partypoker has added another high roller to their impressive sponsored pro team, with Benjamin Pollak joining from France. The appointment comes amid partypoker EU’s POWERFEST festivities promising €5m in guarantees in France, and €4.5m in Spain.
Pollak spent his early years working his magic on the stage, and will now swing his wand on the partypoker online platform alongside the likes of Anatoly Filatov, Dzmitry Urbanovich and Philipp Gruissem.
The French star first came to prominence on the World Poker Tour (WPT) where a batch of near misses catapulted him into the purview of the poker media such as finishing fourth in WPT Prague (2011), and second in WPT Barcelona (2013). But he hit the big time in 2017 finishing third in the World Series of Poker (WSOP) Main Event for $3.5m.
Pollak took the confidence gained from that WSOP Main Event run and spun it up on the European Poker Tour (EPT) High Roller scene, collected a whole host of fantastic results including winning a €50,000 Super High Roller in Barcelona for $1.1m. Pollak has also binked decent scores stateside including winning an event during the 2018 US Poker Open. His most recent victory came last year, taking down a €25,000 High Roller during EPT Monte Carlo.
“I’m thrilled and very excited to join the partypoker team,” said Pollak. “They’ve supported players from the beginning and see the game as I do. I couldn’t be happier to support them and be part of this great adventure. See you all around the tables!”
Pollak isn’t the only Frenchman representing partypoker. Lilian ‘Clae’ Erdmann and Julien Achard-Stropoli represent the Twitch team, and the legendary Bruno Fitoussi sits on the advisory board.
It’s not the first time that Pollak has represented an online gambling brand, having spent time promoting Betclic and Everest Poker back in the day.
If you were to stick lab rats into a room full of poker TV shows and gave them the remote control, you would learn that the World Poker Tour (WPT) is one of poker’s most potent gateway drugs.
So when they realised to survive the pandemic they would have to move operations online, they picked partypoker to be the salt cellar for their salt.
So what happens when you shift the upmarket WPT, online?
You get an upmarket online experience.
partypoker hosts the WPT World Online Championships from Friday, July 17 to Wednesday, September 9, guaranteeing an asthma attack-inducing $100m in prize money.
But you knew that, right?
What you didn’t know, is that the WPT and partypoker have struck a deal with their live event partner ShareHand to recreate the live experience during the online championships.
The Deal
ShareHand is the wizard behind the beautiful production of the WPT, MILLIONS and Triton Poker Super High Roller Series live tournaments. If they can create a tenth of the value they bring to the live operation we will fall in love with it no matter what hovel we watch it from.
ShareHand will produce the final table of the 12 championship events, all of which will stream live on partypokerTV, partypoker’s Twitch channel, partypoker.com, YouTube and Facebook.
The action at the final table will showcase cards face-up with a short delay, and real name will replace online pseudonyms. The winners of the five WPT Championship Cup events will earn a seat into the WPT Champions Club.
Commentary
Commentary comes from the best in the business. partypoker’s Mike Sexton gets reacquainted with his old pans Vince van Patten and Tony Dunst, and James Dempsey, Joey Ingram, and Matt Savage join with the latter taking the focal role during the WPT Championship Cup events.
An array of partypoker ambassadors will guest star in the commentary booth including Jason Koon, Roberto Romanello, Sam Trickett, Ludovic Geilich and Isaac Haxton.
Outside of the English stream, the chinwag comes from Dmitry Shakhov and Ilya Gorodetskiy (Russian); Stefan Hachmeister and Christian Gross (German); Gaston Catzman and Santiago Garcia (Spanish); and Marcos Sketch and Thiago Crema De Macedo (Portuguese).
James Dempsey and Henry Kilbane will supplement the WPT Championship coverage by focusing on the side event action two to four times per week during the festival, screening on partypokerTV.
Ship out the rats.
Plugin those mice.
I could be watching a Russian ballet, preparing for Triton’s return to London, the site of the world’s most expensive poker tournament, or standing in a park stocked full of strangers watching submarine shaped clouds fire fluffy torpedos at the sun.
Alas, I have been at home for 3-months, afraid of joining the 40,000 people who catch Covid-19 daily in the United States.
So, I for one am so utterly grateful for the work carried out by ‘1Day Sooner,’ an organisation seeking volunteers to become exposed to the virus in a bid to increase the search for a vaccine.
