Celebrities Head to PokerGO Studio for One Step Closer Foundation Event on March 4

Celebrities Head to PokerGO Studio for One Step Closer Foundation Event on March 4



On Saturday, March 4, One Step Closer Foundation is joining forces with PokerGO and ARIA for the All In for CP Charity Event, which will be held inside PokerGO Studio (just one day after the Global Poker Awards will take place in the same space).

The event costs $1,000 to enter – 50% will go to the charity and the other 50% to the prize pool – is extremely limited due in no small part to who will be in attendance. There will also be $500 rebuys and a $500 add-on for those interested.

Hollywood actors Ted Danson, Cheryl Hines, and Kevin Pollak are all slated to participate, as are MMA fighter Roy “Big Country” Nelson and 2009 World Series of Poker (WSOP) Main Event champ Joe Cada. Jessa Hinton will also be featured as the red-carpet interviewer. Those interested in participating can register at 1scf.org.

Click here to register for the One Step Closer Charity Event!

Founded in 2007 by Jacob Zalewski and the late Sam Simon, the One Step Closer Foundation has raised approximately $1.5 million via poker charity events. The latest tournament marks its post-pandemic return as the last iteration was back in 2019.

“It was very hard to get it going again things got a lot stricter since COVID,” Zalewski, who battles cerebral palsy himself, told PokerNews. “We had to get reapproved in Nevada and get the green light from NGC. That was a fun experience!”

Jacob Zalewski
Jacob Zalewski w/ Jennifer Tilly & Phil Laak

He added: “While a lot of organization’s ultimate goal is to find a cure for the affliction, we strive to help ease the lives of those with Cerebral Palsy and various disabilities now. Of course, we hope that one day we’ll be instrumental in finding a cure, but there’s so much to do in the meantime. One step closer!”

Tournament Information

  • WHEN: Saturday, March 4, 2023 at 5:00 pm
  • WHERE: PokerGO Studio at Aria Resort & Casino- 3730 S Las Vegas Blvd, Las Vegas, NV 89158
  • MEDIA: Red Carpet: 3:00 pm; Check-in: 3:30 pm, Tournament: 4 pm
  • NOTE: There will be $500 rebuys and a $500 add-on for those interested

“Jacob is quite an inspiration,” Hines told PokerNews during a previous event. The Curb Your Enthusiasm actress continued: “I have a nephew who has Cerebral Palsy, he’s been in a wheelchair since he was born, and I know what a challenge that is, not only for the individual but for all the loved ones that support them. For Jacob to create an organization to help other people with CP is just amazing.”

For more information, follow @1scf on Twitter.

Curb Your Enthusiasm’s Cheryl Hines Takes to the Felt for Charity

Images courtesy of 1SCF.

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  • Ted Danson, Cheryl Hines, and Kevin Pollak are all slated to participate in the March 4 @1scf event.

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Chad Holloway

Executive Editor U.S.

Executive Editor US, PokerNews Podcast co-host & 2013 WSOP Bracelet Winner.





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Haralabos Voulgaris: The Story Of A World-Class Bettor

Haralabos Voulgaris: The Story Of A World-Class Bettor


Haralabos Voulgaris is not exactly a household name, but if you follow the NBA, bet on basketball, or are seriously into poker, you may have heard of him.

In 2013, ESPN ran a story on “Bob” titled “Meet the world’s top NBA gambler” where they detailed how Voulgaris had earned a fortune in sports betting before he was even 30.

He has played in the World Series of Poker, worked for the Dallas Mavericks and is even the owner and president of the Spanish third-division soccer club, Castellón. Oh, and his current net worth is estimated to be $5 million.

So, we’re going to break down the story of one of the gambling world’s most exciting characters and look at his life in betting, sports, and beyond.

How Did Voulgaris Make His Fortune?

Haralabos “Bob” Voulgaris was born in Canada to Greek parents, who had moved to the country in their 20s.

His father was an entrepreneur in Winnipeg and had a real estate business and a Greek restaurant named after the Greek god Hermes.

In Greek mythology, Hermes is the god of several things, including games, sports, and sudden enrichment, which probably wasn’t coincidental because Voulgaris Sr. was a serious gambler who gave his son the bug.

