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ESPN Releases Complete 2016 WSOP Main Event Schedule

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It was one hell of a WSOP Main Event this year and we’ll finally get to see it all unfold on ESPN starting Sept. 11, 2016.

As usual the season will be comprised of one-hour episodes running from Sept. 11 to Nov. 1 with the live final table spread over three days from Oct. 30-Nov. 1.

Almost every episode will debut at 8:30 p.m. ET on Sunday with the exception of episodes 4-5, which will air consecutively on Sunday and Monday, Sept. 18-19, at 10:30 p.m. and 12:00 a.m. respectively.

Kassouf, Benger in the Spotlight

This year’s WSOP Main Event didn’t really feature any huge names in the final 100 but it did offer some exceptional personalities in the U.K.’s William Kassouf and former Counter-Strike pro Griffin "ShaGuar" Benger.

William Kassouf IMG 8019
The controversial William Kassouf

It will be particularly interesting to see how Kassouf is portrayed on ESPN.

Kassouf's loud-talking style at the table garnered some controversy and got under the skin of several players along the way including Stacey Matuson and even Benger at points.

Meanwhile some poker fans found Kassouf highly-entertaining and thought he was a highlight of the 2016 Main Event.

Benger, most recently known for his gig as a commentator on the GPL, doesn’t shy away from table talk and had blockbuster showdown with Kassouf near the later portion of the playdown that some were calling the hand of the tournament.

Add in players like Tom Marchese, Cliff Josephy, James Obst, Gaëlle Baumann, Dan Colman, Paul Volpe, Bryan Piccioli, Ami Barer and Antoine Saout and it should make for a great show.

Here's a complete rundown of the schedule:

Date

Time

Event

Network

Tues, Sept 6

10 p.m.

WSOP Global Casino Championship – Part 1

ESPN2

 

11 p.m.

WSOP Global Casino Championship – Part 2

ESPN2

Sun, Sept 11

8:30 p.m.

WSOP Main Event Championship – Episode 1

ESPN2

 

10 p.m.

WSOP Main Event Championship – Episode 2

ESPN2

Sun, Sept 18

10:30 p.m.

WSOP Main Event Championship – Episode 3

ESPN2

Mon, Sept 19

12 a.m.

WSOP Main Event Championship – Episode 4

ESPN2

Sun, Sept 25

8:30 p.m.

WSOP Main Event Championship – Episode 5

ESPN2

 

10 p.m.

WSOP Main Event Championship – Episode 6

ESPN2

Sun, Oct 2

8:30 p.m.

WSOP Main Event Championship – Episode 7

ESPN

 

10 p.m.

WSOP Main Event Championship – Episode 8

ESPN

Sun, Oct 9

8:30 p.m.

WSOP Main Event Championship – Episode 9

ESPN

 

10 p.m.

WSOP Main Event Championship – Episode 10

ESPN

Sun, Oct 16

8:30 p.m.

WSOP Main Event Championship – Episode 11

ESPN

 

10 p.m.

WSOP Main Event Championship – Episode 12

ESPN

Sun, Oct 23

8:30 p.m.

WSOP Main Event Championship – Episode 13

ESPN

 

10 p.m.

WSOP Main Event Championship – Episode 14

ESPN

Sun, Oct 30

8:30 p.m.

2016 World Series of Poker: Final Table Live*

ESPN

 

11 p.m.

2016 World Series of Poker: Final Table Live*

ESPN2

Mon, Oct 31

8 p.m.

2016 World Series of Poker: Final Table Live*

ESPN2

Tues, Nov 1

9 p.m.

2016 World Series of Poker: Final Table Live*

ESPN

Sun, Nov 20

9 p.m.

2016 World Series of Poker: Final Table Encore

ESPN



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Daily 3-Bet: Benger Revealed, Poker WW2 Rescue, Pokerify eSports

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The PokerListings Daily 3-Bet is the collector’s edition of mid-afternoon poker news that comes with three bonus stories that will enthrall the inner poker fan in all of us.

You can always make your own suggestions for future 3-Bet pieces in the comments section below.

In today’s Daily 3-Bet we’ll take a look at Griffin Benger giving fans the inside scoop on November Nine, an incredible rescue during WW2 by a poker group and a closer look at the relationship between eSports and poker.

1) Griffin Benger Behind-the-Scenes

Every year the poker players who make the November Nine have roughly three months to promote themselves and the game of poker.

Griffin Benger WSOP

Most Niners don’t make much use of that time and some even go into hiding during that period (remember how Phil Ivey was essentially a ghost in 2009).

There are some exceptions, however. Russel Thomas and his Jason Somerville-produced The Final Table web series in 2012 come to mind.

It appears Griffin Benger isn’t going to be one to shy away from the spotlight as he just started a new Facebook account that promises exclusive updates leading up to the final table.

We love us some ShaGuar and we have a feeling you might too so you can go ahead and give the account a follow if you’re looking for the inside scoop on his November Nine showdown.

2) Manila Poker Group Saved 1,300 Lives

What have you accomplished in your home game?

Eisenhower d day
Dwight D. Eisenhower: President, General, poker player.

Probably drank a bunch of beers and lost a lifetime sum of several hundred dollars, right?

Well this will make you feel bad.

Jewish publication Tablet published an article this week about a poker group in Manila that ended up rescuing more than 1,300 Jews during World War II.

The home game included four Jewish brothers who ran a cigar business in Manila, the president of the Philippine Commonwealth and a young Army colonel named Dwight D. Eisenhower.

During the late-night card games, the players devised a rescue plan that would bring Jews to the Philippines.

Although the USA had strict immigration policies at the time, the Philippines had no quota system, which meant it was easier to obtain an entry visa.

Incredible stuff. You can read the complete article on tabletmag.com.

3) Forbes: eSports Knocking on Poker’s Door

We’ve been saying it for years: eSports and poker are connected in so many ways that it’s getting tough to tell them apart.

Forbes published a long read comparing the business side of poker and eSports this week.

It’s a fascinating look at the how eSports could learn a great deal from poker.

Right now there’s a huge player base and audience for eSports but it’s much easier to play online poker for money, which gives it a huge edge when it comes to consistent prize pools. That trend will likely change when casinos, or gambling operators, figure out a way to get involved with eSports.

Last year we took a look at the biggest tournaments available in eSports and online poker. eSports actually passed individual first-place prizes for poker tournaments a few years ago and shows no signs of slowing down with the recent DOTA II The International tournament tipping the scales at $20.7m.

Take a look at the slightly out-dated chart below:



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Sam Grafton: “It’s Been a Very Promising Beginning for the GPL”

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Sam Grafton, AKA TheSquid, has racked up millions in poker earnings around the world and once again finds himself deep in EPT Barcelona.

Beyond just the poker, however, Grafton has a delightful presence on social media and regularly ranks amongst the most entertaining personalities in the game.

That personality was on full display this spring when Grafton, along with fellow funnyman Griffin Benger, took a turn in the commentary booth for the inaugural season of the Global Poker League.

The pair received a large amount of praise for spicing up each and every match during the marathon Twitch portion of the season.

We caught up with Grafton on Day 4 of the EPT Barcelona with just 50 players remaining out of the initial 1,785.

PokerListings: Obviously this is difficult to say, but do you feel like you could go all the way to the last table this time?

SamGrafton
TheSquid!

Sam Grafton: Yes, of course. I’m a tournament player, and I feel very comfortable in these situations.

I’m comfortable with 16 bigs, and if I go down to ten or twelve, I’m going to know exactly what to do. I think that’s a big advantage.

PL: Who else would you expect at the final table?

SG: There are plenty of good players still in, particularly Jason Koon and Jason Mercier.

You know, I register in tournaments of the remaining field size, and I don’t win them that often, so I know it’s still a long way to go.

PL: We saw your Tweet on Will Kassouf. What is going on there?

