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The high stakes world is changing faster than a torpedo fired from a submarine. The fliers of 5-10 years ago, contained different faces, and last week, two of them won World Series of Poker (WSOP) bracelets.

Isaac Baron was the first player to win the CardPlayer Magazine Online Poker Player of the Year, winning $1m in 2007 under the alias “WestmenloAA”. Back then, he was an absolute beast, printing money while sipping on cups of coffee, keys to his Maserati lying next to his mouse. 

Baron went on to experience success in the live realm, with his two most significant scores coming in European Poker Tour (EPT) events, finishing 3/1031 in the 2014 $10,300 PokerStars Caribbean Adventure (PCA) Main Event for $1,207,599, and 4/842 in the €10,600 EPT Monte Carlo Grand Final in 2008 – yet he had never won a WSOP bracelet, until now. 

Baron took down a 1,832-entrant $1,500 No-Limit Hold’em Six-Handed event for $407,739. It was his fourth live tournament win and took his all-time live tournament earnings to the $6.1m mark. 

If Baron is ‘old school’ then Cary Katz is the ‘new.’ Whereas the online and live poker rooms are responsible for creating the high rolling strata, people like Katz increased the depth. Katz created the ARIA High Rollers and then allowed the fans to see inside the box by creating Poker Central. Katz finished 6/917 in the $1,500 No-Limit Hold’em Shootout, won by Brett Apter. 

Erik Seidel is one of the few people who attended the ‘old’ and ‘new’ schools, and the New Yorker finished 27th in the Shootout for his third cash of the series. Seidel has won eight WSOP bracelets, but you have to trot back to 2007 to remember his last one. 

Eli Elezra is another face on one of those fliers, and last week he won a $1,500 Seven Card Stud bracelet, his fourth, and third in Stud. The Israeli defeated 285-entrants to capture the $93,766 first prize. Elezra beat Anthony Zinno, heads-up, and Scott Seiver finished eighth. 

There were near misses for Robert Mizrachi (3rd), David Benyamine (7th) and Shaun Deeb (9th) in the $10,000 Omaha Hi-Lo 8 or Better Championship. Frankie O’Dell took that one down for his third Omaha bracelet win. 

Jean-Robert Bellande blew a big chip lead to finish fifth in the $10,000 No-Limit 2-7 Lowball Draw Championship. The event pulled in 91-entrants, and the former WSOP Main Event winner, Jim Bechtel, won the bracelet. Darren Elias (3rd), Prahlad Friedman (4th), Paul Volpe (7th), Dan Shak (12th), and Michael Watson (13th) cashed in that one.

Chris Klodnicki finished third in the $1,500 8 Game Mix 6-Handed, and Toby Lewis showed he’s not a servant to No-Limit Hold’em by finishing 17th. Rami Boukai took the title. 

Martin Zamani (4th) and Phil Galfond (5th) came close to winning an online bracelet. Josh Pollock took down the 652-entrant $600 Online Pot-Limit Omaha title, and Martin Kozlov experienced a deep run in the live $600 Pot-Limit Omaha Deepstack event finishing 14th – Andre Donabedian won that one for $205,605.

A lot is going on in the world. Important stuff. Officials are closing down a care facility in Arizona after a patient found maggots wriggling around inside an open incision, and if you thought that was traumatic, then spare a thought for fans of the Big Mac in Portsmouth and the Isle of Wight after seven restaurants were chosen to trial an extended breakfast menu until 11 am. 

And.

Yet.

People are doing nothing but playing poker 24/7 in the Rio All-Suite Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas. It’s not that they don’t care about the world at this time of the year, they don’t even realise they are in a world. 

Ladies, and gentlemen, here is an update on high roller progress in the 50th Anniversary World Series of Poker without a maggot or McMuffin in sight. 

