Although they just wrapped up a highly successful Season XVI schedule, the World Poker Tour isn’t sitting back on its laurels. They recently announced the roster of events that will carry them through the end of 2018 and to approximately the midpoint of their Season XVII schedule.

“Season XVI was our most tremendous season yet.”

“As the WPT closes out a historic 16th season, the World Poker Tour is proud to announce the 2018 leg of the Season XVII schedule,” Adam Pliska, CEO of the World Poker Tour, said. “Season XVI was our most tremendous season yet. We held our first-ever stops in Beijing, Japan, and South America, returned a televised WPT Main Tour event to Europe, and broke ground in the burgeoning region of India. Additionally, the WPT Five Diamond World Poker Classic drew a record-setting field for the second consecutive year, Art Papazyan won two WPT titles en route to winning the Hublot WPT Player of the Year award, Darren Elias won an unprecedented fourth WPT title, and the World Poker Tour awarded its one-billionth prize dollar. The bar has never been higher for the WPT, and we look forward to even greater success this upcoming season.”

As the rest of the tournament poker world battles their way through the World Series of Poker, the WPT has put together a roster of events that will see them enter new grounds. That starts with their very first event of the Season XVII schedule, the WPT Gardens Poker Festival at the Gardens Casino in California. The Main Event for that tournament will be a $5000 buy in event, kicking it up a notch from when the Gardens Casino hosted a WPT500 last year. That Main Event will run from July 21-26.

Two familiar stops take their place on the schedule next. The WPT Choctaw (which opened the U. S. roster of casinos last year) will run from August 3-7 and features a buy in of $3500. Following that stop, the WPT will once again head east to Atlantic City, NJ, for the WPT Borgata Poker Open. That tournament, with its $3500 buy in, will be held from September 16-21 and routinely has drawn a four-figure field.

The staff and trucks from the WPT don’t have much time to rest following their trip to the Boardwalk. Maryland Live! will be the next stop on the Season XVII run, as players venture to Hanover for a $3500 tournament that will run from September 21-25. Then it is on to the Sunshine State as Florida plays host to two of the bigger events on the first half of the schedule.

Big Money Later in the Year

The first stop will be what has become the only bounty event on the WPT schedule (with the departure of the Bay 101 Shooting Star last year) in Jacksonville. The WPT bestbet Bounty Scramble, a $5000 buy in tournament, features bounties placed on certain professional poker players that have entered the tournament. The “bounty hunt” will be on starting on October 19 and end with the crowning of a champion on October 23.

The second stop has quickly become one of the favorites for tournament pros and amateurs alike. The WPT Seminole Rock & Roll Poker Open will be a $3500 buy in tournament that should see a sizeable number of players looking for some holiday cash. The event runs from November 23-28 and will be the next to last tournament on the 2018 portion of the schedule.

To finish off the calendar year, the WPT ventures back to one of its traditional home bases. The WPT Five Diamond World Poker Classic has been a part of the WPT schedule since the inception of the tour and features one of the bigger buy-ins on the circuit. The $10,400 Main Event tournament will be the part of one of poker’s great festivals, running from December 10-15. Because of the higher buy in, the extremely popular tournament has set records in the last two seasons and, in 2017, saw the top two places pay the recipients a seven-figure payday.

If you look at this list, you can see that there are a couple of familiar names not on the roster. One is the Legends of Poker at the Bicycle Casino in Los Angeles, while the other is ANY stop associated with the Playground Poker Club in Montreal. “The Bike” will play host to a WPT500 stop during the traditional time (mid-to-late August) of the Legends event, but the Playground’s omission is difficult to figure out. There are plenty of holes in the remainder of the 2018 calendar year – and the 2019 schedule has yet to be announced – so those venues may yet find their way into the rotation.

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On Thursday night, poker player Simon Lam became the latest individual to etch their name of the WPT Champions’ Cup by winning the WPT Gardens Poker Festival in Los Angeles. The victory by Lam, however, was overridden by the antics of poker professional/legend Men “The Master” Nguyen, who went deep in the tournament but caused issues for much of the final couple of days of the tournament.

A Sleepy “Master”

The antics from Nguyen started on Wednesday during Day 4 of the event. The WPT uses the “Action Clock” once they reach money, something that maybe the veteran Nguyen wasn’t used to. With a 30-second clock and “time extension” chips at hand, Nguyen was often letting the clock run down or even expire before mucking his cards. This caused some issues with the other players, who were adamant that the extension chips should be used. The floor enforced the rules, much to the displeasure of Nguyen.

On other occasions, Nguyen would take odd actions with his betting. He would announce illegal raise amounts; one occasion saw Nguyen, with the blinds at 10K/20K with a 20K big blind ante, announced 14K as a bet. Another saw “The Master” announce a bet of one amount and chips enter the pot of a greater amount. These actions would eventually force the floor staff to impose a one-round penalty on the venerable pro over his contentions that “I never do nothing wrong!”

Nguyen continued with the shenanigans as the play worked into the night. Nguyen tried to hide a call of Steve Sung’s all in (which he would lose) and the Gardens Casino staff removed the adult beverages that Nguyen had been consuming. This seemed to cause another problem, however, as Nguyen, with the table down to eight players, began actually falling asleep on the felt. Eventually, tournament director Calvin Quintanella was able to get Nguyen to step away from the tables for a bit to get some energy. Fortunately for Nguyen, he was the chip leader at this point.

There WAS a Final Table Played!

“The Master (3.935 million),” through all the antics, was able to make the final table as the third leading stack behind Lam (6.115 million) and Jake Schindler ($4.045 million). Nguyen was closely followed by Jared Griener (3.875 million) and Saya Ono (3.445 million), while Craig Varnell (1.955 million) sat on the short stack. While each player was guaranteed a minimum $115,885 for their efforts (the sixth-place money), all eyes were on the $565,740 top prize, the seat in the 2019 WPT Tournament of Champions, the WPT Champions’ Cup AND a 2018 Mercedes-Benz SLC Roadster (worth over $50,000) that would go to the winner.

It wasn’t an easy Thursday of play for any of the combatants. While Lam came in with the lead, Schindler would take it over within the first 10 hands of play. Lam came back quickly, however, as the sextet battled over 70 hands without an elimination. On Hand 75 that changed when Varnell eliminated Griener in sixth place when his Big Slick caught on the flop against Greiner’s pocket Jacks.

Ono played an outstanding game of poker, but she never had the ammunition (chips) to be able to mount a threat. She got her final million chips in against Nguyen, who turned a nut flush to eliminate Ono in fifth place. Lam also was having his difficulties, doubling up Schindler to lose the lead to Varnell as the century mark in hands approached.

Every player after this point held the lead at least once, but it was Lam who would eventually prevail. Varnell would depart in fourth place at the hands of Schindler and, in an odd hand, Nguyen would go down to Lam. On that hand, Lam raised from the button to 600K only to see “The Master” pop his stack of 7.6 million in the center from the big blind. Lam did think about folding, using up a time chip, before calling with his unsuited Big Slick. It turned out that Nguyen was trying to steal with his 10♦ 7♦ and, although the board flopped him gut shot outs to a straight, they wouldn’t come home to send Nguyen home in third place.

Now with a monstrous lead, Lam (18.7 million) seemed to be a shoo-in for the title against Schindler (4.675 million). The two dallied for ten hands before getting it in on a J-7-2 flop, with Lam’s nine kicker playing over Schindler’s eight, that proved to be the difference when the river paired the deuce to earn Lam the title.

1. Simon Lam, $565,055
2. Jake Schindler, $366,740
3. Men “The Master” Nguyen, $270,430
4. Craig Varnell, $201,615
5. Saya Ono, $151,995
6. Jared Griener, $115,885

The post Simon Lam Wins WPT Gardens Poker Festival Main Event as “The Master” Runs Deep, Causes Issues appeared first on Poker News Daily.

