Heartland Poker Tour - questions

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MidMoMan

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The Heartland Poker Tour is in Kansas City in a few weeks. Are there any suggestions of the best strategy to play the different events that are scheduled.
Its a 10 day event that has many, many qualifying tournaments. But is it best to play the first weekend (Friday - Sunday) or wait until the last Thursday and enter then.

For instance, like everyone else, I would like to qualify for the main event which is the second week. However there are several ways to 'play in' to the tourny. Is there anyone in CC forum that has some experience with HPT play?

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This is my first HPT so just trying to get a read on the process.

Thanks much - I'm looking forward to giving this a go!
 
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Haven't played in that one - what are the different ways you can get into the Main Event?
 
Jillychemung

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As with most HPT events you have a series of tournaments to choose from. For this particular event you have multiple tournaments that have multiple starting flights and multiday events. Events 1 & 2 have 2 starting flights and event 7 has 3 starting flights. They also run many 1-table SNGs that can get you an entry into the different events as well as MTT mega-satellites that award multiple seats. From looking at the schedule the biggest megasatty will probably be the Thu Apr 14 10am $375 monster stack that gtd's 10 seats to the $1650 main. The next best will probably be the Fri Apr 8 $50 that has seats to the $350 event 1. Personally the $230 event 2 that plays on Sun/Mon Apr 10/11 looks enticing for a lower bankroll. It all depends on your bankroll and what you want to spend in tournament entry fees.
 
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Great feedback!

My goal (everybody needs goals) is to make the big $1,650 main event. So in that effort I'm looking at Fri Apr 8 $200 which gets 1 in 10 to the HPT Main Event. Then the Sat Apr 9 $350 which is 1 in 5 to main event. I'm hoping to get to the Main Event for less than $500, if I spend more the $1k I may as well buy my way in.

I notice too, there are plenty of side games to play. In fact Event #1 paid $22k to the winner in the last (Indiana) HPT, which is a nice chunk of change for not being 'The Main Event' and on the first weekend.
 
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One week from today I will be in KC for the HPT. I will keep a log on this thread of how my day goes. Including pics!! I know, I know.
 
PershingSt

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Nice these look pretty sweet , should be good main to play in . I live in Missouri as well , might have to try and make one of the satties :)
 
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My first HPT was East Chicago, IN in Jan. I played Event # 4 there...the $150 NL tourney on tuesday and took 1st for over 4k. On Wednesday I played a MTT sat and won an entry. I then played the day 1a on Thursday and qualified for day 2 on Sunday. My intentions were that if I didn't qualify day 2 Thursday, I would play Sat on Friday and play day 1c on Saturday. I won the main event Monday night for $211,777.

If you enjoy tournaments, you will love the HPT structure!

I will see you in KC!
 
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My first HPT was East Chicago, IN in Jan. I played Event # 4 there...the $150 NL tourney on tuesday and took 1st for over 4k. On Wednesday I played a MTT sat and won an entry. I then played the day 1a on Thursday and qualified for day 2 on Sunday. My intentions were that if I didn't qualify day 2 Thursday, I would play Sat on Friday and play day 1c on Saturday. I won the main event Monday night for $211,777.

If you enjoy tournaments, you will love the HPT structure!

I will see you in KC!

Dontquit is the man (or person as the case may be)
 
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I agree! Being in your first event and cashing in the $150 amazing. Then coming back and cashing in the main event... Awesome!!

I'm thinking I will get in the 10 AM event and then the $200 Main Event Qualifier on Friday. See what happens from there.
 
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Countdown is on! Only 2 days to the start of the HPT in Kansas City. Good luck to all. Probably play in the $50 qualifier at 10am, #1A at 1pm


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43933f85b54969475b66c01541876ace.jpg


Today's the day leaving soon for HPT Kansas City! Sing the song 'I'm So Excited'!
 
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I'm back from my first ever Heartland Poker Tournament. The tournament is still going and will continue to next Monday, April 18 finishing with the TV Main Event. I played the first weekend primarily to 'get my feet wet' in the tournament and the process.

I will say my first experiences and takeaways are all positive. I very much enjoyed all the tourney formats and the organization of the tournaments. There were hundreds of entrants at the Ameristar Kansas City, but I did not get the filling that it was overcrowded. Of course this is the first weekend of the event, so I would expect patrons to double or triple this coming week and weekend. But, with some planning, you should be able to avoid long lines for tournament registration.

I will post results, impressions, and more over the next few posts.