WSOP officials are adding a 90th bracelet to the menu after feedback from the high roller fraternity that the $50,000 No-Limit Hold’em event happened too early in the competition. The $50,000 No-Limit Hold’em Final Fifty bracelet event takes place 8 -10 July, with Seth Palansky, VP of Corporate Communications for the WSOP saying that ‘player feedback’ played a pivotal role in the decision. Palansky also bemoaned the decision not to hold a $25,000 buy-in event, calling the omission a “goof.”  

Ben Heath won the first $50,000 buy-in event, beating Andrew Lichtenberger, heads-up, for close to $1.5m, and has since cashed in the $5,000 No-Limit Hold’em and $3,000 No-Limit Hold’em Six-Handed event leaving him positioned as the highest ranking high roller in the WSOP Player of the Year rankings (8th).

Another Ben, Yu, sits in #13th position a year after finishing runner-up to Shaun Deeb. Yu has cashed in seven events, making two final tables (finishing seventh in the $1,500 Dealers Choice 6-Handed, and second in the $10,000 Heads-Up Championship).

Another high roller having a sterling 2019 WSOP is Anthony Zinno. The bracelet winner has four cashes, including finishing runner-up to Eli Elezra in the $1,500 Seven Card Stud, and tenth in the $10,000 H.O.R.S.E Championship. 

Ali Imsirovic is #28 in the POY rankings after cashing in three tournaments, making the final table of two of them including finishing runner-up to Brian Green in a $10,000 No-Limit Hold’em Super Bounty event, and fourth in a $5,000 No-Limit Hold’em event.

The reigning WSOP POY Shaun Deeb is going to have to flick a rubber band or two if he’s going to defend his title. Deeb has cashed six times but only made one final table, finishing ninth in the $10,000 Omaha Hi-Lo 8 or Better Championships.

Other high roller performances worthy of note include Michael Watson finishing seventh in a $1,500 Dealer’s Choice and 13/91 in the $10,000 No-Limit 2-7 Lowball Draw Championship, and Maria Ho finishing fifth in the $5,000 No-Limit Hold’em. Ho came into the WSOP on the back of a fourth-place finish in the CAD 10,000 High Roller at partypoker MILLIONS North America, and third in the World Poker Tour (WPT) Seminole Hard Rock Poker Showdown. Ho is second in the Female GPI World Rankings and Player of the Year Rankings behind Kristen Bicknell.

Pauli Ayras finished eighth in that $5,000 event. Ayras recently won the €25,000 NLHE High Roller at the Patrik Antonius Poker Challenge (PAPC) in Tallinn, April. 

Lastly, Chris Klodnicki finished fifth in the $1,500 H.O.R.S.E, and third in the $1,500 8-Game Mix Six-Handed, and Jake Schindler, Kristen Bicknell and Mathias Eibinger all made it to the quarter-finals of the $10,000 Heads-Up Championship. It was Schindler’s only cash of the series but has made five final tables in ARIA High Rollers since May. It was Bicknell’s second cash since finishing third in the Merit Poker Classic Main Event, and it was Eibinger’s solitary cash despite making five final tables in ARIA High Rollers, including two wins. 

When Paul Phua stood on his Montenegrin stage, flanked by Triton Poker Super High Roller Series Champions, a flute punctuating the speech bubbles carrying his desire to make a difference in the world through a game he loves, those standing in the audience sensed something special was unfolding.

And it begins.

On the 1 August, the world’s greatest poker players, and wealthiest poker-loving business people will meet in the Grand Ballroom of London’s Park Lane Hilton to compete in the richest live poker tournament in history.

What a dance it will be.

The buy-in will be £1,050,000, beating the previous highest record buy-in of €1,000,000 set in 2016 when Elton Tsang beat 28-entrants to win the €11,111,111 first prize in the Monte Carlo One Drop Extravaganza, and the Triton Million: A Helping Hand For Charity will serve the £50,000 entry fees on charitable platters.

The Triton organisers are learning and evolving.

There have been four previous seven-figure plus buy-in events (USD) in history.

