Tero Laurila Wins the €1,100 888poker LIVE Barcelona Main Event (€64,000)

Tero Laurila Wins the €1,100 888poker LIVE Barcelona Main Event (€64,000)



Tero Laurila capitalized on his start-of-day chip lead to win the €1,100 888poker LIVE Barcelona Main Event for €64,000. The Finn, who has over $70,000 in tournament cashes according to the Hendon Mob, defeated online qualifier Nils Lechner heads up to win the prestigious trophy at the beautiful Barcelona Casino.

Lechner qualified for this event from an $11 online step satellite on 888poker.com to win a package to the €1,100 buy-in Main Event. Lechner spoke to PokerNews yesterday on making the final table. “So it was like already, like, pretty big to come here. Just getting the accommodations paid and just enjoying. And I had no expectations going into this.” With no expectations, Lechner turned his $11 into a €46,000 payday. Lechner said he’d only played live once before, but at just 23 years old, it is unlikely this will be his last appearance on the live circuit.

€1,100 888poker LIVE Barcelona Main Event Final Table Results

Place Player Country Prize
1 Tero Laurila Finland €64,000*
2 Nils Lechner Germany €46,000*
3 Albert Grane Spain €33,000
4 Tullio Bertoli Venezuela €26,000
5 Pekka Ikonen Finland €20,000
6 Juri Mereu Italy €15,000
7 Lin Xia Italy €12,000
8 Nuno Duarte Portugal €9,300
9 Sergi Alonso Spain €7,120

*reflects a heads-up deal

Final Table Action

The final table started in electric fashion, and Nils Lechner was lucky to not be the first out when he four-bet his ace-king against Nuno Duarte. Duarte had pocket queens but decided Lechner was too strong, and made the hero fold.

However, Duarte wasn’t folding his pocket tens when he cold four-bet all in over Sergi Alonso‘s three-bet. Alonso had ace-king, but headed for an early exit when Duarte hit a set on the turn which left Alonso drawing dead.

Despite eliminating Alonso, Duarte himself was next to be eliminated when he moved all in with pocket kings over Laurila’s bet on the ace of spades turn. Chip leader Laurila had donked on the seven-high board with ace-jack but turned top pair. Duarte was a non-believer when he raised all in, which sent him home in eighth place for €9,300.

Nuno Duarte
Nuno Duarte

Lin Xia was gone soon after when he three-bet shoved ace-ten. Laurila looked Xia up with his pocket three, and Xia was eliminated (€12,000) when he couldn’t win the flip against the Finn. Six-handed play lasted a while before Juri Mereu ran cold against Catalan local Albert Grane. Grane, dressed as Rambo, had raised jacks from late position and called Mereu’s three-bet jam with queens. Luck would be on Grane’s side when a jack came on the turn to eliminate Mereu in sixth (€15,000).

Pekka Ikonen got his money in good when Tullio Bertoli shoved ace-six from the small blind into Ikonen’s ace-queen but the flop fell with two sixes which ensured Ikonen’s elimination for €20,000 in fifth. Four-handed play lasted a while before Bertoli himself was eliminated after the dinner break at the hands of Lechner. Lechner had already hero-folded ace-queen when Bertoli shoved on him with ace-jack but Lechner didn’t feel like folding twice when he called a three bet shove with pocket sevens against Bertoli’s ace-queen.The flip went Lechner’s way to move the contest into three-handed play.

Three-handed play was almost a heads-up match as Grane and Lechner went head to head in many pots while Laurila avoided confrontation with tight preflop play. Grane held the chip lead for several hours before Lechner took Grane for three streets with a better top pair. Grane eventually moved all in with jack-nine only to run into Laurila’s ace-king to bring the final table to heads-up play.

 Albert Grane
Albert Grane
Heads-Up
Heads-up play lasted almost three hours

Heads-up play was a gruelling battle between the two, with lots of small ball poker being played with stacks equal for much of the battle. The players agreed on a deal early in the match, but Laurila eventually took control, leaving Lechner short. Lechner eventually three-bet shoved all in with nine-eight only to run into Laurila’s kings. Lechner picked up a flush draw on the flopbut couldn’t hit which gave the trophy to Laurila.





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Malta Gaming Licence ▷ Regulatory Process for Casino Sites in Malta

Malta Gambling Licence Validity and Checkmark


As we promote only verified and licensed casino sites in Malta, we will focus on the licensing process of the top gaming operators. The next boxes include links to the main topics in this blog post, so please use them, or stay tuned to the end of the article if you don’t want to miss something important.

