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61-entrants breezed through Event #3: $25,000 Short-Deck at partypoker’s MILLIONS Super High Roller Series in Sochi, Russia, and the Asian contingent ran amok with Wai Leong Chan ending up on the throne.

The emergence of the Triton Poker Super High Roller Series has unearthed a few gems, and Chan is becoming one of the most valuable. With 12 in the money (ITM) finishes, Leong is one of the most consistent players on the tour, but he has never won a title. In fact, before a few months ago, you had to stretch back to 2011 to find a Chan win in any event.

It seems Chan’s found the winning formula – play more partypoker events.

In November, Chan won a $25,000 No-Limit Hold ’em and $25,000 Short-Deck event at the partypoker MILLIONS World in the Bahamas. Today, he adds a third partypoker title to his resume with victory in Event #3, and he did so by getting through the formidable figure of the recently crowned Industry Person of the Year, Paul Phua, during heads-up play.

Let’s see how these two incredible poker bosses made it to the end zone.

The Nutshell Action

Final Table Seat Draw

Seat 1: Paul Phua – 2,395,000
Seat 2: Ivan Leow – 725,000
Seat 3: Aaron Van Blarcum – 1,710,000
Seat 4: Thai Ha – 4,705,000
Seat 5: Danny Tang – 2,380,000
Seat 6: Wai Leong Chan – 6,385,000

Short-Deck is one of the most uncertain games in the business, but one thing for sure – there will be more double-ups than chirps of “pieces of eight” from a parrot sitting on the shoulder of a man wearing a patch – the first of which belonged to Ivan Leow. Paul Phua opened with KJo, and then called Leow’s shove with KQo. The best hand held.

That hand saw Phua slip down the chip counts like a pillowcase ready for the washing machine. His next move was to move all-in holding AJo, and he received a caller in the form of Wai Leong Chan holding KJo, and once again the best hand held, this time giving Phua the double-up.

Aaron Van Blarcum is maintaining his fine form in this series, finishing third in the opening event, and sixth in this one. Phua limped into the action holding two red nines, Van Blarcum called with QsTs, Thai Ha raised to 275,000 from the cutoff holding Ad7h, and both limpers called. The dealer dusted Js9c8h onto the flop to give Van Blarcum the nuts, and Phua middle set. Phua led for 500,000, Van Blarcum moved all-in for 1,305,000, Ha folded, and Phua called. Phua needed the board to pair, and that’s what happened on the turn to send Van Blarcum looking for some hot cocoa and digestive biscuits.

Out in fifth was the Natural8 ambassador, Danny Tang.

Ha limped into the action for 80,000 holding Qs9s and folded after Tang shipped it for 1,370,000, holding KdQh, and Phua did likewise with AcQc. The JcJsQc flop missed both hands, and it stayed that way after inconsequential turns and rivers saw Phua take Tang’s scalp with ace-high.

Ivan Leow maintained his impressive form, finishing fourth, one event after finishing second in the $25,000 No-Limit Hold ’em (NLHE). Leow got it in with Phua, but his AcJc was not strong enough to beat the AdQc of his mentor, and Leow went looking for a candlestick to beat someone to death in the library.

Ha fell in third after limp-calling on the button with Jh9h. The flop of Th8s7c handed Ha the nuts, and raiser Chan’s AhKh had a lot of catching up to do. Both players checked. The 6h on the turn gave Chan the nut-flush draw. Ha led for 500,000, and Chan called. The 8h gave both players the flush, all the money went in, and Ha began penning invites to his pity party after the full unveil.

That left two of the most successful Triton players never to win a Triton title to battle it out for the partypoker title. Chan had a 10m v 8m chip lead over Phua that he never relinquished.

The final hand saw Chan put Phua all-in holding KhTc. The Malaysian All-Time Live Tournament Money earner called holding the more impressive looking AJo, but a king on the flop sealed the deal for Chan, leaving Phua with another close but no cigar moment.

ITM Results

  1. Wai Leong Chan – $457,500
  2. Paul Phua – $305,000
  3. Thai Ha – $213,500
  4. Ivan Leow – $152,500
  5. Danny Tang – $122,000
  6. Aaron Van Blarcum – $91,500
  7. Dmitriy Kuzmin – $76,250
  8. Sergey Lebedev – $61,000
  9. Sam Greenwood – $45,750

I love the wren. I love its cuteness, and how it struts its stuff with its erect tail in the air wagging its derriere in your face. Most of all, I love the way it weaves its nest into the bracken, making it almost impossible to spot.

I want that nest.

I want to be a wren.

I want to fly away and shut myself off from the world.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) has declared the Coronavirus a pandemic after the caseload rose to 118,619, with 4,292 dead. 

In a quick response, President Donald Trump addressed the nation, declaring a ban on all incoming European travel beginning midnight, Friday, March 13. The ban will last for a minimum of a month. The UK is exempt. 

The NBA suspended the season after a player tested positive.

Italy is on lockdown.

Even Tom Hanks has it.

It’s a nightmare.

How it Affects Poker

Daniel Negreanu had this to say about live poker on Twitter.

