The PokerListings Daily 3-Bet is a stacked Rolodex, a quick call or two and an A-List table to share at the afternoon poker news People's Choice Awards.

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Today in the 3-Bet we find Phil Ivey not going down without a fight, Phil Hellmuth makes a cool friend and Bill Perkins shows some amazing generosity.

1) "We Gamble Regardless"

We knew Phil Ivey wouldn't go down (or pay $15m) without a fight.

Not giving it up easy.

Things were looking a bit grim last week when the Borgata filed a $15.5m repayment claim against Ivey from the now infamous "edge-sorting sessions" of 2012 when he and his partner, Cheng Yin Sun, won $9.6m.

The $15.5m number came from the original winnings plus interest, "expected winnings" for the casino and repayment of comps.

Ivey's team had 20 days to respond and it now has, saying the legal basis Borgata used, a 2012 case involving 14 players at the Golden Nugget, is inapplicable.

In that case the punters realized a deck of cards wasn't being shuffled and won 41 straight hands with increased bets; Ivey's team says that's a whole different ballgame.

Not only did Ivey not break any rules and regulations, as a previous judge ruled, but edge sorting only 'provides information for betting purposes' and 'doesn't change the percentage of the winning hands to any extent.'

As his partner Sun put it, "we gamble regardless, because I can't be accurate all the time, you know." Read more from NorthJersey.com here.

2) Jim Harbaugh's Cool Friends

Phil Hellmuth gets mentioned in dozens of mainstream press articles about poker, naturally - typically for his petulant behavior at the tables or his string of WSOP bracelets.

It's not too often he's referred to as someone's "cool friend," though. Especially if that friend is former Stanford/49ers and current Michigan football coach Jim Harbaugh.

Harbaugh has drawn a lot of ink over the past few years and mostly, like Phil, for his unconventional but successful methodologies.

ESPN's latest feature on Harbaugh centers around his eclectic and "cool" circle of friends - of which Hellmuth has been since the Stanford days.

Not only has Phil bent Jim's ear on poker hands and tell reading, the articles says, he's got Harbaugh using poker analogies in his press conferences. Which is actually pretty awesome.

While you might debate just how 'cool' it is to hang with Hellmuth he's in pretty good company on this list with Michael Jordan, Nascar champ Brad Keselowski, Supreme Court Justice Elena Kagan and Pulitzer-winning photographer David Turnley, among others. Read about it here.

3) Perkins Gives Out 13 Packages to Bahamas Championship

How much fun is Bill Perkins?

Generous and fun.

If you've followed the High Roller scene lately you'll know Perkins as a regular in the biggest events around the world and pals in particular of Antonio Esfandiari, Brian Rast and Jeff Gross.

His propensity for high-stakes props bets among that crew is well known including the epic Esfandiari DQ for peeing-under-the-table lunge affair at last year's PCA.

A hedge funder with a seemingly bottomless bankroll Perkins has plunged into the poker world wholeheartedly and, as a surprise pick in the GPL draft, even helped the Berlin Bears roll to the GPL finals in Las Vegas.

He's a blast to watch play, whatever the format, and has even taken to streaming live on his own Thirst Lounge Twitch channel.

It's always worth a watch and it was even more so for 13 lucky subscribers the other day when he randomly drew their names and gave them full 2017 PokerStars Bahamas Championship packages.

You read that right; 13 main event buy-ins plus hotel/flights just for following his Twitch stream. That's just cool. He even already upped the stakes with a prop bet on whether they'll make a profit or not.

Who knows what he'll come up with next! Catch Perkins and the Bears go for the GPL championship today here and follow his Twitch Channel here.

If you don’t know what an "Escape Room" is yet, chances are you will soon.

The concept was born in Japan a decade ago but has exploded in popularly around the globe over the past few years - especially in Eastern Europe.

What exactly is it?

It's very simple: you (and some friends) are locked in a room. You need to find clues, objects, keys to open safes, activate some mechanisms, solve riddles, etc.

Your only goal: Get out of the room.

3 Poker Pros Walk Into a Room

When the European Poker Tour stopped in Malta a few weeks ago we sent three Team PokerStars poker pros to an Escape Room to see if their combined poker brain power would help them with this challenge.

In they go.

Those three pros: Fatima Moreira de Melo from the Netherlands, Theo Jorgensen from Denmark and Luca Pagano from Italy.

Before the game began they were all quite excited to try their hand at the challenge. Among the three only Theo had already tried his hand at Escape Rooms before (and failed).

“I played twice in Krakow with my family," Jorgensen said. "The themes were 'Secret Room' and 'The Planet of the Apes.' We failed and I thought that both were really tough. I don’t imagine it will be any easier today!”

Luca had never heard of Escape Rooms, but Fatima had:

“I work with a lot of TV projects and one of the cameramen I work with had already done a video about it in the Netherlands and told me a bit about it. He said it was very clever, so I’m curious to see it from the inside. It does look fun.”

Our three challengers weren’t too optimistic about the outcome, though. Said Fatima: “We will do our best, of course. But that doesn’t mean we will succeed. But it’s not all about winning, it’s also about the experience.”

The pros seemed to be counting on Luca’s reasoning. “He has a calmer personality," said Fatima. "He’s able to solve things." To which Theo added, “He will be great. He is our captain after all!”

Luca, the “brain” of the team, also had something to say:

“So an Italian, a Dane and a Dutchwoman are locked in a room... It sounds like the start of a joke. (laughs) Let’s see how it goes.”

Sand, Pyramids & Gas Masks

Our three adventurers found themselves in Egypt, which was the easiest (60% success) of the three Escape Rooms available at Scavenger Escape Malta, which opened in March 2016 in Sliema, Malta.

Stuck in Egypt.

Once they were introduced to the concept they entered the darkness of an Egyptian souk and the timer started with 60 minutes to get out.

Even if the three prisoners found the first riddles quickly, they were harder to solve than it seemed. But 15 minutes later we witnessed the first high-five between Luca and Theo after they solved the Roberval scale riddle.

With a little luck our three heroes quickly reached the second room where they found themselves wondering what to do. Sand, a pyramid, rocks and a gas mask ... as soon as Luca put the mask on the game master sent them some smoke for fun.

After half an hour, they asked for their first clue. But time flies and they only had a few minutes left when they finally got into the tomb where mysterious statues surround them.

The clock ticked, they asked for their last clue... but they were stuck.

“Game over, time is up!”

They were close but our pros didn’t manage to escape.

Humbled.

“Hard, but Fun!”

“I’m feeling so dumb," said an angry Theo when he got out of the room. “I think we failed pretty bad but I was proud of us sometimes.”

Fatima, on the other hand, wasn't as critical of their performance.

“We did find a lot of things. But it’s really not easy.”

