Daily Archives: March 15, 2020

Over the last 24 hours, the world has seen a ton of popular events canceled or postponed because of the coronavirus outbreak, including major music festivals and sporting events of all levels.

Poker is no different and several gaming companies announced alterations to schedules Thursday afternoon.

The U.S. Poker Open, a 12-event, high-stakes series featuring buy-ins ranging between $10,000 and $50,000 has been postponed. It was originally scheduled to take run March 19-31 in Las Vegas.

Company leadership will continue to monitor and follow the guidance of government health authorities before making decisions about rescheduling for future dates, said the company in a press release.

The series was one that consistently drew pokers biggest names. Last year, David Peters won the $100,000 U.S. Poker Open main event for $1.32 million.

At the mid-major level, the Heartland Poker Tour announced that the remainder of the series at Hollywood Casino in Toledo was canceled, effective immediately. The RunGood Poker Series also announced Thursday morning that it would suspend its series at Horseshoe Bossier City in Louisiana.

At RunGood, our mission has always been to focus on player experience above all else, said RunGood CEO Tana Karn in a statement. Discussions of extra cleaning procedures and steps to help our players have been the topic of many calls this past week. Being a small business tour operator, decisions we make are carefully calculated to ensure we maintain our founding principle.

A more drastic step was made in the Netherlands as Holland Casino has closed its doors until March 31. The property was in the middle of Day 1A of its WPTDeepStacks main event. The tournament was canceled midway through the day.

Its likely that more alterations to the upcoming poker schedule are coming as more information about the virus and its reach is uncovered. The WPT Venetian main event scheduled to start Friday afternoon, however, has not been postponed at the time of writing. No WSOP Circuit events or stops have been affected either.

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Major Poker Events Around The Globe Impacted By Coronavirus - CardPlayer.com

Imagine sitting at a cramped table, for hours at a time, with eight or nine strangers who have traveled from every corner of the world. Some are drinking. Some are eating snacks. Some are coughing, sneezing, picking their nose. Its a carnival of hands and fingers touching faces and mouths. Intermittently, those same hands and fingers are fondling small items that are then passed back and forth among all of you at the table.

Sounds like the ultimate breeding ground for a deadly virus?

Well, welcome to the World Series of Poker.

The end of May signals the start of the 51st WSOP, an event that runs through July and sends tens of thousands flocking to Las Vegas from more than a 100 countries in hopes of winning a fortune.

And as the COVID-19 pandemic rages stronger every day, its time for officials to admit that this years WSOP just cant happen.

Despite more than 124,000 confirmed cases and 4,600 deaths worldwide, professional sports seasons being postponed and the cancellation of countless public events, Caesars Entertainment (who owns the Rio All-Suite Hotel and Casino where the event is held) has yet to cancel or postpone the Series.

On Feb. 27, the WSOP account on Twitter responded to a user: We are monitoring COVID-19 developments and have no plans to cancel WSOP. Since then, its been radio silence.

What more is there to monitor? If the NBA can postpone its season, the NCAA can cancel March Madness, and states and municipalities can ban large gatherings, its time for the WSOP to face the reality that poker tournaments are a substantial threat to public health and safety.

Its crazy, said avid recreational player Zach McNees of Brooklyn. Its cowardly. Theyre praying they can just say nothing and run the WSOP as planned.

McNees points out that the casinos and the Rio specifically are already known as a Petri dish of communicable diseases.

The Rio in general as a casino property is fairly disgusting, said McNees. The Legionnaires outbreak in 2017 (7 people contracted the disease at the Rio that year solidified my disgust.

One high-profile player stated his disgust pretty clearly. Its all greed. Pretty obvious they dont care about the players by not canceling.

As poker players I have been to Vegas every summer since my first WSOP event in 2014, and played full time in Vegas for two years we all want the WSOP to happen. Its the center of our lives.

At 2 a.m. on Wednesday morning I got a message from Muskan Sethi, a poker pro in New Delhi, India. She was responding to a Facebook message I posted, asking if players were still going to the WSOP.

