Forgotten with all the excitement of the World Series of Poker Main Event and the winding down of the WSOP in general (even by me!) was that the World Poker Tour got back in action this past week. Currently underway is the WPT Seminole Hard Rock ‘N’ Roll Poker Open Main Event in Hollywood, Florida.… Read more »
The nominees for induction into the Poker Hall of Fame for 2021 were announced last week and as is usual for the nominees, it was an incredibly special list. Any and all of the men nominated would be viable inductees, with obvious qualities that would set them apart. As my friend and colleague Dan Katz… Read more »
Who needs football on Sunday night? We know that it is World Series of Poker time, and as such, the World Poker Tour is taking a break, but that doesn’t mean that you can’t get your fill of WPT action. This past Sunday marked the first television episode of WPT Season XVIII. Broadcast on the… Read more »
Rok Gostisa won the 2021 WPT World Online Championships Main Event on Tuesday, using a huge bluff and getting some blessings from the poker gods heads-up to beat out 1,178 players and cash for $959,493. The Main Event was spread over more than two weeks using a structure we have seen more and more of… Read more »
The hits keep coming The second summer of the COVID-19 pandemic continues to affect the poker world. On Thursday, the Maryland Live! Casino announced that it has postponed its World Poker Tour stop, scheduled for September 15 through September 28. The Main Event was to be September 24 through the end of the festival. In… Read more »
Starting with its esports venue Former World Poker Tour owner Allied Esports Entertainment is reportedly considering getting out of esports altogether, a move which would include selling the HyperX Esports Arena at the Luxor in Las Vegas. According to the Las Vegas Review-Journal, this isn’t just a “well, anything is possible” situation, but rather a… Read more »
New Jersey players get another online event The World Poker Tour has announced the creation of the inaugural WPT Online Borgata Poker Open, running September 19-21. The $3,500 buy-in event, which can be accessed on BetMGM Poker, Borgata Poker, or partypoker NJ, will feature a $1 million guaranteed prize pool. Only people physically located in… Read more »
Running it back If there was a silver lining to all the cancellations of live poker tournaments and festivals because of the COVID-19 pandemic, it was that they led to the birth of many successful online events. One of these was the WPT World Online Championships, hosted by partypoker, which returns again this year. Scheduled… Read more »
No-go for now, hopefully not for good It’s happening again. On Monday, the bestbet Jacksonville casino announced that it has postponed the World Poker Tour (WPT) bestbet Scramble because of yet another strong wave of the COVID-19 virus. The Main Event was originally scheduled for August 27-31, while the entire festival was to begin next… Read more »
Dapo Ajayi had come painfully close to winning multiple big tourneys in his poker career, but always fell short. That all changed on Tuesday when he won the World Poker Tour Choctaw Main Event for his first WPT title, collecting $558,610 for his efforts. “It’s difficult to articulate. It’s been a really interesting week. I… Read more »
WPT on the move The World Poker Tour has a new home. On Monday, Allied Esports Entertainment announced that it has completed the sale of the venerable poker institution to Element Partners, LLC. Allied stockholders officially approved the divestiture on July 1. Element’s total purchase price was $105 million for all of Allied’s poker-related businesses… Read more »
It looked like it was going to be a two man race for the title at the World Poker Tour (WPT) Venetian final table on Wednesday, and sure enough, that is what it turned out to be. In the end, Chad Eveslage emerged victorious over Mike Liang heads-up to win his first WPT championship and… Read more »
History in the making? The World Poker Tour (WPT) Venetian Main Event is down to its six-handed final table, with Mike Liang entering Wednesday’s action as the chip leader. Holding 18.225 million chips Liang is in a two-man race with Chad Eveslage, who has 17.725 chips. But perhaps “man” is not the correct word to… Read more »
The World Poker Tour is back in Las Vegas this week as the WPT Venetian moves on to Day 3. There are just 39 players remaining heading into Tuesday’s action, with Ari Oxman leading the way with 3.310 million chips. Tim McDermott is close behind with 3.120 million and six more players cracked the 2… Read more »
Big event on the down-low? The $25,000 World Poker Tour (WPT) Heads-Up Poker Championship was an odd bird. It was a 32-player invitational with an eclectic mix of poker stars, e-sports athletes, celebrities, and a couple online qualifiers. It was played online, but some players showed up in person at an undisclosed location in Cabo… Read more »
Things move awfully fast during the first two days of a large-field poker tournament. Going into Sunday’s Day 2, just 284 players remained of the original 1,165 entries in the 2021 World Poker Tour (WPT) Seminole Hard Rock Tampa Main Event. At the end of the night, that number was whittled down to only 40… Read more »
It seems to be a bit of odd scheduling for the World Poker Tour. While the first event of their Season XIX schedule kicks off in Tampa on Friday, the WPT will also be running an international event online. The WPT Heads Up Championship is set to begin on Friday alongside the first-ever WPT Seminole… Read more »
Good thing they were comfortable at home Christian Rudolph came back from the middle of the final table pack on Wednesday to win the World Poker Tour (WPT) Online Series Main Event on partypoker. After striking a heads-up deal, Rudolph walked away with $487,442.75, about $40,000 less than he would have won without an agreement… Read more »
Out of the house, into the poker room Summer unofficially began this week with the start of June, though it doesn’t officially began for about three weeks. With the United States beginning to emerge from its collective home as COVID-19 numbers keep trending downward, it feels more like the beginning of spring. We break out… Read more »
The ribbon has been placed on what has been the longest season in the history of the World Poker Tour. Brek Schutten earned the championship of the delayed final table of the 2021 WPT Seminole Hard Rock Poker Showdown, taking home a million-dollar plus payday. In the same event, Brian Altman finished off an outstanding… Read more »
Balakrishna Patur won the 2020 World Poker Tour (WPT) L.A. Poker Classic Monday night and now we are all caught up. The WPT L.A. Poker Classic was the last of the three delayed WPT final tables that had to be postponed for over a year because of the COVID-19 pandemic. And now Mr. Patur is… Read more »
Veerab Zakarian won the 2020 World Poker Tour (WPT) Borgata Winter Poker Open Sunday night, claiming a first prize of $674,840. If it sounds weird that he won a 2020 tournament nearly halfway through 2021, that’s ok. It is weird. The hopefully never-to-be-seen-again confluence of events that created the odd name/calendar pairing were the planned… Read more »
After such an exciting start, it almost seemed to be a shame that they had to interrupt the tournament. Alas, they did – the final table of the 2021 World Poker Tour Seminole Hard Rock Poker Showdown has been determined from the largest entry field in WPT history. The downside is that the champion will… Read more »
Everyone in the poker community figured it would be big, but I do not believe that anyone thought it would be this big. Two Day Ones are in the books at the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel and Casino in Hollywood, FL, and the WPT Seminole Hard Rock Poker Showdown is certainly one for the record… Read more »
It seems like it has gone on forever, but Season XVIII of the World Poker Tour will finally come to a close over the next week. The WPT Seminole Hard Rock Poker Showdown will begin tomorrow, the final event on what has been a season like no other. The WPT Seminole Hard Rock will also… Read more »
