Poker vlogger Mariano won one of the most epic pots — a three-way all-in for stacks — late in Friday night’s Hustler Casino Live stream.

It’s been a magnificent month on the poker show from Hustler Casino in Los Angeles. On last Friday’s stream, Ethan “Rampage” Yau obliterated Nikhil “Nik Airball” Arcot en route to a $523,000 profit. This week, it was Mariano who booked a $568,000 win before the cameras stopped rolling, most of it in one incredible hand.

The hand in question was reminiscent to the 2018 World Series of Poker (WSOP) Main Event when Nic Manion won an enormous pot, busting one player, with pocket aces against two players holding pocket kings to force the start of the final table.

While the stakes weren’t quite as high as the WSOP Main Event final table, and there wasn’t a bracelet and world title on the line, the hand you’re about to witness played out in a similar fashion.

Epic Poker Hand

The hand began with HCL regular Double M raising it up to $1,000 with from an early position, and then Dario, a newcomer to the stream, called $1,000 from the cutoff with and Han did the same in the hijack with . Yang, on the button, then made it $6,000 with , matching Double M’s hand.

Mariano, in the straddle, looked down at and wasn’t about to slow play the best starting hand in no-limit Texas hold’em, especially not out of position against a three-bet. Thus, he four-bet the preflop nuts to $16,000.

When action returned to Double M, he decided to just call. Han and Dario sent their cards into the muck, but Yang went for the five-bet to $55,000. Mariano, who had both players covered with about $305,000 behind, opted to sneakily call. That convinced Double M to move all in for $259,800.

Action was back on Yang and he had a difficult decision to make with $208,100 behind. He tanked for a bit before coming to the conclusion that folding pocket kings is never easy. After Yang called, Mariano snap-called and had both players in a world of hurt for a $788,400 pot. They all agreed to run it twice.

On the first run out, Mariano wrapped up at least half the pot when it came out , and then he collected the whole thing after seeing on board number two.

Hustler Casino Live has given the poker world some unreal hands over the past two years. The one featured in this article, save for the infamous J4 hand, might have been the most epic of them all, or at least in the top five.

top 5 hustler casino live hands of 2022

It’s been eight years since Italy won the inaugural — and up until now only — edition of the Global Poker Masters.

Did the competition revolutionize team poker? Did it provide an opportunity for international poker competition? Was it even successful?

While the answers to these may be far from concrete, major international sports tournaments are usually held every four years. For that reason, 2023 would (and perhaps should) have marked the third instalment of the poker’s World Cup.

There’s no sign of that happening, however. In a statement, the Global Poker Index said they had “nothing but fond memories” of the event, but that bringing it back would be “a challenge.”

“We’d love to bring it back,” they told PokerNews. “The problem is time and money. We wouldn’t want to rush an event at the last minute and we would need to find a partner that’s willing to wait 12-18 months for this type of event to happen, and that’s obviously a challenge.

“If someone wants to partner with us to make it happen, we’d certainly be on board!”

So what would it look like if it did make the unlikeliest of comebacks? Here PokerNews takes a look at the countries and players who would be in line for a Global Poker Masters berth.

Germany and Ukraine Miss Out; Spain and Netherlands In

As a reminder, in 2015 eight countries “qualified” for the Global Poker Masters according to their GPI rankings, with teams made up of the top four players from the previous year’s POY rankings. The teams were also able to select a fifth player as a wildcard to complete their rosters.

Here you can see the rankings for 2015 vs 2023. Two teams from 2015 miss out, with Andriy Lyubovetskiy’s bracelet-winning 2022 not enough to secure a place for Ukraine, while perhaps surprisingly Germany also fail to qualify.

A German team led by then world number one Ole Schemion finished fourth in the inaugural competition but drop out of the top eight despite Koray Aldemir’s back-to-back WSOP Main Event runs.

These two countries are replaced by Spain and the Netherlands in the top eight. A modern-day Spanish side would certainly be one of the more dangerous in the competition, with a team made up of familiar names in Sergio Aido, Lander Lijo, Adrian Mateos and Ramon Colillas.

