The 2018 WPT Borgata Poker Open is down to the final table. Only six players are still left in the hunt for a WPT title. Erkut Yilmaz is the chip leader and he'll be trying to fend off remaining players: Oleg Shnaider, TK Miles, Austin Wentling, Liam He, and Anthony Maio. Poker Masters Purple jacket winner Ali Imsirovic missed the final table when he was picked off in ninth place. Author Maria Konnikova also went deep, but she busted in 20^th place.

Virtual reality and poker have intersected thanks to PokerStars. The news out of PokerStars HQ today is glowing news about PokerStars VR. Coming soon! Get those head sets ready. By the way... supposedly there will be pet donkeys.

The High version of the 2018 WCOOP Main Event played down from 17 to a champion. wann2play from the Netherlands outlasted 2,044 entrants to win $1,352,967.97. After Linus 'LLinusLLove' Loeliger busted in third place, the final two -- wann2play and eze88888 -- made a heads-up deal. They played for $200K in cash and the title. Argentina's eze88888 finished in second place and won $1.25M.

The 2018 World Championship of Online Poker (WCOOP) is heading into its final day of action. The $5,200 buy-in Main Event attracted 2,044 entrants and only 17 are remaining. The final two tables will play down to a champion today. Linus 'LLinusLLove' Loeliger is the big stack. Also still alive: Noah 'Exclusive' Boeken, Simon 'C. Darwin2' Mattsson, and Robert 'PlayaPlz' Lipkin. The final event on the schedule, the $25K High Roller, kicks off today and Twitch superstar Lex Veldhuis will be streaming the action.

The final event of the 2018 Poker Masters played down to a champion. David Peters won Event #7 $100,000 NL for a payday worth $1.15 million. That marked his second win at the Poker Masters, but he finished 10 points behind the leaderboard winner Ali Imsirovic, who won back-to-back events, advanced to three final tables and shipped the coveted Purple Jacket.

Ali Imsirovic is currently in the lead for the purple jacket at the 2018 Poker Masters when he won both Event #5 $25 NL and Event #5 $50K NL. Imsirovic banked over $1.2 million during this current heater at the Aria Casino in Las Vegas. The final $100K event is underway.

Four events are complete at the 2018 Poker Masters at the Aria Casino in Las Vegas. Keith Lehr won Event #3 $25K PLO and Isaac Haxton took down Event #4 $10K Short Deck. Lehr earned a payday worth $333,000. Haxton banked $176K for his win and he moved into second place overall in the leaderboard behind Brand Adams.

Poker is a not a competitive sport or mind sport in China. As a result, many popular poker sites and apps are being shut down by Chinese authorities. Tencent Gaming will be shutting down their popular poker app, Everyday Hold'em, on September 25. Players will be compensated by the Ministry of Culture and Tourism.

The 2018 Poker Masters is underway at the Aria Casino in Las Vegas. Who is going to win the Purple Jacket this time around? David Peters outlasted 69 players to win Event #1 $10K NL for $193,200. Brandon Adams made consecutive final tables and shipped Event #2 $25K NL for a $400,000 score. Adams is currently leading the chase for the purple jacket.

The first week of the 2018 WCOOP on PokerStars is complete and one of the big stories is that nilsef from Germany won two WCOOP titles in the same day in NL Omaha and Win the Button. Also, NJCOOP will kick off soon in the Garden State starting September 29. Three Platinum Passes to the 2019 PSPC will be in play during NJCOOP.

Actor Burt Reynolds passed away at the age of 82. The renowned actor was a huge Hollywood star in the 1970s with top-billing roles in Deliverance, The Longest Yard, Smokey and the Bandit, Cannonball Run, and the Biggest Little Whorehouse in Texas. Reynolds also appeared in P.T. Anderson's film Boogie Nights and received an Academy Award nomination for his role of porn director Jack Horner. In the poker world, Reynold's is most known from his role in Deal. In the 2008 indie film, Reynolds plays a pro named Tommy Vinson who emerges retirement to tutor a young player.

2018 EPT Barcelona Main Event finally played down to a champion. Piotr Nurzynski, an online qualifier from Poland, outlasted a field of 1,931 entries to win the EPT Barcelona Main Event. Nurzynski won a €250 satellite and he banked €1 million in cash. Meanwhile, Max Silver outlasted 430 runners in the 10K High Roller to win nearly €600K.

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 26^th 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.