Heartland Poker Tour (HPT) is an internationally-syndicated television program

Television program

A television program , also called television show, is a segment of content which is intended to be broadcast on television. It may be a one-time production or part of a periodically recurring series...

 airing 52 weeks each year and a U.S.

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

-based poker

Poker

Poker is a family of card games that share betting rules and usually hand rankings. Poker games differ in how the cards are dealt, how hands may be formed, whether the high or low hand wins the pot in a showdown , limits on bet sizes, and how many rounds of betting are allowed.In most modern poker...

 tour. Created by friends Greg Lang and Todd Anderson in 2005, HPT promotes the tagline "Real People, Unreal Money." Originally developed to be a regional TV show airing in the Midwest

Midwestern United States

The Midwestern United States is one of the four U.S. geographic regions defined by the United States Census Bureau, providing an official definition of the American Midwest....

, syndication expanded as the appetite for televised poker grew. “Looking back on it now,” said Anderson, “if we knew it was going to be this difficult, we probably wouldn’t have done it." HPT now airs weekly on hundreds of stations across the United States, Europe

Europe

Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...

, the Caribbean

Caribbean

The Caribbean is a crescent-shaped group of islands more than 2,000 miles long separating the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean Sea, to the west and south, from the Atlantic Ocean, to the east and north...

, and the Middle East

Middle East

The Middle East is a region that encompasses Western Asia and Northern Africa. It is often used as a synonym for Near East, in opposition to Far East...

. DirecTV

DirecTV

DirecTV is an American direct broadcast satellite service provider and broadcaster based in El Segundo, California. Its satellite service, launched on June 17, 1994, transmits digital satellite television and audio to households in the United States, Latin America, and the Anglophone Caribbean. ...

 and DISH Network

Dish Network

Dish Network Corporation is the second largest pay TV provider in the United States, providing direct broadcast satellite service—including satellite television, audio programming, and interactive television services—to 14.337 million commercial and residential customers in the United States. Dish...

 carry the program on multiple stations in the U.S.

Synopsis

By the end of their sixth season in 2010, HPT produced over 150 hour-long episodes. Two one-hour episodes are filmed at each stop on the U.S. tour in casinos located in states such as Colorado

Colorado

Colorado is a U.S. state that encompasses much of the Rocky Mountains as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the western edge of the Great Plains...

, Nevada

Nevada

Nevada is a state in the western, mountain west, and southwestern regions of the United States. With an area of and a population of about 2.7 million, it is the 7th-largest and 35th-most populous state. Over two-thirds of Nevada's people live in the Las Vegas metropolitan area, which contains its...

, Minnesota

Minnesota

Minnesota is a U.S. state located in the Midwestern United States. The twelfth largest state of the U.S., it is the twenty-first most populous, with 5.3 million residents. Minnesota was carved out of the eastern half of the Minnesota Territory and admitted to the Union as the thirty-second state...

, Iowa

Iowa

Iowa is a state located in the Midwestern United States, an area often referred to as the "American Heartland". It derives its name from the Ioway people, one of the many American Indian tribes that occupied the state at the time of European exploration. Iowa was a part of the French colony of New...

, Oklahoma

Oklahoma

Oklahoma is a state located in the South Central region of the United States of America. With an estimated 3,751,351 residents as of the 2010 census and a land area of 68,667 square miles , Oklahoma is the 28th most populous and 20th-largest state...

, Indiana

Indiana

Indiana is a US state, admitted to the United States as the 19th on December 11, 1816. It is located in the Midwestern United States and Great Lakes Region. With 6,483,802 residents, the state is ranked 15th in population and 16th in population density. Indiana is ranked 38th in land area and is...

, and Michigan

Michigan

Michigan is a U.S. state located in the Great Lakes Region of the United States of America. The name Michigan is the French form of the Ojibwa word mishigamaa, meaning "large water" or "large lake"....

