Toby Lewis sits in front of a big arse mirror framed with big arse lightbulbs, a beautiful woman preens him like a peacock, two dozen red roses sit in a vase of crystal clear water, Craig McCorkell sits on the chaise lounge cracking open a can of beer.
We’re inside the changing room at the Crown Casino, Melbourne. The one with the word ‘Star’ hanging from a nail.
And then I wake up.
Toby Lewis Wins Aussie Millions 50k Challenge
Toby Lewis, the 2018 Aussie Millions Main Event Champion, is back in his old haunt, munching through High Rolling Challenge events like Sirens on shipwrecked sailors.
The AUD 25,000 Challenge attracted 151-entrants, a 37% climb on the 114-entrants that Ben Lamb turned to woolly jumpers on his way to winning the title 12-months ago – a record for an Aussie Millions AUD 25,000 event, beating the 133-entrant mark from 2017.
29-players made it through to Day 2, with Lewis settled in second place, and the man who would eventually face him in the final scene of this particular manuscript, Rainer Kempe, sitting pretty five spaces behind him.
Three people stood out by the time the final table came into full view – Lewis and Kempe, and the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure (PCA) Main Event Champion, Chino Rheem, and it was these three who were the last players’ seated.
Kempe was the man who disposed of Rheem’s body when his AQ outflopped and outturned pocket nines, and it proved to be the last hand after Kempe and Lewis sized each other up, and decided to save their energy for another fight, in another casino, in another city.
The pair struck a deal, moved all-in blind, and Kempe’s trash beat Lewis’s garbage to place the German in the photographers’ crosshairs.
Lewis may be in tip-top form, but so is Kempe. The 2018 Global Poker Index (GPI) German Player of the Year, flew into Melbourne after a PCA that saw him finish fourth in a $25k and win a $50k and a $10k, collecting more than a million beans in the process. $25k Challenge Final Table Results
1. Rainer Kempe – $595,055*
2. Toby Lewis – $566,074*
3. Chino Rheem – $300,067
4. Guillaume Nolet – $221,789
5. Gautam Dhingra – $156,557
6. Luke Marsh – $110,894
7. Jack Salter – $84,802
*Denotes a heads-up deal
When Sam Greenwood won the 2018 AUD 50,000 Challenge, it felt like poker had stepped out of a time machine during the Great Depression with only four people turning up to squeeze green baize beneath their fingernails.
Fast forward, 12-months, and you had an entirely different picture with 62-entrants forcing the organisers to put on an impromptu third day of action.
By that time Lewis was leading the final five players that included Bjorn Lin from Hong Kong, the Austrian Thomas Muehloecker, and the German pair: Dominik Nitsche and Manig Loeser.
Lewis was in majestic form and ripped the field apart like an ill-fitted coil – waltzing into a heads-up encounter with Loeser holding a 2.7m v 362k chip lead.
Loeser needed to get lucky, and lucky he got.
The pair got it in with Loeser light-years behind holding pocket jacks against the superior pocket queens, only to river a flush. Then a second cooler when Loeser’s pocket nines beat the pocket eights of Lewis.
By this time the stacks were even, so they agreed on a deal, moved all-in blind, and this time, Lewis would stare down the barrel of the lens. $50k Challenge Final Table Results
1. Toby Lewis – $588,999*
2. Manig Loeser – $556,017*
3. Thomas Muehloecker – $296,856
4. Dominik Nitsche – $233,244
5. Bjorn Li – $169,632
6. Tobias Ziegler – $148,428
7. Michael Zhang – $127,224
*Denotes a heads-up deal
So far Lewis has cashed in four events at the Aussie Millions, making three final tables, and banking more than $1.1m. His new influx of cash sees him leapfrog Roland de Wolfe, Chris Moorman and Dave ‘Devilfish’ Ulliot into the sixth position in the England All Time Live Tournament Money List with $6.3m.
The AUD 100,000 Challenge takes place February 1 & 2.
If he enters, back him.
The teachers in Los Angeles have been striking for better working conditions; astronauts have been learning that a trip to Mars is likely to increase their risk of cancer – so what’s been going on in the world of the high stakes professional poker player?
Welcome to this week’s edition of the Pinnacle.
We begin our ride on the rainbow of risk with the most famous face in poker: Daniel Negreanu.
What a tough week it’s been for the outspoken hero/anti-hero/villain (delete as you feel fit) as his willingness to share his thoughts with the world came back to bite him in the arse this week.
Three streams of tweets seemed to annoy a large contingent of the poker community.
There were a series of tweets focusing on ‘loaning money’ and taking ‘100% responsibility for your life.’
I’ve loaned money and been stiffed. It’s unfortunate, but I don’t hate those people. I don’t whine about how “unfair” it is, because I know who made the decision to loan the money: me.
No one put a gun to my head.
I’m not at “fault”, but I am responsible.
You are 100% responsible for every decision you make
Sometimes people will lie to you, and YOU will make a bad decision as a result
Sometimes you will make a bad decision under stress.
However it happens, it’s always YOU making the decision. Always. 100%
Negreanu aired his views on what constitutes a ‘good’ and ‘bad’ poker player, amending his ‘bad’ tweet after a tsunami of pain rained down on him.
5 things that make you good for a poker game:
– Lose Money
– Act Quickly
– Friendly/Engaging
– Generous/Give Action
– Positive Attitude
If you are 4 of these things but also win money, you are likely to be a pleasant addition to any poker game.
Here are Negreanu’s views on what traits constitutes a ‘bad’ poker player.
– Winner
– Slow
– Quiet (Also miserable)
– Nit (Cheap/Selfish)
– Hater (Complainer/Negative)
If you match all of these categories then you are probably a real treat t have at parties. 2 out for 5 is still bad.”
And he continued.
“This type of player is a cancer to poker. The Nits are like a disease. Some just don’t know any better, they aren’t bad people, but they do way more damage than good by playing poker.”
