News about poker pros
The 32-player bracket has been set for the first-ever PokerGO Tour Heads-Up Showdown, which begins on Thursday, April 21 at the ARIA in Las Vegas. The 16 first-round matches will all be played tomorrow, starting with the Clubs and Diamonds bracket at noon PST and continuing with the Spades and Hearts brackets at 4:00pm. The… Read more »
There is drama in the world of high stakes poker. Sunday night, poker pro Alex Foxen accused fellow pro of cheating, both live and online. And perhaps most interestingly, he did not get a lot of pushback. Posting on Twitter, Foxen said that Imsirovic is “known as a cheater to almost all in the high… Read more »
Helping those in need As Russia’s invasion of Ukraine rages on, around 3 million people have fled Ukraine for safer countries. Nearly 2 million more have been displaced inside the country. It is a horrible humanitarian crisis, but were it not for the efforts of thousands upon thousands in neighboring countries, even more Ukranians would… Read more »
Escaping the violence As Russia’s invasion of Ukraine nears the end of its first week, Ukraine residents continue to flee, hoping they can find refuge in neighboring countries. One of the hundreds of thousands who have made it to safety is former poker pro Eugene Katchalov, who made it to Hungary with his wife and… Read more »
Effective altruism movement According to a Bloomberg report, SpaceX and Tesla CEO Elon Musk donated $5.7 billion worth of Tesla stock to charity in November. It appears that the man Musk has entrusted to decide where the money goes is poker pro Igor Kurganov. Kurganov, along with Stefan Huber, Phil Gruissem, and long-time girlfriend Liv… Read more »
Faded a bunch of outs Tony G went from professional poker play to politician, but now he’s back to poker and methinks he is not regretting it one bit. On Friday, Antanas “Tony G” Guoga won the largest pot in online poker history: $7.75 million. He accomplished the feat on CoinPoker, a site for which… Read more »
After skipping last year because of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Global Poker Awards are back. This year, the winners will be announced during a ceremony on Friday, February 18, at Aria Resort & Casino in Las Vegas, streamed live by PokerGO. On Tuesday, the Global Poker Index and The Hendon Mob, which produce the Global… Read more »
Now he just needs the earnings title If you register for a high stakes poker tournament and see Michael Addamo there, I highly advise you to turn around and go home or turn off your computer. He is going to win it. On Tuesday, he continued his insane run, winning the $10,300 GGPoker Super MILLION$… Read more »
One of the nuttiest finishes in recent memory I don’t normally watch games involving teams I don’t care about unless it’s a championship game, but I am sure glad I had the TV tuned to NBC Sunday night for the NFL regular season finale between the Las Vegas Raiders and Los Angeles Chargers. I was… Read more »
The rematch Phil Hellmuth asked for it and now he’s got it. On Monday evening, PokerGO announced that the High Stakes Duel III rematch between Hellmuth and Tom Dwan is on, scheduled for January 26 at 8:00pm ET. As one would guess, PokerGO will be streaming the action. The two last met in August in… Read more »
Poker room owned by poker players Texas, of all places, is in the news once again for its poker rooms (though I suppose it’s weird that the state hasn’t made the poker headlines more, considering the most popular poker variant is name after it). This time, it is unretired poker pro Doug Polk who announced… Read more »
Total domination It wasn’t even close. Ali Imsirovic was named the 2021 PokerGO Tour Player of the Year this week, something that looked like an inevitability for months. For his accomplishment, Imsirovic wins $200,000 on behalf of Guaranteed Rate, the PokerGO Tour’s sponsor. Now, I’m not going to get into how Player of the Year… Read more »
Simple, yet revolutionary invention The poker world lost a legend Tuesday, as Henry Orenstein, the inventor of the hole card camera, passed away at the age of 98. While few details of his passing are known, it was confirmed by president and CEO of PokerGO, and fellow poker luminary, Mori Eskandani. Were it not for… Read more »
He may not be a tremendous fan of the World Series of Poker Player of the Year formula, but Phil Hellmuth certainly did his darndest to finish atop this year’s POY rankings. It doesn’t look like he will pull it off, but “The Poker Brat” has etched his name into the record books once again,… Read more »
Phil Hellmuth is having a tremendous 2021 World Series of Poker. With a record 16th gold bracelet and multiple final tables, he is having a WSOP that few can match. But despite this, he went on record Monday with his dissatisfaction of the WSOP Player of the Year rankings and specifically the formula that goes… Read more »
All legends in their own right The Poker Hall of Fame has announced its list of ten finalists for this year’s class, following a two-week open nominations process. The one winner will be revealed next month, with an enshrinement ceremony scheduled for November 17. The ten nominees are as follows: Eli ElezraAntonio EsfandiariChris FergusonLayne FlackTed… Read more »
Stairway to Millions steps tournament PokerGO has announced the first quarter schedule for the 2022 season of the PokerGO Tour. Beginning January 5 with the $10,000 No-Limit Venetian High Roller, the initial schedule includes half a dozen stops. One of those stops is the new Stairway to Millions at the ARIA Resort & Casino in… Read more »
Rewriting the record books yet again Though Phil Hellmuth’s meltdown at a final table last week has overshadowed his stellar poker play so far at the World Series of Poker, it kind of felt inevitable that he was going to have a breakthrough. And a breakthrough he had on Sunday, winning Event #31: $1,500 No-Limit… Read more »
The setup We are still very early in the 2021 World Series of Poker, but Phil Hellmuth is already making a strong Player of the Year case (in the official points standings, he is third behind Jason Koon and Ari Engel). The all-time WSOP bracelet leader with an insane 15 pieces of jewelry, Hellmuth has… Read more »
The entertainment and poker worlds received the shocking news today that Norm Macdonald has passed away at the age of 61. The legendary comedian, actor, and avid poker player had suffered with cancer for nine years, a diagnosis he did not share with the public. Now, if this were someone else, we might say that… Read more »
Looking for redemption Phil Hellmuth and Tom Dwan are almost set for another heads-up battle. Over the weekend, Hellmuth tweeted that he has formally challenged Dwan to a High Stakes Duel III rematch: The gauntlet throw-down comes about a week and a half after Dwan dispatched Hellmuth in Round 2 of PokerGO’s High Stakes Duel… Read more »
If Phil Ivey is officially back, that is some amazing news and terrible news for the poker world. Amazing because he’s arguably the best poker player of all time, so naturally getting to watch him play is a treat. Terrible because now other poker players are going to have to get past him in tournaments.… Read more »
That didn’t last long Phil Galfond is now four-for-four in his “Galfond Challenges” after his latest opponent, Brandon Adams, conceded the match on Monday to the RunItOnce poker room founder. Galfond was $270,000 ahead – he keeps that money – and won a $100,000 from Adams. The plan was to play 10,000 hands of $100/$200… Read more »
Poker legend Erik Seidel won his first World Series of Poker bracelet in 1992. He won his eighth and last in 2007. It has been a long bracelet draught for the Poker Hall of Famer, but that draught ended Tuesday, as Seidel won Event #11: $10,000 Super MILLION$ High Roller of the 2021 WSOP Online… Read more »
Marafioti’s troubles were known for years Tragedy has struck the poker community as law enforcement has confirmed the death of poker pro Matt Marafioti in an apparent suicide. Marafioti, 33, leaves behind a one-year-old son. Marafioti was of the generation who rose to prominence during the poker boom and around Black Friday. The Toronto-native won… Read more »