You can expand Negreanu’s views to the entire gambling industry. A poker table is a baccarat table is a blackjack table. It is a real problem, and currently, without a vaccine, the best plan of attack is isolation, and that doesn’t bode well for live poker.

PokerStars have already cancelled or postponed a swathe of European events, with the ‘Road to the PSPC’ suffering most. 888Poker has cancelled their flagship 888Live event in Bucharest, and the oldest live tournament outside of Las Vegas, The Irish Open, has also felt the full force of the guillotine. 

High profile events still planned to shuffle up, and deal are the US Poker Open in the ARIA, European Poker Tour (EPT) Sochi & Monte Carlo, and the World Series of Poker (WSOP).

While you can see the first two on that list going ahead, if the virus continues to spread throughout Europe, then Monte Carlo will fall. That leaves the unimaginable cancellation of the WSOP. Then again, who would have thought the NBA would cancel its season!

Online Poker: Where Are You When We Need You?

During the DAT Poker Podcast on Wednesday, March 11, Daniel Negreanu urged the US Government to lift the ban on online poker to give people something to do while quarantined. 

While the idea makes sense, especially given how hard the virus will impact the ability for people to earn a living throughout the world, one doubts with the panic setting, anyone in the government will have the time to give little old poker a second thought. 

While the US government might not notice us, the online poker rooms will. You can expect the movers and shakers to be drawing up blueprints for summer online poker festivals, including the WSOP, who, should the unthinkable happen, could run their entire 2020 WSOP on the WSOP.com platform. 

“From what I’m reading, the only real way to curb the growth is a social distance, keeping people away from each other. That’s good for me. I don’t really like people that much anyway,” Negreanu joked on the DAT Podcast. 

It’s time to develop a ball and chain mentality. Lock yourself in your little cottage, and start getting used to the idea of wiping your arse with Doyle Brunson’s Super System.

The poker world is in crisis.

The world is in crisis.

Some thought artificial intelligence (AI) was humanity’s greatest challenge. Others thought it was nuclear war. It turns out that those espousing the dangers of a virus wreaking havoc on the world were the smart ones to listen to.

Now, what did they say?

Wai Kin Yong killed it in Triton Million London, winning a combined haul of £4.5m, and it seems he still has the winning bug. 

The partypoker MILLIONS Super High Roller Series in Sochi, Russia, shut the stable door on the $50,000 action, and it was Yong who rode the final winner, defeating Phil Ivey in heads-up action, no less.

Event #5: $50,000 Short-Deck attracted 50-entrants, including repeat final table appearances for Sam Greenwood (2), Cary Katz (3), and Aaron Van Blarcum (4).

Let’s see how Yong took it down.

Final Table Seat Draw

Seat 1: Wai Kin Yong – 1,645,000
Seat 2: Aaron Van Blarcum – 820,000
Seat 3: Phil Ivey – 2,915,000
Seat 4: Cary Katz – 1,200,000
Seat 5: Seth Davies – 1,620,000
Seat 6: Mikhail Rudoy – 1,160,000
Seat 7: Sam Greenwood – 4,590,000
Seat 8: Paul Phua – 1,050,000

The first of many double-ups in the stew of frenzied action brought a smile to the face of Wai Kin Yong. The Malaysian moved all-in holding the beautifully painted AhKh, Mikhail Rudoy also moved all-in holding pocket jacks, prompting a fold from Cary Katz, holding pocket queens. On your marks, get set, go – Rudoy flopped a set of jacks, but Yong rivered Broadway.

Everything happens for a reason. Had Katz called with those queens, he would have been out. He didn’t. He wasn’t. Then he doubled through Yong when finding pocket kings he moved all-in, and the Malaysian called and lost with AhQc.

The third double-up arrived at the doorstep of Phil Ivey. Sam Greenwood moved his big stack into the middle holding KsJh, and Ivey put his tournament life at risk by calling with AcJd. The dealer handed Greenwood the nuts when AhQcTh fell on the flop, but the nuts are rarely the nuts for long in Short-Deck. Two more tens, arrived on the turn and river to hand Ivey a lifeline.

Seth Davies was one man who didn’t catch the double-up bug. 

Ivey limped into the pot holding KcQc, Rudoy did likewise with AsJs, and then Davies jammed for 1,300,000 holding KdTd. Of the pair, only Rudoy made the call, and his ace proved to be the match-winner on a double-paired board sending Davies to the rail.

Ivey then took a big chip lead after eliminating Rudoy.

The Russian got it in with pocket jacks versus the ace-king of Ivey, and a king on the flop handed the American half of the chips in play, leaving Rudoy to ruminate on what might have been. 

Yong doubled for the second time when his QsJs flopped a queen to take the hand away from Aaron Van Blarcum’s pocket tens, and then Sam Greenwood came in for the kill. Van Blarcum moved all-in from the cutoff holding Kc9c, and Greenwood called and killed with AcQd.

Katz then doubled through Yong, hitting a full-house with Ad7c versus Tc9c, but Yong rebounded well, doubling through Ivey when AcKs beat AhQd. 

Then Katz lost one.

His final one.

