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As a nipper, I loved Games Day. It was an opportunity to skip boooring lessons, and a chance to elevate playground status by bringing in some state of the art game or gadgetry.
It wasn’t all circles and oblongs, though.
There was the odd triangle thrown in for good measure.
I grew up on a council estate called Poet’s Corner (our poet was Shelley). We didn’t have a pot to piss in, so Games Day was tough. I had to take the only game I had, one that I had made – WWF Wrestling.
I had taken a pack of Trivial Pursuit cards, covered them with blank scrap paper, and created players, attributes, and moves. The cards included characteristics such as Skill, Strength and Unique Finisher. The moves were things like Clothesline, Bodyslam, and Figure-Fore Leglock.
I based the rules on Ian Livingstone and Steve Jackson’s Fighting Fantasy series.
I thought the other kids would cast me to the wind.
The opposite happened.
They loved it.
And do you know what they loved about it?
The rankings.
We had a WWF Champion and an Intercontinental Champion, and the only way you got a shot at the title, was to be the top contender, and you became the top contender by accruing points through my leaderboard system.
I never told anyone my secret.
It was like KFC without killing 850 million chickens per year.
 
Love Rules
During the Triton Poker Series in Jeju, South Korea, I sat down with the British #2 All-Time Money Earner, Stephen Chidwick, to talk about poker and life. At the time, Chidwick was the Global Poker Index (GPI) World #1, and I learned that the man from Deal had always wanted to reach that apex, and had a new goal in his crosshairs.
Chidwick wanted to take the longest streak record from Fedor Holz.
Remember when Holz was picking up more cheques than a broiler chicken farmer picks up eggs? During that insane multi-million dollar run, the German racked up a record 30 consecutive weeks as the GPI World #1. That was the record Chidwick wanted, and Alex Foxen has just turned Chidwick’s dream into mashed potatoes and gravy.
alex-foxen
Five weeks shy of achieving his goal, the man with the ice-like stare has removed Chidwick from the head of both the GPI World Rankings and the 2018 GPI Player of the Year (POY) Rankings.
The New York native has racked up $3,935,519 in 2018 live tournament earnings – not a lot in the world that Chidwick eats his pork chops – but the GPI isn’t interested in money earned, it’s chasing after consistency, and Foxen has buckets of that beneath his ribs.
Foxen has made 13 final tables in 2018, including appearances in all the world majors: The PokerStars European Poker Tour (EPT), World Poker Tour (WPT), partypoker MILLIONS Main Event and The World Series of Poker (WSOP), and he has won four events.
In March, Foxen topped a field of 68-entrants to win the HKD 400,000 buy-in No-Limit Hold’em Super High Roller at the Asian Pacific Poker Tour (APPT) in Macau for $963,880. He beat 50-entrants in a $25,000 High Roller at the WPT LA Poker Classic for $424,625, defeating 422-entrants to win a $2,650 side event at the Seminole Hard Rock Poker Open (SHRPO) for $208,452, and booked a controversial win by beating 178 entrants, including his girlfriend Kristen Bicknell, heads-up, to take the $239,000 first prize in a $5k event at the Mid-States Poker Tour (MSPT) at the Venetian. Last week, he finished runner-up to Ioannis Angelou-Konstas in the £5,300 No-Limit Hold’em MILLIONS UK Main Event earning $947,916 from a field of 1,015 entrants.
All of which means Cupid is happy as we have the first-ever boyfriend/girlfriend combination at the top of the GPI World Rankings, with Kristen Bicknell currently dominating the female rankings, as well as sitting #16 in the GPI World Rankings, and #15 in the GPI POY Rankings.
One wonders how long it will be before partypoker sign Foxen, and make the most of this fantastic marketing opportunity.
Foxen has earned $6,165,247 in live tournament earnings.
He is the 19th player to rule the poker world since the GPI’s inception.
And I reckon he applies a pretty mean Bear Hug.
 
The Top #10 GPI Rankings

  1. Alex Foxen – 3,980.45
  2. Stephen Chidwick – 3,781.56
  3. Justin Bonomo – 3,628.40
  4. David Peters – 3,587.77
  5. Adrian Mateos – 3,551.66
  6. Jake Schindler – 3,408.53
  7. Joe McKeehen – 3,327.51
  8. Steve O’Dwyer – 3,301.96
  9. Ben Pollak – 3,287.99
  10. Jason Koon – 3,203.72

 
The Top #10 GPI POY Rankings

  1. Alex Foxen – 3,710.76
  2. Stephen Chidwick – 3,691.67
  3. Justin Bonomo – 3,660.28
  4. Jake Schindler – 3,625.15
  5. David Peters – 3,561.52
  6. Adrian Mateos – 3,364.20
  7. Shaun Deeb – 3,230.72
  8. Jason Koon – 3,191.17
  9. Ben Yu – 3,191.07
  10. Chris Soyza – 3,147.81

 
Previous GPI POY Winners
2017 – Adrian Mateos
2016 – David Peters
2015 – Byron Kaverman

Steve O’Dwyer’s landlord won’t have to worry about October’s rent after the high rolling phenom showed his versatility in winning four major titles both online and in the land of buttered toast and tea.
Steve O'Dwyer
The American star has applied the defibrillators on cashier tills across the globe with increasing frequency in the past seven years winning an incredible 21-titles, but he has never found the same rock ‘n’ rolling rhythm when competing against the very best in the digital world.
Whether his lack of success is down to fear of Wi-Fi rays giving him head cancer, tipping oxtail soup on his keyboard and never replacing it, or just plain online poker run bad, until this year, you wouldn’t find the online pseudonyms MrTimCaum (PokerStars & Full Tilt) and eet_smakelijk (partypoker) at the top of the major online ITM records.
Until now.
In the past four weeks, O’Dwyer went from tins of braised beef to fillet steak after nailing big scores in both the PokerStars’ World Championship of Online Poker (WCOOP), and partypoker’s POWERFEST.
On the 16th September, O’Dwyer topped a field of 667-entrants to win the $2,100 buy-in No-Limit Hold’em Eight Max for $227,100.97, eclipsing his previous best online score of $93,750 for winning the $1k Monday event on Full Tilt Poker (FTP) way back in 2009.
Five days later, O’Dwyer destroyed that personal best like a famished builder destroys the first pint of beer to greet his lips on a Friday night, beating 156-entrants, including a final table that housed the likes of Michael Zhang, Jon Van Fleet and Jason Koon to win the $25,500 buy-in $3m GTD Championship Event during partypoker’s POWERFEST for $896,610.
Those two results mean O’Dwyer has won a lilliputians’ shoe length below $5m playing online tournaments. Not too shabby until you compare it to the $24,796,309 O’Dwyer has won playing live, and that’s where we head to next in this incredible journey.

