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King’s Casino to Host 2016 WSOP Circuit Festival

Following the huge success of the 2015 World Series of Poker (WSOP) Circuit festival that was hosted at King’s Casino Rozvadov, the Czech Republic’s premier poker venue will be running another World Series of Poker Circuit festival offering combined guaranteed prize pools of over €2,250,000.

The 2016 World Series of Poker festival is scheduled to run at King’s Casino from Thursday, 27^th October to Monday, 14^th October 2016.  In addition to massive sums of cash, there will also be 14 gold rings to be won, making Rozvadov a definite place to be for poker.

Although each of the 14 tournaments are expected to be hotly contested, it is obvious that every tournament player will be attracted to the World Series of Poker Circuit, a €1,650 buy in tournament run over four days (including two starting flights) with a guaranteed prizes pool weighing in at €1 million.

Day 1a of the €1 million guaranteed Main Event is due to take place at 2.00 pm on 11^th November with Day 1b, Day 2 and the final days play kicking off at the same time on subsequent days.

When the World Series of Poker Circuit Main Event took place at King’s Casino in November of 2015, it attracted a field of 715 entries.  Mateusz Dziewonski, who hails from Poland, outlasted all of the 715 entries with the exception of one and managed to walk away with an amount of €206,027 for his investment of €1,650.

Those players competing in the Main Event will no doubt also consider competing for the title of High Roller and Super High Roller champion.  Any player who wishes to battle it out for either of these accolades are required to put €5,300 and €8,888 on the table and be prepared to take on some of the best poker players in the world.

The €5,300 High Roller event features a guaranteed prize pool of €100,000 while the larger €8,888 Super High Roller does not have any guarantee.  The latter will be played over a single day.

Satellites for the €1 million World Series of Poker Circuit Main Event can be obtained at King’s Casino or online at 888poker.  The online satellites that cost $160 to enter, guarantee that at least one package worth $2,250 will be won, with additional packages adding on for each amount of $2,250 in the prize pool.

The winner of this package will be awarded a €1,650 buy-in for the World Series of Poker Main Event as well as a six night stay at the King’s Hotel Rozvadov.

Thirty-five Sign Up for Monte Carlo One Drop Extravaganza

Thirty-five players have confirmed that they will be attending Guy Laliberte’s aspiring, recreational play-only Monte Carlo One Drop Extravaganza that is scheduled to commence in a few weeks and is poker’s most expensive buy in event at €1,000,000.

Commenting from a press release from World Series of Poker, Laliberte said that the Monte Carlo One Drop Extravaganza is fast approaching and with 35 recreational players already confirmed to play and many re-entries predicted, the Big One is in realy good shape.

Laliberte went on to say that he would like to remind players that there are still seven other tournaments and cash games, including a euro cash game, to be played during the week at what promises to be the biggest charitable poker event ever held with proceeds going to One Drop.  Laliberte did not name any participants in the press release.

The Main Event in the Extravaganza is due to commence on Friday, 14^th October 2016 with other significant events on the schedule including a €50,000 Heads Up tournament and a €100,000 tournament.  The Extravaganza also includes several satellites.  In addition, the event promises cash games with buy-ins from €2,500 to €1 million.

Founded by Laliberte, One Drop is a charity whose goal it is to provide safe water to needy communities.  Two previous $1 million One Drop events that benefited the charity were held in America during the 2012 and 2014 Word Series of Poker.  However, the event was absent from this year’s schedule.  Laliberte alleged that it was necessary to totally alter the event owing to the declining participation of amateur players.  The 2012 edition that was won by Antonio Esfandiary drew 48 players while the 2014 tournament that was won by Daniel Colman, drew only 42.

In July of this year, Laliberte told PokerNews that the message that he got was that these recreational players, philanthropists and businessmen felt that they physically did not stand a chance.  He added that they wanted to play for the money and the fun of it, but that they would rather stake a pro than risk playing themselves against a field of professionals.

