One of the last remaining characters in poker, Minneapolis Jim Meehan, passed away at the age of 66. The attorney and poker pro from Minnesota won a WSOP bracelet in 2003, made a couple of televised final tables during the poker boom, and banked over $1.4 million in career earnings.
Bitcoin, Ethereum and other cryptocurrencies are hitting lows for the year. Current prices are similar to August 2017 levels, shortly after the 2017 World Series of Poker ended and numerous poker pros were heavily vested in crypto. Will the drastic drop see a significant number of crypto-vested poker players return to the daily grind? Which notables will come out of retirement after stepping away? Or is it time to borrow money from Timex or Johnny Bax and buy as much BTC as you can?
The largest and richest online poker tournament is finally over. The 2018 partypoker MILLIONS Online is complete. The $5,000 buy-in event attracted 4,367 runners and a prize pool in excess of $21.8 million. Tthe top four place paid out at least $1 million. With two remaining, Manuel 'Sheparentao' Ruivo and Pim 'ForMatherRussia' de Goede were almost even stacked and agreed for a chop. Sheparentao held more chips and was awarded first place and $2,329,943 in cash. ForMatherRussia locked up $2,309,994 for second place.
Another historic moment in the online poker world. partypoker pulled off their epic feat with a successful partypoker MILLIONS Online event. It had a $20 million guarantee, but it never kicked in because 4,367 entrants took a shot at the MILLIONS Online, which boosted the prize pool in excess of $21.8 million. First place will pay out $2,729,376. Currently, 29 players are remaining with wheatforsheep the big stack (566M) and they'll play down to a champion today. Chris Kruk and Chance Kornuth are in the top ten.
Thor Hansen passed away at the age of 71 after a prolonged battle with terminal cancer. The Olso-born Hansen is regarded as both the Godfather of Norwegian Poker as well as the Godfather of Scandinavian Poker. Hansen won two WSOP bracelets with his first occurring back in 1988 in Seven-card Stud. Hansen finished his illustrious career as third on the all time Norwegian money list.
Some prop bets are funny. Others are weird. And then there's the dangerous ones. Two poker players met each other playing in a cash game at the Bellagio and hammered out the terms of a $100,000 prop bet. Aussie pro Rory Young bet American grinder Rich Alati that Alati could not live inside a bathroom in total darkness for 30 days with no electronic devices and zero interaction with people. There were some finer details ironed out between the two and a private live stream was set up to keep tabs on Alati. The entire event is being recorded for a potential reality series. At the present moment, Alati has been in the dark for ten days and counting.
Pavel Plesuv outlasted 898 players to win the 2018 WPT Seminole Rock N' Roll Poker Open at the Seminole Hard Rock Casino in Hollywood, Florida. Plesuv picked off James Gilbert heads up to win $504,820, plus a seat into the season-ending Tournament of Champions at the Aria Casino in Las Vegas.
Hollywood, Florida is the latest stop for the World Poker Tour. The WPT Seminole Rock N' Roll Poker Open at Seminole Hard Rock Casino played down to the final six. Pavel Plesuv bagged up the big stack at the end of Day 4. Ravi Raghavan is the short stack, but he's looking for his second WPT title. Chris Kennedy, Jim Gilbert, Jeremy Joseph, and Marius Gierse round out the final table. First place pays out $504,820 plus a seat into the season-ending Tournament of Champions at the Aria Casino in Las Vegas.
Short Deck poker was the main focus at the 2018 Triton Super High Roller series hosted in July in Jeju, South Korea. The biggest rage among the high roller scene was recorded for everyone's viewing pleasure. Phil Ivey, Tom Dwan, Paul Phua, Andrew Robl, and Mikita Badziakouski were involved in big hands as they played down to a champion. Kenneth Kee from Singapore would go on to win this event for approximately $2.9 million, but he dragged a key pot in a crazy cooler with A-A holding up against K-K and Q-Q.
The World Poker Tour released the schedule for the second half of their current season. The second half of Season XVII will include ten "premier events" in the United Kingdom, Russia, Spain, Canada, and popular gambling destinations in the United States of America. The Aria Casino in Las Vegas will host back-to-back events starting at the end of May with the WPT ARIA Summer Championship, followed by Baccarat Crystal WPT Tournament of Champions.
