John Bunch Wins HPT Stratosphere In Las Vegas For $150k

The Heartland Poker Tour rolled into Nevada on its penultimate stop of Season 10, with the HPT Main Event held at the Stratosphere Casino in Las Vegas. The tournament subsequently attracted 441 players and eventually it was local technical advisor John Bunch who emerged victorious to win the title, and collect the $150,081 first-place prize.
The $1,650 Main Event created a prize pool worth $638,655, and amongst the notable pros seeing a return on their investment was Joe Kuether (45th), James Carroll (42nd), Roger Campbell (41st), Chad Batista (36th), Leo Wolpert (31st), Eric Baldwin (29th), John Eames (27th), David Levi (22nd), and Jesse Wilke (10th).
After the final table of nine had been set, John Bunch scored his first elimination holding A-10 to a short stacked Paul McCaffrey with A-4, who then exited in 5th for $31,294. In the meantime, Joseph Brown succeeded in eliminating Daniel Sindelar in 8th ($17,244), and Ryan Laplante in 3rd ($60,672), before eventually facing off against John Bunch for the title.
As the final showdown commenced, Brown held a 10.71m to 2.88m chip advantage over Bunch, but Bunch was able to move into the lead when the deciding hand was played when Brown (Q-9) opened with a raise and was called by Bunch (8-7). After Bunch checked the J-10-9 flop, Brown bet out, only to be reraised. Brown then moved all and after being called, the turn and river produced a 2 and 7 to consign Joseph Brown to a runner-up finish worth $92,605, while John Bunch was crowned the HPT champion.
John Bunch now boasts $413,510 in live tournament winnings, and following his biggest score to date, commented: “It was definitely a tough table. I knew coming in that I just had to play my game. I stuck in there, got lucky, and here I am.”
Final Table Results:
1 John Bunch – $150,081
2 Joseph Brown – $92,605
3 Ryan Laplante – $60,672
4 Gary Bolden – $42,151
5 Paul McCaffrey – $31,294
6 Ryan Tosoc – $24,269
7 Peter Nigh – $21,012
8 Daniel Sindelar – $17,244
9 Ben Palmer – $14,050