Phil “Grindation” McAllister Wins WCOOP Event 53

The 2016 World Championship Of Online Poker (WCOOP) is nearing its grand finale and players from Ireland and the United Kingdom have been enjoying lots of success at PokerStars which has resulted in them filling their pockets with dollar bills.

Phil “Grindation” McAllister got to win his largest-ever cash in the early hours of Tuesday, 20^th September when he managed to take down WCOOP-53: $10,300 No-Limit Hold’em 8-Max High-Roller for a whopping $584,415.23 score.

McAllister, who hails from Winchester but currently resides in Mexico, topped a field of 356 to win the life-changing prize.  Players with him at the final table were Keven “Stammdogg” Stammen, Chris “Big Huni” Hunichen, Finn “€urop€an” (who won a WCOOP a few days ago for $297,450), and Dough “WCG/Rider” Polk, his heads-up opponent.

Alexandros “Mexican 222” Kolonias and “ShefanHilaly” were two Union Jacks at McAllister’s final table who came in fourth and sixth place for scores of $263,731.20 and $143,532.79.

Yet another player winning big was “OLDWOLF133” who won an amount of $298,793.34 when he was the runner-up in the $2,100 buy-in WCOOP edition of the Sunday Million.

Below are some of the other big WCOOP results enjoyed by PokerStars players –

• Patrick “thebigdog09” Brooks– second-place in the $320 NL Hold’em Shootout for $34,776
• “Fear1sWisdom”– seventh-place in the $1,575 NL Hold’em Progressive KO for $22,908.97
• Jamie “Ship It 2010” O’Connor– eighth-place in the $1,575 NL Hold’em Progressive KO for $16,792.27
• “limitless666”– second-place in the $320 NL Hold’em Progressive KO for $21,581.77
• Dino “dinos622” Sabatini– fifth-place in the $320 NL Hold’em Progressive KO for $8,499.51
• “PayMyLoans11”– sixth-place in the $215 NL Hold’em 8-Max Progressive KO for $9,619.37
• “carpediem200”– third-place in the $1,050 NL Hold’em 6-Max Ultra-Deep for $66,285.23

There are still a number of large events due to come before the WCOOP draws to a close on Sunday, 25^th September 2016 and PokerStars is extremely excited at the possible results that players from the UK and Ireland could be bragging about in the next few days.

888poker $4 Million Super XL Series Kicks Off 17th September

The $4 million guaranteed Super XL Series is schedule to run at 888poker between Saturday, 17^th and Sunday, 25^th September 2016.

The Super XL Series consists of 40 events which will be played over the course of nine days – from 17^th to 25^th September 2016, with combined guaranteed prize pools of $4 million.

With buy-ins that start from a mere $5 and increase to a massive $2,100 there is a Super XL Series tournament for everyone, no matter what the size of their bankroll.

There will be three events running on opening night, one of them offering a guaranteed win of $100,000.  Everyone in the $88 buy-in Crazy 8 Super XL Kickoff will sit down with 8,888 chips and play to 20-minute blind levels.

There are unlimited $88 re-buys for 8,888 chips available for players who dust off their stack at any point during this tournament once their stack reads “zero”.  The champion of this opening tournament will also be awarded a package to the 888Live London Festival valued at $2,500.

An event that guarantees a win of $10,000 is available for players with smaller bankrolls to enable them also to get into some Crazy 8 action for a small amount of $8.80.

Sunday, 25^th September 2016 is the Main Event Day with the $1,050 buy-in Super XL Series Main Event kicking off at 6.00 pm and guaranteeing a win of at least $1.5 million.

There will also be $5 buy-in and $160 buy-in Mini and Micro Main Events with $15,000 and $150,000 guaranteed, as well as a $109 buy-in $30,000 guaranteed Turbo Main Event and a $75 buy-in $15,000 guaranteed Super Turbo Main Event with the latter bringing the curtain down on the $4 million series.

A number of Super XL Satellites are running each day, giving players an opportunity to win their way to some of the higher buy-in events where they can win huge cash prizes.  888poker is also giving away tickets worth thousands of dollars to a few Super XL events which include the $1,500,000 guaranteed Main Event which costs $1,050 to enter.