Qualifying Players

So let’s take a look at the “teams” from each of the eight nations. These are the four highest-ranked players in the 2022 Global Poker Index rankings. Looking at the qualifying players, there are a whole host of famous faces who would represent their country.

• Daniel Negreanu would swap High Stakes Poker for international competition with Team Canada
• Chad Eveslage would be rewarded with a spot in Team USA after winning WPT Season 20 Player of the Year
• Voted Players Choice for Toughest Opponent in the recent GPI Awards, Team UK’s Stephen Chidwick would look to avenge his side’s last-place finish from 2015
• 14 years after making the WSOP Main Event final table, Team France would look to the experience of Antoine Saout, having finished second in the 2022 EPT Prague Main Event.
• Dutchman David Hu would lead his team having enjoyed a successful 2022, finishing third in the Master Classics of Poker and winning a WSOP Circuit ring.

Potential Wildcards

So who would each country select as their wildcard for their fifth selection? The United States has perhaps the toughest selection — Americans make up 16 of the top 20 players in the current GPI rankings — but there are perhaps equally tough selections for other nations.

Do the UK go with WPT champion Jack Hardcastle or PokerStars Ambassador and Coin Rivet Invitational champion Sam Grafton? Meanwhile, Canada and Spain can pick from a whole host of high-roller regulars. What team wouldn’t be improved by the likes of Timothy Adams, Sam Greenwood, Juan Pardo or Sergi Reixach?

Other countries may not have illustrious “rosters” to select from, but Italy showed what they can do with unknown players in 2015. Giuliano Bendinelli was considered an up-and-comer back then, and has since gone on to show what he can do by winning the 2022 EPT Barcelona Main Event. In fact, Bendinelli is one of only two players from 2015 to have automatically “qualified” again, the other being France’s Paul Tedeschi.

So Who Would Win?

Canada were the bookmaker’s favorites in 2015, but it would be hard to look past the United States were the competition to be held in 2023. The team would be “captained” by Stephen Song, who was named 2022 GPI Player of the Year earlier this year.

Debutants Spain must also be in with a chance with the heavy hitters at their disposal, while the UK boasts arguably the greatest ever British poker player in history in Benny Glaser.

European Executive Editor

Will Shillibier is based in the United Kingdom. He started working for PokerNews as a freelance live reporter in 2015 and joined the full-time staff in 2019.

He graduated from the University of Kent in 2017 with a B.A. in German. He also holds an NCTJ Diploma in Sports Journalism.

888poker Ambassador Kara Scott recently shared some top tips for playing your first live poker tournament but has now turned her attention to the virtual felt, highlighting the fantastic features on the revamped 888poker Mobile App.

The app allows you to play wherever and whenever you want because it is poker that is literally in the palm of your hand. So, look at the video below and finish the article to become an expert in navigating and using the app.

General Settings

So when you first open up the app, you’re on the home screen. Your general settings are in the top left-hand corner, where the yellow circle above is.

This is where you can sort out your settings, deposit money, and set up the look and sound of your games, among other features, to truly tailor your experience.

There are six poker selections in the home menu, and by clicking the ‘i’ icon on each screen gives you some information about the game.

If you were to press the Blast icon, you get taken to all the Blast game lobbies, which is the site’s version of Spin and Go Poker. If you want to try another game type, you can seamlessly go to that section by swiping through the tabs up top or hitting the home button to take you back to the main page.

Coolers and Bad Beats: The Festival Kicks Off in Spectacular Style at 888poker

Snap Poker

The fast fold poker cash game on 888poker is called Snap Poker. You can see the filters at the top, which allow you to find precisely what you are looking for, or you can scroll down through the options to find what game you want.

The table will tell if the Snap game you are looking at is either Pot-Limit Omaha or Push-Fold, and if it doesn’t say either of those, it is a regular No Limit Hold’em Snap table. You can also check how many players are in the pool for that particular Snap game.

Once you’ve found a Snap game you want to hop into, you can play on more tables by clicking the table with the ‘+’ icon found at the top of your screen. You can play on up to four tables on the mobile app and easily navigate the tables you’re playing on by clicking on the table you want to see. Or the tables will pop up when the action is on you.

