Heartland Poker Tour Wraps the Fifth Tour Stop of 2008

Heartland Poker Tour wrapped the fifth tour stop on Sunday, May 11th in Harris, Michigan. On a day that’s set aside to honor our mothers, retired police officer Ken Brodhagen got permission from his wife to play in a poker tournament, and it paid off has he captured the HPT title on the stage at the Island Resort and Casino.

“This has been on my bucket-list,” said Brodhagen of his desire to play and win a televised poker tournament. “My wife was nice enough to let me drive here this morning to play, even though it’s Mothers Day. I guess I’ll need to get her something nice.

The softspoken Brodhagen was able to parlay his $75 satellite win into an HPT title and over $32,000. The Green Bay native said in a pre-interview that’s he’s able to use his years as a police officer and detective to help piece together the scene at a poker table.
This was the first time playing in a major event for Brodhagen who’s largest poker tournament win to date was only about $1,000.

“My wife hasn’t been too crazy about me playing poker,” he said, “but when I start bringing home some money, it should help.”

Brodhagen steadily built his chip stack and found himself heads up in the end with a fellow Green Bay resident, and crowd favorite, Ali Akbari. The two were dead even when heads up play began but the momentum quickly shifted to Brodhagen when he flopped trip sevens to Akbari’s top pair top kicker on a K77 board. After a significant pot, Brodhagen had the lead and closed out the championship when lucky sevens were again on his side, his pocket sevens holding up on the decisive hand.

For the Heartland Poker Tour, a short break is scheduled and then three major tournaments kick-off in the next two months, including what promises to be monster turnouts in Detroit (Greektown Casino), New York (Turning Stone) and Chicago (Majestic Star).

2008 – Island Resort & Casino –Harris, Michigan—Final table Sunday, May 11th

Total Main Event Players – 74
Prize Pool – $106,266
Qualifier Players – 294

Final Table
1st Place Ken Brodhagen – Green Bay WI – $32,012 (plus 3k champions package)
2nd Place Ali Akbari – Green Bay WI – $14,457
3rd Place – Pete Baker – Chisholm MN – $9,294
4th Place – Riley Luttrell – Green Bay WI – $6,196
5th Place – Eric Beckman – Marquette MI – $5,680
6th Place – Dave Baldwin – Crystal Lake IL – $5,163

Founded by Todd Anderson and Greg Lang in 2005, Heartland Poker Tour is built on a grass roots strategy, “Real People, Unreal Money”. HPT provides poker enthusiasts a televised Texas No Limit Hold’em poker tour with affordable buy-ins. HPT owns and operates the Heartland Poker League where poker players can build their skills through local weekly tournaments. HPT is currently in Season IV and is viewed in over 74 million homes throughout the United States.

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