Ramadanis, 31, is a sound engineer in Denver who turned a $340 qualifier entry into a seat in the one of the Heartland Poker Tour's largest events this year. With 386 players turning up for the Texas Hold'em main event, the HPT Mile High Poker Open boasted a $582,600 prize pool.

Ramadanis pocketed $174,780 of that for the win. His largest cash in a poker tournament before that was $500.

"I told my girlfriend I'd buy her a car if I won," Ramadanis said. "She's my lucky charm. I guess now we'll have to go shopping."

Ramadanis' lucky charm was there to watch his entire run at the final table as well - perhaps earning that lucky-charm title and the car that goes with it.

Ramadanis entered the final table as the chip leader. It was smooth sailing from there as he hit a run of good cards and good flops to take him all the way to the win.

On one hand, Ramadanis flopped a set of sevens to knock out one of his nearest competitors, according to the HPT.

"Yeah, it was unreal," he said. "I just kept getting great flops. The set was huge, and a couple hands before that I won a big pot when I flopped a straight holding 9-6. It was a great night."

The rest of the final table played out as follows:

Place Name Prize 1st Andreas Ramadanis $174,780 2nd Kyle Orvis $87,390 3rd David Bellacose $52,434 4th Chuck Plante $40,782 5th Jeff Wright $34,956 6th Tracy Wittbecker $29,130 7th Daniel Montoya $19,692 8th Trent Kite $16,604 9th Scott Holtzer $11,943

The HPT will be packing in several events over the next month or so on its way to the championship event in Indiana in November.

The next stop will take place at the Turning Stone Resort and Casino in Verona, N.Y., Oct. 10-20. Then it will be at the Greektown Casino in Detroit, Mich., Oct. 17-26; Meskwaki Casino in Tama, Iowa, Nov. 2-9; and the Running Aces Card Club in Columbus, Minn. Nov. 9-17.

The year-end Championship Open will take place at the Majestic Star Casino in Gary, Ind., Nov. 12-24.

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