Explosions. Meltdowns. Classic Phil Hellmuth. It's not officially a poker tournament unless Phil Hellmuth loses his marbles. PokerStars TV spliced together a compilation of Hellmuth's Top 5 Meltdowns. Some of the hands were against Annie Duke, Tom “durrrr” Dwan, Philipp Gruissem, and a couple of amateurs. You even get to see a poor poker dealer get the brunt of Hellmuth's wrath.
The 2017 Aussie Millions concluded over the weekend. American Nick Petrangelo won the $100,000 Challenge for a $882K AUD score. Mike Watson finished second and Fedor Holz took third place. Holz also made the final table of the Aussie Millions Main Event. Holz finished in fifth place and won $335,000. Newcomer Shurane Vijayaram from Australia recorded his first career cash by winning the Aussie Millions Main Event. Vijayaram won his $10,000 buy-in seat through a $130 satellite. He faded a field of 725 players and parlayed a simple $130 investment into $1.6 million AUD (or $1.2 million USD).
The 2017 Aussie Millions $100,000 Challenge at the Crown Casino in Melbourne is down to its final table of seven players. Steffen Sontheimer is the chip leader and fellow German Fedor Holz is second. Also at the final table are Mike Watson, Nick Petrangelo, Sam Trickett, David Peters and David Steike. Only the top 3 places pay out with the winner $882K AUD. The final table will be live streamed by Jason Somerville.
It's official! The 2017 World Series of Poker released its official schedule. The most prestigious tournament series in the universe returns on May 30, 2017 and runs through July 17. A total of 74 events will be hosted at the Rio Casino in Las Vegas including three online events and eight new events. The $111,111 One Drop returns along with the $1,111 Little One for One Drop. New events include the $333 online bracelet event and the $3,333 online High Roller bracelet event. There's also the newly conceived The Giant and The Marathon. Also making a return will be Colossus III and the Milly Maker. Oh, and for the first-time ever, you can use your credit cards at the cage!
Mustapha Kanit, Fedor Holz and Jen Tilly are all still alive in the 2017 Aussie Millions Main Event. The money bubble burst on Day 3 and only 36 players are remaining. First place pays out $1.6 million Australian dollars. Kanit leads the field with 2.3M. Jen Tilly finished with 700K. Holz, a few months into his retirement, bagged up a little more than average with 540K. Action resumes on Thursday Melbourne time and the final 36 will play down to a final table.
Only 150 players are still alive in the Aussie Millions Main Event down under at the Crown Casino in Melbourne, Australia. This year's Main Event attracted 725 runners. $1.6 million AUD (or $1.2 million USD) is up for grabs. Jen Tilly is the chip leader with nearly 500K. Erik Seidel bagged up a big stack as well and ended up in the Top 10. The top 80 get paid and the money bubble will bust on Day 3. Follow the action with live updates.
Two superstar athletes continued their #RaiseIt promo for PokerStars. NBA star Dwyane Wade and footballer Ronaldo have been engaging in various competitions on social media over the last month or so. In the latest #RaiseIt challenge videos, the two attempted to out-raise each other with special fitness tricks involving basketballs and a soccer ball.
The first-ever PokerStars Festival London is underway at the swanky Hippodrome Casino in London's Leicester Square. The opening event for PSF-London is a £2,200 high roller affair. The “affordable” and modest £990 buy-in main event kicks off tomorrow. For updates, check out coverage from PokerStars Blog.
Tom McEvoy (member of the Poker Hall of Fame, the 1983 WSOP Main Event World Champion, and 4-time bracelet winner) put his 1983 WSOP Main Event bracelet up for sale on ebay. For $15,000 you can purchase the gold bracelet and other additional tchotchkes like signed books, PokerStars team pro patches, and an hour of free poker lessons. McEvoy is not the first WSOP champ to sell a winner's bracelet. Jerry Yang and Jamie Gold auctioned their bracelets for cash. Peter Eastgate sold his bracelet but donated all proceeds to charity.
PokerStars TV released another epic Top 5 compilation video. The latest one includes the top 5 hands played by Tom “Durrrr” Dwan on Poker After Dark and other televised events during the height of the online poker boom. Some of these classic hands were played against the like of Phil Ivey, Eli Elezra, Patrik Antonious and Phil Hellmuth. The Ivey hand with straight-over-straight was over $1.1 million.
Time for action junkies with short-attention spans to celebrate! The 2017 Turbo Championship of Online Poker (TCOOP) kicks off today and runs through January 29. Over the next 12 days, there will be 65 events on the schedule, with at least 5 events per day. This year's TCOOP has a $15 million guarantee. Check out the complete schedule over at the TCOOP home page.
Degens gonna degen. Marc Klang claimed a group of poker pros conned him out of a nearly a half million bucks…playing blackjack. One of the villains is former WSOP November Niner John Racener. Here's the cliff notes according to Klang's 2+2 post: “Previous scumbag rightfully wins over $500,000 gambling against a conglomerate of local poker pros. After using every excuse possible, said group decides they are not paying out any money. After some time they pay out $43k of 500k. Winner warns community of the groups actions to prevent similar future scams.” Read the drama unfold over at 2+2.