Keeping a Bounty in Play in a Knockout Tournament at 888poker

Tournament Lobby

The tournament lobby has a ton of games at all times, and the 888poker mobile app is one of the best destinations for 24/7 Poker.

Due to the number of tournaments on offer, you will want to use the filters to narrow your options to find exactly what you want.

You can use the slider to select which buy-ins you want to play and choose the game types and categories you want to see.

Also, as 888poker has become the virtual home for Mystery Bounty tournaments, that game type has its own tournament section where you can perform all of the above actions to find the Mystery bounty tournament that is perfect for you.

888poker Steps Up War Against AI in Poker; Refunds Almost $300K in 2022

Cash Games

The poker cash games on the 888poker mobile app are split into two lobbies, one for Hold’em and the other for PLO.

You can use the buy-in slider to find the stakes you want to play at, and each lobby will also tell you what the minimum buy-in for each stake is and how big the tables are.

Other Features

The 888poker mobile app allows you to play poker whenever you like on your mobile phone. You can access all your gifts, surprises and bonuses on the app. You can also head to the ‘Winner Spinner’ for your daily whirl to see what rewards you can win.

Check Out the PokerNews 888poker Review

Now is the perfect time to join 888poker. If you have not already done so, remember to download 888poker via PokerNews and create your free account.

And be sure to check out our 888poker Review by clicking the button below to find out about all the amazing welcome bonuses the site offers.

The Grand Prix Spring series has the pedal to the metal over at PartyPoker, with three numbered events having already crowned their champions, dozens of sides events concluded, and the trio of Main Events edging towards a grand finale. In addition to large prize pools for affordable buy-ins, PartyPoker is increasing the value of the Grand Prix Spring series with a couple of promotions.

Grand Prix Spring edition SPINS are your forst port of call if you want the chance to play in the bigger buy-in events and tournaments for only a $3 outlay. These special edition $3 buy-in jackpot sit & go tournaments run whenever three players have registered. Most of the time, they award their champion $6 cash, doubling your money. However, they also award Grand Prix Spring tickets worth between $11 and $109, and do so in only a few minutes. How cool would it be to turn $3 into a $109 ticket?

Grand Prix Spring Edition SPINS Payout Schedule

Receive Up to $109 Back with the Grand Prix Spring Early Bird Promotion

Poker players are notorious for showing up late for a tournament, so much so that PartyPoker is running an Early Bird promotion on two of the biggest and most exciting Grand Prix Spring series tournaments.

The $109 buy-in $150,000 guaranteed Sunday Party on March 26 and April 2, and the $22 buy-in $50,000 guaranteed Sunday Carnival, also on March 26 and April 2, qualify for the Early Bird promotion.

By into either of these tournaments or into both if you wish, before the first cards are in the air at 7:05 p.m. GMT and you automatically become eligible for the Early Bird rewards. Finish inside of the top 50 in your chosen tournament, and PartyPoker will return your buy-in back in the form of a tournament ticket for that event! It is essentially 100% rakeback and a second shot at gory if you manage to navigate your way into the top 50 finishing places after buying in before the tournament starts! It is a no-brainer if you were planning to play either of these events anyway, just make sure your buy-in is processed before the tournament starts.

Delving Into PartyPoker’s Trio of New Weekend Majors

Help Yourself to a PartyPoker Welcome Package

You’ll need a PartyPoker account to play in the Grand Prix Spring SPINS, tournaments, and to be part of the Early Bird promotion. Jump straight into the action if you have an account, but if not, download PartyPoker via PokerNews and deposit at least $10 to receive a 100% match up to $600 welcome bonus in addition to up to $30 worth of free play.

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

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

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Residents of the United Kingdom enjoy a slightly different welcome from PartyPoker. Their deposit of at least £10 comes with a 100% match up to £400 first deposit bonus plus $10 worth of Party Dollars, which can be used in any of the site’s games every day for six days.