From the MGA fundamentals to the application steps for online casino operators who want to obtain a Malta gambling licence – you will find exactly what you are looking for. So, without further ado, let’s get started with a short introduction to the MGA as a regulatory authority.

Fundamentals of the Malta Gambling Regulation

MGA has a significant role and purpose to regulate all sectors of the gaming industry in Malta. As stated by the MGA regulation fundamentals, a Malta gaming licence is required for every person intending to operate a gaming business in Malta. Simply put, if you have a business in the online gaming industry in Malta, you are required to have a licence. Here are other fundamentals of the MGA regulation:

  • To oversee and regulate its licensees by managing innovation.
  • Ensures the safety and reliability of the gambling services.
  • Analyses of the business plans of the applicants for a licence.
  • Audits all compliance reports and proposes dispute resolutions.
  • Player protection by ensuring fair gaming and funds protection.

Malta Gaming Licence Types

The B2C Malta gambling licence is issued to gambling operators, such as online and land-based casinos that offer their services directly to players (customers). A B2B gambling licence in Malta concerns software providers that offer their services to other businesses, such as online casinos. There are also four classes or types of licences, depending on the offered remote gaming services.

📜 Malta Gambling Licence Type 🎲 Examples of Included Games
Class 1 Licence Casino Games, eSports, Lotteries, Poker
Class 2 Licence Sports Wagers with Fixed Odds, Live Betting
Class 3 Licence Betting Exchange, Pool Betting, p2p Games
Class 4 Licence Controlled Skill Games, Daily Fantasy

Of course, some types of games are excluded from the licensing requirement. Examples include games of skill that do not return prizes or require betting, such as charitable bingo or games played just for fun.

Licence Expiry Period

Several things changed with the publication of the Gaming Act 2018, including the extension of the Malta gambling licence validity from 5 years to 10 years. All four types of MT gambling licences can be renewed for the same period. Also, you will go through a compliance audit after the first year of operation, while any further change in the casino terms or the details on the offered games cannot be done without the MGA’s approval.

Malta Casino Licence Application Process

The Malta casino licence is among the world’s most important gambling commission licences. It offers a prestigious platform that can be used by gaming operators in any jurisdiction worldwide where online gambling is not prohibited. Here are the main steps of a Malta gaming licence application.

  1. Preparation/submission of the required documentation to the MGA.
  2. Thorough application review, including financial analyses and company security checks.
  3. Business plan review, including the sustainability of your company, business processes, etc.
  4. Complete testing of the gaming system that is conducted independently.
  5. Final checks and audits of the applicants who went successfully through the process.
  6. Issuing of a Malta gambling licence for 10 years.

You will also be asked to submit various documentation throughout the process and pay all the required taxes and application fees. If all goes well, your gaming business will be under the Malta gambling regulation, which offers unique benefits, such as access to developed markets, strict money laundering policies, and top responsible gaming services, among others.

Timeframes of the MT Licensing and Regulation Process

If you wonder how much time it takes to get a gambling licence in Malta – we can tell that the process
is lengthy and overwhelming. It comes down to several months, or even a year, depending on the state in which your
business is. Here are the approximate timeframes for some of the main processes, which could help you get a better idea.

🏢 Registering a Company in Malta About 2 Weeks
💳 Opening a Business Bank Account About 2 Weeks
📗 Preparing the Business Plan About 4-6 Weeks
📝 Gaming & Control System Audit Up to 2 Months
⚖️ Compliance Audit Up to 3 Months

A nice tip is to use the services of a third-party company with professional consultants who can help you with all the
application steps from the MT licensing and regulation process. Yet, it could shorten the whole procedure up to
a month and a half
, but this is a very rough approximation for the application only. It could take up to a
year or even more until you get the licence.

Requirements for a Gambling Licence from Malta

There are a lot of Malta online casino regulation requirements, and they are even more to get a licence. Examples
include documents and various forms, fees, certificates, etc., and you usually have a certain timeframe
to prepare them. Here is a list of requirements to get a Malta casino licence:

