This week’s Pinnacle is more teaspoon than tablespoon after most of the high stakes interest this week centred on the Democratic Presidential Primary Debate, Coronavirus (COVID-19), and Tyson Fury’s fight with Deontay Wilder.
After Wilder’s defeat against Fury, the Bronze Bomber blamed his 40-pound pre-fight costume on his seventh-round TKO. We’re going to do what Wilder should have done, and drop some weight.
We begin, as we typically do, with a round-up of the sweet-smelling spices of the live tournament circuit. The only action this week came from the Aria, with the Las Vegas poker room hosting 2 x $10k and a $25k No-Limit Hold’em (NLHE) event.
The two victors in the $10k events were Jacob Daniels and Cary Katz. The latter extended his Aria ITM record to 64 with that win. Ali Imsirovic tweeted that he chopped the $25k with ‘Jake’, but the news has not yet emerged on The Hendon Mob, so we’ll take a punt that the ‘Jake’ is Schindler.
The next high stakes action comes from Sochi, Russia, and it seems the Coronavirus is not going to turn the players into bawling babies. Organiser, Rob Yong announced that the Russian government would refuse entry to people holding Chinese passports, and that’s only two of the 50+ players on the official list.
The partypoker MILLIONS Super High Roller takes place 6-15 March, and includes three $25.5k, 2 x $52k, 2 x $100k events, and a $250k NLHE Super High Roller Bowl. The formats are either NLHE or Short-Deck.
Sticking with the partypoker theme, and the Global Poker Index (GPI) celebrated Kristen Bicknell’s reign as the #1 top female poker player in the world for an incredible 100 consecutive weeks. The Canadian is one of the few females competing in $25k+ games and won a $25k event at the 2019 Poker Masters.
Yours truly sat down with the Australian star James Obst to talk about poker, tennis and life in this week’s episode of the Hero’s Journey Podcast over at Run It Once.
Sam Greenwood guested on Jennifer Shahade’s ‘The Poker Grid’,. Talking about a king-ten-suited hand, he played against Martin Kabrhel at the Triton Millions.
Haralabos Voulgaris doesn’t play a lot of high stakes poker, but after he popped his head above the parapet during Triton Million London, we added him to our list.
The NBA All-Stars game that saw Team LeBron beat Team Giannis 157 to 155 brought tremendous joy to millions of fans worldwide. Still, there was something about the game that irked, Voulgaris, and that was the $100,000 charity award that went to ‘After School Matters’ leaving those cheering on ‘Chicago Scholars’ with nothing but the insides of a bagel.
Voulgaris felt the NBA organisers could have done a better job, and decided to even things up.
What
did our high roller thoroughbreds get up to during Valentines Day?
Not one
of them mentioned it.
Still,
there were other strains of stampedes to focus on.
Let’s
get to it.
We
start in the online poker realm, with Phil Galfond becoming supine in his
heads-up challenge against VeniVidi1993. The Run It Once founder, called silly
goose on the challenge after 15 sessions, in which time Galfond had lost
€900,240.17, over 9,927 hands.
Galfond
hasn’t given up, yet.
Instead,
the orchestrator of the ‘Phil Galfond Challenge,’ said he needs until March 1st
to clear his mind of ball bearings.
“I was
playing scared. I was expecting to lose. I couldn’t get my brain to work properly.”
Galfond wrote on Twitter.
The
poker community seems divided on the matter with half spewing forth their usual
splenetic, spiteful spittle at Galfond’s outward introspection. Then you have
Galfond’s love club who understands his need to rein his nostrils in for a
moment.
The
funniest response came from Luke Schwartz, roasting Galfond in a rip-roaring
reply, calling Galfond a ‘washed up nice guy.’ He even had a poke at the size
of Galfond’s chest. Eventually, Schwartz owned up to wanting to add extra hype
their will it/won’t it match, and the pair now seems to be in love again.
One
other collector’s item in the world of online poker, this week, was the release
of the online bracelet events for the 51st Annual World Series of Poker (WSOP).
The
WSOP has reserved a wheelbarrow containing 14-bracelets and a bucket load of
cash for the subterranean section of the most iconic poker festival in the
world, and for the first time, there is a $10,000 No-Limit Hold’em bracelet up
for grabs.
Forget
the Golden Globes and the Oscars; the major movie announcement comes from
Triton Towers. Triton Million: A Helping Hand For Charity may be over, but not
forgotten. Earlier this week, the Triton team released the ‘Triton Million
After Movie’, including never before seen footage as the players warmed up for
the event in Las Vegas, as well as coverage of the incredible event itself.
Check
it out right here.
Another
movie in the works that will interest the high stakes poker community covers on
the story of Phil Ivey’s edge-sorting saga. Popcorn and pastries at the ready,
as the Golden Globe winner, Awkwafina, has signed on to play the role of Cheung
Yin “Kelly” Sun, in the tentatively titled ‘The Baccarat Machine.’
The
major live festival this month came from Uruguay. The Enjoy Punte del Este
Casino and Resort lay partypoker MILLIONS branded red carpets over their
pavements for nine days of action.
James
Romero won the 30-entrant $25,000 No-Limit Hold’em for $325,000, and Pablo
Silva won the 465-entrant $10,300 No-Limit Hold’em MILLIONS Main Event for $1m.
Finally,
the gossip has ended, and the truth is out.
Ok,
there was no gossip.
Poker
Central has inked a deal with Global Poker that will see the latter become the
‘Official Online Poker Partner’ at a series of live events including, but not
restricted to, The Super High Roller Bowl, The Poker Masters and the US Poker
Open.
With a
lull in the high stakes action, last week and nobody seemingly interested in
the night of love, discourse flew to the most apparent lands of “how famous is
Phil Hellmuth,” and “What is a dime?”
Mike
‘The Mouth’ Matusow, who is a great friend of Hellmuth, told Twitter that the
gold-rimmed spectacle reached a new height of delusion when he said to him that
he is a ‘B’ list celebrity, and would bet an undisclosed amount to prove it.
Matusow
polled his 116.7k Twitter followers, 11,465 voted, and 21.8% agreed with the
great man. Still, the vast majority felt that Hellmuth was a ‘D’ list celebrity
(32.2%).
What do
you think?
My conversation with @phil_hellmuth last night has hit all time delusional in my opinion. He wants to bet me an undisclosed amount that he is a B list celebrity! Lol! What if any list of celebrity do you rate @phil_hellmuth ?