2012: $1m buy-in Big One for One Drop – Antonio Esfandiari ($18,346,673)
2014: $1m buy-in Big One for One Drop – Dan Colman ($15,306,668)
2016: €1m buy-in One Drop Extravaganza – Elton Tsang ($12,248,912)
2018: $1m buy-in Big One for One Drop – Justin Bonomo ($10,000,000)

The 2012 & 2014 events were so pro-heavy, the organisers banned professionals in 2016 (the lowest attended event of them all). The pros returned in 2018, and once again the balance shifted too far towards their side of the seesaw.

Triton has the answer.

The Triton Million: A Helping Hand for Charity, is an invite-only competition, with all invites going to non-professional poker players. Each invitee is allowed to invite a guest who could be a professional poker player, ensuring an even split of pros versus non-pros.

The seating arrangements separate the two player types into different fields throughout Day 1 (pros v pros and non-pros v non-pros), with clean segregation until the end of Level 6, after which time the tournament team continues to arrange seats with an even flux of pros v non-pros. Then on Day 2, both sets of players merge, and we see if people can ride on the back of sharks.

In addition to the innovative seat structure, Triton has banned apparel that covers the neck or face, including scarves, turtleneck sweaters, hoods and sunglasses, and will insist that the final nine players wear a formal suit. The only exception will be for sunglasses at the TV tables due to lighting and hats that do not hide any part of the face at any time, such as a backwards baseball cap.

Players have to take their seat ‘on time,’ and a committee decides the definition of a Recreational Player/Business Person or Guest Player/Professional. Invitation holders can deposit £50,000 to reserve their seat, and once a Guest Player/Professional is inked they too can do likewise. After making the deposit, players must complete registration payments to reach the total buy-in amount of £1,050,000 before the start of the Festival.

Pro players wishing to compete are advised to contact Triton so they can add their names to a list for registered business people. The £50,000 deposit is non-refundable, and Triton will donate it to Charity in case of a no-show.

So far, Triton has confirmed the following people competing in the event.

Paul Phua & Tom Dwan
Stanley Choi & David Peters
Wai Kin Yong & Rui Cao
Richard Yong
Bobby Baldwin
Ivan Leow
Rick Salomon
Rob Yong
Liang Yu
Sun Yaqi
Eddie Ting

Rick Salomon has finished in the money in the previous three Big One for One Drop events.

Here is a link to the structure – https://triton-series.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/TTPK_London_Structure-2-Triton-Million.jpg

A Helping Hand For Charity

The £50,000 entry fees will benefit the following three charities:

Caring For Children Foundation

A Hong-Kong based charity providing funds and programs for children rehabilitation projects, including foster care programs, educational programs, and help with disaster relief.

Raising for Effective Giving (REG)

The poker player run meta-charity that uses evidence and rationality to ensure the most significant impact with their philanthropy.

Healthy Hong Kong

A Hong-Kong based charity that provides funds and relief for the grassroots and elderly in Hong Kong.

The entire Triton Poker London Super High Roller Series runs 31 July – 8 August and contains seven events.

On Monday night, Celine Dion called time on her 16-year residency at Caesars’ Coliseum on the Las Vegas Strip. 

Great.

What do we do on a Saturday night, now?

You’re in luck because until July 16th you can play at the World Series of Poker (WSOP), a collection of poker tournaments involved a constellation of poker players ranging from T Tauri to those sparkling in the highest stakes in the business.

At Paul Phua Poker (PPP), we focus on the latter part of that equation, and, today, we run through the finishing order of Events #3 to #8 to see how those that ink the pages of high stakes fairy tales rated.

We’ll begin with a world record, after Event #3: BIG 50 – $500 No-Limit Hold’em attracted a field of 28,371-entrants, all vying for the $5m in guaranteed prize money, and a $1m guaranteed first prize, and not one high roller regular made either one of the 100 ITM spots. Femi Fashakin collected the $1,147,499 first prize after taking a machete to a final table bereft of experience. 