After a lengthy break for the World Series of Poker and a new stop for the tour in California, the World Poker Tour will head back to familiar ground beginning today. Friday marks the start of the WPT Choctaw, which has quickly become one of the more popular stops on the tournament despite only being on the schedule for the last couple of years.

$1 Million Guaranteed Prize Pool

The $3500 buy in tournament will feature two Day Ones to bring in the most players possible for the tournament, meaning they will have to break 285 players to reach the $1 million guaranteed prize pool. The tournament itself has some of the benchmarks of 21^st century tournament poker, including unlimited re-entry for players and, if a player plays Day 1A and isn’t happy with their stack, they can sacrifice that stack and play Day 1B of the tournament (they cannot, however, hold back that Day 1A stack as a safeguard should they bust on Day 1B). Late registration will be closed at the start of Level 11 (or the start of Day 2).

The latest innovation that is sweeping the tournament poker world will also be implemented in the WPT Choctaw Main Event. The “big blind ante” will be in effect, meaning that the big blind will pay the entirety of the table’s ante instead of each player at the table paying a piece of the ante. For example, when the blinds are 100/200 and there’s a 200 ante (Level 3 of the tournament), the big blind will put out 400 chips instead of just 200 and a smaller ante. The big blind ante innovation has been credited with taking some of the issues out of players putting up the ante each hand (only having one player put it up) and speeding up the game process.

Finally, the WPT will be bringing along their “Action Clock” to move the pace of play. The “Action Clock” will be implemented when the tournament is one table from the money and give each player 30 seconds to make their decisions. If a player wants more time to decide what to do, there will be “time extension” chips given out that will give a player another 30 seconds to decide. Once again, this innovation has been hailed for picking up the pace of play and eliminate unnecessary tanking, especially on the money bubble.

Choctaw Event Wildly Popular

The WPT Choctaw and its host casino, the Choctaw Casino Resort in Durant, OK, has been wildly popular since the first tournament the WPT held on its grounds. The WPT Choctaw was first a part of the Season XIV schedule with the same $3500 buy in. An astounding 1175 entries were received for that event, making for a nearly $4 million prize pool. The final table feature Jake Schindler and Darren Elias, but they would come up short to Andy Hwang and Jason Brin, with Brin eventually winning the inaugural WPT Choctaw championship and the $682,975 first place prize.

In 2016, the WPT returned to Choctaw for one of their Season XV stops. The numbers were down slightly for the tournament – “only” 1066 entries were received – but the prize pool was still over $3.6 million. Benjamin Zamani would use this event as a catapult to win the Season XV WPT Player of the Year award, but it would only be through a runner-up finish; Zamani would fall to James Mackey, who collected the WPT Choctaw trophy and the $666,758 payday.

Last year’s tournament was the smallest yet for the WPT and the Choctaw Casino Resort, but it still had some drawing power. 924 entries were received for the tournament, building a $3.1 million prize pool. Jay Lee took down the WPT Champions’ Cup for this event in 2017, defeating Jeb Hutton in heads up play to take home $593,173.

What to Expect in 2018?

Lee should be back to defend his title, but the numbers issues for the WPT Choctaw could be a bit tricky. The Seminole Hard Rock Hotel and Casino in Hollywood, CA, is kicking off its 2018 Seminole Hard Rock Poker Open, which is one of the biggest tournaments that falls outside of a major tournament circuits’ jurisdiction. While the Main Event for the Hard Rock tournament doesn’t begin until a week after the end of the WPT Choctaw (August 10), players may want to get to Florida and get warmed up with some of the preliminary events on that schedule. Thus, there may be some effect on the WPT Choctaw.

Cards will hit the air at noon (Central Daylight Time) at the Choctaw Casino Resort in Oklahoma and, by the end of the night, we should get a bit of an indication as to the potential of the field from its Day 1A drawing.

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The World Poker Tour has settled down in Durant, OK, for the WPT Choctaw. Over the next few days, some of poker’s best and a host of Okies (and some Texans, maybe a few Jayhawks) will battle it out for poker supremacy. Day 1A is in the books and it is Texas’ Viet Vo atop the standings as the field nearly reached the $1 million guarantee for the tournament.

Strong Field from the Start

The WPT Choctaw might have been concerned about the size of the field, but those concerns were dismissed from the start of the day’s play. 148 entries were in the books after a single level of play with plenty of star power taking their skills to the felt in the unlimited entry format. Four-time WPT champion Darren Elias was one of those players on the table from the starting gun, using his image – and his chips – to hammer his opposition and more than double his stack within 90 minutes of the start of play. But Elias wasn’t the only top professional on the baize for some poker on Friday.

Shankar Pillai, Dutch Boyd, Joe Elapayaa, Jared Griener, Ari Engel, Marvin Rettenmaier and the defending WPT Player of the Year Art Papazyan were intent on building healthy stacks and avoiding the pressures of having to come back on Saturday to work. Two players stepping to the felt on Friday were a bit intriguing, however.

After his stirring run at the World Series of Poker Championship Event – and the follow up of winning “The Closer” to take his fourth bracelet – some might have thought that Joe Cada would have wanted to stay home in Michigan to take a bit of a breather. Apparently the 2009 World Champion has had enough of a break, however, as he found himself on the tables in Oklahoma on Friday. Unfortunately for him, Cada would be eliminated in the last level of the evening and will face having to come back on Saturday if he is to go to Day 2.

The other player who was a bit of a surprise in Choctaw was the legendary Men “The Master” Nguyen. Nguyen made a run at taking the inaugural championship for Season XVII, the WPT Gardens Poker Festival championship in Los Angeles last month, before falling in third place. Few expected the wily veteran to come to Oklahoma to take part in this event, however. “The Master” proved to be more than up to the task, working his way to the fifth largest stack in the room by the end of the night.

Vo on the Go

Vo turned out to be the star of the show on Friday as he never seemed to make an incorrect decision. In the final level of the night, Vo would leap into the chip lead when, on a Jack-high flop, Vo called a flop bet from his opponent. This played out similarly on the turn and river, with Vo just calling his opponent’s bets. At showdown, his opponent had flopped top pair of Jacks with his A-J, but Vo calmly turned up pocket Kings to crush those Jacks and scoop up a pot that pushed him into the lead over the 70 players remaining.

1. Viet Vo, 458,500
2. Brady Holiman, 440,000
3. Randy Skeel, 395,000
4. Art Papazyan, 385,000
5. Men Nguyen, 365,500
6. Peter Nguyen, 339,000
7. Julio Marines, 323,000
8. Andrew Crookston, 321,000
9. Eluterio Rodriguez, 316,000
10. Nicholas Pupillo, 304,500

Those who will be coming back on Saturday for a second taste of the WPT Choctaw include Cada, former WPT Choctaw champion Jason Brin, Chance Kornuth and Boyd.

With 279 entries already in the books, the WPT Choctaw is only a handful of players away from meeting the guarantee set by the Choctaw Casino Resort of $1 million. But it’s going to have a way to go if it is to reach last year’s total of 924 entries and even more work to do if it is to break the 1175 entry record set in 2015. Still, it is obvious the players are in town and ready for action as the WPT Choctaw’s second Day One starts at noon on Saturday.

The post 2018 WPT Choctaw Day 1A: Viet Vo Takes Day 1A Lead as Guarantee Nearly Met appeared first on Poker News Daily.

While it is tough to look at a tournament that generates better than a $2.5 million prize pool as anything but a success, the reality is that the World Poker Tour’s stop at the Choctaw Casino Resort in Durant, OK, might need to be reworked. That factor doesn’t matter to those who will be moving on to Day 2 on Sunday at the WPT Choctaw, including Day 1B and overall chip leader Lou Garza. Garza dominated the action late to build the massive stack he will start today with, a massive 531,500 in chips that dwarfs the field behind him.

Numbers Drop Once Again for WPT Choctaw

Although 476 entries flooded the cash cage at the Choctaw Casino Resort poker room, combined with the 279 entries received on Friday it was a bit…short. After drawing fields that generated around 1000 entries for the previous three years of the tournament (last year’s entries fell below 1000 for the first time), not even getting close in 2018 has to be a concern for both the WPT and the Choctaw Casino officials. With other tournaments going on in the poker spectrum, there had to be some expectation that the crowd would be a bit lower.

