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The Heartland Poker Tour (HPT) was at the Hollywood Casino St. Louis for the second time this year, and the $1,650 Main Event drew 480 entries and created a $698,400 prize pool. In the end, it was Wisconsin poker pro Mike Shin who emerged victorious to claim a $160,632 first-place prize and his first HPT Trophy.

“It feels good,” Shin told PokerNews after the win. “I've been working on my game a lot so it was something I expected, I mean, my games not the fanciest but I'm always playing to get the job done.”

Shin came into the final table as the chip leader but his Day 2 journey was a different story: 'I started Day 2 with 237,000 and then I got down to 70,000, but I never give up. I know this tournament is a long one and I just waited for my spots. I'm confident in my game, so you know, I just grinded it out, picked my spots, and it worked out.'

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Shin went on to add: 'When I play poker tournaments, I try to make zero mistakes, win or lose, if I make zero mistakes I'll be happy with the results.'

Whatever holes were in Shin's game before he has definitely made the right changes. Prior to the win, Shin started off the year with a first-place victory taking down MSPT Majestic Star for nearly $69K, finished 12th at MSPT Meskwaki, came in ninth at HPT Lawrenceburg followed by a15th-place finish at HPT East Chicago, and added a third-place finish at MSPT Venetian for $334K.

With his victory, Shin sits in thrid-place on HPT Season XV Player of the Year leaderboard while also sitting atop the MSPT Player of the Year list. When asked if this victory changes any of his future plans on playing more HPT's he said, 'I plan to play more MSPT's as I'm in first place for POY. I know Nick [Pupillo] sits in first for HPT and he got a lot of points for finishing second, but I'll try and play all the HPT's I can. I'll go home and check the schedule and if I can play, I will.'

After the HPT win, Shin's career tournament earnings total $1,511,695. When asked about the year he's been having, Shin had this to say, 'This year, results are coming to my favor.'

In 2019 alone, Shin has 24 cashes for $650,427 and there is still a lot of time before the year is over.

The first final table elimination came just a few shorthands into the day when Jason Darland jammed his ace-queen offsuit into Shin's pocket sevens. Darland didn’t get so much as a sweat and was sent packing in ninth place.

Not long after, Robert Mitchell fell when he ran his ace-ten suited into Thomas Gabriel's pocket tens and couldn't pair his over. One level later would see Hal Kirkpatrick take his exit in seventh place. Kirkpatrick lost half of his stack in a coin flip holding ace-king against Josh Turner's pocket eights and then got his remaining 670,000 in the middle on a three-four-four-two board holding pocket jacks only to see Austin McCormick had-turned the wheel.

Six-handed play would last over two-hours before Turner would take his leave. He lost a few big hands and came back from break with the shortest stack getting it in holding ace-queen and was called by Shin, who held pocket jacks. Unfortunately for Turner, he was unable to pair and took home $26,190 for his sixth-place finish.

Not long after, Jeff Sauer jammed his remaining 1,165,000 in the middle from the small blind after Shin had raised on the button. Shin called with queen-jack and dominated the queen-ten of Sauer, who caught a glimmer of hope as a ten appeared in the window. Unfortunately for him, it was an illusion as a jack also appeared on the flop and another would follow on the turn to send Sauer out in fifth place for $33,872.

After losing the majority of his stack in a flip against Gabriel, McCormick would be next on Shin's hit list as he jammed his 320,000 stack holding jack-four from the small blind. Shin called with suited connectors from the big, and while McCormick was able to pair his jack on the flop, Shin turned an open-ender and connected on the river to send McCormick home with $45,256.

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Shin would continue his dominance with another final table knockout, this time busting Gabriel. Shin opened with a 250,000 raise and Gabriel jammed for 2,620,000 from the big blind. Gabriel held a suited king-jack but was dominated by Shin's suited ace-jack. Gabriel failed to improve and took home $65,091 for finishing in third place.

Heads-up action began with Shin holding a 3:1 chip advantage over Nick Pupillo and it only took an hour for Shin to hold all the chips. There were a few back-and-forth scuffles but all the chips went into the middle when Shin open-jammed preflop and Pupillo called holding a made hand of threes. It was a flip as Shin held a suited eight-five.

Pupillo didn't like to see Shin flop a flush draw and called for a nine on the turn. One came but it was the nine of spades to give Shin the flush and send Pupillo home in second place for $98,195.

Season XV of the HPT will continue this weekend with a $1,100 buy-in Main Event at Ameristar Vicksburg in Central Mississippi, and once again the PokerNews Live Reporting Team will be there to capture all the action. Click here for a look at that stop's full schedule.

