As the PokerStars Spring Championship of Online Poker (SCOOP) nears its expiration date, it refuses to wilt like a dehydrated sunflower, preferring to dole out a few more exciting plotlines.
Andrew Pantling is one of the most exciting amateurs in the high stakes asylum, and when he flicks it in on PokerStars, he does so under the guise of ‘ClockWyze.’
He’s not bad, either.
The Canadian businessman saw his name etched into the winner’s plaque of Event #97: $5,200 Pot Limit Omaha Main Event 2nd Chance. Pantling defeated 167-entrants over two days to claim the $169,239 first prize. Noah ‘Exclusive’ Boeken chalked up a third-place finish a week after winning the $1,050 8-Game title.
21-players made it through to the second day, and amongst the 19 players who finished in the money were online high stakes titans Joao ‘Naza114’ Vieira and Andras ‘probirs’ Nemeth.
Here are the results.
Results
Andrew ‘ClockWyze’ Pantling – $169,239
Zumbapoker – $128,814
Noah ‘Exclusive’ Boeken – $98,045
Chun Lei ‘SamRostan’ Zhou – $74,625
Konstantin ‘krakukra’ Maslak – $56,800
Argentin-GOd – $43,232
Espen ‘locomo’ Myrmo – $35,061
Andrey’ anjeyyy’ Novak Leads a Star-Studded $5,200 Main Event Second Chance Final Table.
There is a golden fresh butter hue about the final table of the $5,200 Main Event Second Chance. The $5,200 buy-in attracted 465-entrants, and nine remain in the hunt for the $416,472 first prize.
Andrey’ Anjeyyy’ Novak leads the way, but there are two incredible and incredibly hot players snapping at his heels. Pascal ‘Pass_72’ Lefrancois recently took down a $10,300 side event at the Super High Roller Bowl (SHRB) Online Series on partypoker, as well as winning a million dollars during the Poker Masters Online Series. Timothy ‘Tim0thee’ Adams also featured heavily in the Poker Masters cashing a record 13-times, winning one event, and finishing four grand below a million in gross profits.
Daniel Dvoress has taken the lead in the Super High Roller Bowl (SHRB) Online Series hosted by partypoker. The Canadian star finished sixth in Event #2: $25,500 for slightly better than a min-cash, before marching on to take the top prize in Event #5: $25,500 No-Limit Hold’em for $613,986.70.
The Canadian’s online win arrives after an impressive rash of live results that began at the Triton Poker Super High Roller Series in Montenegro (May 2019) and culminated in winning the SHRB in the Bahamas for $4m in Nov.
Dvoress is one of the 18-players to have finished in the money (ITM) in two events, and included in that two-digit number are Alex Foxen, Dan Smith and Nick Petrangelo. The American trio featured in two of the three events that finished on this day in question with Foxen coming out slightly ahead of Smith in the money earned stakes.
Outside of Dvoress, there were wins for Mikalai Vaskaboinikau and Pascal LeFrancois.
Vaskaboinikau is a high stakes reg on the European Poker Tour (EPT) circuit and finished 5/69 in 2018 €50,000 No Limit Hold’em at EPT Barcelona to record the most substantial live score of his career (€267,800). The Belarusian conquered a field of 106-entrants to win the $293,090 first prize in Event #4: $10,300 No Limit Hold’em.
Vaskaboinikau defeated Kristen Bicknell, heads-up, to collect the win, and her beau Foxen finished fifth. The 2020 Poker Masters Online Champion, Alexandros Kolonias, finished third.
LeFrancois took down the 83-entrant $10,300 No Limit Hold’em Six-Max after beating Foxen, heads-up for the title. The French-Canadian finished ITM six-times during the 2020 Poker Masters Online, winning two events, and accumulating more than a million bucks in gross revenue. Hence, he’s a flame thrower, right now.
Here are the results in full.
Mikalai Vaskaboinikau Wins Event #4: $10,300 No Limit Hold’em
106-entrants
Results
Mikalai Vaskaboinikau – $293,090
Kristen Bicknell – $185,500
Alexandros Kolonias – $127,200
Darren Goh – $91,160
Alex Foxen – $66,250
George Wolff – $43,990
Daniel Dvoress Wins Event #5: $25,500 No Limit Hold’em
71-entrants
Results
Daniel Dvoress – $613,986.70
Andras Nemeth – $399,375
Fedor Holz – $213,000
Mikita Badziakouski – $159,750
Dan Smith – $115,375
Nick Petrangelo – $79,875
Pascal LeFrancois Wins Event #5 $10,300 No Limit Hold’em Six-Max
83-entrants
Results
Pascal Lefrancois – $259,628.98
Alex Foxen – $161,850
Dan Smith – $99,600
Nick Petrangelo – $72,625
Samuel Vousen – $51,876
Chris Hunichen – $35,275
Another round-up from the world of PokerStars and their Spring Championships of Online Poker (SCOOP), and Dominik ‘Bounatirou’ Nitsche has won his first-ever title.