Steve O’Dwyer Owns partypoker MILLIONS UK.

The first major live event to take place after September’s online shenanigans was partypoker’s MILLIONS UK, and O’Dwyer turned up with all the heat of a hot water bottle after his two online triumphs.
The £25,500 No-Limit Hold’em Super High Roller became title #20 after O’Dwyer conquered a field of 51-entrants, including Fabrizio Catalidi, heads-up, to win the $592,448 first prize. It says something when you consider that score only ranked as his fourth highest of the year.
Four days later, and O’Dwyer secured the double vanquishing 105-entrants, including the former SCOOP Main Event winner, Gianluca ‘Tankanza’ Speranza, heads-up, to send another $407,734 whizzing down a wire to a bank manager who has grown accustomed to watching O’Dwyer’s account twinkle like a star.
O’Dwyer’s MILLIONS double saw him return to the All-Time Live Tournament Money Earned List Top #10 on The Hendon Mob, replacing David Peters.
Here are those final table results:
£25k Buy-in Final Table Results
1. Steve O’Dwyer – £450,000
2. Fabrizio Cataldi – £286,750
3. Orpen Kisacikoglu – £200,000
4. Christoph Vogelsang – £140,000
5. Aymon Hata – £100,000
6. Niall Farrell – £60,000
£10k Buy-In Final Table Results
1. Steve O’Dwyer -£314,000
2. Gianluca Speranza – £193,000
3. Preben Stokken – £129,000
4. Dominik Nitsche – £95,000
5. Michael Zhang – £75,000
6. Chris Brammer – £60,000
7. Joao Vieira – £45,000
8. Anthony Elliot – £35,000
How long will this incredible heat last?
I think it’s already ended.

If we could all come from a place of gratitude, the world would be a better place. I struggle. Ego, pessimism and cynicism drilled into my cerebellum by parents who knew no better.
A recent trip to Asia reminded me of the power of gratitude. Killer mosquitoes, earthquakes, tsunamis, typhoons – I couldn’t wait to get the hell out of Dodge and dive into the cold wet and windy arms of Good Ole Blighty.
Rain.
Wind.
Stung by a wasp.
Hardly, catastrophic incidents.
The Balinese earthquakes shook me up in more ways than one. As the key rattled around in the hole, I felt a sudden sense of lilliputian like stature in the world.
But life goes on.
It always does.
Take Typhoon Mangkhut; the Category 5 Super Typhoon that ripped through Macau like a Marlin breaking the waves hooked on certain death.
Casinos shut down for 33-hours.
When they opened, people were waiting outside like Sunday morning pubgoers in the South Wales valleys; twitching fingers, tapping feet, lips smacking Pavlov style.
Amongst them were the poker-loving folk of the Venetian Macau Resort Hotel, who turned up to compete in a ten-day festival operated by the Poker King Club.
Three events stood out like a chicken’s eggs amongst quails.
One of which interests us here at Paul Phua Poker, The Home of High Stakes Poker.
The HKD 200,000 (USD 25,500) buy-in Poker King Cup Super High Roller attracted 21-entrants, pulling in an HKD 3,910,000 (USD 500,659) prize pool, and Kui Song Wu banked the HKD 1,720,000 (USD 220,239) first prize after beating the immensely talented James Chen, heads-up.
Kui Song Wu
The victory was Wu’s first of his career, and the buy-in of USD 25,500, was more than his combined total live earnings before he entered the event. In contrast, Chen had earned close to $2.8m in live tournaments including a victory in the $12,775 buy-in High Roller at the Asia Pacific Poker Tour (APPT) in the City of Dreams, Macau for $512,411 earlier this year.
The final table bubbled with brilliance. Earlier in the year, Michael Addamo beat 1,637 entrants to win his first World Series of Poker (WSOP) bracelet and $653,581 first prize, besting a final table that included Bart Lybaert, Taylor Paur, Martin Jacobson, Anton Morgenstern, Cate Hall and Ihar Soika. Addamo finished fourth in this one.
And only Justin Bonomo has won more live tournament rubles than Mikita Badziakouski this term. The back-to-back Triton Poker Series winner finished just outside of the money in sixth.
Only four got paid.
Here they are:
ITM Finishes
1. Kui Song Wu – $220,124
2. James Chen – $130,155
3. Ye Wang – $90,097
4. Michael Addamo – $60,022
The other big winners in the Poker King Cup included Tokuho Yoshinaga, who defeated a field of 69 entrants to take the HKD 1,410,169 (USD 179,794) first prize in the HKD 80,000 (USD 10,200) High Roller. And Weiran Pu conquered a field of 518 entrants to take down the HKD 1,464,000 (USD 187,363) first prize in the HKD 16,500 (USD 2,100) buy-in Main Event.
Not the typical typhoons we report on here at PPP, but it makes for a nice bookend.
Dietrich Fast wins XL Eclipse High Roller
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From a relatively unknown poker player winning a high roller to an extremely well-known high roller, that doesn’t want to be well-known, winning a tournament in the online realm.
Last week, 888Poker’s online poker series, XLEclipse, ended, and while the $2,600 buy-in High Roller wouldn’t normally interest us, the name of the winner does.
The World Poker Tour (WPT) Champions Club member, Dietrich “2pacnrw16” Fast, took down the $2,600 buy-in, $200,000 GTD High Roller, beating 83-entrants to capture the $72,635 first prize, beating competitors of the ilk of Chris Moorman and Martin Jacobson on his way to ascendency.
Fast is one of the few people who recently took advantage of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) laws that are sweeping Europe by removing his name from The Hendon Mob.
From now on, Fast takes on the moniker of ‘Unknown Player’.
Let’s hope the interesting young man doesn’t move out of the media limelight entirely, as I love a good chow down with the Russian-born high roller carrying the typhoon tongue.