To date, ‘1Day Sooner’ has found 30,108 volunteers from 140-countries, each willing to take on the virus to save more lives, and the number of lives saved if the world’s medical experts can find a vaccine is insane.
Speeding up a vaccine by…
1 day saves 7,120 lives
1 week saves 55,000 lives
1 month saves 220,000 lives
3 months saves over half a million lives
One of the challenges that ‘1Day Sooner’ has is marketing, and the World Poker Tour (WPT) and partypoker are willing to help with that.
Introducing the WPT Shooting Stars For Charity Event
As part of the WPT World Online Championships, there will be a $1,100 buy-in No-Limit Hold’em event with a $500,000 guarantee. The $100 registration fee goes straight into the ‘1Day Sooner’ coffers, and the players get the opportunity to earn an additional $500 for every player with a bounty on their head that they barge into the rail.
High stakes bounties include partypoker ambassador, Sam Trickett, Raising for Effective Giving (REG) founder, Igor Kurganov, and the former World Series of Poker (WSOP) Main Event Champion, Ryan Riess (Kurganov has agreed to donate 100% of his winnings to 1Day Sooner).
Organisers have also drafted in the celebrities with former Manchester United stars Wes Brown and John O’Shea in the mix as well as actress, Aylar Lie, and the Argentinian rap star, Alejandro “Papo MC’ Lococo.
The event takes place across two days starting Wed July 29, and you can watch the final table live on Twitch, YouTube and other partypoker and WPT partner channels.
The WPT Online Championships with $100m in guarantees runs on partypoker from July 17 to September 8.
The kaleidoscope of high stakes poker continues unabated on partypoker with the High Roller Club. The flunky free home of those seeking fame, fortunate and flow saw Luke Reeves replace Thomas Muehloecker at the top of the leaderboard after six events on Tuesday night.
Reeves finished in the money (ITM) in 50% of the night’s events, winning two of them. The UK star was a revelation in the 60-entrant $1,050 High Roller Mix-Max, beating Atanas Malinov to secure the $20,754.48 first prize. Reeves then went on to win the 39-entrant $2,600 High Roller Club Mix-Max, defeating George Wolff, heads-up for $39,000.01.
Chad Eveslage also bagged a brace. The man from Indiana crushed the 99-entrant field in the $530 High Roller 6-Max Bounty Hunter for $11,923.93, before besting a field of 44-entrants in the $2,100 High Roller Club 6-Max Knockout for $40,157.02.
Other winners on the night include Teun Muelder who won the $5,200 High Roller Club Main Event, overthrowing 51-entrants including Sam Greenwood, heads-up, to claim the $90,525 first prize. Jans Arends won the $1,050 High Roller Club 6-Max Turbo Knockout, circumventing 44 landmines to collect $16,391.03.
Matthias Eibinger led the close but no cigar brigade with three ITM finishes. Andras Nemeth, Kristen Bicknell, Mark Davis and the Arends as mentioned above, earned two.
Here is the leaderboard.
The action continues until 16 July.
Tuesday Night Results
$5,200 High Roller Club Main Event
51-entrants
Results
Teun Mulder – $90,525
Sam Greenwood – $60,562.50
Rok Gostica – $38,887.50
Matthias Eibinger – $24,862.50
Mark Davis – $16,575
Jon Van Fleet – $12,750
Ludovic Geilich – $10,837.50
$1,050 High Roller Mix-Max
60-entrants
Results
Luke Reeves – $20,754.48
Atanas Malinov – $13,500
Preben Stokkan – $7,200
Matthias Eibinger – $5,400
Aleksejs Ponakovs – $3,900
Andras Nemeth – $2,700
Pim Gieles – $2,181.84
Stefan Huber – $2,181.84
$530 High Roller 6-Max Bounty Hunter
99-entrants
Results
Chad Eveslage – $6,171.89+$5,752.04
Tomas Paiva – $2,132.981+$5,746.91
Alex Reard – $2,289.06+$3,538.11
Matthias Eibinger – $1,640.62+$2,579.87
Nikita Kupchin – $1,703.12+$1,842.76
Ricardo Arraino – $500+$1,253.08
Thomas Muehloecker – $2,281.25+$820,62
Alexandr Razinkov – $125+$820.62
$2,100 High Roller Club 6-Max Knockout
44-entrants
Results
