The script for the 2020 World Series of Poker (WSOP) still has an echo, but it’s diminishing in volume. The first announcement came before Christmas with a dozen glitz and glamour events creating a solid foundation, and now it’s time to add something more substantial.
Over the years, the $10,000 buy-in WSOP Championship events have become some of the most decadent desserts in this recipe book, and high Rollers feast on them like insomniac-ridden locusts,
Sixteen $10,000 Championship events spanning 24 variants of poker ensures not a superfluous song exists amongst this scintillating symphony. Daniel Negreanu will be pleased to know that the format of 15 of the 17 events is ‘Freezeout,’ with a single re-entry during the open registration period available for the Short-Deck and No-Limit 2-7 Lowball Draw events.
Kajagoogoo once sang:
“You’re too shy, shy, hush-hush, eye to eye.”
If that’s you, then you’re in luck.
For the first time in WSOP history, there is a $10,000 WSOP Championship No-Limit Hold ’em event available online at WSOP.com, meaning you don’t have to leave the front door to win a sliver of gold. And don’t think for one minute that you’re looking at the vanishing point. I can see $25,000 High Roller online events filling the pages of this recipe book before too long.
Speaking of $25,000+ events, and so far the WSOP has kept their powder dry except for the $50,000 Poker Player’s Championship (PPC). The game most pros believe is the most illustrious outside of the WSOP Main Event begins on Monday, June 22.
The 5-day, 6-handed event, with 100-minute levels undergoes a splash of paintwork with the addition of No-Limit 2-7 Lowball Draw taking the number of games up to nine.
The History of the PPC
2006: David ‘Chip’ Reese beats 143-entrants ($1,716,000) 2007: Freddy Deeb beats 148-entrants ($2,276,832) 2008: Scotty Nguyen beats 148-entrants ($1,989,120) 2009: David Bach beats 95-entrants (1m276,802) 2010: Michael Mizrachi beats 116-entrants ($1,559,046) 2011: Brian Rast beats 128-entrants ($1,720,328) 2012: Michael Mizrachi beats 108-entrants ($1,451,527) 2013: Matthew Ashton beats 132-entrants ($1,774,089) 2014: John Hennigan beats 102-entrants ($1,517,767) 2015: Mike Gorodinsky beats 84-entrants ($1,270,086) 2016: Brian Rast beats 91-entrants ($1,296,097) 2017: Elior Sion beats 100-entrants ($1,395,767) 2018: Michael Mizrachi beats 87-entrants ($1,239,126) 2019: Phil Hui beats 74-entrants ($1,099,311)
The one omission from the schedule is the $10,000 No-Limit Hold ’em Heads-Up Championship. We reached out to the WSOP for comment, and Seth Palansky, Vice-President, Corporate Communications for Caesars Interactive Entertainment Inc., sais:
“We are still putting the pieces together for rest of schedule. I do anticipate us having a Heads Up event in 2020, it just won’t be at the $10k buy in amount it has been in recent years.”
WSOP Championship Leaderboard
During the debacle of the 2019 WSOP Player of the Year (PoY) award, where Daniel Negreanu won his third title, before seeing it handed to Robert Campbell through a points tally error, someone in the poker Twitter universe suggested a WSOP Championship Leaderboard.
Well, it’s happening.
We don’t have any details yet, but we’ll bring them to you when they arrive on our desk.
One thing about 2020 you know for sure – Kahle Burns will not be tiptoeing through live poker tournaments.
Coming into the final month of 2019, Burns led the 2019 Global Poker Index (GPI) Player of the Year (PoY) rankings, only for Alex Foxen to put in an incredible performance at the World Poker Tour (WPT) Five Diamond World Poker Classic, to snatch the win.
Burns may not have won the big one. Still, a career-high annual haul of $4.3m ensured he took the GPI Australian PoY honour. Burns won four tournaments in 2019 including two World Series of Poker (WSOP) bracelets: €25,500 No-Limit Hold ’em Platinum High Roller and the €2,500 No-Limit Hold ’em Short-Deck events at the World Series of Poker Europe (WSOPE).
2020 begins as 2019 ends.
The Australian wizard can add more socks to his drawer after topping the 37-entrant $25,500 No-Limit Hold ’em High Roller at partypoker’s MILLIONS UK in Dusk Till Dawn (DTD), Nottingham for $350,000.
Here is the nutshell action.
