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WPT Legend Gus Hansen Added to Stacked Premier Meet-Up Game Lineup

Thu, 30 Nov 2023 22:37:16 +0000

Its going to be an amazing Winter.

One of the greatest players in World Poker Tour history – and the very first player to ever have their name engraved on the WPT Champions Cup, Gus Hansen will be at Wynn Las Vegas on Friday to play in the Premier Meet-Up Game alongside his good friend Phil Ivey.

The World Poker Tour has always been a favorite of mine. WPT has had a huge impact on my poker career over the years, Hansen said. I am very excited to join in the Premier MUG and get back on the grand WPT stage once again.

The Tales of Billy Baxter: The Final Days of Stu Ungar

Thu, 30 Nov 2023 15:02:41 +0000

Stuey the Kid Ungar was no longer a kid. In 1997 he was 44 years old, a long way from the young man propped up on Coke bottle crates who Billy Baxter played gin and poker with back in the 70s.

Ungar first arrived in Las Vegas in the late 70s after running up a $60,000 sports betting debt to a mob-connected bookmaker. Two soldiers in the Genovese family, Victor Romano, and his nephew Phil Phillie Brush Tartaglia, accompanied Ungar west to look after him as he attempted to earn back the money he owed.

Rayan Chamas Has Redemption On His Mind at WPT SRNRPO Final Table

Wed, 29 Nov 2023 02:37:17 +0000

For much of 2020 and early 2021, the only way to win a World Poker Tour title was online. The final such event during that stretch, WPT Montreal Online, took place in mid-January on partypoker, and when it got down to heads-up play it was Rayan Chamas against Jack Hardcastle for the title and $447,859.

On that day, Chamas fell one spot short of a WPT Main Tour title, settling for runner-up. On Wednesday, hell have his second shot at redemption as part of the final table of six in the WPT Seminole Rock N Roll Poker Open. Eyes are, of course, on the top prize of $752,500, but theres also the matter of rectifying a result that still hangs in the back of Chamas mind.

Meet The Final Table of WPT Seminole Rock N Roll Poker Open

Wed, 29 Nov 2023 01:37:54 +0000

The penultimate WPT Championship Event of Season 21 did not disappoint. A grand total of 1,447 entries fired the $3,500 buy-in to the WPT Seminole Rock N Roll Poker Open, crushing the $3 million guarantee and pushing the prize pool to just over $4.6 million dollars. Theres a lot at stake with a potentially life-changing $752,500 first-place prize (which includes a seat to the upcoming WPT World Championship at Wynn Las Vegas) awaiting the winner, the second-largest Championship Event payday of the year to date.

ClubWPT’s Roger Smith Embraces Challenge of WPT World Championship

Tue, 28 Nov 2023 18:37:54 +0000

There may be some nerves, but Roger Smith is not nervous. Hes excited.

And why wouldnt he be? The 52-year-old ClubWPT stalwart from Richmond, Virginia (known online as Smiffy Roge) is the latest online qualifier into one of the biggest, most prestigious tournaments of the year – the WPT World Championship at Wynn Las Vegas.

And, sure, one might think that with fewer than 10 live tournaments on his poker resume, Smith could feel a little anxious. But for Smith, a return trip to Las Vegas is more about competition and taking on the biggest challenge of his poker journey, one that started two decades ago.

Carnage on Night 1 of Hustler Casino Live’s Super High Stakes Week

Tue, 28 Nov 2023 14:02:25 +0000

Hustler Casino Live is at it again, bringing some of the wildest nosebleed cash game players in poker together for a week of unbridled, sometimes unhinged, high-stakes action.

More than 12,000 viewers tuned into the opening night festivities of Super High Stakes Week as the likes of Brandon Steven, Mariano, Santhosh Suvarna, and Martin Kabrhel headlined a table of $100/$200/$400 stakes with the minimum buy-in of $100,000.

Over the course of more than six hours, the lineup played hand-after-clip-worthy-hand of big pot poker. However, no one player found themselves in the middle of the action more than Hustler Casino Live regular and self-described crypto nomad Prince Charles.

Hollywood’s Fred Goldberg Has Third Career WPT Final Table in Sight

Tue, 28 Nov 2023 01:02:19 +0000

If you watched televised poker during the post-2003 boom era, youve almost certainly seen a lot of Fred Goldbergs face.

