The RunGood Poker Series (RGPS) is currently at Thunder Valley in Northern California to wrap up its Checkpoint season, and before this weekend’s $600 buy-in, $500K GTD The HendonMob Mid-Major Championship, a special event was held.
On Thursday, the three-time GPI Award winner for “Best Mid-Major Poker Tour” – which recently announced a new theme and new dates for their upcoming season – hosted a special beer release party in conjunction with Thunder Valley and Jackrabbit Brewing Company.
Ben Erwin, the Director of Poker Operations, organized a bus to take guests from Thunder Valley approximately 35 minutes into Sacramento for the “RunGood Railbird Release Party.” The RunGood Railbird Hazy IPA is an exclusive release that’ll be sold not only at the brewery – located at 1323 Terminal St. West Sacramento, CA 95691 – but also inside the Thunder Valley Poker Room.
Ben Erwin, Erle Mankin, and Tana Karn
Established in 2013 by Erle Mankin, a known poker player at Thunder Valley, Jackrabbit Brewery worked fast to craft a summer shandy-like beer for the final stop of RGPS’s “Checkpoint” Season.
“Crisp, light, and full of positive vibes. The RunGood Railbird delivers on all fronts to make it the perfect first-level beer or last-level beer in any poker room,” said RGPS President Tana Karn.
RGPS President Tana Karn distributes beer.
Among those to attend the RunGood Railbird Release Party were World Poker Tour (WPT) champ and World Series of Poker (WSOP) bracelet winner Tyler Patterson, WPT DeepStacks champ and vlogger Kyle Kitagawa, industry veterans Justin Hammer and Jordan Cutter, poker player Marty Gorenc, and poker media members Dan Ross and TJ Reid, among many others.
Attendees got a tour of the brewery.
In addition to seemingly endless flights of beer, attendees were able to enjoy birria tacos, quesadillas, and more from an accompanying taco stand. Before everyone left, there was a run on Jackrabbit Brewery apparel, and on the bus ride back to the casino an impromptu sing-a-long broke out to such hits as “Country Roads” and “The Gambler.”
The RunGood Railbird Hazy IPA proved a big hit during the weekend’s poker tournament with the first keg being tapped almost immediately. That said, it’s slated to be on tap all month long at Thunder Valley, including during the upcoming $2,500 buy-in, $1,000,000 GTD Checkpoint Million Dollar Main from July 28-31.
The World Poker Tour (WPT) makes its way to the capital of Taiwan for two weeks of exciting WPT Prime Taiwan action from August 8–21.
The series is poised for a huge turnout and will be held at the newly established Asia Poker Arena in Taipei City, Taiwan. The state-of-the-art venue features 50 poker tables and is primed to be the perfect locale to set new records.
“With the help of the Chinese Texas Hold’em Poker Association, we are presenting our first-ever one-million-dollar guarantee in Asia,” said WPT CEO Adam Pliska. “WPT Prime continues to hit milestone numbers this season, so we are eager to witness the turnout in Taiwan.”
Variety of Exciting Events
The WPT Prime Taiwan schedule is packed with a variety of events, including a Mystery Bounty event and a Supersonic NLHE/Liar’s Dice event, as well as plenty of satellites to move up to bigger tournaments.
The marquee event of the poker festival is the TWD 33,000 buy-in WPT Prime Taiwan Main Event, featuring a USD $1,000,000 guaranteed prize pool.
The Main Event gets underway on August 17 and has three starting flights. The survivors of each flight will combine for Day 2 on August 20, and Day 3 will take place on August 21 when a champion will be crowned.
Big Prize Pools Expected
Marc Inizan
This is the second-annual edition of the WPT Prime Taiwan with the first having occurred in November 2022. The inaugural Main Event title went to France’s Marc Inizan, who took home TWD 4,326,600, equivalent to $138,851 USD.