The Nutshell Action
Eighteen sandals, Gucci shoes and trainers found their way beneath the final table.
Only ten of those toes would earn any money.
Rainer Kempe was the first pearl to fall from the neck, roll through the rail, and into the gutter after he moved his final 11 big blinds into the middle holding Qs7s. Preben Stokkan called and beat him with AhQh.
When it comes to the high stakes action, you don’t get more pious than Yair Bitoun, but the wolf ran out of howl in 8th place. Bitoun fired pocket sixes from a gun labelled ‘under’, and Luke Reeves found those magical aces to cut the field down to 7.
Igor Kurganov took the chip lead after the next duel with Steve O’Dwyer.
O’Dwyer opened to 300,000, holding AcQc on the button, and Kurganov three-bet from the small blind holding KsTc. O’Dwyer called, and soon the pair were staring at a Kh7d4d flop like a couple of monks staring at lipstick stains on their habits. Kurganov bet 575,000, and O’Dwyer made the call. The turn was the 5h, and Kurganov bet 1,700,000; O’Dwyer called. The river card was the 7c – and both players meekly checked, handing Kurganov the chip lead.
We reached the bubble after the king of the King’s Resort saw his pocket kings cracked by the AhQs of Reeves. An ace on the river ending the alliteration of the letter ‘K’.
Despite sending two final tablists to solitary confinement, Reeves didn’t don his cape and become the superman this show needed. Instead, he bubbled. Kurganov picked up pocket queens in the small blind at the same time Reeves looked down to see pocket fours in the big. The pair got it in, and Kurganov’s queens held to send everyone but Reeves into the money.
O’Dwyer picked up the quaintest bag of bills when he made a stand holding KsJh only for Kurganov to end the defence of his title after calling and winning with a raggedy ace. Ben Heath eliminated Preben Stokkan when AK battered Ah8h, and Heath followed him when Kurganov’s Ks5s beat Jc9s when all-in, pre.
The heads-up encounter between Kurganov and Burns began with Kurganov in the lead, but it ended the other way around. The final hand saw Kurganov’s pocket fours lose to AsTh, as Burns turned a Broadway straight to collect his first title of 2020.
ITM Finishes
Kahle Burns – $350,000
Igor Kurganov – $222,250
Ben Heath – $150,000
Preben Stokkan – $100,000
Steve O’Dwyer – $75,000
There was a time when Robin Hood would glide through Sherwood Forest, robbing the rich, and giving his loot to the poor. Sherwood Forest is in the county of Nottinghamshire, UK, the home of poker’s Dusk till Dawn (DTD).
DTD is no Sherwood Forest. Owner, Rob Yong once famously called it a ‘shed on an industrial estate.’ But on Thursday, January 9, for one night only, it will be filled to the brim with the robbed rich, only none of it will find its way to the poor.
As I hold you spellbound with my words, some of the top players are slaloming their way through the partypoker MILLIONS UK schedule, and on Thursday there will be some relief for the lovers of cash games.
Some of the most charismatic high stakes poker players in the business will emerge from their live tournament cocoons, to flutter into’ Trickett’s Room,’ for a night of high stakes action.
The Set-Up
The live cash game begins at 18:30 (GMT) on partypoker’s Twitch channel, with a 30-minute security delay. The former World Series of Poker (WSOP) bracelet and World Poker Tour (WPT) winner, James Dempsey, will provide the commentary, aided by anyone with a pulse who knows a thing or two about poker.
Many moons ago, partypoker dominated the airwaves with some of the best high stakes televised action in the business, and the lineup in this one has that same nostalgic feel.
DTD named the poker room after ‘Sam Trickett’ in honour of the man who began life playing low-stakes tournaments and cash games in that ‘shed on an industrial estate’. Trickett will have a seat.
If there is a God then when it came to creating the mould for a poker TV personality, he carved it in the form of one Luke Schwartz. The WSOP bracelet winner is one of the funniest and outrageous people in poker, and will he will appear as a tick alongside Trickett in the pro-column.
Three non-pros are in the original lineup.
DTD owner, and high stakes cash game reg, Rob Yong, will take a seat alongside, King’s Resort owner, Leon Tsoukernik, and the legendary Yair’ The Wolf’ Bitoun.
As the night unfolds, you can expect the cast to change.
The Format
The format is £100/£200 Pot-Limit Omaha (PLO), but the players reserve the right to increase or decrease the stakes should they wish. It’s an elevator that never goes down.