Jason Mercier and Jason Somerville Stream Largest Online Buy-in Tournament

Team PokerStars pros Jason Mercier and Jason Somerville are due to stream the largest online buy-in tournament event, PokerStars’ $102,000 Super High Roller, on Twitch TV.

Scott Ball, Community Development and Poker Manager at Twitch, commented on the forthcoming tournament by saying that Twitch is proud to host Jason Mercier playing the $102,000 Super High Roller.  Ball went on to say that as a serious poker player himself, he is eagerly looking forward to seeing Jason’s strategy unfold hand by hand and learning from him.  He added that with Jason “JCarver” Somerville, who was the founder of poker streaming and a Twitch legend, in the booth, there definitely will not be a dull moment and it should be a fantastic day for Twitch and poker fans everywhere.

Mercier is due to broadcast his own endeavor to win the $102,000 No-Limit, Hold’em, 8-Max Super High Roller event in the World Championship of Online Poker (WCOOP) on Sunday, 11^th September 2016.  The 82-event series kicked off on PokerStars with a festival guarantee of $50 last Sunday.  The streaming event will commence on Sunday, 11^th September at 1.30 Eastern Daylight Time and if Mercier makes it through to the second day, the event will continue through the two days.

Eric Hollreiser, PokerStars’ Director of Corporate Communications, revealed that Jason Mercier streaming the event and showing his hole cards gives poker fans a wonderful opportunity to jump on board the action and excitement.  He added that Jason Somerville has also made Twitch the premiere channel for poker fans and knows how to put on a truly great show.  Hollreiser went on to say that all this combined is bound to make for some intense Sunday poker watching.

The $102,000 Super High Roller offers the highest buy-in value for an online poker tournament, kicking the previous record of $51,000 that was set during the 2015 PokerStars World Championships.

Mercier, who is currently the reigning World Series of Poker Player of the Year, will be showing his hand to viewers and explaining the action – with a 15-minute delay to remain competitive during gameplay while Somerville, who has 13.5 million views on his Twitch channel, will provide new viewers with comments and chat responses.

The Greatest Poker Player in the Universe to be crowned by Microgaming Poker Network

The Microgaming Poker Network (MPN) is thrilled to announce that the second annual Universal Championship of Online Poker (UCOP) will soon take place that will see it crown “The Greatest Poker Player in the Universe” with a trophy and a cash prize of €10,000.

The MPN’s announcement has resulted in poker players from all around the world getting ready for the once a year opportunity to be awarded The Greatest Poker Player in the Universe trophy and cash prize when the Universal Championship of Poker kicks off this weekend.

The second festival of the Universal Championship of Poker is scheduled to commence on Sunday, 4^th September and continue until Sunday, 11^th September 2016.  Guarantees of €500,000 have been put up and the event will culminate with a poker player’s joy of winning the €10,000 leaderboard first prize and the fantastic title that every poker player is hoping to win.

This year’s festival will cater for recreational players as well with buy-ins that range from €5.50 up to €310 and most of the events pegged in the €11 range.

No Limit Hold’em (NLHE), Pot-Limit Omaha (PLO), 5 Card Stud, 5-Card Draw and Razz are all included in the games that will be held at the festival.  The €320 Main Event that carries a guarantee of €75,000 is due to commence on Sunday, 11^th September 2016.

In order to be crowned The Greatest Player in the Universe, players are required to win tournaments so as to accumulate points, cash in consistently, play numerous derivatives of poker, stream their action live on Twitch and also share their poker experience on Social Media.

A first prize of €10,000 as well as a trophy will be awarded to the winner who will be crowned The Greatest Player in the Universe while the runner-up in the event will be awarded an amount of €2,500 and the third winner will receive €1,000.

Tournament tickets are available to poker players for places 4-10.

“PokahPPL” is currently The Greatest Poker Player in the Universe after winning Event No. 7 while streaming live on Twitch.

