We’re one week away from the start of the Poker Central Poker Masters, and still don’t know who will be contesting the inaugural purple jacket, except for Daniel Negreanu.
Daniel Negreanu is competing in Poker Central’s inaugural Poker Masters. A five-event high roller series where the winner receives a purple jacket.
But we don’t know who else will be playing?
What gives, Poker Central?
I’m a fan of Poker Central’s progress since binning their ridiculous attempt at creating enough content to stoke the fires of a 24/7 TV channel that nobody would have watched, and I’m still a fanboy of the original content flying out of PokerGO screens, but they have slipped up a little with this one.
When they first unveiled the concept of creating a PGA-style tournament where the cream of high rolling poker players battle it out for pride and prestige, I thought the idea was brilliant.
Five events:
▪ September 13 – Event No. 1: $50,000 buy-in
▪ September 14 – Event No. 2: $50,000 buy-in
▪ September 15 – Event No. 3: $50,000 buy-in
▪ September 16 – Event No. 4: $50,000 buy-in
▪ September 18 – Event No. 5: $100,000 buy-in
Aria, Las Vegas host.
All the action streamed live on PokerGO.
The player with the most points wins the coat.
But where is the build up?
Where is the anticipation?
Why aren’t we all wet?
Who the hell is playing?
We are a week out, and the public doesn’t know who will take part. But we do have a few hints, thanks to a very public series of side bets promoted on Twitter by Daniel Negreanu.
The Poker Central Ambassador, and recent star of the PokerGO Reality TV Series Major Wager took to Twitter to drum up interest in his involvement in the Poker Masters by offering the following bet.
Looking for action for PokerMasters?
I want to bet myself
-even money
-must win purple jacket
-$50k cap per player— Daniel Negreanu (@RealKidPoker) September 4, 2017
Despite the ability of the man, there was no shortage of takers, and the influx of interest at least gave us a snapshot of what a possible guest list could look like, although Poker Central’s Will O’Connor noted in a blog post that the feedback doesn’t mean they will all play.
Here is the list of potential suitors, all of whom have booked bets with Negreanu:
Tom Marchese
Jake Schindler
Brian Rast
Doug Polk
Fedor Holz
Rainer Kempe
Christoph Vogelsang
Dan Smith
Adrian Mateos
Ben Tollerene
Koray Aldemir
Steffen Sontheimer
Stefan Schillhabel
Isaac Haxton
Christian Christner
David Peters
Sean Winter
Jason Koon
Dominik Nitsche
Igor Kurganov
And more names may crawl out of the woodwork as Negreanu considers increasing the bet to $100k.
If Negreanu wins, then he banks over a million bucks, and if he loses, he loses $50,000.
I like that bet.
But ultimately, it will be a losing one for Negreanu, because Jake Schindler is going to walk into his next disco dressed in purple.
MPN Crown The Greatest Poker Player in The World
One group of people who won’t be happy that the Poker Masters is taking place in the next couple of weeks is the Microgaming Poker Network (MPN).
The MPN is preparing to launch their third iteration of the Universal Championship of Poker (UCOP III) where the winner of the leaderboard contest will be forever known as the Greatest Poker Player in the Universe, and they are going to be short of players because of a clash with the prestigious Poker Masters.
With €750,000 in guaranteed prize money distributed across 59 tournaments, and a €5,000 cash prize awaiting the Greatest Poker Player in the Universe, it’s obvious that none of the above players would ever miss this opportunity.
I can only assume that Negreanu’s side action is a deliberate attempt by his employer PokerStars to sabotage the MPN’s flagship online series.
See Nagy, this shit is happening everywhere!