“I thought we were doing well at the start," said Theo, frustrated by the difficulty of the riddles. “But it was fun. Much more fun than I thought.

"It’s definitely the best Escape Room I’ve been to, by far. It’s really good.”

“I knew I would be the first one to give up and that Fatima would quickly be next, while Luca would just keep going. If it was up to him we would be in there for 4 hours before taking a clue.

"He was so angry when me and Fatima asked for one!” (laughs)

Fatima: “It’s definitely a lot of fun! The hardest part is figuring out what is real, what is useful and what is not.

"Sometimes you ignore something you shouldn’t. We got tricked by the statues at the end, they all look the same. Time doesn’t matter that much, you just need to focus on what you have to do.”

The trio had such a good time that they already wanted to come back the next day.

“Let’s just do the same one again,” joked Fatima. In the end there was no follow-up but Luca told us later that they would try again in Prague for the last stop of the EPT this December.

No better or worse than average.

Neither Better or Worse

So how did our poker pros fare compared to the average Escape Roomer?

“Neither better nor worse than everyone else,” says Michael Pedersen, who came from Denmark to run this Escape Room, owned by one of his friends.

“It’s team work, but it’s still quite personal. The hardest thing for people is to work together.

"You know how it is: in a group there is always someone who has a big influence. This can be a distraction and prevent you from focusing on your instinct.”

"Some people work better with teammates and take advantage of the variety of minds but it can also create some conflict.”

“The best teams are the teams where everyone works as an individual but also as a teammate. So when an idea doesn’t work out someone else can take the lead and find the solution, or someone else can have a go, etc.”

Where Can I Try One?

While our top pros couldn't solve the challenge it’s easy to understand why Escape Rooms have grown so popular.

Not only is it profitable for whoever owns or runs it (fees range from €20-€30/person depending on how big the team is), but it’s also an original, interactive, immersive and accessible game for people of all ages.

There are already thousands in the world and and several often in the same city. Budapest, for example, has over 20. You can also find a lot of online Escape Rooms from very simple (in Flash and free-to-play) to complex ones with great design.

Try one out yourself, or check the video below to get a sense of it. 

The Montreal Nationals out-dueled the Berlin Bears in an epic 11-game series to take down the inaugural Global Poker League Championship for $100,000.

The Bears and Nationals needed all eleven games and nearly seven hours in the Cube to settle the championship in Las Vegas last night.

In the end Mike “Timex” McDonald, Jason Lavallee, Pascal Lefrancois and Team Manager Marc-Andre Ladouceur proved to be a winning combination for the Nationals in the 2016 GPL playoffs.

Close Call for Underdog Bears

The Berlin Bears came within one hand of claiming the championship for themselves.

Even the Rastinator wasn't quite enough.

Brian Rast, who was downright dominant in the GPL playoffs, had Pascal Lefrancois all-in with Q-4 to Lefrancois’ 4-4.

Rast didn’t hit anything, however, and the chip lead flipped back to Lefrancois.

The final hand proved to be a blockbuster with Lefrancois flopping a set of queens and then getting some good fortune on the turn when Rast hit two-pair with his T-8.

The Bears were an underdog in this year’s playoffs as they entered the playoffs as a third seed and with a unique mix of players that included recreational player Bill Perkins and stalwart Sorel Mizzi.

The Philipp Gruissem-managed team (who didn’t actually play for the squad) upset both the Hong Kong Stars and powerhouse Moscow Wolverines on their way to the finals.

They were an underdog in the final too and went down 5-3, only to reel off two back-to-back wins to force a game 11.

Nationals Rule Inaugural GPL Season

The Nationals got a last-minute boost with the addition of Lavallee for the finals.

The bombastic final hand.

You could make a good argument that the Nationals were the best team from the start of the GPL. Their roster also included Xuan Liu and former world champion Martin Jacobson who sat the playoffs out and cheered from home.

The team will split $100,000 but McDonald, who’s won more than $13 million playing live tournaments, said the experience was worth more to him.

“I’m honestly more excited about the trophy than the money,” said McDonald after winning.

“This really made it more about the poker than the money and I think that’s what‘sportifying’ poker was all about. The GPL has accomplished that.”

There were also some considerable side bets rumored to be wagered on the outcome of the final.

Big Things Coming for Global Poker League in 2017

The GPL will return for season 2 in 2017 but it might look considerably different. GPL founder Alex Dreyfus said the team is already working on ways to improve the league.

First and foremost the GPL will be much shorter the next time around, which was one of the main complaints over the course of the inaugural season. Another component that Dreyfus will add is amateur players getting a chance to put their skills on display in the GPL spotlight.

There’s a good chance the league will also expand geographically with GPL China set to debut.

One thing that won’t be going away? The draft. Dreyfus said it was one of the strongest parts of the GPL and there are plans to expand it with a Players Combine and casting qualifiers.

11 days of tournaments. $5 million in guaranteed prize pools. Freerolls, a Champion of Champions event and a WSOP main event package.

888poker has been busy pushing the envelope with promotions and events in 2016 and it's not going to stop in 2017.

As soon as the New year hits 888poker is back with another edition of the ultra-popular Super XL tournament series.

This time around there's a guaranteed $5 million on the line and dozens of big perks to look out for.

Daily Freerolls for XL Tickets

The Super XL Series ran 3 times in 2016 - in the Winter, Spring and Fall. The first guaranteed $2m, the second $3m and the third $4m.

Get ready for the 888 cash suitcase.

All were such big successes 888poker sized up again this time around with $5 million gtd across the full 11 days.

You don't need to be a high roller to get a piece of it, either, as 888poker will run daily freerolls where you can win tickets for the Super XL tournaments.

If you're already an 888poker player, check your inbox regularly because 888poker will send you individual challenges daily.

Complete the challenges and you can win more tickets.

Champion of Champions Gets a WSOP Package!

Speaking of once-in-a-lifetime opportunities for players on small bankrolls, a new Super XL leaderboard will be in play for all players who make the money in the Super XL tournaments.

At the end of the series the top 18 players on the leaderboard will play a special Invitational tournament on two tables.

Each player will receive a prize but the winner will get the prize of a lifetime – a 2017 World Series of Poker Main Event package.

Expect a lot of Dom, too.

The tournament will be called the Champion of Champions and if you want a chance to play, get started on the qualifiers now.

If you want to follow the 888poker ambassadors in the Super XL series, tune into Dominik Nitsche’s Twitch channel.

He'll be streaming most of the tournaments he'll play and if we know Dominik that will be pretty much every event. And definitely all of the higher buy-in ones.

Check back to our 888 news section soon to see the detailed Super XL schedule. Don't have an 888poker account yet? Check our 888poker review page to set one up and access our exclusive $888 bonus! Don't miss the ongoing $800,000 Gift Shower either.