The same can’t be said for Event #4: $1,500 Omaha Hi-Li 8 or Better. Derek McMaster conquered 853-entrants to win the $228,228 first prize, and a few high rollers, past and present, finished ITM.

Last year, Ben Yu finished runner-up to Shaun Deeb in the WSOP Player of the Year stakes, and he’s started this year in the same fashion. The winner of last year’s $50,000 No-Limit Hold’em tournament, finished seventh in this one. 

Patrick Leonard has a love/hate relationship with high buy-in live events, and a little over a year ago decided to quench his thirst on the online poker grind, leaving big money live events behind. It was an excellent choice with Leonard currently sitting #3 in the PocketFives Online Poker World Rankings. Let’s hope he makes #1 soon so he can turn to high stakes live events as his next challenge. Leonard finished ninth to add to his side event win at MILLIONS South America earlier this year.

Step into a time machine and backpedal a decade and you’ll find David Benyamine and Eli Elezra competing in high stakes poker tournaments – the golden oldies finished 68th and 97th in this one.

James Obst and Alex Foxen Bag a Couple of ITM Finishes

A year ago, James Obst announced plans to leave poker to focus on playing tennis. The Australian, never competed in high roller tournaments, regularly, but he would flick it in the significant buy-in events at the WSOP and Aussie Millions, so he gets some finger time.

Obst finished 45/296 in Event #6: $2,500 Limit Mixed Triple Draw (an event that Dan Zack won, beating 296-entrants for $160,447), and also finished 167/2825 in the first online bracelet event of the summer ($400 buy-in No-Limit Hold’em). 

The former WSOP Player of the Year and high stakes cash game grinder, Mike Gorodinsky finished eighth in Event #6, and Phil Hellmuth Jr showed his ability to caress a mouse like a queen feels a pearl, making the final table of the online bracelet event. Hellmuth’s search for a 16th bracelet ended respectively in fifth (Yong “LuckySpewy1” Kwon would take the title).

Other players cashing in the online event, who like to swim in high stakes waters were Niall Farrell (27th), Alex Foxen (74th), Darren Elias (132nd), Chris Hunichen (243rd), and Pete Chen (332nd).

Global Poker Index (GPI) World #1, Alex Foxen, also made money in the inaugural Short-Deck event, finished twelfth. Alex Epstein conquered a field of 114-entrants to win the $296,227 in Event #8: $10,000 Short Deck. High rollers making money included Anson Tsang (3rd), Chance Kornuth (4th), Andrew Robl (7th), Justin Bonomo (11th) and Bill Perkins (17th).

Kane Kalas isn’t a reg on the high stakes scene, but the one time, Triton Poker Super High Roller Series commentator, who finished 15th in this event, deserves a shout thanks to this incredible pot against Jason Koon in the 2018 Triton Poker Super High Roller Series in Montenegro. 

Kalas, my man, I know you have a singing voice that can make cheeks wetter than a cut, so I thought you should know a spot has opened up at the Coliseum mate. 

The poker world should be talking about Ben Heath winning his first gold bracelet at the World Series of Poker (WSOP). It wasn’t any old bracelet. It was the one handed out for winning the $50,000 No-Limit Hold’em, and it came in the same carrier bag as $1,484,085 in cash, but it’s become a secondary talking point.

Say what you like about Twitter (I think it’s a place where cowards play knock-a-door-run), but it does allow people to tell you how they feel, without the fear of getting punched in the face, and this leads to the slipping of a few masks. 

Take Ike Haxton, for example. 

During a crucial hand on the 50th Annual High Roller $50,000 No-Limit Hold’em final table, with the action four-handed, and the blinds at 100k/200k/200k, first to act, Sam Soverel raised to 400,000, Dmitry Yurasov shoved for 4,930,000, and then the action ground to a halt at the fingertips of Ben Heath in the big blind. 

