Two of the biggest names in poker are combining forces. The World Poker Tour and partypoker LIVE announced they will have a four-year partnership that will create more live events in Canada and Europe for the poker community. Seven events are on the slate including Sochi, Russia in 2019. The first new event debuts in October 2018 at the Playground Poker Club in Montreal, Quebec, Canada.
French pro Benjamin Pollak shipped the 2018 EPT Barcelona €50K High Roller for a score worth €979,000. The Single Day event attracted 69 entries. The final table also included Alex Foxen, Ryan Reiss, Jack Salter, Seth Davies, Jean-Noel Thorel, Mikalai Vaskaboinikau, Matthias Eibinger, and Jan-Eric Schwippert.
Mikita Badziakouski strikes again. Mikita Badziakouski shipped the EPT Barcelona €100,000 Super High Roller. Badziakouski banked €1,650,300 for first place. Ahadpur Khangah was the runner up. The final table included Matthias Eibinger, Tim Adams, Benjamin Pollak, Rui Ferreira, and Jean Ferreira. Also, Jean-Rene Fontaine took down the 1,100 buy-in EPT Barcelona National. Fontaine outlasted 4,348 entrants to win €547,000.
The 2018 EPT Barcelona kicked off at the Casino Barcelona in Spain with a 10K High Roller affair. A total of 124 total entrants took a shot at the opening event. Malaysia's Michael Soyza navigated a rough and tumble final table to pull off the victory. Soyza defeated Kai Lehto heads-up for the title and €302,500 in cash. Liv Boeree finished in sixth place.
PokerStars is introducing a new online series especially tailored for their player base in Southern Europe. The Galactic Series starts on Sunday, August 26th and it will consist of 186 events for players in France, Spain, and Portugal. The Galactic Series boasts a total guarantee worth a whopping €15 million. The €250 buy-in Main Event has a €1.5 million guarantee and begins September 9. There's also the special Hercules event, where you have 12 chances to reach Day 2. The Hercules has a modest buy-in of only €20, but a juicy €300K guarantee.
PokerStars recently announced that their brand ambassadors will be sharing various ways for players to win a "place in the ultimate poker event" which is the $25,000 PokerStars Players Championship in the Bahamas at the 2019 PCA. Daniel Negreanu, Jennifer Shahade, Jeff Gross, Lex Veldhuis, and Maria Konnikova are providing different opportunities to qualify for the PokerStars Platinum Pass Adventure.
Maurice Hawkins, considered to be one of the greatest WSOP Circuit players in its short history with 11 rings, took down another regional event when he shipped the latest event on the Heartland Poker Tour. Hawkins faded a field of 347 runners to win HPT St. Charles. Hawkins banked $113K for his win in the $1,650 buy-in Main Event.
Last week, PokerStars admitted that real money games were interrupted due to Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) hacks. These attacks occurred on multiple platforms between August 12 and August 14. PokerStars canceled tournaments on Sunday and Monday of that week including the Sunday Million. They issued refunds and are currently hosting a series of freerolls starting August 22 and running through August 26. With over $500,000 in freerolls, affected players will have 3 tickets to play in the 5 daily events (with $100,000 at stake daily). Tickets to the 2018 WSOP and Galactic Series will also be awarded.
The 2018 Seminole Hard Rock Poker Open in Hollywood, Florida completed its $5,250 buy-in Main Event Championship. Brandon Eisen faded a field of 914 runners to win $771,444. Eisen defeated WSOP bracelet winner Jeremy Ausmus heads-up for the victory. Meanwhile, Jake Schindler shipped the $25K High Roller for a $800K score.
Anatoly Filatov, partypoker Ambassador from Russia, shipped the MILLIONS Main Event on his own home soil. Filatov outlasted a field of 916 runners to win 60 million Rubles, or approximately $994K USD. Filatov's career earnings has now passed $3 million USD.
The 2018 World Championship of Online Poker is almost here. The 2018 WCOOP has 162 events this year with over $70 million in guaranteed prize pools plus additional prizes worth over $116 million in guaranteed prizes. Also, there will be 6 Platinum Passes to the 2019 PSPC in the Bahamas up for grabs. 2018 WCOOP runs from September 2 through September 17.
The 2018 partypoker LIVE MILLIONS Russia in Sochi included a Triton Super High Roller event with a 6,000,000 Rubles buy-in. Malaysia's Ivan Leow took down another Triton SHR crown when he faded 29 players to win 72,000,000 Rubles or approximately $1.1M USD. Two weeks earlier, Leow took down a SHR event in Jeju, South Korea for a $1M.
Warren Sheaves faded a field of 127 players to win the 2018 WSOP Circuit Global Championship. Sheaves rallied with six to go on the final table to emerge as the victor. Sheaves banked $282,113 for first place and he won his first bracelet.
Brady Holiman, a sales manager from Texas, faded a field of 755 runners to win the WPT Choctaw. Holiman won $469,185 for first place, plus a free seat into the season-ending Tournament of Champions. Holiman survived a final table that included two previous winners -- Anthony Zinno and Tony Ruberto. Anthony Zinno finished in 5th place and Ruberto took fourth.
The Live at the Bike aired one of its largest pots in history when Garrett Adelstein cracked Aces with Ace-Queen to win a pot worth $147,000. Meanwhile, Molly Bloom a.k.a. the Poker Princess and author of Molly's Game appeared at the Unibet Open in Bucharest, Romania to open the #QueenRules Ladies event.
partypoker added another legend to its ranks of sponsored players and ambassador. Bruno Fitoussi, one of the Godfathers of French poker, was announced as the newest ambassador for partypoker LIVE. With over 30 years of international gaming experience, the former consultant for the Aviation Club in Paris seems like the perfect fit to play the role of ambassador. Fitoussi is coming off a strong summer when he made 2 final tables at the 2018 WSOP including a runner-up finish in $1,500 PLO8.
How about another new form of poker? No-limit Texas Hold'em is still the Cadillac of poker, but PokerStars has been busy creating different variations. They've been releasing so many nuances it's hard to keep up with all the new rollouts and game variants. You can add Unfold Poker to the growing list of hold'em variants such as Power Up Poker, Split Hold'em, and Showtime Hold'em. Players now have the chance to unfold their hand after the flop has been dealt.
Ship it to the Badz Man! Mikita Badziakouski won the 2018 Triton Main Event in Jeju, South Korea for a score worth $5,255,456. Mikita Badziakouski won the Main Event in Montenegro at the start of the summer for back-to-back Triton Main Event titles.
Ice Cream shop owner ships WPT event! The WPT kicked off its 17th season with an event at the Gardens Casino outside of Los Angeles. Simon Lam faded a field of 584 runners to win the WPT Gardens. Lam banked $565,055 for first place, plus a 2018 Mercedes-Benz SLC Roadster. Lam defeated Jake Schindler heads-up for the win, cash, and Mercedes. Men the Master finished in third place.
