When COVID-19 began pulling live poker apart, limb from limb, Cary Katz and Rob Yong sat by their fireplaces, toasted some marshmallows, and tried to figure out a response.
What a response it was.
Poker Central didn’t burrow like a sandworm; it partnered with partypoker to create a 30-event series, with buy-ins ranging between $10,000 and $50,000 – the Poker Masters Online was born.
The first three events are in the bag.
We saw some new names, some old names, and even a hint of nostalgia.
Event #1: $25,500 No-Limit Hold’em (NLHE) attracted 55-entrants, created a $1,375,000 prize pool, and Elias Talvitie banked the $481,250 first prize.
You don’t often see the Finnish star standing on the top of a tournament podium of this magnitude, but he did finish 13/110 in the $50,000 NLHE High Roller during the World Series of Poker (WSOP) last summer.
Talvitie had to do it the hard way, with a legion of high stakes tournament regs ready and waiting to ambush him at every opportunity, but do it he did.
Here are the results.
Event #1: $25,500 buy-in NLHE
Results
- Elias Talvitie – $481,250 (289 pts)
- Sergi Reixach – $323,125 (194)
- Ole Schemion – $206,125 (124)
- Sam Greenwood – $123,750 (74)
- Michael Addamo – $96,250 (58)
- Chris Hunichen – $$79,063 (47)
- Juan Pardo Dominguez – $63,313 (38)
Tobias Zeigler Wins Event #2: $10,000 Pot-Limit Omaha (PLO)
Fifty-five stuck, as once again it became the entrant number, this time in Event #2: $10,000 PLO.
Tobias Zeigler won the $192,249 first prize after beating UK legend of the felt, James Akenhead. The man who once graced the WSOP and World Series of Poker Europe (WSOPE) Main Event Final Tables in the same year, is not a regular fixture in poker write-ups these days but rolled back the years to pick up his biggest tournament score since winning the Poker Million in 2009.
Here are the results.
Results
- Tobias Zeigler – $192,249 (192)
- James Akenhead – $123,750 (124)
- Espen Myrmo – $66,000 (66)
- Matt Kirk – $49,500 (50)
- Ola Amundsgaard – $35,750 (36)
- Kai Lehto – $24,750 (25)
- Robinson Morales – $20,000 (20)
- Sam Trickett – $20,000 (20)
- Jukka Paloniemi – $20,000 (20)
Alex Foxen Wins Event #3: $10,000 NLHE
The third event attracted 99-entrants, and because of that vast field size, Alex Foxen takes the overnight lead in the Championship standings courtesy of his victory.
Then Global Poker Index (GPI) World #1 defeated a host of live tournament heroes, and online wizards, to claim the $309,677 first prize, defeating Artur Martirosian in heads-up competition. Foxen has now earned more than $6m playing online tournaments, and this is his most substantial score to date in that format.
Here are the results.
Results
- Alex Foxen – $309,677 (310)
- Artur Martirosian – $193,050 (193)
- Adrian Mateos – $118,800 (119)
- Conor Beresford – $86,625 (87)
- Timothy Adams – $61,875 (62)
- Ali Imsirovic – $42,075 (42)
- Wiktor Malinowski – $32,175 (32)
- Juan Pardo Dominguez – $32,175 (32)
- Chris Hunichen – $32,175 (32)
- Justin Bonomo – $27,124 (27)
- Mohsin Charania – $27,124 (27)
- Elio Fox – $27,124 (27)
If the malignant and maligned COVID-19 thought it would kill high stakes poker, it didn’t take partypoker into account. Yes, you’re more likely to get a vegan to eat a Hollands meat and potato pie than see a live tournament placing its head above the parapet, but poker evolves.
Online poker rooms have hosted high stakes poker tournaments before, but nothing like the Poker Masters. If all goes well, and the early prognosis is better than envisaged, then this could be a new alternative for high stakes players looking for a safe and secure way to make a few million bucks.
Poker Masters Online Championship Standings
- Alex Foxen – $309,677 (310 pts)
- Elias Talvitie – $481,250 (289)
- Sergi Reixach – $323,125 (194)
- Artur Martirosian – $193,050 (193)
- Tobias Ziegler – $192,249 (192)