(My husband) and I come for the whole series, Sethi said. Usually by this time we are fully booked and planned, but this time we havent. Ive been Googling WSOP coronavirus every day.

Wednesday morning seems so long ago now. East Coast grinder and circuit event regular Blake Whittington messaged me Thursday morning: Guess its not really gonna happen, huh?

Maybe. But maybe not. Dont forget, the WSOP is huge business. Last year, there were 187,000 entries in the 90 events, with buy-ins totaling almost $320M. Of that, roughly $31 million was pocketed by organizers in fees and staff expenses. That doesnt include money made from cash games, hotel and resort charges, restaurants and entertainment at the Rio and every other casino in Vegas.

Given how slow the response to the Coronavirus threat has been in the U.S., its understandable that Caesars wants to take a wait-and-see approach.

Last week, I talked to Dr. Vit Kraushaar, a medical investigator for the Southern Nevada Health District. While acknowledging that poker was an effective way to transmit diseases, he seemed optimistic that the tournaments could go on. If the event were held today, I think the risk would be low, Kraushaar told me. We are not experts at running resorts or poker tournaments, but we are working closely with hospitals who are in contact with casinos.

At this time, there is no evidence of community spread. Kraushaar told me that the Southern Nevada Health District had access to 1,000 test kits, but agreed with my assessment that that number was not enough. Nevada seems as ill-prepared to deal with Coronavirus as the rest of the country.

We dont have the capability to test everyone. It will be important to begin scaling up the test response and getting private labs up and running.

But that was before Tom Hanks and Rita Wilson tested positive. Before Rudy Gobert. Before Nev. Gov. Steve Sisolak declared a state of emergency. Its time for the poker world to get a grip. Its no longer an issue of business affecting a small segment of the population, its a matter of national health and safety.

Give Stacy Matuson credit, she was the first player who publicly stated she would be skipping the Series because of coronavirus. The poker pro from Fort Lauderdale announced on Facebook on March 6 that she would not be attending.

People were saying I was paranoid, Matuson said. Its bad enough the viruses that go around in the poker rooms and hotels, but an epidemic makes the WSOP a full-fledged breeding ground. (There are) so many tourists from all over the world, including China, where its hit the hardest.

If WSOP is smart, theyll cancel.

Will they be smart? Judging by their complete silence and the inaction of most other casinos and poker rooms, I wouldnt bet on it.

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The World Series Of Poker Is A Petri Dish For Disease. Why The Hell Hasn't It Been Cancelled Yet? - Deadspin

Poker legend Phil Ivey nearly won another title to add to his already incredible resume, a high roller event in Sochi.

And it was thanks to a brutal bad beat for one of his opponents, although sometimes, you need a little bit of luck to win a tournament.

Lets break down the hand and get to the drama: Ivey was dealt a pair of Aces and Sam Greenwood went in with King-8 of clubs. The flop was Ace of clubs, 8 of spades and Queen of clubs.

That gave Greenwood a flush draw and Ivey three Aces. At that point, Ivey (6.9 million chips) bet 200,000 and Greenwood (4.3 million) simply called, hoping for another club.

But the turn was the fourth Ace for Ivey, giving him quads and the winning hand at that point. Ivey smartly checks and Greenwood decided to take the free card.

And that free card was the Jack of clubs. Greenwood got his flush, a hand that would normally be HUGE. Instead, he was drawing dead before that card came out and didnt know it.

You can guess what happened next: Ivey bet 400,000, Greenwood raised to 1.95 million, Ivey went all in and Greenwood called. Ooooooffff.

Ivey also won a big hand against Greenwood thanks to a10 on the flop earlier in the night:

Ivey eventually finished in second place to Wai Kin Yong

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Phil Ivey takes advantage of a poker player's brutal bad beat to win huge hand - For The Win

The 2020 partpoker MILLIONS Super High Roller Sochi series has seen $15,725,000 in prize money awarded over the past seven days, with the first-ever $250,000 buy-in Super High Roller Bowl Russia taking place at the same venue, the Casino Sochi, over this weekend (March 13-15).