Katz moved all-in holding 9c8h, and Greenwood picked him apart like a vulture on a carcass with pocket queens. 

Greenwood was on a roll.

Then this happened.

Ivey called from the hijack with two red aces, and Greenwood did likewise with Kc8c. The dealer placed the AcQc8s on the flop, handing Greenwood the nut-flush draw and a pair, but giving Ivey top set. As on the turn gave Ivey quads, and both players checked. Then the Jc on the river gave Greenwood the nut flush. Ivey bet 400,000, Greenwood raised to 1,950,000 and called when Ivey moved all-in. Greenwood hit the rail, and heads-up became the focus of attention.

Heads-up began with Ivey holding a commanding 11,640,000 v 3,360,000 chip lead, but Yong took that lead after his AsJd overcame QdJh when all-in pre, and then JdTs beat pocket aces, after flopping two more tens.

The longest heads-up of the series ended when Yong made it 300,000 to play holding JcTc, and then called after Ivey made it 900,000 with QcJd. The dealer placed QhJh9s onto the flop, and the pair got it in with Yong holding middle pin and the straight draw, and Ivey with top two pair. The Ks on the turn straightened Yong up, and the 6h on the river guaranteed Yong the title. 

ITM Results

  1. Wai Kin Yong – $800,000
  2. Phil Ivey – $525,000
  3. Sam Greenwood – $350,000
  4. Cary Katz – $250,000
  5. Aaron Van Blarcum – $200,000
  6. Mikhail Rudoy – $150,000
  7. Seth Davies – $125,000
  8. Paul Phua – $100,000

Mikita Badziakouski is mustard.

The three-time Triton Poker Super High Roller Series champion stepped on the top podium for the 13th time in his career after taking down Event #4: $50,000 No-Limit Hold’em (NLHE) at the partypoker MILLIONS Super High Roller Series at the Casino Sochi in Russia.

The partypoker ambassador has had a quiet start to 2020 on the tournament front with only one score on the board (a runner-up finish to Luc Greenwood in an AUD 50,000 NLHE event at the Australian Poker Open), but you can’t keep a man like Badz down for long.

Let’s see how the $27m man did it.

The Nutshell Action

Final Table Seat Draw

Seat 1: Aaron Van Blarcum – 1,245,000
Seat 2: Cary Katz – 1,170,000
Seat 3: Mikita Badziakouski – 1,565,000
Seat 4: Artur Martirosyan – 1,105,000
Seat 5: Wiktor Malinowski – 400,000
Seat 6: Luc Greenwood – 920,000
Seat 7: Sam Greenwood – 350,000

It took only two hands for the final table experience to feel like a sauna full of kippers for Wiktor Malinowski. The Pole, who made deep runs in £/€100k events in Europe circa 2019, jammed over an Artur Martirosyan open for eight bigs holding KdQh, and the Russian called with the superior AsKh. The deck favoured the best hand, and Malinowski exited in the seventh position.

Sam Greenwood began the final table as the shorty with one move. The Canadian moved all-in without any takers until Mikita Badziakouski looked him up with pocket sevens. It was a race against Greenwood’s QhJh, and running queens on the two latter streets saw him double up.

It was a move worth an additional $45,000, as Cary Katz and not Greenwood hit the rail next.

Greenwood moved all-in for 840,000, and KsJd and Katz called for his tournament life holding pocket sixes. The second race in quick succession for Greenwood and this one went the same way as the last one. Katz’s run ended in sixth place, his second final table appearance of the series.

Greenwood was heading for the attic, and then he ended up in the basement.

Firstly, Greenwood got it in with AsQd versus the pocket kings of Badziakouski. No, luck there. Then the Canadian got it in with pocket nines and lost out to Martirosyan’s Ah7d after the Russian hit a further two aces on the river. Just like that, Greenwood went from the shorty to the chip leader to the fifth-place finisher.

Aaron Van Blarcum’s third final table of the series ended with a fourth-place finish. Badziakouski opened from position holding AcKs, and then called when Van Blarcum jammed with As9h from the big blind. Domination station. The nines did an ostrich, and Van Blarcum went looking for some peach brandy.

We reached heads-up one hand later when Martirosyan chopped down another Greenwood after A9o beat QJo.

The heads-up between Martirosyan and Badziakouski began even in chips. The Belarusian had the experience edge. Badziakouski opened up a lead before the Russian doubled back into contention. Still, the double-up didn’t change anything as Badziakouski put his foot down and accelerated away once more, this time never looking back.

In the final hand, Martirosyan limp-called the button holding Qs6s, and him and Badziakouski (holding Kh9d) saw a flop of 7h6h6c. Badziakouski led for 220,000 with his airball, and Martirosyan, holding trips, raised to 540,000; Badziakouski called. The Th on the turn handed Badziakouski a flush draw. Martirosyan moved all-in with the best hand, and after some deep thinking, Badziakouski called.

“I’m a fish.” Said Badziakouski.

Only a heart would stop Martirosyan from doubling into the chip lead, and that’s what hit the deck as the 5h handed Badziakouski the title with his flush beating trips.

