Category: The Virtual Rail

A month after GGPoker and the World Series of Poker (WSOP) announced their partnership through the $100m GTD WSOP Super Circuit Online Series, the gaff has turned out to be the home of high stakes multi-table tournament (MTT) action.

The series has held two $10,000 and four $5,000 events in the past three days, all No Limit Hold’em contests, and we’ve weaved together the results, below.

We’ll start with the 2 x $10,000 events, and Artur Martirosian twisted his roots deep in both games. The Russian Populas Alba took down a 69-entrant $10,000 event, beating ’20BigWhale20’ in heads-up action to secure the $184,065.16 first prize.

Martirosian also finished 3/54 in the second $10,000 event earning another $80,058.79, and finished 4/64 in a $5,000 event, so, all-in-all more beauty than ugliness for the man who won $1.28m gross profit during the Poker Masters Online Series.

Joao Vieira continues to impress in the precision perfect high stakes poker parties taking down the 54-entrant $10,000 event. The Portuguese star defeated Laurynas Levinskas in heads-up action to lock up the $181,463.63 first prize.

On the $5,000 front, there were wins for Jake Schindler, ‘AndyatTheBike’, Kristen Bicknell and Bot Marley. All four of these ‘Buffalo Soldiers’ found themselves repeatedly ‘Jammin’ in their ‘One Love.’

See what I did there.

Here are the results in full.

$10,000 WSOPC High Roller

69-entrants

Results

  1. Artur Martirosian – $184,065.16
  2. 20BigWhale20 – $123,022.35
  3. Pascal Lefrancois – $96,188.85
  4. Adrian Mateos – $75,208.23
  5. Mikita Badziakouski – $58,803.89
  6. Daniel Dvoress – $45,977.63
  7. TheProfessional – $35,949.04
  8. Jake Schindler – $28,107.85
  9. Joao Vieira – $21,977

$10,000 WSOPC High Roller

54-entrants

Results

  1. Joao Vieira – $181,463.63
  2. Laurynas Levinskas – $110,900.45
  3. Artur Martirosian – $80,058.79
  4. Michael Addamo – $57,794.25
  5. Nick Petrangelo – $41,721.56
  6. Timothy Adams – $30,118.70
  7. Pascal Hartmann – $21,742.62

$5,000 WSOPC Series High Roller

64-entrants

Results

  1. Jake Schindler – $94,460.16
  2. Adrian Mateos – $59,445.46
  3. Joao Vieira – $44,973.48
  4. Artur Martirosian – $34,024.68
  5. Michael Addamo – $25,741.38
  6. Sergi Reixach – $19,474.63
  7. Kings#1 – $14,733.54
  8. Alex Foxen – $11,146.67

$5,000 WSOPC Series High Roller

102-entrants

Results

  1. AndyAtTheBike – $110,964.44
  2. Ali Imsirovic – $83,552.84
  3. Juan Pardo Dominguez – $62,912.80
  4. Matthias Eibinger – $47,371.45
  5. BeautyRat – $35,669.27
  6. Dnegking – $26,857.86
  7. Steve O’Dwyer – $20,223.17
  8. Vicent Bosca Ramon – $15,227.44
  9. Alexandros Kolonias – $13,431.45

$5,000 WSOPC Series High Roller

Results

36-entrants

  1. Kristen Bicknell – $72,945.84
  2. Mikita Badziakouski – $43,100.17
  3. Jake Schindler – $27,129.15
  4. BIGfckinNIT – $17,076.28
  5. Andras Nemeth – $10,748.56

$5,000 WSOPC Series High Roller

63-entrants

Results

  1. Bot Marley – $92,984.22
  2. Ali Imsirovic – $58,516.63
  3. George Wolff – $44,270.77
  4. Adrian Mateos – $33,493.04
  5. 20BigWhale20 – $25,339.17
  6. Kristen Bicknell – $19,170.34
  7. AngelKK – $14,503.33
  8. Alexandros Kolonias – $10,972.50

With Phil Galfond’s incredible comeback against VeniVidi1993 as fresh as a laceration, the Run It Once founder has decided his best course of action in the Galfond Challenge is to plough ahead. 

Bill Perkins became the second player to grapple with Galfond. It’s a match that could end up expensive for the Maryland native if Perkins has the yachts of the Poker Gods moored in his harbour. 

The plan is to play 50k hands or stop at a $400,000 loss, competing in a heads-up game of $100/$200 Pot-Limit Omaha (PLO). The coupling has played 1,013 hands, with Galfond finished $90,144.05 in the black. Given Perkins’ business dealings, the schedule is murky on this one, but we know that should Galfond lose, Perkins will pick up €1m side bet. Galfond nets €250,000 should he go on and win. 