PIMG 1963
 
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Yes please let us know how you do/did and your thoughts on the field strength.
 
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Heartland Poker Tour in Kansas City - my review

So, needless to say my excitement about playing in the HPT was peaking, finally it’s D-day, or maybe that’s HPT-day. Before I go further I should review my poker experience… I’ve been playing online poker on and off for about 10 years. Started getting serious over the last few years. I have played a few small live tournaments (75 players of so) in Las Vegas. My biggest win was a $1,150 cash in LV, on a $60 entry. But, mostly I’ve played online. So this, the HPT, was a big deal for me.

I arrived at the Ameristar Casino about 10a Friday, April 8th.
Kind of wondered around the Casino for 15 minutes or so and didn’t really see anything about the HPT except for posters here and there.
Since I live about two hours away I had a plan to enter into the $50 qualifier which started at 10 am. My intent was to stay in KC for 2 days, and maybe into Sunday depending on how I do.

My plan was: (of course the plan below would be adjusted depending on win, lose, time of day, etc.) I decided I would stick to a $1,000 budget.
April 8 - $50 Qualifier
April 8 - $350 Main Event
April 8 - $200 Grand Main Event qualifier
April 9 - $50 Qualifier
April 9 - $350 Main Event

Anyway, I finally ask the poker room attendant about the qualifier and was told to head to the Ameristar Cashier’s window to get in the game.
I had previously completed the pre verification on the HPT site. So, with the verification, my Ameristar player’s card, ID, and $50 bucks I was in my first HPT tournament. Went back to the poker room to find out where they were playing and turns out they had about 10 tables assigned to the qualifier right there in the poker room. I received chips and started playing about ½ hour after start time (late (re)entry was allowed, I was about entrant #55. The qualifier tourney wound up totaling about 110 players. They awarded 10 or 11 free entries to the Friday Main Event (same day), a $350 value.

Coming in my next post… Day 1, ‘pop the cherry’!

(Note: I don't want these post to be 10 pages long, so I'm going to address the event of several separate posts. Also let me know your questions or thoughts, I can take it.)
 
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Day 1, My first every Heartland Poker Tournament

Event 1
$50 Qualifier to today’s Main Event
The qualifier tourney wound up totaling about 110 players. They awarded 10 or 11 free entries to the Friday Main Event (same day), each seat a $350 value.

I have to admit I was a little anxious when I took my seat. Took me a few hands to figure myself out, I feel like I never really got comfortable in the game. Didn’t ever win any big pots, most of what I won was when I was UTG or BB. Anyway after about 2 hours of playing, I was down to about 10 BBs left. I was UTG, with AK off, everyone had folded before me, and so I 3 bet. The SB folded but BB shoved all in, she had me at least 3 times my stack. Anyway, I went all in. So AK off suited versus J10 spades. Of course, the flop gives me another Ace, but She rivers a flush and I lose.

First tournament: I played for 2 hours, probably out around 25th place. All in all a nice experience to get adjusted to the environment of everything going on. I felt the skill set of most players was average. There were several in the group, not my table, that seemed a bit more know-how then others but all in all an average skill set for this qualifying event.

If I was to critique myself, I would rate me a C-. I think I played a little tight, and when I did have cards to play, I would over play and never really maximized the pot. I did play for about 2 hours, and went fairly deep, although still 2 tables away from placing.

Up next, I pay for the Saturday Main Event…
 
tbdbitl

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Great feedback!

My goal (everybody needs goals) is to make the big $1,650 main event. So in that effort I'm looking at Fri Apr 8 $200 which gets 1 in 10 to the HPT Main Event. Then the Sat Apr 9 $350 which is 1 in 5 to main event. I'm hoping to get to the Main Event for less than $500, if I spend more the $1k I may as well buy my way in.

I notice too, there are plenty of side games to play. In fact Event #1 paid $22k to the winner in the last (Indiana) HPT, which is a nice chunk of change for not being 'The Main Event' and on the first weekend.

I've always wondered about the playins at this and the wsop circuit stops. I am playing at my first WSOP Circuit this next week in Cherokee. I intend to play at a few of the local stops over the next few years. I have no intention of playing in the main event or even trying to satty in. I suppose if I had a HUGE cash in the two events I plan to play, I may be persuaded to enter a ME. But, at least for this year, no matter my results, I will NOT enter the ME.
 
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I agree... my intent was to play as much MTT as I could get into. If I happened to hit the ME that would be great too. I had a budget so I was purdy determined to stay within the plan.

