In this week’s poker news round up we remind you that Fedor Holz joined partypoker, the StreamBoat 2 remains moored thanks to Hurricane Irma, and much more.
Let’s insert the tape, rewind to the beginning, and start with as much news from partypoker as we can muster.
Patrick Leonard has convinced Fedor Holz to join the partypoker revolution. The German superstar told the press he would: “never partner with a company that was not committed to looking after or listening to the players.”
There have been a lot of great additions to the partypoker squad in the past 12-months but the signing of one of the hottest players on the planet is further evidence that the players are beginning to believe the hype pumped out of the beat box by the likes of John Duthie, Mike Sexton, Rob Yong, and Tom Waters.
Two more partypoker announcements the catch up on.
The first is a leak, or sorts, concerning the latest $10m Guaranteed MILLIONS event. It’s going to take place at the Playground Poker Club in Montreal, May 2018 and came to light when partypoker ambassador Kristen Bicknell tweeted the news ahead of a planned press release. The event is double the guarantee of the record-breaking $5m Guaranteed MILLIONS event that Jean-Pascal Savard won in May, the largest live tournament prize pool in Canadian history.
And those who thought that 888Poker was offering the only online satellite route to the World Series of Poker Europe (WSOPE) in Rozvadov are wrong (including me). This week, partypoker and Dusk till Dawn (DTD) partnered with King’s Casino owner, Leon Tsoukernik, to offer live and online satellite routes into the event that takes place in the Czech Republic in October.
PokerStars: Sunday Million Live; Akkari App; StreamBoat Troubles
Sticking with the King’s Casino, and this week the largest poker room in Europe held the largest ever live tournament in mainland Europe.
PokerStars were the visitors for the inaugural Sunday Million Live, and the German player Philipp Salewski defeated a field of 5,893 entrants to secure the $173,843.50 first prize.
Let’s hope Salewski remembers to pay his tax on that bounty, unlike Spanish resident Dragon Kostic. The Macedonian born poker player was sentenced to 18-months behind bars, fined €400,000, and ordered to pay back taxes of €230,110 plus interest after failing to include the tax on his 2011 European Poker Tour (EPT) Barcelona Main Event runner-up spot where he earned €532,000. Ironically, that year the tax man gave Kostic a €1,315 tax refund.
Fast forward six years and PokerStars has crowned Koray Aldemir the King of Barcelona after the young German cashed four times, including three final tables, earning over €700,000 in prize money. Aldemir gains a seat in the €100,000 freeroll at the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure (PCA) in the Bahamas, where he will face off against Bryn Kenney, Chris Hunichen, Nick Petrangelo, Vladimir Troyanovskiy, and the winner of the PokerStars Championship Leaderboard in Prague.
Team PokerStars Pro Andre Akkari had a good week. The Brazilian star finished fifth in the PokerStars Championship Barcelona Main Event for €317,960, and also revealed a new app.
Akkari is the face of the Akkari Poker Quiz, an app, that, yes, you’ve guessed it, is a mobile poker quiz that you can use to brush up on your poker knowledge and trivia in between hands.
Finally, PokerStars collaboration with Bill Perkins and the StreamBoat 2 is on hold due to the devastation caused by Hurricane Irma. The Category 5 hurricane is one of the strongest storms on record to have ever hit the Atlantic, and ten people have already died in the Caribbean where the StreamBoat is docked. Jamie and Matt Staples, who were in the Caribbean at the time, were escorted to safety in a private jet organised by Perkins.
Live MTT Round Up: Wins For Zamani, Winter, and Bensimoun
A quick round-up of the week’s top performances in the world of live poker.
The biggest score of the week came in Thackerville, Oklahoma, where Benjamin Zamani, continued his incredible 18-month run by taking down the 926 player field and $347,134 in prize money.
Zamani is the reigning World Poker Tour (WPT) Player of the Year, and there was a WPTDeepStacks event happening this week. Francisco Lopes topped a field of 250 entrants to win the €55,010 first prize in Portugal.
In other scores from around the world, Heinrich Pauker won the Unibet Belgian Championships for €33,960. Gary Herstein won the $170,404 top prize in the Heartland Poker Tour Ameristar East Chicago. Tim Chung beat out 502 entrants to win the £76,500 first prize in Dusk till Dawn’s DTD1000, and Ben Bensimoun defeated 273 entrants to capture the gold ring and €94,349 in the WSOPC Main Event in Rotterdam.
And there were two Aria High Rollers this weekend. Sean Winter won his third on the trot when he took down a $10k event for $109,677, and Jake Schindler won a $25k event for $175,000.
Bits and Bobs
The Aria is going to get busy in the next week, as Poker Central partners with the poker room to host the Poker Masters. PokerGO is streaming the action live, but we still don’t know who’s playing. One person who is cast iron to take a seat is Daniel Negreanu, and this week Kid Poker put $50,000 on the line against 20+ pros in a winners takes all bet that could net him over a million bucks if he wins.
In other news, Martin Jacobson and Per Hildebrand made their way into the Swedish Poker Hall of Fame, this week. WSOP Main Event third place finisher, John Hesp is having a movie made of his deep run, and Doug Polk has challenged Tom Dwan to a $5m heads-up match.
Finally, if you want to iron out the kinks in your poker game then check out this week’s guest on Poker Routines, Mr. Matt Berkey, and read about how live dealers are set to be a thing of the past thanks to advancements in artificial intelligence (AI).
Time, ladies and gentlemen, please.
Someone has just called the clock.
