Daily Archives: May 8, 2020

May 08, 2020PokerNews Staff

The poker action continues all this week with the GGPoker WSOP Super Circuit Online Series, PokerStars Spring Championship of Online Poker, the WPT Online on partypoker and the Unibet Poker Online Series all having daily events.

The PokerNews Daily Grind is here to keep you up to date with which tournaments you might want to add to your daily schedule!

Nine more events take place today on PokerStars as the site gears up for the second weekend of the Spring Championship of Onlin Poker. The highlight of the day is no doubt the Heads-up PKO Zoom tournaments later this evening.

They're not the most common of tournaments, so take this opportunity to try them out for the first time!

If you've wanted to jump into some of GGPoker's exciting tournaments this weekend, but haven't got the bankroll just yet, then here's just the thing for you. The T$ Builder tournaments run at buy-ins from $1 to $8 offering you the chance to boost your bankroll.

Winnings are paid out in T$ which can only be used for tournaments, so what are you waiting for, check them out in the GGPoker client today!

Pick up the pace this Friday with the 6-Max Hyper Knockout tournaments on partypoker as the WPT Online rumbles on.

There's also the chance to play in the first flights of the Weekender and Mini Weekender later in the evening, with flights running all weekend!

partypoker Launches $2M Defection Party Promotion

Excerpt from:

The Daily Grind: Another Big Weekend of Poker Awaits - PokerNews.com

Grosvenor Poker, the online poker room owned by publicly traded Rank Group plc, will be moving to the iPoker network when its current network MPN closes on May 19, PRO can confirm.

On Thursday, PRO revealed how at least half of all MPN skins are planning to migrate over to iPoker in the next two weeks.

Shortly after the publication of this article, Grosvenor informed its player base that it too would be making the switch. A statement issued to PRO confirmed the move.

We are excited to announce that we will be joining the iPoker Network on the 19th May and look forward to utilising their greatly improved poker platform, a Grosvenor spokesperson told PRO.

The site will continue to offer its players exclusive tournaments, series and promotions, making use of new games available on the iPoker software, including Progressive KO Tournaments, Re-entry Tournaments, Multi-entry Tournaments, 6+ Holdem and Speed Poker, the statement concludes.

Here is the original post:

Grosvenor Poker Will Also Switch from MPN to iPoker - Pokerfuse

07:3208 May

Its not all bad. Bleak times are here for sure, but some of the responses to the pandemic are truly heartwarming. Even as the president of the United States continues to advocate swapping human lives for a poll boosting bump in economic activity ahead of his re-election campaign.

For example, poker pros and poker playing celebrities will be gathering (online) to gather donations during the Stars CALL For Action charity poker tournament. The tournament was the brain child of Hank Azaria an amateur poker player and star of The Simpsons, The Smurfs, and the music video for Smash Mouths All Star and Andy Bellin.

Other celebrities who have signed up include David Schwimmer, Amy Schumer, Brian Koppelman, Edward Norton, Bryan Cranston, Michael Cera and and more all of who will have webcams on during the event. The tables and webcams will be streamed on Facebook, Youtube, and Twitch where there will be a donate button and commentary from James Hartigan and Lex Veldhuis.

Donations will be split evenly between Care International, an anti-poverty charity, and the Entertainment Industry Foundation which is running a program to support those affected by COVID-19.

Regular folks will also be able to play through a giveaway program that the PokerStars ambassadors will be running. Contest winners will compete amongst each other in a separate field to the celebrities. The two fields will then combine once each is down to one table.

The online MTT will be streamed on the 9th May 2020.

Did you like this article?

View post:

Edward Norton and Bryan Cranston to Play in Hank Azarias Charity Poker Tourney - PokerTube

Poker is one of the most emotionally demanding games you can think of. So much so that one of the words youll hear most often is tilt.

Being on tilt, roughly speaking, is when you allow bad feelings to dictate your behavior.

Everyones been there. But not everyones aware that there are at least two reasons for this to happen. And knowing the difference between the two may change the way you approach your next poker session.

Lets start by refining our understanding of what it means to be on tilt.

As Ive suggested, this is when you let your emotions hurt your game. This is often an insidious process, which can manifest itself in different ways.

But, if we pay enough attention, well be able to identify some common behavior patterns.

The most obvious form of tilt is when you start entering pots with marginal hands more often, in the hope of hitting a monster on later rounds of betting.

Not all players on tilt may do this. But all of them become more subject to some kind of speculative play. In short, they disregard most of what they once learned about the fundamentals (hand selection, pot odds, position, etc.).

Sometimes, its great. Nothing in poker is bad per se. After all, you have to know how to change gears and how to manipulate your table image.

And speculative plays can help you with that. Against skilled opponents, you wont go too far if your game is too predictable. But when those plays arent done in the proper state of mind, this means that youre simply relying on luck.