Chad Evelsage – $23,406.25+$16,750.77
Giuseppe Iadisernia – $500+$16,739.54
Pascal Hartmann – $5,625+$8,805.21
Kristen Bicknell – $500+$5,888.22
Artur Martirosian – $3,250+$4,579.73
Max Diender – $2,031.25+$3,536.53
$2,600 High Roller Club Mix-Max
39-entrants
Results
Luke Reeves – $39,000.01
George Wolff – $24,954.63
Mark Davis – $12,675
Andras Nemeth – $8,775
Kristen Bicknell – $6,825
Jans Arends – $5,270.36
$1,050 High Roller Club 6-Max Turbo Knockout
44-entrants
Results
Jans Arends – $8,015.63+$8,375.40
Aleksejs Ponakovs – $1,250+$8,369.77
Roberto Romanello – $3,015.62+$4,252.60
Alex Foxen – $2,906.25+$2,944.11
Luke Reeves – $625+$2,289.86
Emrah Yildiz – $1,768.25
High Roller Leaderboard
Luke Reeves – 811 points
Thomas Muehloecker – 725
Matthias Eibinger – 660
Rok Gostica – 601
Wiktor Malinowski – 541
Giuseppe Iadisernia – 494
Artur Martirosian – 483
George Wolff – 473
Teun Mulder – 459
Preben Stokkan – 449
Isaac Haxton
Isaac Haxton ravaged the High Roller Club games on partypoker on Sunday. The partypoker ambassador made two final tables, winning the biggest one of the lot and bubbling the Mix-Max.
Haxton took down the 46-entrant, $25,500 High Roller Club Main Event beating Sergi Reixach, heads-up, to win the first prize of $437,000, before finishing 7/229 in the $5,200 Big Game.
Wiktor Malinowski, Viktor Blom and Sergi Reixach also made two final tables in the three events. Malinowski finished fourth in the $25k, and eighth in the Big Game; Blom finished sixth in the $25k and seventh in the $10k Mix-Max; Reixach added an eighth-place finish in the Mix-Max to the runner-up finish in the $25k.
Haxton wasn’t the only partypoker pro heralded in the poker news columns this week. Patrick’ pleno1′ Leonard excelled in May leading PocketFives to award him with the monthly PLB title.
Amongst Leonard’s highlights were two Spring Championships of Online Poker (SCOOP) titles, and a runner-up in GGPoker’s massive $25k event during the World Series of Poker Super Circuit. The WSOPC win earned him a whopping $1.6m to sail past the $11m mark in all-time online multi-table tournament (MTT) earnings.
It’s Leonard’s first PLB title since October 2014, and he currently sits third in the PocketFives World Rankings.
Here are the High Roller Club Results for Sunday.
High Roller Club: $25,500 Main Event
46-entrants
Results
Isaac Haxton – $437,000
Sergi Reixach – $287,500
Pascal Lefrancois – $184,000
Wiktor Malinowski – $103,500
George Wolff – $80,500
Viktor Blom – $57,500
High Roller Club: $5,200 The Big Game
229-entrants
Results
Pablo Brito Silva – $216,635.69
Andrew Pantling – $157,244.08
Nick Schulman – $112,089.53
Chad Eveslage – $82,871.88
Dzmitry Urbanovich – $58,435.30
Mark Davis – $44,623.32
Isaac Haxton – $32,936.26
Wiktor Malinowski – $24,436.58
High Roller Club: $10,300 Mix-Max Second Chance
65-entrants
Results
Thomas Muehloecker – $224,840.20
Mikita Badziakouski – $146.250
Dan Shak – $78,000
Christoph Vogelsang – $58,500
Daniel Dvoress – $42,250
Dario Sammartino – $29,250
Viktor Blom – $23,636.60
Sergi Reixach – $23,636.60
Wiktor Malinowski
partypoker drove down the online poker’s high roller street in their double-decker bus this weekend. The ‘High Roller Club’ is their latest revamped and rock n roll high stakes billboard, and in this little ditty, we will bring you the results.
partypoker’s ‘High Roller Club’ consists of 13 events (Mon-Sat) and 6 on Sunday. Buy-in constellations twinkle between $530 and $25,000, and that puts them right up there with the action on GGPoker.
Two of the events carry a $1m guarantee.
High Roller Club: $5,200 The Big Game
High Roller Club: $25,000 Main Event
Wiktor Malinowski overcame all impediments on his way to victory in the $25,000 Main Event. The polished Pole overcame a final table that housed the likes of Nick Schulman, Justin Bonomo and Matthias Eibinger, but it was Steve O’Dwyer who Malinowski beat heads-up for the title.