SG: There’s no problem or anything. We’ve met before and he’s a funny guy. Obviously, he’s a massive star at the moment. I can’t wait to see the footage of him on ESPN.

We come from the same background, small cash games in London. I was just joking on how much attention’s been on him and he would be the most likely one to be at the camera table.

PL: We really wanted to see him on the GPL. Can you imagine what that would have been like?

bengergrafton
The GPL dream team.

SG: I’m sure it would’ve been chaos.

PL: How would you summarize the first half of the inaugural GPL season?

SG: I really enjoyed the experience and I think we have a great product. I’m not only a player, I’m also a poker fan, and watching these big names battle each other was quite exciting.

I hope we were able to convey that excitement, and there were some really classic matches and funny moments.

All in all, it’s been a very promising beginning for the franchise.

PL: Is your passion also why you took the commentator job in the first place?

sam grafton 1

SG: I’d done some commentating before, but it was a leap into unknown territory nonetheless.

I wanted to stretch myself as an individual, take on a new challenge. I was excited to work with Griffin [Benger], I was excited to stay in Malta for a while, and I’m excited about everything that brings poker to a new, bigger audience.

PL: How can the GPL improve?

SG: I don’t think that’s for me to answer. I don’t know. I have some personal thoughts, but it would be above my agreement to talk about this.

PL: Are you and Griffin going to be back as commentators for the second half of the season?

SG: It’s a little bit up in the air at the moment. I’d love to work with him again, but as he’s just made the November Nine, maybe he wants to spend more time on his game and the preparations for the final of the WSOP.

So, maybe we’ll work together further down the line. Imagine how great it would be if he came back as the world champion.

Sam Grafton 3

PL: One might argue that the GPL isn’t really addressing new players, but rather those who know the game already.

SG: I think if we can get the hardcore poker fans on board first, if we can aggregate them and make them watch, that’s already a great start. Then we can start trying to bring new people in.

Look at the development Darts has gone through. It used to be just a niche thing, but because it has such a great atmosphere and has been presented right, it was made exciting for a broader public.

That’s what we’re aiming for, too.



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Could Poker Assist in Ending Homelessness in Barcelona?

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EPT Barcelona is a showcase poker tournament that attracts thousands of players, stimulates the local economy and awards a massive first-place prize. But could poker provide an even more lasting effect on the city?

There is a man standing in front of the Gran Casino Barcelona. He’s holding a sign with a hole in the middle where he sometimes sticks his head through.

The man is dressed in cheaper clothing, and he has a dog with him. He doesn't exactly look like one of the many high rollers that attend EPT Barcelona with the goal of raking in a huge score. At first glance you might mistake him for a beggar.

However, the man – who’s called Marcos – isn’t asking for money, and his sign surprisingly reads: “Poker will eliminate homelessness”.

Upon talking to Marcos, it turns out that there is a charity campaign behind this, initiated by an American named Andrew Funk, who is also present in the casino.

Looking Beyond the Casino

Funk is in his mid-thirties and was brought up in Texas. He studied literature and economics, worked both as a Digital Consultant and a tourist guide in Malta, spent time in Peru and several other countries before he came to Spain.

mateos marcos
Adrian Mateos is already on board.

Asked why he would get engaged in charity work he answers: “My father told me, 'If you don’t offer anything to society, don’t expect anything back.'”

And this is the idea: “We want to offer homeless people a chance to use their talent. Everybody has one. Marcos outside the casino is a poet. He’s written a poem call “All or Nothing” especially for the EPT.”

“It takes about €10,000 to get someone off the street. We’re taking about €3,000 to give them a place to stay and €7,000 to support their talent, in this case print the book Marcos has written.”

“Poker players like to gamble, and we want them to see their donations as bets. Bets on homeless people who -- thanks to their donations -- get a new chance in life. I realize that betting on people’s lives outside the casino is a hard thing to do.”

“We already have Adrian Mateos on board, who is the best poker player in Spain, and he's going to donate 1% of his Main Event winnings to us, and Felipe Ramos from team PokerStars is also interested.”

“1% of the winnings isn’t much for a player, but it can change the whole life of someone living in the streets.”

“There are officially 941 people in Barcelona who sleep in the streets. Our goal is to get housing for all of them and show them that their life will be better if they have a proper place to sleep and do something they’re good at.”

“I honestly think that 941 is not a big number. We have started this initiative last year, and we expect to double the number of people we can help every four to six months.”

Small Percentage Goes a Long Way

The association Funk is working for has a team not only of office people, it extends to a psychologist, digital marketing, and a chiropractic who treats homeless people for free.

Funk is trying to appeal to the conscience of poker players, who might struggle with the fact that poker, in itself, does not generally contribute much to society.

andrew funk
Andrew Funk is the man behind the charity.

Quite a few poker pros have already started to get involved in charity work. Perhaps most notably Phil Gruissem and Liv Boeree and their REG initiative.

Surely, there are many more who would like to get involved in charity, but don’t quite know how and where to start.

Andrew Funk has been around the casino and the poker tournament area the last couple of days and he's happy to talk to any number of poker players and explain the initiative.

You can get even more information on homelessentrepreneur.org.

 



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November 9er Kenny Hallaert’s Successful Debut as Unibet Open TD

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In November Kenny Hallaert has the chance to become a poker multi-millionaire at the World Series of Poker Main Event Final Table.

While many of his competitors have chosen to take some time off to focus on the final table, the Belgian will instead continue in his job as tournament director. In fact he's taken on a little more responsibility as the new tournament director at the popular Unibet Open series.

Last week Hallaert made his debut at Unibet Open Copenhagen, a €1,000 buy-in tournament at Casino Copenhagen with 376 players in the Main Event. And if the slick tournament was a preview of what is to come for Hallaert at the November Nine is he likely to end up with the bracelet.

“Everything went smooth and there were no major issues” Hallaert said.

“We haven’t heard any complaints from players as well and I can only be happy about how this tournament ran out”.

Hallaert Brings Wealth of TD Experience

Hallaert has been the tournament director and poker manager at a number of casinos in Belgium but he was happy to get the chance to handle a large tournament series like Unibet Open.

Kenny Hall IMG 9227
Kenny Hallaert got some good chip counting practice this summer.

His appointment was announced only a few weeks after he made the November Nine so Unibet Open Copenhagen was his first appearance in a major tournament.

During the week in Copenhagen, Hallaert received a considerable amount of handshakes and congratulations from the players but otherwise it all felt very familiar to the Belgian.

“The fact that I made the November Nine did not change anything for me personally. As the tournament director I want to make sure that the players have a nice experience and that it is handled with professionalism.”

Hallaert will be the TD at another Unibet event in Belgium in two weeks from now before he starts focusing on the November Nine.

Finland’s Liimatta Takes Down Unibet Open Copenhagen

Unibet Open Copenhagen featured players mainly from Northern Europe and it also came down to a an all-Scandinavian duel. Two players from Finland and two players from Sweden were the final four players with Finland's Joni Liimatta taking the eventual win.

Joni Liimatta UnibetOpen

Liimatta first busted Robin Sevastik with J T vs K 3, then Evgenuy Ievkov with 7 7 against A J and finally getting the better of Sweden’s Daniel Wittikko with K 9 vs A 9.

The Finn hit a king on the flop and another one on the river to secure the win and €70,514 (525,000 DKK).

Among the players making the trip to Copenhagen were also Scott Ball, poker manager at Twitch and a member of the GPL Las Vegas Moneymakers as well as two-time Unibet Open winner Mateusz Moolhuizen.

