PokerStars continues to pollinate the high stakes online multi-table tournament (MTT) world after announcing plans to give their High Roller Series a spit wash in readiness for a March parade.
The PokerStars High Roller Series runs between 23-30 March, contains 19-events, guarantees $6m in prize money, and offers buy-ins between $215 and $10,300.
Sailors in this one are looking for the treasure chest sitting at the end of the $5,200 buy-in, $1.5m GTD No-Limit Hold ’em (NLHE) Main Event. That bright and bubbly rainbow springs forth on Sunday 29 March at 13:00 (ET).
The $6m guarantee is $5m less, and the schedule 30% lighter than when Stars last ran a High Roller Series in December. You don’t need a spy to figure out that December numbers didn’t inspire confidence within the halls of PokerStars’ power.
The series coincides with the $215 buy-in, $12.5m GTD 14th Anniversary Sunday Million (March 22-24).
In December…
The last time PokerStars pulled this guitar out of the bag and strummed a melody was in December.
Andreas “daskalos20” Christoforou won the 106-entrant $10,300 NLHE 8-Max for $244,261.02, Alexandros “mexican222” Kolonias won the 115-entrant $10,300 NLHE 8-Max for $265,000.18, Michael “mczhang” Zhang won the 86-entrant $10,300 NLHE PKO for $239,804.59, Pascal “Pass_72” LeFrancois won the 69-entrant $10,300 PLO 6-Max for $186,237.66, and Artem “veeea” Vezhenkov won the 515-entrant $5,200 NLHE 8-Max Main Event for $457,344.17.
Kevin Rabichow to Represent Run It Once Poker
With Phil Galfond 100% focused on climbing out of the €900,000 hole dug by VeniVidi1993, the timing couldn’t be more perfect for his online poker site to announce their first sponsored pro – and that man is Kevin Rabichow.
Rabichow won’t need a translator to get into the Run It Once (RIO) spirit of things. He is an ‘Elite Coach’ on the RIO training site, and has been playing poker since 2005. He will exchange his formidable ‘KRab42’ pseudonym for the bog-standard sheet of glass ‘Kevin Rabichow,’ making him only the second player after Galfond to play with a unique avatar and real name.
Joe Stapleton released the news after Rabichow joined him in the commentary booth during Galfond’s clash with VeniVidi1993.
Phil Galfond is a poker Titan.
In Greek mythology, the Titans were Gods, amongst whom was Hyperion, the father of the lights of heaven.
Hyperion is also the name of the world’s tallest tree.
Imagine the stress of your roots, pulling you towards the earth’s core as the sun stretches your branches towards its solar flares, and you get a feel for the pressure VeniVidi1993 is applying to Galfond during their €100/€200 HeadsUp Pot-Limit Omaha (PLO) bout.
The last time, we reported on Match #1 of the ‘Galfond Challenge’, the Run It Once Poker founder, said that when it came to his confrontation with the PLO maestro, he was ‘absolutely loving this shit’ despite being down $569,164.31 through 7,583 hands, and 11 sessions.
We wonder if that’s still the case.
Galfond’s Losses Approach €1m
On the 12th day of the challenge, Galfond stopped the nine-day rot, booking his most significant win to date (€87,940.91). However, fans of Galfond desperate for some sense of momentum would soon realise that their fresh salmon was still nothing more than fishsticks when Galfond suffered his most prominent loss of the series.
On Day 13, Galfond called time after 470-miserable hands that saw his foe win €267,949.70. Here are two of Galfond’s worse beats courtesy of Pocketfives.
The pair got it in for a €47,000 pot with Galfond holding top set on Qc8h4d rainbow. VeniVidi1993 had Qs7s5h54 for the gutshot and hit it on the turn when the 6h fell through the roof with a thud. Then Galfond got it in with aces on 8h6c2d only for VeniVidi1993 to hit two-pair on the river.
Days 14 & 15 were equally as meagre for Galfond with VeniVidi1993 booking winning sessions of €48,473.73 and €102,593.34. PocketFives lieutenant, Donnie Peters, put things into perspective, highlighting that the losses Galfond sustained post his most significant win, nearly totalled the entirety of his losses throughout the first 12 days (€419,016.77 versus €481,223.40).