To release the total Deposit Bonus amount, you must accumulate four times the Deposit Bonus amount in loyalty points. Each time the player accumulates 10% of the Total Loyalty Points required, they will receive a 10% increment of the Deposit Bonus

If you have been on the fence about joining your fellow PokerNews readers in our PokerStars Home Games now is the time to take the plunge and get in on the action because April is crammed full of added value.

Every day in April, at 8:00 p.m. GMT, there is a PokerNews Home Game that has a buy-in from $0.11 up to $1.10, which makes them open and accessible to all. In addition to traditional No-Limit Hold’em tournaments, you can get your teeth into deepstacks, heads-up battles, Pot-Limit Omaha, Pot-Limit Omaha Hi-Lo, H.O.R.S.E, 8-Game Mix, and even cash games!

The champion of each tournament receives a ticket worth between $5.50 and $55 on top of their payout, but if the tournament has more than 20 runners in it, PokerNews will double that prize, meaning someone could win a $109 ticket in the final event on the April schedule! Let your poker-playing friends know about the PokerNews Discord channel and our incredible value PokerStars Home Games, and get those added prizes boosted!

It is not only the champions that benefit from some added extras but the best-performing players over the month of April. You earn leaderboard points based on your finishing position in the No-Limit Hold’em events, with the top ten points earners come the end of April winning a ticket worth between $11 and $215. Tot up those prizes and the added extras and you arrive at $750 worth of added value, although that swells to more than $1,000 if each Home Game attracts more than 20 players!

Leaderboard Prizes

April PokerNews Home Games at PokerStars Schedule

The Monday Mix sees a different non-Hold’em game run each week, one with a $0.55 buy-in and a $5.50 ticket on top for the champion. As we know not everyone plays mixed games, you do not earn leaderboard points for Monday Mix tournaments

Tuesday is the day for rebuy enthusiasts because the Tuesday Tackle is a $0.11 rebuy affair with an additional $5.50 ticket added into the mix.

Cash game players can get in on the action during Wednesday’s Midweek Madness. Taking place on NL2 ($0.01/$0.02) 6-Handed No-Limit Hold’em tables, whoever posts a screenshot in the battleground server in our Discord channel showing the largest stack receives an $11 tournament ticket. Midweek Madness runs from 7:00 p.m. and 9:00 p.m. GMT.

Thursdays are reserved for Pot-Limit Omaha aficionados, or those wanting to try PLO tournaments. 4 Card Thursday sees you head into battle in some $0.55 PLO events, which although do not count for leaderboard purposes, do have a $5.50 ticket added for the eventual winner.

Friday Fisticuffs, as the name suggests, is dedicated to $1.10 buy-in Progressive Knockout (PKO), while the weekend starts with the Saturday Showdown, a series of $0.55 buy-in heads-up tournaments!

Round the week off with the $1.10 buy-in Sunday Sloberknocker, a deepstack NLHE event, with the final Sunday of the month, April 30, seeing an $11 Sunday Super KO tournament take place that has a $55 ticket for the winner on top of any prize money.

Don’t forget, any of the tournaments that see more than 20 entrants has their added prize doubled in value!

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If you haven’t followed poker Twitter the past few days, you’ve missed an all-timer when it comes to drama, and it all started with the news earlier this week that Garrett Adelstein isn’t welcome back on Hustler Casino Live for the time being.

From there, the story has branched into a three-way bitter battle that includes Doug Polk and Nikhil “Nik Airball” Arcot on one side, and Matt Berkey on the other.

No Longer ‘PC,’ Garrett Adelstein Teases Return to Live-Stream Poker, Trashes “Nik Airball”

How it all Started

To sum things up before getting into the details, the feud involves accusations of scamming, heads-up poker challenges (surprising!), and insults.

So, how’d they get here? Hustler Casino Live co-owner Nick Vertucci announced the show no longer has a game available for Adelstein, and then Adelstein trashed Nik Airball on Twitter, calling him a lousy poker player and “trash” human being.

Nik Airball then went on Polk’s podcast Wednesday to defend himself, and at the end of the interview he referred to Berkey as a “scammer” and challenged him to a heads-up match, which he claims Berkey ducked him multiple times.