Unibet Open Copenhagen


Buy-in: €1,000+€100 (7,500+750 DKK)


Players: 376


Prize pool: €363,602

Final table payouts:

1. Joni Liimatta (Finland) – €70,514
 2. Daniel Wittikko (Sweden) - €44,995
 3. Evgueny Ievkov (Finland) - €31,129
 4. Robin Sevastik (Sweden) - €23,129
 5. Lasse Haagensen (Denmark) - €17,783 
6. Srdan Andric (Serbia) - €13,673
 7. Patrick Coughlin (USA) - €10,946 
8. Alexandru Dan Nistor (Romania) - €8,757
 9. Rune Thomsen (Denmark) - €7,011

Written by Thomas Hviid



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Poland’s Malec Caps Record-Breaking EPT Barcelona for €1.2m

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Sebastian Malec out-dueled Uri Reichenstein to win a record-breaking EPT Barcelona for €1.2m in one of the most memorable tournaments in the tour's 13-year history.

The Polish pro outlasted a gargantuan field of 1,785 players to secure his first-ever EPT title.

The final hand proved to be one of the most memorable in EPT history as Malec turned a flush with A 3 against Reichenstein’s straight with T 9.

Malec, who was very talkative throughout the heads-up match, pushed all-in on the river and Reichenstein, who appeared to be leaning towards folding, was eventually talked into calling. Malec guessed Reichenstein's exact holding.

Reichenstein received a €807,100 consolation prize for finishing runner-up.

Three Quick Eliminations Early

It ended up being a rather long final table but that’s not how things began with three quick eliminations early on.

uri reichenstein 2
Final table chip leader Uri Reichenstein

This is how the chips looked heading into the final table:

1. Uri Reichenstein, Germany, 11.3m

2. Thomas de Rooij, NL, 11.1m

3. Adam Owen, UK, 9.8m

4. Sebastian Malec, PL, 7.3m

5. Zorlu Er, Turkey, 7m

6. Andreas Chalkiadikis, Greece, 5m

7. Harcharan Dogra Dogra, Spain, 1m

It only took an hour until the eliminations began.

Local hero Dogra Dogra had been blinded down to six big blinds when he finally took a stand, when he was in the big blind and unfortunately only had 3-2o.

He lost to de Rooij’s A-4o when the Dutch paired his four on the river.

Twenty minutes later, Chalkiadakis moved in with K-Q and was called by Adam Owen with A-Q, and exactly another twenty minutes after that, Zorlu Er was outplayed by Uri Reichenstein.

Reichenstein had opened with T 4 and Er called in the big blind with A J. Reichenstein flopped a flush on an ace-high board A K 3.

Reichenstein barrelled both flop and turn and then put Er all-in on the river. The Turkish amateur couldn’t let go of his top pair and had to settle for fifth place.

Deal or No Deal

After Er’s elimination, a deal was discussed between the last four players, but they couldn’t come to an agreement on either the chip-chop or the ICM numbers.

The players took a quick break and then set out to play for another two hours before anything remarkable happened.

ept barcelona final table 2
The 2016 EPT Barcelona final table.

Reichenstein found pocket kings, and Adam Owen called his raise with K-Q in the big blind. Malec also called with 9-8s. The flop came queen-high and with Malec out of the way Owen check-raised a bet from Reichenstein, who then proceeded to push all-in on the irrelevant turn card.

It was a massive overbet, and Owen fell for it. After that, Owen was left with less than ten big blinds,.

Owen managed to double through the other shortstack – Thomas de Rooij – and a few hands later, the Dutchman got even more unlucky, when his A-7 couldn’t beat Reichenstein’s J-3 for a double up.

The very next hand then proved to be the last one for Adam Owen. He moved in with Q-J when both his last opponents held A-8.

As Malec over-pushed with his big stack, Reichenstein decided to get out of the way, but although the German folded two cards that would have helped Malec, he didn’t really need them as Owen found no pair on the board.

The Long Goodbye

With more than 170 big blinds on the table, everything was set for a long heads-up match, and it was exactly that.

Even heads-up, no deal was agreed on, so the players were playing for the advertised numbers.

sebastian malec ept barcelona main event winner 6
Sebastian Malec celebrates with friends.

Reichenstein and Malec battled it out for five grueling hours, although the level time had already gone down to 75 during four-handed play and later to 60 minutes during the heads-up.

There were two big turnarounds in the heads-up match, which Reichenstein had begun with a 3-2 lead. First, Reichenstein bluffed with queen-high into a pot when Malec had quads, which gave the Polish a commanding chiplead.

Only ten hands later, Reichenstein hit an inside straight draw on the river against Malec’s pair.

Reichenstein pushed all-in, and Malec talked himself into a call to give the German a huge double-up.

Eventually, however, Malec’s boisterous nature benefited him in the final hand of the tournament as the Polish pro talked Reichenstein into calling with the aforementioned dominated straight.

Here’s a complete look at the final table payouts:

1. Sebastian Malec — €1,122,800 2. Uri Reichenstein — €807,100 3. Adam Owen — €646,250 4. Thomas De Rooij — €535,100 5. Zorlu Er — €431,550 6. Andreas Chalkiadakis — €330,290 7. Harcharan Dogra Dogra — €230,950 8. Pavel Plesuv — €165,950

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Daily 3-Bet: Drinan Redemption, Indy ‘Millions, Claudico Thinks Big

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The PokerListings Daily 3-Bet is a beefy custom-built gaming PC that will play all the latest mid-afternoon poker news on ultra settings at a blazing-fast 100+ frames per second.

You can always make suggestions for future 3-Bet pieces in the comments section below.

In today’s Daily 3-Bet we’ll take a look at Connor Drinan's high-rolling victory, Aussie Millions going old-school and big dreams for poker A.I. Claudico.

1) Drinan Snags €10k High Roller

It was quite an EPT Barcelona (fitting since it’s the last one ever!) that was capped by Sebastian Malec taking down the Main Event for €1.2m last night.

0172 Connor Drinan3
Connor Drinan

Almost lost in the shuffle was the fact that Connor Drinan won the €10k buy-in high roller event for €849,200 last night.

Drinan overcame an expectedly tough final table that included Kyle Keranen, Ari Engel, Joe Cheong and Patrick Leonard.

Here’s a look at the final table payouts:

1. Connor Drinan — €849,200
2. Mihails Morozovs — €616,840
3. Kyle Keranen — €496,440
4. Oleksii Khoroshenin — €396,700
5. Ari Engel — €307,900
6. Joe Cheong — €233,300
7. Patrick Leonard — €169,700
8. Pascal Hartmann — €124,400

Of course Drinan will always be a deserving winner to us. That tends to happen when you lose Aces to Aces in a $1m buy-in tournament for a mind-boggling amount of equity.

2) Aussie Millions Reverts to Standalone

The Aussie Millions will always hold a special place in our heart as one of the only truly independent massive international tournament series.

aussie millions IMG1955
They'll be just fine.

Of course for the last few years the casino had a deal with PokerStars, which meant it wasn't fully independent.

That’s going to change this year, however, as Crown Casino announced that the deal with PokerStars has ended (the fact the APPT is being shuttered probably played into the decision), and the Aussie Millions will be reverting back to a standalone tournament.

We doubt that will change much with the overall structure of the series and it will likely remain one of the premier stops on the international poker circuit.

In fact we wouldn’t be surprised if Crown Casino in Melbourne is picked as one of the stops on the upcoming PokerStars Championship circuit. The only problem is that it's an extra long distance to travel for most poker pros.

Guess we’ll have to wait and see.

3) Poker A.I. Claudico’s Long Game

Remember last year when Jason Les, Doug Polk, Dong Kim and Bjorn Li banded together to defeat poker A.I. Claudico?

Jason Les
Jason Les would take a re-match with Claudico.

It wasn’t the end for Claudico. Not even close.

There’s already been talk of a re-match but in the meantime Sam Ganzfried, one of the three Carnagie Mellon University researchers who developed Claudico, have been talking up the numerous benefits to a learning A.I. like Claudico.