The
player who lost the flip sent the winner $10k. The winner assumed he would
receive $1k. They asked Timex, and he said a dime is $1k, the second person
said it was $10k, so they agreed that it would be a $5k bet.
What do
you think?
Interviews
A bunch
of high stakes interviews have agitated the social media airwaves this week.
We’ll
start close at home with the latest in our ‘I am High Stakes Poker’ interviews
and a look at the life of Erik Seidel.
Catch
it right here.
Poker
Central’s Sam Simmons joined the PokerNews Facebook Live thingamajig to talk
about all things high stakes poker.
You can watch the varnished version, right here.
Live Q&A with Sam Simmons – President of PokerGO & PokerCentral
Fedor Holz made an appearance on the London Leadership Podcast, and you can watch this razor-sharp mind unfurling, right here.
Triton
Poker Ambassador, Jason Koon, partook in what Remko Rinkema called the best
podcast he’s ever done. If you’ve turned up at the beach, and the tide is in,
then get back in the car, and watch this.
This
week marked the end of Andrew Yang’s presidential run, and that left the poker
community looking for another stand to rest their hats on. Daniel Negreanu has
gotten involved more than most, and this week, he appeared on the ‘Nerds for
Yang’ podcast, and ‘The Vegas Take,’ to talk about the Yang Gang.
Finally,
have we seen the end of Doug Polk’s highly successful poker YouTube channel?
Polk managed to persuade 286k people to subscribe to his poker channel before
broadening his horizons, moving into light entertainment and crypto.
This
week, Polk polled his fans on the future of the poker channel, and the response
was in favour of ditching it.
I am debating what to do with my poker channel.
Option 1 – I start making videos not related to poker on my poker channel
Option 2 – I bring in someone qualified to make poker videos on my channel, ill do videos elsewhere
Derek
Wolters wanted to know if there was any correlation between initial temperament
and eventual success as a poker player. Should players start playing tight or
aggressive?
Alex
Livingston, Dan Smith and Bryn Kenney had their say.
You can
trace the poll via this blue line.
I wonder if there is any correlation between initial temperament and eventual success as a poker player.
Is it better to start your career too tight/nitty and learn to apply aggression? Or be too aggro/spewy and eventually rein it in?
Nick
Schulman exposing Phil Ivey’s love of skittles.
This really stuck with me I was too tilted to post at the time but on my daughter the other day Ivey ordered a beautiful little sushi dinner to Bobby's and just roared thru a bag of skittles at the same time 👀 dont worry bout how I eat. I eat good. I'm good. 👀 I'm good
Still,
I don’t think anyone will ever beat this one.
Rob
Yong is so committed to growing partypoker he didn’t even notice that his house
had flooded.
It’s officially impossible for anyone to be more focussed on their job than me. Was on discord call to @padsPokerSquad discussing @partypoker MTTs & never even noticed house was flooded & I was sitting in 1ft of water 💦 KTF Rob 💪 #focussedpic.twitter.com/4zRgZUapTk
Welcome to another episode of the Pinnacle; a round-up of high stakes poker news that’s nothing like the Roundup used by Monsanto, a company that’s believed to have set aside $10 billion for potential lawsuits from people who think they contracted cancer from the herbicide.
From one alleged killer to a proven killer.
The virus with sediment rising from the Chinese city of Wuhan in the Hubei province has so far afflicted more than 42,000 people, killing over 1,000 in China alone, and it’s for that reason that Triton Poker postponed the Triton Poker Super High Roller Series in Jeju.
There’s still no word on whether Triton’s Jeju event will go ahead, but we do know that there is zero chance of playing any high stakes poker in Macau throughout the next fortnight.
The World Poker Tour (WPT) announced the dates and the venue for the Season 18 Tournament of Champions (TOC). Season 18 Main Event winners and WPT Champions Club members willing to pay the $15,000 buy-in will creak the floorboards of The HyperX Esports Arena Las Vegas at the Luxor Hotel May 31 – June 2, and the decision is an unpopular one throughout the high stakes community.
After scrutinising the dates, players realised the event clashed with the $25,000 buy-in No-Limit Heads-Up contest at the World Series of Poker (WSOP). Dan Smith was one of the first players to question the logic of the WPT to clash with the WSOP on this one. Daniel Negreanu went one step further, suggesting, for him, WSOP’s competitors should not schedule an event during the WSOP, period. WPT commentator Tony Dunst took the alternative view, questioning why the WSOP would plan their $25k event “with the best value and (only?) added-money high stakes MTT of the year.”
TOC only got 76 last year, so losing 8 players would be significant.
People who might want to play both…
Me , Seiver , DNegs , Schulman ,Foxen, Davies, Darren, Ryan Riess, Chino , Zinno, Dom, Noah Schwartz, , Antonio, Daniel Alaei, Olivier, Prahlad , Seidel, Phil Ivey.
Two more snippets of live tournament news for you, and we start with some love for the Super High Roller Bowl Australia winner, Timothy Adams.
Tim is one of the greatest NL players in history. On top of that, the guy is as humble as they come. If I were to pick a poker role-model, he would be at the very top of the list. https://t.co/QdCmuuFlqL
And Daniel Negreanu is preparing to compete in his first live event of 2020. The figurehead of GGPoker is going to make a splash at the US Poker Open and is considering selling action without markup and recording his entire experience on the vlog.
Haven’t played a poker tournament all year. Next one I’m certain it is the US Poker Open @AriaLV@PokerGO Studio Mar 19-31
Will likely sell to those that haven’t got a piece yet (no markup) and possibly vlog the whole thing.
The eyes of the poker community are congealed on the high stakes online action rather than the goings-on in the live arena, and Phil Galfond, in particular.
The Run It Once Poker (RIO Poker) founder has played 15 sessions in Match #1 of ‘The Phil Galfond Challenge,’ and it’s been a disastrous start for the three-time WSOP bracelet winner.
With the poker world scrutinising Galfond’s every movement, the poker Titan has fallen into a hole, €900,240.17 deep in his €100/€200 Pot-Limit Omaha (PLO) heads-up match against VeniVidi1993. Galfond has only won two of the fifteen meetings, and if these results continue, he could lose close to €2.5m.
PokerStars has announced plans to host a High Roller Series in March, but it’s walnuts compared to December’s Brazil nuts. The series runs between 23-30 March, containing 19-events with buy-ins ranging between $215 and $10,300 (30% lighter than Dec). The guarantees have also dropped from $11m to $6m.