Berkey then fired back on the Only Friends podcast, explaining that he has offered to play Airball heads up in Las Vegas and that he isn’t scared to play him (video below).

On Thursday, Polk released another video where he analyzed a massive pot Berkey bluffed away to Eric Hicks in a recent Live at the Bike session. In that video, the Upswing Poker founder took shots at Berkey’s Solve for Why poker training academy. Now, three high-profile poker players are battling it out on social media for the entire community to see.

Poker Battle is Getting Juicy

Late in the Wednesday interview, which you can watch on YouTube, Polk said that he attempted to facilitate a heads-up match between Berkey and Airball but claimed Berkey wouldn’t commit to a time or place.

“I don’t really care, Berkey’s a scammer,” Airball responded. “When you run a training site and you can’t beat the games, you’re a scammer. You’re selling b******t. It just is what it is, you’re a scam-artist.”

Solve for Why is one of the most well-known poker training sites in the world, as is Upswing Poker, which is owned by Polk. But in a “Poker Hands” (Polker Hands?) video, Polk went hard after Berkey and the Solve for Why team.

“The action folds around to Matt Berkey in the straddle who looks down at the jack-four. Now, when you have a hand like jack-four, it’s important you build this pot,” Polk sarcastically joked. “Jack-four off-suit is a powerhouse. It can win all kinds of pots that you might not expect, and you don’t want to wait for later — build this pot right now.”

Berkey then three-bet his jack-four (aka “The Robbi”), and Hicks opted to just call with pocket kings.

After the flop was a complete brick for Berkey, he continued to bet out $7,000, or about half the size of the pot, and would ultimately bluff off nearly $100,000.

“The thing about your flops is you definitely want to spend thousands of dollars on them, like for example Matt Berkey’s training site,” Polk prodded.

Polk then mocked the “All-Star cast of characters” at Solve for Why, pulling up the team’s Hendon Mob results and ripping on Berkey’s lack of winning a World Series of Poker (WSOP) bracelet and “the cash games we’ve seen.”

Twitter Action Heats Up

If one heads-up challenge offer wasn’t enough to wet your appetite, there’s now a second one. Polk, who beat Daniel Negreanu for $1.2 million two years ago in a heads-up battle, also wants a piece of Berkey, and he’s willing to leave Texas to play, but it appears Berkey would rather play a ring game instead.

Dan O’Brien chimed in, asking Polk if he considers referring to Berkey as a “scammer” is called for, to which the Lodge Card Club co-owner responded, and then Berkey fired off an insult:

I was talking to a cash game regular the other day. He said something I loved.

“You know, I’ve always noticed something,” said Chris Scott. “Nits beat stations. Stations beat maniacs. Maniacs beat nits. You can see it every time you sit down at the table.”

This is why you have to meet up-and-coming grinders. Sometimes they will say something that makes you wonder, “Why have I never thought of it that way?”

Now, I’m sure someone before Chris said some version of this, but regardless of that, this concept does not come up enough. It’s absolutely true. Nits beat stations. Stations beat maniacs. Maniacs beat nits.

Why Does this Occur?

Nits only play the best starting hands. When the flop comes out, they usually got the best of it. Stations are in the game for another reason. They’re there for rest and relaxation. They call down because it’s exciting. They’re trying to win as many pots as possible because that’s what makes poker fun for them. They’re not thinking about their opponents and their ranges. They are playing to see flops. They are playing to see showdowns.

Stations get obliterated when they play against nits. However, they clobber maniacs. Maniacs are playing poker for the dopamine high of blasting huge bets into the pot. They love the action. They don’t consider the other player. They are more aware of how fun it is to ram and jam post-flop.

“Maniacs are constantly defeated by stations, but they do destroy one type of player: nits, who are under the impression that you need a huge hand to play a huge pot.”

This strategy works poorly against calling stations. Stations don’t even know what they’re doing, but they’re playing so well versus the maniac. If someone just blasts away on every flop then your best bet is to pick a halfway decent hand, put your helmet on, and call down. Calling stations don’t know what a minimum defense frequency is, but they’re much closer to an optimal one versus someone who jacks up their bluffing frequencies.