With Galfond losing at a rate of €60,016 per session if that pace continues he will be €2.46m the poorer (including his €200,000 side bet).
Marathon Not a Sprint
The results look dire for Team Galfond.
Still, it’s worth remembering that Galfond is yet to face a series of players that he holds a skill advantage over. Should the Poker Gods be a little more kind to this Titan, and after the ring rust wears off, there is every chance for the Run It Once Poker founder to fill this hole rather than being buried alive in it.
Macros Results
15 sessions
9,927 hands
€900,240.17 to VeniVidi1993
Impatient World Poker Tour (WPT) fans who like taking a pew during Main Event Final Table action will be happy to know that the second tranche of final table schedules is in the public domain.
The WPT revealed two further final table dates, and the nitty-gritty details on the Season 18 Tournament of Champions (TOC), with the HyperX Esports Arena in the Luxor Hotel & Casino, Las Vegas, continuing to host.
The Season 18 WPT TOC runs from May 31 through June 2. Baccarat Crystal returns as the event sponsor, and the buy-in is once again $15,000 with only WPT Champions Club members invited (Season 18 champions receive a free seat).
The poker community greeted the creation of the WPT TOC concept with divisive opinion after its birth in Season 14. The new format replaced the $15,400 buy-in WPT World Championships, and the restriction of the invite-only stipulation stung some who loved the event.
The first TOC event was a fairytale of Tangled proportions when Farid Yachou conquered a field of 64-entrants to win the $381,600 first prize and a variety of other gifts and prizes. The Moroccan-born, Dutch-based Yachou qualified for the event after winning WPT Amsterdam, his first-ever live tournament.
Yachou’s victory came during the WPT Seminole Hard Rock Poker Showdown, as did Daniel Weinman’s Season 15 TOC win when he vanquished 66-foes to win the $381,500 first prize.
The TOC event moved to the HyperX Esports Arena in Season 16 when Matt Waxman defeated 80-players to win the $463,375 first prize. The German star, Ole Schemion, is the defending champion after culling a 76-player field to win the $440,395 first prize in 2019.
The entirety of the TOC plays out in the Luxor with the final table scheduled for June 2.
But Before the TOC…
On May 28, the WPT Seminole Hard Rock Showdown draws to a conclusion at the HyperX Esports Arena. The five-day event takes place in Florida May 1-5. Last year, James Carroll defeated a 1,360-entrant field to win the $715,175 first prize.
The next day, WPT Choctaw reaches its conclusion. The series runs from May 15-18 from the Choctaw Casino & Resort in Durant, OK where the defending champion Craig Varnell will attempt a repeat of the 577-entrant victory that earned him $379,990. Varnell is the only player to win a WPT500 and WPT Main Event.
But Before Florida & Choctaw…
The first set of WPT Main Event final tables take place at the HyperX Esports Arena from March 31-April 2.
The $10,000 buy-in WPT L.A. Poker Classic runs February 29 – March 4.
“The World Poker Tour is proud to announce the next set of final tables to be played at HyperX Esports Arena Las Vegas, home of the WPT,” said Adam Pliska, CEO of the World Poker Tour. “Players, spectators, and sponsors have all embraced having the WPT final tables at our state-of-the-art arena, and its cutting-edge production capabilities have enabled us to experiment with new creative ways to elevate the final table experience and take the WPT to new heights.”
If you don’t get to see the final tables live, then you can watch them on FOX Sports Networks once released.
Santa Claus bought me a Ōura sleep ring for Christmas. After this morning’s sync, I can see that I woke up at 3 am and remained awake for an hour. I didn’t see a ghost or have a wet dream. My mother-in-law woke me up, coughing and spluttering so severely that I started to think she had Coronavirus.
She’s heading to the doctors tomorrow, and we expect the GP to diagnose her with the flu. But there’s not a person in the world (unless you live on the North Sentinel Island in the Indian Ocean), that’s not wondering if that coughing and spluttering is the new virus shaking up the world.
We’re taking a chance, by not insisting that she visits her GP today.