Even thought you can say the 755 entries were the lowest in history, the overall look of the tournament still has a strong look to it. The $1 million prize pool was smashed, generating a $2,548,225 bank that the final 95 players will divvy up. The spoils of the battle will go to the eventual champion, with a $469,185 first place prize, a trip to the 2019 WPT Tournament of Champions and a placard on the WPT Champions’ Cup.

Garza Thunders to the Lead

Garza put himself into the first place slot through two late hands that catapulted him up the standings. In the first, Mark Threadgill raised the betting pre-flop and Garza called him out of the cutoff. The K-J-8 board saw Threadgill check-call a bet from Garza and, on the Ace turn, both players checked their option. The river seven, however, lit the fuse as Threadgill fired off a 25K bet and Garza responded with a raise to 100K. Threadgill made a quick call and was stunned to see Garza turn up a 10-9 to show the gut shot straight had come home. Threadgill could only muck his K-J (flopped two pair) and watch the chips slide over to Garza.

The second hand may not have been for as many chips, but it took a tough player down. Ralph Massey was looking to have some ammunition for Day 2 when he pushed his 30K in chips to the center from under the gun with an A-7. Unfortunately for him, Garza woke up in the hijack with Big Slick; Garza called and, after a King flopped, Massey was drawing dead by the turn and out while Garza took the lead for Day 1B.

1. Lou Garza, 531,500
2. Andy Van Blair, 363,000
3. Tony Ruberto, 358,000
4. Emmett Hickey, 335,000
5. Dusti Smith, 321,000
6. Chance Kornuth, 312,500
7. Thad Smith, 306,500
8. Joe Elpayaa, 305,500
9. Mo Arani, 300,000
10. Jason Gooch, 283,000

When combined with the Day 1A finalists, Garza’s day of dominance becomes even more impressive.

1. Lou Garza, 531,500
2. Viet Vo, 458,500
3. Brady Holiman, 440,000
4. Randy Skeet, 395,000
5. Art Papazyan, 385,000
6. Men Nguyen, 365,500
7. Andy Van Blair, 363,000
8. Tony Ruberto, 358,000
9. Peter Nguyen, 339,000
10. Emmett Hickey, 335,000

207 players will return on Day 2. Those that aren’t going to be a part of the action on Sunday include Seth Davies, Layne Flack, Allen Kessler, Anthony Spinella and Dutch Boyd.

Cards will hit the air at noon (Central Daylight Time) at the Choctaw Casino Resort with the plan to play down to the money. That would set the tournament up well for its conclusion on Tuesday night and the crowning of the next WPT champion.

The post 2018 WPT Choctaw Day 1B: 755 Entries Total After Day 1B, Lou Garza Overall Leader appeared first on Poker News Daily.

They are down to the final table in the World Poker Tour (WPT) Choctaw Main Event, as just six players remain from the original 755 player field. Going into Tuesday’s deciding day, Brady Holiman will be in Seat 1 with a significant chip lead. His 10.840 million chips are more than the next two players combined.

For a more complete picture, here are how the chip counts stack up (pun not intended):

Brady Holiman – 10,840,000
Timothy Domboski – 5,300,000
Viet Vo – 4,770,000
Christopher Smith – 4,495,000
Tony Ruberto – 2,675,000
Anthony Zinno – 2,245,000

Though Holiman is well ahead, everyone still has more than a fighting chance, as the blinds are 50,000/100,000 with a 100,000 chip ante. Ruberto and Zinno, the bottom two stacks, will need to find a spot to make a move soon, but they aren’t in immediate all-in with any two cards mode. Both have plenty of experience in these types of situations, too – Ruberto has $3 million in live tournament earnings and Zinno is a former WPT Player of the Year.

Holiman began Monday as one of the chip leaders with 1.55 million chips. It took him a while to really get going, though he was fairly consistent, chipping up slowly. He made it up over 4 million before dropping back to 3 million about four hours into the day, but quickly elevated his stack past 4.5 million within the next hour.

One of his biggest hands came about five hours in when a large pot formed pre-flop with Ruberto. On the flop, Holiman bet 700,000 and Ruberto raised him to 1.6 million. Holiman moved all-in for 4.1 million and after the tankiest of tanks, Ruberto finally folded. Without even seeing the turn, Holiman increased his stack to 6.850 million chips.

After almost six hours of play and with just nine players remaining, Holiman was up to 8.550 million chips, double that of his closest competitor. Continuing to apply pressure, he forced a river fold out of Viet Vo in a sizable pot after 6:00pm (the day started at noon local time) to eclipse 10 million chips.

Upon eliminating Andrew Crookston in ninth place, Holiman was up over 12 million chips. He peaked at nearly 13 million before doubling up an opponent and settling into where he is now.

This will be by far Holiman’s largest live tournament cash, as sixth place is guaranteed $95,780. Holiman has won less than half that in his career, with total live cashes of about $42,000. With his chip stack, methinks Brady Holiman is eyeing a juicier prize, though. Perhaps the first place purse of $469,185 is more his style.

2018 World Poker Tour Choctaw Main Event Final Table Chip Counts

1. Brady Holiman – 10,840,000
2. Timothy Domboski – 5,300,000
3. Viet Vo – 4,770,000
4. Christopher Smith – 4,495,000
5. Tony Ruberto – 2,675,000
6. Anthony Zinno – 2,245,000

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Brady Holiman went wire-to-wire as the chip leader at the final table of the World Poker Tour (WPT) Choctaw Main Event Tuesday to win his first-ever WPT title as well as a first prize of nearly half a million dollars.

Going into the six-handed final table, Holiman had a tremendous chip lead, more than the second and third place players combined. This is poker, though, and anything can happen.

Anything didn’t happen. Holiman rolled, eliminating four of his five opponents along the way. But, as I said, this is poker, and Holiman still needed a little luck here and there. On the 21st hand of the final table, he knocked out Timothy Doboski in sixth place. The two were all-in pre-flop (a bold move for Domboski with so many chips!), Holiman with A-K, but Domboski with a dominating K-K. An Ace flopped, though, and Domboski was suddenly gone.

It took a long time for the next elimination, but on Hand 85, three-time WPT champ and former Player of the Year Anthony Zinno finally hit the rail. He moved all-in pre-flop with A-4 and Holiman called with Q-T. The flop of Q-6-4 gave Holiman the lead, but Zinno grabbed it back with an Ace on the turn. Holiman got lucky again, though, with another Queen on the river to take the hand and knock out Zinno.

On the very next hand, Holiman went back to work calling a J-7 all-in by Tony Ruberto with pocket Queens. This time, nothing weird happened and Holiman’s hand held, taking his stack to 18 million chips.

If you are doing the math, you have figured out that the third place finisher was the only one that Holiman did not eliminate. That happened on Hand 105 when Christopher Smith shoved for K-T and Viet Vo called with A-T. Vo’s better hand won as expected and the heads-up match was on, with Holiman holding a 17.775 million to 12.425 million chip lead.

Vo made it a good competition, nearly pulling even after Hand 113, but Holiman never let him get over the top. Though Holiman widened the gap, the ending still came suddenly. On Hand 122, Vo raised pre-flop with K-K, Holiman three-bet with A-J suited, and then Vo four-bet after some thought. Holiman then pondered his move, going all-in for 20 million chips. Vo called quickly for close to 10 million in total.

The flop deliver two Jacks to Holiman and neither the turn nor river were of any help to Vo and that was that.

Prior to this tournament, Brady Holiman had won around $42,000 in live poker tournaments. Thus, winning eleven times that amount is quite the boost to his bankroll. The accomplishment of winning a World Poker Tour title isn’t too bad, either.

