Instead of canceling or postponing the Irish Poker Open, partypoker announced Monday afternoon that the series will be played online in response to the worldwide outbreak of Covid-19.

The festival was scheduled to run from April 6-12 at the Citywest Hotel in Dublin, but now the week-long series will be played on partypoker’s online platform with a revised schedule. The series will keep the €1,150 buy-in and the €1 million guarantee on the main event, however.

The 2020 edition of the Irish Poker Open marks the 40th anniversary of one of Europe’s most popular poker series. Last year, Weijie Zhenge bested the 1,807-entry field to win €300,000.

2019 was the first year in recent history that the main event offered a buy-in at that price point. In 2010, James Mitchell won €600,000 after besting 708 entries in a €3,500 buy-in main event. Outside of another €3,500 price point in 2015, the buy-in has steadily decreased and the field size increased.

partypoker initially decided to postpone the event and then moved to cancel it. After consideration by organizers, however, they decided to let its online partner handle the event.

“We are delighted to be associated with Europe’s oldest poker festival,” said partypoker managing director Tom Waters in a statement. “The Irish Open is a truly unique event and following the disappointment of its cancellation this year, an online Irish Open festival looks a perfect fit for both event organisers and partypoker.”

partypoker is following in the footsteps of Unibet, which moved its Unibet Poker Open from a live venue in Estonia onto its online platform.

At least for the time being, and also points can definitely transform in the coming weeks, the online poker community doesn’t appear to be as well concerned with the mainstream media’s coronavirus protection.

Card rooms in Las Vegas, the poker capital of the US, continue to be busy. And also while you will not locate many players using a face mask just yet, some are making way of life adjustments to prepare for what many experts think will certainly quickly end up being a significant health and wellness dilemma in America.

Shaun Deeb, for example, isn’t taking any chances with his child’s health.

Aria, among the leading poker rooms in Las Vegas, claimed it will certainly begin cleaning chips with extra unique care. It certainly can not hurt for casinos to take precautions similar to this to lower the odds of clients and also team spreading out the coronavirus.

Coronavirus Won’t Keep Poker Players Away

According to ESPN poker commentator Norman Chad, a routine at Hollywood Park Casino in Los Angeles, attendance at his favored card room “appears about the same” his previous two check outs, most lately on Monday. He told that he hasn’t seen players using face masks at the tables.

Brad Owen, a Las Vegas poker vlogger, says his experiences are similar.

“People don’t seem to be too concerned overall,” he said.

Attendance in poker rooms around the US doesn’t yet seem to be struggling due to the coronavirus scare. Of course, that could all change in the coming weeks should the virus spread further. As of Tuesday evening, there are more than 950 confirmed cases reported in the US.

But it’s still early and that number figures to soon increase. We just don’t yet know if the coronavirus will spread throughout the country as rapidly as some experts project. Should tens of thousands of Americans become infected, poker rooms will likely begin seeing a significant decline in attendance.

Vegas Buffets Closing

Las Vegas isn’t just the poker capital of the United States. It’s also the buffet capital, with many of the tastiest and most expensive buffets in the country all within a few mile radius. With so many people taking food, plates, and silverware off of communal serving platters, the potential for an infected coronavirus patient to spread the disease unknowingly at a buffet can be high.

Because of this, MGM Resorts has taken pre-emptive action, temporarily closing its buffets at seven properties — MGM Grand, Luxor, Excalibur, Aria, Mirage, Bellagio, and Mandalay Bay.

Wynn, on the other hand, is keeping its fancy buffet open, but customers won’t be permitted to scoop their own food, for the time being. Instead, a staff member will do that for you. You’ll still be allowed to stuff your face on your own, though.

Tony Tran emerged victorious from a field of 250 entries to win the 2020 World Poker Tour Rolling Thunder $5,000 buy-in no-limit hold’em main event, earning his second WPT title and the top prize of $279,270. Incredibly, Tran’s heads-up opponent in this tournament was none other than Jake Schwartz, who also finished runner-up to Tran in his previous title run at the 2018 WPT bestbet Bounty Scramble.

“I feel really good that I’m actually a champion again. It just shows that the first one was not a fluke,” Tran told WPT reporters after securing the win. “I don’t think it compares to the first one, but the second one is definitely good because I think there are only a few that actually have [at least two] WPT titles.”

In fact, the 32-year-old real estate investor from Philadelphia became just the 25th player in WPT history to secure two or more victorious on the tour. In addition to the title and the money, Tran was also awarded 816 Card Player Player of the Year points as the champion of this event. This was only his second final-table finish of the year, but it was enough to see him climb into 56th place in the 2020 POY race, which is sponsored by Global Poker.

