herstein and Mike Kamenjarin. The good news is all of those players can try again in the second flight if they so choose as Day 1b will kick off at Noon local time on Saturday.
The surviving players for both flights will combine at 11 a.m. on Sunday to play down to the final table. Once again the PokerNews Live Reporting Team will be on hand to capture all the action, so be sure to join us then.