High-stakes poker player Garrett Adelstein was a super nice guy in a recent live stream from the Hustler Casino in Gardena, California.

In a clip posted to Twitter by another poker player, Adelstein is seen on the losing end of an all-in hand with KSpade Suit 10Spade Suit on a board reading QHeart Suit 3Heart Suit 3Club Suit 4Diamond Suit KDiamond Suit against his opponent’s pocket fours for a full house.

The pot was worth about $180,000.

Only the end of the action was shown in the video, and it looked like Adelstein called all in. His opponent inexplicably told Adelstein “good call,” only moments later to say “just kidding.”

Adelstein barely reacted to the situation, a classy move despite the slow roll.

He later posted a Tweet about the hand, continuing to shrug off the poor etiquette.

The lack of response by @GmanPoker here is straight class. This is the model for all professionals. pic.twitter.com/2ST2dKdWUu

— Johnnie VIBΞS (@JohnnieVibes) February 19, 2022

The Golden State Warriors roster is full of poker-playing card sharks, but they took a break from their private games to host a charity poker event earlier this month.

The Warriors hosted the 8th annual Warriors Community Foundation Poker Tournament, presented by MGM Resorts, on February 5 at the St. Regis Hotel in San Francisco. The event raised $2.5 million for the Warriors Community Foundation, according to an announcement Monday.

Net proceeds will be awarded to Bay Area non-profits ahead of the 2022-23 NBA season as part of the Warriors Community Foundation’s annual grant cycle.

The buy-in and re-buys at the tournament totaled over $1.8 million, with the money raised through a live auction totaling over $600,000. Top prizes at the auction included cookies baked by Ayesha Curry and a Kelley James guitar, signed by Stephen Curry, Draymond Green, and Klay Thompson.

The team’s poker interest also extends to team ownership. Minority team owner Chamath Palihapitiya has a few cashes at the World Series of Poker and has gone on record talking about experiences playing in some of the biggest cash games in Las Vegas.

Green in 2019 appeared on a Poker After Dark high-stakes cash game.

Apparently poker pro Igor Kurganov is helping Elon Musk manage some of his fortune.

According to a report from Bloomberg, Musk gifted $5.7 billion worth of Tesla stock to charity in the span of 10 days in November, but “[w]here that donation is going is a mystery.” Musk reportedly disclosed the donation in a regulatory filing this week.

Kurganov, a fixture in many super high-stakes poker tournaments over the past handful of years, has been “recently enlisted” by the billionaire Musk to help run The Musk Foundation.

Per the report: “The Musk Foundation in the past couple of years has made eight-figure grants to the city and local school system near his South Texas spaceport, a $100 million ready-made competition to fight climate change and millions of dollars to a pair of Covid-19 researchers […] Almost all of those recipients have been primarily working with Igor Kurganov, a professional poker player-turned-philanthropist, who Musk has recently enlisted to keep in contact with grantees and consider their proposals.”

Kurganov is the co-founder of Raising for Effective Giving (REG), an organization created by a group of poker players that recommends “highly cost-effective charities.” The nonprofit was formed in 2014 during the summer World Series of Poker.

Other REG founders include poker players Liv Boeree and Philipp Gruissem.

Wynn Resorts announced Tuesday that it has entered into a deal to sell all of the land and real estate assets of Encore Boston Harbor.

The Las Vegas-based casino developer will sell the assets to a group known as Realty Income for $1.7 billion in cash. Wynn Resorts will continue to operate the property.

The news follows plans by Wynn Resorts to sell its online gambling unit at a steep discount from a prior valuation, according to reports.

“Simultaneous with the closing of the transaction, we will enter into a triple-net lease agreement for Encore Boston Harbor with Realty Income,” Wynn Resorts said.

“The lease will have an initial total annual rent of $100.0 million and an initial term of 30 years, with one thirty-year tenant renewal option. Rent under the lease will escalate at 1.75% for the first ten years of the lease and the greater of 1.75% and the CPI increase during the prior year (capped at 2.50%) over the remainder of the lease term.”

Wynn Resorts will retain its 13 acres of land on the east side of Broadway in Everett, MA, on a portion of which, the casino company plans to construct an expansion that is expected to include additional covered parking along with other non-gaming amenities.