The contests against VeniVidi1993 and Bill Perkins could not have been more different. The VeniVidi1993 match was all business, whereas, the opening gambit against Perkins has been more relaxed with Galfond live streaming the action, commenting on his plays, and interacting with Perkins. The other difference is Galfond is getting changed in the ‘Away’ dressing room with the series taking place on partypoker. 

It will be interesting to see if the feelgood vibe remains should Perkins find a way to drive Galfond closer to that €1m cliff face.

Here is Galfond winning an $81,489 pot with set-over-set.

Galfond Takes an Early Lead Against ‘ActionFreak’

With Perkins placing Galfond ‘on hold,’ the three-time World Series of Poker (WSOP) bracelet winner has turned his attention to the person many believe will be his toughest competitor, ‘ActionFreak.’

He’s had a great start.

The pair will compete through 15,000 hands of €150/€300 Pot-Limit Omaha (PLO) with an even €150,000 side bet going to the winner, and after three days and 1,861 hands, Galfond holds a +€303,065.10 lead. 

Day 1 only lasted 145-hands before gremlins cut the match short with ActionFreak €11.1k in the black. Day 2 saw Galfond reach a high of €202,000 in profits before ActionFreak switched gears to put Galfond in the red. Galfond recovered to finish the day with a €7,529.49 profit through 1,107 hands. 

Day 3 turned into a drowning.

Everything went right for Galfond who turned an 844-hand session into a €310,594.59 win, a record haul for Galfond since his challenge series began. 

Summary

Hands Played – 1,861

Galfond +€303,065.10

Day 1/2 Action

Day 3 Action

Andrew Lichtenberger Wins on WSOP.com

From an online cash game genius to a man who made his name winning millions in online tournaments, and Andrew “LuckyChewy” Lichtenberger took advantage of lockdown to win a title on WSOP.com, only he’s no longer ‘LuckyChewy!’

Playing under the pseudonym, “WATCHGUY42”, Lichtenberger, took down a 176-entrant (inc. 61-re-entries), $1,000, $50k GTD No-Limit Hold’em High Roller, on the Nevada based platform.

The prizepool struck $168,080, and Lichtenberger collected $36,389 for his win after outliving a final eight that included the likes of Shannon Shorr, Darren Elias and Chris Moorman. 

Final Table Results

  1. Andrew “WATCHGUY42” Lichtenberger – $36,389
  2. Krista “Pollux” Gifford – $27,263
  3. Shannon “aulophobia” Shorr – $20,422
  4. Darren “darrenelias” Elias – $15,329
  5. Jake “tooletime13” Toole – $11,497
  6. Gordon “veileux” Vayo – $8,623
  7. Frank “spaghetti” Marasco – $6,454
  8. Chris “Robotbob47” Moorman – $4,790
Alex Foxen

After live poker scuttled along the gangplank on its way to receiving a belly full of saltwater, those who make a living at that artform moved online to paint a new picture.

Alex Foxen is one of these live poker powerhouses. 

You don’t win back-to-back Global Poker Index (GPI) Player of the Year awards and maintain a stranglehold on the GPI World Rankings with a record 37-consecutive weeks in the number one slot unless you are all over the game like lice on a toddler.

On March 27, with everyone quarantined, Foxen made a passionate plea to PokerStars via Twitter to reopen his account after they shut him down without supplying a reason. Judging by his PocketFives results, that account is still gathering dust. 

Foxen may have earned the vast majority of his $6-7m in online multi-table tournament (MTT) winnings on PokerStars (playing under the pseudonym ‘bigfox86’), but you get the feeling that’s about to change.

The GPI World #1 needs online poker, now, more than ever, and if PokerStars won’t provide him with the platform, then off to GGPoker, Americas Cardroom (ACR) and partypoker he will trot. A fox will chase sheep no matter where those sheep may be. 

Foxen recently proved that he’s no online poker stowaway, taking $800,000 from the Poker Masters Online Series on partypoker. Foxen finished in the money (ITM) on seven occasions, including conquering a field of 99-entrants in Event #2: $10,000 No-Limit Hold’em for a career-high online score of $309,677. 

There’s no time to blink in Foxen’s world.

The young American went into the final weekend of the Poker Masters Online harbouring hopes of winning his first Purple Jacket. After all, he had done it before, turning in an incredible performance at the World Poker Tour (WPT) Five Diamond at the Bellagio in the Winter to defend his GPI PoY title at the death. 

