Players Come First has complemented its recent move to the Microgaming Poker Network (MPN) by signing Felipe Ramos.

Declared on April 17, the offer will see Ramos give the online poker start-up a global presence. In addition to a Latin American fanbase, the Brazilian is referred to as a combined games professional.

In between his fondness for non-Hold ’em variations and also a profession that extends greater than a years, Ramos has actually racked up $2.5 million in live revenues.

Ramos to Connect with Community

In his brand-new role as Players Precede ambassador, the guy referred to as Mojave help to support the website’s player-friendly focus.

Although Players Preceded Online poker is getting in an open market, it’s aiming to capitalize on a recurring trend. Following complaints about how particular parts of the market have progressed, player power has held.

In January 2019, Partypoker introduced a “gamer panel” to enhance its links with the area. Making use of high-profile players such as Isaac Haxton, the driver has taken on board remarks from gamers and also shaped its innovations appropriately.

Players Come First Facing Tough Test

Looking to maximize this player-centric dynamic, Athletes Come First will use Ramos to build bridges. These bridges might be important as the website’s new network is about to lose one of its biggest brand names.

After 13 years of service, RedKings Poker lately introduced it will certainly stop procedures on April 28. Although it hasn’t said why, dropping revenue is most likely the factor.

As it stands, MPN is ranked 15^th in the world by daily traffic reports. This, coupled with tighter margins for online poker, has caused the longstanding brand to reassess its options.

Indeed, with RedKings Gambling enterprise remaining open, the implication is that MPN might not be as rewarding as it when was.

For its component, Players Come First currently has an online casino and also sportsbook. It likewise prepares to roll out an online bingo platform in the near future.

However, it will certainly also be hoping Ramos can connect with the casino poker neighborhood to help develop a site players want to be a part of.

The Day 1 trips of the Harrah’s Cherokee Main Event are currently in the books as well as leading the way after the initial 17 levels of play is two-time World Series of Poker bracelet winner Calvin Anderson. Anderson already has over $1,000,000 in WSOP incomes but has yet to discover a WSOPC ring yet. He might include that to his collection with a win below in this event. Anderson started grabbing steam early in the day and he never let off the gas pedal, getting rid of several gamers near the end of the night to do with simply under a million chips with 959,000.

Anderson will certainly sign up with Day 1A chip leader Mike Vanier atop the chip counts. Vanier got 773,000 which was good sufficient for second area overall. Both will certainly be adhered to by previous World Series of Poker Main Event Champion Greg Raymer that bagged the third largest stack in the competition with 723,000 chips.

Various other notables that will be returning for Day 2 activity include Allen Kessler, Jared Jaffee, Dapo Ajayi, Lakisha Slaughter, Timothy Burden, Michael Perrone, Blake Whittington and also Brett Apter who all landed on Day 1B. Several remarkable players will certainly be joining from Day 1A too with the likes of Damjan Radanov, Nitis Udornpim, T.K. Miles, Tyler Patterson, Marshall White, Ryan Van Sanford, Krzysztof Stybaniewicz, Warren Sheave and also Ralph Massey all making it via to Day 2.

For every single notable who did make it with though, there were 2 who fell. Amongst those that weren’t able to hike on Day 2 were Maurice Hawkins, Justin Harvell, Ryan Phan, Aaron Massey, David Bach, Max Young, Brock Wilson, Loni Harwood, Brett Murray, Ben Keeline, and Roland Israelashvili just among others. Hamid Izadi was one more circuit routine to fall on Day 1B. Izadi obtained most of his stack in with a straight versus Ben Diebold who turned 2 pair with a flush draw. The flush was available in on the river which was completion for Izadi who was gotten rid of.

Ultimately, an overall of 136 gamers advanced to Day 2 with 50 players making it through from Day 1A and 86 survivors from Day 1B. This puts gamers simply 21 places away from the money. A mincash will certainly be worth $2,701 for the occasion but players will undoubtedly be trying to find the starting point prize of $300,536 along with the seat to the Global Casino Championship. Any individual that makes the last table in case will take residence a minimum of $29,807 for 9th location.

Activity is readied to return to on Sunday, April 21 at 12 p.m. with the final 136 players going back to play 10, one-hour levels. Gamer will return in level 18 with blinds of 3,000/ 6,000 and also an ante of 1,000.

Pot-limit Omaha enthusiast Joe Ingram may soon settle a year-long dispute with the CEO of Americas Cardroom. Or, maybe not. The popular podcaster will have Phil Nagy on his YouTube show April 29 to discuss concerns over bots flooding ACR.