That event attracted 877 entrants to generate a prize pool of $808,623 USD, and that number is sure to be smashed this time around with a seven-figure USD prize pool guaranteed for the marquee event of this year’s WPT Prime Taiwan.
Win a WPT Prime Passport on WPT Global
Even if you’re not planning on traveling to East Asia for this highly anticipated series, there are still multiple ways to get in on the action at WPT Prime future stops.
Online Poker Room WPT Global gives players the chance to secure their seats to various events around the world with the $1,500 WPT Prime Passport, which allows them to play at a live event of their choice.
The Passport Qualifiers have a $110 buy-in and run every Saturday at 2 p.m. ET and Sunday and 6 p.m. ET., while you can even satellite your way into a qualifier for as low as $5.
The next WPT Prime stops include:
Aix-en-Provence, France – August 3-6
Liechtenstein – September 8-11
Madrid, Spain – September 28-October 1
Las Vegas, USA – December 7-12
And watch for many more WPT live events
Join WPT Global Today
The launch of WPT Global means that poker players around the world now have the chance to win their way to WPT events, win prizes and enjoy exciting games such as Poker Flips. As one of the world’s largest cash game poker networks, WPT Global is available in over 50 countries and territories worldwide.
WPT Global also offers new players matched deposit bonus of 100% up to a maximum of $1,200. Any new player who deposits $20 or more will automatically receive this deposit bonus.
The playthrough requirements for this bonus is fairly straightforward, with each $2.50 increment of the bonus being unlocked every time you generate $10 of rake. This rake can come from either tournaments or cash games. The bonus expires after 90 days starting from the date of your first deposit.
To further sweeten the deal, WPT Global will also award you some tournament tickets. The exact reward depends on whether you are a new player and how big your deposit was.
Players
Deposit No.
Min Deposit
Reward
Total Rewards
New only
1st
$20
$11 Mini Slam ticket
$11 Mini Slam ticket
New and Existing
2nd
$20
$11 Mini Slam ticket
2x $11 Mini Slam tickets
New and Existing
Deposit of $300+
$300
$110 Sunday Slam ticket
$11 Mini Slam and $110 Sunday Slam ticket
New and Existing
Deposit of $1,200+
$1,200
2x $110 Sunday Slam tickets
$11 Mini Slam and 3x $110 Sunday Slam tickets
Check out the WPT Hub on PokerNews here!
WPT Prime Taiwan Schedule
Start Date
Buy-In (TWD)
Tournament
8-Aug
2,000
Satellite to Main Event Warmup
8-Aug
10,000
No Limit Hold’em – Main Event Warm Up (Event #1) Day 1A
8-Aug
8,000
Pot Limit Omaha Warm Up (Event #2) Day 1
8-Aug
6,000
No Limit Hold’em – Turbo (Event #3)
8-Aug
66,000
No Limit Hold’em – Mini High Roller Warm Up (Event #4) Day 1
8-Aug
2,000
Satellite to Main Event Warmup
8-Aug
2,000
Satellite to Main Event Warmup
9-Aug
10,000
No Limit Hold’em – Main Event Warm Up (Event #1) Day 1B
9-Aug
66,000
No Limit Hold’em – Mini High Roller Warm Up (Event #4) Day 2
9-Aug
6,000
No Limit Hold’em – Mini Superstack Classic (Event #5) Day 1
9-Aug
2,000
Satellite to Main Event Warmup
10-Aug
2,000
Satellite to Main Event Warmup
10-Aug
10,000
No Limit Hold’em – Main Event Warm Up (Event #1) Day 1C
10-Aug
50,000
No Limit Hold’em – High Roller (Event #6)
10-Aug
6,000
No Limit Hold’em – Mega Stack Turbo (Event #7)
10-Aug
3,500
Satellite to Mystery Bounty
11-Aug
3,500
Satellite to Mystery Bounty
11-Aug
16,500
No Limit Hold’em – Mystery Bounty (Event #8) Day 1A
11-Aug
50,000
No Limit Hold’em – High Roller Warm Up (Event #9) Day 1
11-Aug
8,000
No Limit Hold’em – Deepstack Turbo (Event #10)
11-Aug
10,000
Pot Limit Omaha – PLO 15/15/15 (Event #11)
11-Aug
22,000
+ 10,000 No Limit Hold’em – Deepstack Turbo Big Bounty (Event #12)