In response, Unibet Ambassadors, and Chip Race co-hosts, Dave Lappin & Dara O’Kearney both wrote blog posts airing their disappointment, and criticism of Negreanu’s actions, who in turn wrote a blog post apologising for the tweet, but pointing out that he felt some of the accusatory feedback felt too personal, and likely a smear campaign against him.
And then came the old chestnut courtesy of Sam Greenwood.
“How much damage does receiving a salary to promote a site that stole millions of dollars from its players do?”
Shaun Deeb was more personal than most in his vitriol predicting that Negreanu’s marriage to Amanda Leatherman will only last two years.
“I am a flawed human being as we all are to a certain extent, but I am always striving to be a better version of myself, and digesting feedback both positive and negative to look for areas where I can be better,” Negreanu wrote in his apologetic blog post. “I’d love to see a return to “I hate your ideas” rather than “I hate you.” Would do us all some good.”
You can read Dave Lappin’s thoughts right here (http://rocshot.com/lappin/265-yesterdays-faith/), similarly Dara O’Kearney’s view (http://dokearney.blogspot.com/2019/01/oh-danny-boy.html), Daniel’s reactionary blog post (https://fullcontactpoker.com/the-state-of-poker-2019/), and and my opinion on the debacle (https://calvinayre.com/2019/01/30/poker/negreanu-stars-enemies-musings-bad-faith-things/).
In stark contrast to the abuse Negreanu experienced, a terminally-ill man, Zachary Butler, suffering from the genetic disease Friedreich’s Ataxia, had his wish come true when the Dream Foundation (a non-profit that helps the terminally ill’s dreams come true), organised for him to visit Daniel Negreanu at his home to play poker with him.
To Butler, Negreanu is a star, who makes him laugh.
Pure.
Simple.
Negreanu will also be the emcee at the next Charity Series of Poker (CSOP) event scheduled to take place March 2 at Red Rock Casino Resort & Spa with proceeds going towards St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital.
Jason Koon Joins Triton Poker, Andrew Robl Interview Airs, Badziakouski Joins partypoker; Leonard Wins Triple Crown
Jason Koon agreed to join Triton Poker in an ambassadorial capacity this week. Koon will promote the Triton Super High Roller Series to his buddies in the west, and will personally attend each tour stop throughout 2019.
The first of these stops are in Jeju, South Korea, and this week the Triton crew announced a schedule that includes six events including for the first time a No-Limit Hold’em Short-Deck Ante-Only Bounty tournament.
Although unconfirmed, one person you would imagine will be in Jeju, taking his daily pew in the biggest cash games in the world, will be Andrew Robl, and this week we released our interview with the man during his time at the 2018 Triton Super High Roller Series in Montenegro.
Check it out.
The current Triton SHR Series Main Event champion of the Montenegro and Jeju series is Mikita Badziakouski, and this week, the Belarusian joined partypoker as an ambassador. And finally, partypoker Ambassador, and high stakes star, Patrick Leonard, won an online Triple Crown (he thinks) by taking down the $500 buy-in Blade on the GG Network for $19,663.10, the $1,050 Thursday Thrill on PokerStars for $19,342.01, and the partypoker Sunday High Roller Bounty Hunter for $40,100.15.
Phil Hellmuth Wins a Title; Gets His Hair Done; Plans for Brazil.
Phil Hellmuth was in the news this week for a variety of different reasons. The World Poker Tour (WPT) Raw Deal host took down his first title since winning his 15th World Series of Poker (WSOP) bracelet in the summer.
Hellmuth defeated 64-entrants to win the $37,248 first prize in the $1,590 No-Limit Heads-up side event at the WPT Borgata Winter Poker Open. Hellmuth beat Joseph Cappello in his final heads-up match.
If you ever wondered what was underneath that ARIA cap, now you know.
Nothing.
Well, I went for a hair replacement procedure w these guys, Dr Lieberman and Dr Parikh, at @ForTheFaceBay In four months my hair will be everywhere, and one year from now, should be at its best #NoMoreBaldSpotpic.twitter.com/228G1z0qDM
Finally, Hellmuth set himself a new bucket list goal of winning “at least four WPT’s”, told himself to “man up”, “attend more WPT’s”, and then declared an intention to do that by “ramping up my poker schedule.” Although it may not be a WPT event, Hellmuth is sticking to his word by appearing in South America for the first time as a guest of partypoker in the MILLIONS South America event scheduled for Rio.
Take ten!
The legendary @phil_hellmuth proved he is human after making a few bloopers while filming his recent #MILLIONS South America Main Event videos we’ve been publishing on Twitter! Check out some of the best of them: https://t.co/7koH8OxUS7 18+. Play responsibly. begambleaware pic.twitter.com/qifPhI6tGI
Live Tournament News: Kempe and Lewis Pick Up Wins in Melbourne; Elias Likewise in California
Three high stakes live tournaments to get you up to speed on, and we will start in Melbourne at the Aussie Millions. There seems to have been a resurgence in High Stakes Action at the Crown Casino, after a dismal showing last year.
The AUD 25,000 Challenge attracted 151-entrants, and Rainer Kempe agreed on a heads-up deal with Toby Lewis before winning the flip for the title. Lewis would go on to win the deciding flip in the AUD 50,000 Challenge after overcoming 62-entrants, including Manig Loeser in heads-up action to round off a fantastic few days for the man from the UK.
Here are the podium places. $25k Final Table Results
1. Rainer Kempe – $595,055*
2. Toby Lewis – $566,074*
3. Chino Rheem – $300,067
4. Guillaume Nolet – $221,789
5. Gautam Dhingra – $156,557
6. Luke Marsh – $110,894
7. Jack Salter – $84,802
*Denotes a heads-up deal 50K Final Table Results
1. Toby Lewis – $588,999*
2. Manig Loeser – $556,017*
3. Thomas Muehloecker – $296,856
4. Dominik Nitsche – $233,244
5. Bjorn Li – $169,632
6. Tobias Ziegler – $148,428
7. Michael Zhang – $127,224
*Denotes a heads-up deal
The WPT Gardens Poker Championships also held a $25,000 event, but with people jetting between the Bahamas and Melbourne it didn’t pull in the numbers the organisers hoped. Darren Elias defeated 11-entrants, including Chance Kornuth, heads-up, to win the $192,500 first prize.
