Late last year, the LCB Team was investigating Play7777, as the online casino had been found to be using fake games. During the investigation, the team was able to discover another site owned by the same company, WOG Network N.V., was also showing suspicious activity. Because the two sites were affiliated, LCB did some digging and found that the platform of BlueLions is fake, with pirated software being used to provide gaming for members.

Fake Gaming Options:

The video slots of BlueLions were found to be completely fake, after an investigation into the gaming options of the brand. The games are visually exact copies of the original games on offer, but they are hosted on a pirated domain. This was the only clue that LCB had to determine the real source of the content. The team inspected the codes and were able to say that the casino is NOT one to be trusted. The team knows just how to look for discrepancies to determine if an online casino is participating in unethical activity.

According to LCB…

There is not a single game at the BlueLions site that is authentic. The platform is quite large, and the team was able to determine that several software companies were listed as providers for the site, though the games were fake. Such providers include: Merkur Gaming, Ainsworth, Net Entertainment, Quickspin, Playtech and more.

The site was able to determine that Quickspin slots were being hosted by a private CDN server and Merkur Gaming content were coming from a site known as skillgame365. The unfamiliar domains are a sure sign that the games are fake and that BlueLions is not to be trusted, along with Play7777.

Rogue Casino Information:

Our sister site focuses on helping gamblers stay abreast of all rogue casinos currently in operation. In their News section, Casino Warnings & Rogue Reports, readers can easily find more information on predatory sites, along with tips and tricks to help spot operators that are not licensed, to avoid being cheated by unscrupulous practices. Stay safe while online by choosing only sites that are trustworthy and reputable.

With massive live and online poker tournament events planned for the coming months, partypokeris set to finish 2018 off with a bang. First up on the agenda is the WPT Montreal Festival, which will see the World Poker Tour teaming up with partypoker LIVE for an exciting series that features combined guarantees of $8,165,000 CAD, with the series running from Oct. 21 – Nov. 4.

We’re thrilled partypoker LIVE and WPThave agreed to a four-year partnership – two iconic brands of poker coming together to offer players all over the world more choice of where to play,” said Chairman of partypoker Mike Sexton when the schedule was revealed in August. “We’re excited to announce the first event will take place at Playground Poker Club in Montreal, where we will work together to offer three components of the World Poker Tour – WPT Main Tour, WPTDeepStacks, and WPT500.”

As Sexton mentioned, there will be events from each of the WPT’s most popular buy-in levels, including a lower buy-in, WPT 500 $550 CAD event with a $1,000,000 CAD guarantee running Oct. 21 – 30 and a $1,650 CAD buy-in WPT DeepStacks event which also features a $1,000,000 CAD that takes place from Nov. 1 – 4. The centerpiece of the whole affair will undoubtedly be the $5,000,000 CAD guaranteed, $5,300 CAD buy-in no-limit hold’em main event, which will run from Oct. 28 – Nov. 4.

The main event features an online starting flight that kicks off on Oct. 28 on partypoker. The live portion of the tournament gets underway the following day, Oct. 29. Those players that make it through to day 2 will combine into one field for Thursday, Nov. 1. The final table is set to take place on Sunday, Nov.4, with a live stream of the event available from the WPT and partypoker LIVE, through the My partypoker LIVE app.

There will also be a $1,000,000 CAD guaranteed high roller, with a $10,300 CAD buy-in. That event will run Nov. 2 – 4.

Players will be able to buy into all of these events using partypoker LIVE Dollars (PP LIVEDollars). PP LIVE Dollars are a flexible currency that can be won in satellites on partypoker and used by players to pay for event buy-ins, travel, hotels, and even visas.

Once the WPT Montreal series comes to an end, the next big series on the agenda is the Caribbean Poker Party (CPP), which is set to take place from Nov. 9-18 at the Baha Mar Casino & Hotel in Nassau, Bahamas. There are 13 events set to take place during the festival, but the whole affair is centered around two gigantic tournaments: The $10,000,000 guaranteed $25,500 buy-inMILLIONS World and the $10,000,000 guaranteed $5,300 buy-in Caribbean Poker Party Main Event.