Maniacs are constantly defeated by stations, but they do destroy one type of player: nits, who are under the impression that you need a huge hand to play a huge pot. If they’re calling three bets post-flop then they’re going to need more than a pair. The maniac takes advantage of this bias beautifully. They fire constantly knowing the vast majority of the time their opponent is going to flop a pair they’re not in love with. That’s if they even hit the flop. They also pick up the money every time the nit misses. The maniac wins so many pots versus the nit that they’re freerolling when they gamble with a draw later versus the nit.

There have been times in poker history when the vast majority of the poker-playing population plays one style. In these eras, specific outlier players have conquered. Early in no-limit hold’em, for example, players liked to play it safe. They folded so much that they all became nits. This opened the door for maniacs to win plenty of money.

There have been other eras, especially in no-limit hold’em tournaments, when pissing for distance wars became all the rage. Nittier players in these skirmishes could make out with more than their fair share of the loot.

The game is about always paying attention to the trends and asking how you can exploit them.

Playing Against a Nit

In today’s day and age, poker players are more experienced. When the boom first happened, many players were playing a basic nittier style they learned from a book. In those days, a maniac style prevailed. Now, players are more nuanced. Many of them have been playing for decades. They’ve settled into their own styles. They’re not all reading from the same book.

When you sit down at the table, your first job is to determine what style each player is playing. Are they a nit, station, or maniac? You can play a more tight aggressive style until you gather this intelligence.

Nits are easy to pick up on. They fold early and they fold often. If you are playing live, you’ll notice they have no problem folding automatically and quickly. They do not sweat decisions. They have been playing this game for a long time. They know what hands they like, thank you very much. They’re going to play them and play them hard. You’ll also notice these players always have the best hand at showdowns.

If you’re playing against the nit, then you’re going to stay the hell out of their way for the most part. You will raise more when they’re to your left because you know they will rarely three-bet you or cold call you. But the second they get involved you’re going to cool your jets.

If the nit is in the big blind, however, this does present an opportunity. The nit will know they’re supposed to call out of the big blind with a wide range, but they will be uncomfortable defending this wide. You’re going to shell them with multiple bets. The nit at some point will decide, “Okay I’m done with this. I hate these hands.” You’ll collect a number of orphan pots nicely.

Playing Against a Station

If you see a player constantly limping in preflop or calling preflop raises that is far more likely to be a station. This is someone who is playing poker to relax. When the flop comes out there are infinite possibilities for them. They’re not going to fold anything halfway decent.

You will also know who is a station based on how much they hem and haw post-flop. Stations hate folding and they will not hide that fact. They will constantly be hanging around on later streets. When they turn over their hand on the river you’ll constantly wonder, “How the hell did he get so far with that hand?”

With these players, you are going to play good hands and you are going to play them hard. You will take the bluffs out of your game. You are not going to get creative. You won’t need a huge hand to bust the stations, but you’ll need something. Second pair with a top kicker, top pair, something along those lines. Play those hands hard and play them directly. Everyone else at the table will know what you’re doing but it doesn’t matter.

Playing Against a Maniac

How do you spot a maniac? Lucky for you many maniacs want attention. They will announce their presence early and often.
The fastest way to identify a maniac is to see who is reraising the most preflop. Nits don’t reraise much preflop because they’re waiting for huge hands. Stations don’t reraise much preflop because they like to see flops. Maniacs will constantly spam reraises in preflop. They have no problem annoying the other players.

“If you see them constantly putting people to the test on later streets or having to table bluffs, then you’ll know you’re playing against someone who isn’t afraid to move chips around.”

Some maniacs like to see a ton of flops and won’t reraise as much preflop. You’ll know that these post-flop maniacs are in the game because you’ll constantly see them firing multiple shells post-flop. If you see them constantly putting people to the test on later streets or having to table bluffs, then you’ll know you’re playing against someone who isn’t afraid to move chips around.

