Heartland Poker Tour (HPT) is an internationally syndicated

television program Television, sometimes shortened to TV, is a telecommunication medium for transmitting moving images and sound. The term can refer to a television set, or the medium of television transmission. Television is a mass medium for advertising, ...

airing 52 weeks each year and a U.S.-based

poker Poker is a family of comparing card games in which players wager over which hand is best according to that specific game's rules. It is played worldwide, however in some places the rules may vary. While the earliest known form of the game w ...

tour. Created by friends Greg Lang and Todd Anderson in 2005, HPT promotes the tagline "Real People, Unreal Money." Originally developed to be a regional TV show airing in the Midwest, syndication expanded as the appetite for televised poker grew. HPT now airs weekly on hundreds of stations across the United States,

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...

, the

Caribbean The Caribbean (, ) ( es, El Caribe; french: la Caraïbe; ht, Karayib; nl, De Caraïben) is a region of the Americas that consists of the Caribbean Sea, its islands (some surrounded by the Caribbean Sea and some bordering both the Caribbean Se ...

, and the

Middle East The Middle East ( ar, الشرق الأوسط, ISO 233: ) is a geopolitical region commonly encompassing Arabian Peninsula, Arabia (including the Arabian Peninsula and Bahrain), Anatolia, Asia Minor (Asian part of Turkey except Hatay Pro ...

DirecTV DirecTV (trademarked as DIRECTV) is an American multichannel video programming distributor based in El Segundo, California. Originally launched on June 17, 1994, its primary service is a digital satellite service serving the United States. I ...

and DISH Network carry the program on multiple stations in the U.S.

Synopsis

By the end of their sixth season in 2010, HPT produced over 150 hour-long episodes. Two one-hour episodes are filmed at each stop on the U.S. tour in casinos located in states such as

Colorado Colorado (, other variants) is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It encompasses most of the Southern Rocky Mountains, as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the western edge of t ...

Nevada Nevada ( ; ) is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, Western region of the United States. It is bordered by Oregon to the northwest, Idaho to the northeast, California to the west, Arizona to the southeast, and Utah to the east. N ...

Minnesota Minnesota () is a state in the upper midwestern region of the United States. It is the 12th largest U.S. state in area and the 22nd most populous, with over 5.75 million residents. Minnesota is home to western prairies, now given over to ...

Iowa Iowa () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States, bordered by the Mississippi River to the east and the Missouri River and Big Sioux River to the west. It is bordered by six states: Wisconsin to the northeast, Illinois to the ...

Oklahoma Oklahoma (; Choctaw language, Choctaw: ; chr, ᎣᎧᎳᎰᎹ, ''Okalahoma'' ) is a U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States, bordered by Texas on the south and west, Kansas on the nor ...

Indiana Indiana () is a U.S. state in the Midwestern United States. It is the 38th-largest by area and the 17th-most populous of the 50 States. Its capital and largest city is Indianapolis. Indiana was admitted to the United States as the 19th s ...

, and

Michigan Michigan () is a state in the Great Lakes region of the upper Midwestern United States. With a population of nearly 10.12 million and an area of nearly , Michigan is the 10th-largest state by population, the 11th-largest by area, and the ...

. Commentators Fred Bevill and Chris Hanson analyzed play of the final six contestants in the Main Event for the episodes during Seasons 1 through 8. Starting in Season 9,

Maria Ho Maria Ho (born March 6, 1983 in Taipei, Taiwan) is a Taiwanese-American poker player and television host/commentator. One of the top ranked female poker players in the world, and a Women in Poker Hall of Fame inductee, she has over $5,000,000 ...

replaced Chris Hanson and the final table format was increased to nine players, up from six. To enter the main event, poker enthusiasts either buy directly in or win their way through the qualifying system for a fraction of the investment of the widely celebrated

World Series of Poker The World Series of Poker (WSOP) is a series of poker tournaments held annually in Paradise, Nevada and, since 2004, sponsored by Caesars Entertainment. It dates its origins to 1970, when Benny Binion invited seven of the best-known poker p ...

