The inaugural PokerGO Tour (PGT) Pot-Limit Omaha Series in Las Vegas wrapped up over the weekend with Ronald Keijzer of the Netherlands taking down Event #9: $2,200 5-Card Pot-Limit Omaha for $43,700. But the second half of the PLO Series has been all Lautaro Guerra Cabrerizo.

After his victory in Event #5: $10,000 Pot-Limit Omaha for $220,400, the Spaniard went on to win Event #7: $15,000 Pot-Limit Omaha Bounty and the $25,000 Pot-Limit Omaha Championship for respective scores of $228,000 and $518,750 and a total of $967,150 in earnings.

Factoring in bounties and the championship bonus on top of his three cashes, all wins, Cabrerizo walked away from the PokerGO Studio with $1,067,150 and the at the top of the PGT Leaderboard.

Read about the early winners at the PGT PLO series!

Cabrerizo Crushes PLO Series

Cabrerizo, who almost exclusively plays PLO tournaments, according to his Hendon Mob, had no recorded cashes inside the PokerGO Studio before the PLO Series kicked off. That changed when he bested the field of 112 runners in Event #5 and ultimately defeated Finland’s Joni Jouhkimainen during heads-up play.

Cabrerizo was just getting started. The later Event #7 drew plenty of accomplished Omaha crushers — Yuval Bronshtein (8th – $45,600, Robert Cowen (7th – $57,000) and Isaac Haxton (6th – $68,400), to name a few — but it was once again Cabrerizo who came out on top.

Alex Foxen, no stranger to success in the PokerGO Studio, bowed out in third for $171,000. Isaac Kempton went out in second for $171,000 when he called off with trips against the straight of Cabrerizo, according to PokerGO live updates. Earlier in the series, Kempton finished fourth in Event #2: $5,000 Pot-Limit Omaha Bounty for $37,590.

Event #7: $15,000 Pot-Limit Omaha Bounty

Cabrerizo had to be in good spirits heading into the $25,000 Pot-Limit Omaha Championship, which drew 114 runners for a prize pool of $1.7 million. Among those who cashed in the PLO Championship were George Wolff (12th – $41,500), Jeremy Ausmus (10th – $62,250) and Josh Arieh (7th – $103,750).

Nacho Barbero and Jim Collopy were both looking for their second titles of the series after Barbero won Event #3: $10,000 Pot-Limit Omaha and Collopy won Event #6: $10,000 Mixed PLO / PLO8 / Big O, but Barbero fell in sixth place for $124,500 and Collopy was next out for $166,000.

After the eliminations of Chris Lee (4th – $207,500) and Krasimir Yankov (3rd – $269,750), it was a heads-up battle between Ren Lin and Cabrerizo that saw the Spaniard coming out on top for a career-best $518,750.

Event #8: $25,000 Pot-Limit Omaha Championship

The PGT PLO Series closed out with Event #9: $2,200 5-Card Pot-Limit Omaha, which saw Keijzer defeating American Tommy Le to take home $43,700.

The victory gave the Dutchman his third cash of the series after a 16th-place finish in Event #2: $5,000 Pot-Limit Omaha Bounty for $10,740 and a 14-place finish in Event #7 for $22,800.

Cabrerizo currently sits atop the PGT Leaderboard with 774 points, in front of Cary Katz (693 points), Foxen (544 points) and Michael Wang (490 points).

Next up on the PGT schedule is the US Poker Open, which will run from March 20-April 3 and will feature No-Limit Hold’em and PLO events with buy-ins ranging from $10,000 to $50,000.

A full list of winners at the PGT PLO Series is available in the table below.

2023 PGT PLO Series Winners

_{Photos courtesy of PokerGO}

The 2023 edition of WPT Prime Cambodia is now in the books after Japan’s Reiji Kono was crowned champion in the series $1,100 Main Event for $131,731 which includes a $10,400 ticket to the end of the season WPT World Championships.