The Future
partypoker is calling this solo venture a ‘dress rehearsal’ for a new online version of ‘Trickett’s Room’ coming soon to the online poker room – A ‘members only’ area where players will compete in games at stakes of $10/$10 and above.
Selected games will air on partypoker’s Twitch channel with commentary from a host of the game’s top stars.
Do you want a seat?
Grab your bow and arrow, email trickettsroom@partypoker.com, and hope you don’t end up in the role of Friar Tuck.
This picture taken on December 31, 2019 shows firefighters struggling against the strong wind in an effort to secure nearby houses from bushfires near the town of Nowra in the Australian state of New South Wales. (Photo by SAEED KHAN / AFP)
Australia
is in crisis.
Mother
nature has torched the country like no country has been torched before. Flames
from the 130+ fires have reached 230 feet into the sky, with temperatures
rising to 1,000 degrees Celcius.
The
smoke is destroying air quality, and firefighters have to contend with a new
phenomenon as the fire creates thunderstorms and lightning strikes, fire clouds
and ember attacks.
Help is
needed.
The
Aussie Millions is the most prestigious poker tour in the Asia-Pacific region
and the first significant event of 2020. In November, hosts, the Crown Melbourne,
and it’s owner, James Packer, donated $1m to help bushfire fighting services
and provide community support. This week that donation rose to $5m.
Speaking
to the press, Packer said:
“Australians are digging deep to support each other in these tough times; it’s truly inspiring. My family and Crown are eager to do more, and the best way we can help is to significantly increase our donation.
We hope these funds play a small part in helping our firefighters and easing the suffering of people who have lost their homes and the poor wildlife caught up in the blaze. We just want to do our bit.”
The
money will go to areas where Crown properties exist such as New South Wales,
Victoria and Western Australia, and here is a breakdown of fund distribution:
N.S.W.
Rural Fire Service – $1m
Victorian
County Fire Authority – $1m
Western
Australia Bush Fire Brigade – $500,000
Australian
Red Cross – $500,000
Victorian
Government Fund in Conjunction With Bendigo Bank and the Salvation Army – $1m
Wildlife
Information, Rescue and Education Service, Zoos Victoria – $1m
Aussie Millions News
The
Aussie Millions consists of 23-events with buy-ins ranging between AUD 1,500 –
100,000, and Dzmitry Urbanovich is the first player to experience the comfort
blanket feel of a win.
Image by Andrew Burnett.
The
Pole defeated Julien Sitbon after close to five hours of heads-up action at the
boiling point of Event #2: AUD 2,500 H.O.R.S.E. Urbanovich collected AUD 28,755
(USD 19,964) for the win, after agreeing upon a heads-up deal.
It’s
Urbanovich’s thirteenth live career title, and his second in H.O.R.S.E. after
winning a 30-entrant $500 buy-in event during the 2017 partypoker MILLION in
Sochi, Russia.
The
partypoker pro’s Aussie Millions experience has resulted in 7 in the money
(ITM) finishes, including 3 in 2018 along with a runner-up finish to Kenny
Hallaert in an AUD 1,200 No-Limit Hold’em (N.L.H.E.) Shot-Clock event.
Urbanovich has now earned more than $6m playing live tournament earnings and is
the Polish All-Time Live Tournament Money Earner.
The
2018 Aussie Millions Main Event attracted a record 822-entrants, and Bryn
Kenney won the AUD 1,272,598 (USD 914,617) first prize – launching himself into
the year of his life.
Alex Foxen
There’s no more crab-stepping.
The peeps at the Global Poker Index (GPI) H.Q., have finished their number-crunching – the names of the GPI Players of the Year (PoY) are in, and the high rollers dominated.
The coveted GPI PoY award went to Alex Foxen, who also ended the year at the top of the GPI World Rankings. It’s the first time that someone has ever defended a GPI PoY title, an incredible feat considering the calibre of opponent he frequently faces.
There are never any lame ducks in this one, but the 2019 GPI Poy race was the tightest the ranking system had ever seen. Going into December, and the European Poker Tour (EPT) Prague and the World Poker Tour (WPT) Five Diamond World Poker Classic in Las Vegas, the statisticians at the GPI couldn’t see the woods for the trees.