Type of Requirement Examples
ℹ️ ID/Contact Information Copy of your ID, contact address, phone number, etc.
👔 Company Documentation Documents about the office’s registration, incorporation documents, annual financial reports and tax returns,
copies of audits, etc. Fewer documents for startups.
💻 Property Requirements The location of all software and hardware elements required for the operation of your gaming business must be in
Malta.
🏢 Casino Plan Scheme of the gaming premises, the support centre, and documents to prove the operational readiness of your
facility to meet the standards.
🏆 Business Plan A short- and long-term business plan, documents about business activities and projections, and other documents
to prove operational sustainability.
📜 Gambling Policies: Documentation about the offered games and testing certificates, general casino rules, promotional conditions,
responsible gaming practices, technical procedures, etc.
💵 Share Capital: A minimum of €100,000 issued and paid-up share capital for Class 1 or Class 2 game licences; and a minimum of
€40,000 for Class 3 or Class 4 game licences.
✔️ System Audit Report: Report from an independent test-run audit of the gaming system. Required only from the successful applicants and
must be conducted by a company approved by the MGA.

Of course, these are only the common examples of the requirements you can come across during the MT
licensing and regulation process. Prepare for many additional requirements, such as personal details of shareholders
with more than 5% interest, including qualification and experience evaluation, face-to-face interviews, and others.

Annual Licence Fees & Costs

There are many application fees, as well as costs during the Malta gambling regulation. If you wonder whether it
is cheap or not
to get a Malta casino licence – the short answer would be ‘it is not cheap’. There are
administrative fees, non-refundable fees, annual licence fees, regular audit taxes, and more. Here are a few examples:

➡️ Licence Application Fee: €1000
➡️ Fixed Annual Licence Fee: €25,000 (for Types 1, 2, and 3), €10,000 (for Type 4)
➡️ New Licence Application Fee: €5000
➡️ Licence Renewal Fee: €5000
➡️ Malta Tax on Gambling: 5% (for B2C Licence Holders)
➡️ Corporate Tax Rate: 35%

There are also compliance contribution rates for offering gaming services, paid yearly. They vary from
0.40% to 4% depending on the class type of the Malta gambling licence and the annual revenue. There are also different
fees for B2B and B2C licence holders. You should contact the MGA or your consultancy company for more details on this
topic.

Responsibilities of the Operators Licensed by the MGA

Liability and Responsibilities
The greatest responsibility after your business obtains a Malta gaming licence is mostly associated with continual compliance with the MGA policies. From general accounting to ongoing operational maintenance and regular audits – there are many obligations once you become a licence holder.

Penalties for Non-Compliance with the MGA Regulation

Non-compliance of licensees with the Malta online casino regulation leads to penalties and even criminal proceedings. The high credibility of a Malta gaming licence must not be underestimated. Here are some of the penalties for non-compliance with the MGA regulation:

  • An administrative fine of up to €235,000 for licensees who breached the MGA conditions.
  • Administrative penalties for offences committed against the Gaming Act.
  • Criminal proceedings for licensees who refuse to pay administrative fines.

Every fine is determined by the MGA and depends on numerous factors, such as scale, duration, and frequency of the breach. The investigation must conclude whether the non-compliant breach is deliberate or due to negligence, the parties involved, previous records, and others.

Overview of the MGA Licensing Process & Closing Thoughts

All gaming establishments and casino operators in Malta are licensed by the Malta Gaming Authority, and you can check them out from the MGA licensee register. The Authority transformed into a symbol of innovation and high standards in the gaming industry, and it develops constantly. They even have a new revamped look you can see in the next video.

Compared to other application processes – the Malta gaming licence is often preferred, as it offers numerous benefits. The shortened application time, the long validity period, and the good offshore coverage are only a few examples. It is a licence from an EU member, and it is a guarantee for the fairness and trustworthiness of the casino operators.

Malta Gaming Licence and Regulation Process – Q&As

If you want to know more about the gambling licence in Malta, please read the following sections with questions and answers. From the application process to the main requirements and the licence validity – we have covered it all.

1️⃣ What is a Malta gaming licence?

The fundamentals of the Malta online casino regulation concern all businesses that operate remote gaming facilities and offer such services to players. There are four types of casino licences, covering B2B and B2C operating companies, and every licence is a legal requirement according to the Gaming Act 2018.

2️⃣ How to apply for a Malta casino licence?

The Malta gaming licence application starts with the filing and submission of the application form and continues with a detailed investigation including all kinds of company checks. Then, a business plan is submitted. The approved applicants conduct a gaming system test and go through final checks upon the issuing of the licence.

3️⃣ What is the MT licensing and regulatory process?

There are several Malta gambling regulation requirements you need to fulfil during the application process, and even before that. Examples include documents about the full company profile and its shareholders, a casino plan, a business plan, general terms and conditions, bonus policies, a system audit report, and more.

