Tim Burden Leads Final Table After Day 2 of HPT St. Louis
Day 2 of the 2019 Heartland Poker Tour (HPT) St. Louis came to its conclusion playing down from 81 players to its final nine. Leading the way is 2018 Indiana State Poker Champion Tim Burden who bagged up a massive 3.8 million.
Burden first got a monster pot after he flopped a pair of sixes and then turned trips and cracked Josh Mullins' pocket kings. Burden’s luck kept rolling as he obtained 25% of the chips in play after he and Danny Hoeft got into the largest pot of the evening.
It began when Burden raised to 40,000 and Hoeft, three-bet to 200,000. Action folded back to Burden who called the raise. A flop of 
was check-called by Burden after Hoeft bet 200,000. The dealer burned and turned the 
and Burden slammed down a bet of 500,000 and Hoeft called. Burden moved all in for 1.099 million after the 
came on the river and Hoeft, who had 1.04 million, called with the 
. It was no good though as the 2018 MSPT Indiana State Poker Champion had flopped a set with his 
.
Others joining Burden at the final table include MSPT Hall of Famer Kou Vang. MSPT Meskwaki Champ Keith Heine, and Greg Wood.
HPT St. Louis Final Table
| Seat | Player | Count |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Greg Wood | 555,000 |
| 2 | Joe Landazzi | 800,000 |
| 3 | Bill Byrnes | 1,815,000 |
| 4 | Stephen Green | 715,000 |
| 5 | Andy Echele | 2,080,000 |
| 6 | Keith Heine | 1,220,000 |
| 7 | Kou Vang | 785,000 |
| 8 | Dave Simon | 1,550,000 |
| 9 | Tim Burden | 3,800,000 |
Day 2 started with 81 players, but of those only the top 45 gotpaid. Some notable players who started Day 2 but didn’t make the money were 2018 HPT Player of the Year Aaron Johnson, 2018 MSPT Meskwaki runner-up Ian Matakis, and WPT champ Ravi Raghavan, who has over $3 million in career earnings.
Peter Brooks was the 46th player out making him the bubble boy. Those to cash but fall short of the final table were Day 1b chip leader Josh Mullins (13th - $8,334), Danny Hoeft (18th - $6,266), Shawn Roberts (19th - $5,168), Jeff Landherr (21st - $5,168), Helen Denton (29th - $4,199), Mary Sturges (31st - $$4,199), Day 1a chip leader Ryan Gregor (32nd - $4,199), and Gil George (44th - $3,553).
The final nine players will return to action Monday at Noon local time and will play down to a winner.