PAST CHAMP TAKES ONE DOWN

Golden Gates Casino has been a staple on the HPT schedule for over a decade but it wasn't until July of 2016 that HPT had its first $1,100 Main Event in Black Hawk. The winner of that event was Boulder, Colorado's Thomas Fuller. The school teacher took home $116k for that title.

Fuller took his seat today at the start of Flight A. Just a minute ago he found himself in a 5-way pot with  on the flop. All five players checked.

All five players checked the  turn as well. The river brought the  and Fuller led out with 4k into the 3k pot. Connie Bruce was his only caller.

Fuller showed the  for the rivered straight and that was good to win the pot and get him back above starting stack. Bruce was off to a good start so the lost pot was merely a dent in her stack.

Thomas Fuller - 35,000
Connie Bruce - 68,000

Level: 2 (16:00)
Blinds: 100/200
Entries: 62

JUNEK LOSES A POT EARLY ON

We walked up to Table 6 to see Patty Junek and Bruce Carter (pictured) heads up with a flop of . Patty fired out a small bet and Carter called.

The turn came  and Junek continued with two yellow 1k chips. Carter called again.

The river brought a second jack to the board, the . Junek once again bet 2k. Carter thought for a few seconds before raising to 10k. Junek did not look happy but she did make the call.

Carter showed the  for rivered trips. Junek turned over two queens.

Bruce Carter - 47,000
Patty Junek - 15,000

Level: 2 (34:27)
Blinds: 100/200
Entries: 59

POY LEADER IN THE HOUSE

Minnesota's Aaron Johnson has had some great results already in 2018. He's managed 20 cashes, including two wins, for nearly a quarter of a million dollars in earnings. One of his two victories came with HPT at Belterra Casino Resort back in March for a $86,189 score. He followed that up with another final table appearance at the Ameristar East Chicago event in May.

Those two results were good enough to catapult Johnson to the lead in the current Player of the Year race. The current HPT season comes to a conclusion with the $2,500 Chicagoland event in mid-November. You can check out the complete list of current POY standings by clicking HERE. Impressively, Johnson is also the current POY leader with MSPT.

Johnson is seated for Flight A today at Golden Gates. We'll keep an eye on his progress throughout the day.

Blinds: 100/100
Entries: 50

POKER AT 8,500 FEET

The Golden Gates staff has made the opening announcements and cards are in the air for Flight A of the HPT $1,100 Main Event in the Rocky Mountains. Players in today's field will play fifteen 40-minute levels or until 13% of the field remains, whichever comes first.

The Bravo clock shows 47 entries at the start of Level 1 with several notables already seated at their tables with their 30,000 stacks in front of them. Keep it locked here all day for the latest. Tweet @HPTUpdates or @HPTKorey to interact with the blogging.

Blinds: 100/100
Entries: 47

$1,100 Main Event in Colorado Kicks Off Today

The current series at Golden Gates Casino & Poker Parlour is already in full swing. The opening $400 event last weekend drew 832 entries, Monday's $300 Seniors NLH saw 227 participants, and attendance in qualifiers for the Main Event has been high all week.

Today marks the start of the highlight of the series, the $1,100 Main Event. The first of four flights is set to kick off at 12:00pm Mountain Time. Players will begin the tournament with the usual 30,000 starting stack and blinds are set at 40 minutes. Late registration will be open until the start of Level 10 right after dinner break or roughly 7:30pm. Once players return from dinner they'll continue play until they complete 15 full levels or reach 13% of the field, whichever comes first. Click HERE for a look at the full tournament structure.

This tournament features the increasingly popular Big Blind Ante format. Historically, when players reach the ante stages of the tournament each of them posts their own ante. With this new format, the small blind and big blind will post the usual blinds but the big blind position will also post antes for the entire table. The ante amount is equivalent to the big blind.

Golden Gates has long been one of the more popular stops on the HPT schedule. Millions of dollars in prize pool money have been awarded here in Black Hawk over the years. Last July, this event had 606 total entries for a prize pool of $587,820. Shane Faulk (pictured)

topped the field and took home $132,262 for the win.

Flights B, C, and D are at noon on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday. Those players that make it through their respective flights will be combined for Day 2 action on Sunday. The remaining field will then play down to the final nine who will return for the filming of the final table Monday afternoon. That table will be streamed on a short delay at twitch.tv/hptpoker. In addition to prize money, Monday's winner will take home a custom Citizen Eco-Drive watch for their efforts.

Players are encouraged to follow the action through our blog all weekend long at HPTupdates.com. Feel free to tweet your stack and table position to @HPTupdates or @HPTKorey to be included in the updates.