Here are the results.
Wiktor Malinowski – $443,750
Steve O’Dwyer – $296,875
Giuseppe Iadisernia – $190,625
Matthew Wood – $121,875
Nick Schulman – $81,250
Justin Bonomo – $62,500
Matthias Eibinger – $53,125
The sharks also dove deep into the $1m GTD Big Game, including Malinowski, who finished eighth. Ali Imsirovic, Luke Reeves and Daniel Dvoress also made the final table. Muehloecker defeated Teun Mulder, heads-up, for the title and $203,900 in prize money.
Here are the results.
Thomas Meuhloecker – $203,900
Teun Mulder – $148,000
Daniel Dvoress – $105,500
Omar Alomar – $78,000
Rok Gostica – $55,000
Luke Reeves – $42,000
Ali Imsirovic – $31,000
Wiktor Malinowski – $23,000
Dario Sammartino is another high roller that made a mark on the high roller scene this weekend winning the $200k GTD Knockout contest for $54,286.
Schindler With a Showing at GGPoker
Only three people entered the Bryn High Rollers $5k on Monday, and Jake Schindler defeated Ali Imsirovic and AndyAtTheBike to claim the $14,250 first prize. Schindler also finished second in a second Bryn High Rollers $5k that attracted 16-entrants. AndyAtTheBike won that one for $49,400.
When
the proverbials hit the fan, it’s natural for humanity to veer towards
pessimism, cynicism, and doom-mongering. Still, amongst these sceptics
exist those that seek opportunity – people, capable of pivoting at a
moment’s notice, turning woes into wins.
As
European mortuary slabs became the epicentre of the Coronavirus
(COVID-19) pandemic, it left most of us in a rabbit in the headlight
state of inertia over our wellbeing and economic fate. Then there were
the others.
Live Tournaments Forced to Cancel Events
Live
tournaments around the globe had no choice, but to suspend operations
pending something, anything. While costs might need slashing, and the
lifespan of jobs connected to these tours start to dwindle. In essence,
the brands need to endure, so they can once again return to the top deck
of their double-decker when the microscopes are no longer required, and
so, into the arms of online poker rooms, they will run.
The
latest to receive a ladder of support is Poker Central, and once again
standing at the bottom is partypoker. The couple have worked together
before, cross-pollinating content created by Poker Central’s Super High
Roller Bowl (SHRB), and the partypoker LIVE MILLIONS tour, and they’re
at it again.
The Poker Masters Online Series
partypoker.com will host The Poker Masters Online Series April 12-26. There will be 30 high roller events with buy-ins ranging between $10,300 and $51,000, with $15.25m in guarantees parcelled and ready for the best in the business to tear off a corner.
As
with the live version, players earn leaderboard points dependant on
finishing positions, and the player sitting on the highest perch at the
end of the 30-event marathon will collect an additional $50,000 and a
coveted Poker Masters Purple Jacket.
You can find the full schedule below.
As
with Black Friday, when the world of online poker went from being the
meat to the pie crust, people suffered, while others took the
opportunity to pivot in the most fantastic ways, the Coronavirus
presents a similar opportunity.
Online
poker operators can do the quickstep, and they should, not through
morbidity, but because it makes good business sense, and
self-quarantined people need an outlet other than Season #3 of Ozarks on
Netflix.
At the moment, there is a clear leader.
partypoker
is leveraging their live tournament relationships to outstanding
effect, and when it comes to the fruit, it will bear you’re looking at
pineapples and melons, not berries and grapes.
There
was a time when people scoffed at the idea that partypoker could be
bigger than PokerStars, but watching the speed, flexibility and
efficiency of partypoker at work, real-time, it does make you wonder.
Once Triton cancelled its Super High Roller Series in Jeju, tour operators in that region had no option but to do the same. The pandemic has since spread across the globe, with Europe the epicentre, and those spores found beneath the microscope are now forcing live tour operators to fold away their tables and ditch their filthy chips.
The
Coronavirus is highly adaptable, making the leap from Pangolins and bats to
humans. It will continue to evolve, and we place our hope in the brightest
scientific minds in the world, that we develop at a faster rate.
Companies
that rely on live tournaments for EBITDA will also have to evolve, and right
now, the best possible solution is to shift their flagship events online. The
law makes the switch more challenging than a decade ago, but it’s more than a
viable move for online poker operators; it’s a valuable opportunity.