11-Aug
3,500
Satellite to Mystery Bounty
12-Aug
3,500
Satellite to Mystery Bounty
12-Aug
16,500
No Limit Hold’em – Mystery Bounty (Event #8) Day 1B
12-Aug
16,500
No Limit Hold’em – Mystery Bounty (Event #8) Day 1C
12-Aug
50,000
No Limit Hold’em – Hyper Turbo High Roller (Event #13)
12-Aug
6,000
Satellite to Main Event
13-Aug
2,000
Satellite to Deepstack NLHE
13-Aug
10,000
No Limit Hold’em – Deepstack (Event #14)
13-Aug
66,000
No Limit Hold’em – Mini High Roller (Event #15) Day 1
PokerStars are thrilled to announce that they are bringing epic Oracle Red Bull Racing promotions, rewards, and experiences overseas to Michigan and New Jersey.
The global partnership sees the two worlds of entertainment come together to bring fans and players on an epic ride, filled with promotions, rewards, new turbo-charged content and unforgettable experiences.
The most desired PokerStars experience, the Red Spade Pass, will be make a pit-stop in the US for the first time later this year. The PokerStars Red Spade Pass launched last year for PokerStars’ European audiences and saw members of the PokerStars community win experiences to some of the most iconic locations on the racing calendar, including Monaco and Brazil.
The Red Spade Passes awarded winners with an unrivaled experience, including a personal meet and greet with key players in the Oracle Red Bull Racing team, such as driver Sergio Perez and Team Principal and CEO Christian Horner. The Red Spade Pass will now be available to PokerStars’ US audience and racing fans via a series of Oracle Red Bull Racing themed games.
The lucky pass winner and their plus one will win an unforgettable trip to Las Vegas in November this year, which will include round trip flights, transfers, and a five-night stay at the stunning Paris Las Vegas.
Casino Races also got a makeover back on July 13 with the introduction of Weekend Races prizes of $5k MI/PA, $2.5K NJ and Weekly Leaderboard prizes of ($1k MI/PA, $500 PA). Players can opt- in and register for Casino Races at any time via the Casino Races lobby. Registration is free and without any buy-in or entry fee.
As racing fever spreads across the globe, players in the US will also be able to take part in PokerStars Spin & Go Races now through August 26 with weekly prizes of $5,000 to be won. Spin & Go Races will bring a fun, fast and accessible game where players can win in just a matter of minutes for as little as $1.
Fans can also get closer to the action by taking a look at a new four-part creative YouTube series ‘Between the Lines’, produced by the world’s most popular online poker site, PokerStars, which highlights the importance of strategy in both motor racing and poker play. It gives fans of the racing and poker communities insight into the thought processes and crucial real-time decision-making that comes with being at the top of your game.
To thrill racing and poker audiences alike, the series compare strategic and bold moves from key races during the 2022 racing season to nail biting final table moments from one of the most prestigious live tours in the poker world, the European Poker Tour. You can catch up on the episodes here.
“There is much crossover between the interests of our players and general racing fans, and we want to feed those passions with exciting promotions and memorable moments,” said Rebecca McAdam Willetts, Director of Partnerships & PR, PokerStars. “Racing has grown hugely in popularity across North America, and with so much attention on our partner’s efforts this season, we’re very excited our community in the US will get a slice of the action as the season reaches boiling point. The partnership has been a perfect fit for us to date, and now we get to take it home, to the heart of the action… Vegas!”