Partypoker and Dusk Till Dawn Partner for Second Season of Grand Prix Poker Tour

In October of last year, Dusk Till Dawn (DTD) and partypoker launched the Grand Prix Poker Tour (GPPT) in an endeavor to allow grassroots poker players to have an opportunity to play for lucrative cash prizes for a small investment at a few iconic football stadiums in the United Kingdom.

Feedback from players who competed in some of the Grand Prix Poker Tour events at stadia which included Leeds United’s Elland Road, Manchester United’s Old Trafford, Newcastle United’s St. James’ Park and Stamford Bridge in Chelsea was tremendously positive, with players revealing that there was a terrific atmosphere and saying that the fact that they could play for a share of a guaranteed amount of $250,000 for a buy-in of only $109 was the reason that they played numerous stops on the tour.

With DTD being the venue for the inaugural GPT, it is obvious that the Nottingham-based poker club will host the final event of the tour in order to complete the circle.

The GPPT at DTD will be slightly different to the previous editions.  The prize pool has, for instance, been swapped from US dollars to British pounds, which has resulted in the guarantee now being £250,000.  There are also 50x £550 tickets which is part of the guarantee that can be used for the WPT500 UK or DTD’s monthly Deepstack event.

Yet another change is the buy-in as despite the fact that GPPT DTD still costs $109 to enter and players can buy in with $109 tickets won at partypoker, players can now buy in with cash for £75+£10.

Another important change is extending the tournament from two days to a three-day affair and enabling players to directly buy into Day 2.  Players who buy into Day 2 direct can do so at a cost of £550 and receive 200,000 chips, which is the equivalent of 100 big blinds.

Several Day 1s will take place at DTD, in partner casinos as well as online at partypoker with players battling it out for 14 levels – 12-minutes online and 30-minutes live.  Those with chips in front of them after the 14^th level will progress to Day 2.

Guaranteed Prize Pool for Party Poker Million Doubled to $2 Million

The guaranteed prize pool for Party Poker’s featured event at the Caribbean Poker Party that is scheduled to take place between Saturday, 19^th and Friday, 25^th November 2016 has doubled to $2 million.

Party Poker announced, way back in May, that the site would be taking over the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in the spectacular resort of Punta Cana on the Dominican Republic in order to host another of its amazing Caribbean Poker Parties.

The event consists of two important poker tournaments – the WPT Caribbean and the Party Poker Million as well as a full week of fun that includes parties, activities around the pool and golf.

Due to the success of Party Poker’s qualifying promotions, the site has doubled the guaranteed prize pool for the Party Poker Million from $1 to $2 million.

Players who wish to win packages to the Caribbean Poker Party including entry into the Party Poker Million event should take note that Party Poker hosts phased satellite tournaments every week that guarantee a minimum of five packages to the event and also runs two leader board competitions.

The phased satellite tournament’s sub-satellite qualifying route allows players to qualify for the weekly final from a mere $0.01.  Yet another sub-satellite route leads to a second weekly final that guarantees a minimum of five seats in the WPT Caribbean but does not, however, include flights or accommodation.

The first leader board competition is for high rollers who cash in Power Series tournaments with a buy-in of a minimum of $109.00.  Party Poker will award packages to the Party Poker Million each week to the ten players who have managed to accumulate the most leader board points.

The second “Sub-55” leader board competition is for those players who cash in Power Series tournaments with buy-ins ranging from $R5.50 to $55.00.  Each week the top fifty players will be awarded tickets to the weekly phased satellite tournaments of their sub-satellites which depends on how high up the “Sub-55” leader board they manage to finish.

More than 200 players have already booked seats to the Caribbean Poker Party including leading UK poker player Sam Trickett and Party Poker ambassadors Tony Dunst, Mike Sexton and Carl Froch.

Dave “Devilfish” Ulliott to be remembered with £1m Devilfish Cup

Dave “Devilfish” Ulliott died in April of last year, after a battle with cancer, leaving behind a wife, eight children and a multitude of friends.

Friends of Ulliott, Jesse and Mickey May, wrote a powerful article giving an insight into the kind of man that Ulliott was, winning them a European Poker Award.  The article was amongst many other articles and comments that looked back at Ulliott’s colorful life.