4️⃣ How long does it take to get a Malta casino licence?

The timeframe for obtaining a Malta gaming licence depends on the readiness of your business to conduct gambling activities. It could be from a couple of months up to a year, or even more. For instance, only the incorporation of a Maltese company and opening a business bank account could take up to a few weeks.

5️⃣ Is the Malta gambling licence cheap or expensive?

The casino licence is not cheap by any means. There are several Malta gaming licence fees and costs at any stage of the application process, including application fee, licence renewal fee, Malta tax on gambling, and corporate tax rate, among others.

6️⃣ How long is the validity of an MGA gambling licence?

The Malta gambling licence validity is for 10 years and then can be extended by submitting a licence renewal application. During this period, you can make changes in the general terms, game, and bonus policies, only with the approval of the MGA.

7️⃣ Are all MT casinos under the Malta gambling regulation?

Yes, all operators of gaming sites in Malta must be licensed by the MGA. The companies under the Malta online casino regulation should display the logo of the MGA in their footers. It is a symbol of innovation, trustworthiness, and reliability, as you can confirm from the conclusion of the Malta gaming licence guide.

8️⃣ Are there penalties for non-compliance with the MGA?

Yes, licensees have a lot of obligations and responsibilities, and any non-compliance with the Malta online casino regulation comes with serious penalties. Examples include administrative fines of up to €235,000 or even criminal proceedings for those who refuse to pay the fines.

9️⃣ What are the Class 1 gaming service fees in Malta?

The different fees and costs depend on the class types of the Malta gaming licence. Class 1 licensees are the largest category, including operators of classic casino games – roulette, blackjack, slots, as well as virtual sports, lotteries, and poker. They pay a fixed non-refundable annual licence fee of €25,000.

🔟 How prestigious a Malta gambling licence is?

This is one of the most prestigious licences in the gambling industry, as it is from an EU country and it offers broader access to international markets, strict anti-money laundering regulation, and high overall credibility. That’s why the responsibilities of the MGA licensees are very important and are a lot.



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Late Registration Closes in WPT Gardens Poker Championship; $1.7m Prize Pool

Late Registration Closes in WPT Gardens Poker Championship; $1.7m Prize Pool



Day 1b of the World Poker Tour (WPT) $5,250 buy-in Gardens Poker Championship is closing out with less than a hundred players remaining and the payout information is now available after the close of late registration. With 346 total entries across the two starting flights for a prize pool of $1,678,100, 44 places will be paid with the eventual champion getting $357,380.

In addition to the six-figure top prize, the next WPT champion will get their name etched on the Mike Sexton Championship Trophy and will also take home a unique sculpture trophy designed by American artist Daniel Arsham. Not only that, but they will earn a $10,400 seat into the WPT World Championship at the Wynn in Las Vegas.

There were plenty of notables in the Day 1b field, including two-time WPT champions Alex Foxen, Alan Goehring and Season XVI Player of the Year Art Papazyan, who was eliminated as the night wound down as his top pair couldn’t fair against an opponent’s overpair.

Art Papazyan
Art Papazyan

Read About the Day 1a Action in the Garden Poker Championship!

More Familiar Faces in Day 1b

Day 1b saw many of the players who couldn’t make it to bag time in the first starting flight give the tournament another shot, including two-time WPT runner-up Steven Buckner and six-time WPT final tablist Ray Qartomy, as well as ambassador Brad Owen.

There were also plenty of new but familiar faces, including the aforementioned Foxen, who is after a third WPT title after taking down the 2018 WPT Los Angeles Poker Classic Rockstar Energy High Roller for $424,625 and later the 2019 WPT Five Diamond World Poker Classic for $1,694,995.

Alex Foxen
Alex Foxen

In true Foxen fashion, he built up an impressive chip tower throughout the day and, short of disaster, will enter Day 2 among the chip leaders.

Other players in the Day 1b field included WPT ambassador Andrew Neeme, Francis Anderson, Kenny Hallaert, Michael Wang, Daniel Rezaei, Utah all-time money leader Jared Griener and WPT Champions Club members Daniel Strelitz, Mohsin Charania and Ryan Tosoc.

Andrew Neeme
Andrew Neeme

Those who advance on Day 1b will join the 54 survivors from Day 1a for Day 2 on May 23, which will kick off at noon local time on Level 11 with blinds of 1,500/2,500/2,500.

The top 44 finishers are guaranteed a minimum cash of $10,160, but that pales in comparison to the $357,380 awaiting the eventual champion.

