The year in review for 2019 continues with the second part that covers June through December. The World Series of Poker celebrated its 50th anniversary with a blowout at the Rio in Las Vegas. Hossein Ensan from Germany won the second-largest Main Event in WSOP history and he banked $10 million. PokerStars also announced the 2020 PSPC, which will take place in Barcelona in August 2020. PokerStars was also sold to Flutter (aka Paddy Power/Betfair). The Mike Postle cheating scandal also broke after he got caught cheating on the Stones Gambling Hall live stream.
Are you ready for the second half of our glorious 2019: Year in Review? The Big Stories, Part 2 covers June through the end of the calendar year. The 2019 World Series of Poker kicked off at the end of May for the 50th anniversary of the annual poker festival in Las Vegas. Germany's Hossein Ensan won the Main Event for a $10 million score, which is sick any way you cut it.
PokerStars announced a second installment of the PokerStars Players Championship (PSPC), which will take place in Barcelona during the EPT Barcelona. PokerStars will be doling out Platinum Passes for the 2020 PSPC just like they did for the original PSPC in the Bahamas. They also officially canceled the PCA because they were about to be sold. Flutter acquired the Stars Group from Amaya and Stars joined the conglomerate known as Paddy Power/Betfair.
The Rio was officially sold to Imperial. Who knows what they will actually do with the land/property (baseball anyone?). But the WSOP will continue to be played out at the Rio in 2020 despite the sale.
If you missed 2019: The Big Stories, Part 1... check it out. If you're caught up, let's just get down to the nitty gritty.
JUNE 2019
German pro Ole Schemion took down the 2019 Baccarat Crystal WPT Tournament of Champions and defeated Tony Dunst heads-up for the WPT TOC title and $440,395.
British pro Ben Heath shipped the 2019 WSOP $50,000 High Roller title for a score worth $1,484,085.
Jim Betchel ended a 26-year drought by winning his first WSOP bracelet since he took down the 1993 Main Event. Betchel shipped Event #21 $10,000 NL 2-7 Lowball Draw.
The Grinder won his fifth career bling with a victory in Event #27 $1,500 Stud 8.
Greg FBT Mueller won his second bracelet with a victory in 10K HORSE.
Adam Friedman notched his third bracelet by winning Event #35 $10,000 Dealers Choice. Friedman won the same event in 2018 and he shipped back-to-back 10K Dealers Choice events. Friedman picked off Shaun Deeb heads up to win the 10K Dealer's Choice and he denied Deeb another piece of bling.
Johnny World Hennigan won the 10K Stud championship for his sixth career bling. He also denied KidPoker from winning a seventh bracelet.
Shocker that Luke Schwartz, Ari Engel, and Stephen Chidwick had never won bracelets heading into the 2019 WSOP. They all popped their bracelet cherry with victories at the 2019 WSOP.
Philip Hui took down the coveted Chip Reese trophy when he won the $50K Poker Player's Mixed Games Championship for $1,099,311. He faded a field of 74 runners. Also, Anthony Zinno won his second career bracelet with a sensational victory in Event #60 $1,500 PLO8.
JULY 2019
Sejin Park won the Colossus Running of the Donks after he outlasted a ginormous field of 13,109 and Scott Seiver won third bling with a win in Event #62 $10,000 Razz Championship.
Nick Schulman won the 10K PLO8 event for his third bling.
David Bakes Baker took down the $1,500 Limit Hold'em event.
Aussie pro Robert Campbell became the first multi-winner at the 2019 WSOP with his second bling after he won $10K Stud 8.
An earthquake rattled Las Vegas during the second day of the Main Event, which was the second-largest Main Event in WSOP history.
Daniel Negreanu was a bridesmaid for the second time at the 2019 WSOP when he lost heads-up to Keith Tiltson in the 100K High Roller.
Germany's Hossein Ensan bagged the chip lead heading into the WSOP Main Event final table that also included Garry Gates, Zhen Cai, Kevin Maahs, Alex Livingston, Dario Sammartino, Milos Skrbic, Timothy Su, and Nick Marchington.
Germany's Hossein Ensan went the distance to win 2019 WSOP Main Event for a cool $10 million. Garry Gates finished in fourth place.
Chris Moneymaker and David Oppenheim were inducted into the World Series of Poker Hall of Fame.
At the end of the 2019 WSOP in Las Vegas, Shaun Deeb finished second overall in the Player of the Year standings. Robert Campbell heads into the WSOP-Europe with the overall POY lead.
Mad Marty Wilson passed away, which was a bummer to the British poker community.
AUGUST 2019
Aaron Zang won the Triton Million for Charity in London for £13.8 million. Zang defeated Bryn Kenney heads-up for the title.
Meanwhile, Kenney officially headed north of $55 million in career winnings. The New York pro moved into the Top 10 on the all-time money list and passed Justin Bonomo.
Charlie Carrel and Linus Loeliger also took down Triton Poker London events.
Wai Kin Yong won the Triton Series £100,000 NL Main Event in London. Yong picked off Paul Phua heads-up to win £2,591,695 or roughly $3.15 million USD.
Daria 'Scarlett_D' Feshchenko from Russia became the latest ambassador for 888poker.