Steve O'Dwyer
Steve O’Dwyer

Taggers were hopping over electrified lines to squiggle on the side of coal hoppers unbeknown that the commodity owners were complaining to the rail hauliers that graffiti-covered wagons carried their product.
Steelworks stinking of dragon poop sent poison into the air through chimney stacks shaped like the cigars favoured by the giant who sang Fee-Fi-Fo-Fum while his harp played a phat tune.
And all the while I was being nominated Father of the Year.
I would round up my mates’ 7-8-year-old kids, stick them in the back of my car, fill their bellies with red liquorice shoestrings, and drive them to Jump, an indoor children’s play area with the outstanding Internet.
My buddies (and especially their wives) thought I was the business for playing with their kids.
“Are you sure?”
“Only if it’s no bother?”
“I wish Dave was like you xx.”
Little did they know, once I had taken the shoes off the kid’s foul-smelling, funky feet, I loaded up eight tables of $1/$2 No-Limit Hold’em cash games, and spent the next few hours doing my bollocks.
I loved it.
And I think of this, right now, while a little old lady plays with her pearl buttons, patiently waiting for her vegan mushroom burger loaded with butternut squash, avocado and chilli jam because I think it would have been rather cool to win close to a million bucks while I was doing that.
Like, Steve O’Dwyer.
POWERFEST Round-Up: O’Dwyer, Leonard, Astedt Oh MY
The last time I sent a thousand words into your face likes the shards of a bottle of Worcester sauce; I told you that O’Dwyer was all excited after finally winning a PokerStars’ World Championship of Online Poker (WCOOP) event.


O’Dwyer won $227,100.
If you follow O’Dwyer on Twitter, you’ll know that he doesn’t tweet often. The one you see above was his first since July.
Here is his second.


Yup, three days after setting a new personal best he smashed it like kids on a pinata full of Monster Munch.
O’Dwyer won the $25,500 buy-in, $3m Guaranteed Championship event, for $896,610, an incredible amount of money to be earned while sitting in your birthday suit eating Pot Noodles.
The win for O’Dwyer was the most significant of the series. There was no Main Event in the traditional sense, with partypoker preferring to schedule 20 Championship Events with buy-ins ranging from $1,050 to $25,500.
Here are some of the stories:
A hop, skip and a jump ago, I brought you news from the PokerStars European Poker Tour (EPT) Barcelona that Andras ‘probirs’ Nemeth had taken down the €25k Single Day High Roller for €605,600, and that he had done so a few months shy of winning a $25k High Roller at the PokerStars Spring Championship of Online Poker (SCOOP) earning $576,086. Well, the Hungarian was at it again, this time beating 195-entrants in Event #29 $5,200 buy-in $1m GTD Championship for $177,934.
Leon Tsoukernik plays host to some of the most significant private live cash games in the world, and the King’s Casino owner also won a Championship Event when he took down the $5,200 buy-in Event #16: $1m GTD Championship Event for $207,978, beating 204 entrants in the process.
PocketFives World #1, Niklas “Drulitooo” Astedt, also turned it on during POWERFEST. The Swedish scintillator beat 194 entrants in Event #62: $5,200 buy-in $1m GTD Championship Event for $203,900, and made the final table of at least two other Championship Events.
Two men who have been kicking arse in the high stakes realm for a decade are Ben “CowEyed” Tollerene and Sami “LarzLuzak1” Kelopuro and they both picked up POWERFEST titles with Tollerene taking down Event #95 $5,200 $1m GTD Championship event for $310,440, and Kelopuro beating 327 entrants in Event #142: $1m GTD Championship Event for $317,190.
The man you can thank for the new look POWERFEST schedule is Patrick Leonard, and the high stakes online and live star, was one of the stories of the series winning two events including beating 379-entrants in Event #42: $530 buy-in $200k GTD 6-Max PKO for $20,102, and defeating 305 entrants in Event #83 $300k GTD 6-Max PKO for a $34,796 payday.
669 events.
$69,106,263 in prize money against the $60m Guarantee
946,000 entrants
POWERFEST
It’s no wonder they capitalise it.

wcoop
Two old dears ask to share my table. I nod. I can’t hear them. I’m too busy lauding over the majesty of Leftfield’s live album of 2012, remembering that it was at a Leftfield concert that I chose to take drugs for the first time since 2009.
Check, check, one.
Interesting times.
The man at the Deli Bar sends a frown my way as he sees me take my DIY salad from my Little Red Riding Hood style rucksack. Either of these old dears would have made the perfect Grandma.
All I need now is a Big Bad Wolf.
I can’t find one.
All I see are sharks.
PokerStars’ World Championship of Online Poker (WCOOP) is over, and according to the PokerStars blog, it’s the most successful ever.
 
Here are the stats courtesy of Howard Swains.
– Events completed: 185
– Total entries: 1,101,677
– Total prize pools: $99,539,195
– Players in the money: 150,239
– First prizes awarded: $15,112,664.08
 
Let’s take a look at how our High Rollers did.
 