'It's still sinking in...' Kevin Garosshen told HPT Tournament Director Jeremy Smith after taking down the Heartland Poker Tour (HPT) Hollywood St. Louis $1,650 Main Event for $131,184 and a $3,500 Championship Package. Garosshen bested Brent Cunningham in heads-up action after a lengthy final table, and the Las Vegas, Nevada native said about his victory, 'I didn't come in with a top stack, and there were a lot of solid players at the final table. I just ran pretty hot, picked my spots pretty well, and it worked out.'

Garosshen, who now boasts over $430,000 in career tournament earnings according to Hendon Mob, was able to overcome a tough final table that included a pair of WSOP Bracelet winners in Kyle Cartwright and Brett Apter. 'Once Brett got out, he was the best player with four left. Once I won the flip versus him, it was steadily uphill from there. It would've been really tough if Kyle or Brett made heads-up, because they're some of the best.'

'Potter', as he was affectionately called by guest commentator Jerod Smith throughout the HPT's Twitch stream, thanked his friends and family after his victory in just his second-ever HPT Main Event, and added, 'It still feels kinda crazy!'

Lucas Tae was the first player to exit the final table, finding himself on the wrong end of a flip. Tae's jacks couldn't hold against the Big Slick of chip leader Austin McCormick, who continued his dominating run that started with two tables remaining on Day 2. His fellow St. Charles, Missouri native Neil Patel left next, his ace-five bested by the ace-eight of Kyle Cartwright. Cartwright had a hand in the next bustout as well, as Brian Reeder got his last ten or so big blinds in preflop with pocket sixes. Cartwright was waiting in the big blind with pocket queens, however, and Reeder exited in seventh.

McCormick's hot run finally came to an end in sixth, after a pivotal hand that changed the entire dynamic of the final table. McCormick attempt to run a three-barrel bluff against the start of the day short stack Laura Hoppe, but Hoppe called down with top pair, top kicker, sending her soaring into the chip lead and leaving McCormick as one of the shorter stacks. He managed to find a few ladders up the pay chart, before jamming jack-nine into Cartwright's ace-king preflop. McCormick found no help on the board to end his second HPT St. Louis final table two spots shy of his fourth-place showing last August.

From there, the chip lead bounced back and forth between the quintet for a few hours, with Cartwright, Brent Cunningham and Brett Apter all spending time as the short stack, while Kevin Garosshen and Hoppe stayed near the top of the counts. After the dinner break, Garosshen, Hoppe and Apter all held over 35 big blinds, while Cartwright and Cunningham were down to under fourteen big blinds. The two short stacks found themselves battling soon after play resumed, and Cartwright's ten-nine couldn't overcome Cunningham's ace-eight in a blind versus blind confrontation. Cartwright, who won a WSOP Bracelet in 2014 in a $1,000 No Limit Hold'em event, lost his last crumbs shortly after to finish in fifth-place, leaving him with $28,233 to take home to Tennessee.

The other WSOP Bracelet winner at the table would be the next to exit, as the 2019 WSOP $1,500 Shootout Bracelet winner fell victim to Hoppe. Apter flopped top pair with ace-king, but Hoppe's ace-ten flopped top two, and Apter put all but around half a big blind of his stack in on the river. Hoppe called with the best hand, and although Apter managed to spin his stack back up to around seven big blinds, he fell in a flip to Garosshen to exit in fourth.

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Hoppe's magical day would be the next to end, however, as Cunningham spiked a three-outer to take a chunk of chips from Hoppe. A few hands later, Hoppe tried to bluff Garosshen on a coordinated board, but Garossen made the call with second pair to leave Hoppe short. She got her last five big blinds in with ace-eight, but Cunningham was waiting with kings and sent Hoppe, a NASA Engineer, home short of heads-up action.

Heads-up action was a short-lived affair, as Garosshen steadily ground Cunningham down to around fifteen big blinds. Cunningham tried to steal over a Garosshen button open. Garosshen held ace-ten and called, and Cunningham couldn't hit with his ten-deuce to send the Colorado food truck operator home a little over $80,000 richer.

When asked what his plans for the money where, Garosshen beamed and said, 'I'm definitely going to fire a lot more events now; maybe fire some more HPT stuff. It's definitely gone well!'

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That concludes our coverage of the HPT St. Louis Main Event. The HPT's next stop is a Mini Series in Toledo, Ohio from March 5th through the 15th.