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.
We're quickly approaching the end of 2019 and the end of the decade. So much happened in 2019, we have a special two-part series highlighting the best and most interesting stories of 2019. In the first half of 2019, some of the big stories involved Chino Rheem winning the 2019 PCA and Spain's Roman Colillas taking down the inaugural PSPC in the Bahamas for $5.1 million. Bryn Kenney shipped the largest Aussie Millions in history. Just before the WSOP, Daniel Negreanu stepped down after 12 years as a sponsored pro and ambassador for PokerStars. Gianluca 'Tankanza' Speranza won the SCOOP Main Event in back-to-back years.
From everyone here at Club Poker, we want to wish you a joyful and bountiful holiday season. Merry Christmas and do not forget that the Winter Series kicks off today on PokerStars with 242 tournaments and $50 million in guaranteed prize pools. The new year is just around the corner, so start thinking about your 2020 poker resolutions.
Oklahoma Johnny Hale -- an old school poker player, author, and gambler -- passed away at the age of 92. Oklahoma Johnny worked diligently to bring players into the game of poker over the last several decades. He's also the author of the 1999 book "The Life and Times of a Gentleman Gambler: Oklahoma Johnny Hale on Poker and Las Vegas".
The final World Poker Tour event of 2019 came to an end wen Alex Foxen faded a field of 1,035 runners to win the 2019 WPT Bellagio Five Diamond Classic. Foxen outfoxed a final table that also included Toby Joyce, Seth Davies, Peter Neff, Danny Park, and Jonathan Jaffe. Foxen banked $1,694,995 plus a seat in the end of the WPT Tournament of Champions.
The 2020 World Series of Poker returns to the Rio Casino in Las Vegas for the 51st version of the historic annual poker tournament. The suits at the WSOP dropped a "save the date(s)" announcement last week. And his week, they released the dates about a key weekend and a total of a dozen event names and dates.
Belarus' Mikalai Pobal picked off Hungarian pro, Norbert Szecsi, to win the 2019 EPT Prague. Pobal faded a field of 1,154 runners to win €1 million and become the latest champion on the European Poker Tour. Pobal joined Vicky Coren as the only dual winner on the EPT. Pobal shipped the 2012 EPT Barcelona and waited seven years to take down his second EPT crown.
PokerStars released their live events schedule for 2020, which includes a total of 21 events starting in Manilla in January. Along the way, they will be doling out Platinum Passes to the 2020 PSPC in Barcelona.
Boris Kasabov of Houston, Texas is the latest World Series of Poker Circuit champion and ring winner. Kasabov outlasted a field of 271 players to win the 2019 WSOP Circuit IP Biloxi Event #10 $1,700 Main Event Championship. Kasbov defeated Ben Thomas heads-up for the title and first place prize worth nearly $100,000.
PokerStars will host their third-largest online series of the year with their annual PokerStars Winter Series, which begins on December 25 and lasts nearly three weeks with over 242 tournaments with $50 million in guaranteed prize pools including a special Sunday Million with a $3 million guarantee. At least 34 events have a modest buy-in of $5.50, while 47 events are catered for high-stakes players with buy-ins costing $1,000 or higher. The Main Event has three tiers with $55, $530, and $5,300 price points.
The World Series of Poker announced the overall dates for the 51st installment of the WSOP at the Rio Casino in Las Vegas. The 2020 WSOP will begin on May 26 and run through July 15. The prestigious $10,000 buy-in Main Event kicks off with four opening flights starting on Day 1A and concluding with Day 1B on July 4. Despite the rumors, the WSOP will remain at the Rio Casino for at least one more running.
Benjamin 'frenchsniperrr' Chalot outlasted 2,108 runners to win the partypoker 2019 MILLIONS Online for a $2.2 million score. The French players chopped heads up with Lucio. John Duthie finished in fifth place. The top four places won at least $1.1 million.
The 2019 World Series of Poker Circuit Cherokee at Harrah's in Cherokee, North Carolina concluded this year's Circuit series. Event #10, also known as the $1,700 buy-in Main Event championship, featured 1,000 runners taking a shot at a Circuit ring and over a quarter-million in cash. Despite coming into the final day with the short stack, Erik Gorman from Maryland went the distance and he was the last person standing after he defeated Hannah Guthrie heads-up to win his first WSOP Circuit ring and $260,480 in cash.
The latest stop on the World Poker Tour reached the Seminole Hard Rock Casino and Hotel in Hollywood, Florida for the WPT Seminole Rock 'N' Roll Poker Open. This year's event attracted 988 runners and a prize pool over $3.16 million. This WPT final table included Milen Stefanov, David Novosel, Roman Korenev, Fabian Gumz, Francis Anderson and Cesar Fuentes. Bulgaria' Stefanov won his first WPT title when he picked off Gumz heads-up for the title, $545,070 in cash, and a seat into the season-ending WPT Tournament of Champions.
Klay Thompson, an NBA All-Star and member of the Golden State Warriors, recently appeared on Kneading Dough with Maverick Carter to discuss finance but the chat delved into how Thompson spent a lot of money when he first entered the league and one of his big leaks happened to be the losing at poker against his much-better teammates like Steph Curry and David Lee.
Christmas and the holidays are right around the corner and if you're looking for a different gift considering gifting a relative or friend a Master Class featuring Phil Ivey or Daniel Negreanu. Both well-known pros joined Master Class as a guest instructor.
Omar Lakhdari faded a field of 480 runners to win the 2019 Unibet Open Paris Main Event at Club Circus Paris in Paris, France. The French-heavy final table also included Quoc Dung Le, Vladimir Nex, Malik Corbin, Alexandru Danes, Michel Leibgorin, Giuseppe Zarbo, Alexey Dmitriev, and Hakim Chniyat. Lakhdari, the top player on Algeria's money list, now has over $1.68 million in tournament earnings.