In what was the largest World Series of Poker Main Event of all time until this year, Goldberg ran deep in the 2006 WSOP Main Event and made it down to the unofficial final table of 10. The following year, arguably the most impressive of his career, he won a WSOP gold bracelet and made his first career World Poker Tour final table, at the 2007 WPT Foxwoods Poker Classic.

Michael Rocco Turned European Vacation Into $750K Work Trip

Mon, 27 Nov 2023 03:02:22 +0000

Sometimes, life puts you on a path youre not expecting. For Michael Rocco, an unexpected detour was worth about $750,000 in cashes at World Series of Poker Europe 2023.

Rocco was one of just a handful of players to make the trek to Rozvadov, Czech Republic in early November for WSOPE, and he likely wouldnt have been there at all if it werent for the right friends and some cosmically aligned timing.

It’s Hard To Imagine Anyone Loves it More Than Jeremy Becker

Sun, 26 Nov 2023 22:02:22 +0000

Jeremy Becker garnered considerable attention in the poker world back in May, when he rattled off six wins in nightly tournaments at Wynn Las Vegas. The images of Becker posing for a winners photo with a five-three offsuit became silly in terms of their volume, but they caught the eye of Daniel Negreanu and inspired one of the winningest players in poker history to back a true grinder in some bigger buy-in tournaments heading into the summer.

David Kozma Rides WPT Prime Liechtenstein Title to RNRPO & Beyond

Sun, 26 Nov 2023 02:02:21 +0000

WPT Prime drew considerable turnouts throughout Season 21, stamping several entries into the record books. In fact, the largest ever Prime field outside of the 2022 Prime Championship at Wynn Las Vegas was achieved this year.

You might think such an event would take place around a major population center in a densely populated country, like Spain, France, or perhaps somewhere in Asia. But the non-US record of 1,644 entries was instead set in the tiny country of Liechtenstein, At 160 square miles, surrounded on either side by, surrounded by Austria and Switzerland on either side, it’s the sixth-smallest country in the world by size – and yet, in early September, Grand Casino Liechtenstein brought in players from all over the world to create a considerable prize pool of over $1.8 million.

Amidst ‘Game of Gold’ Buzz, Olga Iermolcheva’s a Breakout Star

Sat, 25 Nov 2023 21:02:26 +0000

Imagine stepping into a poker gauntlet against the likes of Daniel Negreanu, Jason Koon, Fedor Holz, Dan Cates and a still deeper cast of legends from several different eras of the game.

That was the reality that Olga Iermolcheva was thrust into as part of the cast for the inaugural season of Game of Gold. Whats more, is that until the moment she stepped out of the elevator, Iermolcheva had no idea of the mountain she would be expected to climb in this competition.

Gediminas Uselis On the Hunt for 3rd Straight WPT RNRPO Final Table

Fri, 24 Nov 2023 23:37:18 +0000

It is exceedingly difficult to predict who will make a final table of six in a field with well over 1,000 entries. But if you took Gediminas Uselis prior to the start of play in each of the last two years in the WPT Seminole Rock N Roll Poker Open, your betting ticket would have paid out.

In November 2021, Uselis won the WPT Seminole Rock N Roll Poker Open, taking home $778,490 and a permanent spot in World Poker Tour history. The following year, Uselis booked a spot at the final table for the second consecutive year, ultimately finishing fifth for another $219,000 when he ran headfirst into eventual champion Andrew Wilsons pocket kings.

WPT Season 21 Nears Apex With Seminole Rock ‘N’ Roll Poker Open

Thu, 23 Nov 2023 14:03:03 +0000

Black Friday has become an unofficial holiday on the American calendar, and the day after Thanksgiving has also been established as a milestone in the world of poker – the day that the WPT Seminole Rock ‘N’ Roll Poker Open kicks off.

This Championship Event occupies a key window on the WPT Main Tour calendar. It is the penultimate event of Season 21, as it was in 2022 for Season 20, and the implications are significant. Beyond what’s certain to be a major payout atop a sizeable field, this tournament could play a significant role in determining the Season 21 WPT Player of the Year race for the second year running.

Online Staking Gives Glimpse Into Possible $1M One Drop Players

Thu, 23 Nov 2023 13:37:18 +0000

Over the past few weeks, a steady stream of notable player names have been announced as confirmed participants in the upcoming $1,000,000 buy-in WPT Big One for One Drop. From the first confirmation of WPT Ambassador Phil Ivey to the latest announcement which named a number of nosebleed pros headlined by Top-5 All-Time Money List entry Jason Koon, the event looks like its going to be a whos who of pokers elite battling it out for an enormous sums of money.

