Poker Tournament Results

Heartland Poker Tour

Place	Name	Prize
1	Donald Carlton (Woodstock, IL, USA)	$85,198
2	John Oetker AKA "Johnny O" (Marshalltown, IA, USA)	$42,599
3	Cal Dykes (Las Vegas, NV, USA)	$27,385
4	Mark Sandness (Minneapolis, MN, USA)	$21,300
5	Steve Sloan (Sublette, IL, USA)	$18,257
6	Richard Wessling (Louisville, KY, USA)	$15,214
7	Jayson Smith (Broomfield, CO, USA)	$12,171
8	Ray Klann (Chicago, IL, USA)	$10,650
9	Timothy Jorgenson (Vinton, IA, USA)	$9,128
10	Jerry Chedester (Grinnell, IA, USA)	$7,607
11	Mark Fink (Sioux Falls, SD, USA)	$6,086
12	Matthew Clark (Maquoketa, IA, USA)	$5,325
13	Shawn Culhane (Aurora, IL, USA)	$4,564
14	Sandra Weir (Gilman, IA, USA)	$3,804
15	Ralph Hakes (Cedar Falls, IA, USA)	$3,043
16	Jim Fowler (Vinton, IA, USA)	$2,434
17	Jim Stevenson (Brooklyn, IA, USA)	$2,434
18	Michael Taylor (Carpentersville, IL, USA)	$2,434
19	Jon King (Verona, WI, USA)	$2,434
20	Brent Luscombe (Thorton, IA, USA)	$2,434
21	Steve Wilbur (Newton, IA, USA)	$2,130
22	Chris Pierce (Fargo, ND, USA)	$2,130
23	Ray Babb (Soldiers Grove, WI, USA)	$2,130
24	Cody Winther (Cedar Falls, IA, USA)	$2,130
25	Kurt Ante (Story City, IA, USA)	$2,130
26	Todd Graves (Green Bay, WI, USA)	$1,826
27	Sean Stevens (Urbandale, IA, USA)	$1,826
28	Brian Dykes (Iowa City, IA, USA)	$1,826
29	Mike Roenneberg (West Allis, WI, USA)	$913
30	Eric Sunde (Winnebago, MN, USA)	$913

Tournament Report

University of Iowa Graduate Wins $85,000 At Heartland Poker Tour Tournament TAMA, IOWA- November 5, 2007-- Hundreds of players converged on central Iowa this past week for the Heartland Poker Tour's Iowa State Poker Championship, held at Meskwaki Bingo Casino Hotel, near the town of Tama, Iowa. In the end, Donny Carlton, a 23 year old professional poker player and recent University of Iowa graduate, took down the latest HPT championship and won over $85,000. The main event prize pool was $307,280. Carlton returned to the state of his alma mater to play in the HPT and was sporting his lucky Iowa Hawkeye sweatshirt throughout the tournament and final table. 'This is awesome,' said Carlton. 'Taking down a tournament like this is a great feeling, and I'm glad my friends were here to share it with me.' Carlton, who plays professionally as a cash game player, has been on the road with his poker buddies the past month competing in various tournaments, including the last three HPT events. Their group has been doing very well as both Michael Banducci (finished 3rd at the Black Hawk Colorado event) and Larry Barbetta (finished 2nd at the Walker MN event) made HPT TV tables in the last couple months. Unlike his buddies, Carlton managed to win the whole thing and take down the group's first HPT title. 'I was there when those other guys made their final tables' said Carlton. 'I guess now it's my turn.' For a while it looked like it was going to be a cake walk for Carlton as he entered the final six as a huge chip leader with nearly 40% of the chips in play. He knocked out his first victim in the second hand of the final table when truck driver Tom Wessling of Denison, Iowa, pushed with pocket queens. Carlton called with AK, spiking an ace on the flop and sending Wessling to the rail. Carlton overwhelmed the table with his monster stack for the next hour, eventually knocking out three more players, including recent HPT champion Mark Sandness (Northern Lights Casino, Walker, Minnesota). Things got interesting as the players entered heads up play. Carlton and his 2.8 million chips squared off with local poker pro, John Oetker, from nearby Marshalltown, Iowa, and his 400,000 chips. The heads up match gave Oetker some momentum as he won a couple big pots early and tripled his stack. The audience was clearly split between Carlton's traveling poker buddies and the local favorite's fans. The momentum swung back and forth until the deciding hand--Carlton's A8 of diamonds caught up to Oetker's AK, when a magic eight appeared on the turn. Carlton, an affable and humble young player, was very gracious in victory and was quick to praise his fellow players. His plans for the winnings include building a cabin on some recently purchased property in Minnesota. For the Heartland Poker Tour, the finish line is clearly in site with only two more events until the end of the year. First up is a stop at Casino Del Sol in Tucson, Arizona, a first time visit for the HPT. After that it's the grand finale as the HPT Championship Open gets underway at Majestic Star Casino in Gary, Indiana. Majestic Star is one of the HPT's favorite stops and the tournament is expected to be the first million dollar prize pool for the tour.