Filipe Oliverira from Portugal outlasted a field of 1815 runners to win the 2018 Caribbean Poker Party Main Event Championship. Oliverira edged out American Craig Mason to win $1.5 million. The overlay kicked in for this $10 million guaranteed prize pool. Also, Roberto Romanello survived a stacked final table to win the $10K High Roller for $450,000. Romanello chopped heads-up with Mustpha Kanit.
The 2018 Caribbean Poker Party is winding down at Baha Mar Resort and the Super High Roller Championships are in the books. The $250,000 buy-in affair attracted 34 of the biggest and baddest SHR gurus, but German pro Steffen Sontheimer was the last player standing. Sontheimer banked $3,685,000 for first place. American pro Sean Winter had another runner-up finish in the Bahamas.
Crunch time in the Bahamas for the partypoker 2018 Caribbean Poker Party. The $250,000 Super High Roller Championships is down to six players and the final table stream will resume at 1pm local time in the Bahamas. Steffen Sontheimer and David Peters are the two big stacks, while Ike Haxton, Sean Winter, Nick Petrangelo, and Mikita Badziakouski are still left in the hunt. First place pays approximately $3.7 million. Also, the $5,300 buy-in Main Event concluded Day 2B and only 123 players remain out of 1,815 entrants. Senthuran Vijayaratnam is the chip leader and Jason Koon is second overall.
Down in the Bahamas, partypoker has been hosting the 2018 Caribbean Poker Party. The $25,500 MILLIONS World event was part of this year's festivites. American cash game specialist Roger Teska outlasted 394 players to win $2,000,000. Teska defeated Steve O'Dwyer heads-up for the title and outlasted a final table that also included Paul Tedeschi, Ben Tollerene, Rainer Kempe, Niall Farrell and Joao Vieira.
The partypoker 2018 Caribbean Poker Party is in full swing at Baha Mar in the Bahamas. The $250,000 Super High Roller Championships is playing down to its final table watch the action on the live stream now.
There's a partypoker Caribbean Poker Party going down right now. The $50,000 Super High Roller at the Baha Mar in the Bahamas attracted 54 runners. Giuseppe Iadisernia outlasted a tough final table that included Ali Imsirovic, Benjamin Pollak, Sean Winter, Sorel Mizzi, Talal Shakerchi, and Markus Prinz to win $845K.
It's finally arrived. The future of poker is here. PokerStars VR has gone live. The combination of live poker and online poker in the virtual reality world is finally a reality. PokerStars VR is up and running.
Another day, another new game by PokerStars. This week the interwebs are buzzing about Fusion Poker, the latest derivative of poker created by PokerStars. Fusion Poker is a pot-limit cash game that starts out like Texas Hold'em, however, players are dealt a third card on the flop and a fourth hole card on the turn as the game morphs into Omaha. Fusion starts out as PLH and becomes PLO by the river. Fusion is currently available on PokerStars.
The 2018 World Series of Poker Europe finished off their tenth and final event for the series at the luxurious King's Casino in RozVegas. British pro Jack Sinclair outlasted 532 runners to win the WSOPE Main Event for a €1.1 million score. Sinclair, who final tabled the 2017 WSOP Main Event and finished in eighth place, won his first bracelet.
Martin Kabrhel won his second bracelet at the WSOP Europe when he took down Event #9 €100,000 King's Super High Roller at the King's Casino in RozVegas. Kabrhel outlasted one of the most difficult final tables in recent memory with five bracelet winners, including Michael Addamo, who won Event #9 €25K SHR two days earlier. Kabrhel defeated David Peters heads-up for the win. Kabrhel banked €2.6 million for the win.
ESPN released a new episode of their 30 for 30 podcast. This documentary series by ESPN focuses on the oral history of Chris Moneymaker and the 2003 World Series of Poker, which help fueled the poker boom. Several high-profile figures participated in the episode including Chris Moneymaker, Johnny Chan, Phil Hellmuth, tournament director Matt Savage, former WSOP media director Nolan Dalla, TV producer Matt Maranz, and Norman Chad.
Get ready Southern Europe. SECOOP is coming! The first-ever 2018 Southern Europe Championship of Poker starts on October 28, There will be a total of 149 events running from October 28 through November 12. There's at least 5 million in guaranteed prize pools with three Platinum Passes up for grabs. The Main Event starts on November 11. It has a modest €250 buy-in and €1 million guaranteed prize pool.