Finally, Dan Smith beat the seven-time US Chess Champion, Alex Shabalov, in a PRO Chess League match, showing he has many arrows in that quiver of his.
And that’s this week’s Pinnacle.
The hotel staff at The Atlantis Resort in the Bahamas have removed the big top, and the high wire acts, clowns, and contortionists have left the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure (PCA) for the Aussie Millions, and other areas of the world where they can take a seat for a minimum of $25k.
The high rollers were in heaven with PokerStars hosting the softest $25,000 in history (The PokerStars Player’s No-Limit Championship – PSPC), and a further three $25ks, two $50ks and a $100k buy-in.
Image by to Neil Stoddart
The man who left with the most income (gross) was Sam Greenwood. The Canadian (and his brothers Max and Luc) cashed in the PSPC. Sam also cashed in a second $25k and defeated 61-entrants to take down the $1,775,460 first prize in the $100k event.
Four other players earned a million plus during the PCA. Henrik Hecklen followed up his €10k High Roller victory at the PokerStars European Poker Tour (EPT) in Prague with a runner-up finish to Greenwood in that $100k event, Rainer Kemper won the $50k, cashed in the $25k (and although we are not counting it in these stats, the German also won a $10k Turbo). And Stephen Chidwick cashed three times, making money in the 2 x $50ks and a $25k.
We don’t see new names on the high roller scene too often, but we got one in the PCA. Jesús Cortes finished runner-up to Kent Lundmark in the 2010 EPT in Barcelona but had never cashed in a high roller event before the PCA. All of that changed when Cortes earned £1,153,440 thanks to a third place in the $100k and cashes in 2 x $25k events.
Cortes wasn’t alone with his consistency. Nobody finished in the money with a higher frequency than Igor Kurganov. The PokerStars Ambassador cashed four times. The Global Poker Index (GPI) World #1 Alex Foxen, Sean Winter, Steffen Sontheimer and Sam Greenwood cashed in three events.
A special mention should also go to Talal Shakerchi who finished eighth in the PSPC after his aces were brutally tossed aside by the AQs of Julien Martini after the Frenchman hit runner-runner spades. Undeterred, Shakerchi jumped straight into the $100k and finished fifth.
Here are the stats: Biggest Earners (Gross)
1. Sam Greenwood – $1,933,880
2. Henrik Hecklen – $1,284,260
3. Jesús Cortes – $1,153,440
4. Rainer Kempe – $1,085,480
5. Stephen Chidwick – $1,084,322
6. Talal Shakerchi – $994,300
7. Alex Foxen – $904,040
8. Martin Zamani – $895,110
9. Igor Kurganov – $697,100
10. Sean Winter – $673,120 ITM Finishes
1. Igor Kurganov – 4
2. Sam Greenwood – 3
2. Jesús Cortes – 3
2. Stephen Chidwick – 3
2. Alex Foxen – 3
2. Sean Winter – 3
2. Steffen Sontheimer – 3 $25k PSPC Results (1,039-entrants)
1. Ramon Colillas – $5,100,000
2. Julien Martini – $2,974,000
3. Marc Rivera – $2,168,000
4. Scott Baumstein – $1,657,000
5. Jason Koonce – $1,304,000
6. Marc Perrault – $1,012,000
7. Farid Jattin – $746,000
8. Talal Shakerchi – $509,000 $100k ITM Results (61-entrants)
1. Sam Greenwood – $1,775,460
2. Henrik Hecklen – $1,284,260
3. Jesus Cortes – $828,560
4. Chris Hunichen – $627,340
5. Talal Shakerchi – $485,300
6. Igor Kurganov – $378,760
7. Steffen Sontheimer – $301,820
8. Stephen Chidwick – $236,720 $50k ITM Results (64-entrants)
1. Rainer Kempe – $908,100
2. Alex Foxen – $651,980
3. Stephen Chidwick – $423,780
4. Daniel Dvoress – $319,780
5. Christoph Vogelsang – $248,380
6. Evan Mathis – $192,480
7. Steffen Sontheimer – $152,120
8. Bill Perkins – $117,980
9. Jason Koon – $90,040 $50k ITM Results (26-entrants)
1. Timothy Adams – $372,508*
2. Stephen Chidwick – $423,822*
3. Alex Foxen – $207,040
4. Justin Bonomo – $149,720
5. Igor Kurganov – $121,040
*Signifies a deal $25k Final Table Results (75-entrants)
1. Sean Winter – $495,210
2. David Peters – $352,040
3. Jack Salter – $230,500
4. Rainer Kemper – $177,380
5. Ivan Luca – $140,460
6. Steve O’Dwyer – $109,840
7. Stanley Choi – $86,440
8. Igor Kurganov – $67,520 $25k Final Table Results (47-entrants)
1. Justin Bonomo – $383,650
2. Jesus Cortes – $265,200
3. Steffen Sontheimer – $169,280
4. Igor Kurganov – $129,780
5. Nick Petrangelo – $101,560
6. David Peters – $79,000 $25k Final Table Results (162-entrants)
1. Martin Zamani – $895,110
2. Dominik Nitsche – $606,360
3. Thomas Muehloecker – $404,240
4. Tom-Aksel Bedell – $331,100
5. Markus Durnegger – $265,640
6. Gianluca Speranza – $205,980
7. Sean Winter – $152,460
8. Davidi Kitai – $112,040
Chino Rheem rolled back the years to take down the $10,200 PCA Main Event. PCA $10k Main Event Final Table Results
1. Chino Rheem – $1,567.100
2. Daniel Strelitz – $951,480
3. Scott Wellenbach – $671,240
4. Paul Matanel – $503,440
5. Vicent Ramon – $396,880
6. Brian Altman – $297,020
High rollers who ran deep in the Main Event included Christoph Vogelsang (11th), Matthias Eibinger (14th) and Matt Berkey (15th).
