Mike Harris beat a player field of 739 to emerge as the champion of the Heartland Poker Tour, the Mile High Poker Open, which comprised 6 days of exciting poker action. He not only grabbed the title, but also collected a cool cash prize of $245,073. Woman poker player Carla Sabini emerged as the runner-up of this event.
Harris, a cattle rancher based in Wyoming, expressed his appreciation of the organizers of this event and said,
HTP puts on a topnotch tourney, the best in the world. HPT is a first-class operation, very well organized and well run.
The Main Event, which had a buy-in of $1,600, was played in Golden Gates Casino. A large number of recreational as well as professional poker players took part in the event, owing to which the prize pool became as large as $1,108,995. Some of the most noteworthy poker players in the field were Greg Raymer, David Baker, and Bryan Devonshire, to mention just a few.
The six players, who reached the final table play, were David Baker, Mike Harris, and four local poker players from Colorado. Although she did not emerge as the champion of the event, the chip leader at the final table was Carla Sabini. David Baker, though an accomplished poker player who won a WSOP bracelet, was the first to be eliminated. Speaking about his opponents, he later said, “They are all wonderful players. It’s great to come to a city like Black Hawk where players truly love poker.”
Jeff Wertepny finished in fifth, Richard Perego finished fourth, and Dan Jensen finished third. Finally, Harris was left playing a heads-up match against Carla Sabini, the formidable woman poker player who has won the largest amount of money in the Heartland Poker Tour. The heads-up match was quite tough, but Harris got a hand with five cards, which turned out to be superior to Sabini’s hand. As a result, Sabini emerged as the runner-up of the Main Event and collected a prize of $139,839. Voicing his opinion of Carla, the champion said that “Carla’s one hell of a player.
The event came to an end with Mike Harris grabbing the Mile High Poker Open Crown and a huge prize packet of $245,073. The players who finished third, fourth, fifth, and sixth were Dan Jensen, Richard Perego, Jeff Wertepny, and David Baker. They won cash prizes of $89,825, $73,302, $58,220, and $47,130, respectively.