Ho Iat Seng is taking no such chances.
The Chief Executive of Macau earned his stripes for a fifth-term in December, and for the first time during his reign, he has had to tell the 41 land-based casinos in Macau to shut up shop for a fortnight.
The move is more precautionary than reactionary, with only ten reported cases in the special administrative region of China. However, one of them is an employee of the Galaxy Macau casino.
Ho didn’t take the decision lightly,
In 2019, Macau’s gross gaming revenue hit $36.5 billion, six-times more profitable than the Las Vegas Strip, and four-fifths of Macau’s total revenue.
Gambling consultant, Matthew Ossolinski estimated the fortnight shutdown would cost Macau’s casinos between 5 and 15% of their 2020 gaming revenue. Ho said Macau could handle the losses.
A fortnight ago, Macau swelled with an army of people coming to the island to celebrate the Lunar New Year holiday, but so far, no new cases have emerged as a result of the deluge.
And it’s not only the casinos that are causing Ho concern, after he shut down all public amenities, and told his people to remain indoors unless they had to leave to get food.
The Triton Poker Super High Roller Series
So no poker in Macau, and none on the Triton Poker Super High Roller Series in Jeju, after the Triton team decided to postpone the event pending further news on the World Health Organisation (WHO) and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) plan of attack.
An announcement is expected on Feb 10.
Coronavirus
The death toll is currently 563, with more than 28,000 confirmed cases. All but three of those deaths have come in China, the source of the outbreak. However, there has recently been a case in Singapore with a 41-year-old man who has no connection with China.
On Wednesday, China suffered the worst day since the outbreak began with 73 deaths, and close to 4,000 more cases coming to light. Most deaths are from the Chinese city of Wuhan, and the surrounding province of Hubei where 60 million people are now under quarantine.
Symptoms are fever, cough and shortness of breath, precisely what my mother-in-law has – the same symptoms as influenza, a viral infection we don’t bat an eyelid at that’s so far killed 10,000 Americans this season alone.
So that’s why all of these Asian poker players wear masks.
When Phil Galfond sent his heads-up challenge shivering throughout the poker stratosphere, some expected the odd starling to reply. Instead, he received a murmuration of interest.
Millions of dollars would be on the line, won and lost through high stakes cash games, across a variety of formats, both live and online. Add side-bets into the equation and all the hogs in the yard stop searching for walnuts, and instead, start looking for ways to open a Twitch channel.
The Pot-Limit Omaha (PLO) star, ‘VeniVidi1993,’ became the first person to step into the arena. €100/€200 were the stakes. Heads-Up Pot-Limit Omaha (PLO) the game. January 22, first blood, and Veni, not Phil, has been crushing the action.
The pair have duelled through 7,583 hands, throughout 11-sessions, and Veni has won all but one of them, with Galfond picking up a measly €2k win on the day the Poker Gods decided to pick him up out of the mud and dump him on a beach somewhere.
The damage is $574,394.83.
Galfond: Beaten & Bloody?
Not yet.
After speculation that Galfond was stuck like glue to an elevator floor heading for a stop called ‘Out of Your Depth,” he took the time to respond to his fans.
In a series of Tweets, Galfond urged people to keep their powder dry. He is taking a good kicking, but downswings like this are part of poker life, and he wants to take the opportunity to teach his followers how to handle them.
“Nobody is immune to the psychological effects of a string of consistent losses, myself included,” Galfond wrote.
It was an illuminating self-assessment rarely seen in public. The more unusual considering the three-time World Series of Poker (WSOP) bracelet holder still has 18k hands to play, and a myriad of future challenges to come.
Humility and vulnerability aside, Galfond has not walked through his mistakes. Still, he has admitted that he has been making them despite trying to keep a ‘positive attitde’ in his play.
Galfond’s advice to people experiencing a similar situation is twofold. First, identify the emotion that’s creating the feeling that’s leading to the mistake, and then work on turning down the volume. It’s an aspect of the game that Galfond feels is crucial, and he hires poker’s mental game coach, Elliot Roe, to help with that.