Here is the schedule in full.
Interviews
In a rare cross-pollination exercise, partypoker’s Jaime Staples welcomed GGPoker’s Daniel Negreanu onto his podcast for a chinwag about all things poker.
“Is it “more” wrong to bet 100k than a $10 bet with a friend?”
What are your thoughts?
Gambling might be wrong for some. To what degree though? Is it "more" wrong to bet 100k than to bet $5 on the office pool or a $10 bet with a friend? I think it's up to the person to feel if it is right or wrong. I have a disregard for money when I play. https://t.co/EVfAbep969
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.
It’s time for Twitter’s undertow to drag us under the high stakes seas in another episode of The Pinnacle, beginning down under at the Aussie Millions.
Jorryt van Hoof continues to impress in the live tournament scene after taking down the 59-entrant AUD 25,000 Pot-Limit Omaha (PLO) for $322,551. Stephen Chidwick finished fifth, and Farid Jattin sneaked into the money in seventh.
The series didn’t have time to blink before Jattin had turned a seventh into a first after the Colombian conquered the 169-entrant field in the AUD 25,000 NLHE Challenge. A whole mass of high rollers ventured deep in that one including George Wolff (2nd), Steve O’Dwyer (3rd), Sam Greenwood (4th) and Yake Wu (9th).
Toby Lewis earned his second gold ring in three successive years. The man from Southampton in the UK won the Main Event in 2018, and the AUD 50,000 NLHE Challenge in 2019. Last week, Lewis took down the 258-entrant AUD 2,500 NLHE Shot-Clock 6-Max event.
Finally, Michael Addamo showed no mercy in winning the AUD 50,000 No-Limit Hold’em (NLHE) Challenge, defeating a record 82-entrants to bank the $741,752 first prize.
It wasn’t the only honour for Addamo last week. The Australian Poker Hall of Fame (APHoF) handed him the Young Achiever Award. Fellow high stakes battler, Kahle Burns, made it into the APHoF, as did the World Poker Tour (WPT) anchor, Lynn Gilmartin.
Australia continues to be a high stakes paradise with the AUD 100,000 NLHE Challenge scheduled for next week, as well as Poker Central’s Australian Poker Open and Super High Roller Bowl (SHRB) Australia.
Super High Roller Bowl Russia; MILLIONS Super High Roller Series; Yong $100k HU Challenge
After Australia, Cary Katz and his team take the SHRB to Russia, for the wealthiest tournament in Russian poker history.
The $250k buy-in event takes place as part of the inaugural partypoker MILLIONS Super High Roller Series March 6 – 15, 2020, at the Casino Sochi.
The schedule is still under wraps, but we know the plan is for eight events ranging between $25,000 and $250,000, including a $100,000 Short-Deck event hosted by Triton.
One man who will be in Sochi; skis in hand, is Rob Yong. The partypoker associate was in a grand mood last week, promising the winner of partypoker’s $215 buy-in, $1m GTD MILLION, the opportunity to face him online or live in a head-up match with $100k going to his opponent if he or she can beat him.
Triton Poker Super High Roller Series Player of the Year; GPI Short-Lists; I am High Stakes Poker
The next big series on the horizon is the Triton Poker Super High Roller Series Jeju Feb 10-22, and last week Triton released plans to create a Player of the Year (PoY) leaderboard for the forthcoming season.
Triton players earn points during 2020 events in Jeju, Montenegro, London, and a yet unspecified location, with the winner picking up an HKD 2m (USD 257,000) first prize – making it the richest PoY Leaderboard in history.
Finally some innovation in a sea of meaningless POY leaderboards. Well done Triton, great initiative! https://t.co/aRUYyT1em4
The Global Poker Index (GPI) has recognised Triton’s recent emergence as a poker powerhouse with several Triton related personnel and initiatives making the semi-finals of the 2019 Global Poker Awards shortlists.
Paul Phua: Industry Person of the Year Lex Veldhuis: Broadcaster of the Year & Streamer of the Year Luca Vivaldi: Tournament Director of the Year I am High Stakes Poker: Media Content of the Year (Video) Triton Million: A Helping Hand for Charity: Event of the Year
Bits & Bobs
Chance Kornuth leads the final six-players in the WPT Gardens Poker Championship. The final table is on hiatus until March 31, when it resumes at the HyperX Esports Arena in Las Vegas.
Here are the seat draw:
Seat 1: Straton Wilhelm – 435,000 Seat 2: Markus Gonsalves – 2,370,000 Seat 3: Qing Liu – 795,000 Seat 4: Tuan Pham – 2,070,000 Seat 5: Jonathan Cohen – 1,615,000 Seat 6: Chance Kornuth – 2,995,000
There is $554,495 and a seat in the $15,000 WPT Tournament of Champions up top.
Former Triton Champion, Manig Loeser has teamed up with Aylar Lie and the legend, Viktor Blom, to do some promotional work with the real money social poker app, Pokio.
Fans of interviews will love this lot.
Igor Kurganov on ‘I am High Stakes Poker.’
Fedor Holz on the ‘Chasing Poker Greatness’ podcast.
Alex ‘Kanupoker’ Millar on the Joey Ingram Podcast
We’ll leave you with two very different tactics when it comes to improving your high stakes nous.
Right-handed Daniel ‘Jungleman’ Cates is going to try and use his left hand, in a bid to improve mental abilities associated with his right brain.
Ok it’s crazy idea time with Jungleman. I am hoping that by using only my left hand from now on (I’m right handed), I’ll improve some mental abilities associated with right brain besides left side motor skills. Will this work?
When it comes to bankroll management, Leon Tsoukernik does things a tad differently, winning €1.3m on the €1k per spin slot machines of an Austrian casino last week.
And that’s a wrap for this week’s Pinnacle.
What’s orange and sounds like a parrot?
A carrot.
Image from The New York Times
People working for the National Parks and Wildlife Services (NPWS) in Australia are currently dropping them from the sky, feeding wildlife whose food supply has been turned into ash by the raging wildfires.
The last time you saw a carrot in poker, Chris ‘Jesus’ Ferguson, was slicing through them with the ace of spades. That’s before Ferguson became one of the most hated men in poker, of course.
Putting things into perspective, Australia is burning.
The Pinnacle begins in the land that’s proving to be more pavement than porcelain and the Aussie Millions. Melbourne’s annual showcase goes ahead despite the poor air quality – the perfect time to spend the whole month in a casino.