Kono topped a field of 1,011 entrants and secured the winner’s spoils after overcoming Bien Mai and Matthieu Lamagnere when play was three-handed. The trio agreed to an ICM deal which saw Mai pocket $117,842 while Lamagnere collected a $112,247 payday.

The tournament had a prize pool of $980,670 and saw the top 128 finishers make the money, with the mini-cash being set at $1,800.

WPT Prime Cambodia Main Event Final Table Results

_{*indicates three-way ICM deal}

Popular WPT Prime Tour Heads to Amsterdam From March 24

Final Table Action

The first final table elimination came on the 54th hand of the day. France’s Nicolas Ragot lost a significant flip to compatriot Lamagnere, who rivered the nut flush to crack Ragot’s pocket jacks following an all-in preflop situation.

The next bust-out would occur 13 hands later, with Lewis Cowell being sent to the payout desk by Lamagnere. Cowell jammed preflop with ace-nine, but the Frenchman hit the river again to make Broadway.

Lamagnere soon secured a hattrick of knockouts after the ace-queen held by himself and Bien Mai chopped the pot after pairing up to eliminate Feng Ji Chua, who was all in with pocket nines.

Lamagnere continued to dominate the final table after winning another flip against Sho Katsura the very next hand. Lamagnere’s pocket sevens remained best against his opponent’s queen-jack.

At five-handed play, the pace began to slow until Jose Catela had Mai at risk. Catela had pocket tens, while Mai was in rough shape with a pair of sevens. However, Catela was left short after Mai rivered a set to get a double up. Shortly after, Mai finished off Catela after the former flopped two pair while Catela had top pair and held out on the turn and river to bring the Main Event to its final four players.

Twenty minutes later, Kono bagged his first final table casualty after sending out Charlie Chiu in fourth place. The duo were all in on the J-6-2 flop, with Kono ahead with pocket nines while Chiu held queen-six. A clean runout gave Kono the checkmark.

Kono managed to gain the chip lead as three-handed play unfolded and Kono secured his heads-up place after sending out Lamagnere in third. It was Kono’s turn to hit the river as his eight-five paired up to move ahead of Lamagnere’s king-three.

Kono then claimed the winner’s spoils after he and Mai got their stacks into the middle on the A-K-8-7-7 board. Mai had queen-seven for trips but Kono had a full house with his eight-seven to secure the victory.

Here’s How Much Math You REALLY Need to Succeed at Poker

Win a WPT Prime Passport on WPT Global

On WPT Global, you can start trying to win your way to WPT Live Events thanks to the $110 Passport Qualifiers that take place every Saturday at 2:00 p.m. ET and again at 6:00 p.m. ET on Sunday.

At least one $1,500 WPT Prime Passport is guaranteed, which you can use for any of the following events:

• Amsterdam, Netherlands – March 29-April1
• Bratislava, Slovakia – May 11-15
• Hanoi, Vietnam – May 25-29
• San Remo, Italy – June 1-11

Satellites for the $110 Passport Qualifiers start at $5, giving every WPT Global player a chance to win a potentially life-changing live poker package.

Stephen Kehoe Turns WPT Global Satellite Win Into $269,900

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 offers a large deposit match bonus: 100% on deposits up to $1,200 (using any payment method). New players depositing a minimum of $20 automatically receive this match bonus which is unlocked in $5 increments (credited straight to the cashier) for every $20 of rake contribution.

Both tournaments and cash games count towards bonus unlocking; new players have 90 days from the date of first deposit to unlock and claim their full bonus amount.

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.

Fans of poker, charity events and popular rock music are in luck as there’s an upcoming event that checks all three boxes. The Tyler Robinson Foundation (TRF), founded by the Grammy award-winning band Imagine Dragons, has once again partnered with the Charity Series of Poker (CSOP) for “Slay Cancer with Poker,” a $300 buy-in No-Limit Hold’em tournament that will benefit the pediatric cancer community.

The “Slay Cancer with Poker” tournament, taking place on March 25 at The Sterling Club in Las Vegas, will play turbo-style with $100 rebuys and add-ons and will feature a $5,000 grand prize in addition to bounty and final table prizes, a silent auction and a 50/50 cash raffle drawing.

