Steve O'Connor - New National Champion
Steve O’Connor from the Chicago area was anointed the new National Championship on November 14th! Steve can be found at a lot of league nights during week as he plays out of Sullivan’s, Q Bar, Philly T’s, and JJ’s Primetime in the Chicago land area. Steve qualified by winning a Super TOC at one of the bars he plays at. He bested a field of 93 other rock star players as at the National Championship we are down to the best of the best.
Throughout the day Steve played solid collecting chips through the whole tournament. Steve took the chip lead on the final table when his AA went up against KK knocking out a player. When it was down to the final three Steve had 75% of the chips in play as it was a matter of time before he put the hammerlock on the tournament to end it.
It was a very tough final table as former National Champion Brandon Dosch (ND) finished in third as he became the closest ever to become a repeat National Champion. Second place was no slouch as Mike Heinecke (MN) is new to free poker, but his father has been playing in the league for years. He has definitely tough Mike the ropes as he played a solid tournament all day as well. In fourth place was Cheri Snedden (IN) who was making her 3rd National Championship appearance and had previously won a WSOP bracelet event buy-in through the league.
In just two days we will crown a new LEAGUE CHAMPION! We can't wait to see who emerges as the next "FPN Poker Pro" and be featured in the Heartland Poker Tour-Stratosphere event! The HPT Dream Package finale is Friday November 14th at 12pm (PT). About 100 players from representing 18 different states from around the league are making their way to Las Vegas as we speak. In addition to the grand prize, the top 20 players will earn HPT buy-ins. We are excited to see everyone soon! 
Mike Summers from Martell, NE just south of the Lincoln area was the big winner recently in the FPN Online National TOC tournament. There were about 80 players total. When Mike made it to the final table there were a couple big chip leaders in which he won a coin toss with 6-6 vs. A-Q which propelled him to the victory. Mike has now qualified for the upcoming National Championship at the Stratosphere on November 14th.
We'll be watching with anticipation to see who wins the 2014 World Series of Poker final table which plays out November 10th & 11th and will award a whopping $10 million dollars to first place! The remaining players will split another $18 million. Can you imagine winning that kind of money on the poker table? Sure it's a long shot, but someone will be chasing their dreams and winning a $10,000 seat in the main event of the 2015 WSOP, in our latest contest