The numbers have been revealed by PlayMichigan, a platform that is dedicated to following the locally regulated online gambling market. Prior to the launch of the interstate compact of which the Great Lakes is now part, PokerStars reported peak traffic numbers of around 900 players.
This has gone up more than twice, exceeding 1,800 peak time players, since the launch of the Multi-State Internet Gaming Agreement or MSIGA, the media argues, as PokerStars continues to surge ahead of other local competitors, including WSOP.com and BetMGM.
Interstate Play Not a Panacea, But Opportunity
While the interstate play is not necessarily a formula for sure-fire success, it is certainly an opportunity to bring together poker aficionados from some of the biggest iGaming states and offer them the opportunity to play against each other across more games and tournaments.
The prize pools and player pools have gone up thanks to the state’s decision to be a part of MSIGA, which encompasses several other states, including Delaware, Nevada, and New Jersey, and this does not account for Pennsylvania, another state where poker has a very strong player base and where PokerStars has been a market leader for many months now.
With the present results in, at least based on the measurements of PlayMichigan, the state’s poker community is set to thrive and PokerStars, to secure the lion’s share. Tournaments are already underway with prize pools reaching as much as $50,000 per event, and offering players from the MSIGA the opportunity to get their game on and vie for excellent prizes in events with decent prize pools.
Michigan joined the shared liquidity on January 1, making a great start to the year, and clearly reaping the benefits of this decision only a month in, as the latest numbers reveal.
He’s a high school football and baseball coach by profession, but Justin Macella of McRae, GA is also now a major tournament poker champion after defeating a field of 327 players to take down the $2,000 bestbet Winter Open Main Event for a career-best $122,017 score.
In an interesting twist that was fitting of some of the crazy events of the tournament, Macella defeated high-stakes cash game player Russell Quick heads-up. Quick was the same player Macella needed to hit a miracle two-outer against on Day 2 to survive when he jammed his ace-five into Quick’s ace-jack and needed not one but two fives to hit to survive after both players paired their kicker on the flop.
“When the hand happened, I kept telling myself he can’t run over me all day, he can’t always have it and I was making a bluff with it and didn’t expect to get called and didn’t expect to get called by ace-jack, he made a heck of a call. Now knowing afterwards, he wouldn’t be the player I pick to shove ace-five on. I thought I was out. But then the turn hits and here we are.”
Their heads-up match featured plenty of big pots and aggressive play with Quick taking the lead from Macella early in their one-hour duel. Macella clawed back and retook the lead late when he earned a disbelieving call with ace-high from Quick when he held a winning straight.
Macella won shortly after when he turned a better top pair versus Quick’s flopped top pair and Quick moved all in and got called.
After that key hand on Day 2, Macella said felt it was fitting that it was Quick that he got heads-up with for the title.
“It was fun. We have similar styles in that we’re both fearless, it doesn’t matter what two cards we’re holding, we’re willing to mix it up and find spots, so that was a lot of fun.”
bestbet Winter Open Main Event Final Table Results
PLACE
NAME
HOMETOWN
PAYOUT
1
Justin Macella
McRae, GA
$122,017
2
Russell Quick
Jacksonville, FL
$81,343
3
Thomas Carroll
N. Augusta, SC
$59,679
4
Aftab Patni
Orlando, FL
$44,339
5
Michael Frierson
Jacksonville, FL
$33,366
6
Toby Boas
Sylva, NC
$25,437
7
David Tuthill
St. Petersburg, FL
$19,648
8
Maxwell Young
Portland, OR
$15,379
9
Bryce McVay
Tampa, FL
$12,201
Final Table Action
The nine remaining players arrived with their eyes on taking home the lion’s share of the $580,425 prizepool, but it didn’t take long for the first player’s hopes to be dashed as Bryce McVay was eliminated within the first 15 minutes of play on the bestbetLIVE stage.
More tough competition fell early as Maxwell Young was eliminated before the first break in 8th place.
After the break the other two most accomplished players left in the field were the next to go as David Tuthill busted in 7th place and Toby Boas fell in 6th.
With a combined $7 million in career-tournament earnings now gone from the table, it felt like it could be Thomas Carroll’s tournament to lose, as the most accomplished player remaining was building chips and was just behind Macella.
However, following the elimination of Michael Frierson in 5th place, a rough stretch in level 24 shrunk Carroll’s stack and Macella solidified his lead again.
After Aftab Patni was eliminated in 4th place, Carroll’s run ended in 3rd place at the hands of Macella, leaving him heads-up with Quick for the title he would eventually claim.
Parting Words From the Winner
With his first career six-figure score now in the books after a great performance this week, Macella was asked if he’d be trading in his coaching whistle for more time on the tournament grind.
“No, no, I’m a high school coach, an old football and baseball coach. I do this on the side just to try to add some extra pocket change and have some fun from time to time. No, I’m not going pro or anything like that.”
Well, Macella certainly has a hefty bit of pocket change after Monday’s win. Congratulations to him for his impressive victory.
bestbet Winter Open Side Event Winners
Tournament
Entries
Prize Pool
Winner
Prize
Event #1: $400 NLH
733
$250,225
Kelly Andrews
$40,377*
Event #2: $400 NLH with $100 Bounties
121
$27,830
Phillip Napier
$7,247 + Bounties
Event #3: $300 NLH
88
$21,560
Kenneth Brossoit
$5,548*
Event #4: $400 NLH
106
$34,980
Mark Marcellus
$7,970*
Event #5: $300 Ladies NLH
72
$17,640
Kim Sukyung
$4,999*
Event #6: $400 NLH with $100 Bounties
96
$20,210
Pablo Valdivieso
$6,341
Event #7: $1,000 NLH 6-Max
126
$108,360
Daniel Anderson
$28,218
Event #9: $500 bestbet 500
129
$58,380
Steven Ruighaver
$12,227*
check out more on the bestbet jacksonville live reporting hub
This concludes PokerNews’ coverage from the 2023 bestbet Winter Open. Stay tuned for more exciting coverage from live events around the world.