The thickest trunk belonged to Kahle Burns, but the Australian failed to make a showing at either of those events. Bryn Kenney temporarily took the lead with a few scores at EPT Prague, before Foxen put in a stunning display at the Five Diamond to finish the year at the summit.
Foxen made six final tables in $5k+ events, including winning the 1,035-entrant Main Event for $1,694,995 – a victory that garnered him 690.65 GPI PoY points, and cemented him as the #1. Had Foxen hit the rail before the money, then Sean Winter would have taken the sword, shield and throne.
Foxen finished the year with $6,346,433 in live tournaments earnings, the second successive year he has finished with more than $6m ($6,632,556 in 2018). He cashed in 40-events, with over half of them, final tables appearances.
Here is the final leaderboard, and a list of previous winners.
GPI Player of the Year
Alex Foxen – 3806.09
Sean Winter – 3679.19
Bryn Kenney – 3647.19
Kahle Burns – 3641.81
Stephen Chidwick – 3637.94
Rainer Kempe – 3499.77
Sam Greenwood – 3487.10
Manig Loeser – 3434.91
Timothy Adams – 3377.88
Ali Imsirovic – 3377.59
Former PoY Winners
2019: Alex Foxen
2018: Alex Foxen
2017: Adrian Mateos
2016: David Peters
2015: Byron Kaverman
2014: Daniel Colman
2013: Ole Schemion
2012: Dan Smith
The Best of the Rest
It was also the second time that both Foxen and his beau, Kristen Bicknell, finished atop their respective gender-orientated piles. Bicknell won her third GPI Female PoY title at a canter and remained the world’s #1 female player by a country mile.
GPI Female Player of the Year
Kristen Bicknell – 3,175.37
Maria Ho – 2,518.42
Jessica Dawley – 2,102.14
Kitty Kuo – 2,034.73
Maria Lampropulos – 1,832.67
Loni Harwood – 1,830.33
Natalie Teh – 1,810.58
Li Yan – 1,797.09
Kelly Minkin – 1,702.88
Nadya Magnus – 1,685.19
Bicknell may have finished at the highest echelon of the Female Rankings, but she didn’t win her country award. That honour fell to Sam Greenwood, who had an outstanding year. Greenwood was one of a glutton of high stakes players to earn PoY honours.
Australia – Kahle Burns
England – Stephen Chidwick
USA – Alex Foxen
Portugal – Joao Vieira
China – Yake Wu
Canada – Sam Greenwood
Malaysia – Chin Wei Lim
Japan – Tsugunari Toma
Finland – Juha Helppi
Turkey – Orpen Kisacikoglu
Taiwan – Pete Chen
Colombia – Farid Jattin
Bosnia – Ali Imsirovic
Germany – Rainer Kempe
Italy – Dario Sammartino
Hong Kong – Danny Tang
Spain – Adrian Mateos
Austria – Matthias Eibinger
Russia – Anatoly Filatov
On a broader geographical scale, Foxen picked up the GPI Americas PoY award, Stephen Chidwick was the PoY in Europe, Danny Tang won a highly competitive Asian award, and Farid Jattin took the honours or Latin America.
I’m not saying that Phil Galfond is burning at a quarter-candle while everyone else is an electric lightbulb, but by his admission, he hasn’t been playing a bunch of poker lately.
Wives.
Children.
Beard manicures.
Online Poker Rooms.
So much to do, and so little time.
Let’s say, his white glove slap across the face of the poker community in the form of the ‘Galfond Challenge’, is likely to be returned with a few baseball mitts. HighStakesDB even led with an article entitled: Why The Galfond Challenge is Becoming a Disaster For Phil.
But is it?
2010: NYC. Nosebleeds @ FTP📈📉 2011: Black Friday. ➡️ Vancouver 2012:🚀@RunItOnce -2014: PLO @ Stars📈 2015: Marry @Farah_Galfond 😍. ➡️ Vegas.🏅 -2016: Live cash📈 2017-: Full-time on RIO. Live cash📉 2018:🏅, 🚀👶🏻 2019:🚀@RunItOncePoker
A mistake that business owners make is persuading people to buy their product through the means of logical and rational thought, and there’s a lot of that flying around the trapezes of the poker circus.
However, the messages that get goosebumps pimpling don’t ambush the brain; they attack the heart.
Feelings.
You can’t change a mind without first winning their hearts.
If you love poker, then it’s hard not to respect Phil Galfond and what he’s trying to do at RIO Poker. How will it make you feel to see him battling against so many diverse characters across different stakes and platforms with millions of dollars on the line?