Ingram has long accused ACR of refusing to eliminate the bots and colluding players. He claims bots flood the PLO cash games and many real players collude to create unfair games.

Nagy has always disagreed with the podcaster until recently when he admitted his site has a bot problem. But there’s no doubt the two have some bad blood to resolve or the interview could get vile.

‘Steps in the Right Direction?’

Joe Ingram said in a recent YouTube video that he’s optimistic Nagy and ACR will take some “steps in the right direction” towards eliminating the bots. But he doesn’t know what to expect from the upcoming conversation.

Regardless of the outcome of the podcast, Ingram admitted in his video that he’s “excited” for the opportunity. He’s called out Nagy numerous times over the past year for refusing to take action. And he believes now is the time to put a stop to it.

Ingram built a spreadsheet of ACR players he claims are bots. He’ll likely share that list with Nagy on the podcast. The Americas Cardroom CEO recently said his company will reimburse those affected by the bots. He hasn’t said exactly how much money will be refunded, however.

Stopping Online Poker Cheating

Americas Cardroom isn’t the only poker site that has a problem with bots and collusion. But Ingram spends so much time criticizing Nagy’s site because it is one of the few busy US-facing poker sites.

In another Ingram podcast with Doug Polk on Thursday, a bot discussion came up. Polk suggested bots could eventually take over online poker sites.

PokerStars and others have taken steps to minimize cheating. And, hopefully, Phil Nagy will take the same precautions after his conversation with Joe Ingram.

The 2019 WSOP will kickoff with a charity poker tournament benefiting the children of the late Gavin Smith, who passed away in January.

On May 28 at 6 pm, one day prior to the first bracelet event, the Rio will host a $200 buy-in tournament benefiting the Gavin Smith Memorial Fund.

Half the money in this rake-free event goes to charity and the other half to the prize pool. The tournament takes place in the Pavilion, a room inside the Rio Convention Center.

Helping Gavin’s Family

After Gavin passed away, his friend and fellow poker player Josh Arieh hinted that Smith wasn’t as wealthy as some may have expected. On Twitter. he wrote that, “I’m certain the boys need help. I’ll leave it at that.”

Arieh helped raise money through a GoFundMe immediately following Gavin’s death. Random Twitter trolls weren’t the only ones questioning why a poker pro with over $6 million in career cashes was in need of money. Doyle Brunson had the same reservations.

But most who responded to that post didn’t agree with Doyle. Gavin does have $6 million in tournament cashes. He was also a paid ambassador for Full Tilt Poker before Black Friday. And he competed in numerous televised high stakes cash game shows such as “Poker After Dark.”

So, to an outsider who never walked a mile in his shoes, it may seem odd that Gavin’s children need charity. But the public doesn’t know his struggles and financial situation.

Left a Mark on Poker Community

Regardless of your personal thoughts on Smith’s financial situation, Gavin clearly left a positive mark on the poker world. Thousands of poker players on social media sent condolences on social media and dozens showed up for a candlelight vigil in Las Vegas. In less than 12 hours, Arieh’s GoFundMe had raised more than $40,000.

Gavin Smith was a Full Tilt Poker pro, WSOP bracelet winner, and one of the funniest and friendliest players at any poker table. He passed away in January unexpectedly at his Texas home at the age of 50. The exact cause of death is unknown. Many on social media speculated his death was drug or alcohol related. But that assumption was quickly squashed by those who personally knew him.

Gavin, who was born in Canada, leaves behind two children whom he had full custody of, and numerous friends and fans within the poker community.

The 2019 Seminole Hard Rock Poker Showdown $25,000 no-limit hold’em high roller event drew a total of 99 entries, easily surpassing the $2 million guarantee to create a final prize pool of $2,445,300. In the end, the largest share of that money was awarded to eventual champion Aaron Mermelstein. The two-time World Poker Tour main event winner earned $618,955 and his first high roller title for the win.

“I live here part-time now so for me it’s nice to get a big win here especially against a lot of the tougher competition,” Mermelstein told Seminole Hard Rock Poker Blog reporters. “Feels sort of like home. It feels good. This is my first cash in a $25K, so it’s nice to win the first one.”

In addition to the SHRPS trophy and the big payday, Mermelstein also took home 756 Card Player Player of the Year points. This was his second final-table finish of the year, and it was enough to see him move into 152nd place in the overall standings.

Play resumed on day 2 of this event with 16 competitors remaining and only the top 14 set to make the money. Jonathan Jaffe was knocked out on the bubble, running KClub SuitJClub Suit into the pocket kings of Alex Foxen.