A man at a football match once showed me how to turn a newspaper into a weapon – you know, in case that lot tried anything. But the morning paper can also be used for good. If your wife ever goes into labour, and you can’t get her out of the house before the madness begins, cover the floor with newspapers, as there are antiseptic properties in the ink. You can also save a few trees by using papers to wrap your Christmas presents, and anyone who has a dog knows how valuable they are when it comes to stopping them from destroying your kitchen lino.
They are also pretty good at getting a story out to the world.
Yeah, I nearly forgot about that one, but you should forgive me – times are changing. Instead of the newspaper, we have blogs, social media – the Internet, and it’s through these tin cans and pieces of string that we need to spread the goodness of the world, and my god do we need it.
Goodness = Dan Smith.
For the fifth year, Dan Smith has organised a compact and bijou band of merry men (this year: Aaron Merchak, Matt Ashton, Stephen Chidwick and Tom Crowley), to transform into hybrids of Zig Ziglar and William MacAskill to raise millions of dollars for effective charities.
When I last spoke to Smith in our piece Shaking The Money Tree With The Effective Altruist: Dan Smith the World Poker Tour (WPT) Champions Club member, good guy and giver told us of his goal to raise and match $1,140,000 between Nov 27 – Dec 29.
The name of the drive was The Double Up Drive, and as Dec 29th has gone the way of traveller’s checks, I catch up with Smith to learn how the drive panned out, and I am pleased to announce, that it once again surpassed expectations.
What was the official tally, and how successful was the Drive?
“The official number was $2,718,587,” says Smith. “I believe we did a good job of reaching the small donors. We had an increase in the number of donations this year, both in unique and the number of donations. Last year, we had 714 donations, and this year we had 1,115.”
What were the significant milestones during the drive?
“I would say the pinnacle of the drive, for sure, was when Tom Crowley won the big football tournament for $2m and cashed for $2.2m that day,” says Dan Smith, referring to Crowley’s incredible win in the Draftkings and FanDuel World Championships, and his pledge to donate 50% of his winning to the drive. “There was a ton of publicity, and it was a story that really got out there. It made the front page of Reddit. I really like stories like that. I think it’s a good reminder to people that you are allowed to dream big when it comes to doing these monumental things, and also can donate large amounts of money. He said publicly before the event that he likes to announce to himself or publicly how much he is planning for charity before the event because if you win it may be more difficult to donate the really big number, but when you have decided beforehand the proportional amount of your income it’s already decided for you.”
Holy shit, what a feeling to wake up this morning and realize this actually happened. Absolutely beyond comprehension. $1,127,000 for charity
What challenges did Smith and the team face?
“There were a few times on the logistical side where it was challenging,” said Smith. “At $400,000 of our $1.3m goal, Give Directly had the biggest marketing campaign – they were going to their base and letting them know about the drive, and there was a point when they were definitely getting the most of our funds. We decided we would cap them at $400,000 of the $1.3m, and introducing the cap was a bit of a challenge; then we ended up having the large infusion of more funds resolve that, but in the future, we have to slightly better anticipate how those logistics might work.
“Also the website is totally fine and sufficient, but at some point, I would like it to be cleaner, and I know some people had issues trying to donate through the website. I don’t know if this happens, but if someone tried to donate, and the website didn’t although them to do that, that would not be good, and something to work on.”
What are Smith’s personal goals for 2019?
“My priority on a personal level is my personal and mental health,” says Smith. “I can’t take care of anyone else until I first take care of myself. Then I would say a secondary thing is making time for loved ones, especially. If I don’t live in the same city as them, I have to make more of an effort.”
Poker Goals?
“I don’t especially have any poker goals,” says Smith. “I am a little burned out, and the idea of travelling for poker tournaments at this moment in time doesn’t appeal to me. I am skipping the PCA, and there is Jeju in March. I used to go to all of them. This winter I have a bunch of snowboarding trips planned with my friends, and I don’t feel like travelling across the world to play in some of these bigger tournaments. For the past few years, I have only played in these bigger tournaments. Playing a bit smaller in a stress-free environment could be a fun change, and that’s what I will be doing. I will go to LA to play WPT Hawaiian Gardens, I will play Bay 101 and LAPC, and I haven’t played the non-high roller scene in a while.
“I have heard rumours of there being a £1m tournament, and if that’s the case, I will start gearing up for that around two months out, and preparing for that. So I guess, I will take some time off early in the year except some smaller tournaments and then probably go hard at it in the spring to summer with the World Series.”
Service goals?
“The current model works very well, and if I only did the same project next year that would be totally wonderful, and it’s been growing for five years in a row,” says Smith. “However, I am going to look into the possibility of creating software that allows people to create their own personal Double Up Drives. People love the Facebook birthday matches, so I think if there’s an easy platform for them, I am envisaging that it’s possible to change the way people give. There are plenty of logistical things that could make this a challenge, but if there is a change to next years’ plan I would say this is it, and if not, I will continue with the current model of playing poker, hopefully winning at it, and giving publicly, and hoping that other people who want to make a difference, contribute.”
Here are the charities that benefited from the DoubleUpDrive.
Fund Distribution
ACE Effective Animal Advocacy Fund $313,927
AMF $290,194
EA Long-term Future Fund $139,583
The Good Food Institute $431,282
GiveDirectly $433,155
GiveWell (regranting) $271,630
Helen Keller International – Vitamin A Supplementation Program $44,304
Machine Intelligence Research Institute $228,966
Malaria Consortium – Seasonal Malaria Chemoprevention Program $89,629
Massachusetts Bail Fund $49,302
REG Fund $149,052
StrongMinds $277,557
Together we raised $2,718,587 that will be matched by the Double Up Drive. There were 1,116 donations amongst 924 unique donors.
I am working on a bigger write up; but am having a hard time getting my thoughts down. Will have it out within in a few days.
Thanks everyone ????❤️
— Dan Smith (@DanSmithHolla) January 6, 2019
The pot smokers and saucy sex searchers love Amsterdam. Those that like fast cars and yachts the size of small towns love Monte Carlo. Those who like a risk, meditate beneath coconut palms in tiger infested territories in Thailand.