“There are many coveted titles in poker, from the EPT and WPT Grand Final titles, to WSOP and WSOPE Main Event and Players Championship bracelets, and not forgetting our own MILLIONSGrand Final crown,” said partypoker LIVE president John Duthie. “However, a $10,000,000 guaranteed, $25.5K buy-in tournament is just as important as any of those. We can’t wait to hand the trophy over to our first winner in November. Let’s hope it’s one of the 100+ online qualifiers partypoker will be sending, as that would be quite some story.”

Following on the heels of that huge series in the Carribean will be the MILLIONS Online. As previously mentioned, the $20 million guaranteed $5,300 buy-in online event will run from Nov. 25 – Dec. 5 and is expected to be the biggest online tournament ever, with $2.5 million going to the eventual champion.

Roland Israelashvili, a quiet poker pro most casual fans aren’t familiar with, has made the money in the first four WSOP Europe events, putting him at 94 career World Series of Poker cashes. That’s good for seventh all-time, and just one behind the great Men “The Master” Nguyen.

Also over in Rozvadov, Czaech Republic, Florian Sarnow final tabled two events within 24 hours. The German finished second in the €1,100 No-Limit Hold’em Turbo Bounty for €37,678 on Wednesday. He then registered for the €550 Pot-Limit Omaha 8-Handed and ended up in eighth place (€5,198).

Thursday was another exciting day at King’s Casino.

Who is Roland Israelashvili?

You’re likely familiar with Phil Hellmuth, Daniel Negreanu, and the others atop the all-time WSOP cashes list. But you probably couldn’t pull 58-year-old Roland Israelashvili out of a lineup.

All-Time WSOP Cashes

1. Phil Hellmuth (USA) 135
2. Chris Ferguson (USA) 117
3. Daniel Negreanu (Canada) 108
4. Erik Seidel (USA) 107
5. Barry Greeinstein (USA) 102
6. Men Nguyen (Vietnam) 95
7. Roland Israelashvili (USA) 94

The New York native finished 17th in the turbo bounty (€1,960) and 40th in PLO (€1,224). He now has four cashes this series in four events, but only for a total of €7,889. Despite cashing in every event, he’s turned just a €4,039 profit after subtracting the €3,850 in buy-ins.

That’s par for the course for this min-cash specialist. Despite having cashed in 94 WSOP events, he’s never won a bracelet. In fact, he hasn’t even made a final table since the 2013 Little One Drop (third place for $295,433). And that covers a span of more than 60 cashes. It was also his highest finish in any World Series of Poker bracelet event.

Israelashvili now has 18 cashes between the 2018 WSOP in Las Vegas and Rozvadov. All but two have been for less than $10,000.

Every other player in the top seven in career cashes has at least three gold bracelets to their name. Hellmuth, of course, leads the way with 15.

We’ll call him the Kansas City Chiefs of the WSOP; always competitive, but never championship material.

Also at the WSOPE …

Florian Sarnow Final Tables Twice in 24 Hours

Florian Sarnow’s only bracelet event cash was an 840th place finish in the 2016 Colossus in Las Vegas heading into the 2018 WSOP Europe. But on Wednesday and Thursday, he not only added a pair of cashes to his tiny resume. He final tabled both events.

The impressive run began with a runner-up finish in hold’em (€37,678). He got back to another final table the following day, this one PLO, and hoped to get over the hump and win his first bracelet. Unfortunately, for the German, he was the first to bow out at the eight-handed final table (€5,198).

After collecting his PLO winnings, he jumped right into Event #5, €1,100 Monster Stack. Busy day.

As Event #3 (€550 Pot Limit Omaha 8) of the 2018 World Series of Poker Europe reached the final table and suspended play for the evening, Event #4 (€1,100 NLHE Turbo Bounty Hunter) played 13 hours straight, right through to a winner.

Mykhailo Gutyi from Ukraine was that winner. He outlasted the 387 player field to take home the €61,299 first place prize and his first WSOP gold bracelet. In addition to the normal payouts, players received €300 from the prize pool for every player they eliminated and Gutyi provided his fair share of the knock outs earning 16 additional bounties.