The air quality in Melbourne has reached hazardous levels. Contrasting view from my apt. pic.twitter.com/bKwALPcYYD
The 2020 tournament is still a little wet behind the ears. None of the events that burn a molten hole in your pocket has begun, but a few stars known to flick in the occasional $25k have started well.
You don’t see Dzmitry Urbanovich on the high roller scene that often these days, but the Pole took down Event #2: AUD 2,500 H.O.R.S.E, beating 42-entrants to win the AUD 28,755 first prize.
Toby Lewis rarely plays live events, but when he does, he kills it, especially in Melbourne. In 2018, Lewis wafted through 800-entrants on his way to a sweet-smelling $1,178,513 win in the Main Event, and last year he was the star of the show, winning the AUD 50,000 Challenge, and finishing runner-up in the AUD 25,000 Challenge, for a combined haul of $1m. Lewis made it three wins in three-years after taking down the 258-entrant Event #8: AUD 2,500 No-Limit Hold’em (NLHE) Shot-Clock event for $102,182.
Moving from Melbourne to Sydney, and Jonathan Karamilikis won the AUD 20,000 NLHE High Roller at the World Series of Poker Circuit (WSOPC) in the Star Casino Sydney. Karamalikis earned $258,350 for the win, and followed it up with a 3rd in Event #1: AUD 1,200 NLHE at the Aussie Millions.
One player who found the key to unlocking his form in the past 12-months is Kahle Burns. The 2019 Global Poker Index (GPI) Australian Player of the Year (PoY) is offering you a 2-hour group coaching session if you donate $500 to help combat the Australian wildfires.
Sticking with Burns, and what an incredible festival the partypoker MILLIONS UK turned out to be for the man who came so close to capturing the 2019 GPI PoY title.
The Australian star won the 37-entrant $25,500 NLHE Super High Roller for $350,000, before finishing runner-up to Joao Vieira in the $10,300 NLHE High Roller for $165,000.
Here are the ITM results from both events.
$25k ITM Finishes
Kahle Burns – $350,000
Igor Kurganov – $222,250
Ben Heath – $150,000
Preben Stokkan – $100,000
Steve O’Dwyer – $75,000
$10k Final Table Results
Joao Vieira – $250,000
Kahle Burns – $165,000
Alex Foxen – $115,000
Joni Jouhkimainen – $90,000
Joao Simao – $70,000
Igor Kurganov – $55,000
Michael Sklenička – $45,000
Fahad Althani – $35,000
The $10,300, $5M GTD Main Event attracted 530-runners, clearing the guarantee, and Sweden’s Anton Suarez was the first to the treasure chest containing $1m. High Rollers who made a deep run include Patrick Leonard (17th), Sam Grafton (31st) Niall Farrell (38th) and Adrian Mateos (40th).
During the MILLIONS UK festivities, Rob Yong announced a MILLIONS Cyprus sometime in May 2020 with a $5k, $5m GTD Main Event, and is also proposing a MILLIONS Invitational London. The £5.3k event would be a qualifier only event, freezeout, no late registration, and seven qualifiers per table, with one invited amateur VIP guest. If the game gets the green light, it will take place ahead of Triton London in August.
Yong also found the time to appear in a live high stakes cash game. ‘Tricket’s Game’ featured on the MILLIONS UK livestream schedule, and the hairdryer, Luke Schwartz, ended the night as the big winner, turning £25k into £200k competing against the likes of Yong, Sam Trickett and Leon Tsoukernik.
WPT Gardens Festival Update
Switching continents, like mosquitoes, switch ankles, and the World Poker Tour (WPT) ensured there was high roller action on the North American menu despite the exodus to Australasia and Europe.
Jim Collopy defeated 14-entries to win the $245,000 first prize in a $25,000 NLHE High Roller, and Ali Imsirovic took the other one down, although details on entrants and prize money are proving to be elusive.
Darren Elias eats $25k WPT High Rollers for breakfast (maybe he was fasting last week), and recently the WPT’s Executive Tour Director, Matt Savage, named Elias as the WPT Player of the Decade.
Check out these stats.
$3,869,957 in prize money.
4 x titles.
5 x 3rd place finishes.
38 cashes.
12 final tables.
2 WPT Tournament of Champions final tables.
Rounding out the Top 10.
Anthony Zinno
Mohsin Charania
Eric Afriat
Noah Schwartz
Sam Panzica
Marvin Rettenmaier
Chino Rheem
Darryll Fish
Alex Foxen/Ryan Tosoc
WSOP Championship Events
The high rollers spoke, and the World Series of Poker (WSOP) listened and acted.
The schedule for the $10,000 Championships is out, and there will be a unique leaderboard in situ for the first time. The 2020 series will boast 16 Championship events, with 14 of them freezeout (The Short-Deck and No-Limit 2-7 Lowball Draw have a re-entry rule). There is a $10,000 NLHE Online Championship event for the first time, and the $10,000 Heads-Up Championship goes the way of the Berlin Wall (the WSOP confirm there will be a heads-up event, but at a lower pay scale).
Daniel Negreanu is a fan.
Fantastic list of championship events. Great job WSOP!
Most importantly, of the 16, only two (Short deck and 2-7 NLHSD) are reentry. Even better, they are limited to just ONE reentry.
Maybe it’s the post-Xmas spirit, but nobody has been slinging used condoms in poker’s Twitterverse this week. So, we have no ‘Beef’ to bring you, but we do have a debate.
Rob Yong wants to know if you run it once or twice?
The poll attracted 4,663 votes, with 57.9% voting to run it once. Here is what some of the stars had to say.
I prefer to run it once on television cuz: more pain. More pain makes for a better show. But in real life, (especially high stakes) I don’t mind to run it twice. Reduces variance.
Fedor Holz shares the books that have made a difference in his life including ‘Freedom From The Known,’ by Jiddu Krishnamurti, ‘Being Aware of Being Aware’ by Rupert Spira, and Yuval Noah Harari’s entire back catalogue.
We’ll have to wait and see whether Bill Perkins’ new book ‘Die With Zero’ ends up on Holz’s bookcase, but in the meantime, the Triton Million final tablist is turning his dream of creating a chess tournament into a reality. Perkins has teamed up with Chess.com to put on a match during the Skylar Chess Festival in Houston. The event takes place April-May 2020, and Perkins has stumped up $150,000 in prize money.
And just incase you feel like grumbling over the quality of your sushi, today.
