Tag: WSOPC Las Vegas

What does a grassy knoll and Coronavirus (COVID-19) have in common?

For the first time, since Americans wept en masse due to the assassination of J.F.Kennedy, every Las Vegas casino went dark, and unlike the last closure on November 25, 1963 (one day), we don’t know when the lights will go back on.

Nevada State Gov. Steve Sisolak shut down the gambling mecca of the West after COVID-19 cases rose to 50, with one death, and followed similar moves from at least ten more governors. 

That’s terrible news for the land-based casino industry, mitigated somewhat if you have an online gambling arm hidden underneath your sleeve. 

The World Series of Poker (WSOP) has thrown a sufficient number of punches in their bid to help resuscitate an ailing online poker market, repeatedly kicked in the kidneys thanks to Black Friday. 

And it looks like a reward is nigh.

With the World Series of Poker Circuit (WSOPC) sidelined due to a spear from the Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, organisers of one the most iconic poker brands switched the action to their online premises.

What followed was an 18 gold ring series, taking place over 18-days, dubbed the WSOP.com Online Super Circuit. The series began on March 14 and will run until March 31. It’s an unparalleled success for the fledgeling online poker arm, surpassing the $1m guarantee in the first six events.

High Roller Interest

The World Poker Tour (WPT) Champions Club member, James Carroll, won that sixth event (Event #6: $320, $50k GTD NLHE). Carroll took out a field of 726-entrants (461 unique) to win the $53,361 first prize. You don’t find Carroll flicking it in $25,000+ events, but $10,000 events have become a staple. 

Other high rollers that have made final tables in the first six events include Matt “berkey11_s4y” Berkey, Lauren’ sycamore22′ Roberts, and Joseph “biueberry’ Cheong.

The WSOP has also promised a free seat into the 2019/2020 Global Casino Championship to the winner of the Main Event and the Online Circuit Casino Championship winner (the player who amasses the most points during the series). Currently Matt “RubberFist” Stout sits on top of that leaderboard, which is more comfortable than sitting on top of his rubber fist. Roberts and Carroll also feature in the list.

That Pesky Adelson

The WSOP put the kibosh on the WSOPC in the early rounds of the fight against COVID-19. Still, the WSOP is keeping its powder dry on the fate on every poker player’s Christmas Day.

If the event does go the way of the WSOPC (and the chances are high that it will), then you assume Seth Palansky, Jack Effel and co. will introduce an online WSOP bracelet schedule that must be sitting on a WSOP employee’s Google Drive. 

If that does happen, as with the WSOPC, it’s sad that the whole world won’t get to take part, and worse than that, 47 American states will also have to read about the headlines on PokerNews.

One of the men you can thank for keeping the tourniquet tight around online poker’s neck is the Las Vegas Sands owner, Sheldon Adelson. How ironic then, that the market wiped 40% of the stock price of Las Vegas Sands, as it closes, along with the rest of Sin City on a UFN basis, and he doesn’t have an online option to fall back on.

Not that it will wipe the gentility from any sentence that mentions him, as the 40% uppercut means his net worth drizzles from $34 billion to $28 billion. 

Here are the remaining highlights of the series for interested high rollers.

Online Super Circuit Schedule

29 March – $525 (3x re-entry) $200k GTD Main Event

31 March – $1,000 (2x re-entry) $75k GTD High Roller 

In three-months time, the World Series of Poker (WSOP) opens its doors for the 51st Annual poker extravaganza, and what better way to prepare than to take down an event at the World Series of Poker Circuit (WSOPC) taking place in the same gaff.

The Rio All-Suite Hotel & Casino was the venue for the $2,200 No-Limit Hold’em (NLHE) High Roller as part of the WSOPC Las Vegas, and Martin Zamani took a whip to the 179-entrants, and they all tapped out.

While Zamani isn’t a high stakes reg, his last win before this one was at the 2019 PokerStars Caribbean Adventure (PCA), winning a $25k NLHE event for $895,110. His latest first past the post moment is the third of his career.

Zamani has now earned $2.1m playing live tournaments. He finished 3/43 in a $10,000 NLHE during the World Poker Tour (WPT) Five Diamond World Poker Classic in December, and 11/169 in the AUD 25,000 Challenge at the Aussie Millions in January.

To win the title Zamani had to overcome a final table containing more gold rings than Mr T. Roland Israelishvilli had six, Jasthi Kumar had four, Nick Pupillo had three, Viet Vo had a couple, and Brent Roberts and Alexander Rocha had one apiece.

Zamani had none.

Viet Vo, won the WSOPC Las Vegas II Main Event this time last year, beating 952-entrants to win the $274,030 first prize, and would finish eighth in this one. Pupillo finished fourth in that event and made it to heads-up in this.

Here is the pistachio nutshell action.

The Pistachio Nutshell Action

The final day began with 70-players in the haybarn looking for the fork, and by the time only two tables remained, Zamani had found it.

With the final table set, Vo was the first to exit when his deuces lost a race to Michael Rossitto’s AK, and then the experienced Israelishvilli fell to the experienced Jasthi Kuma when K7 beat AT.

It was at this point in proceedings that Rossitto started throwing bodies down the stairwell. His AK beat the KK of Kumar to send the former WSOPC and WPTDeepStacks Champ into the cold night air. Then his pocket sevens outdrew Alex Rocha’s ladies when a third seven hit the turn.

Zamani took care of Brent Roberts when AQ beat K8, and then overcame Rossitto’s massive chip lead to axe him in the third spot when 98 beat A5, blind on blind, with Zamani hitting a straight.

Heads-Up

Pupillo was the most experienced heads-up player when it came to the live tournament end game, winning 13 and losing 15 of his 28-encounters. Zamani had played two, won two.

Make that three.

Pupillo faced a significant chip disadvantage and did double-up twice, but finally fell when JJ beat K8. Pupillo also lost versus Jeffrey Copeland in a $300 NLHE side event at the Heartland Poker Tour (HPT) in St Louis a few days before hopping into this one.

Here are the final table results.

Final Table Results

  1. Martin Zamani – $89,143
  2. Nick Pupillo – $55,085
  3. Michael Rossitto – $38,365
  4. Brent Roberts – $27,334
  5. Alex Rocha – $19,932
  6. Jasthi Kumar – $14,884
  7. Roland Isrealashvilii – $11,388
  8. Viet Vo – $8,934

Three more stars who echoed deep into this one were Justin Young (11th), Aaron Massey (13th), and Brian Green (14th).