ITM Results

  1. Mikita Badziakouski – $765,000
  2. Artur Martirosyan – $495,000
  3. Luc Greenwood – $337,500
  4. Aaron Van Blarcum – $225,000
  5. Sam Greenwood – $180,000
  6. Cary Katz – $135,000
  7. Wiktor Malinowski – $112,500

There was a time when Sam Trickett was to live tournament players what otters are to crabs. But then Trickett packed his bags, headed off to the realm of the live cash games, and the tournament world rarely heard from him again. 

Well a few days ago, Trickett turned back time to win the 58-entrant Event #2: $25,000 No-Limit Hold’em (NLHE) event at the partypoker MILLIONS Super High Roller Series in Sochi, Russia. 

It’s Trickett’s first live tournament victory since 2013 when he earned £10,000 for winning a partypoker event at Old Trafford, Manchester (Trickett donated the entirety of his winnings to charity), and his all-time live tournaments winnings edge closer to the $22m mark.

Chalk and cheese.

Let’s see how he took it down.

The Nutshell Results

Final Table Seat Draw

Seat 1: Chin Wei Lim – 295,000
Seat 2: Timothy Adams – 480,000
Seat 3: Adrian Mateos – 750,000
Seat 4: Ivan Leow – 2,830,000
Seat 5: Paul Phua – 405,000
Seat 6: Phil Ivey – 475,000
Seat 7: Sam Trickett – 1,250,000
Seat 8: Artur Martirosyan – 705,000
Seat 9: Matthias Eibinger – 435,000

The action on this vivacious looking table was immediate and effective for the prodigious talents of Matthias Eibinger. The Austrian doubled through Artur Martirosyan when his pocket nines outpaced the AsQs of the Russian. 

Chin Wei Lim was the first player pushed into a quagmire from which he never returned. Phil Ivey did the pushing when he called a shove from Lim and AJo, holding KsQs. Ivey rivered the nut straight.

Then we lost the recently crowned Global Poker Awards (GPA) Industry Person of the Year. 

Eibinger opened to 70,000 from the hijack seat, and both blinds made the call with Ivan Leow in the little with KsJh, and Paul Phua in the large with Jd3d. Proving the dealer wasn’t a librarian, the action-filled flop of Jc9h7d hit the felt, and Leow called when Phua moved all-in (Eibinger folded), and his king-kicker made all the difference.

Adrian Mateos doubled through chip leader, Leow, when pocket tens beat AK.

Then Ivey hit the rail.

The one-time undisputed master of poker opened with queens, and then called when Eibinger moved all-in holding KdTd. A ten on the flop improved Eibinger’s hand, and a king on the turn improved it even further. Ivey found zero solaces on the river and left the competition with the only saving grace; he didn’t have to take a winner’s photo.

The only Russian at the final table exited next. 

Martirosyan got his final 180,000 into the middle holding JcTc, and Sam Trickett called and won with Ad4h. Ace-high, good. 

Timothy Adams doubled when pocket tens dodged kings, sevens, and diamonds to beat the Kd7d of Leow. Then Leow exacted revenge of the worst kind when he opened with 6c5c, and Adams defended his big blind with Kd7s. The flop of Ks8d6s fell out of the deck to give Adams top pair, and Leow bottom pair. Both players checked. Then Leow turned two-pairs when the 5d hit the turn, by which time all of the chips went into the middle, and Adams never saw them again.

Then we lost the incredible talents of Adrian Mateos. 

The Spaniard first doubled through Eibinger when AQ beat jack-trash and then handed all of those chips to Trickett when he defended his big blind against a Trickett raised, hit top pair with king-trash only to run into a pair of aces. 

Trickett would take a 4,030,000 v 3,225,000 chip lead into heads-up against Leow after eliminating Eibinger in the third position. It was a blind on blind battle with Trickett holding JhTh and Eibinger with Kh4h. Eibinger maintained his lead when they both flopped top pair, but the ace on the turn and queen on the river gave Trickett a straight.

The heads-up play saw Leow take the lead before Trickett snatched it back. 

Then this happened.

With blinds at 40,000/80,000, Leow opened to 250,000, on the button holding AhQh, and then called when Trickett ripped it in with Ad4s. Bad shape for Trickett, but he caught up quickly adding a flush draw to his arsenal with two cards to come. The Td didn’t help Trickett, but the 6s did, and Trickett, not Leow, earned the Event #2 title.

ITM Results

  1. Sam Trickett – $435,000
  2. Ivan Leow – $290,000
  3. Matthias Eibinger – $203,000
  4. Adrian Mateos – $145,000
  5. Timothy Adams – $116,000
  6. Artur Martirosyan – $87,000
  7. Phil Ivey – $72,500
  8. Paul Phua – $58,000
  9. Chin Wei Lim – $43,500

If you want to avoid the Coronavirus (COVID-19), then you could choose worse places than Russia to set up a tent. The Eastern European powerhouse has had zero cases of COVID-19, and for the next week, that’s where partypoker is setting up camp.

It began as a chat between good friends desperate for a spot of snowboarding and poker and ended with a new brand for partypoker and an opening event that contained a healthy 42-entrants.

