The Heartland Poker Tour is a traveling organization that houses poker tournaments and events all over the United States, every year, typically lasting from February until November.http://www.heartlandpokertour.com/events.php

This poker tour was founded by Greg Lang and Todd Anderson in 2005. The Heartland Poker Tour is structured to be affordable to non-professional poker players, as it has a direct buy-in of between $1,000 and $2,000, as well as the option of satellites called qualifiers that let about 20% of players into the main event. The buy-ins of these qualifiers range from $35 to $360.http://www.heartlandpokertour.com/about.php

Because of the pricing and structure of the Heartland Poker Tour, it is a common place for aspiring poker professionals to go to get some of their first experiences with big tournaments. Some of the players, however, just show up for the enjoyment of the sport. The satellites make it possible for almost anyone to have a chance at playing in the main event, and the prize pool is big enough to encourage professional play. There has been at least one occasion where a person who has played in the Heartland Poker Tour has also taken part in the more "serious" World Series of Poker. Dean Hamrick from Plymouth, MI placed second in the 2008 Heartland Poker Tour at the Greektown Casino in Detroit.http://www.heartlandpokertour.com/eventinfo.php?yid=2008&eid=33The very same year he made it to tenth place in the WSOP Main Event where he almost made it to the final table, but was instead shipped off and deemed the 2008 bubble boy.http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/poker/columns/story?columnist=lee_bernard&id=3708830

In the five years that Heartland has been around, it has gained success and reputation among the poker community. In fact, Daniel Negreanu, a well known professional poker player, does some instructional videos for the Heartland website, and is a strong supporter of their poker tour. http://www.pokerdomination.org/2009/heartland-poker-tour-runs-two-simultaneous-televised-events/

The 2010 Heartland Poker Tour began in February and will be continuing until November of this year. The satellites into the first main event that are still being held in the Meskwaki Bingo Casino in Tama, IA started on February 7th and the main event starts on March 27th at 3pm. The direct buy-in to this tournament is $1000 with a fee of $100.http://www.heartlandpokertour.com/events.phpThe Heartland Poker Tour will be traveling all year so keep an eye out here for updates on upcoming events.

In 2004, Greg Lang and Todd Anderson were small business owners and associates. They played poker every once in a while and one night started to think about ideas for creating a TV show.http://www.heartlandpokertour.com/about.phpThey were trying to decide between a Home and Gardening show or a poker show and were both leaning towards the one having to do with cards, so Anderson tested his idea out someone who didn't take an interest in poker: his brother. The two of them were watching TV together one night and Anderson put on a poker show and soon his brother didn't want him to change channels.http://hpr1.com/feature/article/all_is_fair_in_love_and_poker_heartland_poker_tour/This is where the idea started, and the appeal to the American Everyman still holds true today, in both its broadcasting to over 100 million households in the country and the low tournament entry prices.http://hpr1.com/feature/article/all_is_fair_in_love_and_poker_heartland_poker_tour/

After they had finalized their plan, Anderson and Lang both quit their jobs and put all their money and energy into creating the Heartland Poker Tour. After less than a year, the first tournament was held in October of 2005. The tour has now gone through 5 seasons and is on their 6th. In 2009, they started working with the Disabled American Veterans charity, with the goal of spread awareness about the organization. Now, every year, a percentage of the prize pool for the tournaments will be donated to the DAV.http://hpr1.com/feature/article/all_is_fair_in_love_and_poker_heartland_poker_tour/