2018 World Poker Tour Choctaw Main Event – Final Table Results

1. Brady Holiman – $469,185
2. Viet Vo – $302,725
3. Christopher Smith – $223,370
4. Tony Ruberto – $$166,605
5. Anthony Zinno – $125,630
6. Timothy Domboski – $95,780

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The World Poker Tour announced on Wednesday that it has inked a partnership with partypoker LIVE to host as many as seven events in Europe and Canada for the next four years. The first event in the series will be at the Playground Poker Club in Montreal in October 2018 in conjunction with the WPT Montreal stop at the same time.

“I’m so pleased to announce our new partnership with the World Poker Tour,” said partypoker LIVE President John Duthie in a press release. “The WPT has always aimed to put the players first, and that is a mission we strongly adhere to with our partypoker LIVE events. Collaborating with the WPT on these additional events across Canada and Europe will allow us to continue to provide players with the tournaments they want across the globe.”

The rest of the schedule will be revealed at a later date, but the World Poker Tour has said that locations will include Sochi, Russia and the Dusk Till Dawn poker club in the UK. Both the WPT and partypoker have already worked together at the Playground Poker Club and Dusk Till Dawn, having previously hosted the partypoker WPT Canadian Spring Championship, partypoker.net WPT Montreal, and partypoker.net WPT Playground at the former and partypoker WPT UK at the latter.

WPT CEO Adam Pliska added the usual hype and accolades, saying:

The World Poker Tour is proud to partner with partypoker LIVE on this new, four-year global initiative. The partnership allows the WPT to continue its dedication of bringing world-class poker to people’s lives, and we are honored to have John Duthie and the entire team at partypoker LIVE sharing in this value. Together with partypoker LIVE, we look forward to elevating the game for all levels.

partypoker LIVE, as the name would make one assume, is the live tournament extension of partypoker. It has also previously established relationships with the venues listed above. The World Series of Poker Circuit Playground – of which partypoker LIVE is a part – is currently running, MILLIONS UK will be held at Dusk Till Dawn in a month, and Sochi has been featured multiple times on the tour.

“The partnership with partypoker LIVE will bring WPT Main Tour stops in Europe to unprecedented heights,” said WPT VP Europe Hermance Blum. “We are thrilled that two major operators can join forces again to bring the best poker experience to the players with each individual savoir-faire.”

Partypoker online players will be able to use partypoker LIVE Dollars acquired in satellites at the live events; that the events will be co-branded with the World Poker Tour will have no effect on this. LIVE Dollars are pretty cool – they can be used for pretty much anything having to do with the partypoker LIVE stops, including buy-ins, hotel rooms, and travel.

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The World Poker Tour is back on the east coast of the United States this week with the WPT Borgata Poker Open. The Main Event got going on Sunday with the first of two Day 1 flights. There were 917 total entries for the two flights combined, allowing the $3 million guarantee to be met and surpassed. Each flight played eight levels, leaving 490 players to advance to Tuesday’s Day 2. Registration is open through Level 10 and those who were eliminated on Day 1 have the chance to re-enter prior to the registration’s closure, so the final field tally will increase before all is said and done. Going into Day 2, it is the Day 1B chip leader Gene Quinn who has the overall lead, holding 328,000 chips. Nobody else has more than 250,000.

According to the tournament database at TheHendonMob.com, Quinn has less than $70,000 in live tournament cashes in his career. Most of his cashes have come this year, with a few in 2017. None are for more than four figures.

The Borgata, needless to say, is one of the poker hubs on the east coast, home to multiple major events each year. It’s hard to believe (for me at least), but this is the 16th running of the WPT Borgata Poker Open. WPT.com had a nice, brief overview of how this Main Event has been witness to some milestones in poker history:

Daniel Negreanu won the first of his two WPT titles here in Season III, and it also marked his first of many seven-figure scores over his career. Anthony Zinno won his first WPT title here in Season XII, leading to two more WPT titles and WPT Player of the Year honors the following season. Finally, four-time WPT Champion Darren Elias’ dominance of the WPT began with his victory here in Season XIII. Since then, no player has more final tables made or cashes on tour than Elias.

Day 2 is already underway at the Borgata. Interestingly, though the field will play through eight levels again, the first two were 60 minutes, while the rest are 75 minutes.

2018 World Poker Tour Borgata Poker Open Main Event – Day 1A Chip Leaders

1. Josh Gordon – 250,000
2. Patrick Maritato – 197,600
3. Sanjay Dulabh – 192,600
4. Richard Kirsch – 190,000
5. Aaron Kweskin – 183,700
6. Matthew Leecy – 180,200
7. Alex Muscarella – 180,000
8. Ray Qartomy – 179,800
9. Akash Seth – 178,100
10. Annee Ngo – 168,000

2018 World Poker Tour Borgata Poker Open Main Event – Day 1B Chip Leaders

1. Gene Quinn – 328,000
2. Vinny Pahuja – 225,300
3. Aaron Schaff – 222,800
4. Paul Lambrakis – 206,200
5. Athanasios Polychronopoulos – 182,000
6. Mark Sandy – 178,300
7. Joe McKeehen – 173,900
8. Robert Constable – 165,200
9. Kevin Lutz – 160,700
10. Ming Li – 159,700

2018 World Poker Tour Borgata Poker Open Main Event – Overall Day 1 Chip Leaders

1. Gene Quinn – 328,000
2. Josh Gordon – 250,000
3. Vinny Pahuja – 225,300
4. Aaron Schaff – 222,800
5. Paul Lambrakis – 206,200
6. Patrick Maritato – 197,600
7. Sanjay Dulabh – 192,600
8. Richard Kirsch – 190,000
9. Aaron Kweskin – 183,700
10. Athanasios Polychronopoulos – 182,000

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It was on to Day 2 of the World Poker Tour (WPT) Borgata Poker Open Main Event on Tuesday as the 490 survivors from the two starting flights came together to continue their advance to the money. Just 142 remain after Day 2 with TK Miles leading the way, bagging 1.062 million chips at night’s end.

Registration for the tournament did not close until the end of Level 10, two levels into Tuesday’s action. As a result, the total field swelled from 917 to 1,075, creating a prize pool of $3,441,075, easily beating the $3 million guarantee. 135 players will make the money; $6,097 will be the min cash and the winner will cash for $575,112. Clearly, the opening minutes of Day 3 will be tense as just a handful of eliminations are needed for the money bubble to burst.

In fact, the pressure-packed beginning to Day 3 was created by a late schedule change on Tuesday. The original play was to play through eight levels, ending at the close of Level 16. But because the money bubble was approaching, tournament management didn’t want the bubble to burst right at the end of the night, so it was decided that play would stop with 144 players remaining.* Obviously, that line was crossed slightly, but the end result was the same: those with short stacks will have to sweat it out overnight.

Miles is the only player in the tourney after Day 2 with more than a million chips. He is also the only player over 900,000 and 800,000. Nobody else has more than a quarter million chips. In fact, only eight players besides Miles have eclipsed the 600,000 chip mark. Needless to say, he is doing quite well.

This is nothing new for TK Miles, as he has more than $2.8 million in live tournament cashes in his career. Interestingly, even with that lofty sum, there isn’t one, single mind-blowing score on his resume. Not to say that more than $295,000 from winning the championship event of the 2014 Seminole Hard Rock Tampa Summer Poker Open isn’t money that could, say, pay off my house and leave me with more than $100,000 left over, but hey, I’m just making an observation.

2018 World Poker Tour Borgata Poker Open Main Event – Day 2 Chip Leaders

1. TK Miles – 1,062,000
2. Leonard Sande – 752,000
3. Akash Seth – 722,000
4. Liam He – 710,000
5. Joshua Gordon – 706,000
6. David Lin – 704,000
7. Michael Wang 692,000
8. Bruce Collado – 690,000
9. Ali Imsirovic – 657,000
10. Ryan Hall – 570,000

*I don’t know exactly why this is, but I am guessing that it has to do with simply wanting everybody to be able to retire for the night. Allowing the money bubble to burst so close to the end of the night means that hand-for-hand play will have to take effect, which slows things down (though of course, the end of Level 16 could be reached). Possibly more importantly, it means a bunch of the staff will have to hang around to process cashouts.