Through his business ventures, Voulgaris’s father became a multi-millionaire, and after Bob finished high school, they traveled together to Las Vegas for a two-month trip spent almost entirely at Caesars Palace.

Bob was too young to go on the casino floor, so he spent most of his days in the sportsbook, where he watched countless NBA games.

He took notes on the games and the book’s adjustments and started gambling on them with his father at night.

It was by no means high stakes (his largest bet was for $100), but this Vegas education left a lasting imprint on Voulgaris, who said, “I learned at a young age that it’s tough to beat the house – unless you know what you’re doing.”

After returning to Canada and starting his studies at the University of Manitoba, Bob continued to bet and took what he’d learned on board. He would bet on NBA and CFL games, making tidy profits while studying and holding down a part-time job.

When he finished college, he decided to up the stakes, and ahead of the NBA season, he placed his life savings of $70,000 on the Lakers to win the 1999/00 NBA championship.

This was a massive gamble, as the Lakers didn’t make it past the previous season’s second round of the playoffs, but it paid off.

And when captain Shaquille O’Neal raised the Larry O’Brien NBA Championship Trophy above his head, Voulgaris cashed a slip for nearly $500,000.

Professional Gambling

This was the injection of cash and confidence that Bob needed to take things to the next level, and in the 2000/01 season, he made around 350 wagers on the NBA with a lot of success.

Sportsbooks were nowhere near as sophisticated as they are now, and Voulgaris spotted a weakness that he could exploit.

Different books would make projections for how many points they thought would be scored in a game but would also take bets on how much would be scored in each half.

Unbelievably the sportsbooks just divided their projected game total in half, which didn’t account for the fact that many close NBA games have lots of fouls in the fourth quarter.

Fouls mean free throws, and free throws mean points, so more often than not, teams would score more in the second half of games.

Voulgaris noticed this trend and took full advantage of it, but he knew this wouldn’t last, and eventually, the sportsbooks realized the errors of their ways.

So, Bob decided to move on to bigger and better things and had the idea to build a predictive betting model that could take the intuition out of betting.

The Model Student

Bob Voulgaris clearly had a talent for numbers, but he knew he needed someone genuinely gifted to make his dream of beating the bookies come true.

So, in 2007, he hired a math prodigy (who he has never named publicly) to help him build a predictive model that could be used on any NBA game.

This prodigy wasn’t just the smartest kid in class, by the way.

He scored a perfect 800 on the math SAT in seventh grade and won national competitions before becoming a teenager.

Eventually, after two years of trial and error, Voulgaris and his prodigy developed the model to a level he was happy with.

So, he used it heavily during the second half of the 2009 NBA season to significant effect.

He made up to 1,000 wages a season and made cumulative bets that would reach in excess of $1 million daily.

World Class Poker

Image: Twitter/djbantiben1

After developing a model that any other bettor would kill for and making what must have been an incredible amount of money (he never confirmed numbers), Voulgaris started to appear in major televised poker events.

In 2012, he entered the World Series of Poker’s Big One for One Drop $1 million buy-in event where he played well but just missed out on making any money.

👉 Which WSOP Events Have The Biggest Prize Pools?

But this didn’t deter Bob – professional bettors know that you win some and you lose some – so he continued playing in several World Poker and European Poker Tour events over the years.

In 2017, he returned to the WSOP’s One Drop event and landed the largest tournament win of his poker career.

He earned a whopping $1,158,883 for finishing in fourth place and has amassed a career total of over $3 million in live poker tournaments worldwide.

Move Into Pro Sports

After spending nearly two decades as a professional bettor, Haralabos Voulgaris formally moved into a role in professional basketball.

In 2018, he joined the Dallas Mavericks as Director of Quantitative Research and Development.

No doubt this appointment was made for his ability to analyze the game of basketball, use statistics, and predict outcomes of games.

This was a dream move for Voulgaris, who harbored dreams of being an NBA GM one day.

He even went on record saying, “I’d be able to put together a better team than almost any general manager in the league. If not, maybe all.”

Now, this might seem a bit arrogant, but when you consider his professional gambling record and deep understanding of the NBA, he probably has a point.

👉 How To Become A Professional Gambler

This wasn’t Bob’s first foray into professional basketball.