Foxen didn’t end up on the Poker Masters podium, but he did bank a six-figure score to ease his sorrows. Foxen topped a 256-entrant field in a $3k POWERFEST event on partypoker for $239,413. It was a final table filled with the finest cheekbones in online poker with Yuri Dzvielevski, Nick Petrangelo and Linus Loeliger all featuring. 

Add the POWERFEST win to the $800,000 in Poker Masters earnings, and Foxen has almost doubled his lifetime earnings on partypoker in the past fortnight. 

Who needs PokerStars?

Results

  1. Alex Foxen – $239,413
  2. Yuri Dzivielevski – $173,777
  3. Jordi Urlings – $123,874
  4. Daniil Lukin – $91,585
  5. Nick Petrangelo – $64,579
  6. Linus Loeliger – $49,315
  7. Benjamin Rolle – $36,399
  8. Bruno Volkmann – $27,005

Foxen currently ranks #75 in the PocketFives World Rankings.

In Other Online Poker News

In other online poker news, Foxen’s partner, and the GPI top-ranked female player, Kristen Bicknell, flew over the $4m in lifetime earnings mark after a blistering showing on GGPoker last week.

Between 20-27 April, Bicknell earned over a half a million dollars in gross profit playing on the former East-facing site that’s very firmly fixed on the West.

Here are Bicknell’s top four results of the week.

  1. 1st in a 38-entrant $5k event for $64,764.99
  2. 2nd in a 39-entrant $5k for $46,691.85
  3. 1st in a 85-entrant $2.5k for $44,304.64
  4. 1st in a 48-entrant $2.5k for $43,565.06
  5. 2nd in a 87-entrant $2.5k for $39,829.81

Bicknell currently ranks #41 in the PocketFives World Rankings.

From new school to old school, and Luke Schwartz binked a decent score on Tuesday night, beating a 116-entrant field to take down the $1,050 Super Tuesday No-Limit Hold’em event on PokerStars for $27,398.26

Schwartz, who plies his trade on the online cash game scene, has now earned more than $3m playing online MTTs with the bulk of those winnings coming on PokerStars. 

It’s his biggest score since finishing 3/2255 in a $530 NLHE Progressive Knockout (PKO) event for $42,402.56 during the 2019 Spring Championship of Online Poker (SCOOP) on PokerStars.

Schwartz currently ranks #714 in the PocketFives World Rankings.

Pigeon.

The timing of partypoker’s POWERFEST couldn’t be more propitious.

The United States House of Representatives has given the green light to release $8.3 billion of emergency funding in preparation for the spread of COVID-19. Other nations with healthy bank accounts or ever-increasing debt loads coupled with a ‘couldn’t give a damn attitude’ will surely follow suit.

And that’s why the buzz around partypoker’s $20m GTD POWERFEST has the whiskers of all poker’s top cats reverberating at a full itchiness rate. 

The 488-event spectacular runs between March 15-29. Buy-ins range between $0.55 – $25,500, and 6-Max, Mix-Max, 6-4, Freezeout and progressive Knockout (PKO) fill the menu.

If you want a front-row ticket and have a bankroll containing more soot than money, then you’re in luck; partypoker has one of the best online satellite qualification systems in the business.

Main Events

There are four Main Events, all of which are No-Limit Hold’em (NLHE), and on March 29, kicking-off @ 20:30 (CET).

Here are the details.

$2,100 buy-in, $500k GTD.

$320 buy-in, $500k GTD.

$55 buy-in, $250k GTD.

$5.50 buy-in, $20k GTD.

High Roller Action

There is only one event with a buy-in higher than $10,000, and that’s the $25,500 buy-in, $2m GTD NLHE Super High Roller taking place 26 March at 20:30 (CET).

Previous $25k Winners

In April 2019, intrepid explorer ‘PhileasFogg’ navigated his way through 105-entrants to bank the $643,125 first prize, with Viktor ‘Isildur1’ Blom finishing fourth.

Rewind 12 months, beyond that date, and Steve ‘eet_smakelijk’ O’Dwyer won $896,610 after topping a final table that housed the likes of Orpen ‘orpenkk’ Kisacikoglu, Michael ‘mczhang’ Zhang, Jon ‘sordykrd’ Van Fleet, and Jason Koon.

Koon is so f**king cool; his name is his nickname.

And rewind 12-months further, and Ben ‘Coweyed’ Tollerene topped a 127-entrant field in the $3m GTD version. Blom featured once again, finishing second. Tollerene banked $846,722.