In a story with triblive.com this week Ganzfried talked about why Claudico has more applications than just poker:

The trick is to view an issue, say medical treatment, as a zero-sum game, like heads-up poker: If the patient wins, the disease loses, or vice versa. AI's goal is to devise a strategy that will do as well as possible in the long run.

Poker is a great test for A.I. because it’s a game with incomplete information and there are an almost incalculable amount of different situations that players go through.

Fascinating stuff. We can’t wait to hear more from Claudico and the Cargnegie Mellon gang.



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Negreanu: “A Poker Game with Trump Supporters is a Really Good Game”

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These days it would be easy to mistake Daniel Negreanu for a political analyst rather than world-famous poker pro.

The Las Vegas resident has been particularly outspoken in his contempt for Donald Trump, the Republican Party’s nominee in the upcoming 2016 presidential election.

Half a year ago at the PCA, Daniel Negreanu said that Trump would have no shot at becoming president.

Trump has made it a lot further than most people expected but even worse, for Negreanu, is finding out that some of his poker friends are Trump supporters.

Of course this year marks the first time the former Canadian resident will be able to vote in the US election so he's particularly interested in the outcome.

PokerListings' Dirk Oetzmann caught up with Negreanu at EPT Barcelona and got his thoughts about impending election and the effect it’s having on the poker world.

PokerListings: Are you surprised how far Donald Trump has gotten?

Daniel Negreanu: What’s really interesting is here is that in the primaries, only 9% of the voters voted for either Trump or Clinton.

Negreanu 249429042 long
Not a fan of The Donald.

That means a lot of people don’t like them. They just need to get enough people to like them a little bit more than the other people.

With Trump, the media really helped putting him in the forefront, and there are enough people who get – I think – conned by him.

He lies so much it’s hard to keep up. He gets away with it because nothing he says surprises anyone anymore.

Trump tapped into the people’s frustration. They think they’re frustrated with the government, but they’re really frustrated with the world changing.

A lot of workers jobs, like in the car industry for example, have been outsourced because it’s cheaper, markets are globalized, and the economy has changed.

Trump says ‘Let’s make America great again’, and people hear it’s going to be like the 1950s and 60s, but it won’t be.

PL: It feels like his campaign is more like "Make America afraid again".

DN: The fear is interesting as it really plays with the hearts of people. I recently asked on Twitter "How much does ISIS affect your life on a daily basis?"

Trump poker
Donald Trump

It turns out that the constant threat is just something that Fox News created to scare the s**t out of you.

Of course it’s tragic that we lost people at Orlando or San Bernadino, but it’s a relatively small number that are killed in renegade attacks.

And the criminals who did this are already in the States, they’re American citizens, so it won’t help to stop them from immigrating.

Trump tries to create an atmosphere of fear of Muslims like Hitler did with the Jews. It’s textbook demagoguery.

PL: The amount of dirt thrown around is staggering. Lately, they said Clinton has some form of brain disease. Are people taking this seriously?

DN: [Laughs] Yes. I heard Doyle Brunson say her health is bad, and I’m asking where are you getting this? Fox News? Breitbart?

Doyle Brunson
Poker icon Doyle Brunson doesn't care for Hillary Clinton.

What’s really funny is, Donald Trump has released one letter from a doctor about his health. It said something like, “...His health is the best ever. He’ll be the most healthiest guy ever running for office”.

Come on, that doesn’t sound like something a doctor would write. It sounds like Trump wrote it himself, and I wouldn’t put it past him.

What do you think we’d find if he released his tax declaration? We’d probably find that he doesn’t give nearly as much money to charity as he says.

We’d likely find that he’s not nearly worth as much money as he says, and we’ll likely find that he doesn’t pay nearly as much taxes as he’s supposed to.

He can’t reveal his tax declaration because it would be game over. This is a guy who talks about his penis size. Don’t you think if he paid loads of taxes he would gloat about it?

He brags about everything else. Except the polls. The polls have gone bad for him, so he doesn’t mention them anymore. Suddenly the polls don’t exist.

PL: Do you think he’s genuinely interested in being president of the United States?

Daniel Negreanu 2015 WSOP Main Event Day 7 7

DN: I believe that in the beginning, he just wanted to be more famous. One of his mottos is “What’s the point of having money if you’re not famous?”

Recognition is extremely important for him. Then he started ruling the polls, and now he wants to win, but he doesn’t want to do the job.

There are many signs for this. His son met with former candidate John Kasich and basically offered him to run the whole show.

They offered Kasich the vice-president position, but in a way he would have more power than any vice-president before.

He’s setting himself up just like a coward would. He screwed up by going after the Khan family, he talks about Hillary Clinton "picking her judges" like she’s already won, and he says the election will be rigged in her favor.

PL: There’s a rumor that he’s trying to set up a new right wing TV station that would maybe replace Fox News. Is there anything to this?

DN: He’s friendly with Fox News’ ousted Roger Ailes, and he’s just hired Steve Bannon from “Breitbart”, which is the most insane right wing conspiracy website.

Putting these three together, it seems very likely that they’re trying to establish a network that’s worse than Fox News.

And it could be viable, too, because there are enough people angry enough to buy into this.

Mike Matusow
Mike Matusow

It’s as if they are in a Twilight Zone. The people act as if they’re hypnotized. Look at Mike Matusow.

He’s somebody I have considered a friend, but that’s no longer the case. Matusow buys everything Trump says, no matter what.

He’s about as one-sided now as Sean Hannity on Fox News. A man who doesn’t ask questions but presents you with answers.

His questions come like this, “So, do you think Hillary is the devil or the spawn of Satan. Which do you think it is?”

PL: Are there more people who surprised you when they turned out to be Trump supporters?

DN: So, Doyle Brunson is an old Texas guy, and he’s of course a Republican. I’ve spoken with him. He doesn’t like Trump, he thinks he’s an idiot, but he hates Hillary, so he will vote Republican.

Mike Matusow is a bit of a surprise, but he fits the demographic. The demographic for Trump is uneducated, low-intelligence, older, white, angry people, and that’s Mike Matusow to a tee.

What was much more surprising to me was that Matt Glantz is a Trump supporter. But the truth is, his support isn’t really for Trump.

Glantz wants to blow up the system, destroy the GOP and start from scratch with an outsider. His second option would have been Bernie Sanders, so, whatever.

In poker, there are a lot of intelligent people. If you searched in a high roller tournament, you’d have difficulties to find even one Trump supporter.

If you find yourself in a poker game with nine Trump supporters, you’re in a really good game. I’m serious. You’re in an amazing game.



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Viktor Blom, Isaac Haxton Go Off on PokerStars, Win $300k+

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The big games aren’t always running on PokerStars these days but when they are there’s a good chance that Viktor “Isildur1” Blom is involved.

Last night Blom and Isaac Haxton recorded huge sessions on the site picking up $111,570 and $196,432 respectively, according to highstakesDB.

Once again most of the action place in high-stakes PLO and 8-game with a number of noteworthy poker pros in the thick of it including Daniel Cates, Alexander Kostritsyn, Ben “Sauce123” Sulsky and SamRostan.

Isildur1 on the Comeback Trail

It’s been a weird year for Viktor Blom as he rocketed up to $240k in the early stages but then went on a disastrous five-month long downswing that saw him drop close to a million.

Viktor Blom

Since late July, however, Blom has shown a considerable amount of consistency and appears to be edging his way closer to even.

After last night’s score Isildur1 was very close to just -$500k on the year, which is a massive improvement over -$1m.

Meanwhile it’s been mostly smooth sailing for Isaac Haxton on PokerStars this year as he’s now up to nearly $630k on the site.

Last night Haxton played a huge heads-up PLO session against Daniel “d2themfi” Isaacon and picked up biggest pot of the evening honors when he raked in a $65k monster.

Meanwhile Ben “Sauce123” Sulsky, who won $70k last night, remains the biggest winner of the year with $1 million in profit.