Secondly, Galfond insists that while in the storm of emotional turmoil, you have to focus on logic and rational thinking. You have to ask yourself: “Is this the right play, or is it just the play I want to make for bad (emotional) reasons?”
Knowing When to Quit
Despite wanting to use the experience to coach his followers, Galfond doesn’t want to go broke. Top pros need to assess their performances, and their opponent’s performances to understand when they’re dog enough to quit.
Once again, humility comes to the fore as Galfond admits that he has often thought too long about whether his opponents are much better than him, and then dissects his thought process when applying that same internal question to his current scrap.
“Whatever the (unknowable) truth is about how VeniVidi1993 and I match up, I can be confident I am running poorly. But, if I’m a significant underdog, this has maybe been a bottom 15% run. If I’m a significant favourite, it has been more like a bottom 0.5% run.
“So, if I knew nothing but the results so far, I could conclude that it’s something around 30 times more likely that I’m a significant underdog than a significant favourite (and a sliding scale for edges in between that.”
“I then need to factor in m educated (but somewhat inherently biased) opinion of how I am playing compared to him. Had I somehow been unaware of the results thus far, my opinion would be that I’m a favourite. And to be clear – by that, I mean that I think I am probably a favourite. I always am aware that I could be wrong.”
The tweets end with Galfond remaining steadfast – he will keep on fighting, and anyone who knows him wouldn’t expect anything less.
The reasons for Galfond continuing his tussle with Veni are numerous and astute. He wants to continue teaching his followers how to handle a downswing while in the midst of one. He knows that he is running bad, and is hoping the tide turns. He is still shaking off that ring rust, and with more challengers in the wings sharpening their axes, he needs the action. He has side bets, and if he quits, he forfeits them, including losing an additional €200,000 to Veni. And he has an online poker site to promote.
But.
Most.
Of.
All.
“As difficult, exhausting and risky as it is to battle a tough player at very high stakes, I absolutely love this shit.”
Results
Day 1: 655 hands, VeniVidi1993 won €72,572.68 Day 2: 715 hands, Phil Galfond won €2,615.26 Day 3: 557 hands, VeniVidi1993 won €84,437.52 Day 4: 581 hands, VeniVidi1993 won €17,544.87 Day 5: 726 hands, VeniVidi1993 won €155,063.52 Day 6: 703 hands, VeniVidi1993 won €13.31 Day 7: 823 hands, VeniVidi1993 won €52,057.13 Day 8: 940 hands, VeniVidi1993 won €60,743.37 Day 9: 446 hands, VeniVidi1993 won €12,706.51 Day 10: 696 hands, VeniVidi1993 won €100,993.30 Day 11: 741 hands, VeniVidi1993 won €15,647.36 Total: 7,583 hands with VeniVidi1993 +$574,394.83.
The rest of the world is blissfully unaware that a group of people travel around the globe playing a game of cards for a living, but there it is, roaming around this big planet of ours.
The companies that make the magic huddle together in herds, knitting a seamless roster of events so the best in the business never have time to kick off those shoes and make a bowl of chicken soup. However, there is one company that doesn’t need to gel with anyone because they are to poker players what Christmas morning is for the kids.
The World Series of Poker (WSOP) has been the king of poker since 1970. Incredibly, each year they grow more teeth. They don’t need to huddle with anyone. They are the biggest, the brightest, and in 2020 they become one of the ballsiest.
In 2019, the WSOP continued to set records with 187,298 entrants receiving $293,183,345 in prize money. It’s something that the WSOP has been doing for years, but not this year.
WSOP officials have taken the bold step of incorporating more freezeouts events into their vast schedule, therefore reducing the likelihood that they will top that entrant record.
It’s far from a slippery slope, as the WSOP wouldn’t be making this move if they didn’t feel it offered their players more value, but it does go against the soul of the rest of the industry who still believes that the players want re-entry tournaments.
The 51st annual WSOP runs between May 26 to July 15, and the organisers have been releasing pieces of the jigsaw since before Christmas. The latest segment to fall into the laps of the poker press is a significant one with 25 gold bracelet events pitched at the $1,500 price point.
These events rest across 18 different game types and will start with a minimum 25k starting stack.
