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Getting ready to take their wares totally online for the first time in their history Caesars Entertainment, the World Series of Poker and GGPoker have announced the schedule for GGPoker’s segment of the 2020 “online WSOP.” The 54-event schedule is replete with Texas Hold’em style tournaments, with a smattering of Omaha tossed in, but not… Read more »
The state of Nevada and, in particular, the city of Las Vegas have been devastated by the COVID-19 pandemic and the resulting shutdown. For more than two months, the industry that drives the economy of Nevada, the casinos, have sat silent. On June 4, some of those casinos reopened for customers but, as writer Jeff… Read more »
Time to start taking things seriously Caesars Entertainment is finally doing something it should have done before it reopened its first casino: it has made the waring of protective face masks mandatory for everyone who steps foot inside one of its properties. The company announced the policy change on Wednesday, June 24. It took effect… Read more »
At long last More than three months after closing because of the COVID-19 pandemic, Atlantic City casinos finally have a reopening date: July 2. New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy announced the date on Twitter Monday afternoon. Murphy minced no words, saying, “If any visitor refuses to comply with our simple safeguards, they’ll be escorted out,”… Read more »
In a third amendment to the policies they established for the reopening of the Nevada gaming scene, the Nevada Gaming Control Board has taken a step that may be a significant change for some participants. After initially not mandating their usage, the latest update from the NGCB will mandate that, if table games are played… Read more »
Breaking the seal Though the coronavirus pandemic has been a boon to online poker (silver lining of the crisis, I suppose), it has devasted live poker. For two months, there was no live poker anywhere in the United States, as some poker rooms have final begun reopening in recent weeks. But the few poker rooms… Read more »
While the live poker world takes its first tenuous steps towards trying to return to some semblance of normal, the World Poker Tour is trying to keep their people busy over the summer. Joining up with partypoker, the WPT will offer the inaugural WPT World Online Championships, a series of poker tournaments with guaranteed prize… Read more »
Same bracelets, different venue In an alternate timeline, likely created if George McFly knocked Biff Tannen on ass, since we are clearly now in the timeline in which Biff won, the 2020 World Series of Poker would be in full swing right now. But alas, In Loving Memory George Douglas McFly. The massive convention halls… Read more »
Despite the continued increase in the number of cases of COVID-19 across the States of America, many places have decided to reopen many of their businesses. This includes Las Vegas, which closed for the first time ever in mid-March and has exploded to life this weekend. But what does the “new Las Vegas” look like?… Read more »
In what was a rather anticlimactic ending to what was one of the biggest stories of the last year, a judge in California has dismissed charges against alleged poker cheater Mike Postle, the club that he was playing at (Stones Gambling Hall) and an alleged co-conspirator from the poker room. The resulting dismissal of the… Read more »
Meadows is cleared for takeoff The Meadows Racetrack & Casino will become the first of Pennsylvania’s dozen casinos to reopen during the coronavirus pandemic. The facility southwest of Pittsburgh plans to welcome its first guests in over two months on Tuesday, June 9. It is able to do so because it is in Washington County,… Read more »
Another reason to stay home The PokerStars Spring Championship of Online Poker (SCOOP) is only just winding down today, but the poker room has already announced its next online tournament series, the Summer Series. No rest for the weary. The Summer Series will run June 7-21 at will feature 151 tournaments with $25 million in… Read more »
It seems that the COVID-19 pandemic has made a lot of professional poker players either A) very bored, or B) not very bright regarding the seriousness of the situation. The online “ghosting” sessions of Dan ‘Jungleman’ Cates and other high stakes pros has once again put a black eye on the game. But it is… Read more »
I am not one to ride the gossip train, so while I read about Bill Perkins accusing some unnamed poker pro of cheating in an online home game and then Dan Bilzerian calling someone out by name, I decided not to write about it because the whole thing still felt very “rumory” to me. Just… Read more »
The second heads-up challenge went significantly more smoothly for Phil Galfond than did the first one. On Tuesday, Galfond wrapped up his challenge against Ioannis “ActionFreak” Kontonatsios, coming out on top with a €114,765.66 profit. It was a similar setup to the one against VeniVidi1993, just shortly and for higher stakes. The game was €150/€300… Read more »
Long-awaited announcement has arrived Nevada locals and tourists yearning for a trip to Las Vegas can finally get excited. On Friday, Nevada Governor Steve Sisolak announced via a press release that “pending the evaluation of trends in Nevada’s COVID-19 data,” he will allow the state’s casinos to reopen on June 4. Casinos have been closed… Read more »
There have been many activities, including major sporting events like the 2020 Olympics, the Kentucky Derby and the Indianapolis 500 that have been postponed until later in this year or 2021. There is a bigger list of events that have been canceled outright. Thus, it comes as little surprise that PokerStars announced this morning that… Read more »
Opening night for the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel and Casino in Tampa was a huge success, especially if you look at just the poker room. Running at only half-capacity, the 46-seat poker room had a running list all night and apparently went off without a hitch. On the other end of the spectrum, however, is… Read more »
After two months of closure due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Florida’s poker rooms and, perhaps more importantly, the Seminole Indians casino system will begin the slow process of reopening their properties. In these reopenings, there is an extreme importance placed on the cleanliness of the properties and keeping the players distant from each other. For… Read more »
MPN closes its doors Though online poker is booming right now, there is a bit of a dark cloud hanging over those of us who have been in the industry for a long time. Today, Wednesday, May 20, is the first day in over 17 years that MPN is not dealing any cards. MPN, a… Read more »
As the decision to “reopen the economy” during the COVID-19 pandemic is up to state governments largely because of the lack of a plan on the federal level, different states are naturally doing different things. Wise or not (mostly not, probably), many states are trying to return to some semblance of “normalcy.” For some, regular… Read more »
After over two months of complete shutdown in society from the COVID-19 pandemic, many places in the States of America are beginning to entertain the notion of opening themselves up and trying to reestablish “normal” life. For many, this might entail the casinos and card rooms across the country. But different casinos and poker rooms… Read more »
On Saturday, PokerStars hosted a whopper of a celebrity charity poker tournament on PokerStars.net. The Stars CALL for Action tournament raised $1 million for charity. Emerging victorious and winning $100,000 for his cause was actor David Costabile, known for his supporting roles in some of the best shows on television like “Breaking Bad,” “The Wire,”… Read more »
While it has not been proven to be an actual plan for the future of one of Las Vegas’ most powerful casino conglomerates, there is an alleged plan for the opening of the MGM Resorts properties making the rounds on social media. The plan, while logical, may be rooted in information that came from a… Read more »
In a spirited and informational meeting on Thursday afternoon, the Nevada Gaming Control Board officially enacted their regulations for the reopening of the Nevada gaming industry. These rules will be in force for every major casino operation on The Strip in Las Vegas, in the historical downtown Fremont Street area and for the more than… Read more »