Will a few hearts flutter?
Will a few hairs stand on end?
Will one or ten of you choose to compete on the site after seeing the silky software?
It’s hard to persuade people to do things they don’t want to do — what better way than showing them how exhilarating it can be.
And the poker community needs this challenge after the ‘Durrrr Challenge’ debacle. Coincidentally, Phil Galfond was the only player banned from challenging Dwan when the challenge first got off the ground. Galfond chose to allow all-comers into his home, but who are the ones he’s secretly hoping he doesn’t have to ask to leave their shoes at the door?
“There are some players that I am thinking, ‘Man that would be a challenge,’” admits Galfond before continuing. “If only the top players had taken on the challenge, I would have had to have taken some on. But I have too many challengers, so I don’t have to play the toughest. I still might, and I will play more tougher players than I need to, so I can challenge myself, and for publicity for the site – but I do have my pick.”
Future thinking or dwelling on the past is the primary cause of our anxiety because the brain doesn’t know the difference between our mental models and reality. In the spirit, of using this knowledge to his advantage, and priming the pump ready for an injection of poker fairy dust, I ask him to reminisce over his fiercest battles.
“My most famous battles have been against Isildur,” said Galfond. “My biggest winning day was against Viktor when I won $1.6m. We started at $300/$600 PLO and moved on to $500/$1k PLO at some point during the session. I’ve also had a million-dollar losing day against him.
“Back in the day, I also used to play a lot with David Benyamine and Gus Hansen. Gus had that heads-up PLO table that had one seat reserved for him, with one open, and I played him quite a bit. This one time, Gus asked Full Tilt to create a $2k/$4k O8 table for him, and instead, they made a $2k/$4k PLO table. I might have been the only one to play him there, and won small. That’s the highest stakes I have ever played.
“I mainly played Benyamine at NLHE. It may have been before my PLO days. I’ve had at least three seven-figure losses playing online within 24-hours, and I think one was largely against him, but I can’t say that with certainty, because it’s been so long.”
Galfond has seen it all, and also has the perspective of his perch on the throne of RIO’s online training site – so what are the skills and abilities that make a world-class heads-up player?
“What makes a world-class heads-up player are the attributes that surround reading your opponent,” says Galfond. “Reads on game flow, their mood and the way they play as the match progresses and getting a feel for that and staying one step ahead. Or making reads based on stats or showdowns about some leaks that they have. The next step is being able to logically determine the correct counter strategy to take advantage of that.
“As poker progresses, people are becoming more proficient with solvers, and are approaching optimal play a little bit more. At the highest level, the best player is the one that’s super closest to optimal play, but I don’t think anyone is close enough right now for that to be the most important attribute. I think we’re still quite a ways off that, and everyone has enough leaks that if you’re able to identify them and combat them, then these are the most important skills.”
With so much money on the line; reputation, and the profitability of RIO Poker also in the lens – what are the unhelpful thoughts that go through Galfond’s head when it comes to achieving his goals?
“It’s a strange combination of having a lot of doubts in myself and yet being very determined to achieve my goals,” says Galfond. “I have never been a hard studier in poker, but in business, I have found a work ethic that I didn’t have before. I am hoping, as I focus on poker more these next months because of the challenge that my business work ethics rubs off on my poker one.
“I also have unhelpful thoughts around the belief that I am not good at studying or learning from the available new tools. I fear that I can’t digest the information, and it will end up hurting my game more than helping it. Fear of failure is a common problem, and in Elliot Roe’s Run It Once course, which I’ve been taking, I identified that as a big leak of mine. He has an exercise where you go through a fear like that and determine what you’re really afraid of and what you can do to combat the fear, which I found very helpful
The interest in the ‘Galfond Challenge’ has been phenomenal, prompting the thought – could RIO Poker be the new Rail Heaven?
“We have thought a lot about elevating RIO to the Rail Heaven of the past,” admits Galfond. “It’s always been a part of our plans, and we have changes planned in our software development to accommodate the high stakes playing and railing experience. The idea for this challenge happened pretty quickly, so the full experience that we have planned for the future is not available for this challenge.”
And who would Galfond like in a Rail Heaven cast?
“I want great players, but you need to give them an incentive to play with each other. Some of that comes from us, and some of that comes through recruiting non-pros, preferably those that are well known, to make the games better, and hopefully, we can offer something to them to make it worthwhile.
