Season 3 of the Hollywood Poker Open is well underway, with three Regional Events complete, one ongoing here in Grantville, and another three to follow before the summer. Then, it will all come to an end with the highly-anticipated Championship Event to be held June 26-28 at M Resort Spa Casino in Las Vegas.
The $2,500 Championship Event has been a super successful competition the past two years, attracting 692 entries in 2014 and 631 entries in 2013. If the same growth trend occurs in 2015, a field of well over 700 entries could be in the mix.
At each Regional Event, part of the prize for the winner of the Regional Main Event is a $2,500 Championship Event seat. This also goes for the player who tops each Regional Leaderboard. Currently, six players have earned a seat that way, two more will come from this stop in Grantville, and then six more will come from the three later stops. Furthermore, the top three players to finish out the overall Season 3 Leaderboard "will receive a seat to our Championship Event courtesy of HPO Ambassador and World Champion Chris Moneymaker," according to the HPO.
Last year, Simon Deadman earned the Championship Event title and $351,097 in first-place prize money. In 2013, it was Ana Marquez who claimed the $320,189 top prize by winning the event.
While this HPO Grantville Regional Event will be coming to a close today, it's certainly not too late to get in on the action for one of the final three stops on the tour's Season 3 — St. Louis, Charles Town, and Columbus. Please head to the HPO website by clicking here to learn more about each of the upcoming festivals.
against Matt Mahek's 
. Bitzer had Mahek covered and the flop was clean for him, but a 
turn meant he needed a two-outer on the river, which he didn't find. He sent 38,000 to Mahek, nearly all of his own stack.
flop, and he bet 7,000. Only big blind Jeremy Cline called. Cline check-called another 16,000 on the 
turn, and he checked the 
river. Moneymaker paused for about a minute and fired 32,000, and Cline snap-called.
for a backdoor straight, getting a whistle from someone at the table. The former Main Event champ is now the chip leader.
flop. The small blind folded, but Chris Moneymaker made it 21,000. Moore came back with 46,000, and Moneymaker snap-shoved for about 60,000 more. Moore thought a couple of minutes and mucked.
, but Greg Davis had him dominated with 
. Neither player hit anything as trip twos were on board, leaving the queen kicker best.
against a player who got there with 
. Mike Vogelsong also went bust.
