It started with 345 players and it comes down to these nine. The official final table is set and ready to rock for the Heartland Poker Tour The Meadows $1,100 Main Event.
Everyone's looking up in the chip counts at Dan Wagner, the only one over 100 big blinds with just a hair north of 2.5 million as play returns with just a few minutes remaining at 12,000/24,000/24,000. Wagner has plenty of experience with several wins and big cashes on his ledger, so he'll be a tough man to take down with his lead.
Wagner's followed in the counts by Anthony McIe at just under 2 million and nobody else is particularly close to the pair.
However, one massive obstacle a little lower in the counts is Andy Spears. The tournament vet has more than $1.3 million in cashes and owes his middling stack only to a rough beat where he had an opponent coolered with ace-king over ace-queen blind versus blind only for a queen to arrive on the river. If his luck turns around, he'll certainly be the favorite.
The competition begins here at The Meadows at noon local time, with a live stream following on a 30-minute delay. They'll play 40-minute levels until a winner claims the $76,165. You can follow the updates to see who emerges here on PokerNews, and here's a link to HPT's stream.
HPT The Meadows Final Table
| Seat | Player | Stack |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Kelly Becker | 477,000 |
| 2 | Anthony McIe | 1,981,000 |
| 3 | Marcus Gaunt | 527,000 |
| 4 | Christopher Lee | 1,275,000 |
| 5 | Lydia Waltonbaugh | 578,000 |
| 6 | Andy Spears | 1,094,000 |
| 7 | Jason Pickup | 893,000 |
| 8 | George Stathers | 1,022,000 |
| 9 | Dan Wagner | 2,509,000 |