The Tales of Billy Baxter: High Stakes Action from Vegas to Hawaii

Wed, 22 Nov 2023 17:02:22 +0000

Billy Baxters opponents in the big Deuce to Seven game at the Dunes in the 1970s were some of the toughest players anyone could sit with: the best professionals, the slickest cheaters, and the most dangerous criminals in the world. What made the game worth it was that his opponents also included some of the wealthiest casino operators in town, like Major Riddle and Sid Wyman, and their losses in the game provided Baxter a steady and comfortable income.

Here’s What You Might Have Missed at WSOP Europe 2023

Fri, 17 Nov 2023 02:37:57 +0000

November and December have become two of the busiest months on the calendar over the last few years, with major tournaments spread throughout the world. With so much attention cast in so many different directions, you’d be forgiven if you overlooked an annual staple among the chaos – World Series of Poker Europe.

From October 25 through November 15, poker players descended on King’s Resort in Rozvadov, Czech Republic to compete for 15 WSOP gold bracelets and the biggest prize of the festival – the 10,350 WSOP European Championship.

The Tales of Billy Baxter: Kingpin Jimmy Chagra Arrives in Sin City

Thu, 16 Nov 2023 18:37:20 +0000

In the summer of 1976, Jimmy Chagra arrived in Las Vegas with unusual luggage. He wheeled in several foot lockers right up to the casino cage at Caesars Palace. Each box contained millions of dollars. In all, he deposited around $10 million. His intention was to gamble as high as anyone in Las Vegas had ever seen before.

Over the next three years, he would do exactly that.

As you might expect from someone who wheels in boxes of cash to a casino rather than having it wired from a bank or some other, more discreet method, Chagras money wasnt exactly clean. The summer before, in 1975, Chagra had successfully smuggled 54,000 pounds of marijuana from Colombia to Massachusetts in a steamship. It was the largest smuggling operation anyone in America had ever pulled off, and with it, Chagra had established himself as the nations premier drug kingpin.

Redemption and Jubilation as Frederic Normand Wins WPT bestbet Scramble

Wed, 15 Nov 2023 02:02:30 +0000

Tournament poker has built-in consolation prizes for players who fall just short of a title, and in big fields, they can be quite lucrative. For Frederic Normand, fifth place in a $3,000 No Limit Hold’em event at the World Series of Poker back in June netted him a payday of $177,732. Another deep run in a $3K event just over a week later, which ended in 11th place, was worth $44,823.

Meet the Final Table of WPT bestbet Scramble

Tue, 14 Nov 2023 05:02:25 +0000

The first WPT bestbet Scramble in four years is poised to crown a new champion. Six players will return to bestbet Jacksonville on Tuesday afternoon at 2 p.m. ET to fight it out for the title, a first-place prize of $351,650, a seat in December’s WPT World Championship at Wynn Las Vegas, and a permanent spot on the Mike Sexton WPT Champions Cup.

Players from Florida make up half the table, including chip leader Heng Zhang and Ian O’Hara, the latter of which has over $4.1 million in lifetime poker tournament earnings. The lone player from Jacksonville proper, Michael Frierson, is in a position to multiply his career earnings by several times over – and that’s after spinning up a $120 super satellite win on his way to just winning his seat into this tournament.

Nine bestbet Jacksonville Players Punch WPT World Championship Ticket

Mon, 13 Nov 2023 22:32:18 +0000

There has been a buzz throughout the room this week at bestbet Jacksonville as the World Poker Tour made its return with a $5,000 buy-in Championship Event. There were 365 entries to the tournament and when a champion is crowned on Tuesday, that player will receive $351,650, a prize that includes a $10,400 seat to December’s $40 million guaranteed WPT World Championship at Wynn Las Vegas.

But they won’t be the only winner this week to punch their ticket to the WPT World Championship. On Sunday, bestbet Jacksonville held a $580 satellite (with $100 rebuys), where the top prize was a $13,000 package to Las Vegas – a $10,400 seat, and $2,600 for travel, hotel, and incidentals.

LearnWPT’s Andrew Lichtenberger’s Poker Path is Forged in Education

Mon, 13 Nov 2023 19:02:18 +0000

Andrew Lichtenberger, affectionately known by his online screen name LuckyChewy, has built a reputation in the poker world as being someone you can count on. Both on and off the felt. And as a long-time poker pro, veteran LearnWPT instructor, and OctopiPoker founder one of those things you can count on has been his passion for helping others succeed in the game that he loves.