The High Rolling Double Club
Two High Rollers who compete on separate sides of the great blue divide are Dzmitry ‘Colisea’ Urbanovich and Shaun ‘shaundeeb’ Deeb, and they each won two WCOOP titles during the 2018 series.
Deeb, who won the 2015 WCOOP Player of the Series, came into this one a single victory behind Dan ‘djk123′ Kelly in the All-Time Multiple WCOOP Winner Rostrum. By the end of things, he was one in front, but without a crown (more on that later).
The American’s first victory came on Day 7 when he beat 192 entrants in the $1,050 PLO8 8-Max for $38,088.84. It was his son’s birthday, two years after winning a WCOOP title on the day his wife gave birth. Deeb’s second win came on the penultimate day when he battered 173-entrants into submission in the $2,100 PLO8 6-Max for $69,011.45.
However, the feeling of wellbeing coming from those two wins was nothing compared to the knowledge that Grosvenor Casino had dropped their association with his former Twitter sparring partner Will Kassouf over allegations of theft.
 

 
From the States to Europe, and Urbanovich won his first title of the series on Day 13 when he took down the 158-entrant $1,050 HORSE for $34,365, then two days later won the 71-entrant, $10,300 8-Game for $225,000. Urbanovich sits joint fourth in the WCOOP All-Time Winning List with four titles (Germany’s Nilsef also has four).
 
The Best of The Rest
The 2018 WCOOP contained three $25k events. A No-Limit Hold’em (NLHE) version, a Pot-Limit Omaha (PLO) version, and at the last minute, PokerStars added a $25k NLHE Turbo.
The 2014 World Series of Poker (WSOP) Main Event third-place finisher, and PLO High Roller, Jorryt “TheCleaner11” van Hoof, took down the 54-entrant $25,000 PLO 6-Max High Roller for $465,559.91. It was the most significant online score of the Dutchman’s career.
Linus “LLinusLLove” Loeliger is an online sensation who has won more than $5m profit playing online cash games on PokerStars and Full Tilt but proved he could find his way around an online multi-table tournament (MTT) after beating 104 entrants to win the $25,000 NLHE for $587,747.32. Incredibly, Loeliger, finished third for $764,501.99 in the WCOOP Main Event, making him the #1 player when it came to money won.
On the final day, a player known only as ‘limitless’  took down a heavily competitive $25k NLHE Turbo, beating the 2018 Poker Masters $100k Champion,  David “dpeters17” Peters, heads-up to bank the $725,847.48 first prize, the most significant sum won outside of the Main Event.
Check this out for a who’s who of high stakes poker:
 
$25k NLHE Turbo ITM Results
1: “limitless” (Macau) – $725,847.48
2: David “dpeters17” Peters (Canada) – $561,903.81
3: Luke “Bit2Easy” Reeves (UK) – $434,989.46
4: Michael “mczhang” Zhang (UK) – $336,740.74
5: Bartlomeij “bartek901” Machon (UK) – $260,682.86
6: Andras “probirs” Nemeth (Hungary) – $201,803.76
7: Sergio “zcedrik” Aido (UK) – $156,223.54
8: Linus “LLinusLLove” Loeliger (Austria) – $120,938.19
9: Justin “ZeeJustin” Bonomo (Canada) – $99,556.53
10: “dannagger” (Norway) – $81,955.19
11: Stephen “stevie444” Chidwick (UK) – $81,955.19
12: Ivan “Negriin” Luca (Argentina) – $81,955.19
13: “fr0zZy” (Russia) – $67,465.72
14: Juan “Malaka$tyle” Pardo (UK) – $67,465.72
15: Mustapha “lasagnaaammm” Kanit (Austria) – $67,465.72
16: Sami “Lrslzk” Kelopuro (Finland) – $55,537.95
17: Bryn “BrynKenney” Kenney (Mexico) -$55,537.95
 
Descending down the $25k steps to the lower buy-ins and the high stakes online cash game player Rachid Ben “SkaiWalkurrr” Cherif beat 185 entrants to win the $10,300 NLHE 8-Max for $367,001.22, Connor “blanconegro” Drinan won the $10,300 buy-in NLHE PKO defeating 162 entrants to win the $385,762 first prize, and Ole ‘wizowizo’ Schemion beat 294 entrants in the $2,100 NLHE 6-max earning $112,235.
Winamax Ambassador, Adrian “Amadi_017” Mateos, battered 2,822 opponents into submission to win the $109 NLHE Turbo for $40,888.24, Mike “SirWatts” Watson won the 396-entrant $215 2-7 Triple Draw for $15,325.20, and Noah “Exclusive” Boeken won the 181-entrant $1,050 buy-in 8-Game for $41,630.
Last but not least, Steve “Mr. Tim Caum” O’Dwyer won his first-ever WCOOP title after taking down the 667-entrant $2,100 NLHE 8-Max for $227,100.97, and Sam “Str8$$$Homey” Greenwood beat 792 entrants to win the $2,100 No-Limit Hold’em 8-Max High Roller for $268,775.65.
 


 
The WCOOP Main Event
While the $5,200 buy-in WCOOP Main Event isn’t a High Roller, the $10m Guarantee makes it worthy of mention.
After three days and 25 hours of action, the 2,044-entrant field condensed to a solitary $530 satellite winner called wann2play. The player, hailing from the land of clogs and strange tasting cookies, banked the $1,352,967.97 first prize after cutting a deal with eze8888 from Argentina when heads-up. Eze8888 received $1,257,203.66.
The $25k NLHE winner, Linus “LLinusLLove” Loeliger, finished third, Michael “mczhang” Zhang finished fifth, and Noah “Exclusive” Boeken finished sixth.
Connor Drinan made the ‘unofficial’ final table and somehow ended the day in negative equity.
 


 
WCOOP Main Event Final Table Results
1: wann2play (Netherlands) – $1,352,967.97*
2: eze88888 (Argentina) – $1,257,203.66*
3: Linus “LLinusLLove” Loeliger (Austria) – $764,501.99
4: PlayaPlz (Costa Rica) – $540.584.85
5: Michael “mczhang” Zhang (UK) – $382,252.52
6: Noah “Exclusive” Boeken (Netherlands) – $270,293.45
*Indicates a heads-up deal
 
Denis “aDrENalin710” Strebkov.
Denis “aDrENalin710” Strebkov might not be a high roller reg, but we can’t have a WCOOP round-up without mentioning that in 16-years of WCOOP history only Dan ‘djk123’ Kelly had ever won five titles, and Strebkov won that number in a single week.
He stands alone at the top of the All-Time WCOOP Title Leaderboard with nine.
Here are his results.
– Beats 2,133 entrants in the $109 PLO 6-Max for $31,824.
– Beats 91 entrants in the $2,100 Razz for $49,595.
– Beats 2,094 entrants in the $11 NL 5-Card Draw for $3,233.76
– Beats 136 entrants to take down the $2,100 8-Game event for $70,720
– Beats 134 entrants to win the $1,050 Stud Hi-Lo for $29,145
 
A high stakes reg in the making, perhaps?