“We have found the $1,500 price point to be the sweet spot in poker, perfectly balancing affordability, field size and prize pool to offer great value for participating players,” said W.S.O.P. Vice President Jack Effel. “As we continue to cater our offerings to find something for everyone, the $1,500 buy-ins remain a core staple of the WSOP.”
The WSOP is revealing 19 of those 25 events for the first time, and nine of them utilise the freezeout format, with the other ten offering a single re-entry format up until the end of the registration period.
Leaderboard
The WSOP also announced plans to launch a dedicated leaderboard for a portion of these $1,500 events. Details are as sparse as pieces of meat in Daniel Negreanu’s homemade stew, but we will bring you further information as we receive it.
The introduction of a dedicated $1,500 leaderboard means the 51st annual WSOP will have an unprecedented three opportunities to be a king. Alongside the $1,500 leaderboard is a high roller leaderboard, and the WSOP Player of the Year (PoY).
With the WSOP promising additional prizes for both the $1,500 and high roller leaderboards, one assumes there will also be prizes for the winner of the WSOP PoY, and that falls in line with criticism from the poker community after Robert Campbell received the insides of a balloon for winning the 2019 award.
Here are those $1,500 buy-in events.
The $1,500 buy-in Events
May 28 – Omaha Hi-Lo 8 or Better* May 30 – Dealers Choice 6-Handed Jun 2 – Seven Card Stud* Jun 3 – N.L.H.E. 6-Handed Jun 4 – N.L.H.E.* Jun 4 – H.O.R.S.E.* Jun 5/6 – N.L.H.E. Millionaire Maker Jun 5 – Mixed P.L.O. Hi-Lo 8; Omaha Hi-Lo 8; Big O Jun 9 – N.L.H.E. Super-Turbo Bounties* Jun 10 – No-LImit 2-7 Lowball Draw Jun 11 – Seven Card Stud Hi-Lo 8 or Better* Jun 12/13 – NLHE MONSTER STACK* Jun 12 – Limit 2-7 Lowball Triple Draw Jun 14 – Pot-Limit Omaha 8-Handed Jun 16 – Razz* Jun 17 – N.L.H.E. Shootout* Jun 23 – Pot-Limit Omaha Hi-Lo 8 or Better Jun 27 – Limit Hold’em* Jun 28 – N.L.H.E. Mystery Bounty* Jul 7 – N.L.H.E. Bounty* Jul 8 – Pot-Limit Omaha Bounty Jul 9 – N.L.H.E. Fifty-Stack Jul 9 – Mixed No-Limit Hold’em/Pot-Limit Omaha Jul 10/11 – NLHE CLOSER Jul 12 – Eight-Game Mix 6-Handed
*Indicates Freezeout
It’s that time again when we try to index the happenings and the handbags of the high stakes poker scene, this time the stories that landed between 26 Jan and 1 Feb, beginning with the live tournament scene.
With the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure (PCA) going the way of the song inside the bird that lies between the fangs of a cat, Poker Central found their way through the smoke and the flames to take up their spot, albeit for the high roller brethren.
Heading into Event #7, five players had garnered enough points for the potential lump in the throat moment that accompanies being a champion. Andras Nemeth, led, and would have won had the Hungarian not failed to make the money, allowing Stephen Chidwick to take the honours, once Kahle Burns bubbled. Chidwick collected an additional AUD 50,000 for the win, his second Open Championship after winning the US Poker Open in 2018.
With the APO in the rearview mirror, Poker Central rolled out the red carpet for the AUD 250,000 Super High Roller Bowl (SHRB) Australia. It was a bit of a letdown with only 16-entrants, but Timothy Adams wasn’t bothered superimposing the win over his APO victory, sending him into Jeju in fine form.
Wait, there is no Jeju!
Due to the Coronavirus outbreak in China, Triton Poker officials had no option but to postpone the Triton Poker Super High Roller in Jeju pending more news on the potential pandemic. You can expect a further announcement on Feb 10.
The problem with postponing the event is when to reinstate. The high stakes scene is getting pretty hectic these days, and two more live tournament series announced more games this week.
partypoker announced their MILLIONS events for 2020/21, and there were a few surprises. Dusk till Dawn (DTD), The King’s Resort, The Playground Club, and anywhere in South America is off the list. Taking their place are events in Cyprus, Prague and London.