Versus these players, you’re going to have to pick a halfway decent hand and call down. Don’t raise them off the pot. Let them bluff with all their garbage. You don’t want to discourage them from executing their greatest leak.

What you don’t want to do the next time you sit at the table is play a game that doesn’t morph based on the players you’re playing against. You don’t want people at the table knowing you are a nit, maniac, or station. You don’t want these simple counterstrategies to be available to them.

About Alex Fitzgerald

Alex Fitzgerald is a professional poker player and best-selling author who currently lives in Denver, Colorado. He is a WPT and EPT final tablist. He has WCOOP and SCOOP wins online. His most recent win was for $250,000 online. He currently enjoys blasting bums away in online tournaments while he listens to death metal.

Alex can be reached for private coaching at [email protected]

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PartyPoker players are enjoying the Grand Prix Spring series, with the first three champions of numbered events crowned. The Opener, Mini Opener, and Micro Opener PKO events are all in the bag, and their worthy champions now have ample bankrolls for the remainder of the series.

“running4gunz” came out on top of the $55 buy-in $75,000 guaranteed Opener PKO, outlasting a massive field of 3,224 entrants. All those entries meant the guarantee was not only hit but PartyPoker awarded a cool $96,720, blowing the guarantee out of the water.

All but one of the nine finalists, “PsychFox” saw a prize worth at least four figures hit their accounts. PsychFox, the ninth-place finisher, walked away with $780 to show for their endeavours.

“Sankaku Jime” ($1,108), “Tarekkk_” ($1,013), and “EpicSince92” ($2,012) crashed and burned, leaving only five players in the hunt for the first Grand Prix Spring title of the series. Those five became four when “vixkixkx” busted ($1,810) and then three with the elimination of “SAMURAVI77” ($2,980). The tournament progressed to the heads-up stage once “dust2_killer” was felted ($4,823).

Both running4gunz and “iva76” locked in more than $5,600 from the main prize pool, leaving the substantial final bounties to play for. Iva76 fell at the final hurdle, and walked away with $6,351 in total, leaving running4gunz to scoop a combined prize worth $10,454.

Grand Prix Spring #01 Opener PKO Final Table Results

Raven0216 Flies Away With Mini PKO Title

The $5.50 Grand Prix Spring Mini Opener PKO was only mini in name because 3,594 PartyPoker players turned out in force, and created a guarantee-busting $17,970 prize pool. It was “Raven0216” that got their claws into the largest slice of the pie, swooping down and claiming $1,896 in total, made up of $1,041 from the main prize pool plus $855 worth of bounty payments.

A chunk of those bounties came from eliminating “k0rnqka” heads-up, as they not only won their bounty but captured the prize that was on their head. The runner-up headed into the night with $1,127 to show for the epic grind, the only other finalists to bag four figures for their $5.50 initial investment.

Grand Prix Spring #02 Mini Opener PKO Final Table Results

PuruRasta Smokes the Opposition in the Micro Opener PKO

A field of 2,446 entrants in the $1.10 buy-in Grand Prix Spring Micro Opener PKO left a small overlay on the $2,500 guarantee, not that “PuruRasta” minded because they finished top of the pile and helped themselves to a $266 prize, including an impressive $111 worth of bounties.

The second and third-place finishers also padded their bankrolls with three-figure scores. Third-place finisher “DonkerKiller” netted $119 while runner-up “Pelegossauro” reeled in a $183 prize.

Grand Prix Spring #03 Micro Opener PKO Final Table Results

PartyPoker Launches Round the Clock Freerolls; Gives Away $2,500 Daily!

Dozens of Main Event Flights Remaining

The trio of Grand Prix Spring Main Events make up the final three numbered tournaments on the schedule, and all three are in full swing. Those Main Events come with buy-ins of $55 ($250,000 guaranteed), $11 ($50,000), and $2.20 ($10,000), with each featuring five flights every day up to and including April 3, which is also when Day 2 takes place.

In addition to the three Main Events, there are scores of side events with buy-ins from $0.55 to $109 that run around the clock. If multi-table tournaments are what get you all hot and bothered, PartyPoker is the place to head.