Jose “Nacho” Barbero took down LAPT Brazil last night to become the first poker player in history to win three Latin American Poker Tour titles.

He will also be the only player to win three LAPT titles.

Thanks to PokerStars shifting the LAPT into its Championship/Festival schedule, Barbero’s record will likely stand the test of time.

LAPT Brazil will be the final stop on the tour, which ran for nine seasons and awarded millions of dollars across events in Central America and South America.

Long-Time Coming for Barbero

Nacho Barbero picked up his second LAPT title way back in season 2, which means he’s been waiting over five years to complete the hat trick.

The Argentinean had some close calls over the years — he finished third in LAPT Chile in 2013 — but he couldn’t quite wrap it up.

Instead he had to wait for the last LAPT in history to outlast 329 entries in São Paulo and take down the coveted third title.

The final table included plenty of locals with the poker boom currently in full swing in Brazil.

Barbero was actually the short-stacked when play got down to three players. He wasn’t to be denied, however, and battled back to enter heads-up against Thiago Grigoletti with a massive 14.2 million to 1.8 million chip lead.

As you might expect heads-up only lasted one hand with A♠ Q♥ getting the nod as the winning hand in the final LAPT event.

PokerStars will return to Latin America in March for the first-ever PokerStars Championship series in Panama.

The PokerListings Daily 3-Bet is a heavy trophy, a heartfelt team hug and all the joy you deserve winning the first-ever afternoon poker news championship.

Got a hot tip for a 3-Bet of the future? Drop us a note about it in the comments.

Today in the 3-Bet we find Pascal Lefrancois upholding shirtless tradition, Phil Hellmuth goes full logo and Unibet goes deep on the Mannequin Challenge.

1) No Shirt Shall Pass

The Global Poker League final last night was really fun, hey?

The ringer.

Going down to the wire with the Montreal Nationals pulling out a 6-5 win over the plucky Berlin Bears, it finally flashed a lot of the potential many thought it would show in its inaugural season.

The stream peaked at 6k viewers, which was a nice jump, and with a good mix of playfulness and serious poker it was much closer to the "pokertainment" dream CEO Alex Dreyfus has been pushing all year.

It also, as Mike "Timex" McDonald put so well, really helped push poker back towards to joy of competition rather the lining of the pocketbook. With some big new improvements planned for Season 2 we really look forward to what's to come.

In the meantime, though, the Nationals will have bragging rights as the first-ever GPL champions and, in fine tradition begun when Pascal Lefrancois won his first bracelet in 2010, the shirtless winner photo lives again. God bless and behold!

Happy ending #gplfinals #sportifypoker pic.twitter.com/UekzLY6MMD

The original, for reference.

2) Phil Hellmuth Goes Full Logo

Did you know Phil Hellmuth has his own official logo? And that we've only been seeing a small portion of it on his hats? God bless and behold - the full logo revealed!

My official "Phil Hellmuth" logo. This is the full version on my books and DVDs. I use just the PH on my hats pic.twitter.com/sNyauk84OH

3) 300 Unibet Poker Mannequins + Bucharest Live Stream!

You know who's doing a ton of fun stuff these days? Unibet Poker. 

Besides, you know, reshaping its entire platform to support recreational poker players and launching its new 2.0 software they're also making sure players win cool stuff and have good fun.

The 28-day Trip Around the World you can win on January 7 is a good example as is their Unibet Open live experience currently playing out in Bucharest, Romania.

Along with the super fun Ladies Battle Royale on Wednesday and full live stream of the main event today and all this weekend, it somehow managed to coordinate (and knock out of the park) this 300-person Mannequin Challenge.

More power to you, Unibet. We appreciate the work you're putting in for poker players to enjoy the game to the fullest. Check the Challenge and live stream below!

Vojtech Ruzicka certainly was one of the stronger players at the 2016 WSOP Main Event final table.

When he three-barrel bluffed against Gordon Vayo on Day 2 of the finale, though, it stirred up a lot of discussion.

Let's have a look at the hand, put it in context and reflect on the Czech’s decision.

Flop to River

It’s Hand 104 of the November 9 and the blinds are 500k/1M/150k. All remaining players are relatively deep.

Qui Nguyen, who later would go on to win the tournament, is the current chipleader with almost 97 million (equalling 97 bb). Cliff Josephy is next with 82.6 million (82 bb).

Ruzicka and Vayo both have around 54 million (54 bb) while Michael Ruane is the shortest stack with 49 million (49 bb), which is still a sizeable stack.

The remaining five players have $1.935 million in winnings locked up and the next pay jump is to $2.57 million. The winner takes around $8m.

Vayo raises from the button to 2.3 million. Ruzicka in the small blind has     and re-raises to 8.15 million. Vayo calls and there's 18.05 million chips in the pot. Effective stacks are 45.4 million.

The flop is       Ruzicka bets another 6.15 million, which Vayo calls. There's now 30.35 million chips in the pot and effective stacks are 39.25 million.

The turn is the   Ruzicka leads out again, now for 11.4 million, and Vayo calls. The pot is now 53.15 million chips big and the effective stacks are down to 27.85 million.

The river is the   Ruzicka moves all-in and Vayo calls, showing    

The set of eights wins the pot and Vayo takes the chiplead. Ruzicka barely had him covered but busted soon after in fifth place. Vayo, of course, made it all the way to heads-up play. Watch the hand again in the video below.

Analysis

This was a crucial hand and a major step for Vayo on his way to second place. The big question, however, is whether Ruzicka took too much of a risk or the best possible line.

No reason to fold yet.

The pre-flop action is quite normal. Vayo will raise a lot of hands from the button so this move doesn’t say much about his range.

Ruzicka looks at A-K in the small blind, which dominates a lot of hands Vayo could have. As Ruzicka sits out of position he raises big to more than 3x the first raise.

Vayo has no reason to fold just yet. He has a pocket pair that’s probably going to play against overcards on the board, but he has position and he has to pay 5.8 million more which is just the right price to go set-mining.

Remember that you hit your set one in eight times, statistically. At the same time Vayo’s call gives Ruzicka information about his range.

Vayo would have folded all his steals but all the Broadway hands and middle or even lower pairs are still possible.

Am I Willing to Play for My Stack?

On a pretty dry flop, which at least has two clubs, Ruzicka continues with an obvious c-bet.

He didn’t hit anything but Vayo might have missed, too, and a tight player like him will fold a lot of hands. So Ruzicka might win the pot without risking much.

Vayo calls the bet with hands like A-Q, K-Q, J-J, T-T, or 9-9 and with flush draws, not mentioning monsters 8-8 and 3-3. He would fold hands like K-J without clubs or 7-7.