The London event ties in with the Triton Poker Super High Roller Series. It takes place at the Hilton Park Lane and is an innovative new scheme with the £5,300 buy-in NLHE Main Event limited to online satellite qualifiers and VIPs, with at least one VIP per table when the event begins.
The only nitty-gritty we have comes from the MILLIONS Cyprus schedule. The Merit Crystal Cove Hotel & Casino in Kyrenia hosts and there is plenty for the high rollers to look forward to with a $15,500 NLHE event, a $25,000 NLHE event, a $25,000 Short-Deck (SD) event, a $50,000 NLHE event, and the $5,300, $5m GTD NLHE Main Event.
Finally, the live tournament series that’s been around as long as cave paintings released its high roller schedule last week.
Here is the World Series of Poker (WSOP) High Roller schedule.
May 29 – $25,000 NLHE May 31 – $25,000 NLHE Heads-Up Jun 5 – $50,000 NLHE Jun 17 – $25,000 PLO Jun 22 – $50,000 Poker Players’ Championship Jun 27 – $250,000 NLHE Jul 7 – $50,000 PLO Jul 9 – $50,000 NLHE Jul 11 – $100,000 NLHE
There will also be a standalone High Roller Leaderboard, although details are as elusive as a jellyfish’s throat.
Online Poker
Only one story to bring you from the land of online poker, and that’s an update on the Phil Galfond Challenge.
As the weekend drew to a close, Galfond was down €553,516.95 after ten days of heads-up PLO versus VeniVidi1993. Galfond has only won one of the ten sessions the paired has played, and that was a small win. In contrast, VeniVidi1993 has been the Hulk Hogan of the pairing. With more than 18,000 hands still to whizz through, many people in the poker community are beginning to worry about the three-time WSOP bracelet winner.
Kahle Burns is one of the hottest poker players on the planet right now, and the recent Australian Poker Hall of Fame inductee appeared on the ‘Podker’ podcast facing the host, WSOP Player of the Year, Robert Campbell.
JC Alvarado may have retired from poker, but he hasn’t retired from appearing on poker podcasts. The Mexican star appeared on Olivier Busquets’ ‘Two Lives With Olivier’.
Check it out.
Finally, he doesn’t play in many $25k+ buy-in events, but he has in the past, and given that I am the host, I will also give a shout out to Martin Jacobson’s appearance on RunItOnce’s Hero’s Journey podcast.
Check it out.
Life Outside of Poker
Former high stakes star, Brian Hastings, had a baby. Well, I guess his wife did most of the work. Audrey Hart Hastings is now part of the poker world.
I am thrilled to welcome Audrey Hart Hastings into the world! Huge shoutout to @SonyaNotSonya for doing all the heavy lifting during pregnancy, labor, and childbirth. I am in love with Audrey and excited to begin the journey of fatherhood! pic.twitter.com/GJmvpIAzya
Sorel Mizzi nearly had a baby when he had to change his Top 10 Movie Rankings for the first time in five-years. The Korean epic ‘Parasite,’ of which Scott Seiver has also been singing its virtues, comes in at #7.
Had to update my top 10 movie list for first time in 5 years thanks to “Parasite” here it is:
1. Braveheart 2. Forrest Gump 3. Interstellar 4. A Bronx Tale 5. Legend of the falls 6. The dark knight 7. Parasite 8. Vanilla sky 9. Good fellas 10. Cinema paradiso
The death of Kobe Bryant was one of the major talking points on social media this week, and Mike ‘Timex’ McDonald had some interesting thoughts on celebrity deaths, which led to him sharing his reflections on the end of Anthony Bourdain.
Check them out.
Not a Kobe, Lakers, or even a basketball fan but this has me choked up more than any celebrity death ever has. I think the death of a young transcendent athlete symbolizes our mortality more than anything. Enjoy your time while you still can.
This may sound fucked up but when Bourdain died it was the most positive thing that's ever happened for my own life expectancy. Seeing someone who has improved so many lives yet didn't appreciate their own was such an eye opener for me. I'd never seen this so clearly.