The final champion decided during the first seven events of the series was none other than 10-time WSOP bracelet winner and Poker Hall of Fame member Phil Ivey. He defeated a field of 55 entries in the $50,000 buy-in short deck event, earning $856,050 for the win. This marked Iveys first live tournament title won since May of 2018, when he took down a short deck event at the Triton Super High Roller Series Montenegro.

Ivey made three cashes in the seven events held so far in Sochi, accumulating more than $1.4 million in earnings along the way. Ivey now sits in 11th place on pokers all-time money list with $29,517,424 in career cashes. He also accumulated enough Card Player Player of the Year points over the week to move into 46th place in the 2020 POY race standings, which are sponsored by Global Poker.

The series kicked off with a $25,000 buy-in short deck event, which drew a total of 42 entries to create a prize pool of $1,050,000. Xia He Jiang emerged victorious in that tournament, defeating 2018 WSOP main event champion John Cynn heads-up to capture the title and the top prize of $378,000. Cynn earned $252,000 for the third-largest score of his career.

2019 World Poker Tour Legends of Poker main event champion Aaron Van Blarcum finished third for $168,000. He would go on to add another three cashes during this series, but more on that later. Cary Katz earned the first of three cashes at the series in this event, taking home $105,000 for fourth place. The $490,000 he cashed for across the series was enough to see him surpass Antonio Esfandiari for 14th place on the all-time earnings leaderboard with $27,654,843.

Here is a look at the payouts and POY points awarded in event 1:

The second event held was a $25,000 buy-in no-limit holdem tournament. With 58 total entries, the prize pool surged to $1,450,000, which was awarded to the top nine finishers.

In the end it was Sam Trickett who came out on top, securing his first live tournament title since 2013, when he won the Aussie Millions $250,000 AUD high roller. The British poker pro earned $435,000 for this latest victory, bringing his career total to more than $21.7 million.

As one might expect, Trickett overcame a stacked final table en route to the title, including the likes of Ivan Leow (2nd $290,000), Matthias Eibinger (3rd $203,000), 2017 Card Player Player of the Year award winner Adrian Mateos (4th $145,000) and WSOP bracelet winner Tim Adams (5th $116,000).

Ivey recorded his first cash of the series in this event, earning $72,500 for seventh place. Paul Phua kicked off a spree of scores in Sochi with his eighth-place showing in this event for $58,000.

Here is a look at the payouts and POY points awarded in event 2:

The second $25,000 short deck event of the series saw 61 entries made, with $1,525,000 paid out among the top nine finishers.

After two days of fast and furious action, Wai Leong Chan defeated Paul Phua heads-up to lock up the title and the first-place prize of $435,000. This was Chans third career title, and it brought his lifetime live tournament earnings to more than $12.6 million.

Paul Phua (2nd $305,000), Ivan Leow (4th $152,500), and Aaron Van Blarcum (6th $91,500) all notched their second final-table finishes of the series in this event. Sam Greenwood finished ninth ($45,750) for the first of four scores he would go on to make at this series.

Here is a look at the payouts and POY points awarded in event 3:

The first of three $50,000 buy-in events of the series saw 45 entries, which meant that there was $2,250,000 in prize money up for grabs and only seven places paid. Belarusian high roller star Mikita Badziakouski came out on top in this no-limit holdem event, securing $765,000 for the win. It would turn out to be his lone cash of the series, but it alone was enough to move him into 16th place on the all-time money list with $27,088,601 in total career live earnings.

Artur Martirosyan took home $495,000 as the runner-up for his second and final score of the series. Brothers Lucas Greenwood (3rd $337,500) and Sam Greenwood (5th $180,000) both cashes in this event. Sam had already notched one score at the series prior to this, and would add two more later in the week.

Aaron Van Blarcum placed fourth for $225,000 and his third cash of the series. Cary Katz secured his second of three cashes, earning $135,000 as the sixth-place finisher.