Am I willing to play for my stack?

On the turn Ruzicka has to make a decision: Am I willing to play for my entire stack if I have to?

At that point Ruzicka has “only” invested 14 million (out of 54m) so he can still get rid of his cards. But any further bet would basically commit him to the pot.

These are the reasons that favor another bet:

These points speak against another bet:

1. Ruzicka doesn’t have the A♣ to represent the nut flush if another club hits.

2. If he gives it up now, he doesn’t lose too much.

3. When Vayo calls again his range has become even narrower. It now consists pretty much of monsters and hands like a queen with a high kicker, at least a ten, and flush draws.

All or nothing ends in nothing.

All or Nothing on the River

The river card is a brick and Ruzicka doesn’t take long to risk all his chips. By now he's invested almost half his stack and he sized his bets in a way that he still has fold equity with an all-in.

Basically there are only two hands Vayo can call with: 8-8 and 3-3. Tight as he played, he would have probably given up any hand with a queen, including A-Q, even if it cost him half his stack.

Add the fact that Vayo might have hands like A♣ 8♣ or 9♣ 8♣ that could have made it to the river and would beat Ruzicka’s A-K, the Czech player’s bluff is absolutely the correct move.

He made his decision to attack on the turn and he was playing to win the tournament. Most of the time his play would have worked against that player and his range, but the guy on the other side of the table hit a set.

Conclusion

Vojtech Ruzicka goes full speed to climb to the top of the chip counts but runs his cards into a monster.

Gordon Vayo once again hit the flop perfectly and all he had to do was to wait for his opponent to hand over his chips.

Last week it was Sam Trickett; this week's it's Boris Becker.

Former online poker #1 partypoker continued its big push back into the spotlight with another big signing to its ambassador team announced today.

German tennis ace Becker, who picked up poker seriously in the last decade while still coaching world #1 Novak Djokovic, even brings his own unique promotion to the team.

Called Beat the Ace, partypoker players will get the chance to play in four $5,000 freerolls starting today, Dec. 5. The overall winner will then get to play Becker heads up live in Germany for up to $25,000.

Equal Drive at the Poker Table

If you grew up watching sports in the 80s Germany's Becker is as iconic a figure as it gets.

Serious about poker, too.

The six-time Major singles winner became the youngest Wimbledon champion ever at the age of 17 and went on to spend the decade dominating the courts against legends Ivan Lendl and Stefan Edberg.

Becker says the competitive fire that drove him then hasn't changed:

“I am equally competitive at the poker table as I was on the tennis court, so I’m really excited to be partnering with partypoker and taking on players around the world.

"I learnt to play poker a long time ago; it’s a game of skill and perseverance, so I’m hoping to use my experience on the tennis court to my advantage. partypoker has some world class tournaments coming up and I look forward to playing online as well as live at the partypoker MILLIONS in April, so see you there!”

Previously a Friend of PokerStars Becker has played and held his own in plenty of Invitational tournaments and racked up $111k in live earnings, including a recent cash in the Devilfish Cup.

“It’s great to have Boris on board," adds Tom Waters, Group Head at partypoker, "as he is one of Germany’s, and indeed the world’s most notable sportsmen.

"Boris’ mental strength and desire to win will make him a tough competitor at the poker table, and I’m sure he’ll test our players as part of the partypoker Tennis Missions promotion!

£6 Million partypoker Millions Returns in April

Along with the addition of Becker to its team partypoker also announced the addition of an extra £1M to the next partypoker Millions prize pool this April.

Action for everybody.

Now up to £6 Million it'll be the biggest ever guaranteed prize pool in Europe and guarantee a minimum of £1,000,000 to the winner.

The partypoker Millions will be hosted online on partypoker and live across the UK/internationally this winter and culminate with a live final at Dusk Till Dawn on April 18, 2017.

Joining Becker in helping push partypoker into the German market will be Jan-Peter Jachtmann, a WSOP bracelet winner in PLO and regular in the high-stakes cash games at King's Casino.

To open a new account and begin your qualifying towards the next partypoker Millions, check our review page here and sign up via the download link to receive an up to $500 sign-up bonus.

The PokerListings Daily 3-Bet is a joyful slide down the snowy mid-afternoon poker news hill that is sure to send you flying off an unseen makeshift kicker.

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

In today’s Daily 3-Bet we’ll take a look at the Unibet Open breaking records in Bucharest, Donald Trump blocking Doyle Brunson and Tony Hawk with the Seven-High, like a boss.

1) Local Wins Record-Breaking Unibet Bucharest

The Unibet Open continues to be the little tournament festival that could with a recent record-breaking stop in Bucharest.

Small buy-in, big pay out.

Over the weekend local Traian Bostan topped a 603-player field to take down a €100,000 first-place prize at Unibet Open Bucharest.

It was the biggest Unibet Open event ever held and Romanians dominated the final table taking seven of the available nine seats (Finland’s Juho Launonen and the U.K.’s Eli Heath were the odd ones out).

The low buy-in Unibet Open events continue to draw a crowd no matter where they go and it’s safe to say Bucharest was a resounding success with record numbers, a special invite-only ladies event and plenty of activities away from the tables.

Bucharest was the season finale for this year’s Unibet Open but we can’t wait to see what organizers cook up for 2017.

2) Donald Trump Blocks Doyle Brunson on Twitter

As you might expect, old-school poker pro Doyle “Texas Dolly” Brunson leans a little to the right and so the following Tweet came as a bit of a surprise:

Holy Smoke!! Donald Trump blocked me on twitter. I was his biggest supporter in Nevada. What happened?

There was no reason given and it’s tough to find anything on Brunson’s Twitter that would raise the ire of The Donald.

Of course Brunson isn’t the only person getting blocked as multiple outlets have reported thousands of accounts getting the same treatment recently.

Let’s just hope this doesn’t portend anything for online poker in the USA as insider Steve Ruddock opined:

@TexDolly The assault on poker and gambling is beginning

3) Tony Hawk Stuns Maria Ho with 7-High Call

“Did you just soul read me?”

That’s what Maria Ho had to say to Tony Hawk when the legendary skateboarder made an improbable call against Ho during the Poker Central Charity Shootout this weekend.

It’s understandable considering Hawk made a call with 7-high and was correct.

It’s not clear if Hawk knew exactly what he was doing but it was an impressive play nonetheless.

Ho did comeback, however, and win the match.

Watch below. The hand starts at 7:19:00:

With a buy-in of $10,400 you'd imagine the ceiling for the unlimited rebuys at the WPT 5 Diamond is, well, limited.

You'd be mistaken.

Always one of the favorite events of the year players have come out in droves to the Bellagio for Day 1 this year - and they've come out firing.

