My news, views and fun facts Archives - Page 16 of 56

If you’re a Manchester United fan, then the night of 26 May 1999, is likely the most memorable of your life.

The Red Devils faced the might of the German juggernaut, Bayern Munich, in the final of the UEFA Champions League. United had already secured the domestic league and cup double and was attempting an unprecedented treble.

The game began disastrously for United, with Mario Basler scoring in the sixth minute, and it remained that way as the fourth official signalled three minutes of injury time.

The trophy preparer had already strung Bayern’s ribbons onto the trophy by the time David Beckham swung in a corner, and Teddy Sheringham scored from the subsequent clearance. The time on the clock showed 90.36.

30-second later, and United won another corner. Beckham curled in beautifully once again, Sheringham rose highest at the near post to head it to the far, and Ole Gunnar Solksjaer poked out a toe, connected, and the ball ended up in the net with the clock showing 92.17.

Many of the Munich players fell to the ground in tears.

Pierluigi Collina blew the final whistle, within seconds of the restart, and United had made one of the greatest comebacks in sporting history.

“When the match ended, the crowd sounded like a lion’s roar,” Collina wrote in his autobiography.

Is Phil Galfond about to do a ‘United?’

Grit & Hope

Angela Duckworth is the author of Grit: The Power of Passion and Perseverance, and Chapter 9 is on ‘Hope.’

Duckworth writes:

“Grit depends on a different kind of hope. It rests on the expectation that our own efforts can improve our future. I have a feeling tomorrow will be better is different from I resolve to make tomorrow better. The hope that gritty people have has nothing to do with luck and everything to do with getting up again.”

After 15-days of Galfond’s first match in a series of high stakes, heads-up challenges, against a wide variety of pros and non-pros alike, VeniVidi1993 sent Galfond sprawling to the floor with a series of haymakers that knocked close to €1m worth of stuffing out of the man.

Galfond decided he needed a break.

His fans didn’t know whether he would return.

Had they read Duckworth’s New York Times Bestseller, they would have realised that Galfond is a ‘grit paragon,’ and one particular attribute of a paragon of this nature is a never give up attitude.

Once the gritty start things; they finish them.

Henry Ford once said:

“Whether you think you can, or you can’t – you’re right.”

After a few days in the tank, Galfond looked in the mirror and said, “I can.”

No More Chips in Pockets

The days of Phil Galfond standing on the edge of a bridge with a donkey jacket pocket full of chips are long gone.

The last time we covered his match with VeniVidi1993, Galfond had won 10 of 13 games, closing the gap to €318,895.43, forcing VeniVidi1993 also to take a break to settle his nerves.

Since the unknown Pot-Limit Omaha (PLO) star returned, things have not gotten much better.

Here are the results in the past three shifts.

Day 29

Hands played – 642
Phil Galfond +€85,271.31

Day 30

Hands Played – 777
VeniVidi1993 +€26,992.32

Day 31

Hands Played – 393
Phil Galfond +€106,328.51

Days 29 – 31

Hands Played – 1,812
Phil Galfond +€164,607.50

That means, with 5,637 hands left to play, Galfond only has to win €154,287.94 to finish a cent in the black. Given that there is a side bet on the line (Galfond’s €200k versus VeniVidi1993’s €100k), and that Galfond nearly ended up in Arkham Asylum leaving his wife Farah with a million euro bill – that’s a pretty fabulous ending.

Whether Phil Galfond will experience a Nou Camp style injury-time victory is unknown. What we do know, is unlike the lion’s roar that Collina heard moments after blowing his final whistle, Galfond will likely hear the exulted sigh from his wife, Farah.

“Finally, it’s over, right, it’s your turn to look after the baby for the next month.”

Results

Day 1, 655 hands, VeniVidi1993 wins €72,572.68
Day 2, 715 hands, Phil Galfond wins €2,615.26
Day 3, 557 hands, VeniVidi1993 wins €84,437.52
Day 4, 581 hands, VeniVidi1993 wins €17,544.87
Day 5, 726 hands, VeniVidi1993 wins €155,063.52
Day 6, 703 hands, VeniVidi1993 wins €13.31
Day 7, 823 hands, VeniVidi1993 wins €52,057.13
Day 8, 940 hands, VeniVidi1993 wins €60,743.37
Day 9, 446 hands, VeniVidi1993 wins €12,706.51
Day 10, 696 hands, VeniVidi1993 wins €100,993.30
Day 11, 741 hands, VeniVidi1993 wins €15,647.36
Day 12, 622 hands, Phil Galfond wins €87,940.91
Day 13, 470 hands, VeniVidi1993 wins €267,949.70
Day 14, 593 hands, VeniVidi1993 wins €48,473.73
Day 15, 659 hands, VeniVidi1993 wins €102,593.34

