News about poker pros
Confirming rumors from two months ago, Park MGM announced Monday that when it reopens, it will be the first-ever smoke-free casino on the Las Vegas Strip. It has scheduled its reopening for September 30; Park MGM is the only MGM property still closed because of the COVID-19 pandemic. “The last six months have presented extraordinary… Read more »
Before the 2020 World Series of Poker Online began, Poker Hall of Famer Daniel Negreanu offered up a couple bracelet prop bets, as he often does. One for which he got a couple takers was an even money heads-up bet on who would win a bracelet. Ali Imsirovic and Connor Drinan took him up on… Read more »
The crime I always enjoy a good “stupid criminal” story as long as nobody got hurt. Now, in this case, I do feel bad because the victim, while not harmed physically, was certainly harmed financially, but solely from an entertainment perspective, this is just a face-palmer. Recently, an Arizona woman was arrested for allegedly stealing… Read more »
Money vanished while McPhee was playing Late last week, poker pro Kevin McPhee revealed via Twitter that his GGPoker account had allegedly been hacked, his bankroll syphoned off. Though the poker room did reimburse him, McPhee is still largely in the dark as to how his account was compromised. In a series of posts, McPhee… Read more »
Last night, I wrote that Norman Chad is just about the last person in the poker world you would want to see get COVID-19 (I don’t want anyone to, but that’s not the point), but unfortunately, he did. Using a little parallel article structure for a moment, the last person in the poker world I… Read more »
Not that I would want anyone to contract the novel coronavirus, but of all the people in the poker world, one of the last people I would want to see get sick is the legendary Norman Chad. Well, sure enough, Mr. Chad has caught the virus and as one might expect, he is not feeling… Read more »
A suspect has been arrested in connection with the gruesome, tragic death of professional poker player Susie Zhao. 60-year old Jeffery Morris of Pontiac, Michigan was arraigned from his hospital room, charged with first-degree, premeditated murder of the 33-year old Zhao. Police found Zhao’s burned body at the Pontiac State Recreation Area on July 15.… Read more »
It started with Negreanu’s tirade Poker Hall of Famer Daniel Negreanu and retired poker pro Doug Polk appear to be on their way to a heads-up grudge match. The two have been going back and forth on Twitter for a couple days, egged on by Joey Ingram, and seem to be close to an agreement… Read more »
This week, Roberto Romanello got his name on a very short list, becoming just the ninth player in poker history to win poker’s Triple Crown. In winning the 2020 World Series of Poker Online Event #39: $1,500 No-Limit Hold’em, Romanello he nabbed his first career WSOP bracelet. That, along with previous World Poker Tour and… Read more »
Would’ve made George Carlin blush Daniel Negreanu is in internet jail. On Sunday, Twitch suspended the Poker Hall of Famer’s channel following an incident during his Friday night stream in which he let loose with a barrage of expletives and threats on a viewer. Negreanu was playing in the 2020 World Series of Poker Online… Read more »
Sexton Was the WPT I highly doubt I am ever going to be honored by any of my places of employment. I mean, Dan Katz’s Poker News Daily sounds incredible and, frankly, better than the current, boring name, but it’s just a pipe dream. The closest I’ll ever get to having my name on something… Read more »
Decided the time was right And then there were nine. Atlantic City’s Borgata Hotel Casino & Spa announced on Tuesday that it will finally reopen on July 26. For the three days before that, it will host a “soft” reopening only for invited guests. Borgata is the last of Atlantic City’s casinos to reopen, permitted… Read more »
Sometimes the rich and famous are just like the rest of us. And this weekend, it was Poker Hall of Famer Daniel Negreanu to whom we could all relate. During the 2020 World Series of Poker online, in the middle of a live stream, Negreanu’s connection to the WSOP.com went down multiple times on Friday,… Read more »
Mike “The Mouth” Matusow had a Mike Matusow day at the 2020 World Series of Poker Online this past weekend. But even after threatening violence upon a player who had the audacity to beat him in a hand, even after a little demonstration of misogyny, and even after just generally being a complete asshole, Caesars… Read more »
Played a hand terribly… In a throwback to the days when Mike “The Mouth” Matusow frequently found himself on World Series of Poker television broadcasts flapping his maw in embarrassing fashion, Matusow couldn’t handle his own poor play during the 2020 WSOP Online and laid into an opponent during his live stream. A two-hand live… Read more »
I am not one to ride the gossip train, so while I read about Bill Perkins accusing some unnamed poker pro of cheating in an online home game and then Dan Bilzerian calling someone out by name, I decided not to write about it because the whole thing still felt very “rumory” to me. Just… Read more »
The second heads-up challenge went significantly more smoothly for Phil Galfond than did the first one. On Tuesday, Galfond wrapped up his challenge against Ioannis “ActionFreak” Kontonatsios, coming out on top with a €114,765.66 profit. It was a similar setup to the one against VeniVidi1993, just shortly and for higher stakes. The game was €150/€300… Read more »
If only he could go back From the “most of us missed this jaw-dropper” files, Doyle Brunson made it known late last week that he turned down a king’s ransom about a decade ago for his online poker room, Doyle’s Room. Responding to a tweet from Rounders and Billions co-creator Brian Koppleman, Brunson said he… Read more »
Coming out of retirement GGPoker is continuing its attempted coup on the online poker world, this time signing young “retired” poker pro, Fedor Holz as a brand ambassador. Along with Holz donning the GGPoker brand, his poker training site, Pokercode has partnered with the online poker room. “Pokercode is yet another top brand to add… Read more »
Continuing its push to be one of the big boys in the online poker world, GGPoker surprised the poker community last week by announcing the signing of Bertrand “ElkY” Grospellier as a brand ambassador. ElkY had been with partypoker, even tweeting a “welcome to the team” to actor and comedian Kevin Hart just a few… Read more »
If I just saw my financial life flash before my eyes, I think I would want a few days to chill and decompress before embarking upon another harrowing poker adventure. But then I’m not Phil Galfond and I’ve never played a cash game more expensive than $1/$2. On Tuesday, Galfond got right back into the… Read more »
During the poker boom, online poker rooms scrambled to sign as many poker pros and celebrities as they could to endorsement deals. PokerStars was big with tournament players, having three consecutive World Series of Poker Main Event champs onboard at one point: Chris Moneymaker, Greg “Fossilman” Raymer, and Joe Hachem. Full Tilt Poker (remember Full… Read more »
It was the oracle Kevin Garnett who once said, “Anything is possiblllllle!!!”* On Sunday, self-described “washed-up poker pro” and founder of the Run It Once online poker room, Phil Galfond, completed his comeback in the first match-up of the Galfond Challenge. Down €900,240.17 after the February 9th session, Galfond nailed down the win with fewer… Read more »
Dan Smith, fifth on the all-time poker tournament money list, announced on Monday that he has launched an initiative through his Double Up Drive organization to raise money for households in the Las Vegas area that are most at risk during the COVID-19 pandemic. At the same time, he has teamed up with Phil Galfond,… Read more »
Poker is a funny game, isn’t it? One minute, you can be down and out, not able to do anything right, and the next minute you can be flying high, hitting every card you need. Such has been the case for Phil Galfond in the first matchup of the Galfond Challenge. In February, he was… Read more »
