Heartland Poker Tour comes to St. Louis

I'm planning on competing in The Heartland Poker Tour at the Ameristar Casino in St. Louis in a couple of weeks.

http://www.heartlandpokertour.com/eventinfo.php?yid=2009&eid=14

The HPT features Main Events with entry fees that are considerably less than WSOP or WPT events, while still offering a televised final table. Another feature of the HPT is that most of the entrants win their way into the Main Event via "Qualifiers" which are held the week prior to the ME.

In the upcoming tourney in St. Louis the Main Event has an entry fee of $1650. You can buy yourself in directly or there are several ways to win your way in.

http://www.heartlandpokertour.com/data/heartlandpokertour/events2009/daydetail386.pdf

Held twice daily, the $360 mega-satellite Qualifiers will advance 20% of the field into the ME. If there are 100 entrants, the final 20 people in the game advance to the ME.

To win your way into a $360 Qualifier, you can play a 10-man satellite for $85 in which the final 2 players advance, or a 10-man $120 satellite in which the final 3 advance.

I arrive on November 12th (Thursday) and the Main Event begins Saturday the 14th, with the televised final table taking place on Sunday the 15th.

I plan on playing at least two of the $360 Qualifiers, hopefully by winning my way in for $85 or $120.

The tourney limit is 660 players, so a sell out will have a prize pool of almost a million dollars. The tourney will pay 10% of the field, with first place getting well into six figures.

My bankroll will be $1130, enough for 2 @ $85, 2 @ $120, and 2 @ $360. I'm also allocating $270 for hotel and travel expenses for a total of $1400.

I'm selling up to 50% of myself at $14.00 a share. Any money won will be added to the starting bankroll of $1130, and each share will get 1% of the final bankroll (less taxes).

Wish me luck and let me know if you want a piece.