David Gutfreund Wins the Heartland Poker Tour Soaring Eagle; Aaron Massey Named Player of the Year

David Gutfreund has won the final tour stop of the Season X Heartland Poker Tour, after securing victory over Reginald Roberts, in heads-up action, at the Soaring Eagle Casino and Resort in Mt. Pleasant.

Two former champions, a World Series of Poker (WSOP) Main Event champion, and a mother and son duo – what more could The Heartland Poker Tour (HPT) ask for in their last final table of Season X?

The $156,649 first prize eventually fell into the back pocket of David Gutfreund. It was a wonderful moment for the Chicagoan after making two previous visits to HPT final tables only to come up short on both occasions.

Gutfreund waded through a field of 465 entrants, and bested the two-time HPT Champion, Reginald Roberts, in a testing heads-up encounter, at the Soaring Eagle Casino and Resort, Mt. Pleasant, Michigan. The final hand of the tournament seeing Gutfreund’s A8 finding an ace on the river to crush the pocket jacks of Roberts. That victory – the largest score of Gutfreund’s career – takes his live tournament earnings over the half a million mark.

The other former HPT champion to make the final table was Vincent Fiorenza. The Floridian was victorious at Daytona Beach, earlier in the year, but this one was extra special for him because his mother Antoinette also made the final table. The Fiorenza family finishing fifth and seventh respectively to take $54,500 back to the family table.

Vincent Fiorenza was able to go that little bit deeper, than his mother, after finding a huge slice of luck in a hand that would prove fatal for the former WSOP Main Event champion: Joe Cada. It was Cada’s first cash since leaving PokerStars, and the second year in a row he had made this final table, after finishing in fourth in Season IX. Cada’s pocket kings seeing an ace land on the river to eliminate him at the hand of Fiorenza and his AT.

The 10^th Season of the HPT held more stops than any previous incumbent, and awarded over $11m in prize money. The Player of the Year award went to Aaron Massey, who won the event by a landslide after winning two tournaments.. He takes over the mantle from Allen ‘Chainsaw’ Kessler.

There is no rest for the wicked. Season XI begins this weekend at Prairie Meadows Racetrack and Casino outside of Des Moines.

HPT Final Table Results

1^st. David Gutfreund – $156,649

2^nd. Reginald Roberts – $96,657

3^rd. Michael O’Neill – $63,327

4^th. Cuong Tran – $43,996

5^th. Vincent Fiorenza – $32,663

6^th. James Wetherell – $25,331

7^th. Antoinette Fiorenza – $21,931

8^th. Joe Cada – $17,998

9^th. Yaroob Kaskorkis – $14,665

Other notables to cash in the event included Nick Jivkov (32^nd), Aaron Steury (37^th), and Eric Stocz (44^th).