The 2019 PCA is around the corner and PokerStars awarded more Platinum Passes to the $25,000 buy-in Players Championship. The hardest working-man in poker media, Kevin Mathers, was gifted a coveted Platinum Pass on Christmas, along with the First Lady of Poker Linda Johnson.

Christmas came a little early for poker enthusiasts because dates dropped for the 2019 World Series of Poker. The Rio Casino in Las Vegas will host the 50^th version of the WSOP with 78 events running over 50 days starting May 28 and running through July 16. This year's special event with be the $5million guarantee Big 50, which is $500 juice free (initial) entry. The Main Event will feature three opening flights over the Fourth of July weekend.

Ike Haxton faded a field of 36 super ballers to win the $300,000 buy-in 2018 Super High Roller Bowl at the Aria Casino in Las Vegas. Haxton banked $3.6 million for his victory in the fifth installment of the SHRB. The American pro defeated Alex Foxen heads-up for the win. The final table for the SHR included Ali Imsirovic, Igor Kurganov, Adrian Mateos, Talal Shakerchi, and Stephen Chidwick.

Germany's Paul Michaelis outlasted a field of 1,174 runners to win the 2018 EPT Prague at the swanky Hilton in Prague, Czech Republic. Michaelis banked €840K and also won himself a Platinum Pass to the PSPC in the Bahamas next month. Popular streamer Parker 'Tonkaaaa' Talbot finished in sixth place.

Super packed field at the Bellagio with 1,001 entries. Dylan Linde took down the WPT Bellagio Five Diamond Classic for a score worth $1,631,468. Linde defeated Milos Skrbic heads up for the win. Lucky Chewey finished in third place. The rest of the final table included Ping Liu, Lisa Hamilton, and Barry Hutter.

The holiday season is upon us. PokerStars will celebrate the end of the year and the holiday season with 60 events and 240 tournaments for the Winter Series starting on December 23 and running through January 7. The Winter Series has four levels with different buy-ins for players with varying bankrolls with events at Micro, Low, Medium, and High. There will be $40 million in guaranteed prize pools. The Main Event Medium and High will both have $1.5 million guarantees. Buy-ins for the Winter Series will range from $0.55 to $5,200.

It's another day, another high roller. At the 2018 EPT Prague, hosted at the swanky Hilton Hotel, Matthias Eibinger from Austria outlasted 40 other players to win the €50K High Roller for a score worth €653,000. Eibinger defeated Andras Nemeth from Hungary heads up for the cash and the crown. Also at the final table were Liang Xu, Pavel Plesuv, Luc Greenwood, and Charlie Carrel. Eibinger, closing in on $5 million in winnings, is capping off the best year of his career with a big win in Prague.

It was a crazy wager, but American poker pro Rich Altai won the $100,000 prop bet where he had to live in complete isolation and seclusion for 30 days. After 20 days, Australian poker pro Rory Young realized Altai was going to all the way for the win, so he negotiated a buy-out worth $62,000. Altai agreed, and he exited the sequestered room where he lived in total darkness and silence for 20 days.

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.

PLO Goat and online legend Phil 'OMGClayAiken' Galfond appeared on the latest episode of the Poker Life Podcast with Joey Ingram. The two chatted for two hours about a myriad of topics including his baby Run It Once, poker bots, streaming and marketing.