3 Bet: Nick Pupillo & Matt Kirby Win Titles, partypoker LIVE Releases Full-Length Documentary on Dave “Devilfish” Ulliott on YouTube

The Heartland Poker Tour (HPT) Black Hawk culminated with the $1,650 Main Event that attracted 588 hopefuls to the felts. Outlasting them all was Nick Pupillo who defeated HPT legend Reginald ‘Shawn’ Roberts heads-up to win his second HPT title along with $198,478 in prize money.

The Mid-States Poker Tour (MSPT) has, over its past ten seasons, hosted a total of 143 Main Events awarding a total of $82,241,590 in prize money. In the recently concluded 2019 MSPT Canterbury Park stop, the $1,100 MSPT Canterbury Park Event registered 479 entrants and topping them all was Matt Kirby. Kirby clashed with Andy Redleaf heads-up where the former eventually emerged victorious to claim the title along with $99,573 in prize money.

The global poker community will now be able to reminisce the life of one of the most popular names of televised poker – Dave “Devilfish” Ulliotton YouTube. partypoker LIVE and Dusk Till Dawn sponsored a full-length documentary on the poker legend which has been produced and directed by Marc Reeks. The documentary is divided into four chapters, with each chapter detailing a specific time in Ulliott’s life, along with commentary from some of the poker icon’s closest friends and relatives.

Matt Kirby Wins Canterbury Park Main Event For $99,573

The Mid-States Poker Tour (MSPT) has, over its past ten seasons, hosted a total of 143 Main Events awarding $82,241,590 in prize money. In the 2019 MSPT Canterbury Park stop, the $1,100 MSPT Canterbury Park Event attracted 479 entrants and topping them all was Matt Kirby, who defeated Andy Redleaf heads-up to win the title along with $99,573 in prize money.

Kirby has two prior MSPT titles to his name, both coming in 2012 when he took down the MSPT Northern Lights Casino ($47,070) and MSPT Grand Casino Mille Lacs ($46,970). He also holds the distinction of posting scores in all prior MSPT seasons, but in one i.e. Season 8.

“I haven’t been playing much, I used to play so much that it wasn’t that exciting and now I play every few months; I’ve only played five (MSPT Main Events) in the last couple of years,” Kirby said, after his win.“But it’s got to the point where it’s really fun and you look forward to coming back again. And obviously, this helps a lot and makes it really fun, but I have young kids at home, so it was really nice to stay home as much as possible. But now they’re getting a little bit older, so it’s a little easier to leave for a couple of days.”

Others to make it in the money at the event were Carodenuto (12th for $6,947), Tom Stambaugh (16th for $4,631), Cody Brinn (22nd for $3,567), MSPT Hall of Famer Kou Vang (23rd for $3,567), Tom Hammers (34th for $2,501), Dan “DQ” Hendrickson (38th for $2,269), Ben Wiora (43rd for $2,269), and Paul Carney (54th for $2,084).

Final Table Recap

Action on the final table saw Rich Alsup, Mark Feil, and Todd Sladek make their way out in 10^th, ninth and eighth places respectively.

Jon Hanner crashed in seventh place.

With the field narrowing down to the final six players, Kirby got active. He first eliminated Matt Alexander in sixth place with his big slick suited holding up against the latter’s king-queen. Kirby then picked up pocket queens against Dave Bashel’s ace-queen, railing Bashel out in fifth place.

Tyler Kolness was dispatched by Kirby in fourth place, after Kolness’ ace-queen was outdone by Kirby’s queen-eight that spiked a pair with an eight appearing on the flop.

Down to three-handed play, Kirby 3-bet jammed with pocket jacks and saw Alexander Tolander make the call with ace-four. Tolander didn’t find a favorable runout and he was out in third place.

Kirby began heads-up play with Andy Redleaf holding a three-to-one chip lead and soon claimed victory when Redleaf moved all in with pocket fours and Kirby called, holding queen-jack. A queen on the river saw Kirby hold higher ground with a pair of queens and with that, the MSPT regular bagged his third MSPT title even as Redleaf collected the runner-up payday!

Matt Kirby Wins MSPT Canterbury Park $1,100 Main Event

Final Table Results (USD)

1. Matt Kirby – $99,573
2. Andy Redleaf – $61,179
3. Adam Tolander – $44,090
4. Tyler Kolness – $33,345
5. David Bashel – $25,009
6. Matt Alexander – $18,988
7. Jon Hanner – $14,820
8. Todd Sladek – $11,578
9. Mark Feil – $8,799
10. Rich Alsup – $6,947

Nick Pupillo Wins HPT Black Hawk For $194,478

The Heartland Poker Tour (HPT) Black Hawk culminated with the $1,650 Main Event that attracted 588 hopefuls to the felts. Outlasting them all was Nick Pupillo who defeated HPT legend Reginald ‘Shawn’ Roberts heads-up to take the event down. Pupillo has won his second HPT title along with a payday worth $198,478.