Sean Winter?
Image credits to Neil Stoddart / PokerStars
That man loves the Bahamas.
Each year the Floridian places a flip-flop inside a Bahamian casino, he leaves with a trashcan bag full of money. Two months ago, Winter left the Baha Mar with more than $3m in winnings after finishing runner-up to Steffen Sontheimer in the $250,000 Super High Roller for $2,430,000, and to Giuseppe Iadisernia in the $50,000 for $550,000 at the partypoker Caribbean Poker Party (CPP).
And now, he’s done it again.
Winter topped a field of 75-entrants (50 unique, 25 re-entries) in the first $25,000 Single Day High Roller of the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure (PCA) to bank another $495,210.
Winter faced David Peters in heads-up action after getting fortunate to oust the British pro-Jack Salter from the competition in third place when his Q3 beat Q9 in a blind on blind all in squabble.
Peters began with a 4.72m v 2.78m chip lead over Winter and stretched it to 6.7m v 800k when the pair got it in, and Peters’ pocket nines bested the pocket sevens of Winter.
Winter then doubled up twice KT>J9 and A4>AK, before taking the lead when A3 turned an ace to beat pocket deuces. Winter then pushed his lead even further before Peters hauled him back, doubling KTs>97o, and then the pair ran out of time with the tournament area having to close for a spit wash.
With the $50,000 scheduled for the following day, the pair but their heads-up battle on hiatus until a suitable spot turned up. When that happened, the contest lasted a mere three hands.
First Peters doubled into the lead after flopping two pairs and then getting two streets of value from Winter who had flopped top pair, then Winter doubled back into the lead with KJo>98s, and the final hand of this convoluted ending saw Winter limp on the button and Peters call. The dealer placed Qc7h3h onto the flop, and Peters check-called a 160,000 Winter bet. The turn card was the As, and the same action ensued, this time for 250,000. The final card was the 8c, and Peters checked for the third time. Winter moved all-in, and after burning through two time-bank chips, Peters made the call. Peters showed 72o for a pair of sevens, but Winter had rivered two pairs with 87o and pulled in the entire 7.5m chips.
ITM Results
1. Sean Winter – $495,210
2. David Peters – $352,040
3. Jack Salter – $230,500
4. Rainer Kempe – $177,380
5. Ivan Luca – $140,460
6. Steve O’Dwyer – $109,840
7. Stanley Choi – $86,440
8. Igor Kurganov – $67,520
9. Byron Kaverman – $51,320
10. Erik Seidel – $45,020
11. Alex Foxen – $45,020
Winter has now earned $11.1m in live tournament earnings and moves ahead of Nick Schulman, Men Nguyen, Connor Drinan, Peter Eastgate and Tobias Reinkmemeier landing in 61st place in the All-Time Live Tournament Money List.
It was Winter’s seventh live tournament victory.
When PokerStars decided to give 320 players a place in the Bahamian sun where, for five days, they could elevate their status to the Gods of poker, there was hope that one of them would win it so they could send him or her onto Ellen to talk all about it. Well, one of them did win it, but unless there is a Spanish version of Ellen PokerStars are all out of luck.
Image credits to Neil Stoddart / PokerStars
The Platinum Pass is no longer a $30,000 seat in a $25,000 buy-in tournament, it’s a brand, and sometime in 2018, a Spanish professional poker player with only four live tournament scores to his name, and nothing above a $5,000 payout, won one when he topped the Leaderboard in the PokerStars Campeonato España de Poker (CEP).
Ever since winning the pass, Ramon Colillas, has been staring into the starry sky, hoping and praying that he would find the heat necessary to cremate 1,038 other souls, and bank the $5.1m in prize money, and that’s what happened after five days of action that’s rocked the very foundation of the poker industry.
Colillas came into the final table fifth in chips, and with the two biggest stacks to his direct left – not the ideal preparation for the day of his life. However, he dug in, found the right combination of luck and skill when he needed it, and emerged as the winner.
Final Table Seat Draw
1. Jason Koonce – 7,125,000
2. Julien Martini – 8,600,000
3. Farid Jattin – 8,525,000
4. Talal Shakerchi – 5,500,000
5. Marc Perrault – 2,275,000
6. Ramon Colillas – 8,300,000
7. Scott Baumstein – 10,725,000
8. Marc Rivera – 10,350,000
Image credits to Neil Stoddart / PokerStars
Colillas was one of two Platinum Pass winners who made the final table (Marc Rivera won his by way of the Asian Pacific Poker Tour (APPT) National Event in Manila), and it was an inexperienced lineup when you consider the number of Titans that entered.
The only player who consistently performs at these stakes was the first player to hit the rail, and boy did he hit it hard. Talal Shakerchi was the Day 1 chip leader, continuing a run of form that recently saw him make the final table of the Sunday Million (6th), and the Super High Roller Bowl V (4th).
Shakerchi was one of the favourites, and his odds shortened dramatically when he picked up pocket aces and a shoving stack at a time with Julien Martini had three-bet a conservative open from Marc Rivera holding AQss.
The CEO of Meditor Capital moved all-in, Martini made the surprising call and must have felt sick to his stomach when the deck produced a Ks3c2h rainbow flow. Only running turn and river cards would rescue the Frenchman from chip dust, and that’s what happened as consecutive spades flew out of the deck to dig a hole that Shakerchi was not ready to climb into.
The exit happened in the first orbit, and it quickly cemented Martini as the dominant force in the competition. The Frenchman came into the Bahamas on the back of a breakout 2018 that saw him make two World Series of Poker (WSOP) final tables, winning a bracelet, and then finishing runner-up in the European Poker Tour (EPT) National in Barcelona.
This Martini would not be shaken or stirred, and it didn’t take long for him to increase his advantage when his AK beat the crap out of Farid Jattin’s AJs to send the Colombian All-Time Money Earner back home.