I agree 100% with Daniel. I think I'm over the top on the subject because when I came out of that cancer hospital when I was 27, the miraculous recovery from 3 months to live to cancer free, made me realize how valuable our time is. https://t.co/tjgc11LA9A
It’s time to enter the gravity of high stakes poker players tweets. We’ll extract the nuggets that smell like a sharpie and discard those that sniff like sulfur, and we begin in a place that has odours both good and bad – the live poker room.
Last week, Poker Central, Sydney’s Star Casino, and the World Poker Tour (WPT) inked a deal that sees the Australian Poker Open (APO) and Super High Roller Bowl (SHRB) Australia emerge from the vernix.
The inaugural APO consists of seven events ranging from $10,000 to $100,000. The SHRB retains the $250,000 price tag it courted during its holiday in the Bahamas.
It’s a smart move by all concerned and provides a much-needed shot in the arm after PokerStars killed its Caribbean Adventure.
You can check out the full details in our article, right here.
In other live poker-related news, our friends at Triton have released Episode #6 of the No-Limit Hold’em Cash Game from The Triton Super High Roller Series in Montenegro.
And there is another episode of ‘I Am High Stakes Poker’ doing the rounds, this time with the SHRB Bahamas winner, Daniel Dvoress, under the glare of the police helicopter spotlight.
The Debate: Does Playing Online Poker Hurt Your Live Game? Are Training Videos Beneficial?
Two debate worthy tweets caught my eye this week, and the first came from the mind of Lauren Roberts.
As a female high stakes poker player, Roberts is a rare breed, and a fortnight ago, she competed at the partypoker MILLIONS World in the Bahamas. Judging by her twitter feed, things went as well as trying to stroke a chained and starving bear, and she posed this question as a potential source of what she described as ‘not my best showing.’
For practice/analysis, I’ve played online constantly in the last few years and I believe it’s been hugely valuable (& perfect for introverted-me). Recently I’ve noticed, my live game has suffered, feels like I’m going backwards. Working to fix, anyone else experience this???
Roberts received a well of information resulting in the realisation that too much online poker wasn’t the cause of her demise – an unhealthy mindset was.
Ty for all of the feedback Re: online/live. I took an honest look, think it’s my mindset-I’m allowing the huge respect I have for some of my opponents to mess w my mojo. Played worse than I did 5 years ago, did stupid shit. 🤮 So much more info to process live also. Next!
What’s your view? Can too much online poker have a detrimental effect on your live game and vice versa?
Patrick Leonard on The Efficacy of Training Videos
My favourite thread of the week came from Patrick Leonard. The PocketFives World #3, believes that ‘most’ players that watch online poker training videos become worse players. He suggests that ‘poor imitation of somebody else’s strategy is usually worse than their own while not optimal but clear strategy performed pretty well.’
Most players after watching most poker training videos become worse players. Poor imitation of somebody else’s strategy is usually worse than their own whilst not optimal but clear strategy performed pretty well. https://t.co/bDd8IFDIjc
Dominik Nitsche agreed with Leonard’s statement, calling ‘live session videos’ ‘entertainment, not studying.’ Nitsche also claimed that it’s ‘easy’ to watch a video while grinding and call it studying.
“Doing the actual hard work isn’t anywhere as easy or fun. People aren’t looking for poker training as much as they’re looking for something that makes them feel better.” – Dominik Nitsche.
Chris Kruk then waded in with an interesting viewpoint.
“The idea that you’d study something from other humans nowadays makes me lol. Why would you ever ask another human how to play an NL spot when you can ask a comp?”
And the response from Nitsche, who owns the poker training app DTO Poker.
“Chris, do you want to take my spot as DTOPoker ambassador? That’s literally my sales speech.”
What about you?
Do you feel poker training videos can make you a worse player?
Outside of Poker
Not a week goes by that Fedor Holz doesn’t get coverage in ‘The Pinnacle’. It’s rarely poker-related, but at least the lad keeps our ‘Outside of Poker’ segment running.
Last week, Holz caught up with Watford and Austrian defender, Sebastian Prödl, for a spot of selfie-snapping, as well as opening a fashion lab in Vienna called 360 Fashion Lab.
One of the most conscious football players I know, really smart and driven and am glad to have met him 🙏 Sebastian Prödl pic.twitter.com/5dPBSfyz05
Two of the best poker players on the planet became benevolent baristas delivering two cups of excellence.
Jason Koon penned a blog post called “It’s the same game, but it isn’t,” sharing his in-hand thought-process. The purpose of the post was to defend his fellow pros from the criticism that high stakes poker players are robotic and boring to watch.
Koon’s partypoker partner, Patrick Leonard, was also in a giving mood last week.
Check it out.
I’m planning on doing a leaderboard promotion on party next year where I put the $ up. I want it to be competitive so that the best players do it, and will be decent $ incentive, but I don’t want it to be driven by “most cashes”or by results in super high buy ins.Any suggestions?
Leonard’s early thoughts on a Pads style leaderboard include.
1. Planning to work with players to help popularise them, create brands, hype and attention.
2. He wants to create something that reminds people that the games are still beatable
3. He wants to help create new heroes for up and coming players.
4. A team concept during significant festivals.
What would your suggestions be?
The Quote(s) of the Week
I love the quote mentioned above by Dominik Nitsche.
“Doing the actual hard work isn’t anywhere as easy or fun. People aren’t looking for poker training as much as they’re looking for something that makes them feel better.” – Dominik Nitsche
And here’s a throwback from Phil Hellmuth and Jennifer Tilly.
The
heads of Sam Soverel and Daniel Dvoress sleep soundly on plush pillows after
the pair earned a couple of rubies at the Poker Masters and Super High Roller
Bowl (SHRB) respectively.
We
start in Las Vegas and the 2019 Poker Masters.
Sam
Soverel entered the competition as the winner of Poker Central’s previous
event: The British Poker Open (BPO), while also holding the title of 2018 Poker
Central Player of the Year (POY). After sending all and sundry to the Poker
Masters funeral pyre, Soverel is odds-on to defend that POY title.
Long
before Soverel stood in the Aria doorway, flexing his muscles, Chance Kornuth
looked the likeliest of winners. Kornuth had the frustration of finishing
runner-up in Events #1, #2 and #6 to take the lead in the championship table
before Soverel cackled into control winning Event #7.