The four-time World Series of Poker (WSOP) bracelet winner, and World Poker Tour (WPT) Champions Club member, is now a SCOOP Champ after winning the 956-entrant Event #87: $530 No Limit Hold’em.
Nitsche has earned more than $5.8m playing online multi-table tournaments (MTTs) through more than 100 victories, and this ranks as his fourth most substantial score. His personal best remains the $188,139.58 earned for finishing 5/90 in a $25,000 No Limit Hold’em event during last year’s World Championships of Online Poker (WCOOP).
Known more for his live exploits, the ‘DTO Poker’ creator currently ranks number 2 in the German online poker rankings on PocketFives behind ‘nilsef.’
Here are the results.
Results
Dominik ‘Bounatirou’ Nitsche – $82,365.40
Geokarak – $58,712.90
tdr01 – $41,852.60
Easterdamn – $29,834.00
Sektor17 – $21,266.70
RUMUKULUS – $15,159.65
boerni21 – $10,806.35
PSMozak – $7,703.15
MarioKJ – $5,491.05
Patrick Leonard Wins Another One
Moving swiftly on from the German #2 to the World #3, and Patrick ‘pads1161’ Leonard has been handing out more black eyes than Iron Mike Tyson these past few weeks.
Less than a fortnight ago, Leonard bested a 117-entrant field to collect the $52,605.66 first prize in Event #53: $2,100 Pot Limit Omaha 6-Max, and over the weekend he collected his second title of the series, beating a 460-entrant field in Event #93: $215 No Limit Hold’em Turbo w Rebuys. Leonard earned $41,808.65 for the win. Andras ‘probirs’ Nemeth finished fourth.
Let’s not forget that sandwiched between those two titles came a $1.6m score on GGPoker.
Here are the results.
Patrick ‘pads1161’ Leonard – $41,808.65
julioassp – $30,124.96
88IG8OSS – $21,706.55
Andras ‘probirs’ Nemeth – $15,640.67
Nelisschuif7 – $11,269.87
mararthur1 – $8,120.51
MiracleQ – $5,851.24
TheLipoFund – $4,216.12
There was a time each spring when Jason Mercier would lock himself in his man cave and terrorise the world of online poker. The former PokerStars Team Pro has five Spring Championships of Online Poker (SCOOP) titles to his name and won the 2015 SCOOP Player of the Year award.
These days, the 33-year-old, former Global Poker Index (GPI) World #1, spends most of his time being a husband and father. But even high stakes poker players have to pay the bills.
Over the weekend, Mercier flicked in his $10,300 in Event #46: Pot Limit Omaha High Roller, and conquered the field of 101-entrants to claim the $279,265 first prize.
It was an intense final table, combining crushers old and new with Mercier defeating Linus Loeliger, heads-up. Viktor Blom finished third, and the former PocketFives World #1, Yuri Dzivielevski, finished fourth.
Here are the results.
Results
Jason Mercier – $279,265
Linus Loeliger – $176,750
Viktor Blom – $121,200
Yuri Dzivielevski – $86,860
Andras Torberg – $63,125
John O’Shea – $41,915
Niklas Åstedt Wins His Second WPT Online Championship Title
He may not be the PocketFives World #1, right now, but how long that remains fact is under severe scrutiny.
As Conor ‘1_conor_b_1’ Beresford replaced Niklas ‘lena900’ Åstedt at the top of the online multi-table tournament (MTT) world rankings, the Swedish star rebounded by collecting his second triumph of the WPT Online Championship series.
Åstedt defeated a field of 320-entrants in Event #49: Mini: $215 PLO Knockout Six-Max, including the talented Javier Zarco, heads-up, for the top prize of $5,282.98 and $6,219.54 in bounties.
The Swede’s previous WPT Online Championships title came in Event #15: $1,050 Weekender beating 125-entrants to the $174,751.50 purse.
Here are the results of his most latest win.
Results
Niklas Astedt – $5,282.98 + $6,219.54 in bounties
Javier Zarco – $5,276.32 + $3,032.03 in bounties
Tomas Geleziunas – $3,808.18 + $1,545.31 in bounties
Danil Karavaev – $2,769.58 + $1,656.25 in bounties
Andres Ojeda – $1,904.09 + $1,034.37 in bounties
Li Zhang – $1,384.79 + $1,131.25 in bounties
Pablo Brita Silva on the Podium Again
How long will it be before we see Pablo Brito Silva taking a frequent seat in the highest stakes games in the world?
I don’t know if he’s been practising transcendental meditation, eating more Brussel sprouts or running a marathon a day, but whatever it is, it’s working.
Silva is having an incredible year.
In February he won the MILLIONS South America Main Event for $1m. He then won the inaugural Irish Open Online for $504,777 before coming second in the SCOOP Main Event [H] for $764,941.51.
