Stanley Ho, one of the wealthiest men in China, passed away at age 98 according to a statement from his daughter, Pansy. Ho had become the King of Gambling in Asia after he envisioned a gambling mecca in the Pearl River Delta to rival Las Vegas. Ho's company, SJM Holdings, owned 20 casinos in Macau and even one in North Korea. At the time of Ho's death, SJM Holdings had an estimated value at $6 billion.
No shocker here, but PokerStars officially postponed their second installment of the PokerStars Players Championship (PSPC). The $25K buy-in 2020 PSPC had been originally scheduled to coincide with the EPT Barcelona at the Barcelona Casino in late August. The PSPC will take place sometime in 2021 in Barcelona with a date yet to be determined. Platinum Passes are valid for the new dates and they will be running 80 additional chances to win one of the 400 passes.
The "high" version of the $10,300 buy-in 2020 SCOOP Main Event came to an end with Belarus' alexgirs outlasting 609 players to win the title and $920,595. The final three chopped including Pablo 'pabritz' Brito in second place and Alex 'dynoalot' Difelice in third. Also, at the final table were Pieter 'XMorphineX' Aerts, Daniel 'Oxota' Dvoress, Michael 'imluckbox' Addamo, Max 'goodeh99' Silver, and Benjamin 'bencb789' Rolle. PokerStars ambassador Lex Veldhuis went deep and set Twitch stream records along the way, but the Dutch pro busted in 15th place.
Poker returns to the sunshine state this week. A trio of poker rooms in Florida are set to open this week. Derby Lane in Tampa Bay, Seminole Hard Rock in Hollywood, and Bestbet Jacksonville in Jacksonville will all reopen under strict post-pandemic guidelines. Last week, casinos reopened in Deadwood, South Dakota. And now more states will slowly return to action, including tribal casinos in California.
Over the weekend, pandemic poker series were in full swing. 2-time WSOP bracelet winner, Elio Fox, won a 25K WPT Online Super High Roller for $565K and outlasted a tough final table that also included Tim Adams and Chris Hunichen. British pro Charlie Carrel, who won the 2017 SCOOP Main Event, binked his third SCOOP title with a victory in Event #70 Hight $530 NLHE PKO. Meanwhile over at GGPoker, a player under the screenname '800-522-4700' faded a field of 505 hopefuls to ship the WSOP Super Circuit $25K High Roller Championship for nearly $2.2 million and a coveted WSOP Circuit ring.
PokerStars will extend 2020 SCOOP because it has been such a huge success while the gaming world is under lockdown and quarantine. SCOOP is now 124 events that will run through the end of May, with an additional $50 million in guaranteed prize pools. Meanwhile, Steve O'Dwyer took down a 25K High Roller for his first SCOOP title and outlasted a final table that included Fedor Holz, Talal Shakerchi, and Ole Schemion.
Over 20 casinos are currently open in the United States of America with a handful more expected to open this weekend and next week. Several Las Vegas casinos, such as Venetian and Palazzo, are planning on reopening in June despite the fact that the USA leads the world in COVID-19 and COVID-related deaths. Casinos in Arizona and Louisiana are set to reopen by next week, with many other casinos rushing to get ready for a June return.
PokerStars hosted the Stars CALL for Action celebrity tournament with $1 million donated to CARE International and various coronavirus charities. David Costabile, an actor most-known for his work on "Billions" and "The Wire", took down the tournament and won $100,000 for his chosen charity: World Central Kitchen. Also, at the final table were Douglas Costa, Jen Shahade, Casey Affleck, Chris Moneymaker, and Mike Tindall.
PokerStars is hosting a star-studded charity poker tournament to assist coronavirus relief. The 'Stars CALL for Action' takes place on Saturday, May 9 starting at 2pm ET and it will be available to watch on multiple platforms including Facebook, Twitch, and YouTube. There will be over $1 million (to charity) up for grabs. Some of the stars slated to play are 'Rounders' screenplay co-writer, Brian Koppleman, and a well-known Hollywood stars such as Don Cheadle, Jon Hamm, Jason Alexander, and the guy who played Ross from 'Friends'.
Three casinos in the USA will reopen to gamblers in Deadwood, South Dakota. Meanwhile, Derby Lane in St. Petersburg, Florida decided to hold off on reopening their poker room this week. They will reopen the greyhound racetrack without any live spectators but decided against hosting poker games. Heading into the second weekend of May, all major casinos are closed in North America, especially in Las Vegas and Atlantic City and none of their casinos planning on opening before Memorial Day.
With the coronavirus pandemic shuttering casinos across the globe, some casino operators are rolling the dice and reopening amidst the coronavirus outbreak. Three casinos in the Czech Republic will reopen their doors on Monday, May 11, including the King's Resort Rozvadov, Admiral Casino Rozvadov, and the King's Casino Prague.
The World Poker Tour and partypoker teamed up to create the first-ever WPT Online Series, which will include 40 events and $35 million in guaranteed prize pools. Plus, there's the $5 million guaranteed Main Event that has a $3,200 buy-in and four starting flights. The Main Event champ also wins a seat into the season-ending WPT Tournament of Champions. The series is already underway and runs from May 3 to May 30 only at partypoker.
