News about poker pros
A French court ruled against professional poker player Rick Salomon, who sued wealthy Saudi Arabian Raad al-Khereiji for $2.8 million in unpaid poker debt. The poker game in question took place at the Tiara Miramar Beach hotel in Théoule-sur-Mer, France in 2014. Gambling law goes back to start of Napoleon’s reign The court made its… Read more »
Phil Galfond, the founder of the young online poker room Run It Once Poker (RIO) and former high stakes poker pro, issued a challenge yesterday to all comers. Posting on the Run It Once blog, Galfond is looking for people to take him on in high stakes heads-up matches. The challenge outline Galfond has a… Read more »
Daniel Negreanu, one of the most recognizable poker players in the world, announced on Wednesday that he has signed on as an ambassador for GGPoker. Didn’t see that coming His reveal came via a one-minute video on Twitter, recorded as he was walking down the Las Vegas Strip. “In a very short time, GGPoker has… Read more »
The talk of the poker world the past few days has been the mess the World Series of Poker found itself in on Friday when it was discovered that a data entry error led to the Player of the Year point totals being incorrect. After fixing the mistake, presumed winner Daniel Negreanu was bumped down… Read more »
“Drama” was the word of the moment in the poker world last week. Shaun Deeb needed went into the final day of the WSOP Europe Colossus event needing to finish fifth to win the 2019 World Series of Poker Player of the Year award, but when he was eliminated in eleventh place, that honor went… Read more »
Poker Hall of Famer Bobby Baldwin was named Chief Executive Officer of Drew Las Vegas, a new casino that is currently under construction on the Las Vegas Strip. At the same time, he was also named Vice Chairman of Witkoff, the real estate firm that is developing the property. A long history for a casino… Read more »
Daniel Negreanu clinched the 2019 World Series of Poker Player of the Year title on Monday after Shaun Deeb was eliminated from the €550 Colossus No-Limit Hold’em at WSOP Europe. This is the third time Negreanu has won the POY award. He previously won in 2004 and 2013; the first was before the WSOP Europe… Read more »
The years-long fallout from the Phil Ivey edge-sorting case continues. Last we heard, Marina District Development Co, LLC, the Borgata’s parent company, successfully garnished Ivey’s World Series of Poker winnings. Now, two of Ivey’s backers for the WSOP are trying to get their share back. Poker pros Daniel “Jungleman” Cates and Illya Trincher have filed… Read more »
Poker is pricey, even for the best One of the aspects of the poker world that casual poker fans were made well aware of at this summer’s World Series of Poker was the practice of staking or selling action. The story of Nick Marchington and his Main Event staking deal that went wrong has made… Read more »
It had been a while since we heard from Phil Galfond about his new online poker site, Run It Once. The site finally went live in February and he gave an update in April, but for the most part, it has been radio silence since. Nothing wrong with that – it’s just how it is.… Read more »
After Twitter Rant, Garcia Says Conflict Has Ended More than a week after an ongoing dispute between poker pro Maurice Hawkins and his former backer, Randy Garcia, was made public, Garcia has announced that the two have arrived at an “amicable” resolution and Hawkins will pay the money he owes. Garcia took to Twitter on… Read more »
Chris Moneymaker and David Oppenheim were announced as the Poker Hall of Fame Class of 2019 on Monday night during the final table action of the World Series of Poker Main Event. They were voted on by a panel of media members and living Poker Hall of Famers from a list of ten finalists. Those… Read more »
Former poker pro and 2015 Jeopardy! Tournament of Champions…um…champion continued his trivia prowess last month, winning a $20,000 prize on the popular HQ trivia app. And according to a tweet Jacob made earlier this week, he still has not been paid. HQ trivia (as well as its spin-offs, HQ Sports and HQ Words) are in… Read more »
The World Series of Poker announced the ten finalists for the 2019 class of the Poker Hall of Fame this weekend. The list of names should be familiar to poker fans, not just because, as Poker Hall of Fame finalists, everyone on the list has been poker royalty for years, but also because all but… Read more »
Have you ever wanted to punch poker pro Antonio Esfandiari right in the face? Well then it is too bad you aren’t comedian and actor Kevin Hart, because he was afforded that opportunity on Saturday when he and Esfandiari squared off in a three-round boxing match. There was no animosity – this was a prop… Read more »
The poker world is mourning the loss of Gavin Smith today, who passed away unexpectedly in his sleep last night at the age of 50. Smith, a native of Guelph, Ontario, was one of the most formidable poker pros during the poker boom and was by far one of most loved, most popular players among… Read more »
As the holidays approach, the philanthropic nature of the poker community is coming out. Over the next couple of weeks in Las Vegas, there are two prominent charity poker events on the calendar, raising money for very worthy causes at a very critical time. South Point Casino Hosts Charity Event for Boys & Girls Club… Read more »
Gordon Vayo will have to wait a bit longer to see if his legal action against PokerStars can proceed. In May, the poker pro and 2016 WSOP Main Event runner-up filed suit against PokerStars, or more specifically, Rational Entertainment Enterprises Limited (REEL), in the U.S. District Court Central District of California Western Division after the… Read more »
This is slightly old news, but with the 2018 World Series of Poker having occupied our thoughts for a while, forgive us if we missed this. Aussie poker pro James Obst announced this month that he plans to ditch that “pro” designation, effectively retiring from full-time poker. Most young poker pros – Obst is just… Read more »
My colleague Earl Burton did an admirable job live-blogging the final table of the 2018 World Series of Poker Main Event, even if he was a pansy and couldn’t stay up past 3:00am ET Sunday morning to see it through to the end.* During his blog, he noted that it was announced that Mori Eskandani… Read more »
The Main Event isn’t the only news coming out of the 2018 World Series of Poker this week as the Poker Hall of Fame has announced the list of ten finalists for this year’s induction class. The finalists were determined by a public nominations process followed by a review by the Poker Hall of Fame… Read more »
A two-year old staking dispute between poker pro and World Series of Poker Circuit event destroyer Maurice Hawkins and attorney Hal Lewis that became a legal battle has ended amicably, according to recently filed court documents. The issue goes back to early 2016 when the two men met in Jacksonville. After they got to know… Read more »
Brian Rast won the $10,000 No-Limit 2-7 Single Draw event at the 2018 World Series of Poker this week topping a small but intimidating field of 95 players. It was the fourth bracelet of his career – two of which were in the $50,000 Poker Players Championship – and he now has over $21 million… Read more »
The public nomination process for the 2018 Poker Hall of Fame is now open. Those of you who have participated in the process in prior years will be familiar with this year’s setup, as nothing has changed. We Can All Contribute Our Two Cents The journey to naming the newest Hall of Famers starts online… Read more »
Lupe Soto and Maria Ho were announced today as this year’s inductees into the Women in Poker Hall of Fame (WiPHoF), capping a two month-long nomination and voting process. The two women will be honored in an induction ceremony on June 26th at the Orleans Casino in Las Vegas. Tickets to the event cost $55… Read more »
