Josh Marvin wins the first-ever Heartland Poker Tour silver bracelet after beating his good buddy Chris Moon, in heads-up action, to take the title at Soaring Eagle.
Josh Marvin has defeated his good friend Chris Moon, in heads-up action, to capture the first prize of $166,565 in the $1,650 Heartland Poker Tour (HPT) Main Event at the Soaring Eagle Casino in Mount Pleasant.
It’s Marvin’s most successful live performance of his career. Prior to his victory he had only cashed four previous times in a Hendon Mob resume stretching back to 2011. Fittingly, his first-ever live tournament cash was in this same event when he finished 40th in 2011 for $2,188. His previous best score was $14,470 for finishing fourth in a $5,200 buy-in Pot-Limit Omaha Turbo side event at the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure (PCA).
It was a great final table for any potential shark as a large percentage of the field were cashing in a live tournament for the very first time. There were a few exceptions. Vinh Ho was making his second appearance at a HPT final table with a seventh place finish in the Majestic Star Casino Main Event back in 2008, and there was another deep run by Scott Sisler who finished fourth in the World Series of Poker (WSOP) $1,500 NLHE Bounty Event for $105,024 in the summer.
In the end it would come down to two friends battling it out for the title, and what a last hand of poker the folks sitting at home will be treated to when they tune in to watch the final table coverage.
Moon opened the action to 250,000, Marvin three-bet to 700,000 and Moon made the call. The flop was [Kx] [Jx] [5x], Marvin bet 700,000, Moon moved all-in for 2.7m and the call was made. Moon turned over pocket aces, but Marvin had flopped two pair holding [Kx] [Jx]. The drama increased when the [5c] hit the turn to hand Moon a higher top pair, before the [Jx] on the river gave Marvin a full house, the title, the money and the new piece of bling.
Final Table Results
1st. Josh Marvin – $166,565
2nd. Chris Moon – $101,823
3rd. John Skrabutenas – $67,495
4th. Scott Sisler – $46,928
5th. Vinny Ho – $35,124
6th. Rodney Maxey – $27,158
7th. Alexander Ahmed – $22,088
8th. Kyle Gasiorowski – $18,105
9th. Patrick Smolinski – $14,484
The next HPT event will be held at the Ameristar Casino Hotel in Kansas City, Missouri. The series runs Aug 14-24 and the $1,650 Main Event will start Fri Aug 21. According to Poker Update Robert Williamson III and Dutch Boyd will be joining the HPT commentary booth in forthcoming episodes. Boyd had been critiquing the HPT final table coverage on his Twitch channel prior to the WSOP in the summer.