Not
only can the likes of PokerStars and partypoker pivot by creating online
alternatives of their beloved live brands, but live tour operators with no
ability to offer an online product will be keen to partner with the best in the
business.
It’s
also a long term positive for the online poker community as the live tour
operators have to include in their risk assessment mitigation for future
pandemics of this nature, and that could lead to a more competitive online
poker landscape.
partypoker: The Role Models
partypoker
is currently leading the way when it comes to creating a virtual world that we
can call home, and is an inviting prospect for live tour operators.
The
online poker operator excels when it comes to creating value-laden partnerships
thanks to its sterling work with partypoker LIVE, putting them in a fantastic
spot to leverage those relationships post COVID-19.
One of
those partnerships is with the World Poker Tour (WPT), and for the first time,
that partnership is moving into the virtual realm in a big way. The pair have
coupled-up to host online satellites to live events in the past, but the
forthcoming WPT Online Championships is the first sense that Adam Pliska and
the gang are prepared to put a whole leg into the virtual waters, and not
merely dab a toe.
The
series runs on partypoker, May 10-26, with $30m in GTD prize money. The $3,200
buy-in, $5m GTD WPT Online Championship is the blaze in this fire, but there
are plenty of other hot coals.
The
WPT500 brand hits the online market for the first time when between May 10-18,
players invest $530 per bullet throughout ten Day 1’s in this $1m, GTD feast of
fun. The WPTDeepStacks brand also moves online for the first time with a $1,600
buy-in, $1m GTD event scheduled for May 25-26.
As you
would expect, high rollers get to have some fun with a $25,000 buy-in, $3m GTD
WPT Super High Roller Challenge on May 21, a $10,300, $2m GTD High Roller, May
24-25, and a wide variety of $5k buy-ins to boot.
The
series also traverses the live world with the winner of the WPT Online
Championships Main Event earning a seat into the $15,000 Tournament of
Champions should the event go ahead as planned.
Another
partypoker alliance involves the Irish Poker Open. The oldest event outside of
the World Series of Poker (WSOP) celebrates its 40th year on the partypoker
platform with a €1m GTD Main Event. The schedule will follow shortly.
Then Future
If the
WPT Online Championships is a success, then why not allow it to breathe once
COVID-19 is in the rearview mirror? While it doesn’t make sense to do this for
the Irish Open. It does make sense for the WPT to have an online leg, with the
winner securing a seat to the TOC, and there’s no reason why a coveted WPT
Champions Club spot shouldn’t also be in the goodie bag.
partypoker
recently held their first MILLIONS Super High Roller Series in Sochi, Russia.
If we have seen the end of live tournament poker this side of 2021, then Rob
Yong’s already indicated his willingness to replicate that event online, and
that’s in addition to the MILLIONS Online leg that is currently in situ.
PokerStars
are keeping their powder dry for now. But, what would stop them adding themed
online European Poker Tour (EPT) stops to their online offerings, or expand the
World Championships and Spring Championships of Poker idea to fill in the
blanks.
Elon
Musk wants to terraform Mars, knowing that at some point, human beings will
make Earth uninhabitable. Maybe, we don’t have to venture that far. Perhaps,
the movie ‘Ready Player One’ has the answer, and humanities future exists in a
virtual world. If that’s the case, then online poker isn’t dying; it’s
preparing for all-out domination.
Mikita Badziakouski is mustard.
The three-time Triton Poker Super High Roller Series champion stepped on the top podium for the 13th time in his career after taking down Event #4: $50,000 No-Limit Hold’em (NLHE) at the partypoker MILLIONS Super High Roller Series at the Casino Sochi in Russia.
The partypoker ambassador has had a quiet start to 2020 on the tournament front with only one score on the board (a runner-up finish to Luc Greenwood in an AUD 50,000 NLHE event at the Australian Poker Open), but you can’t keep a man like Badz down for long.
It took only two hands for the final table experience to feel like a sauna full of kippers for Wiktor Malinowski. The Pole, who made deep runs in £/€100k events in Europe circa 2019, jammed over an Artur Martirosyan open for eight bigs holding KdQh, and the Russian called with the superior AsKh. The deck favoured the best hand, and Malinowski exited in the seventh position.
Sam Greenwood began the final table as the shorty with one move. The Canadian moved all-in without any takers until Mikita Badziakouski looked him up with pocket sevens. It was a race against Greenwood’s QhJh, and running queens on the two latter streets saw him double up.