Phil Galfond Calls for a Break

Day 16, 574 hands, Phil Galfond wins €183,481.38
Day 17, 582 hands, VeniVidi1993 wins €21,571,51
Day 18, 555 hands, Phil Galfond wins €27,198.94
Day 19, 638 hands, Phil Galfond wins €26,018.41
Day 20, 566 hands, Phil Galfond wins €92,803.89
Day 21, 576 hands, Phil Galfond wins €3,766.94
Day 22, 556 hands, VeniVidi1993 wins €88,465,60
Day 23, 598 hands, Phil Galfond wins €23,821.05
Day 24, 628 hands, Phil Galfond wins €19,099.65
Day 25, 664 hands, Phil Galfond wins €139,485.78
Day 26, 539 hands, Phil Galfond wins €110,752.58
Day 27, 645 hands, VeniVidi1993 wins €76,026.05
Day 28, 503 hands, Phil Galfond wins €140,979.28

VeniVidi1993 Calls for a Break

Day 29, 642 hands, Phil Galfond +€85,271.31
Day 30, 777 hands, VeniVidi1993 wins €26,992.32
Day 31, 393 hands played, Phil Galfond wins +€106,328.51

Total Hands – 19,363
VeniVidi1993 +€154,287.93

Hands Remaining – 5,637

Sidebets:
Phil Galfond €200,000
VeniVidi1993 €100,000

In the mid-90s, when Britpop was at its pomp, a Welsh band called The Stereophonics kicked up a storm in the local pubs and clubs of the South Wales Valleys.

The band called their debut album ‘Word Gets Around,’ and when it comes to the dangers of COVID-19, and the impression it’s having on the South Wales rockers and the people who pogo to their sounds – it doesn’t seem like word gets around at all.

In the wake of Boris Johnson informing the people of the UK to stay indoors to halt the spread of the virus, the Phonics went ahead with plans to hold back-to-back concerts in Cardiff’s Motorpoint Arena, and 10,000 people felt the idea, sound.

We’ve all got to earn a crust, right?

‘Work’ needs a new future.

We have to adapt to the current crisis and quickly.

Rock bands.

Sports teams.

Poker players.

Some get it, and some don’t.

POWERFEST High Roller Roundup

partypoker LIVE’s become a carcass, but that’s ok because Waters, Duthie and Yong continue to enthral with their online jewel, and POWERFEST is the perfect antidote in a time where the biological desire for physical connection needs switching off.

Before partypoker LIVE went the same way as seaweed in the hands of my hungry Korean grandmother, Sam Trickett hit the headlines with a victory in the $25,500 No-Limit Hold ’em (NLHE) event at the partypoker MILLIONS Super High Roller Series in Sochi, Russia.

Trickett conquered a field of 58-entrants to capture the $435,000 first prize in that event, and he’s taken that form into POWERFEST where Sam has been smooth as a pebble.

The local boy in partypoker’s photograph, made crabmeat of a field of 52-entrants in a $5,200, $150k GTD Pot-Limit Omaha (PLO) 6-Max event, banking $104,000. He then went on to finish fifth in an identical event several days later for $25,937.

Fellow partypoker ambassador, Joni’ JJouhk’ Jouhkimainen, pushed Trickett hard during the Englishman’s victory, finishing fourth for $23,400, the same day Jouhkimainen beat 268 entrants in the $530 NLHE PKO Fast for more than $25k, and a hop, skip and a jump away from a victory in a 46-entrant $5,200 buy-in PLO 6-Max event for $92,000.

Trickett and Jouhkimainen weren’t the only pair of partypoker pros picking prizes from the POWERFEST pantry. Mikita “fish2013” Badziakouski finished fourth in the most significant buy-in event of the series, the $25,500, $2m GTD NLHE Super High Roller.

The event attracted 90-entrants, and Piace1992 earned his second pair of stripes of the series, picking up a check for $596,250. Isaac Haxton finished tenth in that event.

Sami “ChimneyBarrel” Kelopuro is another high stakes star who recently picked up a POWERFEST title. The Finnish high stakes cash game star topped a field of 67-entrants to win a $2,100 PLO 6-Max event for $47,043.50, making that more than $400,000 in POWERFEST dollars in the past eight months.

That’s it for POWERFEST for now.

We’ll let the Stereophonics play us out.