With the Coronavirus already delivering a knockout blow to the Triton Poker Super High Roller Series in Jeju, the high stakes poker seam needed a worthy competitor to step into the ring, and POWERFEST is one of those beasts that steps over the top ropes. 

More News From The Virtual Rail

Phil Galfond returned from his self-imposed hiatus to continue his heads-up challenge with “VeniVidi1993”, and promptly booked his most significant win of the punch-up thus far.

The pair of online hedgehogs pricked each other in their never regions over 574-hands, before calling time with Galfond €183,481.38 in the net winnings column, not bad for a man who said he won while playing his B+ game.

There’s still no time for smiling.

Galfond is in the basement with €716,758.79 in losses over 10,501 hands.

There are 35 confirmed cases of Coronavirus in Sweden. Still, judging by the ever-present racking of results from these three Swedish stars, one doubts they will be in danger of joining the count.

Johannes “Greenstone25” Korsar defeated his compatriot Simon “C.Darwin2” Mattsson, heads-up, in the $2,100 Sunday High Roller on PokerStars. The pair of online poker prophets hammered out a deal that saw Korsar bank $37,595, with $31,768 going to Mattsson. Dominik “Bounatirou” Nitsche finished third, and Anatoly “NL_Profit” Filatov finished in fifth.

Niklas “Lena900” Åstedt also flew the Swedish flag high after booking the win in the $1,050 Sunday Warm-Up on Stars. The PocketFives World #1 overcame a field of 161-entrants to win the first prize of $29,317 after cutting a deal with Alex ‘steakaddict’ Papazian (who banked $28,255). 

Here are the current PocketFives World Rankings.

PocketFive World Rankings

1. Niklas “Lena900” Åstedt

2. Johannes “Greenstone25” Korsar 

3. DeathbyQuads 

4. Sam “€urop€an” Vousden

5. Simon “C.Darwin2” Mattsson

Imagine winning $1,352,267.97 playing online poker from a stake of $530. The rush of feelings, thoughts and emotions like you’ve stepped on a conductor rail.

Imagine never receiving the money, because the online poker room believes something fishy is going on.

An investigation ensues.

Imagine the gavel coming down on the final verdict.

You will not see a penny of it.

That’s what happened to the winner of the 2018 World Championships of Online Poker (WCOOP) Main Event this week.

It seems something fishy was going on; not goldfish bowl fishy, but Atlantis fishy.

PokerStars has stripped a Dutch-based player using the pseudonym, ‘Wann2play’, of his 2018 WCOOP Main Event title and $1,352,267.97.

The additional additional funds will be redistributed to the remaining in the money (ITM) finishers.

‘Wann2play’ overcame a final table containing some of the best players in the business. The story becomes even more memorable when you learn that he won his seat in the $10,000 via a $530 online satellite.

Look at this list of tough guys.

2018 WCOOP Main Event Final Table Results

  1. Wann2play – $1,352,967
  2. Ezequiel “Ez88888’ Waigel – $1,257,203
  3. Linus “LlinusLLove’ Loeliger – $764,501
  4. Robert ‘PlayaPlz’ Lipkin – $540,584
  5. Michael ‘mczhang’ Zhang – $382,252
  6. Noah ‘Exclusive’ Boeken – $270,293

The Lie

The only news out of PokerStars Towers is that ‘Wann2play’ violated their Terms and Conditions (TOCs). Gossip amongst the poker community is rife as to the exact reasons behind the fallen axe with multi-accounting and ghosting appearing as the two likeliest reasons.

With ‘Wann2play’ now a ghost, PokerStars raised the arm of Ezequiel “Ez88888′ Waigel aloft. Waigel finished second for $1,257,203 after agreeing upon a heads-up deal with ‘Wann2play,’ and now receives an additional $272,000, after PokerStars awarded him with the original first prize of $1,529,000.

The news is not a surprise for Waigel who told PocketFives that he suspected something towards the later stages of the tournament, and has exchanged numerous emails with the online poker giant throughout the past 18-months.

YouTube Mutiny

The decision has reignited the debate over multi-accounting and ghosting in the multi-table tournament (MTT) scene, with one pro, Rob Tinnion, creating a YouTube video accusing the 2017 WCOOP Main Event winner, Steven van Zadelhoff, of also breaching PokerStars TOCs.

In the video, Tinnion tells his audience that ghosting and multi-accounting is a ‘common occurrence in the poker world,’ before going on to point the finger at the Dutch star.