With five 90-minute levels done over 500 entries have been forked over to help build what should be a record-breaking prize pool.

The 519 total entries so far is already well over last year's 430 for Day which led to a 639-player field. The all-time record for the event is 664 players in 2007.

With registration open for another 4 levels tomorrow it's on pace to top the all-time record and be the biggest 5 Diamond of all time.

Negreanu In for 6 Already

As you might expect with the $10k buy-in the field of 500+ is more than peppered with a few of poker's elite.

Can't stop won't stop.

Leading the way in pursuit of an early big stack is, of course, Daniel Negreanu. He's a former 5 Diamond winner and Vegas local with a bottomless bankroll so him piling in 6 bullets already in pursuit of a big stack seems inevitable.

Negreanu's previous 5 Diamond win way back in 2004 earned him $1.77m so we can see why he's eager to keep firing. He finished Day 1 on that 6th bullet with 80k.

Alongside DNegs are literally hundreds of the game's best players from Brian Rast and Antonio Esfandiari to Cate Hall and Sam Abernathy to Calvin Anderson and Ankush Mandavia.

World Poker Tour icon and commentator Mike Sexton, a recent WPT Champion himself, is also in the field looking for the famed WPT double.

It's a veritable poker who's who at every table and so far the action has been relentless. Out to an early chip lead after Day 1 is Robin Hegele with 185,000 (463 bb).

Andjelko Andrejevic (136,400), Jen Tilly (134,225) and David "The Dragon" Pham (120,100) are also off to a good start but with a very deep structure and virtually every bustee back in the field tomorrow it's still anybody's ball game.

The ultimate winner, it looks like, will pocket a massive score up near the $2m range for his or her troubles. Follow along with the WPT Live Updates right here with action starting action at 12 pm Vegas time tomorrow.

Since 1998 poker players have gathered in Melbourne to play what’s officially called the Crown Australian Poker Championship.

It’s one of the best and most important tournaments of the year in any hemisphere and whomever takes poker seriously wants to play the Aussie Millions.

It's back again for another spectacular series in January and you can make your way into the main event for as little as 50 cents via 888poker.

$10,000 Package w/ 3 Nights at Promenade

For most players in the world Australia is a little off the beaten track. It’s also, comparatively, a pretty high buy-in main event.

Which is why it’s good that you can win your Australia package online.

888poker offers a series of satellites that culminate in a direct qualifier with a $1,050 buy-in.

The full package you can win has a value of $10,000.

It includes the $8,250 buy-in, three nights at the Promenade Hotel from January 24-26 and $1,000 in travel expenses.

If you’re already in Australia you might want to check out the alternative qualifier where you can win a seat only.

As Low as 50c and $12

Outside of the standard 888poker steps system you'll find several steps satellites to the 2017 Aussie Millions main event.

The lowest level you can play in costs just 50 cents. From there you can move up to the $12 satellite, the $109 satellite and finally the $1050 qualifier.

The satellites run several times a day so check the 888poker lobby under the tournaments > live events tab.

26 Events, $30m in Prize Pools

This year's Aussie Millions main event begins on Sunday, January 22 and runs for a whole week.

In the Asia-Pacific this is the go-to event. This year there will be 26 events and the festival usually attracts more than 6,000 players who generate around $30 million every year.

The Aussie Millions has made a lot of history. It was the first international poker event to feature a tournament with a 6-figure buy-in and it was the first to introduce a Super High Roller challenge with a $250,000 buy-in.

All the high roller events are on the 2017 schedule again so we’ll see a $25,000, $100,000 and a $250,000 tournament.

Past Main Event winners include Ari Engel (2016), Ami Barer (2014), Tyron Krost (2010) and Gus Hansen (2007), who went on to write his bestselling book Every Hand Revealed based on the notes he made while playing the tournament.

The Aussie Millions is also the only major tournament that starts the final table with seven players.

Try to win your Aussie Millions package on 888poker for a chance of a lifetime; If you don’t have an account yet go to our 888poker review page and you’re only minutes away from playing with an $888 bonus.

The PokerListings Daily 3-Bet is an all-expenses paid trip to the most luxurious mid-afternoon poker news resort in the world.

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 an odd promotion involving Fernando Pons, the end of Sky Poker and the latest revealing Daniel Negreanu interview.

1) Bust Pons, Win Beer

How’s this for an unusual bounty: Bust recent November Niner Fernando Pons and win your own weight in beer.

Beer me, bro.

That’s really happening at the upcoming Superprizepool event at Casino Cirsa Valencia.

Specifically if you manage to bust Pons on Day 1b of the tournament you’ll receive your weight in liters of Desperados Tequila-flavored beer.

It’s not quite Russ Hamilton earning his weight in silver by winning the 1994 WSOP Main Event but it’s something.

Meanwhile Pons finished ninth in the 2016 WSOP Main Event final table in November but he’s been making up for it with appearances all over the world.

The Spaniard had a $2.4k cash in the Estrellas Main Event at EPT Barcelona this summer and even stopped by PokerListings 2016 Battle of Malta.

2) End of the Road for Sky Poker

After 10 years the iconic Sky Poker TV show is coming to an end.

Presenter Richard Orford was there for the first show and will be there for the last according to a photo he posted with the crew.

Sky Poker was a groundbreaking poker show in the U.K. that also included an adjoined U.K. online poker site. Over the years plenty of notable poker personalities were featured on the show including Kara Scott, Neil Channing and Laura Cornelius.

Good luck to all the hosts moving on to other ventures:

After TEN amazing years Sky Poker TV ends tonight, live at 10 on Sky Sports 4. I was there for the first show & I'll be there for the last pic.twitter.com/2nAdk6RZBZ

3) Daniel Negreanu Talks Tells, Trump and More

The Norwegian video podcast Nuts scored a pretty big interview this week: Daniel Negreanu.

The Nuts crew covered a wide range of topics with the iconic poker player including tells, Norway, who he hates (Donald Trump) and his most embarrassing moment (literally wetting the bed in Cardiff).

It’s pretty impressive that Negreanu can still give interesting answers after all these years. The 6-time WSOP bracelet winner remains one of the most dynamic interviews in the game no matter what country he’s in.

For a long time - and for a wide swath of poker players - a European Poker Tour title was the most coveted in poker.

Winning an EPT main event was big. Life-changing, even. And led to multi-year sponsorship contracts – think Noah Boeken, Liv Boeree, Jason Mercier, Vicky Coren and Bertrand Grospellier to name just a few.

And for years EPT events just grew bigger and bigger. What begun as a 1-day, €1,000 tournament evolved into a two-week behemoth with 100s+ events and thousands of players.

But in a surprising turn announced this summer PokerStars is scrapping the iconic EPT and re-shaping its entire live tour platform.