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The World Poker Tour has packed up the trucks to close out the summer and few could have chosen a better location. The WPT has landed in Atlantic City, NJ, and, in particular, the Borgata, for the 2018 WPT Borgata Poker Open. Day 3 is now in the books with an East Coast grinder at the head of the pack and a recent “High Roller” who has been making some noise back in the pack.

Liam He Leads Final 24 Players

142 players came back to the tables on Wednesday and, with the money bubble on the horizon, some of them weren’t going to be happy. Only 135 of the people (from the 1075 entries) who returned would be taking home a payday from their trip to the Boardwalk. At the head of the pack was Timothy Miles, but an East Coast player by the name of Liam He would make his mark on the day.

First, there was the matter of popping the money bubble. With the WPT Action Clock running (each player had to make their decision within 30 seconds unless they use an “extension chip” to give them a bit more time to come to a decision), it only took about two hours – and hand-for-hand play only took eleven hands – before a double elimination allowed two players to collect half of the $6057 minimum cash. Brent Roberts was eliminated by Ganjan Jeganathan when his K-J failed to catch Jeganathan’s Big Chick, while Douglas Nelson’s 9♦ 6♦ went down to Richard Tuhrim’s J-8 off suit after Tuhrim sealed his edge by flopping a Jack. The double elimination on the money bubble allowed Roberts and Nelson to split the 135^th place money.

The parade to the cash cage began at this point, with notable pros such as Shannon Shorr, Anthony Zinno, Darren Elias, Mike Dentale, Ryan D’Angelo, Joe McKeehen and several others taking their pay for three days of poker. There were those that weren’t satisfied with just a few thousand dollars, however, and they charged to the head of the pack.

He started out the day as the fifth largest stack in the room and he never seemed to make a bad decision. His chip stack increased through the day’s play until, during the final level of the night, He made his boldest moves. With Athanasios Polychronopoulos all in from the small blind, He would make the call with the goods. His pocket Aces were strong against Polychronopoulos’ A♣ J♣ as, by the turn, Polychronopoulos was drawing dead and He was adding his chips to his stack. At this point, He had five million chips and would ride that stack to have the lead at the end of the night.

1. Liam He, 5.63 million
2. Oleg Shnaider, 5.02 million
3. Erkut Yilmaz, 3.065 million
4. Dhaval Joshi, 2.7 million
5. Anthony Maio, 2.55 million
6. Nick Pupillo, 2.535 million
7. Austin Wentling, 2.52 million
8. Michael Wang, 1.845 million
9. Aaron Kweskin, 1.75 million
10. Ali Imsirovic, 1.695 million

He has been primarily an East Coast pro since he started playing in 2009. According to the Hendon Mob database, 23 of his 26 lifetime cashes have come east of the Mississippi River, with many of them coming in the Northeast poker strongholds of Atlantic City, Hollywood, FL, and Uncasville, CT. On the top of that resume is a third-place finish in the 2016 WPT Borgata Winter Poker Open Main Event, where he took down $297,995 of his $511,473 in career earnings. If he were to win this Borgata event, he would more than double his lifetime tournament poker earnings.

Ali Imsirovic’s Massive Run Continues, Maria Konnikova in the Mix

Imsirovic’s either on one of the hottest streaks of recent memory or he’s actually that damn good. Coming off of winning two events during the 2018 Poker Masters series – and taking home the Purple Jacket as the overall champion – Imsirovic continued to have excellent fortune on the green baize. While he yo-yoed through the day – at times offering double ups and at others getting them himself – Imsirovic’s stack was always in action and, it seemed, always going up. Should he be able to keep the “run good” going, Imsirovic is a threat for the final table.

Another player making some noise during the Borgata Poker Open is psychologist/poker player Maria Konnikova. Konnikova, who came from nowhere to capture the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure National Championship in January and earn a $30,000 seat to the inaugural PokerStars Players’ Championship this winter, has been making waves throughout the year with her play. Although she’ll be on the short stack starting on Thursday (19^th of the 24 players remaining with 725,000 in chips), Konnikova bears watching as she looks to continue her dream year in poker.

The cards will hit the air at noon (Eastern Time) on Thursday, with the final 24 players playing down to the six-handed WPT final table. The champion will be crowned on Friday, with the eventual champion heading out of Atlantic City with their name etched on the WPT Champions’ Cup and $575,112 in their pockets.

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Defeating a table filled with local talent, Erkut Yilmaz was able to beat all comers to capture the championship of the World Poker Tour’s Borgata Poker Open on Friday night. Meanwhile, there’s no rest for the wicked as the WPT wagons had already headed south down I-95 to Maryland Live! for their next tournament.

Yilmaz Rapidly Closes Out 2018 WPT Borgata Poker Open

The six men who convened for the final table at the Borgata Poker Open seemed to have a train to catch as the action only took about five hours to conclude. The speed of the final table was also pushed by the blinds and antes, which were extremely high considering the point of the tournament. Yilmaz was in outstanding shape at the start of the action with his 21.575 million chips, but virtually everyone else – Oleg Shnaider (7.75 million), T. K. Miles (5.9 million), Austin Wentling (3.75 million), Liam He (2.575 million) and Anthony Maio (1.4 million) – was under threat by the rising structure.

Maio, looking for ANY way to get back into the tournament, would push only 11 hands into the day with a K-J off suit, but he would run into Wentling’s pocket Kings and be knocked out in sixth place. Now on the short stack, He attempted to recapture the magic he had held earlier in the tournament when he was the chip leader, but he would depart in fifth place when Shnaider flopped trip Jacks against his pocket tens. By the time the break came after an hour of play, there were only four players left with Yilmaz still dominating the felt.

Wentling couldn’t use Maio’s chips to improve his station in the event. Finding a pocket pair of nines to his liking, Wentling pushed over a bet for Miles and, after Miles called, seemed to be in good shape. But Miles, who had Q♣ 9♣, found another lady on the A-Q-8 flop to take a lead that he wouldn’t relinquish. Wentling, with a rather chagrined expression regarding the meager holdings that Miles had called him with, exited the Borgata battleground in fourth place.

Although Miles had taken the lead with the elimination of Wentling, Yilmaz was only biding his time before he reasserted himself. After an opening bet from Miles, Shnaider three bet all in from the small blind and Yilmaz made the call off the big blind. Sensing a trap by Yilmaz, Miles let his hand go and it proved to be the right move; Yilmaz’s Big Slick dominated Shnaider’s A-J off suit and the six high board didn’t help either player. It would send Shnaider to the rail in third place and put Yilmaz back in the lead going to heads up play.

The duo would battle it out for 55 hands – slightly more than two and a half hours of play – before Yilmaz would put Miles away. On the final hand, Miles limped in and, after Yilmaz checked, a 5-4-3 rainbow flop came. Yilmaz check-raised Miles all in and, following Miles’ call, it was anyone’s hand. Although Miles had flopped top pair with his K-5, Yilmaz had the world with his 6-3 for bottom pair and an open-ended straight draw. The straight draw didn’t hit on the turn but a six did to give Yilmaz two pair. A four would also give Miles two pair on the river, but his inferior fives up to Yilmaz’s sixes up wasn’t enough as Yilmaz took the title.

1. Erkut Yilmaz, $575,112
2. T. K. Miles, $383,399
3. Oleg Shnaider, $283,341
4. Austin Wentling, $211,562
5. Liam He, $159,616
6. Anthony Maio, $121,697

Open for Business at Maryland Live!

While the Borgata Poker Open was concluding, the WPT was already getting action going on its next event. The WPT Maryland Live! kicked off on Friday with the first of two-Day Ones. With a $3500 buy in, unlimited reentries and late entry available until the start of play on Day 2, the free-for-all was off and running on Day 1A on Friday.