The final day of this event began with just six players returning to the Thunder Valley Casino Resort near Sacramento, California. Tran came into the day essentially tied for the shortest stack. He managed to rebuild his stack early on by knocking out two-time World Series of Poker bracelet winner Shankar Pillai in sixth place. Tran picked up pocket kings and held against Pillai’s pocket sevens to send him to the rail with $45,390.

A few orbits later Tran found a huge double up with QHeart SuitQDiamond Suit beating out the JDiamond SuitJClub Suit of two-tim WPT winner and defending champion of this event Erkut Yilmaz.

Yilmaz lost a preflop race against Jake Schwartz to fall to the shortest stack at the table. He was eliminated shortly after, cashing for $61,685 as the fifth-place finisher.

Kevin Rabichow entered the final day as the chip leader, but lost some all-ins during short-handed play that left him near the bottom of the chip counts. He shoved his last 16 big blinds from the button with KClub Suit4Club Suit and was called by Tran in the big blind with AClub SuitJClub Suit. Tran made a full house by the river to knock Rabichow out in fourth place ($85,800).

Robert Heidorn was the next to fall. He got all-in preflop from the button with 2Heart Suit2Diamond Suit and Tran called holding 10Spade Suit10Diamond Suit. Neither player improved and Tran’s tens took it down. Heidorn earned $122,105 for his third-place showing. It was the third-largest score of his career, with his biggest being the $800,000 he took home as the 10th-place finisher in the 2019 WSOP main event.

With that Tran and Schwartz set up a rematch of their heads-up showdown back in October of 2018. Tran began with just more than a 4:1 chip advantage over Schwartz. The two battled it out for 28 total hands, with Schwartz mounting a comeback midway through that saw him close the gap somewhat. By the time the final cards were dealt, though, Tran had regained the lead and ground Schwartz down to less than 14 big blinds. With blinds of 50,000-100,000 with a 100,000 big blind ante, Tran raised to 250,000 from the button with QClub Suit10Spade Suit. Schwartz shoved all in for 1,350,000 with JHeart Suit10Heart Suit. Tran made the call and was in good shape heading into the flop.

The JDiamond Suit9Diamond Suit8Club Suit gave Tran the nut straight right off the bat. The 5Diamond Suit on the turn left Schwartz drawing to a chop on the river, but the 7Spade Suit locked up both the pot and the title for Tran. Schwartz earned $177,680 as the runner-up finisher this time around.

“Back to the Future” co-stars Michael J. Fox and Christopher Lloyd went back in time Thursday night for a charity poker tournament in New York, and the web went wild over an Instagram picture of the on-screen friends that charmed their means right into fans’ hearts all the way back in 1985.

The actors signed up with forces for the annual Michael J. Fox Structure casino poker evening, a charity drive that has actually raised numerous dollars for Parkinson’s disease research study given that 2007. This year, Lloyd, 81, was the guest of honor at the fundraising event hosted by his on-screen sidekick, now 58, in three movies that appeared between 1985 and also 1990.

‘Going 88mph for the @michaeljfoxorg Poker Night! ♠ ♦’ Lloyd posted on Instagram.

The occasion itself was rather lowkey, taking into consideration the A-list celebs it has actually drawn for many years. No tournament information, details regarding the champion, or quantities increased were offered on the Michael J. Fox Structure site at the time of writing.

Previous years have actually seen a number of acquainted faces from the texas hold’em globe assistance Fox’s charity drive. In 2012, the fifth-annual event took place in New York as well as featured WPT champ Phil Gordon.

Going Back in Time

With a special 35th wedding anniversary screening of Back to the Future taking place this year, talks of a reboot have actually been swarming.

Fox subdued the suggestion of Back to the Future IV during a cast get-together in 2018, yet with prequels and sequels all the rage these days, fans of the franchise aren’t giving up hope.

Even if Marty McFly does not return in the future, he was back for one evening alongside Doc Brown.

Signing up with the famous onscreen duo for an evening of fundraising and bluffing was TV news anchor Katie Couric. She was joined at the really felt by her spouse, John Molner, and Mad Concerning You star Richard Kind.

For Couric, the subtleties of casino poker played second fiddle to the adventure of winning. During her recap of the evening, her greatest success was striking a winning flush.

Ultimately, Michael J. Fox and also his charity were the evening’s actual victors. With more money raised through online poker, the structure has currently added more than $900 million to Parkinson’s illness research study.

Michael J. Fox Fighting Parkinson’s Over Two Centuries

Fox was diagnosed with Parkinson’s in 1991 at the age of 29. He concealed his ailment from the public till 1998 before surrendering acting. Two years later, he established the Michael J. Fox Foundation.