The inaugural partypoker MILLIONS Super High Roller Series in Sochi, Russia opened with a $25,000 Short-Deck event, a frenzied format that can turn into a pantomime that the fans lap up.

Six players received a paycheck.

Five curtseyed before the final curtain dropped. 

Let’s check out the nutshell action.

The Nutshell Action

Final Table Seat Draw

Seat 1: Wai Leong Chan – 3,480,000
Seat 2: Cary Katz – 805,000
Seat 3: John Cynn – 940,000
Seat 4: Stephen Chidwick – 1,840,000
Seat 5: Aaron Van Blarcum – 2,725,000
Seat 6: Jiang Xia He – 2,810,000

John Cynn began the final table with the second shortest stack in the room, a fact that didn’t last long after he doubled through Zia He Jiang after AcTc hit a straight against the dominating AsJs.

Next to double was the shortest stack in the room, after Cary Katz and his pocket queens out flopped, turned and rivered the AKo of Aaron Van Blarcum. 

The net result?

Cary Katz still had the shortest stack in the room.

He was next to double when his AcJs beat the pocket queens of Van Blarcum after rivering a short-deck straight, and then our first competitor limped out of the competition.

Stephen Chidwick has begun 2020 as well as any of his peers, making four final tables, including a victory at the Australian Poker Open, and his run in this one ended in another impressive sixth place. 

Chidwick got it in with pocket queens, only for Van Blarcum to send him to the ringmaster enquiring on the whereabouts of the cash desk when AKo gave them a good spanking, after flopping an ace.

Katz then doubled through Cynn when A9o beat pocket kings, and He also doubled for the second time when AQo beat the JcTc of Van Blarcum before we lost our second player.

Wai Leong Chan is one of the best in the business and came into this one in good form after winning back-to-back $25,000 events at partypoker MILLIONS World in the Bahamas. Had he won the following pot, he would have been in fantastic shape to add another tick in the win column – but he didn’t.

Chan got it in good with AK v the KJo of He in a four-million chip pot only for He to river a full-house to beat Chan’s straight, sending him to the rail, and He to the summit of this competition with four players remaining.

Katz went the way of Chan shortly after.

He moved all-in with KQo, and Katz called for his tournament life holding pocket jacks. A king on the flop, and another on the river for good measure, sent the Poker Central founder for an earlier than planned shower.

Within a minute, the cash desk teller went from having nothing to do to asking for his buddy to put away his pet beetles and help.

Van Blarcum moved all-in holding JTo, and He made the covering call with KTs and promptly flopped a flush to send the impressive Van Blarcum to his hotel room with another remarkable result.

Heads-Up

Not much to write home about during the heads-up play.

Cynn, who only had 550,000 chips compared to He’s multi-millions, jammed it in with K9s, and He called with JsTc. Befitting to a competition that He eventually dominated from five players in, he would win with a Royal Flush.

It’s He’s second win of his career, in only his fifth cash, all coming in 2019, so it’s safe to say that playing live tournaments is a new thing for the man. His previous win was equally impressive, winning a 2,472 entrant $1,100 No-Limit Hold ’em event at the Wynn Summer Classic for $332,037.

Here are the ITM results.

ITM Results

  1. Xia He Jiang – $378,000
  2. John Cynn – $252,000
  3. Aaron Van Blarcum – $168,000
  4. Cary Katz – $105,000
  5. Wai Leong Chan – $84,000
  6. Stephen Chidwick – $63,300



Every great game hinges on four defining traits.

A game needs goals orientated meaningful work and play. Rules that place limitations on how people achieve those goals. Voluntary participation born out of natural curiosity and drive towards enjoyment, and in some cases, mastery. Finally, a feedback system that tells people how close they are to achieving their goal, motivating them to keep on playing, and for the poker industry to thrive, we need certain people to keep on playing.

On Friday night, poker honoured a deluge of different denizens at the Global Poker Awards (GPA) in Las Vegas. PokerGO captured the celebrations, beaming them into the living rooms of subscribers, and the results once again underlined the impact that the high stakes stratum has on the ecosystem. 

Never before has high stakes poker had the capability to transcend the game like it does, today. It began with Alex Dreyfus adding a sheen of professionalism to one of the bastion feedback systems in poker – the Global Poker Index (GPI). It has continued with the likes of Triton and Poker Central, creating frameworks and production systems resulting in world-class stages for world-class players. 

And, it’s for this reason that it was positive for poker when Paul Phua won the Industry Person of the Year Award, last night.

Phua began playing poker in his 40s, by which time, he had already achieved the level of financial freedom that only exists in most people’s prayers. Phua didn’t create Triton to increase his wealth. He created Triton because he loves poker.

Along with his co-founder, Richard Yong, Phua has spent the past few years building a poker tour with a difference. Reducing suffering through philanthropy, creating a world-class product for the community, and a safe, secure and fun environment for those fortunate and smart enough to rise through the ranks are the goals that have gelled into a masterpiece.

Triton Poker takes a game that for so many years was played in the darkest corners of the room, slaps the most incredible Gladrags on, and rolls out the red carpet. Triton Poker is a world-class, nostalgic tour de force, and on Friday night, the poker world recognised that, and that feedback is priceless.