Soverel
would finish fourth in Events #8 & 9 (both $25k NLHE events), before going
on to secure victory by winning Event #10: $50,000 NLHE. When the dust had
settled in the aftermath of Soverel’s EMP style winning performance he had
banked $1.4m in prize money, prompting writers of the ilk of Remko Rinkema to
call him ‘The Best No-Limit Hold’em Tournament Player in the World.”
After
the Poker Masters, high rollers had a choice – go home and wrap some presents,
or play some more poker. Daniel Dvoress was amongst those that couldn’t resist
the temptation. The Canadian ended up in the Bahamas for the $250,000 buy-in
SHRB (a Poker Central and partypoker partnership), and won his first major
title, beating 51-entrants, and collecting $4m in a performance where
‘everything came together.’
In
other live poker-related news, our good friends at Triton have released Part II
of the Triton Montenegro Cash Game, and Tom Dwan’s “I am High Stakes
Poker” episode.
Online Poker: Igor Kurganov Leaves
PokerStars; High Roller Series Scheduled
“Mirror,
mirror, on the wall, who is the most beautiful PokerStars ambassador of them
all?”
“Not
Igor Kurganov or Liv Boeree.”
Last
week, PokerStars’ Posh & Becks departed for pastures new. Boeree joined
PokerStars in 2010, and Kurganov followed in 2017.
Kurganov’s
first year at Stars was his best in recent years winning the $10,000 Tag Team
title at the WSOP (with Boeree) as well as winning €25,000 and €50,000 games in
the now-defunct PokerStars Championships.
Liv and I are splitting up… It’s been some fun couple of years and I’m thankful for the experience, the great support to https://t.co/euvfWZIdSN and the people I’ve worked with. Sorry, splitting up with Pokerstars, not Liv, but all the above is true for both!
As well
as announcing ambassadorial departures, PokerStars also announced plans to host
another High Roller tournament series Dec 1 – 9. The online giant has
guaranteed $11m in prize money throughout 27 events. The buy-ins range between
$530 and $10,300, with at least one game daily falling between the $5,200 &
$10,300 range.
Here are the $10k+ events.
Dec 1 – $10,300 NLHE 8-Max, $1m GTD
Dec 3 – $10,300 NLHE 8-Max, $1m GTD
Dec 5 – $10,300 NLHE 8-Max PKO, $1m GTD
Dec 8 – $10,300 PLO 6-Max, $500k GTD
The Beef: Doug Polk v Daniel Negreanu on
the WSOP POY Race
You
couldn’t listen to a poker podcast without stumbling across the voice of Daniel
Ngreanu this past week. Kid Poker hit the podcast airwaves en masse to defend
his honour after Doug Polk intimated that perhaps Negreanu did know that he had
been incorrectly awarded too many Player of the Year points in Las Vegas this
summer.
Negreanu
stuck with a consistent line that he knew nothing about the error. Mike Matusow
leapt to the defence of Negreanu, but when Polk is in the line of fire, the
Mouth likes to stick his fangs in him.
I already knew you were a scumbag lowlife,but you should never be allowed to play poker in a poker room again or create lying bullshit poker content just to make yourself look good! #scumbagDoughttps://t.co/FBaaHHBSIx
Life Outside of Poker: Bill Perkins’ Death
Date; Leonard’s Musical Tour
Bill
Perkins is expecting to die in 13,230 days. We know this because Perkins likes
to keep an ‘estimated death date countdown’ on his phone ‘to keep a sense of
urgency in my life and remind me of the gifts I get to enjoy and that they
don’t last forever.
I keep my estimated death date widget counting down on my phone to keep a sense of urgency in my life and remind me of the gifts I get to enjoy do not last forever. #DieWithZeropic.twitter.com/5oV2d9SJeY
Patrick
Leonard and his buddies followed the British rap star, Dave, on every stop of
his North American tour last week. Leonard and his tribe followed the
Psychodrama tour throughout the USA and Canada, documenting the trip on Twitter,
including an interested ten stop pizza tour of the Big Apple.
Over the next 2 weeks I’m going to follow @Santandave1 around North America on tour. Here is the schedule, I’ll document every trip on this “thread” the tour goes New York, Toronto, Chicago, Boston,Washington, LA, San Fran and Vancouver. Let’s fucking go! #pyschodramapic.twitter.com/N9xbNDtRBN
We
leave you with the quote of the week, courtesy of Sam Greenwood, who chimed in
on the Daniel Negreanu WSOP POY debate with this piece of comedic genius.
Found a magic lamp and feel dumb that I wasted my wish on "make me care about the WSOP poy race"
This week’s Pinnacle is more Tolstoy than Basho, so it’s time to climb out of bed, pull those leggings on, and pour a cup of dandelion detox tea.
We begin in the world of live poker, and a selection of our finest high rollers are in Rozvadov for the World Series of Poker Europe (WSOPE) before returning to Las Vegas for the Poker Masters.
Kahle Burns has been the star of the show. If he were a handwriting implement, he would be a fancy fountain pen. The Australian snagged two bracelets to maintain the incredible run of recent form.
Burns was the only person from 83 left with a smirk on his face at the end of the €25,500 No-Limit Hold’em Platinum High Roller. Burns defeated Sam Trickett, heads-up, to win the bracelet.
Burns second bracelet came in Event #13: €2,500 Short-Deck No-Limit Hold’em. The boy wonder beat 179-entrants, including the former Triton Poker Champion, Manig Loeser, heads-up.
Besim Hot took down Event #10: €25,500 Mixed Game Championship. The man from Switzerland proved to be an abomination to the 45-entrants who created a €1m prizepool, including preventing Phil Hellmuth from collecting a record 16th bracelet.
Longevity is everything in poker, no matter what their journeys have been or how the tournaments were etc to see Hellmuth and Ivey both heads up simultaneously in big events at WSOPE is amazing to see.
Phil Ivey finished runner-up in two events (both non-bracelet events). We covered his runner-up finish to Leon Tsoukernik in a €100k Short-Deck No-Limit Hold’em event, in last week’s Pinnacle. A few days later, he finished in the same position in the €50k version losing to Jonathan Depa.
ITM Results
Jonathan Depa – €641,250
Phil Ivey – €384,750
Cary Katz – €256,500
Malaysia has their first WSOP bracelet winner. Chin Wei Lim continued his impressive run of form to conquer the 72-entrant field in the €100,000 No-Limit Hold’em Diamond High Roller a few hop, skips and jumps after finishing runner-up to James Chen in the €250,000. All told, Lim won €4m gross during his time at the WSOPE.