High stakes cash game player and partypoker consultant, Rob Yong, asked the community how they would feel if he implemented facial recognition software on the online site. The proposed move is to prevent cheaters/bots/multi-accounting/ghosting, and the results were overwhelmingly in favour of the idea. However, the results from those commenting were mixed. It’s an interesting thread and worth checking it.
I am going to ask @partypoker to implement Facial Recognition on Sign in [+ randomly when ITM/Final Tables + Higher Stakes Cash Games to 1) stop cheaters/bots opening/buying new accounts 2) stop multi – accounting 3] Stop ghosting – Do you support this ?
During a recent interview with Phil Hellmuth Jr., he told me that the high stakes tournament pros are a school of imitating fish, while he does his own thing on the side.
This is what his ‘own thing’ looks like, followed by some sound advice from the WPT Champions Club member, Dietrich Fast.
The poker reality show will flop, you can watch superbowl on tv, skype with the govenor and save money, be with your fam and safe the planet.
In 2011, the American government created a cleft in the world of online poker the size of the Grand Canyon and the consequences reverberated around the world.
One of those hit by the loss of revenue generated by that healthy vein was the televised poker industry. One by one TV shows that used to have us trembling with excitement fell off the face of the earth.
‘High Stakes Poker’ was one of the shows that died in that Annus horribilis, but fans of the live cash game machine will be delighted to know that it’s about to experience a resurrection.
Poker Central, the Netflix of poker, has acquired the brand and assets of the show in a new deal that will see old episodes rerun on PokerGO, with plans to stick the paddles on the chest of this bad boy sometime in the future.
You spell hay day ‘heyday’, and it has nothing to do with hay. During ‘High Stakes Poker’s’ heyday, it operated at peak velocity with seven seasons rammed into the years 2006 & 2011.
The show attracted a variety of top pros and amateurs with Doyle Brunson, Barry Greenstein, Daniel Negreanu and Antonio Esfandiari ticking all of the North American poker glamour boxes, appearing in every single episode.
The format was No-Limit Hold ’em (NLHE), and in its first season, the minimum buy-in was $100,000, rising as high as $500,000 by the time the show had reached its fourth season.
Sam Simmons, president of Poker Central, said the show conveyed the ‘drama of cash game poker, beautifully,’ and said he was excited to ‘recapture the nostalgia and magic’ of the show on PokerGO.
The revitalised program is in good hands. Poker Hall of Famer, Mori Eskandani, produced all sevens seasons of the show for the Game Show Network, and he now serves as an executive producer for Poker Central.
“High Stakes Poker was raw and natural, we just let the players play, and that’s what made it so special,” Said Eskandani before continuing, It’s a dream come true to bring the series to a new generation of poker fans and players. We expect even more action when the show returns with faces, both new and old.”
You can grab yourself a PokerGO subscription for as little at $8.50 per month if you pay annually, or $10 per month otherwise.
The abstraction fell from Rob Yong’s mind, landed in a tin of paint, his partypoker team dib-dabbed a paintbrush or two, and now they’re ready to show the world what they’ve created.
The partypoker LIVE MILLIONS 2020/21 schedule is out, and it’s unrecognisable from previous years.
There are three new events to mention, and we begin with the first stop of 2020: MILLIONS Cyprus.
The event takes place 3-11 May, at the Merit Crystal Cove Hotel & Casino with a $5,300 buy-in, $5m GTD No-Limit Hold’em (NLHE) Main Event the focus of predatory attention.
There are four side-events, with all of them geared towards high rollers with a $15,500 NLHE event, a $25,000 NLHE event, a $25,000 Short-Deck (SD) event, and a $50,000 NLHE event.