Then Ramon Colillas emerged from the cave and began sending people to rail heaven. The Spaniard’s first victim was the highly capable Canadian Marc Perrault who got short enough to ship it holding 63o. Colillas found pocket kings, shoulder barged Martini out of a side pot, and feasted on the bones of Perrault alone.
Colillas didn’t stop there. Jason Koonce moved all-in holding T7dd, and Colillas called with pocket fives. The pair held, and Koonce returned to his room (not Jason Koon’s room), $1.6m the richer. Not bad for someone who has only ever cashed twice in live tournaments before, earning nothing over $5k.
One of the early favourites was Scott Baumstein. The former WPTDeepStacks Main Event winner had held the chip lead for the past few days, but couldn’t find any momentum when it mattered the most. Baumstein shipped it with A9o over a Martini open. The Frenchman called with KQo and flopped a king to eliminate Baumstein, and take an enormous chip lead three-handed against Rivera and Colillas.
Colillas managed to chip up during the three-handed play, and it was a good job that happened otherwise we could have had a massacre on our hands. Martini’s AK made Rivera’s A3 look kind of puny, and five community cards later we were heads up with Martini holding a 42m v 19.45m chip lead, and with all of the experience.
A cooler would change the direction of the wind in this thing.
Martini flopped a flush holding 96hh on AhQh4h, but Colillas would hit the perfect runner-runner combo Qd and 5d to find a boat holding Q5. Martini moved all-in on the river after firing three hefty bullets, and Colillas mopped them up.
After the chip lead exchanged hands, Colillas never surrendered it. After pounding away at the Frenchman, Martini made his stand with J9cc, Colillas called with a raggedy ace, and it held to send him and his friends and family through the pinhole of possibility that most of us believe only happens to other people.
Here are the final table results: Final Table Results
1. Ramon Colillas – $5,100,000
2. Julien Martini – $2,974,000
3. Marc Rivera – $2,168,000
4. Scott Baumstein – $1,657,000
5. Jason Koonce – $1,304,000
6. Marc Perrault – $1,012,000
7. Farid Jattin – $746,000
8. Talal Shakerchi – $509,000
Image credits to Neil Stoddart / PokerStars
Titans who ran deep but not deep enough included the Global Poker Index (GPI) Female Player of the Year, Kristen Bicknell (11th), the former Irish Open winner, Griffin Benger (14th), and the two-time World Poker Tour (WPT) Champion, Marvin Rettenmaier (27th).
Credits to Neil Stoddart and PokerStars
The greatest marketers in the world know they have to treat different people differently.
How do you do that if you are PokerStars?
There is a man in a suit sitting on the crapper playing a Spin & Go, a grandmother in her seventies sits by the kitchen table, bacon & egg pie baking in the oven as she competes in a play money cash game, and the grinder sits behind cartons of used Pot Noodles multi-tabling 12-tables.
Different people.
Different reasons for playing.
The marketer needs to find the common thread that unites them all: emotion. People want what you make to change how they feel. The thing you create is merely a vehicle that drives you to the doorstep of belonging, joy, tension and a change in status. The PokerStars Player’s No-Limit Hold’em Championship (PSPC) is that vehicle.
For the past 12-months, PokerStars has created a compelling storyline that has resonated with the poker community so loudly, brightly, and snugly that 719 people paid $25,000 to compete in a poker tournament. Include the 320 people that PokerStars gave a seat for nothing (at the cost of $9.6m), then you have a record 1,039 player field for a $25,000 event. The largest ever held in the history of our game.
For one crazy week in January, PokerStars made it possible for the media to ask the valet at the Atlantis if he was playing. Suddenly, everyone was potentially a high stakes poker player. It’s proof positive that if you invest time and effort in a long term marketing strategy, and deliver what you promise, then your customers will find a way to play.
Have they delivered?
Yes.
The feeling on the ground as Bruce Buffer grabbed the microphone and battered it like a rock star on Day 1 was incredible. The energy was incredible. It felt like being on the floor of the World Series of Poker (WSOP) Main Event for the very first time.
Credits to Neil Stoddart and PokerStars
Tension.
Anticipation.
Status.
It had everything.
Two days in, and there are 207 players left. The prizepool of $26,455,500 is the 18th largest ever, and the most significant outside of the WSOP Main Event and Big One for One Drop.
181 players receive a minimum of $25,450.
Players who make the final table pick up $509,000.
The top six finishers earn a minimum of a million dollars.
The winner emerges with $5,100,000.
Credits to Neil Stoddart and PokerStars
Here are those payouts. Final Table Payouts
1. $5,100,000*
2. $2,974,000
3. $2,168,000
4. $1,657,000
5. $1,304,000
6. $1,012,000
7. $746,000
8. $509,000
*Includes $1m added by PokerStars
Here are the top 10 chip counts. Top 10 Chip Counts
1. Farid Jattin – 921,000
2. Mustapha Kanit – 888,000
3. Griffin Benger – 885,000
4. Julien Martini – 832,000
5. Athanasios Polychronopoulos – 797,000
6. Samuel Tsehai – 750,000
7. Martins Adeniya – 748,000
8. Marc Perrault – 725,000
9. Ramin Hajiyev – 720,000
10. Alexandre De Zutter – 700,000
And that’s how you treat different people differently.
You make them all feel the same.
Once upon a time, on a cloud overlooking The Rhine, a choir of angels dusted their hands with flour and began needing the dough that would create the best poker players on the planet.
Fedor Holz.
Steffen Sontheimer.
Dominik Nitsche.
Manig Loeser.
Koray Aldemir.
Julian Thomas.
Rainer Kempe.
Stefan Schillhabel.
I could keep going, but I need to get this over and done with before my fingers snap in this cold.
Where was I?
Ah yes, angels and dough.
When these majestic creatures landed on earth, they remained as one. Add a hint of Vorsprung Durch Technik, and you have a movement designed to dominate poker.
Some things change.
Some things don’t.
The $300,000 buy-in Super High Roller Bowl V was not a happy stomping ground for the German crew with the seven ITM spots all devoid of a flag containing black, red and yellow.