The Right Feedback Produces The Right Engagement

The feedback cycle has changed significantly thanks to the advent of a social media shit show that flew from the guts of advanced technology like a Ridley Scott idea bursting through a rack of ribs. 

When you compete for a living in a game where you lose more than you win, you have to develop a callused heel heart. Still, if you’re focusing in the wrong place for feedback, those calluses can chill and crumble in even the most cement-like blood pumpers.

That’s why poker awards are of value to the poker industry. 

Voters recognised the Triton brand in numerous categories, coming short in all but one (Phua’s Industry Person of the Year Award). Phua’s vision of showcasing poker to the world is slowly unravelling, but the tail is still nowhere in sight. 

Triton Million gave the world a glimpse into the vision.

If you hit this short-list or like Phua, were lucky enough to win, then your contribution to poker is likely to intensify thanks to the emotional Nutribullet of winning one, and missing out on others. It’s not the titles that matter. It’s the creation of engagement those titles and near misses create where the real gold lies. 

That’s fantastic news for everyone who calls poker our ‘job,’ because we must remember that one of the defining traits of this beautiful game, on the table, and off it, is voluntary participation. I don’t know about you, but this writer hopes the likes of Phua voluntarily participate in this game in the way that he does for many years to come. 

GPA Awards: The Results in Full

GPI Breakout Player of the Year

Robert Campbell (Winner)
Ramón Collilas
Ben Farrell
George Wolff

Final Table Performance of the Year

Phillip Hui – $50k Poker Player’s Championship (Winner)
Hossein Ensan – WSOP Main Event
Alex Foxen – WPT Five Diamond
Bryn Kenney – Triton Poker Super High Roller Series, Montenegro

Twitter Personality 

Jamie Kerstetter (Winner)
Barny Boatman
Kitty Kuo
Kevin Mathers

Toughest Opponent

Stephen Chidwick (Winner)
Michael Addamo
Kahle Burns
Ali Imsirovic

Streamer of the Year

Lex Veldhuis (Winner)
Hristivoje Pavlovic
Ben Spragg
Matt Staples

Vlogger of the Year

Andrew Neeme (Winner)
Jaman Burton
Daniel Negreanu
Brad Owen

Podcast of the Year

The Grid by Jennifer Shahade (Winner)
DAT Poker Podcast
Poker Life Podcast
The Fives

Industry Person of the Year

Paul Phua (Winner)
Phil Galfond
Cary Katz
Matt Savage

Tournament Director of the Year

Matt Savage (Winner)
Jack Effel
Paul Campbell
Tony Burns

Event of the Year

PokerStars Players Championships (Winner)
Triton Million
WSOP Main Event
WSOP BIG 50

Mid-Major Tour/Circuit

RUNGOOD Poker Series (Winner)
WPTDeepStacks
Road to the PSPC
WSOPC

Journalist of the Year

Joey Ingram (Winner)
Lance Bradley
Haley Hintze
Nick Jones

Broadcaster of the Year

Nick Schulman (Winner)
Joe Stapleton
Jeff Platt
Jamie Kerstetter

Media Content (Written)

Poker and Pop Culture by Martin Harris (Winner)
A Fight for Fatherhood by Lance Bradley
Kevin Roster Spread Sarcoma Awareness by Aleeyah Jadavji
The Unabridged Story of the Hendon Mob by Paul Seaton

Media Content (Photo)

Drew Amato (Winner) – Dario Sammartino at the WSOP
Antonio Abrego – Ryan Laplante
Joe Giron – Frank Stepuchin
Hayley Hochstetler – Doyle Brunson and Jack Binion

Media Content (Video)

Investigating Mike Postle – Joe Ingram (Winner)
Legends of the Game Stu Ungar – PokerGO
The Big Blind with Jeff Platt
Who Makes Money From Professional Poker – Sam Rega for CNBC

Poker Personality of the Year

Jonathan Little (Winner)
Joey Ingram
Ryan DePaulo
Lex Veldhuis

Hand of the Year

Ryan Riess Makes 10-High Call at EPT Monte Carlo (Winner)
Bryce Yockey v Josh Arieh
Sam Trickett v Stephen Chidwick
Thi Xoa Nguyen v Athanasios Polychronopoulos

Poker ICON Award

Johnny Chan (winner)

The Hendon Mob Award

John Cernuto

As the high rollers breeze into Sochi, Russia for a spot of snowboarding and high stakes gambling, the rest of the poker community is not faring as well.

Casino Malta by Olympic Casino has cancelled ‘The Siege of Malta.’ The festival would have taken place April 15 – 20, with a €450 buy-in, €500k GTD Main Event now left swinging in the breeze. The Malta Poker Championships due to take place in May live from the Portomaso Casino in St Julians is also dead in the water.

October’s Battle of Malta remains unaffected.

The continued spread of the Coronavirus (COVID-19) is the culprit, and it’s not only poker tournaments in Malta that are affected. The Triton Poker Super High Roller Series in Jeju became the first to cancel an event because of the spread of COVID-19. And the World Poker Tour (WPT) cancelled events in Vietnam and Taiwan.