Today, the charity is based in New york city yet has a visibility all over the world. Via a combination of fundraising events as well as contributions, it’s aided the development of new treatments for Parkinson’s.

Fox returned to acting in 2013 and currently utilizes his system to elevate understanding of the disease. His latest charity casino poker evening was another opportunity to make another favorable effect. It was likewise a possibility for followers of 80s flicks to go back in time as well as see two celebrities rejoin.

The World Series of Poker Circuit is heading back to the Bicycle Hotel & Casino from Feb. 29 through March 31, with thirteen gold ring events included. The centerpiece of the whole affair is the 2020 WSOP Circuit Bicycle Casino $1,700 buy-in no-limit hold’em main event which kicks off with the first of two starting flights beginning on Sunday, March 15 at noon local time.

Players will begin with 30,000 in chips with initial blinds of 100-100 in the event. Blind levels will be 40 minutes long throughout the starting days but will increase to 60 minutes in length on day 2. Players can re-enter the event once per starting day.

Those that survive day 2 will return at noon on Wednesday, March 18 to play down to a champion. The final table will be streamed on Live At The Bike.

The March 2019 running of this WSOP Circuit main event drew a total of 678 entries to create a $1,027,170 final prize pool. Sean Yu emerged victorious, defeating Andrew Moreno heads-up to secure the ring and the top prize of $210,585.

Other past champions of WSOPC main event at the Bike include the likes of Dylan Wilkerson ($216,790), Antonio Esfandiari ($226,785), Jared Jaffee ($211,220), and Freddy Deeb ($171,810), who won the first-ever WSOP Circuit main event held at the Casino.

In addition to the WSOP Circuit events, the series will also play host to two massive $1,000,000 guaranteed events: The Quantum Millions (running Feb. 29 – March 9) and the Quantum Mega Millions XXII (running March 20 – Apr. 2).

Players interested in staying at The Bicycle Hotel and Casino during this series can take advantage of a WSOP Circuit player discounted room rate of $159 per night for a deluxe room with the promo code “WSOP” when selecting their stay. Click the banner image below to reserve your room today!

In late 2015 the Bicycle Hotel and Casino unveiled a $50 million hotel expansion to the property. The 117,907-square-foot addition boasts 99 rooms, including 29 suites, as well as a multitude of amenities including the Bike Brewery, full spa and elevated outdoor pool deck with private cabanas. The poker room is an expansive 100,000 square feet, with 185 tables available.

For more information you can visit the WSOP Circuit or the Bicycle Hotel and Casino websites.

Bradley Hinson wins the World Series of Poker Circuit Rio $1,700 Main Event Tuesday night at the Rio Las Vegas WSOP Circuit, earning $209,216 and his first WSOP ring. Hinson, from North Carolina, has previously cashed in 7 WSOP events for a total of $64,135, and until now has never been able to come close to a final table.

I have always wanted to win one. I just don’t usually play that many tournaments. Fifteen years ago when I started playing, I always considered it a bucket list thing for me to win,” said Hinson after securing the title and the ring. “I am from the middle of nowhere North Carolina, I want to thank my family, my friends and God. My family has always been super supportive. I feel like most people where I am from wouldn’t have that level of support for playing poker, so it means a lot to me. My parents are awake right now on the east coast waiting for me to tell them how I did.

The final day of this event began with 17 players remaining. It took a little over five hours to narrow the area to an official last table of nine, with a number of notables striking the rail along the way including two-time WSOP bracelet victor and also three-time World Texas hold’em Tour main event champion Anthony Zinno (14th– $12,863), three-time ring winner Peter Vitantonio (11th– $15,872) and 2013 WPT Legends of Poker victor Jordan Cristos (10th– $15,872).

Hinson began the day in second chip lead and remained in that spot by the time the final table was set. The field was quickly narrowed down to six, with Joseph Marchal (9th – $19,819), Mark Ioli (8th – $25,039) and WSOP Circuit Horseshoe Baltimore champion Faisal Siddiqui (7th – $32,003) all hitting the rail within the first 75 minutes of final-table action.

Louise Francoeur was the next to be eliminated. She ran AClub SuitQClub Suit into the ASpade SuitKSpade Suit of James Duke to finish in sixth place, earning $41,375 for her deep run.

Adam Hendrix began the final day as the chip leader, but he fell to the bottom of the leaderboard during five-handed play. He ultimately got his last chips in with QClub Suit4Club Suit and found himself in rough shape against the QSpade SuitJHeart Suit of Michael Stein. Hendrix managed to pair his four on the turn to take the lead, but Stein rivered a superior pair of jacks to secure the pot and the knockout. Hendrix took home $54,101 as the fifth-place finisher.