42137325180_a89e0e53ff_k
There’s something pretty groovy about being world class at ‘something’ and choosing to keep your identity a secret. There’s a certain Clark Kent about it. I know I’ld struggle to stay schtum. My ego would win the internal war of sense, innocuously dropping into conversations that I had earned more than $5m profit playing a game of cards.
The online poker community allows you to be a tad Jason Bourne, and many players have taken advantage of that, with Viktor ‘Isildur1′ Blom the most famous hidden identity of them all.
Trueteller is another one.
From 2011 until the summer of 2015, Trueteller competed against all and sundry in the highest stakes cash games in the world, and nobody had a scooby who he was.
Then, during the $50,000 Poker Players’ Championship (PPC) at the 2015 World Series of Poker (WSOP), Timofey Kuznetsov admitted to his tablemates that he was the man who once danced with Phil Ivey for more than 30-hours.
And now, after winning $3.1m on PokerStars, $2m on Full Tilt, $3m playing live tournaments, and likely millions more playing live cash games in Macau, Kuznetsov is about to leave the Daily Planet for good.
The 27-year old becomes the second Russian star to represent partypoker Team Pro (Anatoly Filatov joined in March 2017), and by my reckoning that makes it 23 ambassadors, more than any other online poker room in the world.
Trueteller’s favourite game is No-Limit Hold’em, but he will take on anyone at the Pot-Limit Omaha tables, and the vast majority of his Full Tilt winnings came playing 2-7.
Kuznetsov referred to the dark age in poker in his press release, stating that good sides must unite.
“I’ve spent all of my career in social silence, it feels like it might be a time to change that,” said Kuznetsov.
The Russian star also stated that he was looking forward to helping improve partypoker’s software, and to help them develop a more robust and exciting mixed game option.
You can expect Kuznetsov to get involved in Trickett’s Game, partypoker’s attempt of wresting the high stakes online cash game action from PokerStars’ control.
Kuznetsov will make his debut in the final week of POWERFEST. The online giants haven’t announced if Kuznetsov will feature at the partypoker MILLIONS UK at Dusk till Dawn (DTD) at the end of the month. Live tournaments aren’t Kuznetsov’s ding-a-ling, registering only three times on The Hendon Mob finishing fourth in the inaugural Super High Roller Bowl (SHRB) for $2,150,000, winning a $50,000 ARIA High Roller for close to $800,000, and taking fifth in a Triton Poker Series event in the Philippines for a smidgen under a hundred grand.
MILLIONS UK takes place 29 September till 7 October, with the £25,500, £1m GTD MILLIONS UK High Super Roller looking like an event that Kuznetsov may fancy.

0a30c38a11
Ryan Riess had beaten 6,352 entrants to become the World Series of Poker (WSOP) Main Event winner, Daniel Negreanu had won the WSOP Player of the Year award for an unprecedented second time, and a young poker enthusiast from Switzerland decided to open a thread on 2+2 and write this:
“I’m 19 years old living in Switzerland and been playing poker for a few months, and I’ve read a few books and tons of threads on this forum. I’m gonna start a challenge, where I update graphs, hands and other stuff. With this new challenge I switched to a new site, Pokerstars and I’m starting at NL10 6 max with a 15 BI – BRM. My goal is to get to 100NL by the end of the year 2013.”

His name?
 “My stars-name is “llinusllove.”
A month later, and the 19-year old writes:
“Worst. Day. Ever. -200USD just today.”
A poster responds:
“Gl in this project, I’ll be following! You can make it to NL20 one day; I have faith!”

Over the weekend, LlinusLLove, topped a field of 105-entrants to win Event #43 (H) $25,000 Eight-Max No-Limit Hold’em Super High Roller at the PokerStars World Championship of Online Poker (WCOOP) securing $587,747.32 in the process.
Whaddya know, the kid must have gotten out of 10NL.
LlinusLLove remained anonymous for the first three years of his bankroll challenge. Years later, when asked why he didn’t come out sooner, he would tell PokerStars’ Brad Willis usually there’s nothing good coming from it.
He has a point.
He was 22 when someone leaked his full name to HighStakesDatabase (HSDB), and fast forward to today, and in addition to the half a million dollars he has just put away playing an online tournament, Loeliger has won $807,000 pure profit in 2018 alone playing No-Limit Hold’em and Pot-Limit Omaha cash games. All told, Loeliger is $1.4m in profit since depositing $240 on PokerStars to begin his bankroll challenge.
It couldn’t have been a smooth ride for Loeliger on the $25,000 High RollerFinal Table. Both Chris ‘Big Huni- Hunichen and Patrick ‘pads1161′ Leonard are former PocketFives World #1’s, not to mention the quality of the likes of Henrik “hhecklen’ Hecklen, Michael ‘mczhang’ Chi Zhang and Rachid ‘SkaiWalkurrr’ Ben Cherif.
But this lad is mustard.
 
Here are the final table results.
 
Final Table Results

  1. Linus “LLinusLLove” Loeliger – $587,747.32
  2. Henrik “hhecklen’ Hecklen – $451,251.38
  3. frozZy – $346,454.88
  4. Michael ‘mczhang’ Chi Zhang – $265,995.69
  5. Chris ‘Big Huni- Hunichen – $204,221.95
  6. Rachid ’SkaiWalkurrr’ Ben Cherif – $156,794.30
  7. Bartek901 – $120,391.17
  8. Patrick ‘pads1161’ Leonard – $92,424.30

 
See what can happen when you read a few books.

