Pat Meeks(credit: Heartland Poker Tour)
Playing on a few hours of sleep and a great run of cards, 37 year old Pat Meeks cruised to victory a couple of hours from home at the Greektown Casino in downtown Detroit, Michigan. Nearly ‘unconscious’, Meeks made the three-hour trek from Walker, MI with three of his buddies to play in the event, which turned out to be one of the biggest ever held in his home state. A total of 374 players entered the HPT tournament, driving up the prize pool to an impressive $545,646.
Finishing in second place was Dean Hamrick. Hamrick, who hails from East Lansing, MI, is perhaps best known as the final table bubble boy of the World Series of Poker Main Event final table for 2008. Yes, Hamrick was the 10th place finisher at the 2008 WSOP Main Event and narrowly missed out on being a part of the ‘November Nine.’
Hamrick, who’s been a fixture on TV for the past few months, was rather recognizable, and appeared to be poised to take the title. However, Meeks caught some serious help on two key hands and raked in the final pot to lay claim to the top spot, the Heartland Poker Tour title and the six-figure prize money.
Here are the final results:
1) Pat Meeks - $162,792
2) Dean Hamrick - $81,396
3) Tony Villano - $48,838
4) Gary Dosey - $37,985
5) Woody Sloan - $32,558
6) Trevor Hackworth - $27,132
Next up for the Heartland Poker Tour is the Meskwaki Casino Tournament in Tama, Iowa. For more information on that HPT, visit heartlandpokertour.com.
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