Where exactly is all this leading? And where is live poker, at least in Europe, heading in 2017 and beyond? Let's do some speculating.

Dwindling Returns, More Competitive Market

When the Season 3 Grand Final rolled into Monte Carlo the top prize ultimately topped €1m for the first time. Gavin Griffin won €1.8m million for his win, which was twice as much as his predecessor received.

Gavin Griffin.

For the next 5 or 6 years the EPT grew exponentially. But after years of virtually unchecked growth the market finally began to grow saturated.

When there’s an EPT winner literally every month, it’s not quite as special as it once was it seems. Different locations across Europe were tried but eventually numbers began to dwindle.

Within two years the only events that still grew were Prague and Barcelona. So PokerStars made a good decision - it cut half the stops to focus on making the remaining ones more interesting.

In the meantime competitors also began picking their spots well, too. More and more low-to-medium buy-in events have exploded on the scene, directed at a much larger target group – the recreational players.

So now with the 888Live, Unibet Open, WPT National and WSOPC tours coming on strong the EPT, UKIPT, LAPT and APPT are no longer -- replaced by the PokerStars Global Championships and PokerStars Festivals. What will happen next? It seems it can go one of three ways.

1) PokerStars Brings Back Value to International Titles

By taking a more global approach PokerStars events should, in theory, get more attention. And with less stops overall, players from all over the world will almost have to go to more remote places than before.

Will prestige rise?

Player fields should become more diverse and more high quality than ever before.

Gone will be the times when Macau has only Chinese and Sydney mostly Australian names in the results. Europeans and Americans will be there, too, and bring the previously more local events to another level.

The more global approach should give a PokerStars Championship title more prestige, which is always appealing to a poker player.

More players mean more money, which in turn attracts more players. PokerStars actively ignites a new live poker boom and we see further record numbers in the future.

2) PokerStars Changes Strengthen Competitors

With PokerStars giving up the EPT the term “European title” has become vacant. It has left a vacuum and someone will step in.

Door open for newcomers?

888poker, for example, has established itself as a solid competitor with booming Live Local events and new low buy-in festivals all over Europe.

They now cover the whole range of buy-ins up to about €1,000.

Unibet is also moving fast, hosting a lot of fun live tournaments in interesting locales (see: Bucharest) and completely overhauling its software to focus on recreational players.

The WSOP Circuit is expanding in Europe with events in Italy, Germany, Georgia, France and the Czech Republic and it’s hard, if not impossible, to top the WSOP brand in poker pedigree.

With so many competitors battling on the European market, players will profit most as the quality of events has to be high to win players over.

3) PokerStars Loses Brand Power

Although PokerStars is positioning the new Poker Championships and Festivals as the next step in live poker evolution, it could be the start of a downswing for PokerStars as a major live event host.

With the new split PokerStars is not only giving up the most powerful brand in poker outside the WSOP, it's also giving up on the two-week, 100+ event extravaganzas that resulted from linking up the EPT events with the smaller Eureka and Estrellas tours, and so on.

Will pros travel for it?

That combination gave the smaller tours record fields time after time as many pros would add a couple of days to their EPT schedule to play the smaller events, too.

Now the buy-in levels are separated again it will split the player fields in half. Why would the pros travel to expensive London for a £1,000 event when there are similar events in places like Rozvadov, Spain or Malta?

And will anyone care about someone - even a big-name pro - winning a tournament in Panama or Macau?

The recent changes at PokerStars – rake adjustments, ending Supernova Elite under poor terms, Baazov under investigation – have certainly left a bad taste in a lot of mouths. And left the impression the company has changed and players (or pro players at least) aren't the main focus anymore.

Even if the PokerStars product might still be one of the best, players will turn away quickly if they feel they get bigger benefits somewhere else.

Barcelona 4 ever.

One safe bet? The stop that won’t lose its fascination is Barcelona.

Hot summer nights, one of the greatest cities in Europe, a top notch casino -- that’s a combination that will (or should) never fail.

Which Way Next?

No matter which of these scenarios you predict, for tournament poker players of all bankrolls the live poker future is still bright.

There will be a very lively poker scene all over Europe with a destination and tournament line-up someplace, somewhere that can cater to almost everyone.

PokerStars, on the other hand, has arrived at a crossroads. Which path will it end up taking?

You can still draw a very big crowd to a $10,000 unlimited re-entry event.

It's been bedlam at the Bellagio in Vegas the past two days as the WPT 5 Diamond got underway and the poker crowds came  to play.

After a smashing 519 entries yesterday another 272 forked over the 10 large today to create the biggest $10k field in WPT history.

Total prize pool: $7,672,700.

It's not the outright biggest prize pool in WPT history, but it's close. And with $1.9m up top for this year's winner not many are likely to be to picky.

JTilla, Negreanu Run the Jewels

At the end of Day 2 just 270 of those 791 entries remain led by Ryan Hughes, who bagged up 364,000.

JTilla the Killa.

Also way up in the counts is famed actress and poker lover Jennifer Tilly who piled up heaps of her own. At 279,100, she sits second overall.

Also sliding into the Top 10 to end the night were David Pham (224,300) and Justin Bonomo (219,800) but they're far from the only poker heavy hitters still in contention.

Daniel Negreanu (183,400), Chance Kornuth (176,300), Jason Koon (172,600), Cate Hall (161,900), Layne Flack (151,600) and Adrian Mateos (145,000) all bagged substantial stacks.

Brian Rast, Mike Matusow, Liv Boeree, Tom Marchese and Igor Kurganov all topped the 100k mark with Antonio Esfandiari, Dominik Nitsche and Phil Laak not far behind.

As a pleasant surprise, the Great Dane Gus Hansen has also made his return to poker late on Day 2.

A look at the Top 10:

1. Ryan Hughes – 364,400 (304 bb)
2. Jennifer Tilly – 279,100 (233 bb)
3. Samuel Bernabeu – 279,000 (233 bb)
4. A.J. Gambino – 277,300 (231 bb)
5. Kristina Holst – 267,000 (223 bb)
6. Lucas Blanco Oliver – 263,000 (219 bb)
7. Corey Hochman – 260,400 (217 bb)
8. Anthony Spinella – 226,700 (189 bb)
9. David Pham – 224,300 (187 bb)
10. Justin Bonomo – 219,800 (183 bb)

Day 3 gets underway at 12 noon tomorrow in Vegas and, given the size of the field, will play another 7 levels. 70 more players will get paid along with the top two, who will top 7-figures each.

Follow along with the WPT Live updates team right here.

Sally Stephens is retired and traveled to Malta as the first stop on a poker bucket-list adventure that will take her all over the world.