The crew don’t have time to watch paint dry as they hop on board the party plane to McCarron Airport for MILLIONS Vegas. It is taking place 1 – 30 June, right smack, bang in the middle of the World Series of Poker (WSOP). The ARIA and partypoker provide a little something for everyone, topped off with a $5,300 buy-in, $5m GTD NLHE Main Event. It’s the second time a Las Vegas event has been on the MILLIONS schedule after Tom Marchese topped a 536-entrant field to win the $1m first prize, last year (when the game was a $10,300 buy-in).
partypoker then takes the month off before their innovative new stop in London. The $5,300 buy-in NLHE Main Event takes place at the Park Lane Hilton and is open to VIP guests, and MILLIONS Passport holders, only. No direct buy-in is allowed, and Simon Trumper will ensure that a VIP guest is sitting at every table from the moment of the starting whistle. More on MILLIONS Passport, below.
The MILLIONS Online event takes place in September before the team head to the Bahamas for MILLIONS Caribbean Poker Party (CPP). The title ‘World’ is gone, but the location hasn’t as the Baha Mar once again plays host to the $5,300 buy-in, $5m GTD Main Event.
Leon Tsoukernik caused quite a stir when he purchased the casino in the Hilton Prague “to give him something to do while the kids were in school.” The news lit up the poker world like a pyromaniac in a panic because the Hilton Prague was the home of the European Poker Tour (EPT) Prague. Notice the use of the past tense. That’s because Prague is no longer on the EPT schedule, and now we know why. In early 2021, MILLIONS Prague steps over the decomposed body of the EPT to set up camp.
There is no room for a MILLIONS South America. The Playground Club in Montreal is out of the picture, as is the King’s Resort in Rozvadov, and Rob Yong’s gaff: Dusk till Dwan (DTD).
MILLIONS Passport
As previously explained, the MILLIONS London event is available to VIP guests and MILLIONS Passport holders only. The Passport concept is new, groovy, and aimed at amateur and recreational players.
Players can earn a MILLIONS Passport by competing in $109 buy-in Phased satellites that hold their finals on Sunday. You cannot buy directly into a MILLIONS Passport finale, meaning all qualifiers will have come through the $109 route or direct satellite qualifiers for each event.
partypoker will allow winners to use their Passport to enter any MILLIONS event, including Online, within 12-months of winning it. Winners receive packages worth $11,000, and that goes for both live and online games. The VIP treatment is also part of the box.
partypoker LIVE President, John Duthie, said the changes came about after a thorough review of player feedback, and a direct focus on improving the MILLIONS experience for fans of the amateur game.
Here is the schedule in full.
May 2020 – MILLIONS Cyprus, Merit Casino
June 2020 – MILLIONS Vegas, Aria Resort & Casino
August 2020 – MILLIONS London, Park Lane Hilton
September 2020 – MILLIONS Online
November 2020 – MILLIONS Caribbean Poker Party, Baha Mar, The Bahamas
2021 – MILLIONS Prague, Hilton Prague
The word ‘POSTPONED’ lies in the middle of two thick black lines, every inch the intruder, like a three-year-old in the middle of two parents wishing to create a zero-year-old.
High stakes poker players throughout the world are banging their fists on walls, screaming to the other side, “What will I do, now?” The 2020 Triton Poker Super High Roller Series has just lost some of its varnish.
With the Aussie Millions and Australian Poker Open gone the way of dried paint, all eyes were about to set on the Korean island of Jeju. But then the coronavirus became fed up with animal hosts, and decided to jump ship.
The first test subjects came from Wuhan in China’s Hubei province, and in the space of a few weeks, 17,000 confirmed cases had hit a spreadsheet belonging to someone wearing a white lab coat, including close to 3,000 new cases in the 24-hours before I sat and wrote this article.
More than 360 people have died.
It’s not a virus that revels in solitude. Nine countries have already reported double-digit cases, including the United States, where American Airlines, Delta Air Lines and United Airlines all suspended routes between the US and China due to the soon to be declared pandemic.
With this in mind, the Triton Poker Super High Roller organisers had no choice but to postpone their Jeju event pending further news on the spread of the virus.
The decision is unfortunate.
The Triton Poker Super High Roller Series in Jeju was going to blow our minds, including the advent of the richest Player of the Year (PoY) in history with HKD 2 million reserved for the winner.
Still, the decision was bang on, as the safety of Triton players is paramount.
Keep your eyes and ears peeled as Triton officials plan to make a further announcement on February 10.