Knowing ones own state of mind is, in itself, a full-time job, because it requires constant attention. But its easy to put into words how a person is feeling when he/she is on tilt.

In fact, we can summarize it with a single wordfrustration.

Frustration is an interesting word. According to the 3rd edition of the Longman Active Study Dictionary, heres how its defined:

[] the feeling of being impatient or angry because you cannot do what you want to do[.]

I dont need to tell you what it means to be impatient or angry, do I? Any human being knows those feelings all too well.

Still, it requires a good deal of self-awareness to identify certain emotions as soon as they show up during a poker session. And it requires an even greater deal of self-regulation to not let them interfere with your game.

Self-awareness and self-regulation are emotional intelligence skills. As such, they deserve an article of their own. For now, lets continue analyzing our definition of the word frustration.

Once again, according to Longman (and most dictionaries, by the way), its a feeling that comes because you cannot do what you want to do.

And its here that I ask you, do you know what you want to do when you play poker?

I suspect that, for most poker players, the question What do you want to do? isnt even the most relevant because theyre way too concerned about what they want to have.

That is, theyre all about the results Im not here to say you shouldnt be results-oriented. After all, this is a common trait among successful people.

But these people have also learned that your results should come in direct proportion to what you do and also, your level of being, if you want to sustain your success.

This sounds obvious, right? But how many players fail to notice this?

Poker is demanding not only because of its individualistic nature but also because of the luck factor. This makes it all too easy to blame the deck when things dont go your way, especially when playing no-limit. Here, you can lose a lot (or all) of your chips in one hand.

When that happens because of a bad beat, thats enough for many players to start playing much worse. And thats how most of them go on tilt.

Theres a fine line between being focused on results and being attached to them. And we all tend to cross that line more often than wed like to admit.

But we must know that attachment is exactly what makes it difficult to have the necessary emotional stability to play poker.

At the felt, anything can happen in the short run. Unfortunately, it seems that most players only learn this at a cognitive level (if that).

What do those players need to develop, then?

First of all, a desire to play well. Second, the habit of seeing their results from a larger perspective. Bear in mind, though, that none of that will necessarily save you from going on tilt.

Theres another reason why this happens to poker players.

When you decide to get serious about improving your game, its common to develop a series of habits.

You start reading books, joining forums, and watching tutorials about poker. You keep track of how long you spend at each session (both online and offline). You spend hours analyzing different hands youve played searching for what couldve been done differently.

Then, you pay attention to your nutrition, sleep, exercise routine, and so on. You even experiment with different kinds of meditation, visualizations, and affirmations.

In short, you do everything you can think of to give yourself even the slightest edge at a poker table. And you definitely should. But, as great as those habits are, they may present a certain danger.

The danger is not in any of those practices themselves, but in how you relate to them. Because, if you do everything right, you might expect to play as close to perfect as humanly possible.

And when youre not able to do this, youre bound to get frustrated.

Poker player and author Mike Caro calls this second type of tilt the scratched-car syndrome.

He named it as such because of something that happened to a neighbor of his a long time ago. His neighbor just bought a new car, of which he seemed to be very proud of. And he polished it frequently. That is, until a scratch appeared on it.

After that incident, the man felt it wasnt worth it anymore to do anything about his once precious car. As Caro observes, such is the case for those poker players who come into a table expecting to play great all the time.

All it takes is a costly misjudgmenta bad call on the river, for examplefor them to feel like their whole session was ruined. Although the circumstances behind this type of tilt are different from the other, the underlying reason is the same.

Both types of players get frustrated because of some kind of attachment. In our first case, as weve seen, that attachment is mainly to amassing chips. In this second case, players tend to be attached mainly to their self-image as poker players.

These would do well to ponder on the following advice from Caro:

[] You are where you are and the past is the past. Are-are, past-past. Try to play perfectly, but expect to fail.

I know, I said Id talk about only two types of tilt, but theres another one which deserves at least a brief mention here.

Sometimes, you go on tilt not because of a bad run of cards, a hand poorly played, or anything else thats part of the game.

Sometimes, you just cant get some personal problems out of your head.

Maybe your mother is sick. Or youve argued with your spouse. Or youve had an altercation with another player about something unrelated to poker.

Whatever the case may be, its unlikely that youll be able to focus on that game you happen to be in. I say its unlikely because some players are actually able to do it. Somehow, theyre able to detach from anything else that may be bothering them outside the felt.

If thats you, I salute you. If thats not your case, maybe its better to skip that particular poker session. Or, at the very least, try to make use of some techniques that involve some kind of relaxation.

None of us are immune to going on tilt when playing poker. This can happen even to top pros (as you may have seen on TV).

The secret, if there is one, is to learn how to bounce back quicker each time it happens. And the first step towards this goal is to learn to develop an accepting attitude.