Now he has a WPT Online Championships title to his name,
Silva vanquished 170-entrants in Event #50: $530 6-Max Turbo, and will hope that Ikea has a decent social distancing policy as he ventures in to find a bigger trophy cabinet.
Here are the results.
Results
Pablo Brito Silva – $21,170.64
Martin Gaudreault Remillard – $13,600
Fabio Sperling – $9,562.50
Ankush Mandavia – $6,927.50
Arnaud Enselme – $5,100
Linus Thor – $3,400
The PokerStars Player’s No Limit Hold’em Championship (PSPC) pierced the retinas of the poker people like a fierce ray of sunlight when it broke all records for a $25,000 event in 2018 (it beat the Triton Million for the Global Poker Award of Tournament of the Year). The PSPC became a sunset depiction of everything right with poker, a divergent theme at the time, and for PokerStars’ reputation in particular.
The $25,000 buy-in event attracted 1,039 entrants, 320 of whom qualified for the event via a Platinum Pass (a freeroll), one of whom was the event’s eventual winner, Ramón Colillas, who collected $5.1m and a PokerStars sponsorship for finding the temperament needed to win such a colossus competition.
After turning their sketch into a Renoir, PokerStars had a problem.
How do you follow-up?
At the back end of 2019, we had the answer.
PokerStars would hold a second PSPC, giving away another 320 Platinum Passes, only this time Barcelona would play hosts, not the Bahamas.
The Pandemic Hits
One month after Caesars Entertainment postponed the World Series of Poker (WSOP), PokerStars has done the same with the PSPC and the European Poker Tour (EPT) Barcelona.
PokerStars has pushed both events northwards to 2021 territory. In a show of good faith, the organisers will add a further 80 Platinum Passes to bring the total number of free rollers to 400.
The success of the inaugural PSPC came down mainly to the hard work of the PokerStars marketing teams. A pandemic cuts the artery of any repeat of those scintillating 12-months. Still, the whole feel of the second PSPC up until Covid-19 has been tepid.
Let’s hope that with the added value of 40-more Platinum Passes, PokerStars can inject more passion into this incredibly promising opportunity once we’re feeling safe to step outside of our front door for anything more than grabbing a bottle of almond milk.
“We realise that this news will come as a disappointment to many, but we know you will understand and appreciate why this is necessary,” Severin Rasset wrote on the PokerStars blog. “Our priority is the safety and good health of all our players and staff, as well as the communities that host such large events.”
The PSPC and EPT Barcelona are not the only Pokerstars events to go the way of a beard in West Point. The Road to PSPC Cannes, Road to PSPC Madrid and the Torrelodones, and 14 stops of the Manilla Super Series have also been swept into a pan heading for the trashcan.
Poker peasants make way for poker players with princely purses as Poker Central partners with partypoker for the 2020 Super High Roller Bowl Online.
The series lands on your laptops an olive pip away from the Poker Masters Online (a 30-event series that raised more than $35m in prize money and resulted in a snazzy purple jacket winging it’s way to the ramparts of Alexandros Kolonias).
The 28-event series runs from May 23 – June 1, and there is at least $20m GTD in prize money up for grabs. The plan is to create a leaderboard for the preliminary events with the winner earning a seat into the $100,000 buy-in Super High Roller Bowl (SHRB) Online, and the chance for one of the most vivid poker vacations of ones’ life.
PokerGO will stream ten of the final tables, including the SHRB Finale, on their OTT subscription service.
Chris Hunichen has started the series like a bull in a china shop smashing apart the 54-entrant field in Event #2: $25,500 Super High Roller. With more than $13m in online multi-table tournament (MTT) winnings, ‘Big Huni’ is one of the most successful online poker players in history, and in 2015 he reached the summit of the PocketFives World Rankings.
The $479,250 purse is Hunichen’s second most substantial of his career after finishing third in the 2018 Spring Championships of Online Poker (SCOOP) $10,300 Main Event on PokerStars for $618,943.63.
Hunichen defeated Viktor Blom, heads-up, for the title. My spell checker wishes to change ‘Blom’ for ‘Boom’, and the Swede recently ‘boomed’ his way into a third-place finish in the World Poker Tour (WPT) Online Championships $10,300 Pot Limit Omaha, also on partypoker.
Three people recorded multiple in the money (ITM) finishes throughout the first three events, and all of them have Spanish blood running through their veins.
Sergi Reixach took down Event #3: $10,300 High Roller beating 59-entrants to claim the $191,750 first prize, and also finished fifth in Event #1: $10,300 High Roller (Jans Arends topped the 76-entrant field).
Vicent Bosca Ramon finished fourth in Event #2: $25,500 Super High Roller for $131,625, and finished in the same position in Event #3: $10,300 High Roller for $54,575.