‘Traffic’ is one of the finest songs on ‘Word Gets Around,’ and partypoker is experiencing an upsurge in that very thing since the COVID-19 virus turned into a hurricane.

Kelly Jones sang: “Is anyone going anywhere?”

partypoker hopes not.

Since 2018, The Triton Poker Super High Roller Series has slowly crept to the forefront of the poker community’s mind when it comes to world-class high stakes poker action.

2019 was something else, and 2020 bore high expectations, especially when its founder Paul Phua received the vote for Industry Person of the Year at the Global Poker Awards (GPA).

Then a new virus crept out of the inkpot and splattered itself across the world’s newspapers. COVID-19 started as a Chinese problem, but quickly became everyone’s problem.

In February, Triton Poker felt compelled to postpone the Triton Poker Super High Roller Series in Jeju. In March, the unthinkable happened, as Triton scrubbed the event from the calendar altogether, leaving fans wondering – ‘what about Montenegro?’

More Than 197 Countries and Territories

At the time of the Jeju cancellation, COVID-19 had infected 93,131 people and taken 3,023 lives. Today, there are 378,041 confirmed cases and 16,365 deaths.

With more than 197 countries and territories afflicted by the virus, world leaders have taken the unprecedented step of ordering their citizens to stay at home.

As world cowers in a corner, nobody is thinking about the fate of live tournament poker. It’s an afterthought as we all deal with an unfamiliar feeling of fear.

Still, poker has to dot the I’s and cross the T’s, and today, Triton Poker did that by cancelling their Triton Poker Super High Roller Series in Montenegro.

Scheduled for May 4 – 18, the event didn’t even have a schedule. Still, the draft is in the bin. That leaves, Triton London (29 Jul – 13 Aug) as the last remaining bastion of what promised to be a scintillating season for the best high stakes poker tour in the business.

You Can Take the Poker Out of Triton, But You Can’t Take Triton Out of Poker.

The poker world has two black eyes and a punctured lung. Bubbles collect in the corner of mouths. Fingers tap temples. Lisps develop where perfect speech bubbles lived.

It’s true, there is no live tournament poker, and it’s a killer. Still, once COVID-19 returns to the bats it came from, the world will remerge stronger and more united than ever, and that includes our beautiful game.

Now, it is time for patience.

At the turn of the year, when bats were synonymous with rabies, vampirism and DC Comics, and not viruses intent on killing thousands of people – the Brookings Institution released a report suggesting that artificial intelligence (AI) solutions would replace 25% of jobs in the US.

It’s not a new theory.

Even before the recent spurt in AI interest, experts were talking of this problem. Still, like most of the world’s most pressing issues, nobody pays too much attention until the issue is upon us.

Today, nobody is afraid of AI. Everyone is scared of the Coronavirus (COVID-19). Interestingly, we can see the AI theory play out in real-time, as people who depend on physical interaction see their ability to earn an income vanish into the ether.

AI has a buddy.

Tragedy and Fortune

When the world’s leaders began shoving people into their homes like the rich used to do to pocket watches, a question mark arose at the end of a fundamental question – which businesses would suffer, and which would prosper.

Those that rely on the live tournament or cash games for a living are suffering. Conversely, those invested in online poker are prospering (for now).

But what about the rest of the companies that form the poker bubble?

What about Poker Central?

Poker Central Suffers and Prospers

Poker Central, and the over-the-top (OTT) subscription service, PokerGO, will survive the pandemic because you won’t find all of their gold teeth inside the same mouth.

Live poker revenue dries up. Nobody will ring that doorbell for a while. The US Poker Open fell by the wayside, and they’ve shelved all other plans as the virus continues to attack.

On the flipside, Poker Central leveraged their relationship with partypoker to create the Poker Masters Online Series, and it’s a convenient time for PokerGO to thrive given the unprecedented number of people sitting at home desperate for something to do other than talk to their other half.

Two New Shows

PokerGO will add two new shows to their library by the end of the month, and that’s good news for those of you who recently took out a Disney+ subscription so that you can watch all the Marvel movies again.

Here they are.

The Championship Run

Jeff Platt hosts, ‘The Championship Run’, a series poring through live poker’s most historic moments. The show premieres on Friday, March 27, on-demand after noon (ET), with Platt walking his audience through the moment that ignited the poker boom – Chris Moneymaker’s iconic 2003 World Series of Poker (WSOP) Main Event win.

New episodes air on Wednesdays and Fridays at noon (ET) beginning March 27.

Run it Back With Remko

Remko Rinkema hosts the second show.