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Daily 3-Bet: $8.5m Swede, Kid Poker = Legend, Malec Pulls a “Scotty”

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The PokerListings Daily 3-Bet is a crystal clear, secret wellspring that will quench your insatiable thirst for mid-afternoon poker news.

You can always make suggestions for future 3-Bet pieces in the comments section below.

In today’s Daily 3-Bet we’ll take a look at one Swedish poker players incredible rise in poker, Daniel Negreanu’s Hearthstone achievement and Sebastian Malec channeling Scotty Nguyen.

1) Eisenhower1 Powers Up

We’re starting to get the impression that Christian “Eisenhower1” Jeppsson is very, very good at poker.

Christian Jeppsson
The man.

The 2015 Swedish Player of the Year doesn’t get a lot of world-wide acclaim but he just cashed five times over the course of EPT Barcelona for a total of over $100k.

He now has over half a million in lifetime live tournament earnings but his online numbers are considerably more mind-boggling.

Jeppsson has racked up over $8.5 million spread across a multitude of sites (with $4.3m from PokerStars alone), according to PocketFives.

He’s recorded major scores in most online series including FTOPS, WCOOP and more.

He’s a certified beast.

Mark our words, you’re going to want to keep on eye on this guy.

2) Daniel Negreanu is (Hearthstone) Legend

It’s common knowledge that Daniel “Kid Poker” Negreanu is one of the best poker players in the world but he’s now officially a member of one of the most elite groups in the collectible card game Hearthstone.

Negreanu put his head down yesterday and grinded all the way to Legend status in the popular Blizzard video game.

I AM LEGEND!!! 8-1 run with Midrange Shaman to finish off back to back Rogues. SO SICK!!! pic.twitter.com/G6BJBphOsb

— Daniel Negreanu (@RealKidPoker) August 30, 2016

In the past it’s been estimated that only .5% of Hearthstone players actually make it to Legend status. To reach legend status in Hearthstone players have to climb a 25-stage ladder. It can take even the best players hundreds of games to hit Legend.

Perhaps Negreanu was inspired by meeting iconic Hearthstone streamer Savjz at EPT Barcelona.

3) Sebastian Malec: “You Call, It’s Going to Be All Over”

We can’t really say enough good things about that EPT Barcelona final table.

In particular the final hand between Sebastian Malec and Uri Reichenstein. Malec was spitting so much speechplay that it was hard to keep track of it all.

At one point Malec was even channeling Scotty Nguyen saying, “You call, it’s going to be all over.”

It’s glorious unless you are Reichenstein, who in all fairness nearly made a fantastic laydown.

Check out the craziness below (the final hand begins at 47:30):



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Celebs Aaron Paul, Neymar, John Boyega Face Off in PokerStars Duel

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A series of celebrities including John Boyega, Aaron Paul and Neymar Jr. take center stage in a new heads-up focused YouTube video series called Duel by PokerStars.

The new format features two celebs colliding in a heads-up No-Limit Hold’em match. Each participant received training from PokerStars large roster of sponsored pros including Fatima Moreira de Melo, Vanessa Selbst, Felipe “Mojave” Ramos or Andre Akkari.

Every celebrity who took part in a match received $5,000 to the charity of their choice.

The videos of each match are already available to watch on YouTube.

Fashion, Sports Stars Set to Clash

The upcoming PokerStars Duels (not to be confused with the now defunct app that PokerStars shelved earlier this year) will draw contestants from the worlds of fashion, sports and acting.

Aaron Paul 7 2015 WSOP2
It's not Aaron Paul's first rodeo.

The first matches will include:

Fashion icons Sara Sampaio (Victoria’s Secret) and Mireia Lalaguna Royo (Miss World).

Hollywood megastars John Boyega (Star Wars) and Aaron Paul (Breaking Bad).

Footballers Neymar Jr. (Brazil) and Cristiano Ronaldo (Portgual).

All the contestants have varying amounts of experience with Neymar Jr. and Cristiano Ronaldo likely bringing the most thanks to their PokerStars sponsorship deals.

Meanwhile Aaron Paul recently had a successful debut against Fabrice Soulier in the Global Poker League.

“I love the surge of excitement you get when challenging others, which is one of the main reasons I love poker so much; it provides me with a thrill that I normally only feel on the football pitch,” said Ronaldo.

“The duels were challenging but also really fun.”

You can watch all of the videos here but we’ve embedded Neymar vs. Boyega, Ronaldo vs. Aaron Paul and Ronaldo vs. Mireia Lalaguna below:



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Daily 3-Bet: California Stalls, MSPT Fishing, Epic Canadian Poker

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The PokerListings Daily 3-Bet once caught a 55-pound whopper but released it back into the mid-afternoon poker ecosystem to help protect endangered species.

You can always fire suggestions for future 3-Bet pieces in the comments section below.

In today’s Daily 3-Bet we’ll take a look at a serious blow for online poker in California, a legendary fisherman winning an MSPT event and crazy Canucks playing poker.

1) Poker Bill Dead in California

Efforts to legalize and regulate online poker in California have once against fallen short because of politics.

Cards
Someday?

Sound familiar?

It should. It’s basically been the same story for the last two years.

This time around Adam Gray’s online poker bill (which had a lot of promise) didn’t go anywhere because the various parties involved, which includes a Pechanga-backed coalition of tribes on one side and another coalition of tribes (headed by the Morongo Band) and PokerStars on the opposite side couldn’t find any middle ground.

The nail in the coffin proved to be an amendment to the bill that included a “bad actor” clause and would have kept PokerStars out of the market for the first five years.

Once again time simply ran out on the bill as the California legislative session came to an end earlier today. Try again next year?

2) Takasaki Hooks an MSPT Title

Poker and fishing.

IMG 1637
Hook, line, and sinker.

There’s a ton of crossover between those two pastimes (there’s fish in both, amiright?) but never was that more apparent than yesterday at the Mid-Stakes Poker Tour stop in Grand Falls.

Fishing Hall of Famer Ted Takasaki outlasted all 187 entries to win the stop outright for $52k.

For Takasaki poker represents a nice relaxing break from fishing, which would probably be the opposite for most poker pros.

“Everybody asks why I’m not fishing on the weekend; I say, “Would a plumber fix a toilet on the weekend?"

“I love fishing, but poker is my hobby. To take a hobby and win a tournament is incredible.”

Next step for the MSPT? How about we get some bowling champs up in here? Or darts? Let’s get all the recreational sports represented.

3) Canadians Go to Extreme Lengths to Play Poker

The Canadian summer lasts all of two weeks each year so it’s important to get out there and make the most of it.

You might think that means leaving the poker table at home when going off the grid but you’d be mistaken.

Playing poker with pennies on a Wal-Mart pop-up table is simply no way to live.

The following video marks the debut of the very first railway poker table transporter and sudden-plunge poker. There might even be a cameo by online crusher Ben “NeverScaredB” Wilinofsky. It’s pretty historic, all things considered.



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Phil Galfond: “I’m Going to Give My Best Shot at a New Poker Site”

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It appears that Phil Galfond is going to attempt to launch his own poker site.

Late last night Galfond posted what sounds like a company statement or mantra to RunItOnce.com.

The statement, titled “A Poker Site Should” listed the numerous ways that a poker site should value its players.

No details were given as to where Galfond’s purposed site would operate from or whether it would be independent or exist on another network but it seems like the former is more likely.

A New Direction for Galfond

There have been plenty of new ventures in poker over the last few years with GPL and Poker Central creating significant buzz but it’s been quite awhile since a new poker site was launched, especially one that wasn’t just a skin on an old network.

Phil Galfond IMG 4184

It sounds like Galfond wants to focus on creating a good balance between professional and recreational players. His post opens with the following passage:

A poker site should value poker players.
It should value the casual player for the money he's willing to put on the line to play a game he loves. For choosing poker over other hobbies, and for choosing their site over other sites.
It should value the enthusiast and semi-professional for the liquidity they provide and for growing the game. For spreading the word, across different mediums, about their favorite site...