At the time of writing, two events are remaining in the WSOPE.
Event #14: €10,350 Main Event
Event #15: €550 Colossus
Nineteen players remain in the Main Event, and none of the Player of the Year (POY) front-runners has stacks. Dario Sammartino leads a pack that includes Anthony Zinno.
The action in the Colossus has only just begun, and Daniel Negreanu, Robert Campbell, and Shaun Deeb can still lock-up the POY title.
POY Race
Daniel Negreanu – 3,971.54
Robert Campbell – 3,857,97
Shaun Deeb – 3,710.64
At the end of the WSOPE, the high roller fraternity will leave be mere silhouettes to Rozvadovians as they venture to Las Vegas for the Poker Masters. Here is the defending champion Ali Imsirovic giving some advice on how to take your opponents down to Zenica town.
Online Poker: The Poker World Adopts Andrew Yang; Leonard & Drinan Bag Wins, Sam Greenwood All Excited About GG.
U.S. Presidential Candidate, Andrew Yang, has the poker community, and their donation dollars on his side, after tweeting his support for a legalised and fully regulated online poker framework in the land of stars and the stripes.
Online poker is legal in 4 states. The state-by-state rules are variable and push many players to offshore sites. We should clarify the rules and make it legal in all 50 states. US players and companies would benefit and new tax revenues could be used to mitigate addiction.
Connor ‘blanconegro’ Drinan is an American who would be delighted to grind at home should Yang defy the odds and become the next President. Drinan plays out of Mexico, and this weekend he took down the $2,100 Sunday High Roller on PokerStars for $38,867.
Niklas ‘Lena900’ Astedt finished runner-up in the $109 PokerStars Sunday Million for $82,592, Patrick Leonard won a $2k on partypoker for $80,000, and GGPoker is tickling Sam Greenwood’s belly with some juicy $25ks.
These GG 25ks are the sickest gambling i've ever been a part of; I'm a bundle of nerves, a shell of my self. Time to unwind by going online to see the most successful people in Hollywood trash Coppola and Scorsese for not kowtowing to Disney/Marvel.
The Debate: Short-Deck Tournaments; Alien Abductions; When to Quit
There was a time in the not too distant past that sticking Rob Yong in a multi-table tournament (MTT) was akin to muzzling a pit bull.
Things have changed.
The Dusk till Dawn (DTD) owner, finished sixth in a €25,500 No-Limit Hold’em Short-Deck event at the WSOPE for his first live tournament cash since 2015, and the game had a profound effect on him.
After playing Shortdeck at @WSOP Europe I never want to play normal NLH MTTs again – can limp, see flops, pre flop edges lower, 50% to hit st8 draw, its almost exclusive to High Roller @tritonpoker events at the moment, who has played Shortdeck?
Victoria Coren Mitchell wanted to know why the aliens didn’t put his clothes back on and wondered if Greys are visiting earth to merely, ‘collect clothes?’
Negreanu suggested it would be ‘arrogant’ to think that we are the only planet in the universe that has created life, and believes it’s ‘blatantly obvious,’ that aliens exist, and have ‘visited us repeatedly for thousands of years.’
Max Silver asked for evidence of the ‘blatantly obvious’.
Negreanu said, “I wouldn’t even know where to start, honestly.”
Darts star Wayne Mardle asked for just one blatantly obvious fact.
And then nothing.
Aliens must have abducted Daniel Negreanu midway through the debate.
What do you think?
Do aliens exist, and have they visited our planet for the past thousand years?
When to Quit Poker?
Patrick Leonard’s Twitter feed was on fire this week, likely because he was grinding alone in the bitB Staking Hub.
Here’s one of his gems.
Virtually nobody ever quits poker when on an upswing or even small breakeven stretch. 99.9% of previous winning players ends up being -ev in the games they play. Self reflection is so tough in a game where variance is so severe. How do you know when to move down/quit?
Leonard goes on to suggest that it’s so challenging to move down in stakes because ‘everybody’ believes they are better than they are, and they know that variance is ‘insane.’
The conversation then turned to the importance of coaching and how most people ask for coaching when they lack confidence or are losing. Instead, Leonard posits that it’s more valuable to get coaching when you’re winning and moving up stakes so you can find out how solid your game actually is.
“Variance is sometimes more dangerous when you’re winning than when you’re losing.” – Patrick Leonard.
It’s a fabulous thread, so make sure you head down the rabbit hole.
Life Outside of Poker: Lew and Lin Have a Baby; Alvarado & Voulgaris Want a Time Machine
Switching to life outside of poker and Triton commentators, past and present, Randy Lew and Celina Lin have had a baby.
JC Alvarado is considering swapping out his smartphone for an old flip phone so that he can get off the grid.
I considered this last year, bought an iphone, and recently got robbed. Now seems like a good time to try. Has anyone tried this? Any tips? I'm mostly worried about losing uber and spotify, I think I can live without the rest. https://t.co/BZZCXHJEGC
The Business: Kalas Joins Upswing; Holz on Mobility
On the business side of things, Doug Polk has hired the former Triton commentator, and high stakes cash game player, Kane Kalas to create a Short-Deck tutorial for Upswing Poker {Rob Yong take note}.
Seems like a good time to announce that @KaneKalas has been working on a Short Deck Mastery Course for @UpswingPoker.
The course opens on Monday next week and includes 25+ hours of content. In-depth preflop charts for 50 Ante, 100 Ante, and heads up play are in there as well. https://t.co/7fNb8DyZcP
Benjamin Pollak is the man running the poll this week. The French star wanted to know what the most overused word was in poker. Pollak chose ‘standard’, as his main bugbear.
For you which word is overuse in Poker community ?
« standard »
can’t deal w this anymore and feel people try to hide themself behind it… showing a lack of deep thinking or creativity. There is always something to say, or improve on any kind of situation. #thinkdifferent 🍏
Bruno Fitoussi agreed with Pollak that ‘Standard’ is the most overused.
What about you?
What’s the most overused word in poker?
The Quote(s) of the Week
This week we have three quotes of the week and a tome.
It seems the person who drugged Daniel Negreanu’s friend and left him naked in the desert, also got to Doug Polk’s tea this week.
One of the best parts of poker is the fine line you have to walk between believing in yourself and being overly critical. Strive for perfection in your study, but when playing have the confidence to make the play you think is right.
And Patrick Leonard created this epic thread on staking.