Tilt, as weve seen, comes from frustration. And frustration comes from one thing, and one thing onlya lack of acceptance.

So, as long as you can stop wanting things to be different from the way they are, youll be a winner. Thats a tricky feat, because you do want to improve and develop. But you dont want to be attached to neither the cards nor to your performance when playing poker.

Read more from the original source:

What is Tilt When Playing Poker? - Different Types of Tilt at Poker - BestUSCasinos.org

Live poker has been shut down for over six weeks in almost every territory around the world. Since Coronavirus forced the game back inside peoples homes, poker has continued, however. Online tournaments have welcomed players who might usually have ventured outside into their virtual lobbies and poker brands such as PokerStars, partypoker and GG Poker have all hosted big events in the last few weeks.

With the looming possibility that Las Vegas has been secretly preparing to reopen venues such as casinos in order to maintain an economy in a city built on the entertainment and gambling industries, the obvious question has been whether live poker will come back and if so, how and when?

Plans to reopen pokers live game are obviously riddled with issues. How do you keep players from transmitting the Coronavirus when the cards, poker chips and dealer button are all potentially contaminated?

A glimpse at the equipment needed to restrict players from being in contact and maintain a social distance has led to some poker players commenting disparagingly on the visual for what would be an incredibly complicated physical set-up, although Phil Galfond of Run It Once chose to focus on what many players thought; that playing online would be much, much easier than resorting to this sort of table sitting in your local casino.

As Daniel Negreanu discussed in the latest episode of Dat Poker Podcast, what it would take for players to retake their seats at poker tables around the world isnt a simple question. The very future of how a casino might look would be very different, as demonstrated by this Tweet about casino games. Can you imagine this sort of set-up for a live poker tournament and how long it would then take to reach a conclusion?

With poker likely to return with a maximum of four poker players to every table, there are huge logistical and financial implications of such restrictions. Casinos are already talking of having to employ one dealer to shuffle up and deal and another to disinfect the currency and controlling elements of actual gameplay. Again, consider how long this sort of process would take.

From a financial position, casinos may be making no money at all at present, but any freelance or zero hours casino staff arent costing them any money. Two dealers per table with only four players paying rake would both double the outlay and halve the income at each table, essentially chopping the money casinos make down to 25% of pre-COVID-19 profit margins.

The talk of poker returning, however crazy it might sound to imagine, is not restricted to theory at present. The Nevada Gaming Control Board released health and safety policies that are new as of last Friday, which include the limited seating that would need to be strictly enforced.

Live tournament poker would, essentially, still be in quarantine. Cash games would need to be a very high level for poker to turn a profit, unless rake is raised, which would in turn scare off players anyway. Even high rollers are currently able to play big buy-in tournaments throughout May on GG Poker in the WSOP Super Circuit Series or in other big events like SCOOP and the forthcoming WPT Online Series. Poker Central host a Super High Roller Bowl from May 23rd to June 1st that is sure to draw the eye of many high rollers.

There have been and will be more big events at PokerStars, partypoker and other sites that make it possible for those in lockdown to maintain their poker playing without leaving the safety of their own abodes. The incentives needed to drive people out of their homes to casinos would only be big enough for players at a level which falls well below profit for casinos themselves.

The prevention of large social gatherings is one that the whole world will find difficult to implement as society adjusts to what has to be a new way of life to rid the world of COVID-19. As has been seen as recently as last week in Germany, relaxing of social distancing measures can have a catastrophic effect in no time at all, the reinfection of a population happening in days, not weeks.

Things arent as simple as casinos throwing open their doors and welcoming poker players and other gamblers into their cavernous gaming rooms. Before even thinking about reopening, any establishment has to submit a plan outlining how theyll comply with the new rules and regs. Then they have to wait a week before they can welcome anyone into their building.

From personal protective equipment (PPE) to face-masks, regular handwashing schedules and ramped-up cleaning rotas, the efforts that will have to be made by casinos in re-opening are huge.

Here is the most important paragraph of the proposal in full.

Plans must limit the number of patrons based on type of game to ensure proper distance between players by limiting the number of seats or betting positions per table. For example, player limit per table should be limited to three players per blackjack table, six players per craps table, four players per roulette table, and four players per poker table.

Las Vegas properties have been closed since mid-March under the terms set out by Governor Steve Sisolak. However, with Las Vegas Mayor Carolyn Goodman going on something of a rant about how Nevadas business closures are killing the local economy, there is a political stand-off to match the one facing poker players on both sides of the argument.

Read the original post:

Is It Possible to Socially Distance Live Poker? - CalvinAyre.com

May 08, 2020Matthew Pitt

Day 8 of the 2020 Spring Championship Of Online Poker (SCOOP) was another day of intense poker action at the PokerStars virtual felt. Thousands of the games elite grinders took to the table to chase fame and fortune in the $85 million guarantee festival. Which players manage to achieve those goals? Lets find out.