It was a move worth an additional $45,000, as Cary Katz and not Greenwood hit the rail next.
Greenwood moved all-in for 840,000, and KsJd and Katz called for his tournament life holding pocket sixes. The second race in quick succession for Greenwood and this one went the same way as the last one. Katz’s run ended in sixth place, his second final table appearance of the series.
Greenwood was heading for the attic, and then he ended up in the basement.
Firstly, Greenwood got it in with AsQd versus the pocket kings of Badziakouski. No, luck there. Then the Canadian got it in with pocket nines and lost out to Martirosyan’s Ah7d after the Russian hit a further two aces on the river. Just like that, Greenwood went from the shorty to the chip leader to the fifth-place finisher.
Aaron Van Blarcum’s third final table of the series ended with a fourth-place finish. Badziakouski opened from position holding AcKs, and then called when Van Blarcum jammed with As9h from the big blind. Domination station. The nines did an ostrich, and Van Blarcum went looking for some peach brandy.
We reached heads-up one hand later when Martirosyan chopped down another Greenwood after A9o beat QJo.
The heads-up between Martirosyan and Badziakouski began even in chips. The Belarusian had the experience edge. Badziakouski opened up a lead before the Russian doubled back into contention. Still, the double-up didn’t change anything as Badziakouski put his foot down and accelerated away once more, this time never looking back.
In the final hand, Martirosyan limp-called the button holding Qs6s, and him and Badziakouski (holding Kh9d) saw a flop of 7h6h6c. Badziakouski led for 220,000 with his airball, and Martirosyan, holding trips, raised to 540,000; Badziakouski called. The Th on the turn handed Badziakouski a flush draw. Martirosyan moved all-in with the best hand, and after some deep thinking, Badziakouski called.
“I’m a fish.” Said Badziakouski.
Only a heart would stop Martirosyan from doubling into the chip lead, and that’s what hit the deck as the 5h handed Badziakouski the title with his flush beating trips.
ITM Results
Mikita Badziakouski – $765,000
Artur Martirosyan – $495,000
Luc Greenwood – $337,500
Aaron Van Blarcum – $225,000
Sam Greenwood – $180,000
Cary Katz – $135,000
Wiktor Malinowski – $112,500
As another week sends us hurtling towards our inevitable doom, it’s time to bring you up to speed with the narratives that have spewed forth from the soap opera that is high stakes poker.
We begin with live tournament poker, and there is only one place for high stakes poker players to be this week, and that’s the World Series of Poker Europe (WSOPE) in the King’s Casino, Rozvadov, Czech Republic.
The €25,500 No-Limit High Roller was a resounding success with 133-entrants ensuring Leon Tsoukernik surpassed the €1m Guarantee by three-times as much. The final table housed such luminaries as former Triton Poker Series Main Event winners, Mikita Badziakouski and Manig Loeser, and the former One Drop High Roller winner, Dominik Nitsche. But it was the Australian Michael Addamo who banked the €848,702 first-prize after beating Christian Rudolph, heads-up, for his second World Series of Poker (WSOP) bracelet of the summer, after winning The Marathon in Las Vegas.
Outside of the WSOP, but within the walls of the King’s Casino, and the owner, Leon Tsoukernik, announced three more high rollers this week.
Here they are:
23 October – €25,000 King’s Short Deck Championship
30 October – €100,000 Leon’s High Roller
31 October – €50,000 King’s Short Deck Championship II
As you can tell, one of those is old news, and it wasn’t anywhere near as successful as the event Addamo won.
Only 15-entrants (nine unique, six re-entries) showed an interest in the €25,000 King’s Short Deck Championship, and Mikita Badziakouski beat Ivan Leow, heads-up, to bank the €213,750 first-prize, with Ivan Leow taking €142,500 for his efforts.
From the past to the future, and Phil Hellmuth, Doug Polk and Ryan Fee will be amongst the high rollers attending World Crypto Con (WCC) at the ARIA Resort & Casino in Las Vegas on the final day of October.
The trio will compete in the world’s first blockchain poker tournament. Hellmuth is acting in an emcee role, and both Polk and Fee are present because Coin Central (an online crypto news channel co-founded by the pair) is partnering with WCC.
Other celebrities/poker players scheduled to compete are the 1998 WSOP Main Event winner, Scotty Nguyen, Litecoin creator Charlie Lee, and former Disney star and crypto entrepreneur Brock Pierce.