It’s not often you lose, and win, but that’s what happened to Ali Imsirovic in the 2018 Poker Masters finale, the $100,000 No-Limit Hold’em Main Event.

Ali Imsirovic
Ali Imsirovic Wins the Purple Jacket

It started disastrously.
The middle and end weren’t so bad.
Only four full levels had been played on Day 1 when the players held a pow-wow that led to a change in structure. On a positive, it’s good that the players and tournament staff can work together on such things. On a negative, this is the 2018 Poker Masters. There was a lot of talk about protecting the ‘integrity of the event,’ and if that’s the case something will have to be done to prevent this farce from happening again.
A decision was made to stop the clock with 15-minutes of Level 5 remaining, and then bring everyone back the following day, ending late registration and the rebuy period at the start of Day 2.
Rewinding four and a half levels, and only five people stood a chance of winning the Purple Jacket.
Ali Imsirovic (660 Pts)
Brandon Adams (510)
Isaac Haxton (480)
Jake Schindler (390)
Ben Yu (360)
Neither Jake Schindler nor Ben Yu competed in Day 1, and both Adams and Haxton fell before the end of Level 5.

Brandon Adams Eliminated

Adams opened the action with a 14,000 raise, and Justin Bonomo peeled in position. The flop contained more spades than one of those cheap, crappy shops you find at the seaside – Ts8s2s – Adams bet 16,000 and Bonomo called. The turn was an odd looking 3d, Adams jammed, and Bonomo made the call. Adams showed KdTc for top pair, and Bonomo showed pocket jacks for the overpair. If Adams was going to leave the ARIA with a Purple Jacket, in the next few days, then he was going to have to spend another $100,000 to do so.

Isaac Haxton Eliminated

Haxton raised to 4,500, Seth Davies made it 11,500 to play, Haxton moved all-in for approx. 70,000, and Davies made the call. Haxton showed AQ, but Davies had him dominated with AK. Five community cards changed nothing. Like Adams before him, Haxton would have to buy back in for another $100,000 if he was to try and win the Purple Jacket.
Day 2
By the time the cards were in the air, the field had swelled to 25 players, including Ike Haxton and Brandon Stevens, and not Jake Schindler or Ben Yu.
Here’s how the Poker Masters climaxed.

Isaac Haxton Eliminated in 17th Place.

The action folded to Haxton in the small blind, and he made up the change. Bryn Kenney raised to 13,000 in the big blind, and Haxton called. The flop was Th9d8c, Kenney bet 16,000, and Haxton called. The turn card was the Ks, and the same action ensued, this time for 47,000. The final card was the Ah, Haxton checked, Kenney put him all-in, and Haxton called. The partypoker ambassador had turned two pairs, but Kenney had it from the off, flopping a set of tens.
Haxton would not be winning the Poker Masters.

Ali Imsirovic Eliminated in 13th Place.

Then hope for Adams.
Imsirovic limped into the action from the small blind holding pocket tens, and then shoved over a Stephen Chidwick raise from the big blind holding AhTs; Chidwick called. The dealer laid the AsJs7hQs3c onto the board, and Chidwick had sent the Purple Jacket favourite to the rail. If Brandon Adams could finish third or higher, then the title would be his. Otherwise, Imsirovic would take the honour.
And take the honour he did.

Brandon Adams Eliminated in 7th Place.

It was a tremendous series for Adams making the final table of the first three events including winning Event #2: $25,000 No-Limit Hold’em, but Imsirovic’s back-to-back titles in Event#5 & 6 proved too much of a hurdle for Adams to overcome.
It was a brave last stand.
Aldemir opened to 13,000 with 98ss, and Adams moved all-in holding AJo in the cutoff. Dan Smith picked up AQhh on the button and called, everyone else folded. Smith would go on to flop the top two pairs and then hit the third queen for good measure on the river. Adams was out. Ali Imsirovic was the 2018 Poker Masters winner.
But we still had a million bucks to hand out.
Day 2 ended with a final table of four.

Final Table Tale of the Tape

Seat 1: Dan Smith – 2,030,000
Seat 2: David Peters – 2,230,000
Seat 3: Bryn Kenney – 227,000
Seat 4: Koray Aldemir – 541,000
Day 3

Bryn Kenney Eliminated in 4th Place.

Kenny moved all-in for 185,000, and Aldemir also moved all-in for 422,000. Peters and Smith let the pair have a scrap. It went a little something like this:
Aldemir: QcJh
Kenney: QhTs
Board: As7s5d8d5c
Kenney was out, earning $250,000, and Aldemir left the hand with 637,000 chips, and a whole lot of work to do with his peers both holding more than two million of the things.
He put up one hell of a fight.
The three-handed action lasted more than five hours.
Here are the highlights:
Aldemir doubled through Smith on two occasions (JJ>KQ & AJ>AT) and then this happened:
Aldemir completed from the small blind holding Jc7h, and then called when Smith raised to 70,000 holding Ah8d. The pair checked to the turn on a board of Th9c2h5h, Aldemir bet 150,000, and Smith called. The river was the Jd, giving the German the best hand. Aldemir bet 175,000, but Smith put him all-in. Aldemir burned a time extension chip before making the right call, and Smith went from chip leader to short stack.
Peters doubled through Aldemir to take the chip lead AT>99.
Smith doubled through Peters in fortunate fashion after the pair got it in on 9d8d2c with Smith holding 87o for middle pair, and Peters well ahead with 94ss for top pair, only for Smith to hit a runner-runner straight combo to double up.

Koray Aldemir Eliminated in 3rd Place.

Aldemir moved all-in on the button, and Smith called in the big blind.
Smith: JsJd
Aldemir: Ad9s
Board: Tc4d3s3h8d
The jacks held, and Aldemir was denied back-to-back heads-up encounters, leaving Smith and Peters to fight it out for the million-plus prize.

