Anyone ever go to an HPT event? I've never been to one, and this is the first time I'm traveling to a place other than Vegas, AC or CT to play in a poker tournament.

Anyone have any feedback on what to expect? From searching this forum, it looks like the one at Westgate had some shadiness go on.

And anyone know when a schedule should be posted?

I've played in 3 hpt events in colorado. I have satellited into each one. There are usually 2 different levels of sattys...a smaller buyin one for I believe 180 that gives out a seat to 5% of the field and then a satty for 360 ( might be 380 now) that awards seats to 20% of the field. I've never had any problems, but there were stories awhile back of money missing from the prize pools at some hpt stops. You would have to do a search here to find out more.

The event is not in Denver but in Blackhawk which is a small town in the foothills about an hour west of Denver. There are hotels in blackhawk. There are also cash games available, but they are 2-100 spread limit, though at 1-2 stakes it plays basically like NL. There is also a 30-60 limit game that runs a lot, sometimes a 50-100 limit game and a 2-5 omaha hi lo ($100 max bet).

The turn out is decent. Usually 400+ runners in each hpt event. There are a lot of sattys. Its held at the golden gates casino. The casino itself is small, but the poker room is decent size. They do ok running it. They are here 3x per year along with mspt.

I'm HPT's Marketing Manager. I can help out with some info. Colorado is a good choice for your first HPT event. It's my favorite stop because I enjoy hiking and skiing and because the fields are always big. The views from 8,000 ft in the Rockies are pretty awesome. Golden Gates doesn't have a hotel but Ameristar across the street has very nice rooms. Gates has a small poker room (15 tables) but the staff do a good job and they added an overflow room with 4-5 extra tables that they you on an as needed basis.

As SoundSpeed mentioned, there are plenty of satellite opportunities if you're wanting to play your way in to the $1,100 Main Event. There's a $135 that awards a seat to 1 in 10 players. There are $260s almost every day that award a seat to 1 in 5. And there's a $415 near the end of the series that gives a seat to 1 in 3.

Our February and September events at Golden Gates usually hit $1M or get close but those are $1,650s. I'd guess this month's event will have 500-600 entries for the Main. So, somewhere around a $500-600k pool. The general consensus is that Golden Gates gets the tournaments and Ameristar across the street gets the cash games. When we were there in February I think the BBJ at Ameristar was close to a milly.

If there's anything else I can help out with, let me know. Introduce yourself when you get in and I'll set you up with some HPT gear.