In the 2009-10 season, he signed a contract with an unnamed NBA franchise co-owner to become a consultant on player acquisition and roster assembly.

His skill set matched perfectly with the goal of NBA front offices. They were both trying to understand the value of different players, and for NBA franchises, knowledge was power.

Ultimately, though, neither stint on the inside of professional basketball developed into a career.

He spent five months with the unnamed NBA team before feeling he was being excluded from decision-making and choosing to return to betting full time.

He also left the Dallas Mavericks in 2021, after less than three years with the organization.

It was reported that he had a rift with Mavs’ star guard, Luka Dončić, and player power obviously won out.

CD Castellon

In his 2013 ESPN interview, Bob Voulgaris said if he won enough money gambling, he would buy an NBA franchise.

But they don’t come cheap, so instead, he settled for a third-division Spanish soccer club.

CD Castellon was founded in 1922, has a loyal following, and a stadium with a 15,000 capacity – but a poor recent history.

In July 2022, Voulgaris purchased the club and was confirmed as its owner and president.

He insists buying the club – in a sport he is not associated with – was not a “vanity play” and he has set out a six-year plan for the club to reach the top division in Spanish soccer, La Liga.

Whether he can achieve his goals and turn the team into success on and off the pitch will remain to be seen, but he will take inspiration from neighboring team Villarreal.

Villarreal CF spent almost all of its history in the lower divisions of Spanish soccer, but after reaching La Liga in 1998, they have slowly developed into a powerhouse domestically and in European competition.

In 2021, the club won its first-ever major trophy, winning the UEFA Europa League and beating Manchester United in the final.

It is the stuff dreams are made of, and Bob Voulgaris will undoubtedly have similar ambitions for Castellon.

What’s Next For Bob Voulgaris?

Image: Twitter/haralabob

Bob Voulgaris is one of the most interesting figures in the world of sports betting.

If he can translate his basketball knowledge into soccer, it’s undoubtedly a matter of time before he returns to the US and professional sports management in some capacity.

But, no matter what he does next, one thing is for sure – it won’t be boring.

If you want to keep a close eye on Bob Voulgaris’ life (he has a super cute dog) and get some fantastic betting insights, be sure to follow his twitter page.

Image: Twitter/tonymakethinks1





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Peter “petey_boy” Hotaling Discusses Winning 1st Ring in WSOP MI Online Circuit

Peter “petey_boy” Hotaling Discusses Winning 1st Ring in WSOP MI Online Circuit



Right now, online poker players in Michigan are battling for gold rings. That’s because the World Series of Poker (WSOP) Circuit Online is well underway. The series actually kicked off back on February 17 and is slated to run through the end of the month (Tuesday, Feb. 28).

One of the biggest stories to come out of the series at around the midway point was that of Dakota Britton of Carney, Michigan. He not only won back-to-back events, but it marked his third WSOP gold ring of the year on WSOP MI.

Back on January 13, he won the Online Circuit Event #8: $15,000 GTD NLH Turbo Deepstack for $6,281. On February 18, he then won the latest Online Circuit Event #2: $20,000 GTD NLH PKO 8-Max for $6,783, and the very next day took down Event #3: $35,000 GTD NLH 8-Max for $9,812.

What Are The Best Michigan Online Poker Sites?

Peter “petey_boy” Hotaling Nabs First Gold Ring

WSOP MI

On Thursday, February 23, the $215 buy-in Event #7: $20,000 GTD NLH Double Stack had 110 players rebuy 35 times, which surpassed the guarantee by creating a $29,000 prize pool. After more than six hours of play, it was Peter “petey_boy” Hotaling coming out on top to claim the $7,145.60 top prize and his first gold ring.

“I almost didn’t even play last night because I was scared we might lose power due to a bad ice storm we had,” Hotaling admitted to PokerNews. “As a guy that played online for a living pre-Black Friday – I found a way back to the game once it got legalized in Michigan – this win means a lot.”

Hotaling has been playing poker since 2005 and with his dream always being able to win some WSOP hardware. Now, thanks to WSOP.com being available in Michigan, his dream came true.

“Very happy to finally win a ring and hope to win a bracelet next,” he said. In addition to the prize money and a ring, Hotaling is now eligible for the Tournament of Champions this summer, which he fully intends to play.