Juan Pardo Dominguez finished seventh in Event #1: $10,300 High Roller for $34,200, and fifth in Event #3: $10,300 High Roller for $42,775.
Here are the results in full.
Jans Arends Wins Event #: $10,300 High Roller
76 entrants
Results
Jans Arends – $216,600
Benjamin Heath – $148,200
Alex Foxen – $102,600
Jake Schindler – $68,400
Sergi Reixach – $53,200
Niklas Astedt – $41,800
Juan Pardo Dominguez – $34,200
Christopher Fraser – $26,600
Chris Hunichen Wins Event #2: $25,500 Super High Roller
54-entrants
Results
Christopher Hunichen – $479.250
Viktor Blom – $320,625
Mark Davis – $205,875
Vicent Bosca Ramon – $131,625
Rob Lipkin – $87,750
Daniel Dvoress – $67,500
Timothy Adams – $57,375
Sergi Reixach Wins Event #3: $10,300 High Roller
59-entrants
Results
Sergi Reixach – $191,750
Michael Watson – $129,800
Andras Nemeth – $87,025
Vicent Bosca Ramon – $54,575
Juan Pardo Dominguez – $42,775
John O’ Shea – $33,925
Michael Addamo – $28,025
Jonathan VanFleet – $22,125
With less than 4,000 hands to play, Phil Galfond holds a €271,153.08 lead in his match with ‘ActionFreak,’ after another big win on Day 15 of ‘The Phil Galfond Challenge’.
But before we get there, Day #14 turned out to be a decent outing for ‘ActionFreak,’ winning €61,136.84 over 740 hands booking his fourth win in six sessions.
However, Galfond turned things around in a stunning Day #15 session that saw him net a €167,811.71 profit, the second most substantial win of this series for Galfond, and third in the match overall.
The Action
Big Pot #1: Galfond’s Aces Hold
The action starts with Galfond opening to €900 on the button, ‘Action Freak’ three-bet to €2,700, and then called an €8,100 four-bet in response.
Flop: Jc4s2s
With €16,199 in the pot, ‘ActionFreak’ checked, Galfond bet pot, ‘Action Freak’ moved all-in for €30,722.39, and Galfond quickly called.
Galfond: AsAd9c4h
‘ActionFreak’: AhJh6c5c
Galfond was ahead with his pocket aces, and it remained that way as the board ran out 8s and 8c, missing ‘Action Freak’ completely.
Big Pot #2: Galfond Gets There on the River
We join the action on this one a little late at the party.
We’re at the turn with the board showing Kh9s7hQs, and €21,596 in the middle. First, to act, ‘Action Freak’ bet pot, Galfond moved all-in for €32,778.99, and ‘ActionFreak’ made the call.
Galfond: KcQh9h5s
‘ActionFreak’: QcJsTsTc
‘ActionFreak’ was ahead with the King high straight, and Galfond trailed with KcQh9h5s for top two pair and plenty of draws. The river fell Kd to give Galfond a full house, and an €87,153.98 pot.
Big Pot #3: Galfond Holds
We join the action on a 9d5c3c flop with €5,399 in the pot. ‘ActionFreak’ checked to Galfond, who bet €2,699.50, ‘Action Freak’ check-raised to €13,497.50, Galfond moved all-in for €32,822.82, and ‘ActionFreak’ called.
Galfond: 7c6c5s3d
‘ActionFreak’: AdAh9c2d
This time Galfond was ahead with two pair and the draws. ‘ActionFreak’ had the overpair. The turn and river ran out 7d and Kc, giving Galfond a €71,044.64 pot.
Big Pot #4 Six-Bet All-In
We end with the rarely seen, but delightful six-bet all-in.
Galfond began the craziness with a €900 raise. ‘ActionFreak’ made it €2,700, Galfond made it €8,100, ‘Action Freak’ bumped it up to €24,300, Galfond moved all-in and ‘ActionFreak’ called.
Galfond: AcAsQs9s
‘ActionFreak’: AdQh9d8h
The flop of Ah7c4h handed Galfond a set but also gave ‘ActionFreak’ a flush draw. The turn and river were both red cards, but diamonds and not hearts. Galfond’s hand held for another big pot.
Results
Day 1 – 145 hands – ‘ActionFreak’ wins €11,162.32 Day 2 – 1,107 hands – Phil Galfond wins €3,632.83 Day 3 – 844 hands – Phil Galfond wins €310,594.59 Day 4 – 665 hands – Phil Galfond wins €113,377.48 Day 5 – 680 hands – ‘ActionFreak’ wins €95,304.17 Day 6 – 727 hands – ‘ActionFreak’ wins €74,625.85 Day 7 – 746 hands – Phil Galfond wins €26,980.36 Day 8 – 944 hands – Phil Galfond wins €165,093.85 Day 9 – 721 hands – ‘ActionFreak’ wins €256,044 Day 10 – 776 hands – Phil Galfond wins €19,003.35 Day 11 – 784 hands – ‘ActionFreak’ wins €23,363.64 Day 12 – 710 hands – ‘ActionFreak’ wins €57,580.53 Day 13 – 716 hands – Phil Galfond wins €48,169.76 Day 14 – 740 hands – ActionFreak wins €61,136.84 Day 15 – 833 hands – Phil Galfond wins €167,811.71
Summary
All of that means, Galfond leads ‘ActionFreak’ by €271,153.08 through 11,055 hands. The pair are competing through 15,000 hands of €150/€300 PLO with the winner collected an additional €150,000 in a side bet.