Czech Republic's Lucas Zaskodny outlasted 504 players and won $1 million to take down the parytpoker Live Europe Main Event.
partypoker cracked down on bots once again.
At the EPT Barcelona, Sergi Reixach binked the €100K High Roller for $2 Million.
Juan Pardo won a pair of single day High Rollers at the EPT Bracelona including the €25K High Roller for €491,600 and the €50K for a little over €1 million.
Sandra Mohr directed a documentary titled "Poker Queens", which followed several notable female players during the 2019 WSOP including Liv Boeree, Jen Harman, Kathy Liebert, E-Tay, Kelly Minkin, Kristen Bicknell, and Loni Hardwood.
PokerStars announced a second version of the PSPC with the 2020 PSPC that will take place in Barcelona at the end of the summer in 2020.
SEPTEMBER 2019
Sweden's Simon Brandstrom faded 1,988 runners and binked the 2019 EPT Barcelona Main Event for €1.3 million.
Vince Van Patten's new film '7 Days to Vegas' debuted on various streaming services. VVP wrote, produced, and acted in the film (prodced by the WPT), which featured Phil Hellmuth, Phil Laak, Jen Tilly, and Antonio Esfandiari.
Ronnie Bardah became the latest poker pro to appear on a reality TV show when he appeared on Survivor: Island of the Idols. Sadly, he became the first player to bust on the newest season of Survivor.
Jungleman and Illya Trincher backed Phil Ivey at the 2019 WSOP, but the IRS withheld some of his earnings, which irked Ivey's backers. So they sued the Man in order to get back what they rightfully deserve.
The rumors were true, but PokerStars confirmed the harsh reality that the PCA is dunzo and they will not return in 2020.
Speaking of rumors, word got out that the Rio was sold off by Caesars. The folks at the WSOP confirmed that the WSOP will remain at the Rio Casino in Vegas in 2020 (and 2021) no matter what happens.
A week later, word got out that the Rio was officially sold to Imperial for a whopping $516.3 Million.
Ex-hockey player Donald Maloney shipped the 2019 WPT Borgata Poker Open.
If you dig Hellmuth meltdowns, we posted a good one.
We also stumbled up a horde of rejected screenplays for the sequel to Rounders, which included 'Rounders 2 Dragon Hand' and 'The Revenge of Teddy KGB'.
Al Alvarez, author of "Biggest Game in Town" and the greatest writer in poker history, passed away at the age of 90.
OCTOBER 2019
The 2019 WSOP Europe went down in RozVegas. Kahle Burns won two bracelets at the 2019 WSOP Europe with a victory in Short Deck and the 25K Platinum High Roller.
Chin Wei Lim shipped the €100K Diamond High Roller for €2.2 million. James Chen wins €250,000 Super High Roller for €2,844,215.
Besim Hot took down the €25,500 Mixed Games event and denied Phil Hellmuth a shot at winning bracelet #16.
The Mike Postle cheating scandal blew up. Postle, a Sacramento, California based pro, got caught cheating on the Stones Gambling Hall live stream. Veronica Brill (aka @Angry_Polak) initially tipped off poker Twitter and the community jumped into action, especially Joey Ingram.
The Stars Group (PokerStars) sold to Flutter (Paddy Power/Betfair)
NOVEMBER 2019
There was a slight mix up with the POY standings due to a data entry error. Initially, the WSOP awarded Daniel Negreanu the 2019 POY. However, a poker reporter noticed an odd error and brought the mistake to the attention to the suits. They quickly corrected the error and correctly awarded the POY title to Aussie pro Robert Campbell.
Alexandros Kolonias shipped the 2019 WSOP Europe Main Event for €1.13 million.
The WSOP Europe ended and ElkY won the final event in RozVegas when he shipped the Running of the Colossus Eurodonks for his second bracelet.
Adrian Mateos binked the partypoker MILLIONS World Bahamas for $1.1 million.
Roughly six-months after leaving Stars, Daniel Negreanu became a pitchman for GGPoker.
Canadian pro Daniel Dvoress binked the 2019 Super High Roller Bowl Bahamas for $4.08 million.
Sam Soverel wins 2019 Poker Masters $50K Main Event and Purple Jacket.
Oscar Isaac and Paul Schrader are slated to make a new poker movie titled 'The Card Counter'.
Phil Hellmuth lost a $20K tennis prop bet.
DECEMBER 2019
Benjamin 'frenchsniperrr' Chalot wins partypoker 2019 MILLIONS Online for $2.2 million
Alex Foxen took down the WPT Bellagio Five Diamond Classic.
Mikalai Pobal won the 2019 EPT Prague for €1,005,600 and he became the second person to win multiple events on the European Poker Tour.
Klay Thompson, NBA champion, revealed that he lost his shirt playing high-stakes poker with other members of the Golden State Warriors.
If you're looking for belated Christmas gift ideas, you can always gift someone a Masterclass with Phil Ivey and Daniel Negreanu.
The 2020 WSOP released key dates for the 51st version of the WSOP.
Oklahoma Johnny Hale passed away at 92.
Don't forget about the 2019: Big Stories, Part 1.