PokerNews will be back on-site tomorrow to continue bringing you stories from the WPT Gardens Poker Championship here in Southern California.

WPT Gardens Poker Championship Payout Information

  PLACE PRIZE (IN USD)
  1st $357,380
  2nd $230,000
  3rd $169,000
  4th $125,000
  5th $94,000
  6th $71,200
  7th $54,500
  8th $42,200
  9th-10th $32,900
  11-12th $26,580
  13-14th $21,820
  15-16th $18,220
  17-20th $15,500
  21-24th $13,420
  25-32nd $11,860
  33-38th $10,710
  39-44th $10,160

*Images courtesy of WPT.





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Ali Imsirovic’s Coaching Offer Raises Question of Redemption

Ali Imsirovic


Ali Imsirovic offers coaching

Poker pro Ali Imsirovic’s Instagram bio is a single line reading: “Contact [email protected] for poker coaching!”

This surprising turn of events was brought to the poker world’s attention by Barry Carter, who posted a screengrab of Imsirovic’s Instagram story. In the screengrab, Imsirovic says he’s “been coaching a few guys” and is looking to “add” a few more.

Imsirovic has been very quiet since he was accused of cheating by Alex Foxen in April 2022. Foxen described watching Imsirovic “quite visibly look down at Paul Phua’s hole cards” during a Super High Roller Bowl stream.

Foxen also said that Imsirovic was “banned from GG for Multi-accounting and RTA,” as well as being “known as a cheater to almost all in the high roller community.”

 subsequently banned from events on the PokerGO tour

Imsirovic was subsequently banned from events on the PokerGO tour and therefore from a significant portion of $10,000+ live tourneys in the US. Foxen also claimed to have witnessed chip dumping and suspicious play from Imsirovic and his dodgy cronies.

Now the poker community worries that he’s recruiting a whole new generation of younger, dodgier cronies.

Nagy offers a bounty

Phil Galfond responded by expressing his wish that “someone will infiltrate & expose [Imsirovic’s] current cheating methods (and not turn evil).”

Winning Poker Network CEO Phil Nagy then gave that wish some tangible hope by putting up a $100,000 wanted poster for anyone who could provide evidence of Imsirovic’s cheating methods.

Nagy may not have ensured that Imsirovic is brought to justice, but he has probably made Imsirovic’s coaching inbox utterly unusable. Not all heroes wear capes, but this one does, and it is America’s Cardroom-branded.

Poker world does not offer redemption

A couple of years ago, Imsirovic was one of the poker world’s golden boys. He won PokerGO’s Player of the Year in 2021, had WSOPC rings on two of his fingers, and $18.7m in live tournament cashes.

His online poker bans were often overlooked as red flags because they were old. There are plenty of non-sinister reasons to be banned from an online poker site.

gave those red flags a fresh dye and a new urgency

Foxen breaking the ring of silence among the high stakes players who actually competed with Imsirovic gave those red flags a fresh dye and a new urgency.

Imsirovic’s silence allowed him to avoid a Streisand effect, but, Phils Galfond and Nagy are still sending the message, “Don’t Lie to Me.”

The post Ali Imsirovic’s Coaching Offer Raises Question of Redemption appeared first on VegasSlotsOnline News.

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Utah’s All-Time Money Leaders Find Refuge in Southern California

Utah's All-Time Money Leaders Find Refuge in Southern California



There is not much poker in Utah. In fact, as one of the most conservative states in the country, one that outlaws both live and online poker, the closest place anyone in Utah’s urban center can get a poker fix is Wendover, a border town straddling the Utah-Nevada state line that is currently home to two small poker rooms that may have a few low-stakes cash games running at any time.

I know this because I became a poker journalist despite growing up in one of the most unlikely places to cultivate such a career: Utah. And like other poker players who were unfortunate enough to be condemned to the Beehive State, I know how grueling it can be to make a two-hour drive across the barren Bonneville Salt Flats just to play some cards.

In spite of the obvious roadblocks impeding anyone from Utah hoping to make a career out of poker, several players with Utah roots have managed to rack up seven figures in live tournament earnings. The most accomplished of them, Jared Griener and Frank Stepuchin, who respectively make up the one and two slots atop the Utah all-time money list with $2.5 million and $1.3 million in live earnings, are both playing in the currently underway World Poker Tour (WPT) $5,250 buy-in Gardens Poker Championship in Los Angeles County.