The PokerStars Spring Championships of Online Poker (SCOOP) Main Event triad is at an end, and ‘Alexgirs’ claimed the most substantial amount found anywhere in the world this week and the coveted moniker of a SCOOP Main Event winner.
‘Alexgirs’ earned $870,595.81 after a three-way deal saw him take the lion share of the $2.4m remaining prizepool before going on to win the heads-up duel for a further $50,000.
Pablo’ pabritz’ Brito collected the runner-up purse of $764,941.51, and Brito is a man who is running so hot he’s going to end up in the burns unit if he’s not careful.
In February, Brito won the 465-entrant field in the $10,300 No Limit Hold ’em MILLIONS South America Main Event for $1m, before following that up by winning the 2,945-entrant Irish Open Online for $504,777.
Alex’ dynoalot’ Difelice collected $722,074.96 for finishing third.
The final table contained plenty of heavyweights with Daniel Dvoress, Michael Addamo, Max Silver and Benjamin Rolle all featuring.
Event #74: $10,300 Main Event
609-entrants
Results
Alexgirs – $920,595.81*
Pablo’ pabritz’ Brito – $764,941.51*
Alex ‘dynoalot’ Difelice – $722,074.96*
Pieter ‘XMorphineX’ Aerts – $414,959.81
Daniel’ Oxota’ Dvoress – $303,273.47
Michael ‘imluckbox’ Addamo – $221,647.98
Max ‘goodeh99’ Silver – $161,991.56
Benjamin’ bencb789′ Rolle – $118,392.03
EEE27 – $95,745.15
*Agreed upon a heads-up deal
In Other SCOOP News
Here are the results of the Low and Medium Main Events.
Event #74: (L) $109 Main Event
46,238-entrants
Results
uercan – $371,750.73*
UruRey – $323,656.17*
penguy2 – $270,143.96*
LOL_U_91 – $157,464.89
young_diam18 – $112,245.98
LukeN73 – $80,012.54
GeleiaTrsk – $57,035.49
HellRaiserSB – $40,656.61
marmo07 – $28,981.05
Event #74: (M) $1,050 Main Event
6,475-entrants
Results
Joao ‘ayashiJoão’ Hayashi – $920,066.91
Michael ‘merla888’ Gathy – $655,853.39
luelue399 – $467,515.07
gkamei09 – $333,261.12
WNDRWMN23 – $2237,560.62
Oledjan – $169,340.67
Tydarax – $120,712.13
luckyfish89 – $86,048.21
MpZancan – $61,338.32
Event #79: $1,050 Super Tuesday
The former Global Poker Index (GPI) World #1, Adrian’ Amadi_017′ Mateos took down the Super Tuesday SCOOP title. Mateos overcome a field of 937-entrants to claim the title.
Results
Adrian ‘Amadi_017’ Mateos – $164,397.70
Machadada RS – $118,812.40
BBRS999 – $85,867.20
MCalai – $62,057.40
samuraiUA – $44,849.70
IgorKarkarof – $32,413.50
AnFiieLD. – $23,425.60
DaanOss – $16,930.00
vladxxxro – $13,598.30
Event #80: $10,300 NLHE High Roller
It’s been a great few weeks for Steve’ Mr. Time Caum’ O’Dwyer. The American collected his second SCOOP title in quick succession, after adding the 105-entrant $10,300 High Roller to the $521,598 he earned for winning the $25,000 Super High Roller.
Results
Steve ‘Mr. Tim Caum’ O’Dwyer – $241,956.69
Malaka$tyle – $185,765.68
botteonpoker – $142,624.33
Pass_72 – $109,501.87
PaDiLhA SP – $84,071.61
Jorryt ‘TheCleaner11’ Van Hoof – $64,547.17
Connor ‘blanconegro’ Drinan – $49,557.06
LLinusLLove – $38,048.11
In 2016, after winning his second World Championship of Online Poker (WCOOP) title, Christian ‘Eisenhower1’ Jeppsson gave a phone interview to PokerStars’ Lina Olofsson, where she asked him, “what will you do, ten years from now?”
“Hopefully, I have a family and play poker on a more recreational level. I hope I can stay healthy and enjoy life. Maybe play some golf on a daily basis.”