Ten levels were on the schedule for Day 1A and the players came out in droves for the action. By the end of the night, 203 entries had been received in the tournament but only 69 people would actually survive the carnage to come back on Sunday. Leading the way was WPT veteran Ping Liu, who has a WPT final table on his resume, but a host of top pros waited behind him and, with Day 1B coming on Saturday, he faces a plethora of challenges come Sunday’s Day 2.

1. Ping Liu, 422,000
2. Brian Altman, 385,000
3. Zechariah Montoya, 285,000
4. Mark Sandness, 266,500
5. Matt Vaughan, 226,000
6. Will Givens, 215,000
7. Mitchell Engle, 210,500
8. Joey Couden, 209,000
9. Filippos Stavrakis, 207,000
10. Matt Affleck, 176,000

Notable names lurking in the field include Kelly Minkin (153,000), Matt Glantz (145,500), Joe McKeehen (141,000), Blake Bohn (137,400) and Mohsin Charania (132,500).

Day 1B will start on Saturday at noon in the Maryland Live! tournament arena, where another throng of players will look to build a stack. The tournament will conclude on Tuesday, when the champion of the event will be crowned.

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The World Poker Tour’s stop at Maryland Live! for their $3500 Main Event has brought out a decent field for battle. Saturday’s Day 1B saw a sizeable number of runners emerge – and Paul Chang take the top honors for the day’s play – but they will all be looking up at the overall leader Ping Liu when action begins on Sunday’s Day 2.

Last Chance to Make Day 2

The second Day 1 of the WPT Maryland Live! Main Event was also the last chance for players to make their way to Day 2. There were plenty of repeat entries into the tournament (the WPT Maryland Live! is an unlimited reentry tournament), including Shannon Shorr, Maurice Hawkins, Darren Elias and Bryan Piccioli. They joined a slew of newcomers to the tournament, which saw the latest champion on the WPT, WPT Borgata Poker Open winner Erkut Yilmaz, trying to make it back-to-back championships on the circuit.

The biggest news of the day was the fact that the $1.5 million guarantee was past. At the halfway mark of the day, 479 entries – the 203 from Day 1A and the 276 from Day 1B to that point – were in the cash cage’s books, meaning there would be no overlay for the tournament. With so much of the day left (and with late registration and reentry going on until the start of Day 2), it is conceivable that they might crack the $2 million mark for the prize pool in the tournament.

Yilmaz was the focus of many eyes in the tournament room after his late entry (he didn’t step to the baize until 8PM) and he didn’t let the pressure get to him. Although he didn’t exactly rocket out of the gate, Yilmaz played a patient game and was around at the end of the day with a workable 51,000 chip stack. He has other pros right around him like Steve Sung (53,000), Mike Dentale (47,000) and former WPT World Champion Joe Bartholdi (44,000), who will all have to make some moves to stay alive in this particular tournament.

The day belonged to Chang, however. Although he would double up Shorr during the late evening action, Chang had built up enough of a stack that it didn’t hurt him too badly. In fact, he was able to recover from dropping to 275K in chips to finish the Saturday action to be the chip leader for Day 1B with 311,000 in chips.

1. Paul Chang, 311,000
2. Zhen Cai, 275,000
3. Joshua Turner, 274,500
4. Michael Wang, 273,000
5. Aaron Overton, 239,500
6. Allan Vrooman, 231,000
7. Maurice Hawkins, 227,000
8. Christopher Kennedy, 220,000
9. Tim Faro, 214,000
10. Bryan Piccioli, 212,500

Other notables who are lurking behind these players including Paul Volpe (156,000), Victor Ramdin (142,000), Olivier Busquet (133,500) and Christian Harder (110,500).

Ping Liu Remains in the Overall Lead

Although it would draw in 331 entries (to bring the total field to 534), the larger field didn’t translate into the Day 1B chip leader being the overall leader. Day 1A chip leader Ping Liu was able to maintain his lead heading to Sunday’s Day 2 action, but it is way too early to begin looking towards making the money, let alone the final table.

1. Ping Liu, 422,000*
2. Brian Altman, 385,000*
3. Paul Chang, 311,000
4. Zechariah Montoya, 285,000*
5. Zhen Cai, 275,000
6. Joshua Turner, 274,500
7. Michael Wang, 273,000
8. Mark Sandness,  266,500*
9. Aaron Overton, 239,500
10. Allan Vrooman, 231,000

(* – Day 1A player)

Of the 534 entries, 204 players will actually step to the tables in the Maryland Live! tournament arena on Sunday. The field is not quite set, however, as late registration and reentry are open until the start of play on Sunday. Once the cards are in the air, then the players will know what’s at stake other than just the WPT Champions’ Cup for the victor at the WPT Maryland Live! Main Event.

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Just 32 players are still alive at the 2018 World Poker Tour (WPT) Maryland at Live! Casino Main Event (is that as awkward to say as it is to write?) as the tournament heads into Day 3. Andrew Crookston is the chip leader with 1.415 million chips, but it is a crowded house at the top of the standings as five other players have over a million.

Crookston has less than $200,000 in live tournament earnings, with his best live cash ($45,410) coming just this August when he finished ninth in the WPT Choctaw Main Event. So, he certainly has experience going deep in a major tournament, but at the same time, he is positioned to achieve a serious score compared to what he has done previously.

And should Crookston hold onto that chip lead and go all the way in the Main Event, he will win more money than he has in the entirety of his career: $344,755. That first place purse is the result of 554 entrants producing a prize pool of $1,757,800. The top 70 players are making the money, so everyone who is returning for Day 3 is already in the money., guaranteed at least $10,547. The min-cash is $5,801.

As mentioned, though Crookston is in the chip lead, he is not running away with it by any means. After him, Ping Liu has 1.235 million, followed by David Stefanski (1.115 million), Tony Ruberto (1.105 million), Will Givens (1.065 million), and Aaron Pinson (1.010 million). Three other players have over 900,000 chips.

Crookston wasn’t always sitting so pretty. He began the day with just 78,000 chips, not anywhere close to the chip lead, and well into Day 2, he had even fewer chips than that and was all-in for his tournament life. After Joey Weissman shoved from the small blind, Crookston figured A-7 was good enough to call all-in himself from the big blind. A-7 isn’t an amazing hand to risk it all with, but if you have to make a move, might as well. Plus, with the small blind being the one to make the initial move, Crookston probably figured he was live. And he was right: Weissman only had T-5.

An Ace flopped and Crookston doubled-up to 103,000. Yada yada yada…he now has 1.415 million.

Also of note in this tournament is Erkut Yilmaz, who was eliminated on Day 2 in 41st place, earning $7,910. Yilmaz just won the WPT Borgata Poker Open on the Friday night, so traveling from the Borgata to the Maryland Live! Casino (which isn’t really all that far – only about a three hour drive or thereabouts) in time to register and then cashing is a heck of a feat. That finish put him into first place in the World Poker Tour Player of the Year race.

The plan for Monday is to play down to the six-handed final table.

2018 World Poker Tour Maryland at Live! Casino Main Event – Day 2 Chip Leaders

1. Andrew Crookston – 1,415,000
2. Ping Liu – 1,235,000
3. David Stefanski – 1,115,000
4. Tony Ruberto – 1,105,000
5. Will Givens – 1,065,000
6. Aaron Pinson – 1,010,000
7. Hiren Dharani – 940,000
8. Brock Parker – 935,000
9. Gloria Jackso – 915,000
10. Richard Kirsch – 895,000

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The six-handed final table has been set at the 2018 World Poker Tour (WPT) Maryland at Live! Casino Main Event (can we just call it WPT Maryland?) after 548 players have been sent to the rail. Leading the way in tight race going into Tuesday’s action is Will Givens with 6.215 million chips.

Givens is quite the dedicated tournament player, as coming from Colorado, he has to travel far and wide to participate in the various tours. Colorado is known for a lot of things, but being a hotbed of tournament poker is not one of them. Givens has amassed $1.725 million in live tournament earnings, his biggest cash coming when he won a bracelet in a $1,000 No-Limit Hold’em event at the 2014 World Series of Poker ($306,634). A win on Tuesday would top that.