Live Cash Games: Bobby’s Room on PokerGo; Baldwin and Co Hit WSOPE
Moving swiftly on to the live cash games, and this week Poker Central announced that Bobby’s Room would be migrating to PokerGo for the week. The Godfather themed Poker After Dark (PAD) show would move away from its traditional No-Limit Hold’em offering by showcasing the $1,500/$3,000 Mixed Game that often takes place in the Bellagio. Bryn Kenney, Gus Hansen, Brian Rast, Scott Seiver and Daniel “Jungleman” Cates were a few of the names scheduled to take part.
Interestingly this week, Dan Smith took to Twitter to list his most ‘fun’ players to compete with when playing live tournaments and the Jungleman was top of that list. I am sure he is just as much of a blast playing live cash games if he can keep awake long enough that is.
The cast of Bobby’s Room may be moving to the ARIA this week, but the man they named the gaff after is not.
Bobby Baldwin is amongst a host of high rollers currently playing in some pretty hefty Pot-Limit Omaha (PLO) games in the King’s Casino, Rozvadov during the WSOPE.
The game of choice seems to be €1/2/4k PLO.
As you can see in this snap, joining Baldwin are the likes of Leon Tsoukernik, Ben Lamb, Matt Kirk, Tony G, and Rob Yong.
Listen or Watch: Negreanu on Jon Taffer, and Luckychewy on YouTube
Neither Daniel Negreanu or Andrew “luckychewy” Lichtenberger are at ARIA or King’s Casino, but if you are missing them both you’re in luck.
Negreanu appeared on Jon Taffer’s podcast this week where he talked about his beginning in the game, the need to treat poker as a business, and much more.
And LuckyChewy popped up on his YouTube Channel to share his thoughts on Compassion, Love, Freedom.
Out And About
Michael ‘The Grinder’ Mizrachi is on his way to Australia. The four-time WSOP bracelet winner and two-time World Poker Tour (WPT) Champion is in Queensland with the former WSOP Main Event champion, Joe Hachem.
The pair will light up the Australian Poker Open Grand Final with a Masterclass for the fans, before competing in a Best of Three Heads-Up Exhibition match with $5k on the line.
A post shared by Joe Hachem (@josephhachemofficial) on
And Dan Smith is taking a mini-sabbatical from the high stakes poker tables by taking up a spot of snowboarding in Japan. Smith wants to learn some basic conversational Japanese ahead of his trip, so if you have any tips, send him a tweet to @DanSmithHolla.
Charity: Smith & Loeser Shine
Sticking with Smith for a few sentences longer and the man who once raised $4.3m for effective charities (with a little help from the Daily Fantasy Sports stars the Crowley Brothers), was firing a few more bucks to charity this week. Smith chose to send $2,000 to the Lineage Project, a non-profit introducing mindfulness programs to the incarcerated, homeless and vulnerable youth.
Check them out, here. http://www.lineageproject.org/
And the former Triton Poker Series Montenegro Main Event winner, Manig Loeser, was also in a charitable mood this week. It turns out that the German star donated €3,000 to a man who lives in the middle of nowhere so he can take care of over 450 stray dogs.
The location in Serbia was chosen because it was cheap enough and remote enough that it could house so many dogs but doesn’t possess running water or electricity, and with temperatures dropping to 25 below that’s a problem. Loser’s €3,000 donation helped the dog-carers install a solar panel to power a water pump.
Check out the story, right here.
With the $20m Guarantee Online MILLIONS scheduled to take place in a month’s time, partypoker has drafted in a little help to promote the event prompting speculation of potential sponsorship deals in the offing.
Jason and Natasha Mercier ran a competition on Twitter where players had to guess how many nappies Jason had changed in 2018. The answer was a measly 11, and eight people won an online satellite into the big one, including Ismael Bojang.
The other high roller parading partypoker promotions online is Sorel Mizzi. No nappies, just an ad.
Will the Merciers and Mizzi be joining partypoker?
Finally, if you are out of work, and feel you have what it takes to front a Twitch show, then head to Bill Perkins’ Twitter feed. The high stakes star is currently searching for a host for his Thirst Lounge Twitch Channel, and the gig looks better than this one, that’s for sure. The winner gets a staking deal, use of his private yacht for streaming, use of his house in St.Kitts for the same purpose and housing.
And that’s this week’s Pinnacle.