“If I had to give you names then I like to watch guys like Sauce battle. I like watching Berri Sweet, Ike Haxton, Trueteller – but I also think the fans would like to see guys like Ivey, Antonius; some of the old school high stakes players. Those are the names that immediately spring to mind, and now I am doing this high stakes challenge I will include myself in that cast.”
Now go and trim that beard, you’ve got hearts to win, Mr G.
Phil Galfond Challenge Lineup (Subject to Change)
VeniVidi1993 – €100/€200 PLO over 25k hands ActionFreak – €150/€300 PLO over 15k hands. Jungleman – €100/€200 PLO over 7.5k hands Brandon Adams – $100/$200 PLO over 40hrs of live poker Chance Kornuth – €100/€200 PLO over 25k hands Bill Perkins & The Thirst Lounge – €100/€200 PLO over 50k hands or a €400k loss
*Rob Yong has also accepting the challenge, and negotiations have begun.
Side Bet Info
VeniVidi1993 – Side bet of Phil’s €200k to VeniVidi’s €100k ActionFreak – Side bet of Phil’s €150k to ActionFreak’s €150k Jungleman – TBD Brandon Adams – Side Bet of Phil’s $150k to Brandon’s $100k Chance Kornuth – Side Bet of Phil’s €1m to Chance’s €250k Bill Perkins & The Thirst Lounge – Side Bet of Phil’s $800k to Bill’s $200k
PokerShares Odds
Galfond (2.16) v VeniVidi1993 (1.73) Galfond (2.25) v ActionFreak (1.66) Galfond (1.91) v Jungleman (1.95) Galfond (1.60) v Adams (2.40)
With
the world on the brink of a third world war, it’s a perfect time to lock
yourself in a casino for 12-days, and forget that the world even exists.
Triton
has your back.
The
Triton Poker Super High Roller Series returns after a six-month hiatus, and the
first event comes to you live from Shinwa World in the South Korean island of
Jeju.
From
February 10-22, the world’s elite poker player players (both professionals and
non-professionals alike) will clash in a series of tournaments and cash games
that will blow your mind.
Bandages,
casts and defibrillator paddles at the ready.
There
are 11-events, six more than Triton’s Korean debut in 2018, and 4 more than
2019’s clod of earth raising event. Buy-ins range between HKD 250,000 (USD
32,000) and HKD 1m (USD 128,000), and there are two at the top end of that
range.
The
Triton team has announced a further two 2020 events post-Jeju. The first comes
from the Maestral Resort & Casino in Budva, Montenegro May 4-18, before
heading to London Jul 29 – Aug 13.
England’s capital was the
site of Triton’s last event. Aaron Zang won the record-breaking £1m buy-in
Triton Million: A Helping Hand for Charity for £13.7m after cutting a heads-up
deal that saw Bryn Kenney collect £16.9m to shift him to the top of the
All-Time Money List with more than $55m in live tournament earnings.
There’s a clue in the name as to why the Triton Poker Super High Roller Series is unique, but that distinction is about to change after partypoker declared an intention to enter the market.
partypoker associate, and Dusk till Dawn (DTD) owner, Rob Yong, declared on Twitter that the MILLIONS brand would expand to High Roller only events in 2020 with the creation of the MILLIONS Super High Roller Series.
It’s unclear whether the series will become a fixture in the poker calendar. Still, we do know that the MILLIONS Super High Roller Series ambushes the Casino Sochi in Krasnodar, Russia in March.
March 6-15 are the dates, with buy-ins ranging from $25,000 to $250,000, leaving those with slightly smaller purses sobbing into their saucy Sochi saucers.
An official press release is yet to hit the poker media airwaves, but Yong did declare that partypoker would partner with Poker Central on the project.
The schedule is still under lock and key, with the likes of Jason Koon and Ike Haxton strangling any waste from it. Reacting to a question from the former WPT & EPT Champion Andrey Pateychuk, to see the schedule, Yong responded that they would release it in January.
High Stakes Partnerships
partypoker and Poker Central had partnered before, most notably in November when partypoker allowed Cary Katz and his team to run the inaugural Super High Roller Bowl (SHRB) Bahamas as part of the MILLIONS World festival.