“He was ghosted by somebody whom I am not sure I want to name,” said Tinnion. “But there are cryptic messages on Twitter if you want to work it out.”

Tinnion proceeded to show a graph of van Zadelhoff’s lifetime online MTT winnings, calling him a ‘losing player’ over 60,000 games.

“The reason this guy {Vamn Zadelhoff} has gotten away with it is that he is a nice guy.” Said Tinnion before declaring that everyone has a ‘dark side’ to them and a little bit of ‘scumminess.’

“I have no proof of this,” said Tinnion. “I have a source; I am unwilling to disclose. But I know that source is 100% true.”

Van Zadelhoff reacted instantly stating that he is ‘too proud’ to give up control of his mouse or ‘I might actually be a winning player on paper, and not stupid enough to multi-account.’

“I probably shouldn’t be making these videos,” said Tinnion, “But f*ck it, it’s a bit of fun isn’t it.”

I don’t think van Zadelhoff concurs.

On March 14, 1968, Martin Luther King delivered a speech called ‘The Other America’ to the predominantly all-white Grosse Pointe High School in Detroit. Embedded in that speech were the words, “No lie can live forever.”

In the case of the former 2018 WCOOP Champion of the World, King’s words have come to life, but I wonder if this incident will prevent similar lies woven in the future.

Ego.

Status.

Money.

Power.

A heady cocktail if there ever was one.

PokerStars continues to pollinate the high stakes online multi-table tournament (MTT) world after announcing plans to give their High Roller Series a spit wash in readiness for a March parade.

The PokerStars High Roller Series runs between 23-30 March, contains 19-events, guarantees $6m in prize money, and offers buy-ins between $215 and $10,300.

There are three events priced at $10,3000.

Here they are:

Tuesday 24 March 13:00 (ET) – $10,300 buy-in, $500k GTD NLHE 8-Max.

Thursday 26 March 13:00 (ET) – $10,300 buy-in, $500k GTD NLHE 8-Max.

Sunday 29 March 14:30 (ET) $10,300 buy-in, $400k GTD Pot-Limit Omaha (PLO) Six-Max.

Sailors in this one are looking for the treasure chest sitting at the end of the $5,200 buy-in, $1.5m GTD No-Limit Hold ’em (NLHE) Main Event. That bright and bubbly rainbow springs forth on Sunday 29 March at 13:00 (ET).

The $6m guarantee is $5m less, and the schedule 30% lighter than when Stars last ran a High Roller Series in December. You don’t need a spy to figure out that December numbers didn’t inspire confidence within the halls of PokerStars’ power. 

The series coincides with the $215 buy-in, $12.5m GTD 14th Anniversary Sunday Million (March 22-24). 

In December…

The last time PokerStars pulled this guitar out of the bag and strummed a melody was in December. 

Andreas “daskalos20” Christoforou won the 106-entrant $10,300 NLHE 8-Max for $244,261.02, Alexandros “mexican222” Kolonias won the 115-entrant $10,300 NLHE 8-Max for $265,000.18, Michael “mczhang” Zhang won the 86-entrant $10,300 NLHE PKO for $239,804.59, Pascal “Pass_72” LeFrancois won the 69-entrant $10,300 PLO 6-Max for $186,237.66, and Artem “veeea” Vezhenkov won the 515-entrant $5,200 NLHE 8-Max Main Event for $457,344.17.

Kevin Rabichow to Represent Run It Once Poker

With Phil Galfond 100% focused on climbing out of the €900,000 hole dug by VeniVidi1993, the timing couldn’t be more perfect for his online poker site to announce their first sponsored pro – and that man is Kevin Rabichow.

Rabichow won’t need a translator to get into the Run It Once (RIO) spirit of things. He is an ‘Elite Coach’ on the RIO training site, and has been playing poker since 2005. He will exchange his formidable ‘KRab42’ pseudonym for the bog-standard sheet of glass ‘Kevin Rabichow,’ making him only the second player after Galfond to play with a unique avatar and real name.

Joe Stapleton released the news after Rabichow joined him in the commentary booth during Galfond’s clash with VeniVidi1993.

On Sunday, online poker’s pilgrims endured another arduous trek back and forth to the kitchen and the little boys and girls room, as they whinnied and whined their way through another stupendous Sunday. 

We begin our short round-up at partypoker, and Day 1A of the $10,300, $20M GTD MILLIONS Online enticed poker players from around the globe to drop their pitchforks long enough to wire the online poker room, ten-large. A record is brewing after 709-entrants competed in the first of four starting flights. Leading the way is ‘Jiggidyjigjohn,’ who crammed 20,120,995 into a virtual plastic bag, and the highest finish from a poker celeb came from Anatoly ‘NL_Profit’ Filatov, who ended the night in the sixth spot.