Eventually, Wynn might end up also selling the land and real estate assets of the expansion to Realty Income, the announcement said.

The transaction is subject gaming regulatory approvals, among other government sign-offs.

“Encore Boston Harbor is the premier gaming resort on the East Coast and the valuation we achieved in this sale reflects the property’s quality,” said Craig Billings, Wynn CEO. “Equally important, the bespoke structure and terms of the lease allow us to maintain a great deal of operating flexibility across economic cycles. The proceeds of the transaction also provide us with liquidity for several of our upcoming development projects and the potential to retire other debt.”

The casino, located about five miles outside Boston, opened in 2019 at a total cost of $2.6 billion. It was the first Las Vegas-style resort-casino near Boston.

Wynn Resorts stock ($WYNN) was up 4.5% Tuesday following the announcement.

The NFL’s Rams were not the only winners from the Los Angeles area crowned this weekend.

In the early morning hours of Sunday, Feb. 13, Ron West emerged victorious from a field of 1,027 entries in the 2022 Mid-States Poker Tour Venetian Poker Bowl VI $1,100 buy-in main event. The L.A. resident defeated popular poker vlogger Johnnie ‘Vibes’ Moreno heads-up to secure the title and the first-place prize of $168,488.

West had over 100 prior recorded tournament scores to his name, but this was the first time he ever cashed for six figures. The victory increased his lifetime earnings to more than $913,000.

In addition to the title and the money, West also earned 960 Card Player Player of the Year points for the win. This was his first POY-qualified score of the year, but it alone was enough to move him into a three-way tie for 14th place in the 2022 POY race, which is sponsored by Global Poker.

The final day of this event began with 118 players remaining. Plenty of big names made deep runs, including bracelet winners Joseph Cheong (105th – $2,081) and Michael Wang (99th – $2,180), rising tournament star Jesse Lonis (50th – $3,568), last season’s MSPT Player of the Year Kyna England (48th – $3,568), Mitch Halverson (32nd – $4,757), 1997 World Series of Poker main event runner-up John Strzemp (27th – $5,550), poker pro and WSOP commentator Jamie Kerstetter (25th – $5,550), and World Poker Tour Venetian main event winner Ben Palmer (16th – $9,217).

West was the second shortest stack in the field when the final table of nine was set, with Haoyu Tang in the lead and Moreno in second chip position. West scored the first knockout, sending Anthony Danna home in ninth place ($16,154). He moved into second place by the time the field had been narrowed to six, following the eliminations of Brendan Shiller (8th – $20,218) and Brian Sivertsen (7th – $26,065).

Moreno earned his first elimination at the final table when his A-Q held up against the trailing K-Q of Tang (6th – $34,687). Moreno made aces and tens by the river to take down the pot.

Go Mori was the next to fall. The Japanese player ran K-9 into the K-10 of Cedrric Trevino, who is known to many on social media as ‘Poker Traveler’. Mori failed to come from behind and was eliminated in fifth place ($46,580). Despite scoring that knockout, Trevino soon followed Mori to the rail. He got all-in with A-J and was racing against the pocket nines of West. Trevino improved to a pair of jacks on the turn to take a commanding lead, but a nine on the river gave West a set and the pot. Trevino cashed for $62,436.

Aaron Massey was the most accomplished live tournament player at this final table, having nearly $4.7 million in prior cashes to his name. He ultimately added another $87,213 to that total as the third-place finisher in this event, with his run coming to an end thanks when his pocket sevens clashed with the pocket nines of Moreno.

Heads-up play began with Moreno holding 14,200,000 to the 11,400,000 of West. West was able to overtake the lead and then extend it before the final hand arose. Moreno moved all-in for around 14 big blinds with 2Spade Suit2Club Suit from the button. West called with KClub SuitQHeart Suit and the board ran out QSpade SuitJHeart Suit10Spade SuitJDiamond SuitAClub Suit to give West a winning straight. Moreno earned $124,675 for the first six-figure score of his career.

Here is a look at the payouts and POY points awarded at the final table:

Photo credit: Venetian Poker Room Twitter account.

The 2022 PokerGO Cup reached its climax on Thursday, Feb. 10 with the conclusion of the eight-event series’ final offering: the $50,000 buy-in no-limit hold’em tournament. Not only was the title and the $640,000 top prize on the line, but each of the final five players had a shot of being crowned this year’s PokerGO Cup champion depending on how things shook out. In the end, it was rising high-stakes tournament star Sean Perry who emerged victorious, earning the aforementioned payout for the largest score of his young career.