After several years of limiting themselves to a Las Vegas base with the SHRB, Poker Masters and the US Poker Open, Poker Central expanded into Asia with an SHRB China, before coupling the British Poker Open (BPO) with the SHRB London. The first Australian Poker Open and SHRB Australia take place in January.
Two players seem to be committed to the event include Jonathan Depa and Dan Smith. Depa is turned on by the promise of high stakes Short-Deck action, and Smith for the No-Limit Hold’em tournaments and snowboarding.
We will bring you further news as it comes.
Australia is under attack from mother nature.
Ten million acres of land burns, as more than 100 fires rage across New South Wales. The flames have forced hundreds of people to the beach as their homes turn to ash.
Heaven has turned into hell.
And, it’s in this newly created hell that we venture first in our round-up of January’s high stakes poker tournaments. With PokerStars putting their Carribean Adventure to sleep, the Aussie Millions takes centre stage.
Once again, the Crown Melbourne will welcome the maddening crowd.
The Aussie Millions experienced a high roller renaissance in 2019. The last frothy bubbles of blood fell out of the corners of the AUD 250,000 Challenge in 2016, but the AUD 100,000 limped on after only 18-players competed in 2017, and 19 in 2018. Then in 2019, 42-entrants turned up, and Cary Katz secured the $1,074,908 first prize.
The star of the 2019 Aussie Millions was Toby Lewis. The UK-based pro doesn’t frequent the live scene too often these days, but when he does, players are typically left weeping into their bowls of rice.
Lewis won the 62-entrant AUD 50,000 Challenge for $587,054 after flipping with Manig Loeser and then finished runner-up to Rainer Kempe in the AUD 25,000 (Kempe conquered a field of 151-entrants to win $590,814, and Lewis collected $555,107).
Anton Morgenstern picked up a second title for Germany when he conquered the throbbing mass of 67-entrants in the AUD 25,000 PLO for $384,767.
Australian Poker Open (25 Jan-1 Feb)
High Rollers who love Australia have a reason to extend their trip in 2020 after Poker Central partnered with the World Poker Tour (WPT) and The Star Gold Coast to host the Australian Poker Open, and the Super High Roller (SHRB) Bowl Australia.
The Australian Poker Open extends Poker Central’s network of events that includes the US Poker Open and the British Poker Open. David Peters won the 2019 US Poker Open, and Sam Soverel took down the inaugural British Poker Open.
Although the 2 February is not in January, it makes sense to reference the SHRB Australia here. It’s the first time the AUD 250,000 buy-in event hits the land of the wallabies and continues the trend of SHRB migration with Justin Bonomo winning the 2018 SHRB China, and Daniel Dvoress winning the 2019 SHRB Bahamas.
2-4 Feb: AUD 250,000 NLHE.
WPT Gardens Poker Championship (14 Dec-15 Jan)
In a 2019 study by OnePoll, research of 2,000 Americans revealed that 40% had never left the country, and over half didn’t even have a passport. As a high roller, you have to take an oath to behave a tad differently, but if you missed that memo, there are a few crumbs of comfort in January.
The WPT Gardens Poker Championship in California is currently in full swing, and there are two $20k+ NLHE events pencilled into the calendar.
Here they are.
6-7 Jan: $25,000 No-Limit Hold’em (NLHE) High Roller 7 Jan: $20,000 NLHE High Roller Bounty
The WPT Gardens Poker Championship debuted in 2019, and there was only one $25,500 event. NLHE was the game, and the turn out was mediocre with Darren Elias topping a field of 11-entrants to win the $192,500 first prize.
WPT Lucky Hearts Poker Open (9-22 Jan)
Passportless Americans can then make the trip from California to Florida for the WPT Lucky Hearts Poker Open in the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino, Florida.
There is one $25k+ event on the schedule, and here it is.
20-21 Jan: $25,500 NLHE High Roller
The WPT first planted high rollers into the Lucky Hearts Poker Open in 2018. Retiree Stefan Schillhabel won the 25-entrant $50,000 NLHE event for $493,000, after beating Adrian Mateos heads-up. Justin Bonomo finished third in that event, before going on to win the 75-entrant $25,000 NLHE, with Mateos once again playing the role of the stubbled chinned bridesmaid.
Despite decent numbers, the high rollers vanished from the 2019 schedule, and only the $25,500 makes the cut in 2010.
partypoker MILLIONS UK (4-12 Jan)
With North America and Australasia covered, partypoker will set up camp in Europe, with partypoker MILLIONS UK coming live and direct from Dusk Till Dawn (DTD), Nottingham, England.
