Return to the Heartland

If you haven't already read, the Heartland Poker Tour is back in Blackhawk, once again at the Golden Gates, home of the nicest poker room in Colorado. This will be HPT's third stop in Colorado, and they've finally named the event the Mile High Poker Open. Of course, being Colorado, home of restrictive casino limits, there is no direct buy-in to the main event which starts on Friday, October 3rd. Instead, you have to qualify for the main event by way of $340 qualifiers, which are really supersats. One in five players in each qualifier gets in to the main event, which makes the main event equate to a $1700 buy-in.

The first of sixteen $340 satellite events is this coming Saturday, October 20th. There are also $80 and $110 single table sit-and-go's where players can win seats into a $340 qualifier. The satellite events have nice structures, but the SNGs are truly donkeyshovefests, with 1500 in starting chips and blinds that increase every ten minutes. I swear they play almost just about like playing the chippies on Full Tilt. There is a rumor that if you win five satellites, you are entered into the main event, but a) I have not confirmed this, and b) this would seem to run counter to Colorado gaming law, especially as the SNGs pay out in cash, not qualifier tickets.

I have yet to decide whether or not I'm going to try to take part. Work schedule requirements dictated that I miss the last two events, and that does not look to be a factor for me this time. However, until last night, I've been running extremely poorly, for the most part. I started writing this post before yesterday's play. I'm hoping to go through another week and see how things hold up. I can afford the $340 to take the shot, but if I'm running like ass, I just don't see the point. But I feel confident enough after my play last night to give it a go -- I just want to see if I can back it up with more solid play first. We'll see...