“I got lucky when I needed to and played well throughout,” Pupillo said. “I’m pretty happy with how I played. Shawn’s a very good competitor and it was a good match. I’m going to try to keep [the money] this time. And play more HPTs, of course.”

Pupillo boasts of over $2.3 Million in lifetime winnings. His first HPT title came in 2015, in the HPT East Chicago that he won for $120,537. Last year in September, he took down the 2018 WSOPC Thunder Valley Main Event for $170,286, following it up with a runner-up finish in the 2018 WSOP Circuit Horseshoe Hammond Main Event for $186,823.

Entries came in through three starting flights at the event, creating a prize pool of $864,360. Day 2 of the event kicked off with 92 survivors. Eleven hours later, only nine remained in the hunt for the top prize.

Notables who earned payouts in the event include WSOP bracelet winner Adrian Buckley (11th for $13,311), Craig Casino (18th for $7,606), Matt Livingston (28th for $4,754), Aaron Frei (31st for $4,754), Colossus II champ Ben Keeline (42nd for $3,976), Khoa Nguyen (52nd for $3,371), and Wally Printz (59th for $3,112).

Final Table Chip Counts

1. Nick Pupillo – 2,970,000
2. Reginald Roberts – 2,895,000
3. Jack Peterson – 2,450,000
4. Mike Itoafa – 2,365,000
5. Dapo Ajayi – 1,835,000
6. Ryan Dodson – 1,475,000
7. Dan Wojcik – 1,260,000
8. Karim Abuzar – 1,210,000
9. John Sacha – 1,190,000

Final Table Recap

Dapo Ajayi was the first casualty on the final table and collected a ninth place payout.

Following him to the door was 2018 MSPT Denver Poker Open champion Mike Itoafa who went out in eighth place followed by Ryan Dodson who crashed out in seventh place.

Jack Peterson ran his ace-jack into the ace-king of Daniel Wojcik to hit the rail in sixth place.

2009 HPT Black Hawk champion John Sacha then knocked out Karim Abuzar in fifth place. Following Abuzar to the rail in fourth place was Daniel Wojcik who moved all in with ace-deuce and failed to get there against Pupillo’s ace-queen.

Pupillo proceeded to relegate John Sacha in third place, after Sacha’s queen-ten suited failed to get any support against Pupillo’s king-queen.

Pupillo was leading two-to-one heads-up against three-time HPT champion Reginald Roberts and it wasn’t long before Roberts shoved with ace-nine and saw Pupillo call with king-eight. An eight on the flop improved Pupillo’s hand crowning him as the champion, while Roberts had to make do with a runner-up finish.

“I’m pretty happy with the way things went today,” Roberts said after his runner-up finish. “I felt like I maximized what I had.”

Final Table Results (USD)

1. Nick Pupillo – $194,478
2. Reginald “Shawn” Roberts – $120,146
3. John Sacha – $78,743
4. Daniel Wojcik – $54,714
5. Karim Abuzar – $39,761
6. Jack Peterson – $30,858
7. Ryan Dodson – $25,931
8. Mike Itoafa – $21,609
9. Dapo Ajayi – $17,287

The next HPT stop is at the Hollywood Hotel and Casino in St. Louis from March 7-18.

partypoker LIVE Releases Dave “Devilfish” Ulliott’s Full-Length Documentary on YouTube

On April 6, 2015, the poker world suffered a great loss as poker legend Dave “Devilfish” Ulliott passed away from colon cancer. On February 11, 2019, almost four years after his death, partypoker LIVE has released a full-length documentary, titled ‘The Devilfish’, on the life of the poker legend on YouTube.

partypoker LIVE, in association with Dusk Till Dawn, sponsored the documentary which has been produced and directed by Marc Reeks. The film contains commentary from several individuals who shared a close bond with Ulliott which included names like Rob Yong, Warren Lush, Barny Boatman, John Duthie, Padraig Parkinson, Simon Trumper, Marcel Luske and a number of relatives.

The documentary is divided into four chapters, each of which details certain aspects of his personality and life:

Part 1 – The April Fool

Part 2 – A Class of His Own

Part 3 – Made in Hull

Part 4 – The Bad Beat

A World Series of Poker (WSOP) bracelet winner, Ulliott was a mainstay of televised poker. At the poker table, he was known for wearing orange-tinted prescription sunglasses, a sharp suit or leather jacket and gold knuckleduster rings reading ‘Devil’ and ‘Fish’, which he made himself.

You can catch the documentary here.

This is not the first time that Ulliott’s life has been talked about. In 2010, Penguin Books announced the publication of Ulliott’s autobiography, ‘Devilfish: The Life and Times of a Poker Legend’ which was released in September, the same year.

Content & Images Courtesy: Heartland Poker Tour/ Mid-States Poker Tour / PokerNews