Michael Hahn Triumphs at 2017 HPT Ameristar Chicago

The latest stop on the Heartland Poker Tour (HPT) was the Ameristar Casino East Chicago, with its $1,650 Main Event attracting 590 entries to create a prize pool worth $849,866. Five days of action later, and it was Indiana resident Michael Hahn who would eventually triumph over the field to capture the title, as well as its first place prize of $190,417.
Hahn has now amassed $1,029,818 in winnings since his first live cash back in 2005, with his latest victory representing his biggest score to date. His previous biggest payday was at the 2013 WSOPC Southern Indiana main event, where he finished the runner-up for $65,603.
The HPT Ameristar Chicago main event attracted a number of talented pros, and amongst those booking a money spot was Ravi Raghavan in 56th ($3,047), Eddie Ochana in 50th ($3,300), Shiva Dudani in 43rd ($3,893), Dash Dudley in 22nd ($5,585), Fadi Hamad in 14th ($9,732), and Nadya Magnus in 11th ($13,032).
Hahn subsequently entered the final table as the chip leader, and then proceeded to eliminate Joseph Elpayaa in 6th, Jacob Baumgartner in 4th, and Daniel Loizzo in 3rd to go heads-up against Nikola Budrakoski for the HPT title.
Despite being down on chips, Nikola Budrakoski doubled up holding pocket queens to his opponent’s pocket fives, but Hahn was soon able to regain control of the match and had ground Budrakoski down to a short stack when he shoved his remaining 13bbs preflop holding pocket fives. Hahn made the call with Ad-6d, and after making a flush, Budrakoski had to settle for a runner-up finish worth $117,631, while Michael Hahn was crowned the champion.
Final Table Results:
1: Michael Hahn $190,417
2: Nikola Budrakoski $117,631
3: Daniel Loizzo $77,095
4: Jacob Baumgartner $53,569
5: Vihn Tran $38,928
6: Joseph Elpayaa $30,212
7: Brekstyn Schutten $25,388
8: Jerry Siemienas $21,157
9: Stan Jablonski $16,925
The Ameristar Casino East Chicago was the opening stop of the 2017 HPT season, with the tour scheduled to return to the venue on May 4th. Commenting upon the 12-day tournament which just took place, Heartland Poker Tour marketing coordinator, Korey Stewart, said:
“Attendance was up across the board with great turnouts for all the tournaments throughout the week. We’re already looking forward to our next series at Ameristar East Chicago.”