In finishing in the top spot, ‘Jiggidyjigjohn,’ moves into $1m Promotion Village: Population One. Courtesy, of partypoker’s generous promotion, should jiggidywhat’shisface win the thing, they will give him or her an additional million bucks. 

Last year, Day 1A ended with 1,574-entrants in the books, and Philipp Gruissem was leading the way. It’s worth noting that the inaugural event saw a $5,300 buy-in clatter into the kitty, hence the reduction in attendance 12-months on. 

Here are the Top Ten Chipcounts, which given the anonymity, makes it as useful a hypoesthesia sufferer’s steaming hot cup of tea.

MILLIONS Online Day 1A Top Ten

  1. Jiggidyjigjohn – 20,120,995
  2. Triple Sexy – 20,027,055
  3. Sharealgor – 17,064,569
  4. Aaaaaaaaaaaa – 15,113,516
  5. Greekeye – 14,621,981
  6. Anatoly ‘NL_Profit’ Filatov – 14,616,878
  7. Langenzersdorf – 13,588,991
  8. Brobizz – 13,455,467
  9. LawyerUp1981 – 11,976,290
  10. Madgenuis111 – 11,700,523

Continuing with our weekly online round-up, and while we don’t know the full extent of Johannes “Greenstone25” Korsar, and Mikita ‘fish2013’ Badziakouski’s weekend, we know they appeared at the final table of two pristine events. 

The PocketFives World #2 made the final table of the $5,200, $500k GTD No-Limit Hold’em Sunday Big Game. The event pulled in 132-entrants, and Korsar finished sixth. Triton Poker’s three-time champion, Badziakouski, went one better, finishing in the fifth position. Roberto “R_Romanello” Romanello finished eighth, and ‘BtchByTrade’ eclipsed them all, winning the $151,734 first prize.

PokerStars

Korsar and Badziakouski also flocked to the final table of the $2,100, $100k GTD Sunday High Roller on PokerStars. The event attracted 59-entrants, and ‘anteen’ beat Korsar, heads-up, to win the $34,745 first prize. Korsar collected $35,137 after cutting a heads-up deal. Badziakouski finished fourth.

GGPoker

The most significant buy-in outside of the MILLIONS Online came courtesy of GGPoker’s flagship skin, Natural8. Forty-seven entrants competed in the $10,000, $300k GTD No-Limit Hold’em events, and ‘KenBrynney’ won the $166,221 first prize from a base in Canada.

PocketFives World Rankings

  1. Sami ‘LarsLuzak’ Kelopuro
  2. Patrick ‘pleno1’ Leonard
  3. Johannes ‘ Greenstone25’ Korsar
  4. Niklas ‘lena900’ Åstedt
  5. DeathbyQuads

While PokerStars 27-event, $11m GTD, High Roller series is a far cry from the multi-millions fought over in the live high roller tournaments across the globe, it’s still going to attract high roller brethren like kites to electricity pylons.

From Dec 1 – 9, the world’s largest online poker room will usher superyachts into their harbour with the lure of action ranging from between $530 – $10,300. There’s also room for the odd tugboat with feeder satellites starting at $5.50.

The Poker Gods from the Isle of Man promise one daily event with a guarantee of $500,000, and the series opens with a $10,300, $1m GTD No-Limit Hold’em event and three more games with combined guarantees of $1.1m.

The one day that high rollers don’t want to be caught outside with a hatchet driving into wood is Sunday, December 8. The schedule contains four events ranging between $530 and $10,300 with $3.15m in guarantees.

Included in that honey pot is the $5,200, $2m GTD NLHE Main Event. Starting December 8 and ending December 11, the four-day dingaling is a 250 big blind bash allowing players to fire three bullets before late registration ends somewhere near the start of Day 2.

Here is the schedule in full.

