Casey Carroll Wins Heartland Poker Tour Ameristar East Chicago for $174,469
The Heartland Poker Tour's stop at Ameristar East Chicago is always one of the biggest on the tour, and it drew 541 runners over the weekend for the $1,650 Main Event. Casey Carroll continued a string of recent success on the HPT by winning the event for $174,469, beating a final table that included World Poker Tour champ Andy Hwang.
Carroll's two biggest previous cashes, for $28,200 and $10,586, respectively, came when he won a preliminary HPT event last November and got 10th in this very tournament last September.
Final Table Results
| Place | Player | Prize |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Casey Carroll | $174,469 |
| 2 | John Seyferth | $107,786 |
| 3 | Andy Hwang | $70,643 |
| 4 | Kevin Beck | $49,085 |
| 5 | Chan Pelton | $35,670 |
| 6 | Michael Esquivel | $27,683 |
| 7 | Mark Oushanna | $23,263 |
| 8 | Robert Castoire | $19,386 |
| 9 | Andres German | $15,509 |
Of the 63 players to cash in the event, a few were notable names, including Aditya Prasetyo (59th), Craig Casino (39th), Allen "Chainsaw" Kessler (36th), Greg Raymer (30th), Ryan Van Sanford (26th), Joe Kuether (19th), and Aaron Massey (16th).
According to the live updates, Hwang hit a two-outer with eights against nines to bust Hao Sun in 10th late on the penultimate day.
He took a small lead into the televised final table over Carroll and furthered his advantage with eight left. That's when he opened and called a three-bet from Robert Castoire with blinds at 25,000/50,000/5,000, and the flop came 7?6?2?. They got stacks in with Hwang holding top set and Castoire a club draw and an overpair of nines, but Hwang turned a boat and eliminated the player who had been in fourth just minutes earlier to move over 100 big blinds. With a ledger that includes nearly $2 million in cashes, Hwang looked like the clear favorite.
However, Hwang ran kings into John Seyferth's aces with six players left to bring him back to earth a little bit after he had half of the chips in play. Then Carroll, who had held steady in second, eliminated Michael Esquivel with jacks against fours and took the chip lead over.
After Chan Pelton busted, it was Carroll who found himself facing an overpair when he called Kevin Beck's 10-big blind shove with 7x7x and saw Beck turn over QxQx. Carroll found a third seven on the flop though, and he had a big lead with three left that only got bigger when he made a straight early on for a hefty pot against Seyferth.
Hwang tried shoving all in for about 15 big blinds with 7?4? after both opponents limped, but Carroll snapped him off with A?5? and won the pot to eliminate his accomplished foe. He had about a 4-1 lead heads up, and Seyferth never made any real headway en route to finishing second.
After spending his Mother's Day grinding it out on the felt, Carroll figured he owed his mom.
"I told my mom I'd get her something really cool," Carroll told tournament reporters after his win.
Image courtesy of HPT.
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