“The biggest hand for me was at the final table with five left. Blinds were moving quick and everyone had pretty even stacks,” Hotaling explained. “My opponent was playing pretty wild and opened the cutoff/ I decided to flat {k-Spades}{q-Spades} on the button. The flop was {k-}{4-Spades}{2-Spades}, he bet 71k into 210k, and I put in a small raise to 162k since stacks were so shallow. He called and the turn was the {k-Hearts}. He checked and I checked behind because he had been playing pretty crazy and I had around a pot-sized bet left. I thought he may try and bluff it off on the river if I checked. The river was the {3-Hearts} and he did shove. I snapped and he had {q-}{8-} off. This hand gave me a big chip lead and I never looked back.”

WSOP MI Online Circuit Event #7 Final Table Results

Place Player Prize
1 Peter “petey_boy” Hotaling $7,145.60
2 “aardvark555” $5,101.10
3 “Teddy2Gloves” $3,642.40
4 “rkellyishere” $2,604.20
5 “JMAXX” $1,858.90
6 “Redeye11” $1,328.20
7 “BMFS33” $948.30
8 “Cableguy1740” $675.70
9 “MrStealChipz” $614.80

Timothy “BMFS33” Bishop Claims 5th WSOP Gold Ring

WSOP MI

The day before on Wednesday, the $215 buy-in Event #6: $15,000 GTD PLO Deepstack 6-Max had 74 players rebuy 32 times, which created a $21,200 prize pool. That was paid out to the top dozen finishers, and among those to cash but fall short of the final table was Daniel “DrDadPoker” Schill (10th – $530), Stephen “Joker49024” Vanwyhe (11th – $530), and Jared “KChimaev” Martin (12th – $530).

In the end, it was Timothy “BMFS33” Bishop defeating Michael “LazyGambler” Marsh in heads-up play to not only claim the $5,936 top prize, but also what was his fifth WSOP gold ring with three others also coming from WSOP MI last year.

WSOP MI Online Circuit Event #6 Final Table Results

Place Player Hometown Prize
1 Timothy “BMFS33” Bishop Haslett, MI $5,936
2 Michael “LazyGambler” Marsh Troy, MI $3,964
3 Andrew “FlipWithEdge” Peplinski North Branch, MI $2,798
4 Kristopher “Luck.Wagon.” Bradshaw Scottville, MI $2,035
5 Nicholas “mangocoin” Shock Macomb, MI $1,484
6 Bradley “LovePeaches” Oliver Wyoming, MI $1,113
7 Rodney “RodneyGMoney” Grifka Chesterfield, MI $901
8 Jaret “Jwv972311” Villarreal Ypsilanti, MI $742
9 Kevin “GR4ND_THEFT” Ruscitti West Bloomfield, MI $636

A Look at All the 2022 WSOP Online Michigan Bracelet Winners

WSOP MI Online Circuit Results Thus Far

Four more rings are on tap over the next four days, each starting at 7 p.m. ET. On Saturday, there’s the $320 buy-in Event #9: $20,000 GTD NLH PKO 6-Max while on Sunday there will be the $525 buy-in Event #10: $50,000 GTD Main Event.

On Monday, the $215 buy-in Event #11: $15,000 GTD NLH PKO will take place while Tuesday’s $500 buy-in Event #12: $30,000 GTD NLH Big $500 will round out the series.

Here’s a look at those who’ve captured gold rings thus far in the series:

Tournament Buy-in Entries Prize Pool Winner Hometown Prize
Event #1: $15,000 GTD NLH Turbo Deepstack $215 Jeremy McDonald Rudyard, MI $5,510
Event #2: $20,000 GTD NLH PKO 8-Max $320 Dakota Britton Carney, MI $6,783
Event #3: $35,000 GTD NLH 8-Max $100 Dakota Britton Carney, MI $9,812
Event #4: $15,000 GTD NLH Double Stack $320 Garrett Lee Southfield, MI $5,544
Event #5: $20,000 GTD NLH 6-Max $320 Johnny Kakos Birmingham, MI $9,505
Event #6: $15,000 GTD PLO Deepstack 6-Max $215 106 $21,200 Timothy “BMFS33” Bishop Haslett, MI $5,936
Event #7: $20,000 GTD NLH Double Stack $215 145 $29,000 Peter “petey_boy” Hotaling Southfield, MI $7,145.60
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Chad Holloway

Executive Editor U.S.