The event will also be an opportunity to hang out with Las Vegas royalty as Ink Master winner and Revolt Tattoos founder Joey Hamilton, as well as former Las Vegas Golden Knights defenseman Deryk Engelland will be featured bounty players.

Read about the CSOP 2022 Awards!

Playing Poker for a Good Cause

TRF was founded by members of the Las Vegas-based pop rock band Imagine Dragons, known for hits like “Radioactive” and “Believer,” in honor of Tyler Robinson, who was diagnosed with a rare form of cancer as a teenager.

According to the foundation’s website, its mission is to “strengthen families financially and emotionally as they cope with the tragedy of a pediatric cancer diagnosis by offsetting out-of-pocket life expenses.”

The “Slay Cancer with Poker” event is just the latest charity offering by CSOP, a non-profit founded to promote charity poker tournaments which earlier this year celebrated its first-ever award dinner to honor volunteers and sponsors.

Mary Bodine was named Volunteer of the Year, while the TRF beat out St. Jude Against All Odds, HIT Living Foundation and Families for Effective Autism Treatment for People’s Choice for Event of the Year.

All net proceeds from the event will benefit TRF, which has supported over 7,500 families and raised more than $15 million in the past decade. For every dollar that TRF raises, more than 85% goes directly to families in need, according to a press release.

The event will begin will a cocktail hour and hors d’oeuvres at 5:30 p.m. local time and the tournament will kick off at 7 p.m.

To learn more about the upcoming “Slay Cancer with Poker” event, visit http://bit.ly/csoptrf.

Aspers Casino Westfield in Stratford, London, is set to become a hotbed of amateur poker action when the Amateur Poker Association & Tour (APAT) descends on the British capital for the UK & Ireland Amateur Poker Championship. Players from all over the United Kingdom and Ireland will compete in a £120 buy-in No-Limit Hold’em tournament for the right to call themselves the UK & Ireland champion of amateur poker.

March 24 at 7:00 p.m. GMT is your first opportunity to build a stack in the UK & Ireland Amateur Poker Championship. Day 1B shuffles up and deals at 1:00 p.m. GMT on March 25, with Day 2 commencing at 1:00 p.m. on March 26, and continuing until the champion is crowned.

APAT Goes Fully International During 2023; Full Schedule Released

The plan is for each Day 1 to play down to 15% of entrants, with those top 15% progressing to Day 2 having secured a min-cash for their efforts. The blinds on Day 2 start at the level which finished earliest on Day 1A or Day 1B, or are rolled back to guarantee a minimum of 33 big blinds at the start of Day 2.

Although each starting flight is a freezeout, you can fire one bullet in each of the two Day 1s. However, should you navigate your way through to Day 2 from Day 1A and then Day 1B, your first stack is forfeited.

In addition to any prize money won, the top three finishers get their hands on the famous APAT bronze, silver, and gold medals. Be aware there are no player deals for the £120 UK & Ireland Amateur Poker Championship, nor the £120 UK & Ireland PLO Amateur Poker Championship that runs from 2:00 p.m. on March 26.

Season 16 UK & Ireland Amateur Poker Championships Schedule

Kalinov is the Reigning London Champion

APAT last stopped by Aspers Westfield in Stratford, London, in late March 2022, and ran a £120 buy-on No-Limit Hold’em Main Event and a brace of £70 buy-in side events.

The £120 buy-in tournament drew in 429 players, who created a £42,900 prize pool. Martin Kalinov walked away with the title, a gold APAT medal, and £5,000 for his victory, after defeating Lee Houghton heads-up. Houghton received £3,400 plus a silver medal, while Gary McBride netted £2,500 and a bronze medal after bowing out in third.

Both £70 buy-in side events performed well, too. One attracted 98 runners that American Helgi Mogensen outlasted; Mogensen banked £1,689. Another 86 players turned out for the second side event, and Joby Plunkett outlasted them all on his way to reeling in £1,516 in cold, hard cash.