This time, the focus is on a live-streamed conversation as the award-winning Dutch host sits down with some of the games most celebrated stars to discuss some of the greatest poker shows of all time.

The show premieres on Thursday, March 26th at 7 pm (ET), with Daniel Negreanu joining Rinkema to discuss a legendary episode of the phenomenally successful High Stakes Poker.

New episodes air on Thursdays at 7 pm (ET).

If you want to avoid the nocebo effect brought on by watching nothing but 24/7 news on COVID-19, then PokerGO is allowing you to view 24/7 poker content for free. Use the promo code WATCHPARTY, to get that value bomb.

Then once you’re done, think about it – is your job safe?

There was a moment during the Phil Galfond Challenge against the mysterious VeniVidi1993 where the cell door closed, and Galfond’s fans thought they would never see him again.

Things have changed.

It’s as if a poker medical man stuck Thor-powered defibrillators onto the hairy chest of the fan favourite because in the past 13 sessions we’ve seen lightning pouring from his fingers.

The Vulnerability to Take a Break

Day 15 of the Phil Galfond Challenge turned out to be a pivotal moment for many reasons. Galfond was down close to a million euros. Thanks to his willingness to share his vulnerability, we knew, via Twitter, that Galfond’s mindset was all over the place.

The Run It Once (RIO) founder absconded with the deck, promising to decide on the future of the battle in good time, leaving his fans pondering the unthinkable – would their champion quit as early as this?

The Mental Game of Poker

Galfond’s decision to ask for a timeout in such a public challenge shows how critical it is for professional poker players to dedicate enough time to work on their mindset as they do on the technical aspects of their game.

We are witnessing that a 25,000 hand, €100/€200, €20,000 buy-in Pot-Limit Omaha (PLO) heads-up battle is much more than luck and technical ability. With technical edges so subtle when it comes to the talents of titans such as this, the advantage must come from physical shape and the ability to deal with the emotional turbulence of high stakes poker.

We know that Galfond has had his problems when it comes to his fixed mindset preventing him from working on the technical aspect of his game, but we also know his growth mindset led him into the more than capable hands of mindset coach, Elliot Roe.

We wonder if VeniVidi1993 also has this side of his self-improvement covered.

Stacked and Stacked Again

Fans of the Galfond Challenge were left sucking their thumbs after the Day 28 peephole closed dramatically, as Galfond stacked VeniVidi1993 in back-to-back pots.

In the first hand, both players were staring at a flop of Th6c4h and €3,599 in the pot. The aggressor, VeniVidi1993, bet pot, and Galfond called after not much fuss. The 4d arrived on the turn, and VeniVidi1993 bet €3,200 into a €10,797 pot, and once again, Galfond made a swift call. The Kc came on the river, VeniVidi1993 jammed for his remaining €15,940.62, and Galfond called. VeniVidi1993 showed 8d7h6s5d for the airball, and Galfond showed KhKsQsAs, for the rivered full house.

In the very next hand, Galfond raised pre, and VeniVidi1993 made the call. The dealer sent 4d4s8h out to play, VeniVidi1993 bet €899.25, and Galfond called. The 6s arrived on the fourth-street, and VeniVidi1993 bet pot; Galfond called. The 3c came on the river, and VeniVidi1993 bet €8,992.50, and Galfond put him all-in.

“Nice hand,” VeniVidi1993 posted in the chat before calling.

VeniVidi1993 showed JsJh4h3h for the full-house, but Galfond showed KdQs6h6d for the bigger full house.

We then saw a few more orbits, before VeniVidi1993 sat out on both tables, and the commentary team realised that the man who had zoomed out to a near million euro lead, was likely running around his back garden, cold soil between his toes, howling at the moon in a moment of madness.

The pair played 503 hands, and Galfond finished €140,979.28 up in a dominating performance.

A little while later, Galfond confirmed on Twitter that VeniVidi1993 had decided to take a break. It won’t be as long as Galfond’s (the pair are due to butt heads again on Thursday, March 26.

Mindset coaches.

Give the man a call.

Here are the highlights of that final day, including those incredible last hands.

Results

Phil Galfond Calls for a Break

VeniVidi1993 Calls for a Break

Total hands: 17,551

VeniVidi1993 is uo €318,895.43

There are 7,449 hands left to play.

Remember, there is a side bet of Galfond’s €200,000 versus the €100,000 of VeniVidi1993.

No palm reader in the world predicted that potentially, we could have many months without any live tournament poker.

Yet, that’s our saddle.

One of the last tournaments to take place in California, before Governer, Gavin Newsom, ordered its 40 million citizens to find a microscope in the attic, and stare at it for the next month, was the Bay 101 $5,200 buy-in Shooting Star in the Bay 101 Casino, San Jose.

