In this week’s Calling the Clock we bring you up to speed on some developments involving Doug Polk, an incredibly ballsy move by Jake Cody, and much more.
If there is one lie that most of humanity seems to have in common it’s this one:
“I don’t care what people think about me?”
Each opinion is a brick, each cutting comment the cement that builds our personality. Of course, we care, and this week we saw an excellent example of that from the most unusual of places.
When it comes to ego, they don’t come much bigger than the ones that live inside the skulls of Daniel Negreanu and Doug Polk. This week, the pair went head-to-head at the American Poker Awards (APA) making the shortlists in the Video Blogger of the Year, and Poker’s Biggest Influencer categories (Polk also made the Best Tournament Performance shortlist).
The pair clashed several times on Twitter in the build-up to the event. Polk called Negreanu an ‘embarrassment to poker,’ and Negreanu reacted by questioning how someone who built his reputation by destroying others could be a positive influence on the community.
On the night in question, thermometers cracked everywhere as the tension built, and neither player won anything. Andrew Neeme came from nowhere to win the Video Blogger and Biggest Influencer awards (Scott Blumstein earned Tournament Performance of the Year).
In the aftermath, Polk created a 22-minute video where, amongst a plethora of things, he admitted his sadness at being passed over for an award.
“2017 was and will always be the best year I ever had in poker,” said Polk. “Not just winnings but what I tried to put into the world and do for poker. I worked really hard. The best I will ever do and the industry didn’t view that as good enough. It made me feel sad.”
And he wasn’t kidding.
Polk ended the video by telling his fans that he will be dialling his poker content right down to the bare minimum as he focuses on his new cryptocurrency channel.
“Poker is a static or declining industry,” said Polk. “It doesn’t make sense to launch a business in a non-growth area.”
I wrote about Polk’s transition to the cryptocurrency business in my op-ed Crypto and Blockchain is Stealing Poker’s Main Attractions.
You can catch up on the rest of the APA winners and losers, right here.
World Poker Tour’s Adam Pliska Signs a New Deal; LAPC Update
Adam Pliska was on hand at the APA ceremony, where he collected the award for the WPTDeepStacks victory in the Mid-Major Circuit award. A few days later, and the people who pay his wages announced plans to keep him on the payroll for another four-years.
Pliska and the team had their beady eye firmly fixed on the Los Angeles Poker Classic (LAPC) this week. Alex Foxen bested a field of 50-runners to take down the $424,625 first prize after beating Nick Petrangelo in heads-up action.
The Main Event attracted 493 entrants, creating a $1m first prize, and that now rests in the bank account of Dennis Blieden after he beat Toby Lewis in heads-up action. The WPT Raw Deal host, Phil Hellmuth, lived up to his moniker when he sold 60% of his buy-in on YouStake and then skipped Day 1 in its entirety. Not that they should be complaining. The full-time author/part-time poker player earned $28,164 for his fans after finishing 15th.
World Series of Poker Snub the APA; Spinella Does it Again
One of the major disappointments at the APA was the absence of any of the WSOP bigwigs. Lon McEachern and Norman Chad picked up the Lifetime Achievement Award and writing in his FIVE THINGS Column, the PocketFives Chief, Lance Bradley, noted: Considering how prestigious the WSOP is, it was an embarrassing look for that brand to not have their big wigs in attendance.
The brand did get a positive airing this week.
The World Series of Poker Circuit (WSOPC) moved into the Rio in Las Vegas, and Anthony Spinella carved out another piece of history. You may remember that Spinella won the first-ever WSOP bracelet played online at WSOP.com, and this week he won the first-ever WSOPC gold ring played online after beating 420-entrants.
Other big winners at the Rio included Loni Harwood winning her fifth gold ring and $72,802 first prize in the High Roller, Kevin Iacofano winning the Main Event for $259,463 and Jeremy Joseph winning the Casino Championship title and a seat in the Global Casino Championships.
Online Poker News
There used to be a time when PokerStars would dominate the Calling The Clock column, but there has been a switching of the tracks of late. partypoker have a head of steam
This week the team was at Dusk Till Dawn (DTD) in Nottingham for the UK Poker Championships. It was a festival that Steve Morris will remember for a very long time. The UK-based pro won the £5,300 High Roller for £70,000 and finished fifth in the Main Event netting another £40,000. The £1,100 Main Event attracted 1,076 entries, and Chris Brice won the £187,500 first prize.
And yet the interest in Morris and Brice was positively ant-like compared to the virality surrounding Jake Cody’s victory and subsequent antics in the £2,200 High Roller. The PokerStars Team Pro beat a field of 116 entrants to win the £42,670 first prize, and promptly doubled it at the roulette table when he put the lot on ‘black.’ DTD owner, Rob Yong even spun the ball for the lad.
It was a tough week for Cody. The Triple Crown Winner returned to vlogging where he talked about his split from his partner, and all the difficulties that come with that sort of business complicated further by having a child together. I wrote about his dilemma in Masks: The Algedonic Life of Jake Cody.
partypoker LIVE moved to Uruguay for the Latin American Poker Championships, and Fabrizio Gonzalez defeated 34-entrants to take the $79,000 first prize in the $5,300 Super High Roller. Gonzalez beat the in-form Joao Simao in heads-up action. Joao eliminated his wife, Luiza in third place. We can expect another divorce laden vlog in the coming months.
And partypoker supporter, Leon Tsouernik was in the news again this week. A Las Vegas District Judge threw out his allegations that the Australian High Stakes poker player, Matt Kirk, and the ARIA conspired to get him drunk and win millions off him while inebriated. The net results mean Tsoukernik has to pay Kirk’s legal bills. Aussie Matt’s battle to reclaim the $2m loan continues.
PokerStars handed out another $30,000 Platinum Pass this week. The beneficiary was Peter Brankin. The 24-year-old student beat a field of 751 entrants to gain the £9,750 first prize, and the opportunity to play for millions more in the $25k buy-in PokerStars Player’s No-Limit Hold’em Championships in the Bahamas in 2019.
A Norwegian poker player, who once finished fourth in the Sunday Million won $1.6m playing on a PokerStars Casino slot machine in the same week Phil Galfond suggested that PokerStars could end up as just that. It was also the week that BetStars and PokerStars merged marketing muscle for the Big Race – an event that amalgamates a poker tournament with the Cheltenham Gold Cup. I write about the direction PokerStars is taking in: Putting it all on Black: PokerStars Marketing Cody style.
A Norwegian poker player also won the Unibet Open Main Event in London. Andreas Wiborg defeated 349 entrants to win the £56,807 first prize. The win was slightly smaller than the $1.6m of his countryman but certainly not to be sniffed at.
Last but not least, the French online poker room Winamax continued preparations for a European shared liquidity launch by signing Leo Margets and Joao Vieira as brand ambassadors to pump the message through the Portuguese and Spanish sound systems.
Bits and Bobs
Doyle Brunson felt the Twitter heat again this week, this time airing his controversial opinions on gun control. I wrote about it here: The Art of Poker v The Art of the Man: Can we Sepaarte The Two?
Poker Central announced another PokerGO Original. The Super High Roller Club features the lives of high stakes regs. And ARIA and Poker Central announced plans to revisit the lottery system if the 2018 Super High Roller Bowl breaches its 48-player cap. I wrote about why that’s a bad idea: Skill, Luck or Bias: 2018 Super High Roller Lottery System Still in Place.
Time ladies and gentlemen, please.
Someone has just called the clock.