Perry’s win in the event was not enough to see him clinch the player of the series award, though. Jeremy Ausmus finished third to earn $256,000 and enough ranking points to lock up the PokerGO Cup and the $50,000 in added prize money that comes with it. Perry finished second in the points race, having cashed three times with two titles won.

This victory increased Perry’s career earnings to $5,865,966, all of which has come within the last five years. In 2021 he broke out with 20 final-table finishes and five titles won, finishing third in both the Card Player Player of the Year and PokerGO Tour points races. Now, thanks to his success at the PokerGO Cup, he has once again positioned himself as a top contender.

“You better believe it, for sure I am,” Perry told PokerGO reporters when asked if he plans to chase the POY again in 2022. “I took some time off at the beginning of this year, I missed a bunch of events, but this win has me motivated and they have something to fear.”

“It’s bittersweet,” Perry offered when asked about taking down the final event but falling just short of the player of the series title. “I’m happy I got a new Instagram picture to post, but it would’ve been awesome to win the trophy. I’m very happy that Jeremy won it. He’s an awesome guy, very honorable and great, and nobody has anything bad to ever say about him. Like I said, I came out here and I did what I did, won the tournament, but it wasn’t enough to win the overall player of the series. I’m still very happy with the result.”

Ausmus made four final tables during the eight-event series, recording two third-place showings, a runner-up finish, and one outright victory along the way. All told, he cashed for $824,500 during the high-stakes tournament festival, accruing 658 rankings points to lock up the player of the series award.

“It’s great,” Ausmus said after securing the Cup. “It was a big sweat to win this. Everyone coming into the final table could’ve won it and I barely eeked it out.”

“It’s awesome,” said Ausmus when asked about the feeling of winning a player of the series title. “I was telling someone earlier that I’ve gotten crushed in here. In the U.S. Poker Open and Poker Masters, I was home for dinner every night and I didn’t realize what it was like to have any points or anything. Then I was part of the big race and saw how involved everyone was and how people are into it, and I didn’t get that before. It’s cool. It’s a lot of fun. The extra $50K that’s given is awesome. It’s just really cool.”

Ausmus’ third-place finish didn’t entirely lock up the series win. Brock Wilson, who finished second for $416,000, would have pulled out a buzzer-beating win if he had defeated Perry heads-up. He ultimately finished third in the series points race.

The final table began with Perry in the lead and Wilson in second chip position. Ausmus was the shortest stack to start, but Daniel Negreanu slid to the bottom of the leaderboard after losing a big hand with top pair, ace kicker against Wilson’s set of tens. Negreanu then ran pocket sevens into another pair of tens for Wilson to hit the rail in fifth place. The six-time World Series of Poker bracelet winner went home with $112,000 for his second six-figure payday of the series, having earned $350,000 as the champion of event no. 6 just a few days earlier. He now has more than $44.8 million in lifetime tournament earnings, the third most of any player in poker history.

Ausmus earned a key double-up through Perry during four-handed action to climb into third chip position. He further grew his stack thanks to winning a battle of the blinds against his fellow three-time bracelet winner in Nick Schulman. Ausmus shoved with KClub Suit6Club Suit from the small blind and Schulman called with 10Spade Suit10Club Suit. The board ran out JSpade Suit3Diamond Suit2Club Suit5Club Suit9Club Suit to give Ausmus a backdoor flush and the pot. Schulman earned $176,000 for his fourth cash of the series.

Ausmus’ run came to an end as a result of another preflop battle of the blinds. Perry, who had more than four times as many chips as Ausmus’ second-ranked stack, open-shoved from the small blind with 10Spade Suit7Diamond Suit. Ausmus made the call for his last 19 big blinds with AHeart Suit2Club Suit and the board came down 10Heart Suit8Heart Suit5Diamond Suit8Spade Suit5Heart Suit to secure the pot for Perry.

