Phil Hellmuth to Defend King of the Hill Poker Title in October

September 19, 2017 Valerie Cross

After a successful, entertaining debut last month, Poker Night in America has announced a return of “King of the Hill,” the $50,000 buy-in winner-take-all heads up challenge streamed live on Twitch.

The second rendition of the uniquely-formatted event will take place on Oct. 6 and 7 at Rivers Casino in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

The Contenders

Phil Hellmuth returns for round two to defend the title and the belt which he won by besting Doug Polk in the single-match first round, and then taking two of three against Daniel “Jungleman” Cates to close it out. Many will recall that final deciding match where Hellmuth mounted an epic comeback against Cates to win the $200,000 cash prize.

To replace Polk, Cates and Frank Kassela this time around are new challengers Olivier Busquet, Shaun Deeb and Parker Talbot, aka “Tonkaaaap.” Hellmuth will have his work cut out for him in this title defense. Talbot is mostly known as an online pro with over $3 million in online earnings, Busquet has live earnings just shy of $8 million including a WPT title and an EPT High Roller title, and Deeb has had plenty of live tournament success as well. The two-time WSOP bracelet winner has more than $2.8 million in cashes to his credit.

These three will have to get through the confident 14-time bracelet winner Hellmuth if they want to pry the title and belt from his grip.

The Details

Hosted by Polk, all the action will be livestreamed on the PNIA Twitch channel on a 30-minute delay. The semi-final round matches will be streamed at 6:30 p.m. EST and approximately 9:30 p.m. EST on Oct. 6, followed by the finals (best of three matches) on Oct. 7 at 6:30 p.m. EST.

Tune in to see if "white magic" will prevail again as some of the top competitors in poker square off to battle for the second King of the Hill title, and follow PokerNews for daily coverage of the event.