Galfond went on to list various attributes he wants the new site to emphasize including transparency, fairness and profitability.

It’s a daring time to launch a poker site as many sites are battling numbers that are trending down but Galfond wants to create a sustainable ecosystem regardless of the current economic online poker climate.

The statement finishes with a call to action.

“I want a fair, honest, transparent poker site that believes in the dream that I have lived.
I'm going to give it my best shot.”



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Daily 3-Bet: WPT Goes Social, Kihara Exits ‘Stars, Mercier vs. Tilly

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The PokerListings Daily 3-Bet is like a birthday cake full of shiny mid-afternoon poker news quarters.

You can always fire suggestions for future 3-Bet pieces in the comments section below.

In today’s Daily 3-Bet we’ll take a look at WPT launching a new Facebook app, Naoya Kihara leaving PokerStars and Jason Mercier getting lucky against Jennifer Tilly on PNIA.

1) WPT Launches Social Game

The World Poker Tour is moving into a new market segment with social poker app PlayWPT.

Adam Pliska at LAPC
The WPT's Adam Pliska and Lynn Gilmartin

PlayWPT is a free-to-play social casino platform with support for desktop and Facebook as well as a mobile app coming before the end of the year.

The app features poker, obviously, as well as an innovative form of progression slots called Time Slots.

Your amount of chips is purposely limited but you can easily top up an account with chips by spending real money.

It’s a new venture for the WPT and will compete directly with other popular free poker apps like Zynga Poker and World Series of Poker.

The PlayWPT app is the first join-product from the WPT and parent company Ourgame International Holdings.

Watch this space as it’s apparently a lucrative one.

2) Kihara Leaves PokerStars

Naoya Kihara
Naoya Kihara

Who doesn’t love Naoya Kihara?

The very first Japanese WSOP gold bracelet winner is always pleasant at the tables, won an award at PokerListings’ own Battle of Malta and repped PokerStars successfully for four years.

Unfortunately it appears his time with PokerStars is at an end as the company made the decision not to renew his contract.

Don’t worry about Kihara going anywhere, however, as the Japanese pro said via Facebook that he’s going to remain in the poker world and will continue improving his game.

Traditionally Japan hasn’t been a very strong market for poker so it’s fantastic that Kihara will continue to act as an ambassador for the game and we hope a few more Japanese players follow in his footsteps.

Of course the dream would be to have a big poker tournament in Japan. Someday, guys.

3) PNIA: Mercier Flops a Monster Against Tilly

Will the run-good ever end?

We didn’t catch this hand from the early August session of Poker Night in America at the time it happened but is it really a surprise that Jason Mercier won a big pot?

You can check out the 2016 WSOP POY go to war against Jennifer Tilly in the following hand below:



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Fedor Holz Maintains GPI Control in August, Drinan Cracks Top 10

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To no one’s surprise German phenom Fedor Holz maintained his iron-grip on the Global Poker Index POY in August but there were several players who made huge gains.

Holz, who toyed with the idea of retirement after winning One Drop this summer, decided to make the trip to EPT Barcelona and promptly won the €50,000 Super High Roller for €1.3m.

Interestingly Connor Drinan, who also won a high roller title at EPT Barcelona, albeit for “just” €849,200 was August’s biggest gainer as he rose 32 spots to take 9th overall.

Kornuth, Mercier Try to Keep Pace

It’s going to take a serious effort to overtake Holz any time soon but several players including Chance Kornuth, Nick Petrangelo and Jason Mercier could certainly do it.

Jason Mercier WSOP 1
Jason Mercier

Here’s a look at the top 10 on the GPI POY as of August 31:

1. Fedor Holz - 3,647 points 2. Chance Kornuth 3,336 points 3. David Peters - 3,097 points 4. Paul Volpe - 3,095 points 5. Adrian Mateos - 3,045 points 6. Nick Petrangelo - 3,008 points 7. Ivan Luca - 2,992 points 8. Jason Mercier - 2,931 points 9. Connor Drinan - 2,926 points 10. Dominik Nitsche - 2,875 points

Holz has now held on to #1 on the GPI for 12 consecutive weeks. It remains to be seen if Holz’ new recreational status will eventually help dethrone him from the top.

The German is also #1 on the overall GPI rankings with 4,797 points. Nick Petrangelo is somewhat closer behind on that leaderboard with 4,494 points.

Holz is also currently the POY leader for the CardPlayer Magazines' leaderboard so suffice to say he’s going to pick up some titles to go with all the cash he won this year.



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'World Famous' Lyons Clips Zamani to Win WPT Legends for $615k

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“World Famous” Pat Lyons lived up to his nickname Thursday night by beating Ben Zamani heads-up and becoming the latest WPT Legend for a first-place prize of $615,346.

It’s been quite a month for Lyons who took down the 12th Annual Arizona State Poker Championship for $241,700 back in early August.

Lyons also picked up an entry into the end of season WPT Tournament of Champions Hublot watch.

This is the first Legends of Poker that’s been held since the Bicycle Casino underwent a massive renovation last fall and numbers improved significantly with a field of 687 players.

Ben Zamani Takes WPT POY Lead

Incredibly Zamani finished second in back-to-back WPTs as he was the runner-up to James Mackey at WPT Choctaw last month.

Benjamin Zamani
Ben Zamani

Zamani picked up $341,412 for coming second but also took the lead in the Hublot Player of the Year contest. Zamani now has 2,000 points in POY and it would be tough for anyone to catch him at this point.

Local William Vo received his lion’s share of the attention when the final table began thanks to his impressive age of 77 and an enormous chip stack.

Unfortunately for Vo he ran into trouble early and never really recovered eventually finishing in fifth place for $113k.

The next WPT event will take place at the Borgata Hotel & Casino from Sept. 18-23.

Here’s a look at the final-table payouts for WPT Legends:

1. Pat Lyons - $615,356
2. Ben Zamani - $341,412
3. Upeshka De Silva - $198,720
4. Todd Peterson - $149,715
5. William Vo - $113,105
6. Rafael Oliveira - $85,760



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Daily 3-Bet: Jcarver’s $41k Score, #SpotTheHand, Seedy NY Games

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The PokerListings Daily 3-Bet is a ordinary-looking wardrobe that’s actually a secret portal into the magical world of mid-afternoon poker news.

Got a suggestion for a future 3-Bet piece? Just fire us a comment below the article.

In today’s Daily 3-Bet we’ll take a look at Jason Somerville’s recent score, a new contest for BOM and another look at the seedy NYC underground poker scene.

1) Somerville Runs Up $41k

Jason Somerville
Jason Somerville

The Run It Up legion was treated to one hell of a Jason Somerville special last night.

Somerville made one of his biggest scores on stream ever as he came in second place in the $1,050 buy-in Thursday thriller for $41k.

Thousands of viewers tuned in to see Somerville try and finally take down a big win.

You can check out a VOD of the entire tournament here.

It didn’t quite happen but it’s still astounding that Somerville is willing to stream himself playing during crucial situations where the difference between first and second is $30k.

Fortunately Somerville is hitting peak form at just the right time as the massive $50m-GTD PokerStars WCOOP is set to go off this weekend.

As you might expect Somerville is going pretty big during WCOOP and will be streaming for 30 straight days starting from Sunday.

2) #SpotTheHand in New Bom Contest

uploads competition BOM2016

Want to win an entry into the €250+€25 buy-in Siege of Malta that takes place during PokerListings’ own 2016 Battle of Malta?

We started a new Facebook contest this week where the goal is to spot poker hands in a series of images.

These images aren’t specifically related to poker but if you look really closely you’ll be able to notice things that correspond to various poker hands.

You can check out the first image on the right.

We’re looking for five items that relate to a specific card.

You can enter the contest on Facebook right here.