After winning the $3,200 World Poker Tour (WPT) Online Championships for $923,785.80, that goal starts to look as realistic as it ever has.
The Gothenburg star went into the final table with the chip lead and booked the win after agreeing upon a heads-up deal with Victor Ustimov. With the money side of things pinned down, the pair played on for an additional $10,000 and the title, which Jeppsson won.
The WPT announced in their press release that the 2,122 entrant field is the most substantial in WPT Main Event history, and you assume from that statement that online events will remain a fixture on the WPT calendar. Jeppsson wins a $15,000 seat in the Tournament of Champions, and who knows, if mother nature keeps swinging, he may play that from the sanctity of his home.
I would love to compare this prize with Jeppsson’s other garlands, but he’s a ghost on PocketFives where he once conquered the world for 15-weeks straight in 2015/16. At that time, Jeppsson had accumulated close to $9m in online earnings, making him one of the most successful proponents of this art form in history.
“You feel like you won something more, like a sporting event,” Jeppson told WPT officials after the win. “You have so much adrenaline pumping, and then you won.” That feeling, I can feel. {The money} it’s so hard to take in.”
Get those clubs out, Jeppsson.
Results
Christian Jeppsson – $923,785.80*
Viktor Ustimov – $865.542*
Jukka Koskela – $477,333
Nikolay Ponomarev – $317,583
Alexander Stuart Clark – $221,733
Pascal Hartmann – $151,443
Sam Greenwood – $103,837.50
Pascal Teekens – $66,775.50
*Agreed upon a heads-up deal
In Other WPT News
David Peters defeated David Gent, heads-up, to win Event #43: $10,300 High Roller. The event attracted 101-entrants, and Peters claimed $247,450 for the win. Andras Nemeth finished third.
The former PocketFives World #1, Chris Oliver, topped a 297-entrant field in Event #45: $530 Six-Max Turbo Bounty for $12,505.38 + $15,369.20 in bounties.
The series now moves into WPTDeepStack territory, before ending on May 31.
It’s official.
Joe Rogan is worth more than a musician – to Spotify, at least.
The largest audio platform in the world has inked an exclusive deal with the podcaster, comedian, and MMA host costing them the princely sum of $100m, according to The Wall Street Journal.
For a musician to extract that kind of money from Spotify, you’re talking 23 billion streams.
Podcasts are big business.
Mikita Badziakouski is one of Rogan’s 8 million listeners who will have to switch his allegiance to Spotify if he wants to continue listening to the big man. Badziakouski believes that the podcast world is saturated with content, making it hard to know what’s worth a listen.
“It’s usually best when people share their favourites,” said Badziakouski.
With that in mind, I reached out to 15 high stakes poker players to ask them to share their favourite podcasts so ‘Badz’ doesn’t have to do the hard work.
The Most Popular
1.Joe Rogan – 4
2. Tim Ferriss – 3
3. Joe Ingram – 3
4. Canadaland – 2
5. Naval Ravikant – 2
6. Hardcore History – 2
The Joe Rogan Experience was the most popular. Tim Ferriss also hit the right notes, with Joe Ingram the most popular poker podcast amongst our players. Canadaland hits the charts courtesy of the Greenwood brothers, and both Naval and Dan Carlin also received multiple votes.
A Top Quality Host
Podcasts come in various forms, from monologues to stories, to reviews, to straight-up interviews, and speaking to our high stakes players, the quality of the host is an essential factor when choosing a podcast.
Igor Kurganov likes to listen to podcasts that make him think and loves hosts that ask the questions he wants answers to such as Rob Wilbin on the 80,000 Hours Podcast, or Sean Carroll at Mindscape.
Triton Champion, Michael Soyza, loves the Tim Ferriss show, and that’s partly because of the way that he waves the baton. Soyza is also a fan of Naval Ravikant.
“I like Naval a lot because he is a wise mofo,” said Soyza. “His view of the world is fascinating, and I have had so many mindblown moments when listening to and reading his stuff. He is a smart dude.”
Two more people who appreciate a good host are Seth Davies and Charlie Carrel. Both of whom love the Joe Rogan Experience.
“Joe is an easy guy to listen to and is great at having interesting talks with interesting people,” said Davies.
“I love Joe Rogan,” said Carrel. “He is non-judgmental, and provides a strong, kind, disciplined masculine figure for a lot of young men/boys.”
Top Quality Guests
Unsurprisingly, another critical success factor is the quality of the guests.
“The Joe Rogan Experience is a great platform with interesting talks with interesting people,” said Davies.
Carrel believes Rogan has the ‘best guests’ on his show, and that creates incredible conversations.
Fellow UK high stakes pro, Ben Heath, is a fan of the Tim Ferriss Podcast and highlights another crucial element of the podcast experience, and that’s education.
“I am not a huge listener, but when I do it’s almost always Tim Ferriss, said, Heath. “It’s interesting to listen to people at the top of their respective fields.”