. In every episode, commentators Fred Bevill and Chris Hanson analyze play of the final six contestants in the Main Event. To enter the main event, poker enthusiasts either buy directly in or win their way through the qualifying system for a fraction of the investment of the widely-celebrated World Series of Poker

World Series of Poker

The World Series of Poker is a world-renowned series of poker tournaments held annually in Las Vegas and, since 2005, sponsored by Harrah's Entertainment...

, which commands buy ins up to $50,000. HPT's main event is typically a $1650 buy in, although it can vary by venue. Prize money is awarded to the top 10% of the field or 30 places, whichever is greater. HPT tournaments follow rules established by the Tournament Directors Association for Texas hold 'em

Texas hold 'em

Texas Hold 'em is a variation of the standard card game of poker. The game consists of two cards being dealt face down to each player and then five community cards being placed face-up by the dealer—a series of three then two additional single cards , with...

 poker.

History

In January 2009, HPT announced a relationship with the nonprofit group Disabled American Veterans

Disabled American Veterans

The Disabled American Veterans, or DAV, is an organization for disabled veterans that helps them and their families through various means. It currently has over 1.2 million members...

 (DAV) to raise funds and awareness for the cause. One percent of every prize pool goes to support DAV programs, where applicable under state gaming law

Gaming law

Gaming law can be described as the set of rules and regulations that apply to the gaming or gambling industry. Gaming law is not a branch of law in the traditional sense but rather is a collection of several areas of law that include criminal law, regulatory law, constitutional law, administrative...

s. HPT also coordinates celebrity charity poker tournaments to raise additional funds. DAV Public Service Announcements (PSAs) air in HPT episodes weekly.

In January 2010, HPT made headlines in the poker community when the company chartered four private jets to fly two hundred poker enthusiasts to Las Vegas, Nevada

Las Vegas, Nevada

Las Vegas is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Nevada and is also the county seat of Clark County, Nevada. Las Vegas is an internationally renowned major resort city for gambling, shopping, and fine dining. The city bills itself as The Entertainment Capital of the World, and is famous...

 for the Season VI launch of the tour. The event attracted celebrities like actor Lou Diamond Phillips

Lou Diamond Phillips

Lou Diamond Phillips is an American film, television, and stage actor and director. His breakthrough came when he starred in the film La Bamba. He earned a supporting actor Golden Globe Award nomination for his role in Stand and Deliver and a Tony Award nomination for his role in The King and I...

 and poker pro Dennis Phillips

Dennis Phillips (poker player)

Dennis N. Phillips is a poker player and an account manager for Broadway Trucks, a commercial trucking company in St Louis, Missouri. Phillips qualified for the 2008 World Series of Poker Main Event through a $200 satellite tournament at Harrah's St. Louis, his local Harrah's casino...

 and sold out Red Rock Casino Resort Spa.

In March 2010,HPT signed 2009 WSOP runner up Darvin Moon

Darvin Moon

Darvin Moon is an American self-employed logger and amateur poker player who was the runner-up of the 2009 World Series of Poker US$10,000 no-limit Texas hold'em main event. It was his first time playing in the World Series of Poker...

 to represent the brand as Tour Ambassador. Moon became a fan favorite among HPT's tour regulars when he declined an invitation for the November Nine

November Nine

The November Nine is the name used to refer to the final nine contestants, or final table, at the Main Event of the World Series of Poker since 2008. The winner of the WSOP Main Event is considered to be the World Champion of Poker....

 taping in 2010 to play an HPT stop in Iowa. A last minute replacement for an ill Scotty Nguyen

Scotty Nguyen

Thuận B. "Scotty" Nguyễn is a Vietnamese American professional poker player who is a five time World Series of Poker bracelet winner, most notably as the winner of the 1998 World Series of Poker Main Event and the 2008 WSOP $50,000 H.O.R.S.E. World Championship...

, Moon bonded with HPT’s crew and players.