There's another HPT in St Louis the middle of May. Since STL is only hour and half away, I will play in it too, maybe even play quite a few more.
 
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I pay for the Saturday Main Event…

Since I didn’t win a seat to the qualifier, I paid $350 for an entry to Main Event #1. Sat down about an hour after the ME began, I was about entry 275. The tournament finished with about 350 players, which meant a $20,000 1st place prize and about 35 places cashing.

I sat down and first hand received pocket KK! I was UTG and since I was a newbie to the table thought I would just 3 bet. I assume others figured I was just throwing something out so I had a few go along but no raises. Flop was uneventful (no A), so I 3 bet again, no raises but maybe 4 other calls. This went on for the turn and river, so I then bet probably ¾ of my stack after the river and had 2 calls. I won against smaller pairs and nearly tripled my stack on the first hand!! It was a great start and I played fairly well for about 3 or 4 hours.

But then it happened; I had AK Clubs on the button position, 3 persons had called the BB before me. So, I 3 bet the BB, everybody folded except one called. After the flop which was nothing much and only 1 Club, the guy checked, I 3x bet again, he thought about it and called. The turn card, gave me another Club, but no pairs on the board and in fact only 1 face card. So I 3x bet again, that’s when the guy shoved all in. At this point he probably had half stack as much as I did, so I called him. He shows pocket 8s, all I needed was a Club, A or K. But of course no luck and I lost over half my stack.

From then on it was a struggle to get anything going. Finally with less than 10 BB in my stack and UTG, I shoved all in with JJ, someone called with AK and of course rivered the Ace to knock me out. In summary I played for a 5 hours, got out about 90th position. Turns out my theme for the day was don't count on AK, unless it's against me. But, all in all a decent day, only no cash to show.

Coming in next post… Day 2 of the HPT, play or not.
 
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blobman

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I was UTG, with AK off, everyone had folded before me, and so I 3 bet.
If you were UTG, how did people fold to you, since UTG is first to act by definition? And if it folded to you, how was your bet a 3bet? The big blind is the first bet, so the initial preflop raiser is putting in the second bet. A preflop reraiser would be doing a 3bet. Perhaps you mean you bet 3x the blind, which is very different from a 3bet.
 
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Perhaps you mean you bet 3x the blind, which is very different from a 3bet.

Yes, you are correct. I meant 3x the big blind. Sorry for the confusion. I guess 3 bet means to bet 3 times the pot, which is not what I did.

Thanks for the correction.
 
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blobman

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Yes, you are correct. I meant 3x the big blind. Sorry for the confusion. I guess 3 bet means to bet 3 times the pot, which is not what I did.

Thanks for the correction.

To 3bet means to put in the third bet on any given street (i.e. preflop, flop, turn, river in flop games). Preflop, the first bet is the big blind. The first raise over that big blind is the second bet, often written 2bet but usually just called a raise. The first reraise preflop is the third bet into the pot on that street, so that is called a 3bet. And so on and so on for 4bet, 5bet, etc. On the flop/turn/river, the first bet on each street would theoretically be a 1bet following the pattern but no one ever says that. A raise is a 2bet then, reraise is 3bet, and so on for 4bet, 5bet, etc.

To raise preflop three times the big blind is abbreviated 3x raise. To raise three times the pot has no standard abbreviation.
 
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Ok got it... sorry for the confusion. Yep I didn't reraise, only bet 3 time the big blind. Thanks again.
 
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Ok got it... sorry for the confusion. Yep I didn't reraise, only bet 3 time the big blind. Thanks again.
And thank you for your interesting write ups. As someone who has not yet played a major tournament series or any big live tournaments, I enjoy living vicariously through those who have.
 
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Day 2 - to play or not to play...

Day 2 at HPT in KC is Saturday, April 9th. I actually debated with myself wether I was waiting my time (and money) and should I just head on back home. It's a 2 hour drive, I would be home by noon, with plenty day left of a sunny Saturday.
I ate breakfast at the hotel and then in my room while trying to decide to play or not, I started a game of online (Bovada). While playing, thinking, drinking coffee, I realized. What the f--k, I'm here, I came to play, the more I play, the more I learn, may as well keep on. I played an hour or so online, won a double up. Felt confident and headed on over to the Ameristar Casino.

What do you think about my decision to keep playing and spending money? I didn't 'show' at all in yesterday's MTTs, never did fell comfortable at the tables, at one point felt like I was wasting my time.

What convinced me to keep playing? I will get into that and my first qualifier of the day on my next post.
 
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