Mermelstein took the outright lead by eliminating Niall Farrell in sixth place. His pocket nines held up against the ASpade SuitQHeart Suit of Farrell to send the Scottish poker pro home with $100,255.

2015 World Series of Poker main event champion Joe McKeehen knocked out Shannon Shorr in fifth place ($136,935) and James Calderaro in fourth place ($210,295)) to close the gap on Mermelstein and Foxen heading into three-handed play.

McKeehen ended up falling to the bottom of the leaderboard again by the time the next big hand arose. Mermelstein raised to 175,000 from the button with blinds of 50,000-75,000 with a 75,000 big-blind ante. McKeehen moved all-in for 1,550,000 from the small blind. Foxen shoved from the big blind and Mermelstein folded. Foxen had picked up the AHeart SuitAClub Suit. McKeehen held the KSpade SuitQClub Suit. The board ran out KHeart Suit10Heart Suit3Spade SuitJClub Suit5Heart Suit and McKeehen was knocked out in third place ($305,665).

Mermelstein took a small lead into heads-up play against Foxen, but was able to extend his advantage to more than 3-to-1 by the time the final hand came down. Foxen raised to 350,000 from the button with the JSpade Suit10Diamond Suit and Mermelstein called with 10Spade Suit10Heart Suit. The flop came down 10Club Suit9Heart Suit4Club Suit and Mermelstein checked his top set, Foxen bet 450,000 and Mermelstein check-raised all in. Foxen called for his last 2,125,000. The AClub Suit on the turn left him drawing dead, and the 3Spade Suit officially secured the pot and the title for Mermelstein.

Foxen took home $545,000 and 630 POY points as the runner-up finisher. This was his sixth final table of the year. He now sits in 15th place on the POY leaderboard, with 1,929 points and $1,857,486 in year-to-date earnings.

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

Andrew Neeme and also his online poker vlogging peer Brad Owen took their prominent meetup cash money video game to Run it Up Reno on Monday night. Also in the reasonably village of Reno, Nevada, a sizable crowd of followers packed the back space at the Peppermill poker room for some beers, small talk, and also a laid-back video game of $2/$ 5 no-limit hold ’em.

Neeme as well as Owen have well over 200,000 consolidated YouTube subscribers which is challenging to pull off in the poker particular niche. In contrast, vloggers Johnnie “Vibes” Moreno, Jaman Burton, and Tim “TheTrooper97” Watts, all enjoyable content providers, each have less than 40,000 subscribers.

They’ve turned a lot of those customers into hardcore fans. Some of whom also follow them around the nation to compete in these meetup video games (CUP).

One player in the game, Brian, that stays in San Diego is a CUP regular. Andrew describes him as the “MVP of the meetup games,” a suitable nickname for a person ready to make the 550-mile trek.

The poker session began around 6 pm and I pulled Neeme away from the table around 8:30 for an interview. He was up about $500 at the time, so he was, as you ‘d anticipate, in excellent spirits.

Poker Like it Should Be

Many of us fell for this video game during the online poker boom age, back prior to the headphone-wearing GTO robots chowing down on quinoa as well as broccoli took over the card spaces.

When I first started playing cards in 2003, we packed our confront with greasy burgers, and also table talk always maintained the video game lively. The meetup video game at Peppermill reminded me of those magnificence days.

Few, if any kind of, used earphones. Gamers talked around greater than just ranges and solvers. As well as the online casino fed everybody free beef nachos that were quite yummy as well as, also much better, extra oily– just the means I like it.

Evolution of the MUG

Neeme and Owen have built their co-meetup game into quite a popular regular event. They’ve hosted the games in card rooms all over the country in Baltimore, San Antonio, Las Vegas, and also Reno. He praised Monday’s host venue.

“The Peppermill is lacking nothing that we wish they incorporated in the other card rooms,” he told CardsChat. “It’s cool that we get this back room here to keep the group separate. Obviously the dealers are pros, the cocktail waitresses are on point, so it’s a great spot.”

The game had four tables going although some players, including poker funny guy Joe Stapleton, had already gone busto and left by the time I arrived. While that’s an impressive turnout, it pales in comparison to some recent MUG’s.

“The biggest one was the Maryland Live (near Baltimore),” Neeme said. “We had 22 tables running and a waiting list. It was pretty crazy.”

Neeme said the players on Monday were “mostly (Reno) locals with other players scattered around.”

Future Plans for Andrew Neeme

Owens and Neeme clearly have a good thing going with their vlogs and meetup games. It’s quite refreshing to watch a lively game of poker in the headphones and GTO era.

