Get ready for the return of the World Series of Poker on ESPN. The WSOP returns with the 2020 World Series of Poker Main Event to be aired on ESPN 2 starting at 8pm ET, or 5pm Vegas time. The broadcast includes action from the Rio Casino in Las Vega from both the WSOP Main Event final table and the ensuing heads-up match between the winner of the domestic final table and international final table. ESPN's audience will get to see how Argentina's Damien Salas won the 2020 WSOP Main Event bracelet.

Full Tilt Poker is nevermore. The brand, owned by PokerStars, will cease operations this week on February 25. Full Tilt Poker began in 2004 and the online poker site was co-founded by Ray Bitar, Jesus Ferguson, and Howard Lederer. It was shut down on Black Friday in 2011 by the feds and acquired by PokerStars and relaunched in 2012. But now it's time to say goodbye to one of the relics from the poker boom.

Getting ready to start dreaming about online poker and Tetris! The popular video game is a part of the latest promotion from PokerStars where they continue to combine popular video games and online poker. Get ready for a Tetris Spin & Go and a special Tetris Spin & Go Leader Board running thru March 28 with $1.5 million in prizes up for grabs including a juicy daily prize pool worth $33,000. Play for as little as a quarter, yes $0.25!

Las Vegas casinos hope to operate at 50% capacity by March after Nevada Governor Steve Sisolak rolled back restrictions. Casinos in Nevada can now operate at 35% capacity but will bump up at the start of March. The timing comes just before the March Madness college basketball tournament. Nevada expects to return to full 100% capacity by May.

While the poker world craves for a heads-up grudge match between Daniel Negreanu and Phil Hellmuth, the one and only Tony G wants to get in on the fun. The G wants to have a high-stake heads-up showdown against his buddy and former nemesis Phil Hellmuth. Tony G is ready to go any time, and PokerStars wants to host it, but even though Hellmuth has yet to even acknowledge, this will be hilarious hijinks if it ever happens.

If you're a fan of single-day tournaments, or have a thirst for turbo-charged tournaments, then you'll be in for a treat with the 2021 Turbo Series on PokerStars. There will be 134 tournaments and $25 million in guaranteed prize pools starting Sunday, February 21 through March 7. The marquee Turbo Series Main Event has a $1,050 buy-in and a $2 million guarantee.

Will the Poker Brat and Kid Poker have a nosebleed showdown? Daniel Negreanu issued a heads-up challenge to Phil Hellmuth after Hellmuth was highly critical of his play during his $1.2 million loss against Doug Polk. Negreanu is willing to get down and dirty with Hellmuth in a live or online or hybrid format. Hellmuth has yet to respond.

PokerStars Michigan will host Michigan Championship of Online Poker (MICOOP), their first major online poker festival and COOP-branded tournament series that includes 60 events starting February 20 and running through March 8 during this $1 million guaranteed prize pool. Buy-ins are as low as $10 and there's even a $500 High Roller. The $300 NL Main Event has a $175K guaranteed prize pool. Satellites are running now for as low as $2.

Chris Moneymaker, the fellow with the best name in poker, recently signed a deal to become a pitchman for America's Card Room (ACR). This happened a month after Moneymaker announced that he and PokerStars parted ways after a relationship that dated back to 2003 when he first made a name for himself by winning the 2003 World Series of Poker Main Event and helping usher in the glorious online poker boom.

The High Stakes Feud between Daniel Negreanu and Doug Polk reached 25,000 hands and Polk came out on top to the tune of $1.2 million after 36 rounds of two-tabling heads-up $200/$00 NL. In the final session, Negreanu lost $256K. The battle lasted a couple of months and despite the pre-challenge venom, the two gained mutual respect for each other by the end.

Several of the biggest names in Hollywood played in Hank's Home Game charity event on PokerStars over the weekend. Actor Hank Azaria, mostly known for doing multiple voices on 'The Simpsons', hosted a special virtual home game to help raise money for various charities. Some of his poker-playing thespian friends included Don Cheadle (Oceans's 11), Jon Hamm (Mad Men), Michael Cera (Arrested Development), Michael Ian Black (Wet Hot American Summer) and Josh Charles (Dead Poets Society). Michael Cera won $20,000 for First Responders First, a charity for frontline health care workers.