Rob Yong and co., first engraved the MILLIONS brand onto the DTD sigils in 2017, when Pascal Lefrancois defeated 14-entrants to win the £151,300 first prize in the £25,000 NLHE event. 2018 belonged to Steve O’Dwyer after beating 51-entrants to win the £25,500 NLHE event for £450,000, while also collecting the £314,000 first prize for winning the 105-entrant £10,300 NLHE event.
There was no MILLIONS UK in 2019, with the company preferring to hold a MILLIONS Europe at the King’s Resort, Rozvadov in August.
There is only one $25k+ event on this year’s calendar.
Here is it.
7 Jan: $25,500 NLHE Super High Roller
And that’s a wrap for January’s live tournament high roller schedule.
As 2019 draws to a close, and we reminisce on the leg wobbling poker we witnessed, and experienced, in the past 12-months, save a couple of those thoughts for the future – for the World Series of Poker (WSOP).
The 51st annual poker extravaganza returns May 26 – July 15, with the first gimmick being the number of days (51). More tricks to come, but for now, we’re aware of 15-events, thanks to a press release from our darlings at Caesars Interactive Entertainment (CIE).
Lamentably, the highest buy-in of those 15-events is the $10,000 that more than eight-thousand people will put down in the hope of banking something in the region of $8 – 10 million bucks. That means our high roller brethren will have to wait to see what the most iconic brand in poker has in store for them.
There’s not too much to shout about from the initial press release except for the announcement that late registration for the $10,000 WSOP Main Event stretches even further into the distance. In 2019, players were able to register as late as the start of Day 2. In 2020, players can register throughout Level 6, which is on Day 2 – meaning players can skip Day 1 in its entirety, a decision that’s drawn a divisive response from the poker community.
In response to an op-ed written on PokerNewsDaily by Earl Burton carrying the title “ANOTHER Ludicrous Decision From The WSOP With Late Registration,” CIE’s Vice-President of Corporate Communications, Seth Palansky, stating that the decision makes the WSOP Main Event more consistent with other events, “in fact, 2-6 shorter than most $10,000 buy-in events.”
The WSOP Main Event
If you want to compete in the $10,000 WSOP Main Event, then the starting flights are Wednesday, July 1, Thursday, July 2, and Friday, July 3. Players who compete in the first two flights, return on July 4 to compete in Day 2. Those who start on July 3, take July 4 off and return to play Day 2 on Sunday, July 5. Fields merge on Monday, July 6 for Day 3. The play ends, Friday, July 10, when the final table comes into view. July 11 is a day off. ESPN/ESPN2 will air the final table live: July 12-14.
Incredible numbers turned out for the 2019 WSOP Main Event. Hossein Ensan conquering a field of 8,569-entrants to win the $10m first prize, the second-highest attendance of all time (2006: Jamie Gold – 8,773), and if you work for CIE one imagines that taste of record-breaking success, will lead to a push to break that record this year.
Outside of the WSOP Main Event’s close shave on that record, the 2019 WSOP as a whole was a record-breaking year for CIE, with more than $293m in prize money distributed to more than 187,000 entrants from 118 different countries.
Opening Weekend
It’s become blasphemy not to have an opening weekend gimmick that drags people into Las Vegas in their droves, and in 2020, the series copies the celebrated success of the 2019 Big 50.
Once again, on Wednesday, May 27, 2020, players can compete in the Big 50 for a $500 buy-in; receiving 50,000 chips, and playing 50-minute levels. There are four starting flights: Thursday, May 28, Friday, May 29, Saturday, May 30 and Sunday, May 31. Last year, Femi Fashakin overcame the largest attendance in poker history (28,371), to pick up the $1,147,449 win in its inaugural year.
The WSOP has released details on 15 ‘anchor’ events.
Here they are.
Rio Sale
Despite CIE selling the Rio to Dreamscape Companies for $516.3m at the beginning of December, and rumours that the gaff is heading for rubble, Palansky has confirmed that the WSOP will remain at its current home until at least 2021.
A press release from Dreamscape and CIE backed up Palansky’s confirmation, stating that Caesars will continue to run the Rio for the next two years, paying $45m per year rent, with a $7m option to extend into the third year.
The Rio first felt the buzz of WSOP events in 2005, with every single one of them moving to the new location from downtown Binions in 2006.