Perry took roughly a 7:1 chip lead into heads-up play with Wilson. It didn’t take too long for him to convert that lead into the title. In the final hand he raised to 125,000 on the button with JSpade SuitJClub Suit. Wilson picked up KClub SuitQClub Suit in the big blind and shoved for just over 16 big blinds total. Perry made the quick call and it was off to the races. The 10Heart Suit8Diamond Suit6Spade Suit4Heart Suit8Club Suit runout kept Perry’s jacks ahead to earn him the title. Wilson’s $416,000 payday as the runner-up was the second-largest of his career, bringing his earnings to more than $4.8 million.

Here is a look at the payouts and rankings points awarded at the final table:

Here is a look at the payouts and rankings points awarded at the final table:

Photo credits: PokerGO / Antonio Abrego.

Poker legend Phil Hellmuth is apparently trying his hand at a new game.

Hellmuth announced that he is playing live corn hole on Friday on ESPN in a celebrity match organized by the American Corn Hole League. The ACL brought back its “SuperHole” that it has run the Friday before the Super Bowl.

There will be multiple preflims before culminating with the SuperHole III Championship that will be hosted alongside the ACL World Championships this August in Rock Hill, South Carolina.

The first prelim of 2022 will be held live from Las Vegas at the Mandalay Bay on ESPN this Friday, Feb. 11 from 6:30-8 p.m. PST and features Hellmuth, CBS’ S.W.A.T star David Lim, Pawn Stars’ Austin “Chumlee” Russell, and former NFL Running Back Terry Kirby, all of whom will be paired with an ACL Pro to battle it out for a chance to compete in the championship.

The two previous SuperHole events have featured NFL stars Doug Flutie, Sam Darnold, Daniel Jones, Rashad Jennings, Mac Jones, and Devonta Smith.

“SuperHole just keeps growing in popularity with our fans, and that’s why this year we decided to change things up and give them even more SuperHole with a tournament that runs throughout the year,” said Stacey Moore, ACL founder. “This year will feature more action, more celebrities, and more competition as all the participants vie to be crowned champions.”

Hellmuth in a statement said: “I’m looking to go all the way here and take home the title of SuperHole III champion. I think the trophy will look pretty nice next to my 16 WSOP bracelets.”

“I might not be able to take Phil down at the poker table, but I think I’ve got a good shot on the cornhole boards,” said Pawn Stars’ Russell. “If I take home the trophy don’t bet on seeing it at the pawn shop any time soon.”

Hellmuth posted content to his Twitter showing him practicing for the match.

Jake Daniels was the grim reaper at the final table of the third event at the 2022 PokerGO Cup. He came into the final day of the $10,000 buy-in no-limit hold’em event in the middle of the pack with six players remaining but managed to knock out each of his five opponents on his way to the title and the top prize of $200,000.

This was Daniel’s 11th career six-figure score, and the fourth-largest payout on his tournament resume. He now has nearly $2.6 million in lifetime live earnings to his name.

In addition to the title and the money, Daniels was also awarded plenty of rankings points for his victory. He earned 480 Card Player Player of the Year points for defeating the 80-entry field. This was his second POY-qualified score of the year, having also placed eighth in the World Poker Tour Lucky Hearts Poker Open $3,500 buy-in main event for and $124,365 and 270 points. The two scores were enough to move Daniels into 28th place in the overall 2022 POY race standings. He also secured 200 PokerGO Tour points for the win, enough to catapult him into 12th place on that leaderboard.

“I’ve hired a couple of coaches and I’ve put in a ton of work in the last five or six months trying to get better because these guys are so stinking good,” Daniels told PokerGO Tour reporters after coming out on top in this event. “I had a nice deep run in Florida for a WPT a couple of weeks ago, made a final table there. I love the competition.”

The first player to hit the rail on the final day was short stack Brock Wilson. He ran his pocket sixes into Daniels’ pocket kings to finish sixth for $48,000. Wilson increased his career earnings to $4,172,381 with this latest deep run.

The next major showdown began with high-stakes tournament regular Sean Winter raise to 400,000 from the button with AClub Suit5Diamond Suit, leaving himself with just 25,000 behind. Daniels looked down at ASpade SuitKClub Suit in the small blind and three-bet to 920,000. Two-time bracelet winner and WPT champion Chris Moorman called all-in for 840,000 from the big blind with AHeart SuitQSpade Suit and Winter came along for the ride. The board came down JHeart Suit9Club Suit6Spade Suit7Spade SuitKSpade Suit and Daniels’ kings with an ace kicker secured him the pot and the double-elimination. Winter earned $64,000 as the fifth-place finisher, increasing his lifetime earnings to more than $19.5 million in the process. Moorman earned $80,000 for his fourth-place showing. He now has more than $7 million in live earnings to his name, with another $19 million more in online tournament scores as well, according to PocketFives’ leaderboard.