Utah All-Time Money List Top 10

  RANK PLAYER EARNINGS
  1 Jared Griener $2,508,974
  2 Frank Stepuchin $1,344,201
  3 Dylan Hortin $1,095,564
  4 Jacob Powers $1,028,032
  5 Devin Porter $1,024,156
  6 Kenneth Lind $682,108
  7 Peter Lawson $666,135
  8 Joseph Sanders $493,248
  9 Andrew Crookston $460,310
  10 Jeremiah Degreef $429,430

It’s a venue, and a region, that both players are intimately familiar with. Stepuchin took down the 2019 $10,000 WPT Gardens Poker Championship for $548,825, while Griener has had multiple six-figure scores at The Gardens Casino, including a sixth-place finish in the 2018 $5,000 WPT Gardens Poker Festival Main Event for $115,885.

PokerNews spoke with both players during the WPT Gardens Poker Championship to learn more about their journeys from arguably poker’s most hostile state to the thriving live poker oasis that is Southern California.

Frank Stepuchin
Frank Stepuchin

The Best and Worst Places for Poker

With multiple casinos and card rooms equipped with a hundred-plus poker tables, Griener, who was born and raised in Provo before moving to Huntington Beach in his early 20s, describes Los Angeles County as “the best place in the world to play cash games.” That’s a far cry from his home state, which he noted is “the only state in the continental US that has no gambling whatsoever.”

“I had no idea about poker until I got out of Utah,” he told PokerNews during a break on Day 1b. “It’s kind of not the best environment to get into poker.”

After leaving Provo for Huntington Beach, Griener’s said he “sort of stumbled” into poker when he played with some of his sales job colleagues. “The first time I played, they taught me how to play, and I won. So that kind of got me hooked on it.”

Since stumbling into poker, Griener has become one of the biggest crushers in the area. He plays and commentates on the popular Live at the Bike stream, has made several deep WPT runs and won a World Series of Poker Circuit (WSOPC) ring at The Gardens Casino in earlier this year.

Jared Griener’s Top 5 Cashes at The Gardens Casino

  DATE BUY-IN EVENT PLACE PRIZE (IN USD)
  July 2018 $5,000 WPT Gardens Poker Festival Main Event 6th $115,885
  August 2014 $130 Legends of Poker NLH 2nd $84,667
  August 2017 $4,000 WPT Legends of Poker Main Event 8th $57,190
  March 2023 $2,200 WSOPC Los Angeles High Roller 1st $42,555
  January 2020 $10,000 WPT Gardens Poker Championship 13th $35,720

Meanwhile, Stepuchin, who wasn’t born in Utah but lived in Park City for 13 years before moving west to Manhattan Beach, did get into poker in Utah and has his share of memories making the drives out to Wendover in search of a game.

“I guess when I was starting out (playing poker) I was still in Park City, so it (the all-time money list) shows Park City (as my hometown),” Stephuchin said.

No Place Like LA

It’s no secret that California is generally a poker hotbed. There’s poker in Silicon Valley, including at San Jose’s Casino M8trix, where I once as a graduate student played an end-of-quarter late-night Blackjack session despite not having an income and not yet ready for the No-Limit Hold’em games around the corner.

Closer to the state capital of Sacramento, there’s the popular Thunder Valley Casino Resort, where I made my live reporting debut in September 2021.

But talking to Griener and Stepuchin, it is clear that there is nowhere better than Los Angeles, where I distinctly remember my dad slipping away from our annual family vacations to play some cash, for someone from Utah to realize their poker dreams.

The Gardens Casino
The Gardens Casino

“I’ve won three tournaments: (at the) Gardens, Commerce (and) Hustler,” said Stepuchin. “And I’ve gotten kind of close at the Bike. I guess I can only win out here!”

“It has its ups and downs; there’s a lot of people with some attitude, but I kind of enjoy that,” said Griener. “And there’s no doubt that I’ve had way more success in LA and it’s just because I play here so much that I know all the players. And once you play someone over and over again, I feel like that’s kind of my strongest (skill) is just adjusting based on who you are and what I know about you.”

Jared Griener
Jared Griener

Griener is after his first WPT title after several close calls, including third-place finishes in the 2017 $10,000 WPT LA Poker Classic and 2019 WPT Legends of Poker Los Angeles for respective scores of $431,340 and $226,040. Stepuchin, meanwhile, is looking for a second title after winning his first in 2019.

Stepuchin bagged Day 1a among the chip leaders, while Griener is still grinding as Day 1b closes out and he looks to join his fellow Utahn crusher on Day 2.

*Images courtesy of WPT.





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