By the time Battle of Malta was over Stephens had chopped a tournament heads-up, celebrated with poker pro Maria Ho and pocketed her biggest poker score ever.

After playing and busting the €550 BOM Main Event Stephens decided to enter the €1,200 Grandmaster High Roller tournament.

She made it all the way to the final two spots and made a deal to take home over €25,000.

Stephens explained that she's been playing poker since seeing Chris Moneymaker win the WSOP Main Event in 2003.

Having played strategy games since her childhood, Stephens said she quickly recognized that modern poker strategy was far more complex than what she had experienced playing cards recreationally before.

So she started practicing online, reading books and studying how professionals played by watching poker on TV and the internet.

Stephens lives in Costa Rica and she's putting her poker theory into action by traveling to tournaments in far-flung, exotic destinations.

Malta, Czech Republic, Australia

Malta was Stephens' first major live poker trip but she said she's planning more soon.

The final European Poker Tour stop in Prague this month is on the list. So's the Aussie Millions in Melbourne in the new year.

Stephens said her score at BOM will make things a lot easier.

“Winning this cash just makes it easy for me to travel around and play some more poker tournaments and it definitely boosts my confidence,” she said.

“It's a poker dream come true.”

Watch Sally Stephens' Poker Dream Come True at BOM

Check out the video to learn more about Sally Stephens' poker adventure and join us at the 2017 Battle of Malta to make your own poker dream come true.

The PokerListings Daily 3-Bet is a perplexing invitation to the mysterious mid-afternoon poker news game.

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

In today’s Daily 3-Bet we’ll take a look at the remarkable life of female poker player/gambler Cat Hulbert, a Poker Brat game of charades and one retiree getting to live their dream at the 2016 Battle of Malta.

1) Cat Hulbert: “Women Innately Better at Poker”

The BBC published an in-depth feature about fascinating female poker pro/gambler Cat Hulbert this week.

Cat Hulbert's book Outplaying the Boys.

Hulbert was one of the few female players to play on a blackjack team in the early 90s and later transitioned into poker.

Card Player ranked her as one of the world’s top Seven-Card Stud players in 1996 and even published a book called “Outplaying the Boys: Poker Tips for Competitive women”.

“Playing poker is like taking a drug that makes everything fascinating,” she explained to the BBC.

It’s safe to say Hulbert dealt with her share of adversity in a gambling world dominated by men. In later years she was also diagnosed as bipolar and then was stricken with cancer.

Despite everything Hulbert said that the gambling lifestyle worked for her and gave her a sense of freedom over the years that she didn’t find elsewhere.

2) Hellmuth, Esfandiari Eat Frog Legs on TV

That Final Table show with Phil Hellmuth, Antonio Esfandiari and Joe Stapleton has certainly produced some noteworthy video clips over its short lifespan.

If nothing else we’ve got to thank it for giving us the following episode, which features Hellmuth and Esfandiari eating frog legs thanks to a bet.

Hellmuth does OK but Esfandiari is forced to eat raw frog legs at the end of the episode (about 42:00) and let's just say it's a struggle.

3) Sally Stephens Lives Dream at Battle of Malta

Speaking of inspirational women. Retiree Sally Stephens is in the midst of a bucket-list trip to travel the globe and play poker.

Her trip got off to a fantastic start thanks to a big score at the PokerListings Battle of Malta in November.

Stephens finished runner-up in the €1,200 Grandmaster High Roller event to pick up €25,000 and a coveted BOM trophy.

We wish her the best of luck on the rest of trip, which includes tournaments in Australia and the Czech Republic.

The biggest World Poker Tour $10k event ever has winnowed its field down to just 75 players after a long day of play in Las Vegas yesterday.

Close to 300 players returned for Day 3 action and played through 7 levels to just about make the money at 72 players.

Three players will return today and leave empty-handed but the rest will share in the $7m+ prize pool.

Leading the hunt for the big prize is Ryan Hughes, who bagged up the only $1m+ chip stack on the day at 1,212,500 (202 bb).

Behind him in the top 5 are veteran pros Christian Harder (829,500) and Justin Bonomo (767,500) and a slew of the game's most notable names still fighting for one of the biggest payouts of the year.

Esfandiari Hangs In, Negreanu Exits

Among the 75 survivors is Antonio Esfandiari, a 3-time final tablist of this event. He doubled up late in the day with AQ > QQ to give himself close to 400k to end the night.

Can Antonio make it 4?

Not returning today, despite his best effort with $60,000 in buy-ins, is Daniel Negreanu, who finally succumbed just after the dinner break.

Other notables heading to Day 4 today include Dzmitry Urbanovich (513,500), Dan Smith (467,500), JC Tran (344,000), Anatoly Filatov (337,500), Mike Matusow (245,500) and Joe Hachem (159,500).

Former NFL lineman Richard Seymour also made the cut for Day 4 with 230,000.

Players return at 12 noon today at the Bellagio to play down into the money.

Follow along with the WPT Live Updates here.

The Top 5 to start the day:

1. Ryan Hughes – 1,212,500 (202 bb)
2. Christian Harder – 829,500 (138 bb)
3. James Romero – 771,000 (129 bb)
4. Justin Bonomo – 767,500 (128 bb)
5. Yan Lavrovsky – 720,500 (120 bb)

The PokerListings Daily 3-Bet is your favorite record, a warm mug of mulled cider and a toasty fireplace to help you get through another tough day of 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 Iowa police returning seized cash to poker pros, a grandiose Daniel Negreanu tattoo and the potential grudge match of the century.

1) Iowa Police to Return Cash to Poker Players

"Police confiscate poker players' bankrolls." It’s an unfortunately familiar headline that’s almost as old as poker itself.

"NVM, you can have it back."

On the other hand, police returning that cash to poker players is a new development.

That’s what happened in Iowa this week when two California poker players won a civil forfeiture case.

William “Bart” Davis and John Newmerzhycky had their $100,020 bankroll seized in Iowa in 2013.

The state agreed to settle the lawsuit by returning 90% of the funds to Davis and Newmerzhycky plus $60,000 in damages.

Interestingly, Iowa also announced plans to disband its Iowa Drug Interdiction Team, which was responsible for the forfeiture in the first place.

It certainly took a long time but this one has got to go in the "good for poker" category.

2) World’s Biggest Daniel Negreanu Fan

There are a lot of Daniel Negreanu fans out there but Tony Østbye might just be the most committed.

This week Østbye stopped by his tattoo artist and dedicated a large part of his leg to the Team PokerStars Pro.

Østbye already had Negreanu’s signature in ink but added a WSOP bracelet and Kid Poker's favorite hand T♣ 7♠

Went to my tattoo artist,Sally-Ann,to add some new ink to my @RealKidPoker signature more to come still healing#kidpoker #10-7o pic.twitter.com/JaHnCo29Hy

3) Cate Hall Challenges Mike Dentale to HU4Rolls

If you went to bed early last night you missed one heck of a blow-up between Cate Hall and Mike Dentale.