But I also know Andrew could reach a larger audience in another niche such as travel. He’s extremely talented in front of and behind the camera. And anyone who watches his vlogs knows that to be true. Poker is a relatively small niche and although he has over 114,000 YouTube subscribers and his fans flock to his MUG’s, I wondered if he considers branching outside of poker.

“Sure, definitely thought about it,” he told me. “The size of the market (in poker) is smaller than a more general topic. When you’re speaking about poker hands, you’re speaking a foreign language to a lot of people.”

But he also understands that his fans come for the poker, and he doesn’t want to scare them off.

“The thing about the poker audience is that it’s a very passionate audience. So, the people who are into it, they want to consume as much of it as they can.”

I brought up the possibility of splitting up his YouTube channel into separate channels to cover multiple niches without running off his poker fans.

“As of right now, my attention is already split in so many different ways, even within poker. We’re doing these meetup games. There’s so much travel to do with that. And I’m still making my own videos and doing the editing and playing poker itself, and I have a podcast with my fiance. So, it’s hard to also do an entirely different subject matter.”

You can catch Andrew’s podcast with his fiance, Busi, at TellsPodcast.com.

Psyched to Run it Up in Reno

Jason Somerville’s Run it Up Reno has exploded over the past couple of years. The current series of mostly low-stakes poker tournaments, is running until April 22.

Many popular poker personalities such as Chris Moneymaker, Joe Stapleton, Benj “spraggy” Spragg and, of course, Somerville, have joined Neeme, a member of Team RIU, in Reno this week. Other than having an opportunity to play with the pros, Andrew explained why Run it Up has become such a massive event.

“A lot of it just stems from Jason’s personality,” he said. “He’s always been a very positive and upbeat character. He’s not one to get into the trolling and all that stuff. And he sees that poker needs a social aspect of it to thrive.”

“I don’t think it matters if it’s in Reno or Los Angeles or New York City. I think people want to be a part of that sort of vibe.”

But it isn’t just Somerville and the other familiar faces bringing players to Peppermill for RIU. Neeme says the event is “very approachable” and the players who compete at RIU “really enjoy the game and like playing with others who enjoy the game.”

That’s the same formula Andrew and Brad utilize to grow the meetup games. And also it’s clearly functioning. Probably, that is why Jason Somerville pled Neeme to sign up with Team Run it Up.

The behemoth area of the WPT Seminole Hard Rock Poker Showdown drew 1,360 entrants, all prepared to battle very for a distinguished WPT title. Nonetheless, by the end of Day 2 of the event, there were just 90 players left.

Poker professional Keith Ferrera bagged the largest stack after the end of the second day of the fourth largest WPT Main Event in the history of the series. The player had collected 1.905 million in chips by the time coordinators called it a day.

Ferrera is vying for his first title from the WPT’s Main Tour series. The player made it to the final table of the WPT Lucky Hearts Poker Open at Seminole Hard Rock in Season X, but a title eluded him back then as he hit the rail in sixth place.

Ferrera emerged as the chip leader early into Day 2 of the tournament and never really lost his momentum throughout the levels that were played at the host venue – Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino Hollywood – on Sunday.

Of his efficiency on the 2nd day of opinion, Ferrera said that it really felt great to be the chip leader and that he ran quite possibly the other day. The over night chip leader remembered that there had actually been times when he had ran well however had ended up out of the race, so it really felt excellent to not only make it via Day 2, yet bag the biggest chip pile.

Tough Opponents Trailing Not Too Far Behind

Ferrera had fantastic run on Sunday at the host casino, winning practically every pot he played. Nonetheless, his benefit will not make his march towards success a simple task. Trailing behind the overnight chip leader is 2016 November Niner Jerry Wong. The gamer placed 1.47 million in chips in his bag last night, helpful for the 2nd area in the momentary leaderboard.

Another seasoned online poker pro and also a two-time WPT champ holds the third largest stack into Day 3 of the tournament. Aaron Mermelstein accumulated 1.425 million well worth in chips last night to strike the top for a 3rd title.

Other notables still in the quest include previous champs Eric Afriat, Erik Seidel, Niall Farrell, Seth Davies, and Frank Stepuchin, to name a few. The only player to have ever before won four titles from the series– Darren Elias– also made it with Day 2.

Day 3 of the WPT Seminole Hard Rock Poker Showdown is set to kick off today at noon Florida time. The remaining players are scheduled to play five 90-minute levels. Each of them has at least $7,620 locked up.

As mentioned earlier, the tournament drew 1,360 entrants who generated a prize pool of $4.352 million. The money was split into 170 payouts, min-cashes starting from $6,185. The winner will be awarded $715,175, including a ticket into the season-ending WPT Tournament of Champions.