After the event, the gang scattered like autumn leaves. Some went to feed the ducks, others had dirty sheets to change, and some stayed in Las Vegas hoping to find better luck – like Manig Loeser.
The former Triton Poker Series Champion topped a 1,250-entrant $400 buy-in No-Limit Hold’em Monster Stack event at The Venetian. Loeser picked up $74,323 for the win after beating the Network Marketing God, Eric Worre, in heads-up action.
Monster Stack Final Table Results
1. Manig Loeser – $74,323
2. Eric Worre – $46,063
3. Chris Banks – $33,500
4. Satish Surapaneni – $25,586
5. Eric Baldwin – $19,263
6. Sevak Papelian – $14,656
7. Dominic Guarnieri – $11,306
8. Eidan Azuly – $8,794
The win was Loeser’s sixth of his career, and the second in December, after winning a 42-entrant $25,000 buy-in No-Limit Hold’em event at The World Poker Tour (WPT) Five Diamond World Poker Classic for $321,300.
Here’s a reminder of final positions in that one. $25k Final Table Results
1. Manig Loeser – $321,300
2. Elio Fox – $308,700
3. Jake Schindler – $168,000
4. Dan Smith – $105,000
5. Cary Katz – $84,000
6. Nick Petrangelo – $63,000
Rainer Kempe Wins GPI Germany Player of the Year
Loeser earned $3,059,305 in 2018, slightly down on the $3,902,718 made in his High Roller breakout year of 2017, and his performances netted him a third-place finish in the incredibly competitive German Global Poker Index (GPI) Player of the Year (PoY) race.
Two people finished ahead of Loeser.
Dominik Nitsche took second.
Rainer Kempe took the lot.
GPI Germany PoY Top 10
1. Rainer Kempe – 3,172.45
2. Dominik Nitsche – 3,147.22
3. Manig Loeser – 3,071.59
4. Jan Eric-Schwippert – 2,991.08
5. Robert Heidorn – 2,349.20
6. Koray Aldemir – 2,238.83
7. Marvin Rettenmaier – 2,172.72
8. Ismael Bojang – 1,994.70
9. Ole Schemion – 1,931.26
10. Robin Hegele – 1,803.23
Kempe made money an incredible 41-times in live tournaments throughout 2018, making 26 final tables, and winning six of them. All told, Kempe earned $5,705,799 playing live tournaments, his second-best haul (the best being a 2016 haul of $6,627,498 the year he won the Super High Roller Bowl for $5m).
How did he beat such a powerful and populous field?
I guess that’s the upside when your friends shift their focus to esports, primed mind and whatever it was Dom did all year https://t.co/x6e7Qs5NvQ
2018 was an important year for Stefan Schillhabel who created No-Limit Gaming (NLG) an Esports and Poker organisation backed by his buddies Fedor Holz and Steffen Sontheimer.
They began by creating an impressive roster of poker content providers including the German stars made out of the angel dough, a sprinkling of the best Austrians in the clubhouse, Ana Marquez, Kenny Hallaert and Niall Farrell.
Fortnite star Daniel “likandoo’ Keller joined the team in October, and now they have a Counter-Strike: Global Offensive (CS:GO) team who will represent NLG at ESL Germany, 99Damage and ESEA.
I wonder?
Is there another choir of angels preparing to mix more dough, this time with a hint of Esports seasoning?
Rainer Kempe hopes so.
Right now. At this moment. The only moment. The fat from the meat is leaping from the pan to the silver sheen. The sunflowers wave at me through the kitchen window. The empty beer cans sit by the sink wondering what to do now they have no heart.
This moment.
Alex Foxen is the greatest live tournament poker player in the world. The algorithm never lies. Eric Danis and his overworked team, stuffed in a Maltese office have run the numbers.
4,095.52.
It’s a new record since the algorithm changed, only I can’t tell you when because I am in LA, Danis is in bed, and I don’t have time to wake him up to ask him. The Global Poker Index (GPI) confirmed Foxen as the 2018 Player of the Year (PoY) while we were digging into our turkey curry. It was a close-run thing. With Stephen Chidwick finishing third in the Super High Roller Bowl V (SHRB), Foxen needed to finish in the top two spots to stop the English bulldog from sending the American a rejection letter.
Foxen finished second.
$2,1600,000
Kerching.
He doesn’t get a cup.
We won’t get to see his bronzed, bulging biceps holding anything in the air. And that’s ok by him. He knows it. I know it, and now you all know it. Alex Foxen is the business.
Here are the final standings:
The 2018 GPI Player of the Year Rankings
1. Alex Foxen – 4,095.52
2. Stephen Chidwick – 3,787.26
3. David Peters – 3,776.97
4. Justin Bonomo – 3,763.02
5. Jake Schindler – 3,716.07
6. Steve O’Dwyer – 3,596.30
7. Pavel Plesuv – 3,503.07
8. Adrian Mateos – 3,412.43
9. Michael Soyza – 3,389.65
10. Joe McKeehen – 3,381.56
Except for Pavel Plesuv, who had an incredible year, all of the Top 10 compete in $25k+ events across the globe on a regular basis. Foxen made 18 final tables, winning five of them, and accumulating an annual haul of $6,632,556 before every man, woman and dog had their cut.
It’s going to be fantastic to see if Foxen can continue the momentum and become a regular in the biggest games in the world throughout 2019 and beyond.
Foxen is currently dating Kristen Bicknell, and boy oh boy if those two decide to mix chromosomes you can expect the little one to come out of the womb flinging cards into all of that muck.
Bicknell won the 2018 GPI Female Player of the Year race, and it wasn’t even close. By my reckoning, the partypoker ambassador was the only female poker player to compete in a $100,000 buy-in event throughout 2018, and I hope that Foxen shares some of that bankroll so we get to see the Canadian competing more in the highest stakes events.
