Canadian poker pro Gavin Smith passed away in his sleep at the age of 50. Smith won a WPT title at the Mirage in 2005 and won his first WSOP bracelet in 2010. Smith banked over $6.3 million in tournaments. The magnanimous Smith was an integral part of Poker Road Radio during the peak of the online poker boom. Smith is currently ranked #11 on the all-time Canada money list.

The 2019 PCA is in its home stretch and Chino Rheem still has chips in the Main Event. After the third day of action, the $10K Main Event went from 79 to 20 players. Tommy Nguyen bagged up the big stack with Jeff Hakim, Dan Strelitz, Matthias Eibinger, and Brian Altman round out the Top 5. First place pays out a juicy $1.5 million. Only two more days remain before they crown a champion in the Bahamas.

After five glorious day of action at the Atlantis Casino and Resort on Paradise Island in the Bahamas, PokerStars crowned a winner in the largest $25,000 tournament in history. Ramon Colillas from Spain banked $5.1 million for outlasting a field of 1.039 hopefuls at the PokerStars Players Championship. He defeated French pro Julien Martini heads-up for the victory Martini took home a little less than $3 million for a runner up share.

The first-ever PokerStars Players Championship played down from 38 players to the final eight on Day 4 of action. On Day 5, they will be playing down to a champion. The top six places pay out at least $1 million with the winner banking $5.1 million. American pro Scott Baumstein is the big stack with 10.7M, followed by Marc Rivera, Julien Martini, Farid Jattin, Roman, Colillas, Jason Koonce, Talal Shakerchi, and Marc Perrault.

After three days of action, the $25K PSPC saw the money bubble burst. Although 215 players returned for Day 3, only 181 places were paid out. By the end of Day 3, only 38 players were remaining. American pro Scott Baumstein is the big stack. France's Julien Martini finished in the Top 5 along with Yiannis Liperis, Louis Boutin, and Ramon Colilas.

PokerStars threw the largest tournament in history with the $25,000 buy-in PokerStars Players Championship attracting 1,039 unique runners. The top 181 places will pay out with first place winning $5.1 million. Only 215 players remain after two full days of action. Farrid Jattin fromColombia is the chipleader. Italian pro Mustapha Kanit bagged up the second-biggest stack. Other big stacks included Brandon Adams, Griffin Benger, Athanasios Polychronopoulos, Julien Martini, Kristen Bicknell, and Talal Shakerchi.

The PokerStars Player Championship got off to a sensational start when it passed 1,000 entries. The total is 1,014 runners. First place will pay out over $5 million and that includes an extra $1 million bonus on top. It was a Who's Who of poker at Atlantis Casino in the Bahamas for the start of the inaugural PSPC. After the first complete day of action, only 756 players remaining and The U.K.'s Talal Shakerchi is the big stack with over 420K. Registration is still open.

The 2019 PCA is officially underway at Atlantis Casino and Resort in the Bahamas. The PokerStars Players Championship kicks off today. PokerStars gave away Platinum Passes and prize packages worth several million over the last twelve months. At least 850 players will be taking a shot at PSPC glory. Registration is still open.

Republican governor Rick Snyder decided to veto a bill that would have allowed Michigan gamblers to gamble online and play online poker. Michigan missed a chance to become the fifth state in America to legalize online poker joining Nevada, New Jersey, Delaware, and Pennsylvania. Snyder cited that Michigan needed to study the data more before making a decision to authorize online gambling.

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.