There’s always an argument that people have made that if you know something that helps you in a zero-sum game, why would you want to help others? You just sort of take away from your own win rate, Lichtenberger said. And it’s a fair point but it’s never really been the way that I view the world.

Mikita Badziakouski Confirmed for $1M WPT Big One for One Drop

Mon, 13 Nov 2023 03:32:20 +0000

The confirmed field for the $1,000,000 buy-in WPT The Big One for One Drop got a little bigger over the weekend as news broke that nosebleed tournament crusher Mikita Badziakouski has confirmed hell be in Las Vegas this December to play the event.

Im always looking to compete at the highest level and playing in the million-dollar buy-in Big One for One Drop is another great opportunity to do just that, Badziakouski said, according to poker.org. It also feels good to know that a piece of the buy-in goes a long way in supporting a very worthy cause in One Drop.

Florida Poker Scene Paved Way for Harrison Gimbel’s ‘Triple Crown’

Sat, 11 Nov 2023 15:02:17 +0000

There are a handful of different measuring sticks in terms of tracking success in the world of tournament poker. The two easiest ways to keep score are as straightforward as it gets titles, and total money won. Beyond the all-time money list, the players who have accumulated the most major titles stand out among pokers best.

In the mid-2000s, in the midst of the poker boom, a new, unofficial gold standard was set pokers ‘Triple Crown of major titles. The distinction was tied to success on the three most significant titles that could be won at the time a World Poker Tour event, a World Series of Poker bracelet, and a European Poker Tour title which each came with big buy-ins and big fields.

The Tales of Billy Baxter: A Pair of Killers and a Mob Shakedown

Thu, 09 Nov 2023 20:32:07 +0000

From 1975 until 1979, the biggest game in all of Las Vegas, and possibly all of America, was the No Limit Deuce-to-Seven game at the Dunes. The game was hosted by two of the Dunes owners, Sid Wyman and Major Riddle, who both loved to play poker and were two of the wealthiest men in the city. They played with blinds of $1,000 and $2,000, and the game ran around the clock.

The Poker Fan’s Ultimate Guide to the WPT World Championship

Wed, 08 Nov 2023 17:32:09 +0000

One year ago, the World Poker Tour and Wynn Las Vegas made a bold move in hosting a $10,400 WPT World Championship with a $15 million guaranteed prize pool. The tournament drew 2,960 entries and nearly doubled the guarantee, setting the stage for an even bolder move in 2023.

The 2023 WPT World Championship at Wynn Las Vegas boasts a $40 million guaranteed prize pool – more than two-and-a-half times larger than what was already the largest live tournament guarantee in poker history.

Alan Keating Excited for Return to Hustler Casino Live

Tue, 07 Nov 2023 01:32:04 +0000

Cash game fans, mark your calendars. Hustler Casino Live has announced a brand new week of Super High Stakes action featuring the return of one of their most popular players, Alan Keating.

Set to kick off on Monday, November 27, itll be five straight days of $100/$200 cash game action. The week will wrap up on Friday, December 1 with a 24-hour stream, which HCL boasts as the first of its kind in poker history.

The Big Game Reboot Ignites Imagination of Would-Be Loose Cannons

Tue, 07 Nov 2023 00:02:04 +0000

Back in 2010, amidst a boom period in the poker world, PokerStars launched The Big Game, a high-stakes televised cash game with a truly compelling twist. Each six-handed table featured five big names in the world of poker, and a Loose Cannon amateur. The Loose Cannon was staked with their buy-in, and anything they had over that initial amount was theirs to keep at the end of the night.

From the very first episode, the concept was a smash. Ernest Wiggins famously tangled with Phil Hellmuth, getting all in well behind with pocket kings to Hellmuths flopped three-of-a-kind nines. They opted to run the turn and river four times, and after Hellmuth won the first runout, everything went sideways for the poker legend much to the delight of Wiggins and Daniel Negreanu, who was also at the table.

The Tales of Billy Baxter: High Stakes Deuce-to-Seven at The Dunes

Thu, 02 Nov 2023 00:00:00 +0000

Billy Baxter arrived in Las Vegas in 1975 looking for a game. Baxter, an experienced gambler, was no stranger to this place. He was already, at the age of 35, a veteran high stakes gambler. He once ran his own underground casino in Augusta, Georgia, a club he won in a gin game from the previous owner. He spun that little club into gold, running table games and making book on sports until he had amassed a sizable bankroll for himself.