Heath had a critical decision because he had AhQh. He asked Soverel for a count and received a reply. Then after a pause, Heath flicked a time extension chip towards the dealer. Soverel immediately looked at his cards, and then mucked out of turn, thinking Heath had made the call. 

The move outraged Yurasov because, with Soverel out of the way, Heath had an easier decision. Heath called, and his AhQh beat Yurasov’s AdTd to send the Russian to the rail in the fourth position, and Soverel earned an additional $182,786 due to the knockout. 

At the time, Soverel was extremely apologetic over his mistake, but it seems some of his peers, including Ike Haxton and Justin Bonomo, didn’t believe it was a mistake at all. 

Haxton vented on Twitter, declaring that after watching the replay, he was ’99% certain’ that Soverel intended to muck out of turn to give Heath an easier decision, even going as far as to say that Soverel has a ‘reputation’ for having less than stellar ethics when it comes to his behaviour at the table, a line that Bonomo backed up. Soverel, who went on to finish third for $640,924, is keeping his powder dry on this one.

The hand hasn’t only raised suspicions over Soverel’s morals, but it’s also created a debate on the efficacy of using time bank extension chips, as flicking one in the general direction of a dealer, is no different than someone throwing in a single chip to denote a call. 

Here’s the hand in question.

What’s your view?

And what are your thoughts on the use of time extension chips?

After Heath eliminated Soverel, the man from the U.K. went on to face Andrew Lichtenberger, heads-up, for the $1.48m first prize, and it was a short shrift affair with Heath coolering LuckyChewy AcJs>AdKh after flopping a Jack when all-in pre-flop for all the pigeon pellets. 

It’s the fourth live tournament win of Heath’s career and his first for two and a half years. Heath’s first seven-figure score takes his total live tournament earnings to $4,531,448, and Heath’s not playing life-raft poker, finishing 4/58 in a €50,000 at the European Poker Tour (EPT) in Monte Carlo, and 7/521 in the partypoker MILLIONS North America.

Final Table Results

1. Ben Heath – $1,484,085
2. Andrew Lichtenberger – $917,232
3. Sam Soverel – $640,924
4. Dmitry Yurasov – $458,138
5. Nick Petrangelo – $335,181
6. Chance Kornuth – $251,128

The event attracted 110-entrants.

The tea candles will be lit at Chez Brian Green tonight after the Texan started his World Series of Poker (WSOP) adventure by taking down Event #1: $10,000 No-Limit Hold’em Super Turbo. 

Green, who works in the used-car business and doesn’t consider himself a pro, is no stranger to the world of high stakes gambling. Three years ago, he borrowed $10,000 off a friend, sat down at the blackjack tables, ran it up to $113,000, and used the money to buy into the $111,111 No-Limit Hold’em High Roller for One Drop, finishing fifth for $1.1m.

The man got to keep 100% of those spoils, and there wasn’t a whine of a hungry dog in earshot as he ducked and weaved his way through a 204-entrant field to earn another $345,669, and his first gold bracelet.

Green had to overcome the incredible talents of Ali Imsirovic, heads-up, to claim the title. Imsirovic won the Global Poker Award (GPA) for 2018 Breakout Player of the Year, and the rush has continued into 2019, with this, his 13th final table, with all but one of them coming in $10k+ events. 

Green and Imsirovic weren’t the only high rollers to make it to the final table. At the first time of asking since breaking up with PokerStars and marrying Amanda Leatherman, Daniel Negreanu put in a solid performance to finish sixth, and Poker Central Founder, Cary Katz finished ninth. 

Speaking to PokerNews, Negreanu said it was great to start his run with a final table appearance, although he was quick to point out that as the stacks got shallower, and the blinds kept rising every 20-minutes, the person winning the flips was going to take it down. It was Negreanu’s 111th WSOP cash, although he hasn’t won a bracelet since 2013 when he took down the €25,600 No-Limit Hold’em High Roller at the World Series of Poker Europe (WSOPE) to secure his second Player of the Year title. 