Oftentimes in these tourneys, we see one or two players with chip stacks that dwarf the rest at the final table, but as mentioned, this one is quite competitive. After Givens, Tony Ruberto – a former WPT winner – has 5.230 million, Shankar Pillai has 4.465 million, and Jeremy Ausmus has 3.730 million chips. Certainly, the 2.5 million chip spread between first and fourth place is large, but those second, third, and fourth place players have stack sizes that are sufficiently dangerous to keep the big stack from running over them. One big hand changes the table entirely.

Givens earned built up about half of his stack very late on Day 3. He started by moving all-in over the top of Brock Parker’s million-chip all-in (forcing others to fold). Parker had A-Q (as far as I can tell from WPT.com’s reporting, which only showed one card), while Givens had T-T. Parker was unable to improve and was eliminated in eighth place, while Givens grew his stack to 4.1 million chips.

He built it up further, well over 5 million, before giving some of it back to an Aaron Pinson double-up, though that still left him with an even 5 million.

Givens was responsible for the final elimination of the night, calling Miki Murzi’s 860,000 chips pre-flop all-in. Murzi had A-5 and Givens had Q-J, so Givens was live. A Queen flopped and that was it for either player; Murzi was out in seventh place and Givens was the chip leader going into the final table.

The six players are competing for the $344,755 first prize and though that’s a far cry from the sixth place payout, $69,609 is certainly something most of us would be thrilled to win. But that’s how it works at final tables – the pay jumps get serious.

The final table is currently underway; we’ll catch you up with what happened on the flip side.

2018 World Poker Tour Maryland at Live! Casino Main Event – Final Table Chip Counts

1. Will Givens – 6,215,000
2. Tony Ruberto – 5,230,000
3. Shankar Pillai – 4,465,000
4. Jeremy Ausmus – 3,730,000
5. Mark Sandness – 1,805,000
6. Aaron Pinson – 805,000

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Tony Ruberto came inches away from a World Poker Tour title in August (does that even make sense?), finishing fourth in the WPT Choctaw Main Event. There are people in this world who have made a final table in a major event, only to neve return, so you never know what’s going to happen. Like Dan Marino making a Super Bowl early in his career and never making it back. But Ruberto made the final table of the WPT Maryland at Live! Casino Main Event this week and made it all the way, winning the tournament and more than a half million dollars.

This is Ruberto’s second World Poker Tour victory; he won the WPT Jacksonville Main Event back in 2011.

“It feels really good,” he told WPT.com after his triumph. “I won seven years ago and the play has changed really dramatically since then. It’s difficult to win nowadays because everyone is just a lot better. It’s not how it was about eight or 10 years ago. It feels really good to win.”

Ruberto began the final table second in chips, about a million behind Will Givens. On the tenth hand of the day, he eliminated Mark Sandness to get near the chip lead, which Shankar Pillai had already taken over after a big hand against Givens.

On Hand 43, Ruberto continued to do damage, knocking out Aaron Pinson in fifth place. The two were all-in pre-flop, Ruberto with Jacks and Pinsin with Sevens. The Jacks held (clearly) and Ruberto was up to 7.900 million chips. He grabbed a large pot from Pillai later to move up to 10.600 million and take control of the table.

Pillai himself eliminated Givens on Hand 63 when his Eights held against Givens’ A-K, all-in pre-flop.

For a while after that, it was the Ruberto and Pillai show, as they pulled away from Jeremy Ausmus, but it soon became just the Tony Ruberto show. He just rolled over his two opponents until finally sending Ausmus to the rail in third place (it took a little luck – Ruberto’s 8-5 beat Ausmus’ Nines, though the money didn’t get in until Ruberto hit two pair on the turn). Going into heads-up play, Ruberto had a massive lead on Pillai, 18.125 million to 4.050 million.

In these situations, I often say that it looked like the huge chip leader was going to run away with it only to have the short stack make a run, and that’s exactly what happened. Pillai quickly doubled-up and then kept the heat on, winning another big hand a short time later to take the chip lead, 13.200 million to 9.000 million. As happens in poker, Ruberto soon regained the lead and then it was a dogfight. The stacks were virtually even at one point as the two went back and forth, neither being able to put it away for quite some time.

Of course, Ruberto finally did it. On Hand 179, Pillai raised pre-flop with A-9 and Ruberto called with T-7 of diamonds. The flop was J♥-5♦-A♦ and the two ended up with their chips in the middle, Ruberto with a flush draw and Pillai with top pair. The turn was of no help to either, but the river was the 9♦, giving Ruberto his flush and his second WPT title.

2018 World Poker Tour Maryland at Live! Casino Main Event – Final Table Results

1. Tony Ruberto – $344,755
2. Shankar Pillai – $220,780
3. Jeremy Ausmus – $162,597
4. Will Givens – $121,112
5. Aaron Pinson – $91,230
6. Mark Sandness – $69,609

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One of the things I find both idiotic and painfully endearing about poker players is how they are seemingly willing to make prop bets on anything at any time. World Poker Tour television host Vince Van Patten was once one of these types of people and has co-written a feature film with Steve Alper called Walk to Vegas, based on things he really did in his life as a gambler. Last week, the World Poker Tour announced that it agreed to a partnership with the film.

Partnership Details Cloudy

“The WPT is thrilled to announce our partnership with Walk to Vegas and Vince Van Patten, the longest-running commentator in poker, as he brings this true story to life on the big screen,” World Poker Tour CEO Adam Pliska in a press release. “With a high-quality cast and a team of exceptional filmmakers, Walk to Vegas tells the story of one of the greatest wagers ever made. As the premier name in internationally televised gaming and entertainment, the World Poker Tour is committed to helping market the film to its millions of viewers and fans around the world.”

Other than that, nothing was explained as to what exactly the partnership entails. As Pliska mentioned that the WPT was “committed to helping market the film,” one might guess that it will be provide some airtime for advertisements during WPT telecasts or perhaps throw some ads on its website or online poker room.

I’m Intrigued

Van Patten stars in Walk to Vegas as Duke, a high-stakes gambler who took advantage of Hollywood whales who would bet on anything and were terrible at poker. Through some set of circumstances, he goes broke and comes to make a prop bet with a big-time director (who is also Duke’s biggest poker fish) that, for a million dollars, Duke would walk from Hollywood to Las Vegas in seven days.

Honestly, my expectations aren’t extremely high, namely because it is and independent film revolving around gambling and poker and how many gambling/poker movies have ever been any good? I just caught the end of Lucky You on television yesterday and realized I barely remembered anything about it.

I will say this, though: the trailer makes it look like it could be pretty entertaining. It has one of those casts with loads of actors where you say, “hey, I know that guy…he’s good…I just don’t know his name,” which can work well. Quality actors, but not such gigantic names that it distracts you. Naturally, some people from the poker world are in the film, including Jennifer Tilly (an Academy Award nominee) and Phil Laak.

According to IMDB, Antonio Esfandiari and Van Patten’s long-time television partner, Mike Sexton, are also in the film.

“We are very excited to be collaborating with the World Poker Tour,” Van Patten said. “It has always been a dream of mine to make this movie, and it brings me such great honor to have the support and commitment of the WPT.”

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In late August, the World Poker Tour (WPT) and partypoker LIVE announced a deal in which the WPT would host as many as seven partypoker LIVE events in Europe and Canada for the next four years. The first confirmed event was WPT Montreal which just recently got underway, but aside from a couple known locations, most events and dates had yet to be settled. Today, the World Poker Tour announced five stops for partypoker LIVE in 2019 beginning in January.

“The World Poker Tour is pleased to add more locations to our growing footprint in Europe and further expand our relationship with partypoker LIVE,” Adam Pliska, CEO of the World Poker Tour, said. “This partnership’s inclusion of multiple WPT offerings at each festival is a monumental achievement for the WPT toward providing players across the globe with the opportunity to play in World Poker Tour events at all buy-in levels.”

