The Weekly Turbo: AI, Revenge, 888, PokerStars Festival
Heading into February, you’ve got plenty to keep your eye on. Even more than that, you need to make sure you don’t forget anything (we’ll give you a hint: Don’t forget your loved one on Valentine’s Day; plan early).
While you’re hunting for the perfect gift or taking public transportation to get there, take a look at the poker news of the week.
The Winner’s Circle
Rehman Kassam defeated Daniel Harwood heads up at the PokerStars Festival London £990 Main Event in what started as a 994-entry field at the Hippodrome Casino. He struck a deal with Harwood and Eric Cech, giving him £89,320 and the coveted golden trophy.
Marek Blaško has won the 888Live Festival Rozvadov Opening Event, taking home a first prize of €27,824 after outlasting a field of 783, the largest for an 888Live event to date.
“Enigmasility” won 888poker’s Super XL Series $1,050 Event #58: $1,500,000 Super XL - Main Event after more than 12 hours of play, taking $262,200.
Coming into Day 11 of the 888poker Super XL Series, Ukraine’s "fNx_R" won $55,508.98 in heads-up play with "dobrydmi."
After 14 hours of play in the Aussie Millions $5,000 Pot Limit Omaha, Espen Solaas from Norway came away the victor, beating Dzmitry Urbanovich and title defender Daniel Demicki on the final table. Solaas walked away with AUD$100,815.
Maxwell “maxv2” Ludwig won $489,075.72 this weekend. This and more high tournament scores in the Sunday Briefing.
Andy Spears chopped the Almighty Stack at Borgata Winter Poker Open for $94,800. He made a four-way deal with Bradley Jansen, Zach Donovan and Phong Nguyen.
Melbourne’s Sotirios Kiokpasoglou won the No Limit Hold’em Deep Freeze for $106,380 at Aussie Millions.
Finnish player Matti Konttinen topped a field of 102 runners to take the AUD$27,710 prize in the AUD$1,150 Hyper Turbo to close out the 2017 Aussie Millions.
Vahid “Ronaldo” Amirzahiri is the latest player to be crowned a DTD200 champion after he triumphed in the £100,000 guaranteed DTD200 8-Max event at Dusk Till Dawn this weekend.
Amateur player Neil Patel won the $1,675 WSOP Circuit Main Event in Tunica, shipping $192,152.
It took 888poker player "trojanmouse" less than four hours of play to be crowned the Champion of Champions, as he overcame 17 other top contenders of the 2017 Super XL Series to win a World Series of Poker Main Event Package worth $12,500.
[Removed:291] outlasted a star-studded table to win the 888Live Rozvadov €5,300 High Roller for €49,875. With just three players making the money, [Removed:292] finished ahead of overnight chip leader Martin Kabrhel and Philipp Zukernik who rounded out the money spots.
The first two champions have been crowned at the Playground Winter Festival 2017. Both winners made deals to take the titles.
The Game Changers
Who went up? Who went down? Here’s how the newly instituted GPI system affected the overall rankings.
King's Casino has served as a center for a long list of poker tournaments and will continue to do so in the next year, with a continued focus on its players.
The poker pros took a beating during the “Brains vs. Artificial Intelligence: Upping the Ante” event that finished Jan. 30. The marathon 20-day poker competition had artificial intelligence besting the pros.
Less rake, reduced offerings and a new heads-up game highlight Microgaming Poker Network’s most recent changes.
PokerStars will soon launch in the Czech Republic after receiving approval from the Czech State Supervision of Gambling and Lotteries Department. PokerStars is the first licensed online casino and poker operator in the Czech Republic.
The £30 millionVictoria Gate Casino in Leeds is now open for business and is the third largest casino in the United Kingdom.
Before his bluffs were called during Watergate, Richard Nixon was known to be a poker player.
Bruno Malavazzi is one of poker's biggest fans, and after winning a giveaway from Bill Perkins, he took the trip of a lifetime to the Bahamas.
The 2017 Aussie Millions boasted increased turnout and success this year with over 7,000 entrants.
888poker has dozens of multi-table tournaments with buy-ins as low as $0.99 and as high as $600. Check out the most affordable ones.
Nominees have been named for the American Poker Awards. Mike Sexton leads with three nominations.
partypoker announced John Duthie president of partypoker LIVE.
Mustapha Kanit is the new GPI Player of the Year leader after collecting cashes in Australia.
888poker recently created its own amazing partnership by bringing together David Tuchman and Parker “TonkaaaP” Talbot in the commentary booth for 888Live events.
For the seventh consecutive year, WSOP Circuit will call Palm Beach Kennel Club in West Palm Beach home from Feb. 9 through Feb. 20.
A former bookie offers his insight into the underground world of sports betting.
Billionaire Sheldon Adelson withdraws support for NFL stadium in Las Vegas; Raiders move in doubt. LV Sands wants to sell stake in Marina Bay Sands mall and AGA issues annual Super Bowl betting report. Details in this week's Inside Gaming.
Bill Perkins is arguably the coolest guy in poker right now. He's driving the action online. Read all about it in The Railbird Report.
Take Matters Into Your Own Hands
Learn how getting a good night's rest can improve both your memory, your mood and your poker.
Discover how you could be playing in a $99 buy in tournament for free at TigerGaming.
Ashley Adams covers some no-limit hold'em moves that can pay off big in cash games: the squeeze play, set mining and floating.
Jonathan Little considers how to respond to significant aggression after he's turned a flush.
Earn 1,000 points by winning with certain hand combinations and get a random prize up to $5,000.
November Niner Kenny Hallaert analyzes a hand he played at the WSOP Main Event final table.
Calling (versus betting or raising) is often considered passive, but some calls can be aggressive.
Facing a scary-seeming preflop five-bet, Randy Lew considers folding his pocket kings and discusses why that might actually be the right play.
Consider this key decision made on Day 3 in the PokerStars Championship Bahamas Main Event: All in on the flop with a flush draw.
Applying your knowledge of these poker rules can give you an advantage at the tables.
Theo Jorgensen and Ryan Laplante analyze a €90K PLO cash game hand Theo won in Rozvadov.
Check Tape
To continue the Kassouf-Matuson saga, Matuson opens up about the 2016 WSOP prior to the match, Kassouf discusses the match and the Coconuts hype and one will win it all.
Patrick Leonard, founder of bitBstaking, explains a controversial blog he wrote about the relative merits of dropping out of university.
Sarah Herring calls the clock on Kara Scott. Here’s one of the questions: What’s something really annoying about you?
Herring tries to guess who Joe Ingram is pretending to be from the poker world.
Mentalist Itzik Marko uses poker and cards to read the mind of Herring.
As if free food wasn't enough, 888Live in Rozvadov opened up the bar for guests.
Twitch Streamer and 888 Ambassador Parker "tonkaaaa" Talbot answers eight random questions. Find out his most embarrassing childhood moment and who he hates in poker.