The event, which in recent years ploughed ahead regardless of its lack of affiliation with its former beau the World Poker Tour (WPT), attracted 290-entrants before the event came to a premature end.

The event began Wednesday, 11 March, at a time, according to the Tournament Director, Matt Savage, all of the major American sporting leagues were still in full swing. At the end of that day, things had changed dramatically when the NBA postponed the season after a player had tested positive for Coronavirus (COVID-19). At this time, Savage decided to cut the event short by a day, ending on Friday 13 March.

Day 2 ended with ten players remaining in the hunt for the title, and Savage began looking at ICM calculations.

“I knew there was a chance the ownership of Bay 101 was proactive in looking at closing,” Savage told me in an email.

When the final day came into view, given the fast-moving nature of the pandemic, you imagine the organisers and players welcomed it with the same unease of a man allowing a succubus into his bed.

Still, in the final ten sauntered.

I don’t know if anyone ripped a bag in anger, but I do know thanks to Savage that one of the ten declared that they felt unwell, and at that moment the decision to end the competition and divide the spoils via ICM calculations was made.

Craig Varnell received the top prize of $159,710, and another title to add to his ever-growing collection. An award he wouldn’t have wanted to have won like this.

A View From the TD

In an email from Savage, the WPT Executive Tour Director shared an insight into his world in the weeks leading up to Newsom’s decision to shut down the state.

“It’s a stressful time for me and everyone in the industry, country, and world,” wrote Savage. “I was on the road for two straight months between, LAPC, Thunder Valley, and Bay 101, and I saw a lot of fear and confusion as it closed in on us so fast.

“I was working in LA for seven weeks from January 15-March with 60 Chinese dealers who became like family and saw their fear level rise. I went back to Vegas for two days for the GPI awards and then had to go to Thunder Valley for WPT and saw the industry being more affected before moving on to Bay 101. I think Bay 101 was the first in California to close, and I believe the first in the country to do so.”

Immediately after the event, Savage flew home and had to self-quarantine for ten days.

“I haven’t felt great with a sore throat and occasional cough, but no fever so I didn’t get checked because I want to save for those with worse symptoms,” wrote Savage.

Here are those ICM calculations.

Craig Varnell – $159,710
Kristen Bicknell – $141,520
Navin Mohan – $132,780
Tyler Patterson – $113,860
Anshul Kulshrestha – $101,430
Michael Tureniec – $91,180
John Andress – $88,800
Anthony Zinno – $55,600
Anthony Spinella – $50,000
Lexy Gavin – $41,060

Footnote: This is a revised article. The previous report had a misleading headline and contained inaccurate information. I apologise to Matt Savage, the Bay 101 organisers, and the players for any stress these mistakes caused.

What does a grassy knoll and Coronavirus (COVID-19) have in common?

For the first time, since Americans wept en masse due to the assassination of J.F.Kennedy, every Las Vegas casino went dark, and unlike the last closure on November 25, 1963 (one day), we don’t know when the lights will go back on.

Nevada State Gov. Steve Sisolak shut down the gambling mecca of the West after COVID-19 cases rose to 50, with one death, and followed similar moves from at least ten more governors.

That’s terrible news for the land-based casino industry, mitigated somewhat if you have an online gambling arm hidden underneath your sleeve.

The World Series of Poker (WSOP) has thrown a sufficient number of punches in their bid to help resuscitate an ailing online poker market, repeatedly kicked in the kidneys thanks to Black Friday.

And it looks like a reward is nigh.

With the World Series of Poker Circuit (WSOPC) sidelined due to a spear from the Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, organisers of one the most iconic poker brands switched the action to their online premises.

What followed was an 18 gold ring series, taking place over 18-days, dubbed the WSOP.com Online Super Circuit. The series began on March 14 and will run until March 31. It’s an unparalleled success for the fledgeling online poker arm, surpassing the $1m guarantee in the first six events.

High Roller Interest

The World Poker Tour (WPT) Champions Club member, James Carroll, won that sixth event (Event #6: $320, $50k GTD NLHE). Carroll took out a field of 726-entrants (461 unique) to win the $53,361 first prize. You don’t find Carroll flicking it in $25,000+ events, but $10,000 events have become a staple.

Other high rollers that have made final tables in the first six events include Matt “berkey11_s4y” Berkey, Lauren’ sycamore22′ Roberts, and Joseph “biueberry’ Cheong.