Dan Smith goes one further.
The high stakes star prefers to search for the most exciting guests rather than become an ardent listener to a particular podcast.
How to Listen
We didn’t delve into this topic, but the Greenwood brothers did have a few things to say on the matter. Luc does listen to podcasts when playing, and it’s important to him that he can dip in and out of the conversation while focusing on the game. The Dan Le Batard Show fits this ideal perfectly for him.
“It’s a comedy show focusing on sports and current events,” Greenwood explained. “It’s effortless to listen to, and I can drift in and out while playing poker.”
Brother Sam had a word of warning for people.
“A quick rant on podcasts,” said Greenwood. “Listen to podcasts however you want, but I’d like to be on the record in saying if you are listening to podcasts at 1.5x or 2x speed you are likely sacrificing the pleasure of listening to the podcast for some misguided attempt at efficiency.”
Types of Podcasts
Our 15 high stakes poker players covered the whole gamut of experiences.
Listening to intelligent conversations on interesting topics seemed to be the most common reason to listen to a podcast. Humour featured as a critical success factor, with a humorous host driving that thinking.
Commonly, people had a balance of podcasts covering a range of topics. It was unusual for a player to listen exclusively to sports podcasts, for example. Instead, a player would have a favourite sports podcast, and a favourite thought podcast.
It’s clear that podcasts entertain, but they also improve our players lives in some way, either through knowledge, or emotional connection. History, politics and culture hit a nerve, as did the need to keep up with the news.
Creative podcasts that covered the arts also popped up on the radar, as did more left-field podcasts covering conspiracy stories, for example. The story element of podcasts was a prominent ideal for many.
Three poker podcasts received a mention, all of which have been recipients of the Global Poker Award (GPA) for ‘Podcast of the Year.’ Joe Ingram’s Podcast received the most votes, with Jennifer Shahade’s ‘The Grid’ in the mix, as well as Dave Lappin & Dara O’Kearney, getting a hat tip for ‘The Chip Race.’
The High Stakes Players’ Podcast List
Sean Carroll’s Mindscape Podcast
Sean Carroll hosts conversations with the world’s most exciting thinkers. Science, society, philosophy, culture, arts, and ideas.
On the Conversations with Tyler podcast, esteemed economist Tyler Cowen engages with today’s most underrated thinkers in wide-ranging explorations of their work, the world, and everything in between.
The Observer and other media have called Tim “the Oprah of audio” due to the influence of The Tim Ferriss Show podcast, which is the first business/interview podcast to exceed 100 million downloads. It has now exceeded 400 million downloads.
Naval Ravikant is regarded globally as one of the greatest thinkers and entrepreneurs of this generation. He often shares his insightful views on Mindfulness, Startups, Crypto/Blockchain and more on Twitter. His thoughts have reached massive audiences around the world in the past.
Join host Scott Aukerman for a weekly podcast that blends conversation and character work from today’s funniest comedians. While Scott begins by traditionally interviewing the celebrities, the open-door policy means an assortment of eccentric oddballs can pop by at any moment to chat, compete in games, and engage in comic revelry.
After 25 years at the Late Night desk, Conan realized that the only people at his holiday party are the men and women who work for him.
Over the years and despite thousands of interviews, Conan has never made a real and lasting friendship with any of his celebrity guests. So, he started a podcast to do just that.
Deeper, unboundedly playful, and free from FCC regulations, Conan O’Brien Needs a Friend is a weekly opportunity for Conan to hang out with the people he enjoys most and perhaps find some real friendship along the way.
We’re Greg Wyshynski of ESPN, Sean “Down Goes Brown” McIndoe of The Athletic and Ryan Lambert of Yahoo Sports and this is a hockey podcast, in the sense that we talk about hockey, both on the ice and about fan culture. That’s the “puck.” This is also a podcast about movies, TV, fast food, life lessons and general idiocy. That’s the “soup.” Unless you ordered the minestrone.
The Next Picture Show is a biweekly roundtable examining how classic films inspire and inform modern movies. Hosted and produced by the former editorial team of The Dissolve – Genevieve Koski, Keith Phipps, Tasha Robinson and Scott Tobias – episodes take a deep dive into a classic film and its legacy in part one, then compare and contrast it with a modern successor in part two.
From their enclave in midtown Manhattan, Michael Moynihan (Vice), Matt Welch (Reason), and Kmele Foster (Freethink) dissect the news, interrogate guests, and question just about everything. The topics are broad, the insights are deep, and the jokes are off color. Reform the system, or burn it to the ground? They discuss…
The Joe Rogan Experience is a free audio and video podcast hosted by American comedian, actor, sports commentator, martial artist, and television host, Joe Rogan.
