HPO Championship Main Event Day 1 | 2014 Hollywood Poker Open Championship Event

06-28-2014 02:13 UTC-7

Tommie Janssen leads after Day 1 of the HPO Championship Event 2014

Christian Zetzsche

Level 11 : 600/1,200, 100 ante

It was a record-setting day at the 2014 Hollywood Poker Open Championship Event at M Resort Spa Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada, as 692 entries created a staggering prize pool of $1,560,460. At the end of the day, it was Tommie Janssen who held the chip lead with 287,100 in chips and 233 players advanced to Day 2.

Others with big stacks looking to take home the $351,097 first-place prize include Ronald Carroccio (257,100), Julio De la Rosa (242,300), Jason Smith (233,400), Tripp Kirk (214,800), Steve Zell (213,000), Ryan Tepen (198,400), David Aldridge (198,000), David Martirosyan (194,900), Toby Matthews (193,000) and Andy Spears (183,400).

There were plenty of notables that survived the day and will return tomorrow at noon looking to be one of the 63 players that make the money. Some of the big names that still have that shot are David Paredes (147,600), Ravi Raghavan (133,500), Ryan D'Angelo (125,100), Justin Pechie (122,000), Simon Deadman (122,000), Lee Childs (104,000), Mike Sowers (102,100), Niall Farrell (101,400), Greg Ostrander (77,400), Liv Boeree (75,000), Ami Barer (72,000), Calvin Anderson (71,200), Justin Young (65,700), Jesse Sylvia (65,200), Michael Tureniec (51,200), Jordan Morgan (44,800), Andrew Lichtenberger (43,400), Jonathan Little (33,700), and Darya Hulyk (30,100).

On the flip side of the coin, there were just as many that left disappointed as they were eliminated at some point in the day. Those falling short included HPO ambassador Chris Moneymaker, Lauren Kling, Jacob Bazeley, David Tuthill, Amit Makhija, Jared Jaffee, Aaron Massey, Guillaume Darcourt, and 2013 November Niner Michiel Brummelhuis.

The players will return at noon on Saturday and PokerNews will be there to bring you all the coverage from start to finish. Tune in to see who moves forward to Day 3, who makes the money, and who comes up empty handed.

All those that run out of chips early can also participate in a $1,800 Pot-Limit Omaha event as of 2 p.m. Las Vegas time with 12,000 chips as starting stack, six levels of late registration, and optional reentries.

Tags: Tommie Janssen

06-28-2014 01:08 UTC-7

Great Staff, Great Structure, Great People

[user272102]

Level 11 : 600/1,200, 100 ante

HPO Logo

Walking around today it has been evident that people have been enjoying their experience here at the HPO Championship Main Event. PokerNews asked a few players their thoughts on their experience here today:

Darryl Fish: "It's a great tournament with a great structure."

Greg Ostrander: "Love it. Only concern I have is getting a ride back to the Strip at the end of the night." (note - we mentioned this to Tournament Director Bill Bruce afterwards and he said "great point" and immediately got on the phone to take care of it)

Jordan Morgan: "I really like it. The structure gives you lots of play and the venue is nice."

Justin Young: "The floor and dealers are great. The people are great. Everyone has such a positive attitude coming in and that's so rare to see at this point in the summer."

Lee Childs: "The one thing I've noticed today is that there have been almost no floor calls. That just doesn't happen. It's everything you'd expect from Bill Bruce and his crew. They make a huge difference. The HPO does the little things that make a huge difference. Things like shout outs to players and thanking players for taking part in the event. Not just professionals either, they do it for everyone. Nobody else does that and it makes you want to play these events."

Tags: Darryll Fish Greg Ostrander Justin Young Lee Childs

06-27-2014 12:59 UTC-7

Regional Champs in the House

[user272102]

Level 1 : 50/100, 0 ante

Four of the winners of the HPO Regional Championships are here going for the big money:

Toby Mathews - won the Tunica, MS event
Mark Weisser - won the Lawrenceburg, IN event
Chris Moneymaker - the ambassador to the HPO won the St. Louis, MO event
Joey Couden - won the Columbus, OH event
Bradley Yazicki - won the Grantville, PA event
Brian Cavaliere - won the Charles Town, WV event

Player	Chips	Progress
Bradley Yazicki	25,000	25,000
Brian Cavaliere	25,000	25,000
Mark Weisser	25,000	25,000
Toby Mathews	25,000	25,000
Joseph Couden	25,000	25,000
Chris Moneymaker	25,000	25,000

06-27-2014 11:46 UTC-7

HPO Championship Event Set to Kick Off

[user272102]

The 2014 Hollywood Poker Open Championship Main Event will be getting underway shortly at the beautiful M Resort Spa Casino Milan Grand Ballroom. They are expecting a huge turnout and are hoping to top the 600-plus entrants they had in 2013 for their Championship Event. Last year it would be Ana Marquez who would emerge as the winner. She would collect $320,189 for her win. Her win was not an easy one as she outlasted a tough final table that included Max Greenwood, Sam Stein, Ramzi Jelassi, Kory Kilpatrick, and eventual runner-up Ryan Tepen.

It's what many might consider a "soft" field as over 200 entrants will have won their way in through regional qualifiers. Tournament Director Bill Bruce is expecting a larger field and prize pool than last year and some of the names that made their way here last year are expected to return. Among those names were the likes of Tony Dunst, Griffin Benger, Allen Kessler, David Tuthill, Kyle Cartwright, Lee Childs, Jonathan Little, John Dolan, Tim West, Tony Cousineau, Bryan Devonshire, Matt Brady, Chance Kornuth, Kevin Saul, Owen Crowe, Aaron Massey, Joe Kuether, Billy Kopp, Brian Lemke, Justin Zaki and Ravi Raghavan.

Cards will be in the air in approximately 15 minutes. PokerNews will he here throughout the next three days providing start-to-finish coverage of this Championship Event. Tune in to find out who the next HPO Champion is!

Tags: Aaron Massey Allen Kessler Ana Marquez Kevin Saul Kyle Cartwright Lee Childs Tony Cousineau Tony Dunst