The WSOP has also promised a free seat into the 2019/2020 Global Casino Championship to the winner of the Main Event and the Online Circuit Casino Championship winner (the player who amasses the most points during the series). Currently Matt “RubberFist” Stout sits on top of that leaderboard, which is more comfortable than sitting on top of his rubber fist. Roberts and Carroll also feature in the list.

That Pesky Adelson

The WSOP put the kibosh on the WSOPC in the early rounds of the fight against COVID-19. Still, the WSOP is keeping its powder dry on the fate on every poker player’s Christmas Day.

If the event does go the way of the WSOPC (and the chances are high that it will), then you assume Seth Palansky, Jack Effel and co. will introduce an online WSOP bracelet schedule that must be sitting on a WSOP employee’s Google Drive.

If that does happen, as with the WSOPC, it’s sad that the whole world won’t get to take part, and worse than that, 47 American states will also have to read about the headlines on PokerNews.

One of the men you can thank for keeping the tourniquet tight around online poker’s neck is the Las Vegas Sands owner, Sheldon Adelson. How ironic then, that the market wiped 40% of the stock price of Las Vegas Sands, as it closes, along with the rest of Sin City on a UFN basis, and he doesn’t have an online option to fall back on.

Not that it will wipe the gentility from any sentence that mentions him, as the 40% uppercut means his net worth drizzles from $34 billion to $28 billion.

Here are the remaining highlights of the series for interested high rollers.

Online Super Circuit Schedule

29 March – $525 (3x re-entry) $200k GTD Main Event

31 March – $1,000 (2x re-entry) $75k GTD High Roller

When the proverbials hit the fan, it’s natural for humanity to veer towards pessimism, cynicism, and doom-mongering. Still, amongst these sceptics exist those that seek opportunity – people, capable of pivoting at a moment’s notice, turning woes into wins.

As European mortuary slabs became the epicentre of the Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, it left most of us in a rabbit in the headlight state of inertia over our wellbeing and economic fate. Then there were the others.

Live Tournaments Forced to Cancel Events

Live tournaments around the globe had no choice, but to suspend operations pending something, anything. While costs might need slashing, and the lifespan of jobs connected to these tours start to dwindle. In essence, the brands need to endure, so they can once again return to the top deck of their double-decker when the microscopes are no longer required, and so, into the arms of online poker rooms, they will run.

The latest to receive a ladder of support is Poker Central, and once again standing at the bottom is partypoker. The couple have worked together before, cross-pollinating content created by Poker Central’s Super High Roller Bowl (SHRB), and the partypoker LIVE MILLIONS tour, and they’re at it again.

The Poker Masters Online Series

partypoker.com will host The Poker Masters Online Series April 12-26. There will be 30 high roller events with buy-ins ranging between $10,300 and $51,000, with $15.25m in guarantees parcelled and ready for the best in the business to tear off a corner.

As with the live version, players earn leaderboard points dependant on finishing positions, and the player sitting on the highest perch at the end of the 30-event marathon will collect an additional $50,000 and a coveted Poker Masters Purple Jacket.

You can find the full schedule below.

As with Black Friday, when the world of online poker went from being the meat to the pie crust, people suffered, while others took the opportunity to pivot in the most fantastic ways, the Coronavirus presents a similar opportunity.

Online poker operators can do the quickstep, and they should, not through morbidity, but because it makes good business sense, and self-quarantined people need an outlet other than Season #3 of Ozarks on Netflix.

At the moment, there is a clear leader.

partypoker is leveraging their live tournament relationships to outstanding effect, and when it comes to the fruit, it will bear you’re looking at pineapples and melons, not berries and grapes.

There was a time when people scoffed at the idea that partypoker could be bigger than PokerStars, but watching the speed, flexibility and efficiency of partypoker at work, real-time, it does make you wonder.

A terrible time for most.

An opportune time for some.

Poker Masters Online Full Schedule (GMT)