The King’s Casino in Rozvadov removed some events from their calendar along with a formal ban issued against Italians from playing at the casino or staying at the hotel. Czech health authorities declared that two out of five people diagnosed with COVID-19 in the Czech Republic had previously visited Italy.

King’s have targeted the Italians because as from March 5, the land of the boot has the second-highest fatality rate (107), and third-highest casualty rate (3,089). Triton cancelled their Jeju event because South Korea has the fourth-highest fatality rate (35), and second-highest casualty rate (5,766).

World Series of Poker

The world of sport and gaming will suffer as a result of the outbreak. Dark clouds hover over the Tokyo Olympics and Euro 2020, the World Athletics Indoor Championships in Nanjing have been cancelled, the Winter X-Games in China has been postponed, and the 2020 League of Legends LPL Spring tournament has also gone the same way.

What then, The World Series of Poker (WSOP)?

According to a quote from Seth Palansky that popped up in a PokerNews article, the WSOP is still on course to hand out 61 bracelets in the summer, while still ‘monitoring the situation’, and leaning on ‘experts in this field for guidance.’

Even if the event goes ahead, with people due to fly in from all over the globe, and the ever-pressing fear of ‘large gatherings’ of people, then attendance figures could drop for the first time in years.

Coronavirus in the USA

Congress recently approved $8.3 billion in emergency aid to fight the Coronavirus after 159 people in the US became afflicted with 11 deaths (almost exclusively in the Seattle area). At the time of writing, California has received its first death, with a cruise ship quarantined off the Californian coast.

Coronavirus Casualty and fatality Rate as Per March 5

95,315 cases.

3,282 fatalities.

Fatalities

China – 3,014
Italy – 107
Iran – 92
Korea – 35
USA – 11

Confirmed Cases

China – 80,524
Korea – 5,766
Italy – 3,089
Iran – 2,922
Japan – 317
France – 285
Germany – 262
Spain – 200
USA – 159

Ironically, subscriptions to Dan Carlin’s Hardcore History went through the roof, as people fearing a third World War began creating contingency plans, when all along, we should have been fearing a pandemic.

Sorry, Dan, it’s time for us to stop listening to tales of blood and guts, and instead find more information on what to do when our throat runs dry, and violent gurgulations of the stomach starts waking up the cat.

The bell is ringing.

We haven’t even finished Round 1, and Coronavirus is giving the poker industry and the world at large a right good kick-in.

MILLIONS World is back, and for the sake of partypoker’s continued mission to be the market leader, let’s hope it’s here to stay.

Ther $25,500, $10m GTD MILLIONS World takes place Nov 13-17 as part of partypoker’s Caribbean Poker Party (CPP) taking place at the Baha Mar Resort in Nassau, Bahamas Nov 13-17. 

In a bid to apply some rhythmic motion into the promotion, Rob Yong declared on Twitter his intention to hand a $5,300 buy-in, $5m GTD CPP Main Event seat to the first 100 MILLIONS World online qualifiers. 

Satellites start on March 15.

partypoker designed MILLIONS World in 2018, and at the time it seemed like a strong reaction to the birth of the $25,000 PokerStars Players No-Limit Hold ’em Championship (PSPC).

Ever since John Duffy took over as President of partypoker LIVE, his goals and vision have been laid out for all to see. Duffy wants to be the best and to be the best you have to beat the best, and in 2018 the best carried the logo of a Red Spade.

Both events were successful, but with PokerStars attracting 1,039-entrants, and Ramón Colillas picking up $5m and change, there was only one clear winner. 

In contrast, Roger Teska beat a 394-entrant field to win the MILLIONS World title and $2m first prize in the Bahamas. The following year, the event made way for a high-stakes frenzy that saw Daniel Dvoress, Wai Leong Chan and Adrian Mateos sweep all before them.

Who Has The Upper Hand?

Rob Yong has 25.3k Twitter followers, and you can bet a boiled egg, that plenty of them are fervent partypoker fans. Still, when Yong polled his tribe to see what the most prestigious European poker title was, 38% voted for the European Poker Tour (EPT), with the MILLIONS brand collecting 18.6% of the votes, third-place behind the World Series of Poker Europe (WSOPE) with 28.3%.

It shows that PokerStars is still the one to beat. PokerStars was always a model of par excellence and consistency, and it’s safe to say that the surgeon began carving that up when they rebranded to the PokerStars Championships in the wake of their move to go public. 

The PokerStars Caribbean Adventure (PCA) became an essential aspect of the Red Spade’s marketing muscle, proving the annual adventure to the Bahamas is a crucial piece of the live poker puzzle.

With PokerStars shelving the PCA it allows partypoker to fill that void. Still, if they are to do it effectively, then there needs to be consistency. 

Caribbean Poker Party (CPP).

MILLIONS World.

What is it?

In the same way, it never felt right for the PCA to be a part of the EPT; it doesn’t feel right for the CPP to be a part of the MILLIONS brand. ‘MILLIONS’ evokes power and prestige, whereas CPP feels cheap and small. 