Partypoker, Dusk Till Dawn and the WPT Foundation are looking towards the future by launching the inaugural Devilfish Cup – a tournament that bears the name of one of poker’s true greats.

The Devilfish Cup is scheduled to commence on Monday, 31^st October 2016 and will be held at Dusk Till Dawn, Nottingham, during the World Poker Tour UK festival.  Entry to the Devilfish Cup is £5,000 plus a donation of £300, with all donations, plus three percent of the £1 million guaranteed prize pool to be collected and split between the Marie Curie charity and a trust fund for Ulliotts youngest daughter, Lucy, for when she turns 16-years-old.

A special trophy commemorating the event, the Devilfish Cup champion, will be presented by Ulliott’s wife, Anpaktita Ulliott.

Rob Yong, owner of Dusk Till Dawn, revealed that he visited Dave during his last few days and that he had asked Rob to remember him by holding a high buy-in event at the club and that this year’s WPT High Roller will, therefore be replaced with the Devilfish Cup.

President and CEO of the World Poker Tour, Adam Pliska, revealed that they are proud to announce the Devilfish Cup for the partypoker WPT UK festival at Dusk Till Dawn to honor and celebrate Dave “Devilfish” Ulliott together with his family, friends and fellow competitors.

Pliska went on to say that as a testament to the community’s dedication and contributions, WPT Foundation has helped raise over $6 million to date.

Dusk Till Dawn is also honoring their late friend by renaming its bar “The Devilfish” as Ulliott was often seen there with a drink in his hand.  Anyone ordering a double vodka with Red Bull will in future have to order a “Devilfish” as a tribute to Ulliott.

Satellites for the Devilfish Cup will run online at partypoker.

Historical Look at the PokerNews Cup

The PokerNews Cup is scheduled to be held in the United States for the very first time from 20^th to 21^st September 2016 at Borgata Hotel Casino & Spa in Atlantic City.

The PokerNews Cup made its debut at Crown Casino in Australia in 2007 featuring a six-event schedule which was capped off by an AU$3,000 Main Event that attracted 428 players.  Native Aussie Dory Zayneh won that Main Event and claimed AUS$300,000 in prize money after beating Kenny Ng heads up.  Zayneh’s win was his only live cash to date.

In 2008 the next stop was at Montecasino in Johannesburg, South Africa with 175 turning up for a $3,353 Main Event.  An amount of $140,575 was awarded to Darren Kramer who was the top finisher.

The PokerNews Cup then headed back to Australia for a seven-event series where Nali Kaselias picked up AUS$250,000 for beating a field of 410 in the AUS$2,200 Main Event.

The Cup then headed to a final stop in Concord Card Casino in Austria for a €650 Main Event that drew 55 runners with Estonian Stan Klaasen taking it down for €4,070, making him the second champ of the series.

In 2009 the PokerNews Cup was held at Alpine Palace Card Casino in Austria where Marcus Naalden toppled a field of 129 in the €1,500 Main Event, as well as a final table that included bracelet winner Mark Vos for a first-place prize of €46,474.

The PokerNews Cup returned to Australia a few months later for another AUS$2,200 Main Event with a 381 player field.  Con Tsapkounis won the AUS$250,000 first prize, beating Joe Cabret heads up.

The PokerNews Cup was shelved for a couple of years and only returned to Montesino Pokertainment Centre in Austria in 2014.   The new-look €250 Main Event was a rebuy drawing 403 entries with Austrian Hanh Tran taking home a prize of €19,010.

The smaller-stakes PokerNews Cup continued in 2015 with two events, one of which was at King’s Casino in Czech Republic.  The €250 Main Event drew 1,230 entries and 235 rebuys with German players Christian Krupp beating Torsten Wichtrup for €57,473.

Due to the encouraging turnout, another PokerNews Cup was held later that year at King’s Casino which drew 689 entries and 131 rebuys.  Yet another German, Daniel Can, took the official win and €16,805 in prize money.