Scotsquad Claims APAT UK Team Championship Title

2023 Amateur Poker Association & Tour (APAT) Live Schedule

The London event is the second of 11 stops on Season 16’s calendar. Recently, the APAT Team Championships took place at Dusk Till Dawn, Nottingham. APAT heads to Dublin for an event during the 2023 Irish Open, jets off to Malta and the Czech Republic and has events closer to home in Blackpool, Cardiff, Edinburgh, London, and Nottingham.

Did You Know APAT Runs Daily Tournaments Online at PartyPoker?

APAT has one of the most friendly and vibrant poker communities anywhere. APAT members head online to PartyPoker throughout the week and battle it out across a variety of tournaments. Fire up PartyPoker, find the APAT filter under “Category” in the “Tournies” tab, and you are good to go!

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:

• Day 1: 2x $1 SPINS tickets + 1x $5.50 MTT ticket
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• Day 4: 1x $3.30 MTT ticket
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Increase your deposit to at least $20, and the following ticket package is yours:

• Day 1: 1x $5.30 MTT ticket
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• 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.

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

The World Series of Poker International Circuit returned to the United Kingdom for the first time in four years earlier this month and has now wrapped up proceedings following two weeks of poker action at Dusk Till Dawn, Nottingham.

The final event to play out was the WSOPC UK £1,100 Main Event and after several days of play, Matthew Gray pulled off a final table comeback to claim the title, the WSOP ring and £100,000 set aside for the winner.

The Main Event had a £500,000 prize pool as it saw 439 entries across Day 1a and Day 1d, and only 140 of those made it through to Day 2. The top 63 finishers made the money, with the min-cahs being set at £2,000. Following the second day of action, just 16 players returned to the felt for the final day.

Jonathan McCann started the day as chip leader, but could not go all the way as he fell in third place for £45,500.

By the time the final table started, Hong Pham had taken the lead and continued to add to her stack as the final table progressed. She made impressive bluffs and steals before losing several all-ins that reduced her stack for the heads-up battle. Pham finished in second for £64,500.

Final Table Results WSOPC UK £1,100 Main Event

Action on the Final Day

The eliminations came thick and fast during the first couple of hours of play. Gerald Mcinally, Fabio Miranda, and Ryan Otto all hit the rail before the first break. Two of those three were eliminated by Pham, as was Jack Allen in 12th and Jiaze Li in 10th.

Lee French was the first player to exit the final table after his pocket queens were bested following a flip with Steve Warburton. John Adderley followed French to the payout desk after his pocket sixes could not leapfrog Gray’s pair of nines.

Jamie O’Connor became Gray’s second final-table elimination after the latter paired up on the flop to move ahead of the pocket nines held by O’Connor

Warburton then downed British grinder Gary Miller in sixth place after his ace-jack held out against Miller’s king-ten. However, Warburton was the next player to hit the rail after Pham’s pocket eights remained best against his ace-five.

Players across the floor and viewers on the live stream wondered who Pham was and why she looked so comfortable under the spotlights playing against some of the top regulars in the country. Despite only having a handful of recorded live tournament cashes, she made moves suggesting she could mix it up, including a bluff that would stun her opposition if they watched it back on the stream.

At one point, she was so far out in front that it seemed like nobody would catch her. That was until a huge three-way all-in completely changed the dynamics on the final table. Paul Hizer bowed out in fourth place after he shoved, Pham isolated, and Gray woke up with aces. He held up to bring his stack much closer to Pham’s, later calling off her bluff to pull almost level.

McCann had maintained a decent stack to the business end of the tournament but crashed out in third place after shoving and getting called by Gray’s ace-king. This further increased Gray’s stack, so he went into the heads-up battle as chip leader over Pham.

After around 20 minutes of heads-up play, it all came down to a simple all-in and call, as it often does. Gray shoved, Pham called, and Gray’s jack-ten paired up to win the tournament.

