Get Ready for the Hollywood Poker Open Championship Event!
Welcome to the final event of Season 3 of the Hollywood Poker Open — the $500,000 guaranteed $2,500 Championship Event. The PokerNews Live Reporting team will be on hand for the next three days from the M Resort Casino Spa in Las Vegas to cover this spectacular event, but it's highly encouraged that you come down and play if you're in the area.
The past two season-ending events have attracted 631 and 692 entries in 2013 and 2014, respectively, and this year's field is hopeful of pushing past the 700-entry mark. It all kicks off today at 12 p.m. local time with the plan to play 11 one-hour levels. Players will begin with a 20,000-chip starting stack, and registration will remain open until the start of Day 2.
The defending champion is Simon Deadman, who earned the $351,097 top prize last summer. He'll likely be back in the mix this year and hoping to successfully defend the title.
Another player guaranteed to show up is 2003 World Series of Poker Main Event champion Chris Moneymaker. Moneymaker is highly credited with igniting the poker boom after his fairytale win in 2003, and now he's an ambassador for the HPO. After having already won an HPO title in St. Louis last year, Moneymaker will be looking for number two here in the city that made him famous.
Main Event players will be able to utilize the popular MyStack App to update their hands and chip counts straight into the live blog. To learn more about the app, and to download for free on both iOS and Android devices, click here.
Outside of the $2,500 Championship Event, the HPO will be hosting three other tournaments over the weekend. On Saturday, a $555 Seniors' Championship will start at 1 p.m. and a $235 No-Limit Hold'em event will start at 6 p.m. On Sunday, a $235 No-Limit Hold'em Deepstack event will start at 1 p.m. All times are local.
For those looking to stay involved with the action on social media, be sure to follow our reporters on the floor, Remko Rinkema and Mickey Doft, plus the official PokerNews and Hollywood Poker Open Twitter accounts. To get in on the conversation surrounding the event, use "#HPOS3" when posting.