Satellites for all three Grand Prix Spring Main Events can be found in the PartyPoker lobby right now, as can Grand Prix edition SPINS, which make it possible to turn $3 into cash or Grand Prix Spring tickets worth up to $109.

Help Yourself to a PartyPoker Welcome Package

Download PartyPoker via PokerNews and deposit at least $10 to receive a 100% match up to $600 welcome bonus in addition to up to $30 worth of free play.

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

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

Increase your deposit to 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 enjoy a slightly different welcome from PartyPoker. Their deposit of at least £10 comes with a 100% match up to £400 first deposit bonus plus $10 worth of Party Dollars, which can be used in any of the site’s games every day for six days.

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The third annual Wynn Millions festival in Las Vegas went off without a hitch this month and awarded plenty of big winners, including Main Event champion Michael Rossitto ($604,637). Another of the big winners was California’s Nikhil Gera, who got through a field of 885 runners in $1,000 No-Limit Hold’em $500K GTD earlier this week for $131,665.

Poker tournament run-good must run in the family as a few hundred miles away, Gera’s mother, Manju Gera, was being crowned the winner of a $100,000 guaranteed Mystery Bounty event at the Gardens Casino in Los Angeles.

Read about Michael Rossitto’s victory in the Wynn Millions Main Event!

Like Mother, Like Son

Nikhil Gera was grinding through a field that included heavyweights like Dylan Linde (84th – $2,502), Poker Hall of Famer Jack McClelland (61st – $3,413), Brock Wilson (37th – $4,385), Jesse Lonis (25th – $5,698) and Kristen Foxen (10th – $13,272), Manju Gera was building up a stack and picking up bounties at Gardens Casino.

Those at the final table of the $1,100 event at the Wynn included Chino Rheem (5h – $35,454), Darren Rabinowitz (4th – $64,855) and Nick Pupillo (3rd – $64,855), but it was Mark Seif who got heads-up against Gera before bowing out in second for $110,000.

A two-time World Series of Poker Circuit ring winner, Nikhil Gera has racked up $1.9 million in live earnings since recording his first Hendon Mob cash in 2006, while Manju Gera had $153,400 in live earnings headed into her recent victory.

Wynn Millions $1,000 NLH $500K GTD Final Table Results

Cherish Andrews Continues to Crush

2022 GPI Female Player of the Year Cherish Andrews ended last year with 2,458.72 points, in large part due to consecutive deep runs at the WPT World Championship at the Wynn, first finishing second in the $10,000 High Roller for $259,200 and then taking down a $1,000 event for $131,912.

Earlier this month, Andrews accepted her Female POY award at the Global Poker Awards in Las Vegas and spoke about her decision to pursue tournament poker full-time in late 2021. Now just a few weeks later, Andrews has another trophy to add to her shelf.

Wynn Millions $400 NLH $100K GTD Final Table Results

Brandon Eisen Wins $2,200 NLH $1.5M GTD for $260,264

Another major winner at the Wynn Millions festival was Hawaii’s Brandon Eisen, who took down the $1.5 million guaranteed $2,200 No-Limit Hold’em event for $260,264 after a deal with Calvin Anderson, who took home slightly less, $259,490.

Those at the final table included Jake Schwartz (5th – $73,807) and Christina Gollins (6th – $57,467), while others who ran deep included Brett Apter (22nd $13,604), Tuan Phan (20th – $15,577) and Gollins’ counterpart Elvis Toomas (32nd – $10,459).

Eisen added to his $2.3 million in live earnings and extended his lead on Hawaii’s all-time money list.

Wynn Millions $2,200 NLH $1.5M GTD Final Table Results

Earlier winners at the Wynn Millions festival included Ryan Laplante ($600 H.O.R.S.E. $30K GTD – $12,401), Joseph Cheong ($600 NLH $200K GTD – $74,670) and Michael Wang ($10,500 PGT High Roller – $308,016).

A full list of winners at Wynn Millions is available in the table below.

2023 Wynn Millions Winners

_{Photos courtesy Wynn & Kris Kneale via Twitter}