Follow PokerNews' 2020 SCOOP Coverage!

Russias Artur mararthur1 Martirosyan has been in scintillating form for several weeks, going deep in dozens of high roller events in the online poker. He won a SCOOP event on Day 5 and last night took down the SCOOP-29-H: $5,200 NLHE 8-Max Midweek Freeze, $750K Gtd.

Martirosyan banked an impressive $157,426 for his $5,200 investment. The Russian scooped the top prize after sending Dutch player pm_marke to the showers in second place. The runner-up collected $121,869.

Several household names were present and correct at the final table. These included back-to-back SCOOP Main Event champion Gianluca Tankanza Speranza, Francisco Tomatee Benitez and third-place finisher Ole wizowizo Schemion.

It was a British one-two in the SCOOP-29-M: $530 NLHE 8-Max Midweek Freeze, $500K Gtd with the Brits striking a deal when heads-up.

Gavin gavz101 Cochrane is better-know for his PLO prowess but it was at the Holdem tables that he excelled here. Cochrane officially finished in second and padded his bankroll with $71,742 after the aforementioned deal. Sc0RPioN95 was crowned the events champion, an accolade that came with a chunky $83,609 prize.

PLO is an extremely popular game in Scandinavian and Nordic countries and that showed with four of the six finalists in the SCOOP-30-H: $530+R PLO 6-Max, $350K Gtd event hailing from those regions.

WRUUUM of Finland busted in fifth for $26,488 before the PLO specialist Andreas Skervoy Torbergsen crashed out in fourth for $35,878.

Swedens tobbeb95 banked $48,598, which set up a heads-up battle between Netherlands aaldert-92 and Norways Myrmo locomi Espen. There was a prize difference of more than $30,000 but no deal was struck. This meant Espen got his hands on $89,165 when he emerged from the one-on-battle victoriously. His Dutch opponent consoled himself with $65,828.

Joao IneedMassari Simao came agonisingly close to taking down the SCOOP-30-M: $55+R PLO 6-Max, $150K Gtd event but ultimately fell at the final hurdle. Second-place in this event weighed in at a cool $23,780 but that was blown out of the water by the $34,130 top prize secured by Greeces tsafas13.

Also at the final table was the German star known as Sintoras. They put together another deep run but ran out of steam in third-place and had to make do with a $16,569 addition to their bankroll.

A field of 675 ensured the guarantee of the SCOOP-31-H: $1,050 NLHE PKO, $500K Gtd was surpassed by $175,000 and it as Russias fantomvmk who took full advantage of the juicy prize pool by being the last player standing.

The final table was a star-studded affair with such luminaries as Max goodeh99 Silver (6th - $16,533) and Romanias Vlad dariepoker Darie (5th - $20,891) being present and correct.

L1VeYRdrEamS and shtiriltz_ busted in fourth and third place respectively, setting up a heads-up clash between fantomvmk and Netherlands tonn22. Tonn22 fell by the wayside in second-place and won $72,533, including bounties, leaving the Russian to win the tournaments only six-figure prize.

Anatoly NL_Profit Filatov became a SCOOP champion on Day 8 courtesy of being the last man standing in the SCOOP-31-M: $109 NLHE PKO, $400K Gtd.

Filatov banked the $33,567 top prize plus a cool $21,392 worth of bounty payments for a combined prize worth $54,959. A large percentage of that bounty payment was on the head of runner-up fishgirl19y of Greece who tripped at the final hurdle and had to settle for second place. The runner-ups total prize weighed in at $34,738, a great return on a $109 investment.

Brazilian "bauruzito" took down the low edition of the Midweek Freeze, with Brit Guy "temp0r2k" Taylor (pictured) finishing second for $46,079.

Follow all the updates from this huge event!

Andras probirs Nemeth has an almost unnatural ability to navigate his way deep into the toughest poker tournaments. Hes gone and done it again in the SCOOP-33-H: $10,300 NLHE [8-Max, Progressive KO], $1M Gtd event where he leads the 15 surviving players.

$113,785 is up for grabs for finishing first and nemeth has already accumulated $42,500 worth of bounties!

Some of pokers elite join Nemeth on Day 2. These include Niklas Lena900 Astedt, Thomas WushuTM Muehloecker, and Sam SamSquid Grafton.

See if Nemeth can get the job done, here!

May 8 is Day 9 of this incredible series and sees some massive tournaments take place. Check out the table below to see which events you can play in the table below in addition to the in-play events above that conclude later.

The Stars Group is a majority shareholder in Oddschecker Global Media, the parent company of PokerNews

Visit link:

SCOOP 2020: Day 8: Martirosyan and Filatov Among the New Champions - PokerNews.com