Yup, It’s Definitely Europe and Canada

Russia is the first stop next year of the WPT/partypoker LIVE-branded tour, with WPT Russia being held at Casino Sochi from January 18th through January 27th. The $3,300 buy-in Main Event has a healthy guaranteed prize pool of $1.5 million.

There is nothing in February, so it is on to the Casino Barcelona and WPT Barcelona March 9th through March 17th. A month later, April 6th through April 14th, the popular Dusk Till Dawn poker club in Nottingham, UK, will serve as host to the WPT European Championship. This year’s WPT European Championship took place in Berlin, Germany, this past January, so this is both a change of venue and a shift in the calendar. The guarantee for the Main Event will be £3 million.

In August will be WPT Germany, held at King’s Casino in Rozvadov, Czech Republic. Yes, I know that it is in the Czech Republic and it is called WPT Germany, but Rozvadov is right on the German border, so it’s ALMOST Germany. I’m not sure why it’s not called WPT Czech Republic, but I suspect it has something to do with marketing, like Germany looks better to potential participants or something. King’s Casino has become one of the focal venues in the poker world; it appears to be the home of the World Series of Poker Europe indefinitely.

To wrap up the five-stop tour, the Playground Poker Club will host WPT Montreal – as it is now – from October 25th through November 3rd.

Both Sochi and Dusk Till Dawn were already revealed in the World Poker Tour’s previous press release about the partypoker LIVE partnership, but we did not know when those stops would take place. Of course, both the WPT and partypoker LIVE have many more stops on their respective tours; these are just the few that are co-branded.

The complete schedule for the announced stops is below:

WPT Russia – Casino Sochi – Sochi, Russia; January 18-27
WPT Barcelona – Casino Barcelona – Barcelona, Spain; March 9-17
WPT European Championship – Dusk Till Dawn – Nottingham, UK; April 6-14
WPT Germany – King’s Casino – Rozvadov, Czech Republic; August 9-19
WPT Montreal – Playground Poker Club – Kahnawake (Montreal), Quebec; Oct 25-Nov 3

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The World Poker Tour is back to it, as the WPT Montreal Main Event got going on Monday with the first of three starting flights. This is the first official stop that is co-branded with the WPT and partypoker LIVE (though the two entities have worked together plenty in the past), which actually made for an interesting twist to the Main Event. On Sunday, a small 14-player flight was held online from which eight players advanced to Day 2. On the “live” Day 1A, 80 players entered – bringing the field to 94 total – and 41 players made it to Day 2. Marius Kikinezhdi is the chip leader with 283,500 chips.

The guaranteed prize pool for CAD $5,000 + $300 tournament is CAD $5 million, so there is a heck of a long way to go for the Playground Poker Club and the World Poker Tour to avoid an overlay, but as we know, the later the starting flight, the largest the flight’s field.

With three percent of the prize pool set aside for dealer gratuities, that leaves CAD $4,850 of each buy-in for the prize pool. Thus, 1,031 entries will be needed to meet the CAD $5 million guarantee. That is a long way from the 94 entries of Day 1A (plus the online flight), but believe it or not, it could be doable, emphasis on the “could.”

The only time WPT Montreal has had more than 1,000 entries was its first year, 2012, when the number reached 1,173. Since then, it hasn’t come close. This, though, is the first year with a buy-in of CAD $5,000 (other years were CAD $3,000+) and a guaranteed prize pool of CAD $5 million. While the higher price tag would logically keep some people away, it is possible that the higher guarantee could attract players and better yet, higher bankrolled, more serious players who are more concerned with larger prize money. The Main Event is a re-entry tournament, with everyone permitted one initial entry and one re-entry on each of the three starting flights plus Day 2. Thus, there are as many as eight buy-in opportunities for players.

Expect more players on Tuesday and many more on Wednesday. Wednesday will be the key day, since the third of three starting flights typically dwarfs the other two. The reason for this is simply convenience: players who survive the day would rather move on immediately to Day 2, rather than waiting and possibly needing an extra day off of work and pay for another night in a hotel.

It’s going to be tough to hit that guarantee, but it could happen.

Day 1B is up and running at the Playground Poker Club as I write this with the action currently on break. We’ll check back in late tonight or tomorrow to see how the field is shaping up.

2018 World Poker Tour Montreal Main Event – Day 1A Chip Leaders

1. Marius Kikinezhdi – 283,500
2. Ljubomir Josipovic – 187,200
3. Srinivas Gottiparthi – 185,600
4. Shankar Pillai – 165,900
5. Garrett Dansereau – 155,000
6. Michael Wang – 151,200
7. Alexandre Nadeau-Levesque – 134,700
8. Brian Altman – 132,400
9. Ryan Pignatelli – 104,000
10. Shawn Busse – 101,100

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The World Series of Poker Europe Main Event may be the focus of the poker world at the moment, but let’s not forget that there is a major World Poker Tour event going on right now, too. The WPT Montreal Main Event saw the second of three starting flights contested on Tuesday; 172 players entered and/or re-entered, bringing the total number of entries so far to 266. Upeshka De Silva was the chip leader after Day 1B, finishing with 249,000 chips. Marius Kikinezhdi is the still the overall chip leader with 283,500 chips.

As discussed yesterday, the World Poker Tour and the Playground Poker Club were extremely ambitious with this tournament, setting a CAD $5 million guaranteed prize pool for an event with a buy-in of CAD $5,000 + $300, where CAD $4,850 is going to the prize pool. If I counted all my fingers and toes properly, that means 1,031 entries are needed to hit that prize pool and stay away from an overly (ooh, that rhymes). With just 266 entries after two of the three starting flights, it is going to take a quite the mass of bodies on Day 1C and Day 2 to hit that mark. In previous years, with a lower buy-in, the WPT Montreal Main Event has only eclipsed the 1,000 entry mark once, in its first year.

This is a single re-entry tournament, so everyone will still be allowed to both enter and re-enter the event on Wednesday’s Day 1C and on Day 2, up until the late registration period ends.

Upeshka De Silva built up more than half of his stack by Level 3, thanks to a huge hand against David Guay. On a flop of 9-4-9, Guay moved all-in and De Silva made the call. Guay had A-K for just the board’s pair of Nines with top two kickers as well as a club flush draw, while De Silva held pocket Aces. Guay needed to make the flush or hit runner-runner Kings to stay in the tournament. Neither of those things happened and De Silva jacked his stack up to 160,000 chips.

De Silva has made more than $2.1 million in his live tournament career, most recently winning a smallish high roller event at the Irish Poker Masters (to give an example of its size, “high roller” in this instance meant a €2,000 buy-in). He has never won a championship on the main WPT tour, but he did win the San Diego WPTDeepstacks Main Event a year ago. De Silva also has two World Series of Poker gold bracelets to his credit.

Day 1C is currently underway. As mentioned, registration is open until the beginning of Level 11 tomorrow.

2018 World Poker Tour Montreal Main Event – Day 1B Chip Leaders

1. Upeshka De Silva – 249,000
2. Matt Salsberg – 237,200
3. Steven Tripp – 227,600
4. Maxime Heroux – 198,400
5. Kevin Rivest – 192,100
6. Zachary Donovan – 190,400
7. Simon Despres-Bellavance – 160,800
8. Francois Billard – 160,400
9. Rodney Ramalho – 153,500
10. Francois Goulet – 150,000

2018 World Poker Tour Montreal Main Event – Overall Day 1 Chip Leaders

1. Marius Kikinezhdi – 283,500
2. Upeshka De Silva – 249,000
3. Matt Salsberg – 237,200
4. Steven Tripp – 227,600
5. Maxime Heroux – 198,400
6. Kevin Rivest – 192,100
7. Zachary Donovan – 190,400
8. Ljubomir Josipovic – 187,200
9. Srinivas Gottiparthi – 185,600
10. Shankar Pillai – 165,900

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