Here is a look at the payouts and POY points awarded in event 4:

The next event on the schedule was a $50,000 buy-in short deck tournament. It drew 50 total entries to create a final prize pool of $2,500,000, which was paid out among the top eight finishers.

Wai Kin Yong outlasted the field, securing his third career tournament title and the first-place prize of $800,000.

Yong defeated Phil Ivey heads-up for the win, sending him to the rail with $525,000 for his second score of the series.

The rest of the top five finishers in this event was full of players who had been having a great series, with Sam Greenwood (3rd $350,000), Cary Katz (4th $250,000), and Aaron Van Blarcum (5th $200,000) all making at least their cash of the series.

Here is a look at the payouts and POY points awarded in event 5:

The penultimate tournament of the series was the $100,000 buy-in no-limit holdem event. Paul Phua defeated a field of 42 entries in this six-figure buy-in showdown to earn $1,512,000 for his fourth cash of the series.

All told, Phua accumulated $1,975,000 during this series, growing his career earnings to $18,850,098. The win further cemented his status as the leading poker tournament earner from his home country of Malaysia.

Austrias Matthias Eibinger finished second for $1,008,000, which was the largest score of his career by $1,940 (beating out his $1,006,060 score as the runner up in a $100,000 event at Aria in 2018). He now has more than $10.4 million in lifetime earnings.

Adrian Mateos locked up $420,000 for his second fourth-place finish of the series. Australian poker pros Michael Addamo (5th $336,000) and Kahle Burns (6th $252,000) both made their first cashes in Sochi in this event. Theyve had impressive starts to 2020, and both now sit inside the top ten in the Player of the Year race standings.

Here is a look at the payouts and POY points awarded in event 6:

As previously mentioned, Phil Ivey won the final event of this super high roller tournament series. He ultimately defeated Michael Soyza heads-up for the title in the second $50,000 short deck event held in Sochi this week. Soyza cashed for $561,780, which was the fifth-largest score of his career. Soyza has already accumulated more than $8.1 million in earnings in his career.

Lee Wai Kiat finished third for $374,520, his lone cash of the series. American poker pro Seth Davies earned $267,520 for fourth place. It was his second cash, both coming in the short-deck discipline. The two scores increased Davies career earnings to more than $8.3 million.

Spanish poker pro Sergii Reixach logged his first score of the series with a fifth-pace finish for $214,010, while Sam Greenwood added $160,510 to his totals for the series. With four cashes across the festival totaling $736,260, Greenwood increased his career total to more than $22.3 million.

Here is a look at the payouts and POY points awarded in event 7:

Photo credit: Flickr.com/photos/pcmtour

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Phil Ivey Wins His First Live Tournament Title In Nearly Two Years - Poker News - CardPlayer.com

Hosted by Lance Bradley and Donnie Peters, The Fives Poker Podcast runs each week and covers the latest poker news, preview upcoming events, and debate the hottest topics in poker.

Lance and Donnie are back from the 2nd Annual Global Poker Awards to bring you all of the latest news from the world of poker in the latestepisode of The FIVES Poker Podcast.

In addition to discussing the GPAs, the guys take a look at how the poker industry is dealing with the global effects of the coronavirus outbreak. They discuss all of the major poker events that have been canceled or postponed for public safety and look ahead to what may be on the horizon.

Plus, there have been some new developments in the Mike Postle cheating allegation lawsuit. Download and listen wherever you get your favorite podcasts!

Subscribe: Apple Podcasts * Google Podcasts * Stitcher

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The FIVES Poker Podcast: Coronavirus And The Poker Industry - PocketFives

March 11, 2020Will Shillibier

Sometimes when you read a poker strategy book, or read some strategy tips online, it can feel like you are walking through treacle in order to gain some sort of wisdom from whoever wrote the book or penned the article.

That's why, when PokerNews presenter Tiffany Michelle was at the 888Poker Madrid Festival back in February, she spoke to seven professional poker players to get some very brief and unique tournament tips from some of the best in the business!