Sun 12 Apr – 18:00 Event #1 $10,300, $500k GTD NLHE
Sun 12 Apr – 21:00 Event #2 $10,300, $250k GTD NLHE
Mon 13 Apr – 18:00 Event #3 $10,300, $500k GTD NLHE
Mon 13 Apr – 21:00 Event #4 $10,300, $250k GTD NLHE
Tue 14 Apr – 18:00 Event #5 $10,300, $500k GTD PLO
Tue 14 Apr – 21:00 Event #6 $10,300, $250k GTD NLHE
Wed 15 Apr – 18:00 Event #7 $10,300, $500k GTD NLHE
Wed 15 Apr – 21:00 Event #8 $10,300, $250k GTD NLHE
Thu 16 Apr – 18:00 Event #9 $10,300, $500k GTD NLHE
Thu 16 Apr – 21:00 Event #10 $10,300, $250k GTD NLHE
Fri 17 Apr – 18:00 Event #11 $10,300, $500k GTD PLO
Fri 17 Apr – 21:00 Event #12 $10,300, $250k GTD NLHE
Sat 18 Apr – 18:00 Event #13 $10,300 $500k GTD NLHE
Sat 18 Apr – 21:00 Event #14 $10,300, $250k GTD NLHE
Sun 19 Apr – 18:00 Event #15 $10,300, $500k GTD NLHE
Sun 19 Apr – 21:00 Event #16 $10,300, $250k GTD NLHE
Mon 20 Apr – 18:00 Event #17 $10,300, $500k GTD PLO
Mon 20 Apr – 21:00 Event #18 $10,300, $250k GTD NLHE
Tue 21 Apr – 18:00 Event #19 $25,500, $1m GTD NLHE
Tue 21 Apr – 21:00 Event #20 $10,300, $250k GTD NLHE
Wed 22 Apr – 18:00 Event #21 $25,500, $1m GTD NLHE
Wed 22 Apr – 21:00 Event #22 $10,300, $250k GTD NLHE
Thu 23 Apr – 18:00 Event #23 $25,500, $1m GTD PLO
Thu 23 Apr – 21:00 Event #24 $10,300, $250k GTD NLHE
Fri 24 Apr – 18:00 Event #25 $25,500, $1m GTD NLHE
Fri 24 Apr – 21:00 Event #26 $10,300, $250k GTD NLHE
Sat 25 Apr – 18:00 Event #27 $25,500, $1m GTD NLHE
Sat 25 Apr – 21:00 Event #28 $10,300, $250k GTD NLHE
Sun 26 Apr – 18:00 Event #29 $51,000, $2m GTD NLHE Main Event
Sun 26 Apr – 21:00 Event #30 $103,00, $250k GTD NLHE

“If you spend your days doing what you love, it is impossible to fail. So I go about my days trying to bring something into the world that wasn’t in the world before. And then everyone gets furious about it. And then I sit back and say, ‘I did that!'”

Doug Polk?

Nah, Ricky Gervais, but it’s very Polkesque and very apt.

Polk earned his stripes competing in high stakes online cash games, winning more than $2m competing under the moniker “WCGRider.” Later in his career, Polk made a successful hobbyist transition to the live tournament realm winning close to $10m gross, and three World Series of Poker (WSOP) bracelets, including $3.7m for taking down the 2017 $111,111 One Drop High Roller.

Still, it’s Polk’s acerbic YouTube style that elevated his status to a broader audience. ‘Doug Polk Poker’ curried favour with 286k subscribers spitting a myriad of poker their way including poker strategy, ‘Polker News’, and applying a tourniquet to Daniel Negreanu’s throat whenever the opportunity arose. That site is about to become a graveyard after Polk announced plans to shut it down, two-years after retiring from the playing side of the game.

Why turn your back on a channel that not only has a large following but is the main artery to his online training site, Upswing Poker?

Well, Polk isn’t doing it to become a phlebotomist.

He’s fallen out of love with poker.

Worse than that.

He likes cholera more than he likes poker.

During the recording of “This Is My Final Poker Video,” Polk said that during his last WSOP Main Event, he deliberately punted his stack off, because, ‘he wanted to lose so badly, so [he} could leave.’

“You should never play poker like that,” Polk said.

Not one for the Upswing Poker lab, that’s for sure.

Polk told his fans that ‘he is done’ with poker, and is not interested in it in ‘any way,’ pointing to the rise in popularity of solvers as one of the primary reasons he would rather shag a hedgehog than remain in the game that set him up for life.

“Software has killed the fun and spirit of the game for me.” Said Polk.

Polk, who also has a Cryptocurrency YouTube channel with 178k subscribers, is not getting out of the YouTube content business altogether, in fact, for the moment that’s where his future lies.

Instead of grinding out poker videos purely for the sake of promoting new Upswing Poker courses, Polk is leaving the pursuit of money behind, and instead focusing on what he loves.

The eponymous ‘Doug Polk’ YouTube channel will focus on current affairs and entertainment. The format remains the same, but conversations on how to play pocket jacks, or Daniel Negreanu’s views on rake are as dead as playing the game of pass the handkerchief.

If anybody wants to step up and replace Polk in his niche, the master had a word of warning. Polk told his masses that it’s harder than ever to make money producing poker content, poking a finger at YouTube’s crackdown on gambling-related content as one of the primary blockages.

