Hollywood Poker Open Charles Town Kicks Off Today and Runs Through May 10
The penultimate stop of the Hollywood Poker Open (HPO) Season 3 kicked off today at the Hollywood Casino at Charles Town Races in Charles Town, West Virginia and will run through May 10.
The property, which features 50 tables of live poker action in a newly renovated room, features 31 events, 11 of which are HPO-sanctioned "featured" events, including the $1,115 Regional Main Event on Saturday May 9. HPO ambassador and 2003 World Series of Poker Main Event champ Chris Moneymaker is expected to play that event, while the PokerNews Live Reporting team will be on hand to capture all the action in our live blog.
"Charles Town will be the second-to-last HPO Regional Event on the Season 3 schedule, and the events continue to leave great lasting impressions on players at each stop," said PokerNews Editor-in-Chief Donnie Peters. "Plus, competitors have the chance play against tour ambassador and 2003 WSOP Main Event champion Chris Moneymaker. That alone is worth the price of admission."
Last year, Brian Cavaliere, who hails from Hazlet, New Jersey, topped a field of 72 entrants to win $39,756. Not too shabby considering he won his way into the tournament via a $235 HPO mega satellite. Of course the buy-in back then was $1,800, so the more affordable $1,115 buy-in in Season 3 is sure to attract event more runners.
The Charles Town stop is just the latest on what has been a successful Season 3. Last November, Jesse McEuen took down the HPO Lawrenceburg for $49,676, and in early February Charles Maxcy took down the HPO Toledo for $37,465 after a chop. From there, Donald McArthur won the HPO Tunica for $17,100, and Steven Gurney-Goldman took down the HPO Grantville Regional for $29,342.
Most recently, Linda Lieder defeated Kyle Cartwright in heads-up play to win the 2015 HPO St. Louis Regional Main Event – a tournament that attracted 173 players – for a hefty $48,440 first-place prize and a seat into June's season-ending $2,500 Championship Event at M Resort Casino Spa in Las Vegas.
All season long, the HPO has been giving away promotional seats into the aforementioned championship.
"We plan to not only give away hundreds of seats to the Championship again, but we will also implement similar seat winner promotions to the Regional tournament series as well," said Bill Bruce, who has served as the HPO tournament director since the tour's inception. "These HPO tournament fields are such a great mix of traveling poker professionals and local promotion winners which makes the tournaments really attractive to all levels of poker players."
Here's a look at the complete HPO Charles Town schedule (HPO Featured Events denoted w/ *):
| Day | Date/Time | Event | Buy-In |
|---|---|---|---|
| *Thu | 4/30 - 3:15pm | 1 - NL Hold'em Deepstack | $235 |
| Thu | 4/30 - 7:15pm | 2 - No Limit ($3,000 Guarantee) | $125 |
| *Fri | 5/1 - 12:15pm | 3 - NL Hold'em Deepstack | $235 |
| *Fri | 5/1 - 5:15pm | 4a - NL Hold'em Deepstack Flight A | $300 |
| Fri | 5/1 - 7:15pm | 5 - No Limit ($3,000 Guarantee) | $125 |
| *Sat | 5/2 - 12:15pm | 4b - NL Hold'em Deepstack Flight B | $300 |
| *Sat | 5/2 - 5:15pm | 4c - NL Hold'em Deepstack Flight C | $300 |
| Sat | 5/2 - 7:15pm | 6 - No Limit ($3,000 Guarantee) | $125 |
| Sun | 5/3 - 11:15am | 7 - Seniors No Limit (age 50 & older) | $235 |
| Sun | 5/3 - 12pm | Merge/Restart Flights | - |
| *Sun | 5/3 - 3:15pm | 8 - NL Hold'em Deepstack | $300 |
| Sun | 5/3 - 7:15pm | 9 - No Limit ($3,000 Guarantee) | $125 |
| Mon | 5/4 - 12:15pm | 10 - Satellite (Guaranteed Seat to Event #11) | $70 |
| *Mon | 5/4 - 3:15pm | 11 - NL Hold'em Deepstack | $235 |
| Mon | 5/4 - 7:15pm | 12 - No Limit ($3,000 Guarantee) | $125 |
| Tue | 5/5 - 12:15pm | 13 - Satellite (Guaranteed Seat to Event #14) | $70 |
| *Tue | 5/5 - 3:15pm | 14 - Pot Limit Omaha Hi-Lo | $235 |
| Tue | 5/5 - 7:15pm | 15 - No Limit Hold'em Bounty - Green Chip | $125 |
| Wed | 5/6 - 12:15pm | 16 - Satellite (Guaranteed Seat to Event #17) | $70 |
| *Wed | 5/6 - 3:15pm | 17 - NL Hold'em Deepstack | $235 |
| Wed | 5/6 - 7:15pm | 18 - No Limit ($3,000 Guarantee) | $125 |
| *Thu | 5/7 - 12:15pm | 19a - NL Hold'em Deepstack Flight A | $300 |
| *Thu | 5/7 - 5:15pm | 19b - NL Hold'em Deepstack Flight B | $300 |
| Thu | 5/7 - 7:15pm | 20 - No Limit ($3,000 Guarantee) | $125 |
| Fri | 5/8 - 12pm | Merge/Restart Flights | - |
| *Fri | 5/8 - 1:15pm | 21 - NL Hold'em Deepstack | $300 |
| Fri | 5/8 - 4:15pm | 22 - Mega Satellite (Main Event Seat GTD) | $235 |
| Fri | 5/8 - 7:15pm | 23 - Mega Satellite (Main Event Seat GTD) | $235 |
| Fri | 5/8 - 10:15pm | 24 - Turbo Satellite (Main Event Seat GTD) | $125 |
| Sat | 5/9 - 10:15am | 25 - Turbo Satellite (Main Event Seat GTD) | $125 |
| *Sat | 5/9 - 12pm | 26 - HPO REGIONAL MAIN EVENT | $1,115 |
| Sat | 5/9 - 2:15pm | 27 - Last Chance Turbo Satellite (Main Event Seat GTD) | $235 |
| Sat | 5/9 - 5:15pm | 28 - Ladies No Limit Hold'em | $235 |
| Sat | 5/9 - 7:15pm | 29 - No Limit ($3,000 Guarantee) | $125 |
| Sun | 5/10 - 12pm | Main Event Restart | - |
| Sun | 5/10 - 11:15am | 30 - Seniors No Limit 2 (age 50 & older) | $235 |
| *Sun | 5/10 - 3:15pm | 31 - NL Hold'em Deepstack | $235 |
For more on Season 3 of the Hollywood Poker Open, visit HollywoodPokerOpen.com. Also, check out this HPO video featuring Moneymaker:
Want to stay atop all the latest in the poker world? If so, make sure to get PokerNews updates on your social media outlets. Follow us on Twitter and find us on both Facebook and Google+!