Kara Scott: "If a tournament is going to end really late at night, or early in the morning, and you're not good with that and you know that you're going to lose chips at the end of the night then bag a level early and jus take the hit.

Get 20 Free to Play With on 888Poker

Ebony Kenney: "Play poker in a fasted state. Fasting increases your cognitive function and helps alertness and your memory. You can absolutely perform better on the poker table when you've fasted."

Chris Moorman: "Look at your cards when two players before you are acting, not when it's on you because then you might feel pressure and not have time to think. Also, not too early because you might seem disinterested in the pot and give away information to other players.

Daria Feshchenko: "Never bluff Asian players!"

Sofia Lovgren: "Make sure to ask the locals what their favourite snacks are and bring some snacks to the table."

Vivian Saliba: "Bet big. You need to put pressure on your opponents and I see many players that want to save money and they make small bets. But the truth is, people like to call. So you must make it tough. If you decide to bluff a hand, you need to put pressure on.

Dominik Nitsche: "Keep a proper sleeping schedule. This means that if the tournament starts at 5pm and plays until 7am, try to not wake up at 8am!"

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7 Pro Poker Tournament Tips You've Never Heard Before - PokerNews.com

Nearly 7 percent of the adult population spread across the United States, Canada, and Western Europe plays poker regularly,according to Poker Players Research. This makes it one of the most popular and widely played games in the entire world. For some, this also means that its one of the most popular sports. But is poker really a sport? Can it be a sport without a physical aspect? What about when the worlds of poker and physical sports collide?

Thats where baseball poker comes in. Baseball is already one of the most popular sports in the world, withmore than 500 million peopletuning in or heading to the diamond to watch their favorite teams. Baseball poker allows fans of the sport to flex their passion and offers other poker-enthusiasts a new way to mix up their favorite game.

However, while the name might have baseball in it, does that make baseball poker a sport? Keep reading to learn the answer.

To figure out whether or not you think that baseball poker is truly a sport, you first need to decide what you consider a sport to be. While a few ideas may vary, most people can agree on at least a few characteristics of a sport.

First, it takes at least some amount of skill. While small children with no experience can toss a baseball back and forth, they arent truly playing baseball until they learn to catch with a mitt or hit a ball with a bat.

This brings us to the next characteristic, which is the existence of an agreed-upon set of rules. Without rules, there is no sport. Baseball has no shortage of rules that players need to learn to follow (and that fans love to argue with refs over!).

Finally, a sport involves keeping score, which also means that there is always a winner and a loser.

Based on the above characteristics weve just listed, any kind ofpoker is a sport. After all, poker certainly requires a very special set of skills. After all, anyone can sit down and flip through a deck of cards, but until they know what the cards mean and how they are played, that deck is useless. There is a set of rules that dictate how different types of poker are played, and there is always a winner.

Poker players may not need to run laps or lift weights to prepare, but that doesnt make them any less of athletes. Like any good competitor, they practice for months or even years to get good at their sport. They learn the ins and outs of the rules and study the sports great players to learn from them. When it comes time to sit down at the table, they need to be both mentally and physically prepared. Poker tournaments can be incredibly long, and players need to be able to sit at the table without growing tired, which could cause them to slip up or lose that coveted poker face.

If any kind of poker can be a sport, then theres no question that baseball poker is one as well. After all, besides being a game of poker, baseball poker comes with a unique set of rules and challenges that players have to learn.

Baseball poker combines two of Americas favorite pastimes. It is a variation of stud poker, but with betting a system of strikes, balls, outs and innings inspired by baseball. It adds a fun angle and a touch of difficulty for players who are used to traditional poker and looking to mix things up. Clearing the bases means gathering up a hand full of aces. Just as three strikes means youre out, four balls mean a walk, and games are played to nine innings,baseball poker playersalso need to learn the importance of 3s, 4s, and 9s played in the game.