Executive Editor US, PokerNews Podcast co-host & 2013 WSOP Bracelet Winner.





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The History of Gambling in Canada

Playing cards and other casino-themed products along with a the Canadian flag


Gambling in Canada is hugely popular. In 2021, the gambling industry in Canada is thought to have generated revenues in excess of US$12 billion, with over 18 million Canadians aged over 15 reporting that they gambled in one form or another that year. However, gambling wasn’t always so in demand. Indeed, Canada has had a somewhat chequered past with gambling as a hobby.

Slahal and Indigenous Gambling

Similar to the history of gambling in Ancient Rome and Ancient Greece, gambling in Canada has roots tracing back thousands of years. The first we hear about gambling in Canada is from written records from the country’s indigenous people which date back to well before Canada was “discovered”. The records indicate that the tribes of that era were quite fond of a simple game with bones called Slahal.

Slahal is a straightforward game, often played with the shin bones of deer. The premise is that two teams would face-off against each other, one with bones and the other without. The teams with the bones would swap which hands were holding the bones while loudly singing songs to distract their opponent whose job it was to guess which hands the bones were in. The game is so popular that indigenous tribes continue to play it to this very day.

Gambling is Made Illegal in Canada

Do you believe in the butterfly effect? That one small occurrence can result in a larger, more complex event? I hope so, as one change to British law in the 14th century would inadvertently result in gambling being illegal in Canada for hundreds of years!

Back in the 14th Century, Richard III was ruler of the realm in Britain. He had noticed that his archers had become increasingly prone to abandoning their posts to partake in a game of dice. Fearful that this could cause weakness in his defence, the monarch quickly moved to outlaw every type of dice game in Britain.

Over one hundred years later in 1497, the explorer John Cabot “discovered” Canada and claimed it for the British. As the law of the now deceased Richard III was still in effect in Britain, it too was enforced in Canada. Before long, all games of chance would be made illegal in Canada. However, as is often the case when prohibition of a vice is enforced, a booming underground casino industry soon developed.

Gambling is Legal in Canada…Eventually!

Canada would gain its independence from Britain in 1867, but there was certainly no clamour to make gambling immediately legal in Canada. In fact, gambling’s illegal status would be codified into Canadian Law with its addition to the Canadian Criminal Code in 1892. However, as the 20th century began so too did a slow march towards gambling becoming legal in Canada.

By 1910, the government came to realise the economic boon that could come with gambling. An amendment was made to the Criminal Code to allow pari-muteul betting, translated as “betting amongst ourselves”. This was a system of betting where all the bets are collected together. The government also permitted some games of luck, such as raffles and bingo, which were carried out in aid of charities and churches. By 1925, the loosening of the restrictions went further by allowing fairs and exhibitions to organise gambling events.

Gambling in Canada would remain much the same over the next forty years, but another amendment to the criminal code would usher in a sea of change. In 1969, lotteries were made legal. Local and national governments had come to realise the potential that lotteries had to help fund their projects. Five years later, a lottery was used by the government to help fund the Montreal Summer Olympics.

Allowing lotteries was not the end of the loosening of restrictions. In 1970, the ten regions of Canada were given the right to permit, licence and oversee gambling in their own territory. As 1985 came, so too did the almost total legalisation of gambling in Canada (only single-game sports betting was prohibited). In 1989, the first of many government-operated casinos, Crystal Casino, eventually opened in Winnipeg.

Online Gaming Takes Off!

As technology opened up new possibilities for online gambling, Canada established a world-first. In 1996, the Mohawk Territory Kahnawake Gaming Commission was set up. This was the first gaming commission in the world established for online betting. This is quite remarkable, considering gambling was almost entirely illegal in Canada just two decades prior.

This move to online gaming ushered in the new era of gambling in Canada, one that would eventually make the nation the eighth biggest gambling market in the world. High-speed internet and smartphones made online casinos ever more attractive, and in 2021 the government finally decriminalised single-game sports betting. Now, Canadians have a whole host of online and offline options to choose from when it comes visiting a casino. Indeed, there is none better than the lobby of Casino.com where new members can enjoy a very attractive Welcome Package!