Good luck!

3) Kaplan Details Rise & Fall of NYC Underground Poker Scene

We don’t know about you but we can never get enough about the bustling underground poker scene that was booming in the early 2000s.

Erik Seidel
Erik Seidel got his start in NYC

We’re talking about the stuff that inspired Rounders and made players like Erik Seidel and Howard Lederer into household names.

Highly acclaimed poker writer Michael Kaplan has the latest on the NYC underground in a piece called “Inside the Seedy World of Underground NY Poker Clubs” with the NY Post.

There’s not a ton of new information in the article but it’s definitely worth a read and the games actually sound surprisingly less seedy right now.

That likely has a lot to do with the massive underground games getting too much press and the natural proclivity for smaller games that are easier to hide from prying eyes.

Suffice to say, it sounds like there were always be a game to be had in the Big Apple.



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Faster, Feature-Rich Unibet Poker 2.0 Set to Launch in October

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Two years ago Unibet made the brave decision to leave the Microgaming network and create its own stand-alone poker software.

Now it’s time for the next step.

The Unibet software that launched roughly two years ago was designed with a focus on the recreational player instead of the grinders, not only at the tables but also on their bankrolls. Third party software such as HUDs were banned, sharks were no longer able to choose the tables with beginners or fishes and most promotions such as challenges and missions were targeting players who only played a few hours a day.

Even table chat was restricted in order to protect beginners from abuse in the chatbox.

The shift towards recreational players has worked well for Unibet. While many operators have experienced a downward trend since 2013, Unibet’s player pool and income from rake has grown steadily.

Their attempt to fix poker has shown that it is possible to turn the tide for online poker by changing the focus – a trend what other poker sites have also realized.

Hitting Limits with Current Software

Avatars   New Identity
A look at Unibet 2.0's new avatars.

Unibet’s current software has also proved to have certain limitations to develop it further as it is programmed in Adobe. Consequently, Relax Gaming, creator of Unibet’s software is developing a new version of the software, which is to be launched in October.

An alpha version of the software was presented to the press, including PokerListings, at the Unibet Open in Copenhagen in August.

Andrew West, Head of Poker at Unibet, explained why the new software is necessary.

“If you see our software as a skyscraper we had reached a point where we were unable to add new levels on top,” he said.

“For this reason we decided to create a new software where we can decide ourselves how many levels we want to build on top.”

Better Graphics, More Stable Software

Table   Preflop with Holecards

According to West, the new version 2.0 will be faster and more stable. Graphics have been given a lift and the new software will also include a smartphone version for Android and iOS.

Players will also notice that it will be possible to combine poker tables with other Unibet products, for example a livestreamed football game with sports betting options or a casino table.

Unibet has also included several improvements suggested by the players. The hand history section will be more easy to use and Twitch streamers will have better options to avoid revealing important details about their account unintentionally.

Unibet Getting Praise from Grinders, Rec Players

The selection of poker games will not be changed except from the introduction of re-buy tournaments.
When Unibet launched their recreational player focused software two years ago was it generally well received by the players, even grinders. Other sites have been criticized for their efforts to accommodate recreational players.

Lobby5
The Unibet Poker 2.0 lobby.

Andrew West explained why this has been the case.

“We decided to implement around 20 measures at once when launching our software while other sites have done it piece by piece. By doing so it does not feel like a punishment for the loyal players.”

“We are two and a half years ahead of our competitors in implementing this and I am absolutely convinced that this is the way to go to make poker more fun again”.

Oct. 3 is currently set as the launch date for the new software. In connection with the launch Unibet will have a campaign with €250,000 worth of travel experiences in prizes.

Written by Thomas Hviid



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Poker and The Emperor's New Clothes Syndrome

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There is a deviousness about Darren.

He has more moves than John Travolta, the gift of the gab, and always makes you feel like you are on the toilet wiping your ass with sandpaper. 

He is a great poker player.

Meanwhile Gary is the manifestation of a brick. He doesn't do much, and when he does, you don't notice it. A coward, always folding, and easy to read.

He is not a great poker player.

We want to become Darren. We don’t want to become Gary.

We buy the best books; we join the elite online training courses; we buy a Heads Up Display (HUD), participate in a forum, and hire technical and mindset coaches. We start playing eight tables at a time online. We play every hand in the live Dealers Choice game.

And we never seem to leave a table with any money.

What is going wrong?

“Life is really simple but we insist on making it complicated.” — Confucious

Joe Ingram recently interviewed Phil Galfond on the Poker Life Podcast. Galfond is one of the greatest players of his generation and the founder of the online training site RunItOnce.

Phil Galfond
Phil Galfond talks about poker in an intelligent but easy-to-understand manner.

During the interview, the pair started talking about the complexity of language that some professional players use to describe simple things in the game.

It reminded me of an interview I did with Barny Boatman during the World Series of Poker when I asked him why he didn't sign up to be part of the Global Poker League Draft?

There were many reasons, but this point, in particular, attracted my interest.

“I haven't necessarily put the work in to have the vocabulary to talk about things in the way people expect us to. I don’t think I am the best person for that job,” said Boatman.

The Hendon Mob founder was talking about the unfortunate need for modern poker players to use unbelievable streams of verbal diarrhea to explain moves that pioneers like Boatman can churn out in a single sentence.

The two-time World Series of Poker (WSOP) bracelet winner was tip-toeing along the same lines as both Ingram and Galfond.

"I can tell when people are making a good decision for the right reasons at a poker table, regardless of whether they dress it up in a certain way. I can also tell when someone has learned some terminology, and they don't have the depth of knowledge and understanding to back it up,” said Boatman.

Can You Back Up Your Talk?

Do you have the depth and knowledge and understanding to back up the fancy terminology you are using to describe your plays?

jesse may 2
Jesse May: "Commentary should be simple."

One of the problems Boatman pointed to was the increase in the need for intellectual buggery by the to commentator's, often pros, who are asked by tournament organizers to ‘help out'.

Rather than sound ‘simple', these ‘experts' talk about Bayes' Theorem, Triple Range Merges, and ICM Calculations, often confusing, and scaring the living hell out of the recreational player.

It’s no wonder they all want to be Darren when they first start playing.

Jesse May is the greatest poker commentator EVER, hands down, it’s not even close, and this is what he had to say about commentary:

“Commentary should be simple. Have a conversation and say what you see. Complicated stuff is fine, as long as you can get it into 20 seconds.”

Poker Players Massively Over Complicate the Game

Paul Jackson
Paul Jackson calls it "The New Emperor's Clothes" syndrome.

Paul Jackson is another player you could herd into the ‘old school' category of players who prefer to keep things simple.

Here's what Paul had to say on the over-complication of all things poker.

“People massively over complicate the game, especially the language in discussing poker, and this often leads to people playing beneath themselves as they can’t see the wood for the trees.

"They spend too much time trying to justify an action with fancy language rather than using simple logic to make the best decision at the time.

"This is often compounded by many people using what I call the ‘Emperor's New Clothes Syndrome.’

"People try to sound more intelligent or knowledgeable about strategy by using phrases which sound intellectual while, in reality, they are just over complicating something that is quite simple to either camouflage their ignorance or to make themselves feel more superior than others."

So Why Do We Complicate Life?

I want to talk about padding.

Before I wrote this article, I sat and stared at the screen for a long time figuring out the theme.

People make life so complicated when it's very simple.

I could have left the article like that, but I don't think PokerListings would have believed they had gotten value for money.

Chips

So I padded.

I fill the white space up with fancy words, phrases, and quotes. But in reality, those ten words are all you need to know, and once you chew on them, swallow them, and digest them, it will improve your poker game and your life.

Online training sites pad.

Poker books pad.

Coaches pad.

We all talk, write, and film an incredible amount of bollocks to deliver a very simple point, and it's all about ego. I want you to finish reading this and to (a) have learned something, (b) think that I am great.