In a twist of irony, the show built on a solid foundation of the stuff ends with people tuning into Polk’s “This Is My Final Poker Video”, only for YouTube to force you to watch an advert for Daniel Negreanu’s Masterclass.

“I want to be remembered for my time here,” said Polk. “I always tried to do the right thing, and I wanted to help people.”

And with that, one of the most successful poker YouTube channels turned out the lights for the last time.

When I became lost in the maze of professional poker dreams, Bluefire Poker, showed me the way out.

For that reason, I am a Phil Galfond fan.

When he threw down the high stakes heads-up gauntlet, I didn’t care who picked it up. In the 90s, when someone squared up to Hulk Hogan, you knew they were going to be on the end of a leg drop. I had the same faith in Galfond.

It didn’t matter how out of touch he was.

The quality of his opponents didn’t matter.

Phil Galfond would win, and win as only Phil Galfond can.

And that, ladies and gentlemen, is the recipe for a big dollop of confirmation bias.

Confirmation bias is your brain’s tendency to interpret new evidence that favours your beliefs. After the first 15 sessions, and 9,927 hands of a 25,000-hand, €100k/€200k Pot-Limit Omaha (PLO) war, ‘VeniVidi1993’ had Galfond at the point of a knife with close to €900k in losses.

There is always a badass villain, whom, you later find out, wasn’t as badass as you thought. Another villain with a badder-arse lurked in the shadows. While we all thought VeniVidi1993 was badass, it transpires that Galfond’s mind is the biggest baddest ass of all.

Unable to curtail the beast, Galfond pressed pause, and either bought a Run It Once Elite subscription, flew to Thailand for a meditation retreat or dived straight into the karmic habit of cleaning shitty nappies.

Either way, he left the poker world on a Netflix show cliffhanger, and the sound of kazoos was deafening when Galfond picked up the megaphone and announced to the world that he would rather be dead than give up on this challenge.

There wasn’t a dry eye in the house.

10-Sessions In

10-sessions in and the belief that Galfond is a ‘nice guy, has-been’ feels like a bad joke. The former surgeon of high stakes online cash games has taken VeniVidi1993 apart, winning 8 of their previous ten sessions, winning €405,638.93, through 15,864 hands.

I knew I did not need to worry.

I knew he still had the scent of dried blood under his fingernails from the days of million-dollar swings against introverted Swedes with a penchant for J.R.R. Tolkien.

My bets were safe.

Galfond is the best poker player in the world; the best boss, the best leader, the best father, the best husband, the best beard wearer, and the best improv star.

Then he went onto Twitter and burst my bubble.

“To you, it looks like I was outmatched, but I stepped back, regrouped, studied, shook off some rust, and now I’ve figured Veni out and am crushing him,” Galfond wrote before continuing. “To me, it looked like I was right – that I was a favourite, the whole time and was experiencing an extremely improbably run of bad luck, and that lately, I’m running just slightly good.”

Then the gem.

“That is what our minds do to us – we are drawn to the story that we most want to believe.”

With VeniVidi 1993 currently ahead €494,601.24, and 9,136 hands left to claw it back, what story does Galfond now believe?

“The evidence suggests that I’m likely the underdog,” Galfond tweeted. “This is something I need to keep reminding myself of. “One important thing to keep an eye on is that my motivation I feel to study and improve right now is naturally at a lower level than it was while I was getting crushed. I need to stay on top of this.

“I’ll try to keep as much focus as I can on continuing to improve and as little focus as I can on hoping or expecting any result. You can all root for the most improbably come back in poker history without me!

“I hope you’re enjoying the show.”

He’ll do it.

Of course, he will do it.

Galfond is the best, and will always be the best.

The Facts

Day 16

574 hands played

Galfond +€183,481.38

Day 17

582 hands played.

VeniVidi1993 +€21,571.51

Day 18

555 hands played

Galfond +€27,198.94

Day 19

638 hands played

Galfond +€26,018.41

Day 20

566 hands played

Galfond +€92,803.89

Day 21

576 hands played

Galfond +€3,766.94

Day 22

556 hands played

VeniVidi1993 +€88,465.60

Day 23

598 hands played

Galfond +€23,821.05

Day 24

628 hands played

Galfond +€19,099.65

Day 25

664 hands played

Galfond +€139,485.78

Overall

Ten sessions, +€405,638.93 to Galfond.

Galfond wins 8 of 10 sessions.

VeniVidi1993 currently ahead €494,601.24

15,864 hands played.

9,136 hands left.