1. Kristen Bicknell – 3,071.41
2. Maria Lampropulos – 2,418.28
3. Loni Harwood – 2,252.47
4. Maria Ho – 2,033.77
5. Maria Konnikova – 1,959.33
6. Gao Wenling – 1,957.20
7. Anna Antimony – 1,934.25
8. Wendy Freeman – 1,705.33
9. Kitty Kuo – 1,688.69
10. Nadya Magnus – 1,649.91
In other high rolling leaderboard news, Jake Schindler took down the 2018 Card Player PoY award. Chidwick had to settle for the bridesmaid role for the second time.
Schindler was the most consistent of all high rollers cashing an incredible 37 times, making 31 final tables, winning eight of them, and amassing $9,118,893 in prize money.
Foxen finished third in the Card Player rankings.
Here is the final league table.
2018 Card Player of the Year Rankings
1. Jake Schindler – 9,407
2. Stephen Chidwick – 8,845
3. Alex Foxen – 8.259
4. David Peters – 8,059
5. Justin Bonomo – 7,752
6. Adrian Mateos – 6,477
7. Rainer Kempe – 5,924
8. Jason Koon – 5,827
9. Steve O’Dwyer – 5,688
10. Pavel Plesuv – 5,626
One man who is missing from all three of those leaderboards is Sam Soverel, and that’s because he decided to play his poker a little closer to home.
Soverel cashed 28-times in 2018, with the vast majority of them coming in ARIA High Roller events, including victories across all three disciplines of No-Limit Hold’em, Pot-Limit Omaha and Short-Deck.
His consistency earned him the title of Poker Central High Roller of the Year, and for a prize, he gets rake-free entry into every single ARIA High Roller event throughout 2019.
Here is the final leaderboard:
My finger moves into my mouth with all the grace of a teenage lover; past the oily residue staining my lips, the remnants of a mandu-guk New Year’s Day slobfest, and out it comes, into the air.
I am not a statistician; I’m more of a gut feel man, and right now, other than telling me that I’ve overeaten fried food, it’s telling me that 2018 was the year when High Roller hoodies paralleled the jackets of four-star Generals.
Millions moved through the ranks.
Millions.
There were more personal bests in 2018 than at any other time in the history of this rich lineage of our beloved game.
All of which means, 2019 is going to have to be extra special if it’s going to keep the speeding fines coming in, and it’s beginning startlingly with three global venues hosting events carrying buy-ins of $25,000 plus, and we begin in The Bahamas.
The New Year begins with the event that places high rollers, and the working class into the same melting pot – the $25,000 buy-in PokerStars Player’s No-Limit Hold’em Championship (PSPC).
PokerStars has invested more than $9.6m into this event, handing out 320, $30,000 Platinum Passes to a pocket of players for whom competing in a $25,000 buy-in event is as realistic as your funeral director going all Frankenstein on your arse and bringing your grandma back from the dead for a spot of Seven Card Stud.
And they haven’t finished yet.
The winner won’t only walk away with a mega-million first prize – PokerStars will hand that man, woman or Frankenstein an additional million bucks.
The event will be bigger than a Chinese atheist convention.
The whole thing takes place at The Atlantis Resort in the Bahamas Jan 6 – 10 as an expensive prelude to the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure (PCA).
And these three bad boys each earned a freeroll into the event.
1. David Peters ($10.7m in 2018 earnings)
2. Mikita Badziakouski ($14.5m in 2018 earnings)
3. Stephen Chidwick ($10.1m in 2018 earnings)
The PCA officially gets underway on Sat 5 January with a $2,700 PSPC qualifier and ends on Wed 16 Jan.
There are five events for High Rollers on the card including two $100,000 events, a $50,000 and two $25,000 games.
The $50,000 No-Limit Hold’em takes place 9 Jan, the $100,000 No-Limit Hold’em PCA Super High Roller 10-12 Jan, a $100,000 No-Limit High Roller on 12 Jan, a $25,000 No-Limit Hold’em on 13 Jan and a second $25,000 event 14-16 Jan.
The $100,000 Super High Roller has been a permanent fixture in the poker calendar since 2011, and here is the current rogue’s gallery.
$100k SHR Winners
2011 – Eugene Katchalov (38-entrants) $1,500,000
2012 – Viktor Blom (40-entrants) $1,254,400
2013 – Scott Seiver (55-entrants) $2,003,480
2014 – Fabian Quoss (56-entrants) $1,629,940
2015 – Steve O’Dwyer (66-entrants) $1,872,580
2016 – Bryn Kenney (58-entrants) $1,687,800
2017 – Jason Koon (54-entrants) $1,650,300
2018 – Cary Katz (48-entrants) $1,492,340
After the barmy Bahamian blitz, it’s time for a 20-hour flight to Australia for the 2019 Aussie Millions. The Crown Casino, Melbourne, once again plays host, and there is an AUD 25,000 (USD 17,600) No-Limit Hold’em Challenge scheduled for January 25, and an AUD 50,000 (USD 35,000) No-Limit Hold’em Challenge on the card for Jan 27-28.
The Aussie Millions is the spiritual home of the high roller circuit with the AUD 100,000 Challenge* in situ since 2006, and the AUD 250,000 Challenge running from 2011 until its demise in 2016. The three most significant Aussie Millions winners are Phil Ivey ($7.9m), Erik Seidel ($4.8m) and Sam Trickett ($4m).
The Aussie Millions tournament organisers introduced the AUD 50,000 Challenge to replace the AUD 250,000 Challenge in 2016, where Mikita Badziakouski beat a measly 6-entrants to win the AUD 176,400 (USD 133,062) first prize. Last year, things worsened when Sam Greenwood beat a dire 4-entrant field in the same event before launching a Twitter tirade aimed at the German stable for refusing to get their hands dirty.
*The AUD 100,000 event takes place on Feb 1, hence its absence in this piece.
Japan High Roller Festival
There is one other $25,000+ buy-in event on the poker calendar according to Hendon Mob. The Japan High Roller Festival has a KRW 30,000,000 (USD 26,000) No-Limit Hold’em High Roller taking place 3 – 6 Jan, and as officials have banned live poker in Japan, the event takes place in the Paradise Casino, Incheon, South Korea. The Japan High Roller Festival debuted in the Paradise Casino back in 2017, but they have never held an event of this magnitude before.