Thirty-one players finished in the money, and as you would expect in a $10,000 side event, few fleas leapt into those places. 

The World Poker Tour (WPT) Main Event legend Darren Elias finished 11th, recent Triton Poker Champ Ben Lamb finished 13th, the former $50k WSOP High Roller winner Ben Yu came 14th, the recent €25k winner at the European Poker Tour (EPT) in Monte Carlo, Ben Pollak finished 15th, former Triton Poker Champs Nick Schulman and Manig Loeser finished 17th and 19th, WSOP bracelet winner Byron Kaverman finished 19th, old school legend David Benyamine finished 21st, one of the best non-pros in the high stakes world, Dan Shak exited in 22nd place, and the Poker Hall of Famer, Erik Seidel finished 25th. 

Final Table Results

1. Brian Green – $345,669
2. Ali Imsirovic – $213,644
3. Asher Conniff – $145,097
4. Loren Klein – $100,775
5. Ping Liu – $71,614
6. Daniel Negreanu – $52,099

Star Trek has never been the same since James Tiberius Kirk left the Nexus to help defeat Soran and ended up in a hole with Jean-Luc Picard holding a dirty spade. Every magnificent ship has a leader standing on the bridge, decorated with more stars than the Milky Way, and they never move as gracefully once the cord is cut.

Ask one hundred people, clueless about poker, to name a famous poker player, and Daniel Negreanu is going to get more hits than most. The 44-year-old is one of those rare finds – a poker player who makes an impression in the mainstream. I mean, come on, he starred in an X-Men movie for peat’s sake.

Over the weekend, Negreanu announced that the rubber band that had held him close to the beating heart of the PokerStars machine had snapped. Despite being of paramount importance to the Red Spade organisation for 12-years, the band didn’t erode through old age. Negreanu and Eric Hollreiser each grabbed the scissors and sheared, amicably. 

There is a clip in the Netflix documentary ‘Kid Poker’ where Phil Ivey says, “few have done more for poker than Daniel,” and it’s hard to refute such a bold claim from such a titan. Negreanu ensures he’s always in the public eye. In the beginning, it was his humour and engaging table manner. Then his illuminatingly honest interviews and blog posts, then later his vlogs and intense activity on social media. Each clip, word or image was growing poker and PokerStars, but not everyone adored Negreanu. 

In the aftermath of the Supernova Elite disaster, Negreanu publicly criticised PokerStars for the way they communicated (or didn’t communicate) the changes, while simultaneously backing his employers over the ‘why’ behind the decision. 

Negreanu’s stance led to a vitriolic attack from poker players affected by the changes, and those that didn’t agree with his viewpoint. The longest and nastiest pointed finger accused Negreanu of being a shill. 

In my dealings with PokerStars and Negreanu, I never believed that he was a shill. He was loyal to PokerStars, but he didn’t tow a corporate line. I’ve no doubt, had Negreanu been opposed to anything that PokerStars had done, he would have left. His controversial views were his own, and we will get to see that now he is a free man. 

Negreanu spoke about his split in a short video posted on Twitter explaining that his recent marriage to Amanda Leathermen and his desire to start a family tied in with his decision to leave. I hope that doesn’t mean that Negreanu will be spending more time away from poker. The game needs people like Negreanu – honest, transparent and willing to give the community an insight into a world that we rarely see from our stance on the rail.

One thing is for sure; we are never going to see the likes of Daniel Negreanu again. Relationships between ambassadors and online poker rooms will be more’ War of Art’ than ‘War and Peace’. A decade plus ambassadorial relationship is going to be a rare thing indeed. 

And for Negreanu, the captain, what next?

He says he is looking forward to the future, so let’s leave him with some words of wisdom of one of the best captains in the business. 

“You know the greatest danger facing us is ourselves, irrational fear of the unknown. But there’s no such thing as the unknown — only things temporarily hidden, temporarily not understood.” – James. T. Kirk.