Oscar Wilde once said that ‘success is a science; if you have the conditions, you get the result.’
The successful high rollers need an arena; a place to hunt, a place to bear their teeth. Currently, that place is the World Series of Poker Series Europe (WSOPE), but on Monday the warriors pack up their weapons of mass destruction and head to Las Vegas.
The 2019 Poker Masters is the first of two events that will get the poker media into full-on prophecy mode, in November. We will get to the second in two shakes of a puppy dog’s tail.
The Poker Masters is a by-product of those mad scientists at Poker Central. It climbed out of Cary Katz’s mind two years ago. Back then the schedule consisted of 4 x $50,000 events, culminating in a $100,000 Main Event. The Germans dominated the series with Steffen Sontheimer claiming the inaugural Purple Jacket after making the final table of four of the five events, bubbling the fifth, winning two, and cashing for more than $2.7m.
Last year, the cherubic Ali Imsirovic won $100,000 in prize money, and the Purple Jacket jacket after cashing in three of the seven events, winning two of them and cashing for more than $1.2m.
Speaking in the aftermath of glory, Imsirovic told the press: “If you don’t constantly play your best in this series, you’re just going to get destroyed.”
The defending champion is one of the in-form players entering what will be the biggest Poker Central Series so far, with ten events on tap. Other players to keep an eye on in this one will be (if they play) Bryn Kenney, Justin Bonomo, Stephen Chidwick, Sam Soverel, Cary Katz and Sam Soverel.
Here is the schedule.
Poker Masters
4/5 Nov – $10,000 No-Limit Hold’em
5/6 Nov – $10,000 Pot-Limit Omaha
6/7 Nov – $10,000 Short-Deck Hold’em
7/8 Nov – $10,000 No-Limit Hold’em
8/9 Nov – $10,000 Big Bet Mix
9/10 Nov – $25,000 No-Limit Hold’em
10/11 Nov – $25,000 No-Limit Hold’em
11/12 Nov – $25,000 No-Limit Hold’em
12/13 Nov – $50,000 No-Limit Hold’em
13/14 Nov – $100,000 No-Limit Hold’em Main Event
The venue is the PokerGO Studios at the Aria Resort & Casino in Las Vegas.
It’s a points-based system with the winner picking up $100,000 and a Purple Jacket.
Here are the rules and everything else you need to know about the event.
The partypoker MILLIONS World Bahamas
Once the Poker Masters wraps up, it’s time for the high rollers to hop on a jet plane destined for the Bahamas and partypoker’s MILLIONS World.
The action once again takes place at the Baha Mar Resort, and there’s enough medicine for the high rollers to swallow.
16/18 Nov – $250,000 No-Limit Hold’em Super High Roller Bowl
16/18 Nov – $10,300 No-Limit Hold’em MILLIONS High Roller
18/19 Nov – $25,500 No-Limit Hold’em MILLIONS Super High Roller
19-23 Nov – $10,300 No-Limit Hold’em MILLIONS Main Event
19 Nov – $50,000 No-Limit Hold’em
21/23 Nov – $10,300 No-Limit Hold’em MILLIONS High Roller Finale
23 Nov – $25,000 No-Limit Hold’em Super High Roller
It’s the second time that partypoker has partnered with the Baha Mar in Nassau.
Last time out, Roberto Romanello put a mushroom cloud over the heads of 196-entrants to win the $450,000 first prize in the $10,300 No-Limit Hold’em High Roller. Roger Teska won the one-of-a-kind 394-entrant $25,500, $10m GTD No-Limit Hold’em MILLIONS World for $2m. Giuseppe Iadisernia beat 54-entrants to win the $845,000 first prize in the $50,000 No-Limit Hold’em Super High Roller. And Steffen Sontheimer defeated 34-entrants to win the $3.685m first prize in the $250,000 No-Limit Hold’em Super High Roller Championships.
And that’s your high roller schedule for November.
It’s time to sharpen those swords.