Heads-Up

Smith – 2,570,000
Peters – 2,430,000
The pair agreed to reduce the levels to 15-minutes.
Peters moved into a chunky lead before Smith doubled up QQ>A9, but Smith couldn’t capitalise, and Peters finished him off K7o>A7s after finding a king on the fourth street to end things.

Final Table Results

1. David Peters – $1,150,000
2. Dan Smith – $700,000
3. Koray Aldemir – $400,000
4. Bryn Kenney – $250,000
Peters has now won three seven-figure scores in 2018 including finishing seventh in the Super High Roller Bowl China for $1,113,018 and winning an event at the Triton Poker Series, Jeju for $1,118,484.
Ali Imsirovic Wins the Purple Jacket
Had the ARIA and Poker Central not changed the structure from last time, David Peters’ two titles would have been enough for him to win as he earned slightly more cash than Ali Imsirovic ($1,343,200 v $1,288,600), and cash was the metric for success last year.
However, the organisers introduced a point system this year, meaning the 23-year old from Vancouver, Washington, finished ten points ahead of Peters, thanks to his three ITM finishes.
Imsirovic finished 8/69 in Event #1: $10,500 No-Limit Hold’em for $27,600 and 60 leaderboard points. Then he beat 66-entrants in Event #5: $26,000 No-Limit Hold’em for $462,000 and 300-points and cemented his win with victory in the very next event, Event #6: $52,000 No-Limit Hold’em, where he beat 47-entrants for $799,000.
2018 Poker Masters Final Standings
1. Ali Imsirovic – 660 points ($1,288,600)
2. David Peters – 650 ($1,343,200)
3. Brandon Adams – 510 ($543,000)
4. Isaac Haxton – 480 ($309,900)
5. Jake Schindler – 390 ($575,000)

Invincibility. It’s a lovely feeling. You could take a peg gun to the frontlines and emerge with more kills than Arnold Schwarzenegger. You walk into the cardroom, the Neocortex takes a peek around each corner, Bourne-style, and it’s the green light for the Cerebellum to send a memory into play laden with more feelgood chemicals than a Rolling Stones album.
The bells toll.
You study your opponents. Hardened chip fat. No unshaven legs. Every play as smooth as a babies bottom. You’re a reader of souls. A battering ram. While everyone else is yawning their life away, you are tuned in to the right frequency, the only frequency, the winning frequency.
And.
After taking down Event #5: $25,000 No-Limit Hold’em at the 2018 Poker Masters, that’s how Ali Imsirovic felt as he surged through Day 1 of the toughest poker tournament in the world like he was a Shinkansen Bullet Train.
Ali Imsirovic
Here was the tale of the tape at the end of Day 1:

Final Table

Seat 1: Sam Soverel – 430,000
Seat 2: Ali Imsirovic – 3,630,000
Seat 3: Jake Schindler – 835,000
Seat 4: Seth Davies – 465,000
Seat 5: Justin Bonomo – 980,000
Seat 6: Koray Aldemir – 710,000
Imsirovic’s chip lead was a colossus one, making him the favourite to win back-to-back titles, and overtake Brandon Adams at the top of the leaderboard. Schindler was making his third final table after placing third and fourth in the previous $25k events. The rest were making their final table debuts, including the world’s top money earner, Justin Bonomo.
Here’s the Run-In

Justin Bonomo Eliminated in 6th Place.

Bonomo raised to 50,000 in the cutoff, holding AKhh, Aldemir three-bet to 170,000 holding pocket kings, Bonomo moved all-in, and Aldemir snap-called.
Board: QsQd8h6dTc
A cooler.
Bonomo was down to 65,000, and Aldemir had become Imsirovic’s primary rival on 1,925,000.
In the next hand, Imsirovic raised to 50,000 holding J8o, and Bonomo was all-in in the big blind with K2o. Imsirovic was behind but turned a jack to send the All-Time Live Tournament money earner over to the cash desk to collect his $141,000.

Sam Soverel Eliminated in 5th Place.

Imsirovic opened to 70,000 from the first position, Soverel moved-all-in for 225,000 in the big blind, and the man from Washington made the call.
Imsirovic: QsQh
Soverel: AKhh
Board: 6h4s9h2d
Soverel turned a flush draw, but the river remained as heartless as a politician and Imsirovic had taken his second head.

Jake Schindler Eliminated in 4th Place.

The action folded to Imsirovic in the small blind, and the big bully moved all-in holding 7c5d. Schindler made the call in the big blind holding pocket fours. A five on the flop gave Imsirovic his third casualty, and Schindler collected his $235,000 bounty.

Seth Davies Eliminated in 3rd Place.

Imsirovic limped from the small blind, Davies raised to 110,000 in the big blind, and Imsirovic called.
Flop: Ac6d5d
Imsirovic checked, Davies bet 155,000, Imsirovic check-raised all-in, and Davies called.
Imsirovic: 6c5c
Davies: TsTc
Imsirovic was ahead with his two-pair hand, and it stayed that way through the turn and river. Imsirovic would face Aldemir for the title.
Heads-Up
Ali Imsirovic – 5,085,000
Koray Aldemir – 1,965,000
After eliminating all four opponents till this point, and hoovering up all the chips, the smart money was on a quick Imsirovic victory. However, Aldemir, begin the brightest and worked his way into a 4:1 chip lead. Imsirovic retook the lead briefly, before Aldemir took the lead once more, only for Imsirovic to double into the lead for the third time when his JT beat A5 all-in, pre-flop. Imsirovic never lost the lead from that point, and finally ground Aldemir down. The German jammed for his last ten big blinds with 98o. Imsirovic called with KQo, and turned a queen to win back-to-back titles, and put himself in the lead for the race for the Purple Jacket with one event remaining.