According to Israeli security company Security Joes, the gambling sector has been the victim of a series of cyber attacks that started in September. Since then, the company has tracked the attacks under the codename: “IceBreaker APT.”
made the company reps hack themselves
In poker, there is a time-sanded platitude that one must “play the player, not the cards.” The black hats have taken this approach in this instance, targeting the company’s human wetware instead of using a technology-based approach. To avoid pitting their software against the gaming companies’ digital defenses, the hackers contacted customer service directly and made the company reps hack themselves.
“The threat actor was well aware of the fact that the customer service is human-operated,” Security Joes explained.
How the attacks work
During the attack, the hackers posed as customers and contacted customer service agents at the target iGaming sites. While on the phone or in the live chat, the hacker sent the agents “screenshots” of the problem, either by chat or via Dropbox.
installed a backdoor on the agents’ computers
When the agents opened the download, instead of bringing up an image, the file installed a backdoor on the agents’ computers. The download contains two payloads. The first is an LNK file that installs a piece of software called IceBreaker Backdoor, a totally new piece of malware. The second payload acts as a backup and contains a much older Trojan horse called Houdini RAT.
Once installed, the hackers can steal cookies and login info, take screenshots, install plugins that provide greater access to the system, and copy files from the target’s servers.
Finding the hackers
Security Joes is tracking these black hats using methods that range from reverse engineering Icebreaker Backdoor’s code to analyzing the quirks of the hackers’ English in the customer service chat. For example, previous hackers have been identified as Russian because they used the Russian word “sever” in place of the English “server.”
The codename IceBreaker plays on two breakdowns of the acronym ICE. In the world of cyberpunk fiction, ICE stands for Intruder Countermeasures Electronics—cybersecurity programs that protect servers from hackers. In the gambling industry, ICE is the International Casinos Exhibition, a major industry convention.
The Security Joes team reported the first IceBreaker attacks in the run-up to the 2023 ICE London event which is now underway.
The name might be a light-hearted pun, but the threat is real enough and iGaming companies will need to find a way to raise the stakes if they want to make the IceBreaker hackers throw away their hand.
The post How Hackers Have Taken a Leaf Out of the Poker Playbook to Trick iGaming Firms appeared first on VegasSlotsOnline News.
Islam Makhachev vs Alexander Volkanovski – whoever wins this fight will be the UFC Lightweight champion, as well as the highest-ranked fighter in the world. There’s so much at stake, which is why we expect to see a real spectacle.
Oddsmakers don’t think Volk will become a double-champ. Instead, they heavily favor Khabib’s protégé to defend his championship belt. Are they right to think so or will the Aussie fighter pull off an upset in front of his own crowd? Let’s find out!
Islam Makhachev vs Alexander Volkanovski Odds
Moneyline
Odds
Islam Makhachev
-400
Alexander Volkanovski
+285
*Odds taken from FanDuel on Monday, February 6, 2023.
When, Where, and How to Watch?
Place: RAC Arena in Perth, Australia
Date: Saturday, February 11, 2023
Time: ~10:00 PM ET
How to Watch: UFC Fight Pass/ESPN+
Reasons Why Islam Makhachev is a -400 Favorite
Islam Makhachev (23-1) is the reigning UFC Lightweight champion who won the championship belt after beating Charles Oliveira by submission last October. He did it in Round 2 with an arm-triangle choke, which is kind of surprising knowing that his Brazilian opponent is a BJJ expert.
By outwrestling Oliveira, Makhachev showed the world that he might be the very best wrestler/grappler in the world today. In fact, some believe that the only man who could beat him on the floor is his mentor, Khabib Nurmagomedov.
Actually, there are stories about Makhachev causing serious problems to Khabib during practice in a manner that no one’s ever done to the lightweight GOAT.
But Makhachev isn’t just about making takedowns that his opponent can’t get away from. He’s also a fine striker with unbelievable stamina. Sure, he’s not as proficient a boxer as Volkanovski, but he is four inches taller than him, meaning that the Australian will find it difficult to outbox Makhachev.
Alexander Volkanovski Ready to Upset the Odds in His Homeland
Alexander Volkanovski is 25-1 in his career, but most of those fights happened in the 145-pound division. In fact, the last time he fought as a lightweight was in 2016. Since moving to the UFC, he’s only fought in the featherweight division winning 12 fights and losing none.
Volk got ahold of the championship belt some three years ago and has defended it four times – two times against Max Holloway, once against Brian Ortega, and once against Chan-sung Jung.
Now, he wants to add another title to his collection, but this is going to be the toughest challenge in his professional career. He’s smaller, weaker, and way inferior on the floor than Makhachev. Volk, however, does have some advantages.
For instance, he’s a much better boxer who knows how to fight smart. He also has a decent takedown defense, although it might not be good enough to stay on the feet against Makhachev.
Islam Makhachev vs Alexander Volkanovski Prediction
We think Volkanovski is the GOAT of the UFC Featherweight division. We also think Makhachev has the potential to become the GOAT of the UFC Lightweight division. Sure, he’s got a long road ahead of him, but to achieve his dreams, beating Volkanovski is a must.