Stein was also responsible for the next knockout. He picked up pocket tens against the ADiamond SuitKDiamond Suit of James Duke and won the race, making a full house by the river to eliminate Duke in fourth place ($71,540).

Despite securing the previous two eliminations, Stein was ultimately the player to hit the rail in third place. He three-bet a button raise from Hinson and called a shove from the small blind with KSpade Suit5Diamond Suit, only to find himself up against the 5Spade Suit5Heart Suit. The board came down 9Spade Suit5Club Suit3Heart Suit3Club Suit2Diamond Suit and Hinson made a full house to send Stein to the rail with $95,654.

With that Hinson took roughly a 2:1 chip lead into heads-up play against three-time WSOPC ring winner Trung Pham. In the final hand, Hinson picked up AClub SuitJSpade Suit on the button and raised. Pham shoved all-in with ASpade Suit8Club Suit. The AHeart SuitQHeart Suit4Spade Suit5Diamond Suit7Heart Suit runout locked up the pot and the title for Hinson. Pham earned $129,305 as the runner-up, the second largest payday of his career. He now has more than $1.1 million in lifetime live earnings.

WSOPC Rio Main Event Final Table Results

Christopher Puetz has denied reigning WSOP world champion Hossein Ensan another title by winning the World Poker Tour (WPT) Germany main event.

After five days of preliminary action at King’s Casino Rozvadov, Puetz emerged victorious after a tough finale on Sunday.

With 501 entries cut down to 10, all eyes were on 2019 WSOP Main Event winner Ensan at the start of the final day. With WSOP and European Poker Tour (EPT) titles to his name, the German was bidding to become a Triple Crown winner.

WSOP Champion Starts Strong, Falls Short
Things started well for Ensan in the €3,300/$3,530 main event. With 10 players remaining and the second-largest stack, he sat back as Rifat Gegic and Renato Nowak became the first two casualties. With just seven players left, things fell apart.

Pre-flop, Ensan raised with Q♠J♦ from early position and Laszlo Papai called on the button with A♥9♥. Everyone else folded and the flop came 9♦K♦4♥. A check from Ensan elicited a bet from his opponent. Ensan called and the 5♥ landed on the turn.

Both players checked the turn before the 9♠ on the river prompted a bet from Ensan. That last ditch effort to steal the pot was met with a call from Papai holding trips.

Now on the backfoot, Ensan tried to regain what he’d lost but, ultimately, fell afoul of chip leader Joep van den Bijgaart. Following a raise from van den Bijgaart with A♣K♣, Ensan moved all-in.

Van den Bijgaart called, leaving Ensan in trouble with A♦9♣. The J♦6♥J♥Q♣2♥ was enough to give Van den Bijgaart the pot and end Ensan’s dream of becoming poker’s 10th Triple Crown winner.

As Ensan exited, Puetz started to make his move. The eliminations of Farukh Tach, Gianluca Speranza and Josef Gulas took the field down to three. At this point, Puetz made trips at the right time to decimate Van den Bijgaart’s stack.

Flying Dutchman Downed as Puetz Wins WPT Germany
That coup was the beginning of the end for Van den Bijgaart. Within a few rounds, the Dutchman was out courtesy of Laszlo Papai.

With two left and the stacks evenly balanced, the WPT Germany title could have gone either way. However, in the end, Puetz got it done in dramatic fashion after just seven hands.

Having lost the majority of his stack on the previous hand, Papai was all-in pre-flop courtesy of the blinds. Without anything extra to pay, Puetz tabled Q♦9♣.

Pocket fours gave Papai a glimmer of hope thanks to a 4♣9♥Q♠ flop. However, the Q♥ on the turn swung things in Puetz’s favor before the 7♥ closed out the show.

WPT Germany Main Event Results

Are YouTube poker channels being unfairly targeted? The video sharing platform removed numerous poker videos recently, and it’s all a big mystery to some content creators as to why.

Jaime Staples has a popular YouTube poker channel with over 73,000 subscribers. He is one of the many punished content creators. But he certainly isn’t going to just sit back and watch his channel fizzle. The former Partypoker pro is fighting back. And he’s also trying to help his peers.

Staples offered up on Twitter to collect information from every poker player who feels they’ve been targeted, put that information into a spreadsheet, and send it off to a contact at YouTube.

YouTube Poker Channels in Trouble, But Why?