Let’s go back to our friend Darren.

Some of you believe he's a great player because he plays every hand. You see all of his moves, see him win some pots, see his joie de vivre, and get caught up in the excitement of it all.

You don't believe Gary is a great player because you have seen sloths with more get up and go.

The Pursuit of Excellence

So you pick Darren as your role model.

You are doing everything that Darren does. You are soaking in all of his advice. You have taken advanced mathematics classes. You have a HUD that would confuse Spock. You watch every single one of Phil Galfond’s videos.

And you still can’t win money.

What a loser.

You started to play poker because it was fun. The game made you feel alive. The money didn't matter. And then you won some. It felt great. You earned more in a session that you made working for a week shearing sheep down the farm. You had a freebase high. And now you can't win you have an insufferable low. It's horrible. What's the point in playing if you can't earn any money?

You have to quit.

You are going crazy.

It’s consuming your life.

And then, one day, Gary finds you by the bar ordering from the top shelf.

"What's up?" Gary asks.

“Poker.”

“What about it?”

“I hate it.”

“Why?”

“Because I can’t win.”

“Well stop playing so many hands.”

“What do you mean?”

“You need to learn to fold, son.”

It Was Staring You in the Face All Along

“All the great things are simple, and many can be expressed in a single word; freedom, justice, honour, duty, mercy, hope.” — Winston Churchill

It was staring you in the face all along.

The obviousness of the truth was like a kick in the balls by a Moroccan man wearing those pointy shoes.

Cards
Maybe fold more?

Darren had more moves than a bowl of jelly, but over the long run, he never won any money. He was always broke, borrowing, and promising to pay the money back the following week.

Gary was the one giving him all the money.

Gary rarely lost.

Gary had a few simple moves.

He didn't know what Darren was talking about half of the time, but he knew to what hands to play, how to fold, and he knew to raise when he had it.

He didn’t bluff.

The online training sites teach you to have bluffs in your range.

Gary and Darren play in a pub where fights break out over someone stealing your peanuts. Who cares if you have bluffs in your range? Darren bluffs all of the time, and he loses more money bluffing that he does winning. Gary never bluffs, always folds, and Darren always pays him off when he has it.

And it’s not just poker.

Gary walked into Marks & Spencers to buy some underpants. He was standing in line. The woman at the counter was in a foul mood. By the time Gary got there, she was seething. Gary looked at her name tag, smiled at her, and said:

“How are you doing, Wendy?”

Her face lit up.

Simple.

Life Can Be Simple, So Can Poker

“We shall never know all the good a simple smile can do.” — Mother Theresa

pokerchips

Steven Pressfield calls procrastination ‘resistance' and writes about it in an easy way in a marvelous book called The War of Art.

A group of German entrepreneurs realize that non-fiction books are padded with a lot of complicated garbage and created an app called Blinkist that allows you to read the main points of the book in under 15-minutes.

William Martin reads the Tao Te Ching and transfers the simple wisdom into the greatest parenting book in history called The Parent's Tao Te Ching, making the most complex of interpersonal relationships so simple.

Life is simple, and that means poker is simple.

Don't be fooled by all the big words.

Remember the Emperor's New Clothes.

If you don't, you may never play a hand.



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Hand of the Week: Malec’s Showstopper From EPT Barcelona

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It was the perfect set-up.

It ended EPT Barcelona and was completely unavoidable.

But eventual winner Sebastian Malec from Poland didn’t just beat German Uri Reichenstein in the final hand of the tournament — he talked him into it.

We join the action with players heads-up at EPT Barcelona. The clock is ticking towards midnight and Sebastian Malec and Uri Reichenstein are playing for a €315,000 pay jump and the title.

Both players already have €807,000 locked up.

From the Flop to the River

Six hours into the final duel, the blinds have gone up to 300k/600k/100k, and the stacks are pretty even. Malec has about 27 million, Reichenstein 25.6 million.

Malec fills up from the button, and Reichenstein checks his option in the big blind with:

   

There are 1.4 million chips are in the pot when the flop falls:

     

Reichenstein bets 800,000 but Malec raises to 3 million. The German takes a minute to call but eventually does and that brings the turn:

 

Now Reichenstein checks and Malec bets another five million. Reichenstein calls. The pot has grown to 17.4 million chips, and Reichenstein has 17.6 million behind.

The river:

 

Reichenstein checks again, and this time Malec puts him all-in. A 35 million-chip pot and an EPT title weigh on Reichenstein’s next decision.

It takes him exactly 2 minutes and 22 seconds to make up his mind. Convinced that his straight is good most of the times, Reichenstein calls and is shown the nuts by Malec:

   

You can watch the hand again including all of Malec’s shenanigans in the video below.

Analysis

What a spectacular clash between two really big hands after an excruciatingly long day of poker.

We’ll take Reichenstein’s point of view to review what happened.

His opponent Malec chose to complete instead of raise pre-flop. This isn’t giving away much information about his hand, although he would raise with pairs and aces most of the time.

On the other hand, he might chose to hide any of these hands, too.

Reichenstein has connectors. There is no reason for him to build up the pot out of position, so a check seems reasonable.

The flop gives Reichenstein a straight draw, so he takes the lead. If Malec hasn’t hit anything, he might just fold, and Reichenstein can win the pot with a semi-bluff.

Malec’s Maximum Polarization

sebastian malec ept barcelona main event winner 8

When Malec raises, Reichenstein has to reconsider his opponent’s range. The Polish player could have hit two pair with Q-J, Q-6, or J-6, but there are also a lot of draws in that range, like K-T, T-8, or hearts.

Then again, some raises are played with complete air. If Malec had a queen or jack in his hand, he would probably just call.

Reichenstein has a good draw, although there are only three cards that give him the nuts. As Malec didn’t raise pre-flop, it’s less likely that he hit anything on the board.

The Dream Turn

The turn card is a dream card for all the poker fans in front of their TVs. Reichenstein likes it, too, as now he can only be beaten by flushes, while a king could give his opponent a higher straight.

A check is the right move here. If Malec is bluffing, it might induce another bet.

The Polish player sticks to his aggressive line and bets another five million into the 7.4 million pot.

As flushes only make for a very small part of Malec’s range, Reichenstein can never fold to this bet. Yet, Malec will have almost exactly a pot-sized stack to go all-in on the river.

River Issues

uri reichenstein 2

The 8 on the river complicates things for Reichenstein. On the turn, he was only beat by flushes, but now there are also some full houses that can beat him.

Q-Q, J-J, and 6-6 are unlikely, as Malec would probably raise these pre-flop, but they are not impossible. Q-8, J-8, and 8-6 also need to be considered, although the question is, would Malec raise these on the flop.

Reichenstein checks again, correctly, as he can’t get any worse hands than his to call, while Malec might bluff or check behind with a weaker hand.

But Malec goes all-in, thus polarizing his hand to the max. This is now a monster or a monster bluff.

Look at the line of the Polish player again. He limped pre-flop, raised the flop, bet two thirds of the pot on the turn and then moved all-in on the river. That’s not how you play a mediocre top pair!

Reichenstein’s “Mistake”

Two minutes and a lot of Hollywooding later, Reichenstein makes the call and loses the heads-up match. We can’t really blame him, though.

In heads-up a straight is such a strong hand and flushes are only a small part of the opponent’s range – a range that wasn’t defined at all pre-flop.

What we can see in the video is how confident and ostentatious Malec is – his demeanor and his bad acting on seeing the turn card was more reminiscent of a bad theater performance than a €5k poker tournament.

Maybe Reichenstein was missing some live experience to avoid the trap, so he had to learn it the hard way.

Conclusion

Two strong hands collide in an amazing hand, and the Polish winner Sebastian Malec manages to talk his opponent into calling.

Uri Reichenstein drew the wrong conclusions and wasn't able to let go of his strong holding.



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