For the past two years, UFC middleweight Champion, Michael Bisping, and stand up comedian, Luis J. Gomez, have hosted a show together on satellite radio. Now they bring their brand of brash, comedic MMA commentary to the podcast world! Believe You Me is a weekly show that gives you a behind the scenes look at the career and life of a UFC champion. Bisping along with his co-host, Gomez, break down MMA news, pop culture stories, and talk parenting, philosophy, and life in general.
How did a multi-hour long show that consists of nothing more than a host talking about history ever become wildly popular? It’s got something to do with Dan Carlin.
He’s been called the king of long-form podcasting and “one of the greatest storytellers in the world”. His distinctive voice and style is one of the most instantly recognizable in the medium and with hundreds of millions of downloads, his shows are some of the most listened to podcasts of all time.
Carlin’s work weaves historical information with deep questions and Twilight Zone-style twists to help illustrate the power and continuing relevance of the past. Drama, extremes, empathy and vivid examples of both the highs and lows of humanity dominate the narrative. It’s a trademark mix of elements that has been entertaining listeners since 2005.
Here you can find all my Poker Life, High Stakes PLO, and Power Poker Podcasts with WCGRIDER/Doug Polk, My PLO episodes I will talk to some of the best players in the PLO world while we break down hand histories. On the Power Poker podcast, WCGRIDER and me team-up. In Poker Life, I talk to different people involved in the poker world and learn more about them!
Chapo Trap House is an American political podcast founded in March 2016 and hosted by Will Menaker, Matt Christman, Felix Biederman, Amber A’Lee Frost, and Virgil Texas.
True Anon
Uncovering the Ep-Files with a weekly podcast @Liz_Franczak
Brace Belden & @YungChomsky
QAnon Anonymous
The QAnon Anonymous Podcast chops & screws the best conspiracy theories of the post-truth era. Your hosts Jake, Julian, and Travis dredge up wild beliefs from online fever swamps, engage QAnon followers in irregular warfare, and trip over deranged historical facts that make conspiracy theories sound sane.
A grab-bag of a podcast, Yeah, But Still does everything from investigative deep-dives into Internet meme culture to off-the-cuff interviews with guests like Chapo Traphouse’s Felix Biederman and Vampire Weekend’s Ezra Koenig.
Tour Kickstarter
Your Kickstarter Sucks. A podcast about terrible ideas. Useless robots, minimalist shoes, and “offensive” card games up to the friggin’ Pope’s stinky eyeballs!
Twitter Genius/Idiot Stefan Heck and comedian John Cullen invite guests on the program to talk about the who and the how of getting blocked on social media. From celebrities to jilted ex-lovers, every block has a story, and we’re here to get to the bottom of it.
Twice a week, Ken Jennings and John Roderick add a new entry to the OMNIBUS, a comprehensive reference work of strange-but-true stories that they are compiling as a time capsule for future generations.
History buff and comedian Dave Anthony was considering starting a new podcast in 2014. His idea was to write up an unknown story from American history and read it to a different comedian each week. Having not heard of the story before, Dave hoped the comedian’s reaction would be hilarious. He gave it a go, and his first guest was comedian Gareth Reynolds. They immediately clicked, and fans flooded social media telling Dave never to change the co-host. And he didn’t.
The GPI Global Poker Award Winning Poker Podcast hosted by David Lappin and Dara O’Kearney, with Ian Simpson and Daragh Davey.
The Poker Grid
The Grid is a 169-episode poker hand scavenger hunt hosted by Jennifer Shahade. Je interviews poker players about dramatic hands they’ve played, aiming to fill out all 169 possible starting poker hands. The Gird won the Global Poker Award for Best Podcast in 2019.
My name is Jay Shetty, and my purpose is to make wisdom go viral. I’m fortunate to have fascinating conversations with the most insightful people in the world, and on my podcast, I’m sharing those conversations with you.
Former NHL vets Ryan Whitney, Paul Bissonnette and Barstool Sports’ Rear Admiral, bring their outspoken and irreverent opinions to the masses. Focusing on the NHL but also touching on pop culture and everything else under the sun.
No Laying Up’s core philosophy is to engage in smart, nuanced discussion around all things golf. In doing so, we feel it our responsibility to be open and honest when called for, but also to inject humour and levity wherever and whenever possible.
Dissect is a serialized music podcast that examines a single album per season, one song per episode. In a world creating and accessing more content than ever before, we’ve quickly become a scrolling culture, hurriedly swiping through this infinite swath of content that seems to replenish without end.
And.
Of.
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The Paul Phua Poker Podcast, available on Spotify, Anchor and YouTube.
I would like to thank the following people for participating in this article.
Igor Kurganov, Michael Soyza, Sam and Luc Greenwood, Danny Tang, Seth Davies, Charlie Carrel, Dan Smith, Michael Addamo, Ben Heath, Steve O’Dwyer, Mikita Badziakouski, Benjamin Pollak, Sosia Jiang and Nick Petrangelo.