Many YouTubers earn a full-time income creating videos. In the poker niche, there aren’t many getting rich off YouTube ads. But vloggers such as Andrew Neeme and Brad Owen earn decent income through their popular YouTube poker channels. And others — Jeff Boski, Jaime Staples, Marle Cordeiro, just to name a few — also generate revenue from the video sharing platform.

So, when YouTube bans some of their content, they take a hit financially. The YouTube gambling content rules are pretty straightforward. YouTubers such as Owen and Staples are also unsure why they’re being punished.

Per YouTube’s terms and conditions, the company supports “responsible gambling advertising.” Content creators are allowed to post gambling-related ads so long as they comply with the following policies.

What Can They Do About It?

YouTube guidelines state that “gambling ads must target approved countries, have a landing page that displays information about responsible gambling, and never target minors.” We have yet to find rules violations in any videos from Owen, Staples, Neeme, or any of the other top vloggers, streamers, and poker content producers. But they’re still being punished.

The most likely reason for videos being removed is due to a recent YouTube algorithm change. This has happened in the past where gambling-related videos are removed following an algorithm update. Once YouTube investigates, the videos that didn’t actually violate the terms and conditions are typically reinstated.

Brian Christopher, a popular slot machine vlogger, knows what it’s like to enter YouTube jail. In 2018, his channel of over 1,100 videos, was suspended due to supposed rules violations. The account was eventually reinstated and his channel is back to normal. So, perhaps, the YouTube poker community will soon have the same positive outcome.

Romeo Mendoza just captured his first World Series of Poker Circuit title after battling through a field of 173 players in the $2,200 No-Limit Hold’em High Roller at the Seminole Hard Rock Tampa. He earned $88,717, his biggest recorded cash to date, for his victory.

The newly crowned champion is mostly a high stakes cash game player and he picked up his first WSOP Circuit victory in his home casino.

“Hopefully it is one of many. It means a lot, specially because I won it here in my hometown. I’ve been playing in this casino since it opened,” Mendoza said after his win.

Day 2 started with 49 players returning to the felt and the 34-year old was near the top of the leaderboard. He kept accumulating more chips, eventually finding himself at the final table with phenomenal players.

When the heads-up match started, Mendoza had a big chip disadvantage and he had to battle it out against a friend of his, three-time Circuit ring winner Andrew “A.J.” Kelsall. Although most players would fear having to defeat such an accomplished player, for Mendoza, it was the opposite.

Indeed, having years of experience playing against him, Mendoza was extremely familiar with Andrew’s game and felt very confident going into the heads-up battle.

“I think he had me three or four times the amount of my chips, but I felt that if me and A.J. got heads up I would win. I kind of know how he plays so I felt really good honestly playing against him. We’ve been playing together for over fifteen years,” he explained.

No matter what would have been the result, for Mendoza, making it to heads-up against his friend was a memorable experience.

“It’s pretty cool that two Tampa guys are here. We’re both hometown guys, we’ve been playing here, and we play high stakes poker all the time together so it’s really cool that it was me and him, we will always remember this because we’re buddies. I know how he plays, he knows how I play, so it was really fun.”

Mendoza intends on taking a shot at the Main Event next.

Final Table Action:

Ben Diebold was the first casualty of the final table when he ran queens into Kelsall’s kings in all in preflop situation. The board was of no help to him and he was sent out in ninth place.

Short stack Hamid Izadi bowed out shortly after when he shoved pocket threes into Steven Veneziano’s pocket eights. Veneziano improved his hand to a full house and Izadi headed to the exit in eighth place.

William Medina Diaz was Veneziano’s next victim. He moved all in with tens and got called by Veneziano’s king-queen. Veneziano flopped a pair of queens, ending Diaz’s tournament run in seventh place.

Next out in sixth was Miguel Hernandez. After losing multiple pots, he jammed his final crumbs with five-three suited and couldn’t find any help after a call from Kelsall who held ace-queen suited.

James Calderaro headed to the rail in fifth place when he shoved his last few big big blinds with six-five suited only to get snap-called by Veneziano’s aces.

He was followed the payout desk by Steven Veneziano when Veneziano called a shove from Kelsall to put at risk his last chips in a blind vs blind situation. Veneziano was ahead with ace-seven suited against Kelsall’s king-deuce but that didn’t last long as Kelsall flopped a king to take over the lead, eliminating him in fourth place.

Eric Salazar fell in third place when he raised all-in with an open-ended straight draw on the flop against Kelsall’s queens but couldn’t get there.

Although Kelsall started the heads-up match with a significant lead, he lost several pots in a row and fell one spot short from his fourth ring when four-bet shoved with tens and got called by Mendoza’s king-queen suited. The board double paired with aces and jacks and Mendoza’s king played for him to win it all.

Final Table Results