Dan Katz

In poker, money is at the forefront of everything, and with that comes all sorts of informal (and formal) financial deals between players. As high roller and super high roller tournaments have increased in popularity, staking deals have also become much more common, as even the deepest-pocketed players often can’t or don’t want to plunk…

Jail and a million bucks On November 13, 2023, poker player George Janssen disappeared. A month later, he was found, bloodied and hands bound, on the side of the road. And now he is going to prison. Last week, U.S. District Judge David M. Lawson sentenced Janssen to three years behind bars for financial institution…

Same place, different venue. If that makes sense, which it doesn’t. The World Series of Poker has announced that WSOP Paradise is on the move to a new home. It’s still in the Bahamas, but rather than at Atlantis Paradise Island like it has been for its first three years, WSOP Paradise is moving a…

It takes some doing to be kicked out of a World Series of Poker event. You can stink to high heaven, trash talk constantly, and just piss off everybody around you and you will still usually get to stay in your seat. So Birger Larsen getting himself disqualified from a WSOP Europe event on Tuesday…

As the 2026 World Series of Poker Europe Main Event nears its conclusion, many are already looking ahead to the traditional WSOP in Las Vegas, beginning at the end of next month. On Wednesday, Caesars Entertainment released the schedule for this year’s WSOP Online bracelet events. There will be 30 online gold bracelet tourneys this…

Maurice Hawkins recently won his 24th career World Series of Poker Circuit ring, taking down the first event at the Grand Victoria Casino in Elgin, Illinois. Hawkins celebrated his record-extending win with a social media post of himself with the ring and the words, “Not a run. Not luck. This is what dominance looks like.”…

Comets reborn The Mohegan Tribe has agreed to sell the WNBA’s Connecticut Sun to Golden Nugget and the NBA’s Houston Rockets owner Tilman Fertitta for a record $300 million. The league’s Board of Governors must still approve the sale, but it is expected to do so. The team will change its name to the Houston…

The 2026 World Series of Poker Europe got underway this week, and with it came a controversy on social media. Spearheaded by poker pros David Lappin and Steve O’Dwyer, the conversation revolved around the possibility that dealers were not getting paid as much as promised. On March 31, Lappin posted a poll, asking, “If 4%…

Make a new account The “PokerStars exclusively on FanDuel” era of online poker in the United States is upon us. On Wednesday, April 1, PokerStars officially became part of the FanDuel app in Michigan, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania. The legacy PokerStars app is dead in the US; Stars shut down poker games on it on…

For most poker players, pocket Kings is a play-no-matter-what hand pre-flop. But most poker players aren’t Kristen Foxen. This week, Foxen did just that at the final table of the Triton Poker Jeju $100K Main Event, stirring debate in the poker community as to whether or not she made the right play. There were just…

Future is cloudy Two weeks ago, The Lodge Card Club in Austin, Texas was raided by law enforcement. Players were sent home, doors were closed, and assets were seized. And now it looks like those doors will remain shut for a long time. Though no criminal charges have been filed yet, Jason Levin, one of…

Welcome back Annette Obrestad is a poker legend, even though she hasn’t been active on the poker scene in nearly a decade and has yet to even reach her 40th birthday. The one-time teenage poker phenom, though, has announced her return to competitive poker, confirming that she will play at the 2026 World Series of…

Fake accounts, fake companies A former employee of Hollywood Casino at Penn National Race Course in Grantville, Pennsylvania has been charged with nine felonies for allegedly embezzling more than $700,000 from the casino. The investigation into 51-year-old Jennifer Petrillo began a year ago when casino management contacted the police about “discrepancies” in the casino’s bookkeeping…

One of the classic scenes in any television show or movie in which the characters visit a casino involves the old “raucous craps table crowd.” Inevitably, one of the main characters doesn’t really know how to play, but ends up being the shooter, the one to roll the dice. They get on a hot streak,…

Arizona going to the mattresses The state of Arizona has ratcheted up the legal battle against prediction market companies. On Tuesday, Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes filed criminal charges against Kalshi for allegedly operating an unlicensed gambling business. “Kalshi may brand itself as a ‘prediction market,’ but what it’s actually doing is running an illegal…

Further information has emerged following the surprise raid on Austin’s The Lodge Card Club on Tuesday morning. According to the Texas Alcohol and Beverage Commission (TABC), the club is under investigation for possible illegal gambling and money laundering. In a statement to media outlets on Thursday, TABC Director of Communications Chris Porter said, “The business…

The Lodge Card Club, just north of Austin, Texas, was raided Tuesday morning by state police and the Texas Alcohol and Beverage Commission (TABC). Little is known about the incident, which occurred just hours after the conclusion of the Lodge Championship Series. Doug Polk, who owns the card club with Andrew Neeme and Brad Owen,…

Poker great Fedor Holz announced over the weekend that he decided not to re-up his ambassadorship with GGPoker. That in and of itself would be news, but the 32-year-old went on to say that he is moving on to non-poker things in life, effectively indicating that he is retiring from the world of professional poker.…

Sometimes in poker, as in life, you can’t overthink a situation. When I was a student, my mom would tell me that I was unsure about an answer on a test, my first instinct was usually the right one. In a World Poker Tour livestream this week, perhaps a player by the name of “QQQ”…