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Heartland Poker Tour to Take Place in Deadwood

The Heartland Poker Tour, which nationally televised, is a no limit Texas Hold'em poker tournament, that will be held at the Lucky Nugget Card Club in Deadwood from Wednesday to Sunday.

Matthew Ramsey, the owner of the Lucky Nugget, commented that it is the very first televised major tour of the game of poker to be held in Deadwood, where gambling is considered legal. The Heartland Poker Tour began in 2005 and has been held in Wisconsin, Minnesota, Indiana, California and Nevada.

The Heartland Poker Tour was also held at Flandreau's Royal River Casino in November, where Lance Wiles, General Manager of the Lucky Nugget Casino, took home the first prize money of about $50,000. According to Ramsey, that should give the local players in the area a good reason to join the Deadwood event.

The final table on Sunday will showcase 6 players. The televised footage of the Heartland Tournament will be aired on the 3rd season of the Heartland Poker Tournament, which will start airing next fall. Ramsey added that this will be a good venue for any player that wishes to have at least 15 minutes of fame in a tournament that will be shown to over 50 million people.

The founders of the tour are Todd Anderson and Greg Lang of Fargo, N.D. Their idea is to combine a televised poker tournament and reality television into one and give an unknown yet talented poker player the chance to compete for big money.

Poker players can buy-in to the satellite tables with a minimum of $35 at the tournament every Wednesday and Thursday. The winners of those tournaments will earn lots of cash on the qualifying rounds held on Friday and Saturday.

People who do not want to take part in the initial rounds can buy-in to the qualifying rounds for about $330. The direct buy-in for the main event on Sunday is about $1,650.

The prize money will be around $175,000, the same amount as that of last year's event in Flandreau. Ramsey said that they are hoping to have as many as 600 players in the poker tournament.

03/29/2007, Thursday
Todd Sanders

Heartland Poker Tour to Take Place in Deadwood

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