3: Barrels of real value including King’s Casino partnering with partypoker for the German Poker Championships; Kevin Hart confirmed for the PokerStars Championship Barcelona, and Phil Ivey makes an appearance in Las Vegas.
Partypoker and Dusk Till Dawn (DTD) have shown the benefits that can emerge when a very successful online poker room jumps into bed with a very successful live card room.
King’s Casino has been paying attention.
The largest card room in Europe will celebrate their new Hotel & Casino expansion by hosting the German Poker Championships, and partypoker will partner with Leon Tsoukernik’s team to help give the event a little bump.
The German Poker Championships runs from 9-14 August, and the opening of the new Hotel & Casino complex takes place on Thursday, 10 August. The festival offers €2m+ in guarantees including a €1 million guaranteed €2,200 Main Event, a €500,000 Guaranteed €25,000 buy-in Super High Roller, and a €250,000 Guaranteed €5,300 buy-in 8-Max High Roller.
For the first time in King’s Casino history, they will be merging online and live play for the Main Event, with Phase 1 and Day 1 action available on partypoker, and live at the casino.
This way of doing business has been very successful with the partypoker LIVE MILLIONS concept, and Tsoukernik and his team will be hoping for much the same.
Keep your eye on www.pokerroomkings.com for further details regarding the schedule.
Kevin Hart to Make an Appearance at Barcelona
Kevin Hart wasn’t fooling around when he said he was going to put the fun back into poker.
The American comedian, who entered into a partnership with PokerStars at the PokerStars Championship Monte Carlo, will feature in the forthcoming PokerStars Championship Barcelona. It will be Hart’s third Championship after also appearing at the event in the Bahamas.
Hart will likely feature in the €50,000 Super High Roller, and the €25,500 Single Day High Roller, although there are plenty of games for him to partake. The €5,300 buy-in has a €7m Guarantee, and the €1,100 PokerStars National Championships has a €4m Guarantee.
Last year, the European Poker Tour (EPT) stop in Barcelona was the largest in the tour’s history with more than 22,500 tournament entries and over €45m in prize money.
It will be interesting to see what the turnout will be like after the lukewarm reception since the EPT made way for the new PokerStars Championship & Festivals branding.
The last time we saw Kevin Hart was at the $300,000 buy-in Super High Roller Bowl where he busted on Day 2 after taking out Phil Hellmuth and Fedor Holz. Hart has not cashed in an event since increasing his presence at PokerStars events.
It seems we will have to wait a little longer to see PokerStars newest recruit, Usain Bolt, competing in his first event.
Phil Ivey is in Town
Someone get on the phone to Pat & Mel Humphreys, Phil Ivey is in house.
The world’s greatest anything to do with gambling guy was spotted in Bobby’s Room at The Bellagio by the eagled eyed Instagram camera of one Gus Hansen.
Ivey was looking relaxed playing some $2k/$4k alongside what looked to be the former $50,000 Poker Player’s Championship (PPC) winner, Matt Ashton.
Does this mean that Mr Ivey will be making an appearance at the WSOP?
I doubt it.
The last of his ten bracelet wins came in 2014 when he took down the $1,500 8-Game Mix, but I can’t see him exchanging the cash game action for a $1,500 buy-in WSOP event. With the $111,111 One Drop High Roller in the past, the only hope of seeing Mr Ivey is the $50,000 PPC or the $10,000 Main Event.
Ivey has only cashed in three live events in the past two and a half years, which is kind of sad when you consider his standing in the poker world.
What happened to building that legacy, Mr Ivey?