The first of the final table to fall was Italy’s Luca Marchetti. With fewer than 10 big blinds Marchetti open shoved holding the Th9h. Florian Sarnow looked down at QsQc and reshoved for more. The flop came out 2cKsJc providing Marchetti with two outs to the straight. When the turn came Kh Marchetti was drawing dead. The inconsequential river was the 7d and Marchetti fell in ninth place for €3,765.

Minutes later Andrey Ivlev was forced to push his final two big blinds in the middle while under the gun holding 8s2c. From the small blind Vangelis Kaimakamis reshipped his final six big blinds with Th9h. The flop was 7d4hTs putting Kaimakamis way ahead. The 8d turn opened the door for Ivlev, but the 5s completed the board ending Ivlev’s tournament in eighth place for €4,904.

The hits kept coming with the turbo structure as the now short stacked Philipp Zukernik moved in from the big blind holding Qh4d over the open raise of Gutyi. Gutyi raised with AdKc and so when the board ran out TsKh2h8sAh, Zukernik hit the rail in seventh place for a €6,531 payday.

The very next hand claimed Kale Halstead’s tournament as he shipped his short stack with 5s5d. Gutyi got involved in back-to-back hands making the call with his Qh9c. The board ran out 3h8hTh9hJh giving both a flush. However, Gutyi not only held a heart in his hand for a higher flush than the board provided but he actually held a straight flush to win the hand. Halstead was eliminated in sixth place for €8,891.

Darko Stojanovic was the next to bounty to be claimed as he three-bet shipped 10 big blinds from the big blind over a button open from Kaimakamis. When Kaimakamis called Stojanovic was forced to show down the 4c3h which was in rough shape against Kaimakamis’ 8s8c. The flop brought a set for Kaimakamis in the form of a Ks8d4s flop leaving Stojanovic drawing dead and out in fifth place for €12,367.

The speedy eliminations continued as twenty minutes later Angelos Pettas hit the rail. Under the gun, he moved all in holding Ah4d. Gutyi took a moment but made the call from the big blind holding 5h5d. The flop came 4c2c8s giving Pettas some extra outs as he paired the four. However, the board ran out 3d2d which was of no help to Pettas and he earned a career-high cash of €17,565 for his fourth-place finish.

Gutyi, who held the chip lead three-handed, shipped his stack from the button holding KsQh. Kaimakamis spent about a minute in the tank before making the call for his tournament life with KhTh. Dominated, Kaimakamis needed some help. The flop of 6h2s4d didn’t change anything. The Qs on the turn left Kaimakamis drawing to a ten. The 9c fell on the river and Kaimakamis settled for third place and went home with €25,468, his second cash of the 2018 WSOPE.

At the start of heads-up play, Gutyi held a 3.5-1 chip lead over Germany’s Sarnow. Although Sarnow had doubled through Gutyi on the second hand of heads-up play, Gutyi still held a slight chip advantage when the final hand went down.

Sarnow limped the button with the Th8s and Gutyi checked his option holding the Qd2d. The flop was a dangerous one as it came Td9d3d giving Sarnow top pair and Gutyi the flopped flush. The action went checked around. When the Tc rolled off on the turn all the chips made their way into the middle. Gutyi bet, Sarnow raised, Gutyi shoved and Sarnow called it off needing spike an eight for the board to pair to survive. The 4d river ended the tournament with Sarnow finishing as the runner-up for €37,678.

Sarnow made two WSOP Europe final tables in one day. He made the final table of Event #3 earlier in the day and then late registered for Event #4. He will return tomorrow to compete in the €550 Pot Limit Omaha 8.

Gutyi takes home his first WSOP gold bracelet and the first place prize of €61,299 for a career-high cash.

Final Table Results of WSOPE €1,100 No-Limit Hold’em Turbo Bounty Hunter:

Chris Fuchs, an IT sales specialist by day, topped the behemoth field of the WSOP Circuit Horseshoe Hammond Opening Event for his debut gold ring from the series and a hefty first-place prize of $124,385.