, which commands buy ins up to $50,000. HPT's main event is typically a $1650 buy in, although it can vary by venue. Prize money is awarded to the top 10% of the field or 30 places, whichever is greater. HPT tournaments follow rules established by the

Tournament Directors Association {{Unreferenced, date=February 2010 In the game of poker, the tournament director (TD) is the individual charged with running the poker tournament. The job encompasses many roles, the most public of which is typically announcing the phrase "shuffle ...

for

Texas hold 'em Texas hold 'em (also known as Texas holdem, hold 'em, and holdem) is one of the most popular variants of the card game of poker. Two cards, known as hole cards, are dealt face down to each player, and then five community cards are dealt fa ...

poker.

History

In January 2009, HPT announced a relationship with the nonprofit group

Disabled American Veterans The Disabled American Veterans (DAV) is an organization created in 1920 by World War I veterans for disabled military veterans of the United States Armed Forces that helps them and their families through various means. It was issued a federal ch ...

(DAV) to raise funds and awareness for the cause. One percent of every prize pool goes to support DAV programs, where applicable under state

gaming law Gaming law is the set of rules and regulations that apply to the gaming or gambling industry. Gaming law is not a branch of law in the traditional sense but rather is a collection of several areas of law that include criminal law, regulatory law, c ...

s. HPT also coordinates celebrity charity poker tournaments to raise additional funds. DAV Public Service Announcements (PSAs) air in HPT episodes weekly. In January 2010, HPT made headlines in the poker community when the company chartered four

private jet A business jet, private jet, or bizjet is a jet aircraft designed for transporting small groups of people. Business jets may be adapted for other roles, such as the evacuation of casualties or express parcel deliveries, and some are used by pub ...

s to fly two hundred poker enthusiasts to

Las Vegas Las Vegas (; Spanish for "The Meadows"), often known simply as Vegas, is the 25th-most populous city in the United States, the most populous city in the state of Nevada, and the county seat of Clark County. The city anchors the Las Vegas ...

for the Season VI launch of the tour. The event attracted celebrities like actor

Lou Diamond Phillips Louis Diamond Phillips ( born Upchurch; February 17, 1962) is a Filipino-American actor and film director. His breakthrough came when he starred as Ritchie Valens in the biographical drama film '' La Bamba'' (1987). For ''Stand and Deliver'' (19 ...

and poker pro Dennis Phillips and sold out

Red Rock Casino Red Rock Resort is a hotel and casino in Summerlin South, Nevada, located in the Las Vegas Valley. It is owned and operated by Station Casinos on located in the Downtown Summerlin neighborhood. It is Station Casinos' flagship property, and the co ...

Resort Spa. In March 2010, HPT signed 2009 WSOP runner up

Darvin Moon Darvin Moon (October 1, 1963 – September 19, 2020) was an American self-employed logger and amateur poker player who was the runner-up of the 2009 World Series of Poker, (WSOP) US$10,000 no-limit Texas hold'em Main Event. It was his first tim ...

to represent the brand as Tour Ambassador. Moon became a fan favorite among HPT's tour regulars when he declined an invitation for the

November Nine The November Nine was the name used to refer to the final nine contestants, or final table, at the Main Event of the World Series of Poker (WSOP) from 2008 to 2016. The winner of the WSOP Main Event is considered to be the World Champion of Poker ...

taping in 2010 to play an HPT stop in Iowa. A last minute replacement for an ill

Scotty Nguyen Thuận B. "Scotty" Nguyễn (born October 28, 1962) is a Vietnamese-American professional poker player who is a five-time World Series of Poker (WSOP) bracelet winner, most notably as the winner of the 1998 World Series of Poker Main Event and ...

, Moon bonded with HPT’s crew and players.

References

*http://www.lvrj.com/business/poker-for-the-average-joe-814533 82.html *http://www.pokernewsdaily.com/darvin-moon-signs-with-heartland-poker-tour-18363/ *http://pokerati.com/2010/11/06/darvin-moon-declines-wsop-invite-to-november-nine-opts-instead-for-hpt-iowa-main-event-satellites-steak/ *https://web.archive.org/web/20120316103041/http://hpr1.com/feature/article/all_is_fair_in_love_and_poker_heartland_poker_tour/ *https://archive.today/20120729071719/http://www.coloradogamingnews.com/profiles/i-dont-know-about-you-but-when-my-friends-and-i-get-together-for-poker-not-a-lot-of-ideas-are-genera/

External links

Official site
{{Major Poker Tournaments Television shows about poker Poker in North America

Synopsis

History

See also

References

External links