Final Table Results

1. Ali Imsirovic – $799,000
2. Koray Aldemir – $517,000
3. Seth Davies – $352,500
4. Jake Schindler – $235,000
5. Sam Soverel – $188,000
6. Justin Bonomo – $141,000

Leaderboard Rankings

1. Ali Imsirovic – 660 pts
2. Brandon Adams – 510 pts
3. Isaac Haxton – 480 pts
4. Jake Schindler – 390 pts
5. Ben Yu – 360 pts


 
‘Leicester’.
‘Definitely’.
‘Vacuum’.
‘Rhythm’.
Words that for the life of me I cannot spell correctly.
I have a new one to add to the collection.
‘Imsirovic’.
It doesn’t matter how my brain soaks it up; my fingers still want to type ‘Ismirovic.’
It’s a problem I need to fix pronto because something tells me I am going to be banging his name out on my keyboard more frequently in the next 18-months.
Five down.
Two to go.
Ali Imsirovic is in with a shout of winning a Purple Jacket after taking down Event #5: $25,000 No-Limit Hold’em at the 2018 Poker Masters.
The event pulled in 66 entrants.
After the end of Day 1, here was the final table.
 
Final Table
Seat 1: Brian Rast – 1,200,000
Seat 2: Jake Schindler – 2,725,000
Seat 3: Ali Imsirovic – 1,615,000
Seat 4: Daniel Negreanu – 215,000
Seat 5: Jason Koon – 905,000
Seat 6: Ben Yu – 1,695,000
 
Jake Schindler, Jason Koon and Daniel Negreanu are together again after the trio made the final table of Event #3: $25,000 No-Limit Hold’em. Ben Yu was also making his second final table after finishing third in Event #4: $25,000 Pot-Limit Omaha.
 
The Run-In
 
Daniel Negreanu Eliminated in 6th Place.
He began things with a few grains of rice in his bowl, so it was no surprise when Daniel Negreanu registered as the first elimination.
Ben Yu opened to 100,000 from late position holding pocket eights, and Negreanu called from the big blind holding 52cc, leaving 10,000 chips behind (the rest went in on the flop), and despite flopping a five, there was no bad beat in the jukebox, and Negreanu was out for $99,000.
 
Jason Koon Eliminated in 5th Place.
Only Justin Bonomo ($24.9m) and Mikita Badziakouski ($12.4m) have won more money than Jason Koon this year ($11.5m), but his name would not end up engraved in this trophy.
Ali Imsirovic put in a raise with AKo in late position, and Koon moved all-in from the small blind holding ATo, and you all know that these little struggles don’t end up well for ATo. This hand was no exception. Imsirovic flopped the top two pairs, and Koon never recovered. His consolation prize was $132,000.
 
Brian Rast Doubles Through Ben Yu
Brian Rast opened to 115,000 from the first position holding A2cc, and Ben Yu looked him up from the big blind holding 7d5s. The flop of Ah6d2s handed Rast a two-pair hand, but Yu must have had a plan because he check-called a 110,000 Rast c-bet holding a bag of bones.
The dealer burned and turned the 4c on the Fourth Street, and now Yu had something to chew. Rast fired 250,000, Yu check-raised all-in with his straight draw, and Rast made the call. An uncontroversial river card later, the man had doubled into the chip lead.
 
Chip Counts

  1. Brian Rast – 3,815,000
  2. Ali Imsirovic – 2,120,000
  3. Ben Yu – 1,310,000
  4. Jake Schindler – 1,010,000

 
Jake Schindler Eliminated in 4th Place.
The action folded around to Schindler in the small blind. He peeked at his cards and saw the unremarkable looking 8c6d staring back at him. Schindler moved all-in for 440,000, and Imsirovic called in the big blind with Ac9s. The flop missed both, and a much-needed Ad arrived on the turn for Imsirovic, because Schindler did find a pair of eights on the river.
Schindler walked away with $165,000.
 
Imsirovic Doubles Through Rast

And then we had a pivotal moment in the competition.
Imsirovic limped on the button holding pocket jacks, Yu called in the small blind holding K8hh, and Rast moved all-in from the big blind, holding Ac5s. Imsirovic called, and Yu folded. The board ran out KsQc4s2h7h and Imsirovic was the new chip leader.
 
Brian Rast Eliminated in 3rd Place.

Nobody has won more money playing live tournaments in the ARIA than Brian Rast, and he added to that significant lump by banking another $214,500 after hitting the rail in third.
Ben Yu moved all-in with Ah2s, and Rast took him on with pocket sevens. An ace on the river sent new hope into the lungs of Yu, and Rast became the short-stack.
Then Imsirovic moved his big stack into the middle on the button holding pocket sixes, and Rast called in the big blind with Ac3d. The aces and wheel combos stayed in the deck, and Rast was out, giving Imsirovic a big chip lead going into his heads-up encounter with Yu.
 
Heads-Up
Ali Imsirovic – 5,895,000
Ben Yu – 2,360,000
 
The finale lasted as long as a plastic bag containing half-opened tins of fish left too close to Bagpuss and his buddies.
Imsirovic limped on the button holding pocket fives, and then called when Yu moved all-in holding Ac6d. The flop of Kh8d5d handed Imsirovic a set, and the 2h turn card left Yu drawing dead.
It was all over.
Imsirovic had won his third title of the year.
 
Final Table Results

  1. Ali Imsirovic – $462,000 (300)
  2. Ben Yu – $330,000 (210)
  3. Brian Rast – $214,500 (150)
  4. Jake Schindler – $165,000 (120)
  5. Jason Koon – $132,000 (90)
  6. Daniel Negreanu – $99,000 (60)

 
Poker Masters Leaderboard
– Brandon Adams – 510 points
– Isaac Haxton – 480
– Ben Yu – 360
– Ali Imsirovic – 360
– David Peters – 300
– Keith Lehr – 300
– Jake Schindler – 270
– Jonathan Depa – 270
– Jason Koon – 240
 
Results to Date
Event #1: $10,000 No-Limit Hold’em – David Peters ($193,200)
Event #2: $25,000 No-Limit Hold’em – Brandon Adams ($400,000)
Event #3: $25,000 Pot-Limit Omaha – Keith Lehr ($333,000)
Event #4: $10,000 Short-Deck – Isaac Haxton ($176,000)