PartyPoker is upping the stakes for this year’s MILLIONS Online series with an all progressive knock-out (PKO) edition of the online poker festival.

The PartyPoker MILLIONS KO Edition kicks off on May 4 and runs through to May 30. Highlights of the series will include a three-day $530 Main Event with a $500,000 guarantee and side events in Pot Limit Omaha and No Limit Hold’em.

The series sports ten numbered events. However, with all the side events, satellites, and multiple Day 1s, there’s plenty of action every day for poker junkies looking for their fix.

Download PartyPoker And Try To Win Your MILLIONS Online KO Ticket

Partypoker MILLIONS Online KO Main Events

The No-Limit hold’em Main Event has a buy-in of $530, with a $500,000 guarantee and five standard day ones plus two turbo Day 1s.

There is also a $215 Pot Limit Omaha Main Event with the same five plus two structure for it Day 1s. The PLO Main Event comes with a guarantee of $100,000.

In addition to the NLH and PLO main events, there are eight numbered events and an extended roster of daily, weekly, and special tournaments.

Satellites and SPINS

In addition to a plethora of the usual satellite options for the ten numbered PKO events, the PartyPoker MILLIONS Online KO Series is also supported by a set of SPINS satellites.

SPINS are three-player sit’n’goes in which the prize pool is randomized. The prize for winning a MILLIONS Online KO SPINS satellite range from $40 cash (double the $20 buy-in) through tournament tickets for MILLIONS Online KO events valued at $55, $109, $215, $320, or $530.

These fast-paced tournaments are a fun way to try and win your way into a MILLIONS Online KO event on the cheap.

PartyPoker MILLIONS Online KO Schedule

_{*Day 1A for events with multiple Day 1s. Check out the partypoker MILLIONS PKO Edition site for full details of all Day 1s, side events, and satellites.}

Check Out PartyPoker’s Amazing MTT Schedule

It is a couple of months since PartyPoker revamped its multi-table tournament schedule, adding hundreds of new tournaments across the week. The PokerNews Online Tournament Calendar is the tool you need to find the perfect PartyPoker tournament for you. It’s free to use, and customizable too. Try it out today.

Help Yourself to a PartyPoker Welcome Package

Download partypoker via PokerNews and make your first deposit of at least $10 to receive a matched welcome bonus of 100% up to $600. You will also earn up to $30 worth of tournament tickets.

A $10 deposit yields $10 worth of tickets over a week:

Day 1: 2x $1 SPINS tickets + 1x $5.50 MTT ticket
Day 2: 4x $0.25 SPINS tickets
Day 4: 1x $3.30 MTT ticket
Day 6: 4x $0.25 SPINS tickets

If your deposit is at least $20, and the following ticket package is yours:

Day 1: 1x $5.30 MTT ticket
Day 2: 2x $1 SPINS ticket
Day 3: 1x $5.50 MTT ticket
Day 4: 1x $5.50 MTT ticket
Day 5: 3x $2.20 MTT tickets
Day 6: 2x $3 SPINS tickets + 1x$3.30 MTT ticket

Residents of the United Kingdom can take advantage of a different partypoker welcome bonus. A first deposit of at least £10 nets UK players a 100% match up to £400 plus ten Party Dollars a day for six days. Party Dollars can be used in any of the site’s games.

To release the full Deposit Bonus amount, you must meet partypoker’s playthrough requirements. Check out partypoker for full details.

The 2023 PokerStars European Poker Tour presented by Monte-Carlo Casino®️ kicked off with the €1,100 France Poker Series (FPS) Main Event and after four starting flights and three more days of action-packed poker, Japan’s Daisuke Ogita claimed the trophy and €307,160, defeating France’s Rubens Sellam in heads-up play.

This year’s FPS Main Event saw a record-breaking field of 2,138 entries create a massive €2,052,480 prize pool, smashing the previous record for this event. Players from 65 different countries came to compete, with France representing nearly 36% of the field.

Several PokerStars Ambassadors were in the mix, but it was none other than Benjamin Spragg who made the deepest run out of his colleagues with a late Day 3 finish in 21st place for €8,850.

Ogita came into the final day second in chips and navigated his way into the chip lead early on, keeping his foot on the gas pedal until the end to finish victorious. With over $800,000 in live tournament earnings, according to The Hendon Mob, Ogita was arguably the most experienced player at the final table, and his spectacular play showed just that.

Coming off a recent first-place finish in the 2023 EPT Paris €5,150 6-Max for €111,000 just this past February, Ogita had his eyes set on the top spot to up that score and put himself into the top ten all-time money winners from Japan.

€1,100 FPS Main Event Final Table Results

Day 4 Action

Only eight players returned to action at the start of Day 4, and with the average stack being less than 30 big blinds, things got off to a hot start. Switzerland’s Maksym Mamon was the first casualty when he picked up pocket queens and moved in from under the gun. The action folded around to Ogita, who made the call with king-nine and when the board flopped a king, Mamon was sent to the rail in eighth place.

A few hands later, Adel Rahou picked up queen-jack and found himself in a great position for a double up when he flopped a jack against the pocket sixes of Quentin Laugt. The turn, however, had other plans when a six fell to eliminate Rahou in seventh place. Stefan Dimitrov was the next victim when he picked up ace-jack but ran into the pocket aces of Ogita and couldn’t find improvement, sending him out in sixth place.