For Yong’s followers to one day select ‘MILLIONS’ ahead of an EPT title, I think these branding and marketing decisions are crucial, as is the consistency of having the same competition, with the same title, at the same time, year-in-year-out. 

Ther Manchester Metaphor

The handbags at ten paces that we see with PokerStars and partypoker reminds me of the nascent of Manchester City and the demise of Manchester United.

Like United, PokerStars spent many years building a company that became an online poker institution. At the same time, partypoker played the City role, appearing in the headlines with less frequency than a mophead sees life in a college dorm room. 

Then came City’s turn to shine with new ownership, an injection in cash, and a bigger vision. Simultaneously, United fell into a haphazard nosedive after their beloved leader, Sir Alex Ferguson, decided to call time on his illustrious career. 

City is still a better team than United, but they’re not a bigger club.

For City to garrotte that honour, and hang the Red Devils from ceiling meathooks, the Citizens are going to have to imbue patience. City’s legacy will be built, trophy by trophy, until all there remains in the trophy cabinet in the red half of Manchester are more cobwebs and tales of a once glorious past. 

The timing of partypoker’s POWERFEST couldn’t be more propitious.

The United States House of Representatives has given the green light to release $8.3 billion of emergency funding in preparation for the spread of COVID-19. Other nations with healthy bank accounts or ever-increasing debt loads coupled with a ‘couldn’t give a damn attitude’ will surely follow suit.

And that’s why the buzz around partypoker’s $20m GTD POWERFEST has the whiskers of all poker’s top cats reverberating at a full itchiness rate. 

The 488-event spectacular runs between March 15-29. Buy-ins range between $0.55 – $25,500, and 6-Max, Mix-Max, 6-4, Freezeout and progressive Knockout (PKO) fill the menu.

If you want a front-row ticket and have a bankroll containing more soot than money, then you’re in luck; partypoker has one of the best online satellite qualification systems in the business.

Main Events

There are four Main Events, all of which are No-Limit Hold’em (NLHE), and on March 29, kicking-off @ 20:30 (CET).

Here are the details.

$2,100 buy-in, $500k GTD.

$320 buy-in, $500k GTD.

$55 buy-in, $250k GTD.

$5.50 buy-in, $20k GTD.

High Roller Action

There is only one event with a buy-in higher than $10,000, and that’s the $25,500 buy-in, $2m GTD NLHE Super High Roller taking place 26 March at 20:30 (CET).

Previous $25k Winners

In April 2019, intrepid explorer ‘PhileasFogg’ navigated his way through 105-entrants to bank the $643,125 first prize, with Viktor ‘Isildur1’ Blom finishing fourth.

Rewind 12 months, beyond that date, and Steve ‘eet_smakelijk’ O’Dwyer won $896,610 after topping a final table that housed the likes of Orpen ‘orpenkk’ Kisacikoglu, Michael ‘mczhang’ Zhang, Jon ‘sordykrd’ Van Fleet, and Jason Koon.

Koon is so f**king cool; his name is his nickname.

And rewind 12-months further, and Ben ‘Coweyed’ Tollerene topped a 127-entrant field in the $3m GTD version. Blom featured once again, finishing second. Tollerene banked $846,722.

With the Coronavirus already delivering a knockout blow to the Triton Poker Super High Roller Series in Jeju, the high stakes poker seam needed a worthy competitor to step into the ring, and POWERFEST is one of those beasts that steps over the top ropes. 

More News From The Virtual Rail

Phil Galfond returned from his self-imposed hiatus to continue his heads-up challenge with “VeniVidi1993”, and promptly booked his most significant win of the punch-up thus far.

The pair of online hedgehogs pricked each other in their never regions over 574-hands, before calling time with Galfond €183,481.38 in the net winnings column, not bad for a man who said he won while playing his B+ game.

There’s still no time for smiling.

Galfond is in the basement with €716,758.79 in losses over 10,501 hands.

There are 35 confirmed cases of Coronavirus in Sweden. Still, judging by the ever-present racking of results from these three Swedish stars, one doubts they will be in danger of joining the count.

Johannes “Greenstone25” Korsar defeated his compatriot Simon “C.Darwin2” Mattsson, heads-up, in the $2,100 Sunday High Roller on PokerStars. The pair of online poker prophets hammered out a deal that saw Korsar bank $37,595, with $31,768 going to Mattsson. Dominik “Bounatirou” Nitsche finished third, and Anatoly “NL_Profit” Filatov finished in fifth.

Niklas “Lena900” Åstedt also flew the Swedish flag high after booking the win in the $1,050 Sunday Warm-Up on Stars. The PocketFives World #1 overcame a field of 161-entrants to win the first prize of $29,317 after cutting a deal with Alex ‘steakaddict’ Papazian (who banked $28,255). 

Here are the current PocketFives World Rankings.

PocketFive World Rankings

1. Niklas “Lena900” Åstedt

2. Johannes “Greenstone25” Korsar 

3. DeathbyQuads 

4. Sam “€urop€an” Vousden

5. Simon “C.Darwin2” Mattsson