The poker Twittersphere is still buzzing about it. It’s very, very lengthy (and heated) but the cliff notes are:

1. Cate Hall called off 80bbs with Ace-Ten in the $10k WPT 5 Diamond. Hall later explained she had a particular read in the situation.

2. Dentale blasted her for the play on Twitter.

3. Cate challenged Dentale to heads-up.

4. Dentale and Cate insulted each other in a series of Tweets.

5. It sounded like the match wouldn't happen.

6. Matt Glantz stepped in and it sounds like the match is back on and will be televised.

Cate Hall / Mike Dentale Match looks like its going to happen. Talks progressing. Live Stream & cut for TV.
March 2017@PokerNightTV

As poker writers, players, pros, watchers and fans we all talk about poker - a lot.

We talk about hands. We talk about bad beats. We talk about run good. We talk HU4rollz.

But no matter how much we speak to one specific part of the game when we do, when we talk about poker we always speak to something more than just the turns of the cards.

What are we (really) talking about when we talk about poker?

The Human Condition

We are talking about the game.

It's chips, cards and money. But more.

We are talking about chips, cards and money; the need to have fun; competition and the inner drive to recapture those moments when we played soldiers with our friends.

We are talking about family.

We are talking about the nine people sat around the table as if they are our brothers and sisters. We look at them with nails bitten down, jitterbug state, wearing the biggest smile and we love them.

We are talking about support.

We are talking about the times in our lives when we don't know what to do. We are talking about those nine people riding towards us on horseback with an outstretched arm waiting to scoop us up and rescue us from ourselves.

We are talking about a lesson in personal finance.

We are talking about money; that piece of paper that makes us act in the most heinous and giving ways - the wonder of the human condition.

We are talking about the loan from your friend because you have just lost the lot and yet the game is so great.

We are talking about making that same loan when you are in a sea surrounded by sharks. We are talking about teaching this thing in school to liven up math class.

We're talking about Giving.

We are talking about service. 

We are talking about giving to others. We are talking about Robin Hood. We are talking about organizations like Raising For Effective Giving (REG) and determining what's more important - your 5% donation or cable.

We are talking about the One Drop, The WPT Foundation and all the other poker charities that help reduce suffering in the world.

We are talking about fitting in.

We are talking about how great it would be if David Bowie were a poker player. We are talking about Ziggy Stardust and the way he plays the guitar.

We are talking about lesbians, gays, transgender, armless, legless, Pavarotti-size fat and Kate Moss-size skinny.

We are talking about skins of all the colors of the gasoline rainbows. We are talking about the agoraphobic and the voyeur, the mess and the lawyer. We are talking about the atheist and the nun and the man with the head like a currant bun.

We are talking about the shadow.

We are talking about the dark side. Do we want to know why it's there? We are talking about the need for MORE.

We're talking adventure.

We are talking about the shadow and how he only comes out when he hears the sound of the riffling chips. We talk about running away. We talk about keeping it all. We talk about never paying it back.

We are talking about love.

We are talking about that moment you saw her. We are talking about values and beliefs. We are talking about the love of the game.

We speak of fur-lined gloves from Venice and a beautiful game of tennis. We are talking about only one of the suits; it's red, and without which we would be dead.

We are talking about adventure.

We are talking about becoming a vagabond. We are talking about the sights. We speak of experience. We are talking about breaking out of the claustrophobic bubble and finding another flower to pollinate.

We are talking about Vitamin D; the way life should be. We are talking about sitting in front of an ocean with friends we never would have met had it not been for the deck.

We are talking about education.

We are talking about IQ. We are talking about EQ. We are talking about the search for mentors, Skype groups, and obnoxious forums.

We are talking about photographic memory. We are talking about a constant state of learning, of bettering ourselves, and of becoming a greater human being.

We're talking past and future.

We are talking about how it saved our lives.

We are talking about the past. We are talking about a life containing nothing but stigma, bleedy-looking eyes, and needing a surgeon to reach deep inside and give that heart a squeeze.

We are talking about societal conditioning, Plato's Cave and the need to fit in. We are talking about the flock.

We are talking about being a golf club carried wherever the Caddie wants to take us. We are talking about mushy peas, pie and chips; IV drips and cracked lips.

This is what I talk about when I talk about poker. What do you talk about?

Did you open a new account on PokerStars via PokerListings in 2016?

If so you're invited to an exclusive $5 tourney next week for a $10,000 PokerStars Championship Bahamas package!

The tournament will take place on Dec. 18 at 13.35 (ET) and you'll find it in the Restricted section of the PokerStars lobby.

Top 11 All Score

The name of the tourney is ‘PokerListings Takes You to Bahamas’ and if you come out the winner, that's exactly where you'll be going to take part in the inaugural Bahamas Championship.

Even Gilbert Arenas loves it.

The winner's $10k package includes:

You don't have to win the whole thing to get a prize, though. If you finish in 2nd-5th place you'll get a $530 PCA Super Satellite ticket. Finish 6th-11th and you win an $82 (Rd 2) satellite.

All players who have opened an account on PokerStars through us before Dec. 16th this year are eligible so if you've yet to open an account, it's not too late.

Head to our PokerStars review page here to download the software and join the list of PokerListings players eligible for our exclusive promos and freerolls.

Ton of Poker, Ton of Adventure

Formerly known as the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure this is one of the signature stops on the global poker circuit.

Held at the spectacular Atlantis Resort in Nassau it's 9 days (this year from Jan. 6-14) of wall-to-wall tournaments, cash games and side activities.

Atlantis at night.

Beyond the 90 tournaments and perpetual cash games there are any number of adventures to keep you occupied from the death-defying waterslides to a new 3-on-3 basketball tournament.

On the poker side here are a few highlight events to watch out for:

PokerStars Open: January 10-12, 2017 - $220
PokerStars Cup: January 12-14, 2017 - $440
PokerStars National Championship: January 7-9, 2017 - $2,200
PokerStars Championship Main Event: January 8-14, 2017 - $5,000
PokerStars Championship High Roller: January 12-14, 2017 - $25,750
PokerStars Championship Super High Roller: January 6-8, 2017 - $100,000

On the non-poker side these are among the highlights on the schedule from PokerStars:

Atlantis is also one of the most renowned and kid-friendly resorts in the world so there's plenty to do for every member of the family. 

For a more complete look at the venue, schedule and logistical details of travelling to/playing poker in the Bahamas, check the PokerStars page here. To be eligible for this exclusive tournament and a $600 sign-up bonus, visit our review here.