Schedule in Full (All Times CET)

Dec 1: 19:00 $10,300 NLHE, $1m GTD
Dec 1: 20:30 $1,050 NLHE PKO, $500k GTD
Dec 1: 22:00 $530 NLHE Turbo, $300k GTD
Dec 1: 23:00 $1,050 NLHE Hyper-Turbo, $300k GTD
Dec 2: 19:00 $5,200 NLHE PKO, $500k GTD
Dec 2: 20:30 $530 NLHE, $250k GTD
Dec 2: 22:00 $1,050 NLHE, $200k GTD
Dec 3: 19:00 $10,300 NLHE, $1m GTD
Dec 3: 20:30 $1,050 PLO 6-Max, $150k GTD
Dec 3: 22:00 $530 NLHE PKO, $200k GTD
Dec 4: 19:00 $5,200 NLHE, $500k GTD
Dec 4: 20:30 $530 NLHE, 200k GTD
Dec 4: 22:00 $1,050 NLHE, $200k GTD
Dec 5: 19:00 $10,300 NLHE PKO, $1m GTD
Dec 5: 20:30 $1,050 8-Game, $100k GTD
Dec 5: 22:00 $530 NLHE, $150k GTD
Dec 6: 19:00 $5,200 NLHE, $500k GTD
Dec 6: 20:30 $1,050 NLHE, $200k GTD
Dec 6: 22:00 $530 NLHE PKO, $150k GTD
Dec 7: 19:00 $5,200 6+Hold’em, $250k GTD
Dec 7: 20:30 $1,050 NLHE PKO $250k GTD
Dec 7: 22:00 $530 NLHE, $150k GTD
Dec 8: 19:00 $5,200 NLHE Main Event, $2m GTD
Dec 8: 20:30 $10,300 PLO 6-Max, $500k GTD
Dec 8: 22:00 $2,100 NLHE PKO, $400k GTD
Dec 8: 23:00 $530 NLHE Hyper Turbo, $250k GTD
Dec 9: 13:00 $5,200 NLHE, $500k GTD

PokerStars High Rollers: A Brief History

The PokerStars High Roller Series fell out of a bloody womb in 2017 with 22-events and $11.4m in guaranteed prize money. Winners included Fedor Holz, Simon Mattsson and Talal Shakerchi.

The $2,100, $2m GTD No-Limit Hold’em Main Event attracted 1,135-entrants, and ‘Sanderssi’ from Finland won $294,685 after cutting a four-way deal with ‘jutrack’ from the UK ($226,162), ’Maz&Yauskas’ from the UK ($250,000) and ‘MATT HOLVIK’ from Canada ($250,000).

PokerStars extended the number of events to 27 in 2018 but carved a million bucks off the previous year’s guarantee. ‘th’Kick’ from Switzerland won the $413,157 first prize in the $2,100, $2m GTD No-Limit Hold’em Main Event. He also finished third in the Spring Championship of Online Poker (SCOOP) Main Event in 2017 for a career-high score of $690,348.

The Main Event pulled in 1,333-entrants, and Connor “blanconegro” Drinan came fourth, Simon “C.Darwin2” Mattsson finished sixth, and Ole “wizowizo” Schemion’s claim for a title ended in seventh.

PokerStars was so happy with the turnout, in Nov 2018, they created the PokerStars High Roller Club, where people joust in tournaments with buy-ins ranging between $530 – $2,100. Six events take place Mon-Sat, with seven on each Sunday.

What better way to welcome yuletide than settling down with a big bowl of your mother’s soup, a bowl full of cherries and the chance to win more than $2m squid playing online poker. partypoker MILLIONS Online returns, one year after its record-breaking debut. It’s time to start throwing pennies into a well.

The groom to MILLIONS Live’s bride begins on Sunday, December 1, and ends on December 10. Last year, the buy-in was $5,300. This year, partypoker has doubled it, bringing it in line with the MILLIONS Live buy-ins, and that means they have to bring out their mightiest marketing mallet.

A year ago, partypoker defied all odds to destroy the record for most significant online multi-table tournament (MTT) prize pool, when 4,367-entrants created a $21,385,000 prize pool (the previous best score was less than $13m).

Rob Yong and the gang need to attract 2,179-entrants to break the record, and it’s imperative they get off to a sizzling start. In a bid to do this, partypoker promises that should the Day 1A chip leader win the event then they will give that person an additional $1m in prize money.

Last year, Manuel “Sheparentao” Ruivo ($2,329,944 ) and Pim “ForMatherRussia” de Goede ($2,309,995) cut a heads-up deal with Ruivo going on to win. Scarmak3r ($1,364,688) and Pedro “Maddonaa” Marques ($1,091,750) also netted seven-figure scores. The only caveat on the Day 1A promo is should they get to the final table they cannot cut a deal.

The biggest $10k+ online MTT event in history contains four starting flights, and partypoker has already given away more than $1m in free seats in November alone.

Online Poker Round-Up

If you fancy a flutter on a potential winner of the MILLIONS Online, then look no further than ‘Junglemandan.’ No, it’s not the charismatic, cash game phenom, just someone who stole his identity, but man is he playing like him.