The post The History of Gambling in Canada appeared first on Casino.com Blog.

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SWAT Teams Using Closed Casino to Carry Out Training Operations in Indiana

SWAT team


The Northwest Regional and Gary SWAT teams are using the closed-down Majestic Star Casino Hotel in Indiana to conduct training exercises. The property, which is set to be demolished, has allowed the SWAT teams to train through a variety of scenarios.

Snipers practise taking out targets in hotel rooms, while team members conduct hostage rescue exercises within the property. Drones are often used inside the former gambling venue as part of these exercises, providing video surveillance to the command team.

One of the SWAT team members commented on the unique opportunity, stating the teams “do not get this kind of training opportunity often, so let’s take advantage of it.” Over the course of about six weeks, people from a dozen different agencies will take part in training at the former casino.

Majestic Star closed its doors for the final time in April 2021

The Majestic Star closed its doors for the final time in April 2021. Located on Lake Michigan, it consists of two combined riverboat casinos. Hard Rock International took over the property in 2019 and ultimately decided to relocate the gaming license to an inland location.

Hard Rock has since sold the property and opened a $300m casino in downtown Gary. The plan for the Majestic Star site is for it to become a secured outdoor semi-trailer parking facility.

The post SWAT Teams Using Closed Casino to Carry Out Training Operations in Indiana appeared first on VegasSlotsOnline News.

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Humberto Lopes Galindo Triumphs in EPT Paris €3,000 Mystery Bounty (€258,656)

Humberto Lopes Galindo Triumphs in EPT Paris €3,000 Mystery Bounty (€258,656)



After 13 levels of play, Day 3 of the €3,000 Mystery Bounty at PokerStars European Poker Tour Paris concluded with Humberto Lopes Galindo crowned champion. Galindo despatched Fouad Baali in heads-up play to capture the title, trophy, and the €243,656 designated for the winner. As well as being awarded the lion’s share from the regular prize pool, Galindo claimed an additional €15,000 in mystery bounty prizes for a final score of €258,656.

The tournament was heavily attended, recording 787 entries. Those players generated a total prize purse of €2,115,456, split into two prize pools. The regular prize pool contained €1,328,456, while the rest was tucked away inside the mystery bounty envelopes.

The biggest mystery bounty prizes were €75,000 and €35,000, of which there were two each. Danut Chisu was the first player to pull the big one, which he did on Day 2. Aleksandar Tomovic and Conor Bergin each pulled the €35,000 prize. The final big bounty went to Joachim Haraldstad, who claimed the delightful payday late on Day 3.

Final Table Results

Place Player Country Prize Bounty Prize Total
1 Humberto Lopes Galindo Portugal €243,656 €15,000 €258,656
2 Fouad Baali France €151,650 €5,000 €156,650
3 Gerard Rubiralta Spain €108,300 €16,000 €124,300
4 Or Suliman Israel €83,300 €6,000 €89,300
5 Joachim Haraldstad Norway €64,100 €80,000 €144,100
6 Jonathan Proudfoot United Kingdom €49,300 €17,000 €66,300
7 Natan Chauskin Belarus €37,950 €1,500 €39,450
8 Jan Bednar Czechia €29,450 €11,000 €40,450
9 Fabian Niederreiter Germany €22,450 €4,500 €26,950

Day 3 Recap

Lex Veldhuis
Lex Veldhuis

Twenty-two players returned for Day 3, and the action was fast and furious from the get-go, with nine players eliminated in the first three levels of the day. PokerStars Ambassador Lex Veldhuis was just one player to hit the rail in the early stages. Sunho Yoo and Pascal Heinrichs had Broadway, while Veldhuis had a pair of aces. Yoo and Heinrichs split his bounty chip and shared the €1,000 prize Vedhuis’ bounty yielded.

His two eliminators would soon follow him out the door along with the start-of-day chip leader Martin Stausholm and Georgi Sandev. More players then headed to the wrong side of the rail to bring about the final table.