Americans finished in the top 3 spots in the 2017 PokerStars Championship Bahamas (PCB) Main Event out of 732 entries. Christian Harder defeated Cliff 'JohnnyBax' Josephy heads up for the title. Michael Vela finished in third. When it got heads up, the two chopped the money and played out for the trophy. Their bout was short and Harder defeated Josephy to win the PCB Main Event. Harder earned approximately $430K for first place. Josephy, who was a member of the 2016 WSOP November Nine, earned a runner-up payday worth $403K. Also of note, Luc Greenwood took down the 25K High Roller for nearly $780K. Daniel Negrenau made the final table of the 25K and finished in fifth place.
We're officially down to six players in the 5K buy-in Main Event at the PokerStars Championship Bahamas. Michael Gentili is the chip leader with 6.1M, but Christian Harder is right behind the Canadian with 6M. Also still alive... Aleksei Opalikhin, Michael Vela, Rasmus Glaesel, and short-stacked Cliff 'JohnnyBax' Josephy. Yes, Johnny Bax made the final table, albeit as the short stack. First place pays $480K. The final table will be live streamed via Twitch.
At the end of Day 4, only 16 players remained in the $5,000 buy-in Main Event at the PokerStars Championship Bahamas. Canadian Michael Gentili bagged up the most chips at the end of Day 4 with over 3.7M. He has nearly double Aleksei Opalikhin in second place. The action for Day 5 continues live from the Atlantis Resort as they play down from 16 to the final table of 6. Jason Mercier was one of the early casualties on Day 5. Watch the live stream via Twitch here.
We reached Day 4 of the PokerStars Championship Bahamas Main Event. Only 32 players remain. American Nick Maimone is the chip leader with Jason Mercier lurking right behind. Gaelle Baumann is the short stack. First place pays out $480K. Also, actress Jen Tilly took second place in the $5K 6-max Turbo side event. David Calzada from the Czech Republic beat Tilly heads-up for the win. Tilly earned $39K as runner up.
The Main Event in the Bahamas is underway. Day 3 of the PCB started with 125 players left in the hunt for the title. First place pays out $480K. The money bubble popped late on Day 2 and actor Aaron Paul failed to advance to Day 3. Watch the live stream now via PokerStars TV.
On Sunday, the user database at the popular poker forum, 2+2, was “hacked” by unknown entities. The management at 2+2 asked all users to change their password on 2+2 and take other security precautions, especially if they created their account any time before December 2016.
Jason Koon took down the first “big” buy-in event of the new calendar year. Koon faded a field of 54 entries to win the $100,000 buy-in Super High Roller in the Bahamas. The prize pool for the PokerStars Championship Bahamas was $5.2 million and the final two played it out to the end without chopping it up. Koon earned a first-place payday worth $1.65 million. Runner-up Charlie Carrel shipped almost $1.2 million for second place. Comedian/actor Kevin Hart busted on Day 2 and failed to make the money despite multiple buy-ins.
Comedian and actor Kevin Hart busted late on Day 1, but he reloaded a second bullet and re-bought into the 100K Super High Roller event at Atlantis in the Bahamas. The PokerStars Championship Bahamas kicked off yesterday with the SHR. Registration is officially closed with a final total of 54 entries. The total prize pool is over $5.2 million and only the top 7 places get paid. First place pays out $1.65 million and the runner-up nets at least $1.1 million. Seventh place pays $275K. So, Kevin Hart needs to min-cash to at least break even! Then again, he's so rich, the multiple 100K buy-ins were chump change! Kevin Hart is still alive at the start of Day 2. For updates, head over to PokerStars Blog.
It might be dead money, but at least it's funny dead money. Comedian and actor Kevin Hart is the biggest celebrity to crash a high roller event in a very long time. Hart bought into the $100,000 buy-in Super High Roller affair that kicked off the 2017 PokerStars Championship in the Bahamas. Registration is still open, but Hart is among the 35 regular sharks playing in the first major SHR event of the year.
The first major tournament series of the calendar year is here. The global poker circuit 2017 kicks off at Atlantis on Paradise Island in the Bahamas, which will play host to the brand-new PokerStars Championship tour. The old PCA is out and the new PokerStars Championship Bahamas is in! For the next 9 days, the Bahamas will become the biggest location on the planet for all things poker. Over 90 events will take place, including the coveted $5,000 buy-in Main Event along with various high roller affairs like the 25K and 100K.
Dan Smith a.k.a. Danny98765 online was on a mission to raise money for various charities in 2016. He agreed to match $175,000 in donations and hoped for the best. Just as the year ended, Smith announced that 134 individuals donated funds and he raised over $1.7 million. A generous donation worth over $1 million came from the Crowley brothers, Martin and Tom, both of whom are top-notch DFS pros. Martin Crowley helped get Smith over the $1 million hump with a donation worth over $525,000. Most recently, Smith announced that he received a donation of $500,000 from Tom Crowley, a well-known daily fantasy sports player known as ChipotleAddict. Some of these donations are earmarked for Against Malaria Fund, Give Directly, Schistosomiasis Control Initiative (SCI), and MAPS.