Over the weekend, ‘Junglemandan’ won the $215 buy-in 4,567-entrant partypoker MILLION for $153,000, and also took down the partypoker $5,200 High Roller Big Game for $105,450. According to Pocketfives, ‘Junglemandan’ made a total of four final tables over the weekend.

There was also a victory for the PocketFives World #2, Johannes “Greenstone25’ Korsar, who conquered a 99-entrant field in the partypoker $2,100 High Roller for $59,302 (Junglemandan finished ninth)

PocketFives World Rankings

  1. Sami ‘LarsLuzak’ Kelopuro
  2. Johannes “Greenstone25’ Korsar
  3. Patrick ‘pleno1’ Leonard
  4. Niklas ‘Lena900’ Åstedt
  5. DeathByQuads

Standing at the summit of the tower overlooking the vast expanse of high stakes online poker is Finland’s top marksman, Sami ‘LarsLuzak’ Kelopuro.

At the back end of August, Kelopuro hit the headlines after winning $1.3m playing a Pot-Limit Omaha (PLO) cash game online at PokerStars. Vexed with only impaling online cash game brethren on his white and blue stake, Kelopuro set his sights on becoming the cock of the online multi-table tournament (MTT) world.

He left all the other hens pecking at seeds.

Kelopuro cashed 121 times in tournaments during the month that Earth, Wind and Fire fancy, earning $4.275m in gross profit. The Finn has the GGSeries and World Championship of Online Poker (WCOOP) to thank for smashing the dam. 

14 six-figure scores.

45 five-figure scores.

Eight wins.

Here are a few highlights courtesy of PocketFives.

GGPoker was the arena where Kelopuro caused the most carnage. On Sep 9, he won two GGS events for $157,000 and $458,770 respectively. Then on Sep 14, he binked three tournaments on the same site earning $121,638, $275,344 and $61,924.

His monster month didn’t go unrecognised. Kelopuro won the PocketFives Monthly Leaderboard, tipped over the $10m earnings mark for MTTs, and landed in the World #1 spot for the first time in his illustrious career.

Here are those world rankings.

The PocketFives World Rankings

  1. Sami ‘LarsLuzak’ Kelopuro
  2. Patrick ‘pleno1’ Leonard
  3. Niklas ‘lena900’ Ästedt
  4. Andras ‘probirs’ Nemeth
  5. Johannes ‘Greenstone25’ Korsar

The Best of the Rest

There are many ways that one can overtake Kelopuro at the top of the world rankings.

Bribery.

Battery.

Brilliance.

Here are a few peeps choosing Option #3.

PokerStars High Rollers

Ole ‘wizowizo’ Schemion had a productive weekend after laying siege on the PokerStars High Rollers. 

The World Poker Tour (WPT) Champions Club member won two top events. In the first, he beat 137-entrants to win the $29,212 first prize in the $1,050 Sunday Supersonic. Benjamin ‘bencb789’ Rolle finished second, and Joris ‘BillLewinsky’ Ruijs finished fourth.

Then Schemion took down the 144-entrant $1,050 Sunday Warm-Up for $30,225. Aliaksei ‘ale6ka’ Boika finished second, Dario ‘Secret_M0d3’ Sammartino, finished third, Alex ‘steakaddict’ Papazian was sixth, and girafganger7’s run ended in eighth.

The winner of PokerStars’ biggest buy-in event of the weekend was Jonathan ‘apestyles’ Van Fleet who defeated Michael ‘mczhang’ Zhang to win the PokerStars $2,100 Sunday High Roller for $38,840. He has now earned more than $10.6m playing online tournaments. 

Partypoker High Rollers

Switching from PokerStars to partypoker, and we have nothing but anonymity for you.

The $5,200 The Big Game returned with 119-entrants ensuring they beat the $500,000 guarantee by $95,000, and ‘SleevePatrol’ won the $145,775 first prize. ‘Jizoint’ won the $2,100 Sunday High Roller Gladiator, defeating 176-entrants to claim the $83,000 first prize. ‘Achtungdiekurve’ won the 233-entrant $1,050 Sunday High Roller Masters for $47,508.

GG Poker

Lastly, there were two big winners on GGPoker this weekend. ‘Ravenoustrashdog’ won the 53-entrant $2,500 Sunday Blade for $43,607, and ‘Joeri_van_Heeten’ won the 30-entrant, $5k Sunday Blade for $64,059.

And that’s this week’s virtual rail.