Every Past PokerStars EPT Monte Carlo Main Event Champion

Soon after, Laugt would be on the short stack and moved in with ace-queen. Ogita held ten-seven suited and made the call to put Laugt at risk. The board ran out, giving Ogita a rivered flush, and Laugt was forced to settle for a fifth-place finish. Anatoly Chen managed to maneuver his way to a healthy stack for much of the day, but in the end, picked up ace-jack and jammed all in against the queens of Tomas Patka. The board didn’t improve the ace-jack, and Chen was sent to the exit in fourth place for a six-figure payday.

Three-handed play lasted the longest on the day, and after close to two hours of a back-and-forth battle, it was the start of day chip leader Patka that was left with only four big blinds. Patka called a shove from Ogita with ace-three versus his pocket eights. The board stayed clean for the eights and Patka was eliminated in third place.

The heads-up battle started slow,ly with many pots being taken down preflop, but on the 50th hand, Sellam saw a flop of ten-high and held ten-four to get his remaining stack in well ahead. Ogita made the call with the overwhelming chip lead holding ace-queen. The turn was safe for Sellam, but when the river brought a queen, it was the money card Ogita needed to seal the victory and send Sellam out in runner-up position.

That wraps up the coverage of the €1,100 FPS Main Event. Stay tuned as the PokerNews team continues to bring coverage from Sporting Monte-Carlo of select events from the 2023 PokerStars European Poker Tour presented by Monte-Carlo Casino®️.

On Saturday night, Day 1b of the World Poker Tour (WPT) $3,500 Seminole Hard Rock Poker Showdown was taking place in the main ballroom at the Seminole Hard Rock in South Florida. Across the hall, Event #48: $250 Ladies No-Limit Hold’em was also playing out.

That tournament attracted 83 entries and offered up a $17,430 prize pool. Unfortunately, one of the competitors was a man, Dave Hughes, who wound up winning it for $5,555. Per state law, management is unable to bar a man from entering a ladies’ event in Florida.

Ebony Kenney documented the whole ordeal on Twitter:

Minnesota Male Poker Player Competes in 2021 WSOP Ladies Event

Wider Poker Community Reacts

As word spread throughout the poker community, many prominent members weighed in on the topic of men entering ladies’ events.

“I don’t think men should play in ladies-only tournaments.”

“I love ladies-only poker tournaments. I would have no problem with them having a men’s only and I wouldn’t enter it as I would not qualify for it,” said Poker Hall of Famer Linda Johnson. “I would have no problem if they had a tournament for 26-year old, motorcycle riding, Mohawk-haircut seniors and I wouldn’t enter it because I wouldn’t qualify.

She continued: “I don’t think men should play in ladies-only tournaments. That said, I think there is a total overreaction to the few man who do enter. They are usually looking for attention, so why give it to them? Maybe we should just ignore them and play our best. This is just my two cents and you are welcome to your own thoughts on this.”

Kevin Martin took to Twitter to ask for thoughts:

Andy Bloch responded by stating: “1) The guy could be a nice guy, who has what he honestly believes is a good reason to play, unaware that it may be a “dick move.” 2) For sure people would criticize him even more if it was obvious that he was pretending to identify as a woman.”

While the debate continues online, Kenney did send out another tweet to bring it back to the true spirit of the event:

“Had a blast connecting with all of the women who played the WPT ladies event yesterday. I met so many Embodied Confidence members and had soooo many beautiful convos & moments. This is what it’s all about.”

Not the First Time

A man entering a woman’s tournament is not uncommon. In many states, it’s against the law to restrict a man from entering, such as in Nevada at the World Series of Poker (WSOP). However, in 2013, the WSOP worked some magic to make the buy-in for the Ladies Event $10,000 with women receiving a 90% discount, so just $1,000 for them. That was legal and meant any man who wants to enter would have to pony up the entire $10,000.

While a deterrent, it hasn’t stopped all men from entering the tournament. Six years ago, Tony Roberto jumped in after losing a prop bet. More recently, Minnesota’s Tom Hammers entered in an attempt to raise money for charity.

Even with noble intentions, men are almost always criticized for entering a ladies’ event, which is designed to offer women their own place to play where they might feel safer, have more fun, etc.

Hughes’s victory also wasn’t the first time a man has won a ladies’ tournament. Back in 2009, Abraham Korotki won the $300 Ladies Event at the Borgata Poker Open besting a field of 269 entries. Korotki won that tournament for $20,982 and didn’t make any friends when he denied a chop with Nicole Rowe, who had recently been diagnosed with breast cancer and was hoping to use the prize money toward medical care.

At the time, Borgata Director of Poker Marketing Ray Stefanelli issued the following statement:

“Borgata offers specialty tournaments, such as the ladies event, as it has been our experience that these events are favored by certain segments of our customers. In the spirit of this event, it was our hope that only women would seek to participate, which has been the case in the past.” Stefanelli continued, “However, given both legal and regulatory requirements, we must allow anyone who is over the age of 21 the opportunity to participate in all of our events. As such, when Mr. Korotki insisted upon gaining entry into the tournament against our wishes, we had no option but to allow him to participate.”

Despite most men steering clear of ladies’ events, there are seemingly those without shame as seen this past weekend down in Florida.

On a positive note, the WPT did host a social media content during the tournament and one lucky winner received a passport to the WPT Ladies Championship at Wynn Las Vegas in December!

Executive Editor U.S.

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