Ireland’s Christopher Dowling looked like he would make his third final table of EPT Paris after achieving the feat in the €1,100 FPS Main Event and a Pot-Limit Omaha side event. However, his pocket sevens were bested by the king-queen of Natan Chauskin to leave him short. He was all-in the next hand but was flushed away by Gerard Rubiralta.

The final table then kicked off with a double bust-out. Galindo’s pocket queens held out against the pair of nines held by Fabian Niederreiter and the ace-king of Jan Bednar, who finished in ninth and eighth place, respectively.

Rubiralta, the runaway chip leader for much of the day, then doubled up the likes of Jonathan Proudfoot and Galindo to reduce his advantage when the players returned from the second break of the day.

Shortly after, Chauskin was eliminated in 7th place after losing a massive flip to Haraldstad, which netted the latter the chip lead. Chauskin’s pocket tens were ahead against the Norwegian’s ace-king until a king appeared on the river.

Thirty minutes later, Galindo and Proudfoot were all in from the blinds, with the latter at risk of elimination. Proudfoot’s dominated ace could not improve against Galindo’s ace-jack. He collected €49,300 for his sixth-place finish, and a further €17,000 in bounties for his biggest-ever live tournament cash.

Or Suliman then became the big stack after he felted Haraldstad. The former had pocket kings and was up against ace-queen. The pocket pair remained best on the runout. However, Suliman’s time at the top of the chip counts was soon over as Rubiralta flopped two pair against his ace-king.

With Martin Kabrhel sitting on the sidelines holding eight bounty chips, Haraldstad returned to the room to redeem the six bounty tokens he was holding. The first four envelopes were all of the €1,000 variety, but the fifth envelope was the big prize of €75,000. Haraldstad and his friend burst into excitement while Kabrhel wondered if he made the right choice by waiting to draw.

The chip lead would then hop back and forth between Galindo and Rubiralta before the elimination of Suliman. Rubiralta once reached the peak of the chip counts after his king-queen out-flopped the Israeli’s ace-seven. However, the Spaniard then found himself next out of the door after losing a 17.1 million chip pot to Galindo. Baali then finished him off.

The Frenchman was inactive for large parts of the day and managed to ladder up without doing too much. He found premium hands at the right time. On the second hand of heads-up play, he doubled into the lead with king-jack.

However, Galindo soon regained the chip lead after grinding Baali down, and on the final hand of the night, Baali jammed with deuces and was called by king-ten. Galindo paired up on the flop and held to see out the victory.

This concludes the PokerNews coverage of the 2023 EPT Paris €3,000 Mystery Bounty, but several other marquee events are still part of the exclusive live reporting schedule.

check out the rest of the ept paris coverage on the pokernews live reporting hub

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  • Humberto Lopes Galindo took home his first-ever EPT Title after taking down the €3,000 Mystery Bounty for a career-high score of €258,656.

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Calum Grant

Editor & Live Reporter

Calum has been a part of the PokerNews team since September 2021 after working in the UK energy sector. He played his first hand of poker in 2017 and immediately fell in love with the game. Calum’s proudest poker achievement is winning the only tournament he has ever played in Las Vegas, the prestigious $60 Flamingo evening event.





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Todd Witteles in Twitter Battle With Jami Lafay Over Her Cancer GoFundMe Campaign

Doctor meeting with a patient


A Twitter firestorm

Jami Lafay — the professional name of Jami Daniels, a poker player and Twitter personality who is best known for her semi-regular appearances on Hustler Casino Live — became the center of a Twitter firestorm this week when her GoFundMe became the target of one of Todd Witteles’s investigations.

a goal of $50,000 to help Lafay

The GoFundMe page, started by LaFay’s boyfriend and sister, went up on Monday with a goal of $50,000 to help Lafay with her lost income during her recovery and to help with any medical expenses that are not covered by insurance.

Witteles claimed that “a lot doesn’t add up” about the campaign.

On Wednesday, the ensuing fallout reached the point that Lafay claimed to be going to court in an attempt to stop Witteles’s “harassment.”