Doug Polk and Daniel Negreanu played the longest session to date in an effort to finish off this battle later this week. After a 7-plus hour session in Round 35, Kid Poker dropped $209K after nearly 2,000 hands. He was stuck early on and stormed back to dig himself out of a $200K hole, but Polk won two huge hands late in the session to post a big win. They have approximately 1,700 hands to go and Polk is up $946K.

After a lengthy legislative battle in Michigan, online poker officially launched one week after online gambling went live. So far, PokerStars in conjunction with the Little Traverse Bay Bands of Odawa Indians, is the first and only online poker site in Michigan, but BetMGM Poker and the Greektown is expected to get into the mix next.

The 2021 WPT Montreal Online played out at partypoker due to the pandemic forcing the event to the virtual tables. The $3,200 buy-in WPT Montreal Online attracted 888 players and the top 133 places paid out. Dan Shak was the chip leader heading into the final table but he busted in third place. Jack Hardcastle knocked out Rayan Chamas heads-up for the WPT title, $447,859 in cash, and the Mike Sexton WPT Champions Cup Event.

Down at the Seminole Hard Rock Casino in Hollywood, Florida, the World Poker Tour finished out a live tournament. Ilyas Muradi outlasted a field of 1,573 players to take down the $3,500 buy-in 2021 WPT Lucky Hearts Poker Open. When the dust settled, Ilyas Muradi edged out Robel Andemichael heads-up to win the first place prize worth over $809,515. Ronnie Bardah busted in third place. The final table also included Francis Margaglione, Jesse Lonis, Tsz Shing, and Andy Hwang.

Phil Galfond won another Galfond Challenge at Run It Once Poker. With less than 10,000 hands remaining in a 35,000-hand heads-up PLO battle, Chance Kornuth threw in the towel against Phil Galfond. Galfond banked $726,500 through 25,400 hands of $100/$200 PLO. Kornuth lost $250,000 in the side bet with Galfond at 4 to 1 odds. Galfond has now won three out of seven scheduled challenges.

One session after he lost over $300K and found himself down a cool million in the High Stakes Feud against Doug Polk, Daniel Negreanu stormed back to win $390K in a single session for the highest score to date during their 25,000-hand heads-up challenge at $200/$400 NL. Polk dropped nearly 10 buy-ins during his worst-session. After 31 rounds, Polk still leads by $612K with 6,000 hands remaining.

The high-stakes feud between Doug Polk and Daniel Negreanu is now at 17,878 hands, but for the first time since the two began their highly-anticipated joust, Negreanu officially fell below the $1 million mark. Negreanu was stuck almost a million last month, but he chipped away and won half of that back. However, Polk won four session in a row and during Round 30 he banked $298,984.93 over 770 hands. Polk currently leads with $1,002,595 with a little more than 7000 hands to go.

The World Poker Tour will have a new owner and news of the WPT sale broke today. Allied eSports Entertainment sold the World Poker Tour to a private group called Element Partners, LLC for $78,250,000. The deal will finalize in the upcoming weeks. Lyle Berman and Steve Lipscomb started the WPT 2002 and it's amazing to see the company grow into a multi-million dollar and global entity.

The 2020 WSOP Winter Online Circuit at GGPoker featured 18 ring events that began in mid-December and concluded this weekend with the Main Event championship. The Main Event attracted 6,395 runners to the $1,700 buy-in championships affair and the pool topped over $10.3 million. American pro Joe Cheong finished in third place, while Lithuania's Paulius Plausinaitis defeated 'turkey1' heads-up for the WSOP Circuit ring and a first-place prize worth over $1.2 million.

Casinos in Colorado no longer must adhere to a state law that imposed a maximum bet of $100 for all wagers thanks to Amendment 77, which included all table games and poker. The $100 max bet rule made poker cash games problematic, especially no-limit action, because you could never raise more than $100 at any given time. Under the new regulations starting May 1, all 33 Colorado casinos in Blackhak, Central City, and Cripple Creek now have the option to cap bets or allow unlimited action, which is expected to boost tourism with baccarat and high-stake poker.

Las Vegas lost another entertainment legend when word broke that Siegfried Fischbacher from Siegfried and Roy fame from their long-time running show at the Mirage Casino passed away at ag 81 from complications of pancreatic cancer. Siegfried and Roy first performed in Las Vegas in 1967 initially as a magic and illusionist act with big cats. They started working at the Mirage in 1990 before an mauling accident ended their 14-year run.