Heartland Poker Tour League starts this September

[Fonzi]

The WSOP* has ended, and there are still several WPT events remaining.

Here's a look at a poker tournament alternative.

The Heartland Poker Tour will start a league in September.

According to HPT publicity releases, the league will be designed to "bring more poker to the people."

The league will run from September to December and use a point system to record results at participating casinos.

Each casino will name a league champion after 12 weeks of competition. A league champion will receive a package worth $2,700 and a seat in the televised Heartland Poker Tour Championship at the Majestic Star Casino in Gary, Ind., Dec. 1-9.

At the Majestic Star, players will be after the winner's share of a $1 million prize pool, as well as television exposure.

According to the release, weekly tournaments will have relatively small buy-ins ($60 on average).

On the Heartland Poker Tour Web site (www.heart-landpokertour.com), the motto of the league is "Real People ... Un-Real Money!" The league will be supported by the national television brand of the Heartland Poker Tour. Each week, 97 percent of the prize pool is returned to the players, with 3 percent going to dealer tokes.

Remaining HPT events in 2007 are at :

The Grand Casino Mille Lacs, Minn., Aug. 20-27;

Northern Lights Casino, Walker, Minn., Sept. 12-19;

Golden Gates Casino, Blackhawk, Colo., Oct. 8-14;

Lucky Nugget Card Club, Deadwood, S.D., Oct. 15-21;

Meskwaki Casino, Tama, Iowa, Oct. 31-Nov. 3;

Casino Del Sol, Tucson, Ariz., Nov. 11-18, and

The HPT Championships, Dec. 1-9, at the Majestic Star Casino in Gary, Ind.

The tour is contemplating expanding to Tunica, Miss.; Oklahoma, and Denver. It has already sanctioned a tournament in Verona, N.Y., at the Turning Stone Casino. The tour was at Gary, Ind., for a major tournament last week and other plans include holding events in Ohio, Michigan, Illinois and of course, Nevada.

The number of entries has ranged from 200 to 400 players an event, with buy-ins ranging from $300 to $500, not including satellite tournaments.