Fuchs has been playing poker recreationally for over a decade now. And the player played the Horseshoe Hammond stop for a fifth straight year. He told WSOP staff after his triumph in the series that he had not planned to take part in the upcoming Main Event but, encouraged by his success in the opening event, he decided to take a shot at the $1,700 buy-in tournament that is set to take place over the weekend.

The opening event at Horseshoe Hammond once again drew a massive field. As many as 2,563 entries registered into the tournament. They created a prize pool of $845,790, easily beating the $777,777 guarantee. The top 272 spots got paid, min-cashes starting from $294.

The event featured five starting flights and a second, and final, day of play. Day 2 of the tournament was played on Sunday. Only 220 survivors returned to the host casino that day to play down to a champion. And it did not take long before the unofficial final table of ten was set.

Final Table and Heads-Up

Fuchs was the chip leader at the time with a massive advantage of 4 million over his nearest rival. The player had 9.63 million at the start of the final table. Nicholas Cikulin was ranking second in the temporary leaderboard at that point with 5.235 million in chips.

Fuchs pretty much maintained his advantage over the course of final table play. The player told WSOP staff that he had run pretty well throughout that closing stage with good cards coming his way all the time. And indeed, the player performed extremely well and took advantage of what he was offered at the table to eventually emerge victorious and be crown as the champion of the first tournament on the schedule of this year’s WSOP Circuit Horseshoe Hammond.

The winner eventually faced James Gregg for their final heads-up match. Gregg, a New Berlin, Wisconsin resident, was too vying for his first gold ring from the series. However, the piece was not meant for him this time. The player was defeated by Fuchs to collect $77,362 for his runner-up finish.

As mentioned earlier, Fuchs will be seen next weekend when the Main Event will be taking place. The tournament is scheduled to kick off Friday, October 19 with the first of its two starting flights. It will feature a guaranteed prize pool of $1 million, but it is yet to be seen whether it will be surpassed.

In a poker crossover event unlike anything we’ve previously seen, the poker savants will battle each other with an assist from a pair of chess specialists, with all of it to be streamed on Twitch this Sunday.

The event is called PokerStars Play Chess, and while it will be chess in the traditional sense, the matches themselves will be anything but typical. Negreanu and Boeree will be the ones playing, but they’ll be getting heavy hand from the masters.

Talk to the Hand?

The live-streamed matches will be played “hand and brain” style, with the chess experts acting as the brain and the poker masters executing with their hands.

There’s a twist, though. The “brain” can only tell the “hand” which piece to move, not where it should be moved. And they’ll be under the gun, too. Each match in the five-game affair will feature a 10-minute clock, and if the “hand” doesn’t act within 30 seconds, they’re on their own — the “brain” can no longer help once time’s up.

The other chess master will be international master and director of content at Chess.com, Daniel Rensch.

“As by far the worst poker player in the event, I’m just glad we’re playing chess,” Rensch said.

The ringer here may be Negreanu, who took up the game with a gusto in 2018.

Might be too late in life, and probably not advisable going into SHRB and WSOP next month, but somehow I’ve become addicted to Chess.

I’m horrible at it, but I find it fun to really suck at something and get better.

— Daniel Negreanu (@RealKidPoker) April 23, 2018

Boeree doesn’t have the same level of chess experience, but she’s known as a master strategist. Her strategic approach to all things in life has been featured in a pair of 2018 Ted Talks.

30k Platinum Pass at Stake

The event is a promotion built around the $25,000 PokerStars Players Championship in the Bahamas in early January.

The online poker operator has been handing out $30,000 “Platinum Passes” to the tournament (for entry fee plus travel expenses) via a series of promotions. Negreanu awarded one to a lucky fan for producing the most inspirational video.

Someone will walk away with another pass during Sunday’s stream. PokerStars put out a challenge to the public to come up with a new game that mixes elements of strategy and luck from both poker and chess.

Entries have been whittled down to six, and while we don’t know anything about the games yet, the details of each variant will be revealed during the matches.

The winner will walk away with a Platinum Pass and will be butting their poker skills to the test in the Caribbean come the new year.