Just like any other sport, playing poker, and especially playing baseball poker, takes plenty of practice. Whether youre brand new to the game or a seasoned professional, you need to keep your skills fresh and your mind prepped every single time you sit down at the table. It never hurts to practice that poker face either. Like a pitcher steeling himself for his next throw, baseball poker players need to be sharp and have that game face ready from the moment they sit down at the table.

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How the 2 Worlds of Poker & Baseball Come Together - Through The Fence Baseball

Due to the further spreading of coronavirus, the World Series of Poker event in Las Vegas might be canceled.

In combination with Las Vegas, the World Series of Pokerequals the ultimate poker event. Yet, this year, it might be canceled due to the outbreak and spreading of coronavirus. While most people fear for their health, famous poker pros are placing wagers on the outcome of the 51st annual World Series of Poker event.

After it appeared several months ago, coronavirus has caused many problems in multiple parts of the world. Unfortunately, it took its toll on poker as well. In February this year, two casinos in Macau had to be shut down because of coronavirus. This event worried professional poker players and organizers of World Series of Poker as well.

While the virus was present only in China, everyone believed that Chinese doctors would find a cure for it. However, as the symptoms of the virus cannot be easily differentiated from some regular diseases, many infected people didnt know they had it and were spreading it.

They facilitated the outbreak of the virus by traveling out of China and infecting people they were in touch with. By doing this, they took coronavirus to other states that are now considered unsafe to go to.

The main problem that can lead to the cancellation of the World Series of Poker event in Las Vegas is traveling. Namely, the World Series of Poker event in Las Vegas attracts hundreds of thousands of players every year. Now, if we take into account all the things we know about coronavirus, we must admit that China is not the only dangerous place to visit at the moment.

Also, some states already closed their borders and put a stop on their air transport. This can also cause a problem because anyone living outside the US wont be able to attend the event in Las Vegas, which will result in a reduced number of attendees.

Saddened by the fact that the World Series of Poker in Las Vegas might get canceled, famous poker pros had to find their gambling fun elsewhere. That is why they started placing wagers on the outcome of this situation.

One of the worlds most known professional poker players, Doug Polk, used his Twitter account to share his concerns about the WSOP with the rest of the world.

When Doug Polk tweeted his opinion regarding the coronavirus and WSOP, Seth Palansky, a Vice President of Corporate Communication for the WSOP, claimed that nothing had changed.

Weve been monitoring the situation and will continue to lean on the experts in this field for guidance. At this time, all our events and schedules remain intact and are planned to go on without interruption. We would be prepared to expand measures to ensure the safety of our guests and employees, again leaning on the experts.

After Polk, some other poker pros like Mike McDonald and Joshua Reichard decided to join this betting game.

The issue of coronavirus affecting the WSOP was discussed in a YouTube video you can check out below.

At the moment, the WSOP schedule can still be found online. Only time will tell how coronavirus will affect the World Series of Poker this year. Anyhow, we hope that scientists will find a cure for the notorious virus, regardless of the tournament status.

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Coronavirus Might Affect the World Series of Poker - Beat The Fish

Gaming giant GVC reported that net gaming revenue in online poker grew 8% in 2019, the fourth year in a row of growth at the resurgent online poker room.

The operator can now boast of a full recovery to its online poker product, returning to revenue levels not seen since 2011. Annual revenue is more than double what it was at its lowest point during 2015-2016.

However, among the top-line figures, there are signs of slowing growth. The second half of the year was almost flat, and the operator will need to execute another transformation this year if it wishes to return to double-digit growth.

It will need to if it expects to continue with its ambitious plan to catch up with the market leader, PokerStars.

Partypoker NGR was 8% [in constant currency] ahead of last year, slowing in the second half due to a tough prior year comparator and the impact of ecology changes that were made during H1 to improve profitability, it was stated in the press release last week.

The rollout of a new partypoker mobile app began during the final quarter and is expected to strengthen acquisition capability in 2020, the statement reads.

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GVC Reports More Poker Growth in 2019--But it is Slowing Down - Pokerfuse