The GoFundMe campaign

According to the GoFundMe page, doctors found a metastatic papillary thyroid carcinoma (the most common form of thyroid cancer) and a pleomorphic adenoma (a benign tumor of the salivary glands) in her neck earlier in the year.

recovery will take three to six months

The situation according to the GoFundMe is that on Monday, Lafay went in for a ten-hour surgery to remove the adenoma. Complications led to a second round of surgery that night and nerve damage the next day. Further surgery will be required and recovery will take three to six months.

The same day that Lafay was in surgery, Todd Witteles took the GoFundMe to task on the Poker Fraud Alert forums. He cited inconsistencies in Lafay’s account of events and pointed out previous behavior that he felt spoke to her poor character.

Although Witteles admits that he believes that Lafay’s surgeries and illness are real, his position is that the GoFundMe is an attempt to cash in on Lafay’s misfortune rather than a good faith attempt on her part to meet a dire need.

The Twitter fallout

Once Witteles’s accusations hit Twitter, the situation did what it usually does: it escalated. Lafay and her advocates were slow to respond to the substance of Witteles’s accusations, creating a gap into which the trolls poured.

People took sides. Suspicions of bad motives became accusations of fraud. Skeptical questioning was accused of being character assassination, then actually became character assassination. Accounts were banned, threats were made.

Within a few days Lafay claimed that she making legal filings against Witteles and several other Twitter accounts.

The poker world is sensitive to scammers, the whole world is sensitive to cancer, and Twitter’s algorithm seeks out confrontation. As a result, this fire is likely to keep burning for a while. Yet another thing to lay at the door of the US healthcare system.

The post Todd Witteles in Twitter Battle With Jami Lafay Over Her Cancer GoFundMe Campaign appeared first on VegasSlotsOnline News.

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GLPI Publishes Q4 Results, Sets 2023 Guidance & Dividend for Q1

GLPI Publishes Q4 Results, Sets 2023 Guidance & Dividend for Q1


Gaming and Leisure Properties Inc (GLPI), the NASDAQ-listed company that acquires, finances, and owns real estate property leased to operators as part of triple-net lease arrangements has published its results for Q4 and year-ended December 31, 2022. The company’s board also established its first-quarter dividend for 2023 while introducing its guidance for the new year in a complex report.

Q4 Results “Highlight the Durability” of GLPI’s Rental Streams 

As stated by the company’s chief executive officer and chairman Peter Carlino, GLPI finished 2022 with record results for Q4 as well as increased dividends thanks to their “deep, long-term knowledge of the gaming sector” and the durability of their rental streams. Together, these allowed the company to keep expanding and diversifying its database of tenants, reach new markets, and constantly grow its rental streams. 

Carlino also emphasized the important role of their sealed agreements with Bally’s Corporation and The Cordish Companies announced at the end of 2021 and in 2022 in the record numbers presented in their new report. 

Accordingly, in its new report, GLPI recorded total revenue of $336.4 million in the three months that ended December 31, 2022, compared to $298.3 million in the same quarter that ended December 31, 2021, marking a 12.7% growth. The company also reported $1.3 billion in total revenue for 2022 compared to $1.2 billion in the previous year. 

The income from operations recorded for the whole year in 2022 reached the $1.02 billion mark, signaling a 22% growth on a YoY basis from $841.8. The Q4 numbers for the same income from operations recorded a rise of close to 35% from $204.4 million to $275.5 million. The net income for the year ended December 31, 2022, was $703.3 million compared to $534.1 million at the end of 2021. Adjusted EBITDA in 2022 reached $1.22 billion from $1.09 billion in 2021. 

Growth Expected to Continue in 2023

The company predicted that its continued efforts to grow will carry on in 2023 while expressing its trust in the capacities of its relationships with important gaming operators, expansion initiatives, and power to structure and support innovative transactions at highly competitive rates.

By harnessing the strength of its tenants aligned with its liquidity and balance sheet, GLPI hopes to keep growing its cash flows while building more value for its shareholders in the current year and beyond.

The company has already announced a value of $0.72 per share on the common stock earlier in the week while setting the special earnings and profit dividend at $0.25 per share in relation to the sale of the Tropicana Las Vegas venue. 

According to its 2023 Guidance, GLPI estimates its adjusted funds from operations for the year ending December 31, 2023, will range between $980 million and $997 million. The company also gave an estimate for diluted share or units of limited partnership interest in the operating partnership of between $3.61 and $3.67.



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