With that, Daniels took roughly a 2:1 chip advantage over his nearest opponent, Daniel Weinand, heading into three-handed action. Three-time bracelet winner Jeremy Ausmus was not far behind at that point, but fell further back as play continued. Ausmus was down to just over five big blinds when the next big clash arose. Weinand raised to 250,000 from the button with ASpade Suit9Diamond Suit and Daniels called from the big blind with JSpade Suit10Heart Suit. The flop came down 9Heart Suit5Spade Suit2Diamond Suit and Daniels checked. Weinand bet 175,000 with his top pair, top kicker. Daniels check-raised to 625,000 and Weinand called. Daniels overtook the lead in the hand when the 10Diamond Suit on the turn gave him a higher pair. He bet 850,000 and Weinand moved all-in for around 2.2 million. Daniels thought it over before making the call to put Weinand at risk. The river brought the 2Spade Suit to lock up the pot for Daniels. Weinand earned $96,000 as the third-place finisher. This was the second-largest score of his career, behind only his runner-up showing in a $15,000 buy-in event at last year’s inaugural PokerGO Cup.

Daniels held an overwhelming chip lead, with roughly a 19:1 advantage over Ausmus, when heads-up play began. Ausmus put together the start of a comeback, winning a couple of all-ins to narrow the gap somewhat. Ausmus got all-in again with his ASpade SuitJClub Suit leading the JHeart Suit2Heart Suit of Daniels, who had shoved from the button. The board came down 8Heart Suit5Diamond Suit2Spade Suit9Club Suit4Diamond Suit to secure the title for Daniels. Ausmus earned $144,000 and 400 points for his fourth POY-qualified score of the year.

Here is a look at the payouts and rankings points awarded at the final table:

Photo credits: PokerGO / Antonio Abrego.

The Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board announced that it will hold a hearing in March on the potential renewal of the gambling license of Rivers Casino Pittsburgh.

The public hearing is part of the renewal process that happens once every five years for brick-and-mortar casinos in the Keystone State. The hearing will be held on the casino’s home turf, with the Allegheny County Courthouse selected as the venue for the Mar. 16 hearing.

The state will ultimately decide whether it will approve the renewal of the slot machine operator license for Category 2 licensee Holdings Acquisition Co., LP, operator of Rivers Casino Pittsburgh.

Citizens, public officials, and community groups can choose to speak or submit written testimony. The hearing is open to the public and will also be live streamed from the Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board’s website.

The second step in the renewal process for Rivers Casino Pittsburgh is to hold a separate public hearing in the state capital of Harrisburg, where representatives of the casino will offer evidence and oral arguments.

The regulatory bar for Rivers Casino Pittsburgh is the following:

“The burden is on the renewal applicant to establish and demonstrate, by clear and convincing evidence, its eligibility and suitability for renewal of a gaming license. During the hearing, the renewal applicant will be given the opportunity to demonstrate, among other things, its good character, honesty and integrity; compliance with its statement of conditions; as well as provide evidence on tax revenue generated; jobs created; success in implementing its diversity plan; and involvement in the surrounding communities.”

Police in the casino hub of Macau reportedly have arrested a top casino operator.

According to a report from the BBC, Macau Legend Development, operator of three casinios in Macau, confirmed that one of three arrested over the weekend for alleged money laundering and illegal gambling was its chief executive and controlling shareholder Chan Weng Lin.

In November, another casino executive in the city, Alvin Chau, was arrested by Chinese authorities. The casino operator responded in a note to the Hong Kong Stock Exchange as its stock plunged a reported 30%.

“The Board is of the view that as the Group is operated by a team of management personnel and the above incident relates to the personal affairs of Mr Chan and not related to the Group,” Macau Legend Development said in a statement to the Hong Kong Stock Exchange.

“The Board does not expect the above incident to have a material adverse impact on the daily operations of the Group,” it added.

Macau Legend Development runs the Landmark Macau, Babylon Casino, and Legend Palace Casino.