Las Vegas pro Michael Trivett faded a field of 778 runners to win the $1,700 buy-in Main Event at the 2019 WSOP Circuit Planet Hollywood in Las Vegas. Trivett banked $215,943 for the win and earned his first WSOP Circuit ring. Meanwhile, the fifteenth season of the Heartland Poker Tour concluded with its year-end Championship event at the Hollywood Casino in St. Louis, Missouri. Chicago's Paul 'Walnuts' Bianchi outlasted 353 players to win the HPT championship and $181,874.

Two regional events played down to a champion on Tuesday evening including a World Series of Poker Circuit event at Planet Hollywood in Las Vegas and the Heartland Poker Tour's Championship in St. Louis. Paul Bianchi and Michael Trivett head into the Thanksgiving holiday with a big bag full of cash after successfully winning old-school no-limit hold'em tournaments.
The 2019 World Series of Poker Circuit Planet Hollywood Main Event included a $1,700 buy-in. A total of 778 entrants took part in a chase for a Circuit ring. They created a prize pool worth $1,178,670. Only the top 117 places paid out.
Ryan Laplante went deep but he busted in 14th place. Peter Park bubbled the final table in tenth place.
The final table included Michael Trivett, Jim Petzing, Tzu Huang, Zachary Donovan, Casey Stewart, Jorge Arriola, Ryan Leng, Rubin Chappell, and Ben Palmer.
Ryan Leng probably had the most pedigree at the final table. He previously won bling back at the 2018 WSOP with a Bounty bracelet and he was a runner-up in a donkament at the 2017 WSOP. Leng had a deep run at the 2017 WSOP Main Event with a 41st finish. He also had a couple other WSOP final tables including a final table at the 2017 WSOP Circuit in New Orleans.
Leng's run ended in seventh place and he missed out on winning his first WSOP Circuit ring.
Michael Trivett defeated Jim Petzing heads up to win the Circuit ring and small mound of cash.
Trivett is primarily a mixed-games player who had some NL coaching from his buddy Ryan Laplante. Trivett previously had $185K in career earnings with a couple of World Series of Poker final tables at the Rio in Las Vegas. He final tabled the Employees Event in 2013 and his previous biggest score to date occurred at a $1,500 HORSE final table in 2015 when he finished in fifth place.
With a score in the WSOP Circuit, Trivett more than doubled his Hendon Mob stats with one sick score at Planet Ho.
Notable pros and familiar faces who cashed in the WSOP Circuit Planet Ho Main Event included... Ryan Laplante, Sebastian Pauli, Giuseppe Pantaleo, Ardys Reed, Dilip Das, James Rice, Kristen Deardorff, James Carroll, Kevin Song, David Miscikowski, Emmett Hickey, Jeff Nowling, Keith Ferrara, Andrew Kelsall, Daniel Pickering, Bryan Piccioli, Jimmy Duke, James Hoeppner, Chris Murray, Michael Gordon, Paul Patouilliart, Chris Wallace, Ben Farrell, Jim Wilkerson, Josh King, Scott Bohlman, Andy Campbell, Vuong Do, Peter Hong, Ben Yu, Dustin Lee, Stan Jablonski, Michael Ruter, Larry Ma, and John Dibella.
Meanwhile... out in St. Louis, the Heartland Poker Tour concluded its 15th season with a heck of an event.
Paul 'Walnuts' Bianchi from Chicago had a sick score at the St. Louis Hollywood Casino. The HPT championship event had a $2,500 buy-in and attracted 353 entrants. Only the top 36 places paid out.
Walnuts outlasted a final table that included Christopher Audrain, John Michalak, Hamid Izadi, Justin Colin, Aaron Johnson, Jason Darland, Brad Smith, and James Burns.
Bianchi picked off Christopher Audrain heads-up to win the HPT championship. Audrain walked away with a runner-up prize worth $115,219. Not too shabby for second place, eh?
Walnuts Bianchi banked nearly $182K for his HPT win. According to Hendon Mob, Walnuts has $320K in tournament earnings. The HPT victory marked his largest cash to date.
2019 WSOP Circuit Planet Hollywood
Buy-in: $1,700
Entrants: 778
Prize Pool: $1,178,670
Payouts: 117
Final Table Results:
1. Michael Trivett (USA) $215,943
2. Jim Petzing (USA) $133,462
3. Tzu Huang (Canada) $98,912
4. Zachary Donovan (USA) $74,098
5. Casey Stewart (USA) $56,116
6. Jorge Arriola (USA) $42,967
7. Ryan Leng (USA) $33,266
8. Rubin Chappell (USA) $26,046
9. Ben Palmer (USA) $20,626
HPT Season XV Championship
Buy-in: $2,500
Entrants: 353
Payouts: 36
Final Table Results:
1. Paul Bianchi $181,874
2. Christopher Audrain $115,129
3. John Michalak $77,095
4. Hamid Izadi $53,769
5. Justin Coliny $40,327
6. Aaron Johnson $31,629
7. Jason Darland $26,726
8. Brad Smith $22,140
9. James Burns $19,056