(1/x) A thread on why poker staking has been unsuccessful for the last 10+ years and why under its current model it will never be an option as a business. I spoke about it with @jaimestaples on his podcast and had people message for more info. Feel free to AMA at end of thread
If your quiver has the words “I am High Stakes Poker’ sewn into the fabric with shark’s gut strings, then you are currently nocking your arrows, and firing into the fields of the World Series of Poker Europe (WSOPE).
We have three events to catch up on, and we’ll begin with the most expensive buy-in of the lot.
James Chen has taken down the 30-entrant €250,000 No-Limit Hold’em event. In doing so he earned €2,844,215, his first gold bracelet, and his most significant score to date moving him to the top of the Taiwanese All-Time Money list.
Dominik Nitsche is a man who rarely slips out of emotions’ stirrups, but I’m sure there will be a few mallets to the inside of his head as he remembers leading the final seven players with more than double his nearest rival’s chips only to exit first.
Leon Tsoukernik Wins The €100,000 No-Limit Hold’em Short-Deck.
Cascading down the numerical slide to the €100,000 No-Limit Hold’em Short-Deck event, and WSOPE host, Leon Tsoukernik, used his unique brand of marksmanship to send 29-entrants (inc. 15 re-entries) to sleep. Tsoukernik defeated Phil Ivey, heads-up, to win the €1,102,000 first prize. Two more non-professionals rounded out the in the money (ITM) finishes, with Paul Phua finishing third, and Cary Katz sneaking into the money for the second successive tournament.
111-entrants sold goats, chickens and pigs to find the €25,500 to compete in this one, with Tooran defeating Thai Ha, heads-up, to win the title and career-high score of €457,964.
Top non-pros Orpen Kisacikoglu, and Rob Yong made the final table, as did the WSOP Main Event runner-up, Dario Sammartino. Phil Ivey enjoyed another deep run, finishing in ninth.
Final Table Results
1. Siamak Tooran – €740,996
2. Thia Ha – €457,964
3. Orpen Kisacikoglu – €323,553
4. Netanel Amedi – €230,807
5. Besim Hot – €166,258
6. Rob Yong – €120,946
7. Jonathan Depa – €88,861
8. Dario Sammartino – €88,861
The Debate: Dan Shak v WSOPE
Sticking with the WSOP theme, and Dan Shak came up against a divot that demanded his attention this week.
Shak decided to go to print after the €2,500 8-Game Mix 6-Handed only managed to persuade 71-entrants to part with their money.
Does anyone else think that @WSOP is tarnishing the brand by having these Wsop Europe bracelet events like the 2500 8 game that would get 500 in vegas giving away one in a 50 person so far event with huge influence on POY as well ?
A few people agreed with Shak until the man who finished third in the 8-Game event chimed in.
Bottom line: as long as the @WSOP is giving away bracelets in Europe, I’ll man up and show up and play. Tarnishing the brand or growing poker? Or perhaps it’s some of both. By the way, if these are so easy to win, fly over here and win one… #POSITIVITY
Shak replied by telling Hellmuth to ‘get real,’ and questioned whether ‘his ego was so big that it had made him blind?’
Hellmuth didn’t respond, but you can.
Do you think hosting a 71-entrant bracelet event in Rozvadov is tarnishing the WSOP brand?
The Beef: Negreanu v Unlimited Re-Entries; Deeb v Kenney
During Shak’s mini spat with Hellmuth over the integrity of the WSOPE, the hedge fund manager referred to Daniel Negreanu as also ‘realising that there needs to be changes.’
Those ‘changes’ that Shak refers to stem from this Negreanu tweet.
Considering running a poker tournament series with the following highlights:
-One event a day -No late registration (unless you are in another event) -No reentry -NLH and other formats -Guarantees on all events -Player of the Series award
Reading through the replies, it seems there is only one issue – late registration. The only problem is those asking for a late registration rule don’t seem to have a response when Negreanu says, “Nah, fuck em, turn up on time.”
What do you think?
Should prestigious events return to ‘old school’ rules?
Shaun Deeb v Bryn Kenney
Bryn Kenney makes it into ‘The Beef’ for the second successive week. Last week, the All-Time Money List leader got involved in a Scrooge-like brouhaha with Mike ‘Timex’ McDonald. This week, Kenney is trading cyber blows with Shaun Deeb.
It all began with an appearance on the Joey Ingram show, where Kenney opened up about his finances, stating that he started the year $3.3m in makeup with $1m on the side.
Then the Triton Million came on the horizon, and Kenney believed in his marrow that he would win the event. He was so confident that he put half of his net worth on the line, and made a series of significant side bets. After Ingram began laughing and said that it was a ‘degen thing to do,’ Kenney responded – “don’t try this at home.”
Then Shaun Deeb entered from stage left with this tweet.
This clip is just sad. It’s scary he says he had half his bankroll on his piece of the tourney and then made a ton of massive side bets which I’m guessing equaled or were greater than the amount he had of himself so if he lost and got scooped on bets he couldn’t pay. #freerollhttps://t.co/qbGr6ux5So
If you ever talk to Kenney, he likes to tell you his lone wolf story. However, judging by the wave after wave of support he received from his peers, he’s not as alone as he may think.
Here is an example of the support that went Kenney’s way after Deeb’s tweet.
We shame and ridicule people who do not pay their debts, but rarely do we appreciate when people pay when it's hard. The ones who do so for the sake of honor itself at their own expense… @BrynKenney is a prime example and I'd like others to be brought to light
There were also supportive responses from David Peters, Dan Smith, Timothy Adams, Adrian Mateos, Chris Kruk, Ali Imsirovic and Jason Koon.
And it seems the debate raged on behind the scenes.
Shocking bryn messages me threatens to fight me next time he sees me and then challenges me to hu 2k4k 8g I accept and ask if I should fly to Vegas right after wsope shocking he then backs down #freeroll
The quote of the week comes from an old interview between Joey Ingram and Jean-Robert Bellande, where Bellande talks about a player who died in the middle of the hand. The deceased had the best hand, and after the paramedics had removed the corpse, a conversation ensued as to what to do with the money, with one of the plyers suggesting – “The guy’s dead, the hand’s dead.”
Check it out.
Bobby also told me this story straight, kinda terrible but at same time epitomises poker players total dedication & obsession with the game regardless of what else is going on in the world 🌍 check out full @BrokeLivingJRB podcast on @Joeingram1 you tube pic.twitter.com/w2fyPK7eRS
