National Poker League Announced

America’s first national poker league will be launched this fall. Now, people at the neighborhood level will be able to play poker in small buy-in tournaments for a chance to compete on television
Heartland Poker League will begin this fall.  for life-altering prize money.

“Real people, Un-real money!” is the motto of the “Heartland Poker League” (HPL) kicking-off its maiden season this September. The League is supported by the national television brand, the “Heartland Poker Tour”, third largest of the TV poker shows.

Weekly, small buy-in ($60 on average) Heartland Poker League tournaments will be held at participating casinos. A player point system will track the results each week and they’ll be posted on the HPL website. Each week, 97% of the prize pool is returned to the players (3% is held for dealer tokes).

At the end of the 12-week cycle, each participating casino will produce a League champion. League champions receive a prize package that includes a seat into the Heartland Poker Tour’s Championship Tournament, valued at $2,700. 

League champions will be invited to play in the Heartland Poker Tour’s televised Championship event in December at the Majestic Star Casino, in Gary, Indiana. Here they’ll have an opportunity to play for upwards of $1 million dollars in prize money and TV stardom.

The League will be coordinated and promoted each week on televised episodes of Heartland Poker Tour championship events, and on the Heartland website. With the Tour limited to just 15 final championship events a year, the League will give many more people a chance to participate in Heartland Poker Tour sanctioned tournaments every week, with a chance at making the end-of-the season Championship, in Gary IN.

The Heartland Poker League is like the Minors. It was designed and developed to provide players everywhere a chance to make the Big Time. The HPL gives players from the steel mills to the stock yards, from the farms to the factories, a chance to play for fame and fortune. 

 “We think a national poker league will succeed for the same reasons bowling, dart and pool leagues do. People get a chance to compete in a fun environment for small stakes, but ultimately they have a chance to test their poker skills under lights and cameras for huge sums of money,” explains Todd Anderson, Co-Producer of the Heartland Poker Tour.

Anderson points out that buy-ins for all League events will be very small, under $100. “We’re just a step up from the popular free bar and tavern leagues,” Anderson says, “but we’re different because it is real people playing real poker, with real bets, for real money, in a real poker room, with a chance to winning a lot.”

Poker is America’s national past-time. More people play it. And, much more money is won and lost in the poker rooms, living rooms, and bar rooms of this country than is ever wagered on baseball.