888poker guaranteed that it will award at least $1 million in prize money by the time the latest The Festival Online Series crowns its champion, and it should have no problem in achieving that goal if they opening three events are anything to go by. Why? Because all three tournaments smashed their advertised guarantees.

What better way to kick The Festival Online Series off in style than by running a $109 buy-in $100,000 guaranteed Mystery Bounty Opening Event? That’s exactly what 888poker did, and it proved to be a massive hit, with 1,072 entries creating a $107,200 prize pool.

The biggest winner from this remarkable tournament was not the champion, despite them turning $109 into $9,423. That is because “Trendki11,” who fell in 21st place for $291.72, managed to pull out the whopping $10,000 mystery bounty before they crashed out of the event. Add into the mix a couple of other bounty payments, and Trendki11 took home a tournament-best $10,515, even though they busted with three tables remaining! That is the beauty of mystery bounty tournaments.

Everyone at the nine-handed final table saw more than $1,000 land in their 888poker accounts. Here is how that final table went down.

$100,000 The Festival Online Mystery Bounty Opening Event Final Table Results

Tom “sheeeeeeeet” Hall sat down at the final table with 35 big blinds at his disposal, but he was the first finalists heading for the exits. Nothing went right for Hall during the opening half hour of the final table, and his exit hand was typical of his final day. “katekajie” min-raised from under the gun with ten-eight of diamonds, two players folded before “kaua.” three-bet all-in for 12.3 big blinds with pocket tens. From the cutoff, Hall called off his 10.3 big blind stack with ace-queen, and the initial raiser ducked out of the way. No ace or queen appeared on the board, and Hall was gone.

Snowmen Refuse to Melt; Crack Aces

Germany’s “andrew_flash” had managed to improve their chip stack substantially, but they busted in cruel circumstances. The German looked down at pocket aces and min-raised from under the gun. “emperor_H” three-bet to six big blinds from the next seat along with a pair of eights in the hole, and andrew_flash jammed for a shade over 29.5 big blinds in total. Surprisingly, emperor_H called. An eight on the flop gifted emperor_H a set of eights, which held to reduce the play count by one.

The final seven became six when the first of three Brazilians crashed out. Down to only 4.4 big blinds, kaua. open-shoved from the button with jack-ten, and “AvadoKedavra” called in the big blinds with ace-nine. Neither player paired any of the hole cards, and ace-high was good enough to send kaua. to the showers.

kaua.’s fellow Brazilians “Fumapalheiro” and “YamaaKK” were the next Samba stars heading for the exits. Fumapaleiro commited their last to big blinds with ace-five, with the ace of clubs, on an all-club flop only to lose to the red kings of “CurrD.” YamaaKK lasted a few more hands before three-betting all-in for 18 big blinds from the small blind with ace-trey of spades, only for emperor_H to call with pocket rockets. The board failed to come to the rescue of the all-in player, and only four players remained in contention for the title.

888poker Casts The Wizard’s Spell and Gives Away $300,000

It Didn’t Come Seven

AvadoKedvara lost a chunk of their stack in a battle of the blinds against CurrD, when CurrD’s short-stack shove with queens was paid off by the sevens of AvadoKedvara, leaving them with 11 big blinds in their arsenal. AvadoKedvara found pocket sevens again and jammed for 5.8 big blinds on the button, only for katekajie to call with queen-ten in the big blind. A queen on the flop proved enough to send AvadoKedvara to the sidelines.

Heads-up was set when CurrD crashed out in third at the hands of katekajie. CurrD min-raised on the button with eight-seven of spades, and katekajie called in the big blind with jack-four of spades. A nine-seven-five rainbow flop saw both players check, leading to the ten of spades landing on the turn. katekajie bet 2.2 big blinds into the 4.9 big blind pot, and CurrD called. The ace of spades on the river gave both players a spade flush, and it was curtains for CurrD. katekajie checked, CurrD bet 3.1 big blinds, katekajie shoved, CurrD couldn’t find a fold, and they busted in third place for $4,831.

Emperor_H held a 55.9 to 44.6 big blind chip advantage, and they stayed in control for most of the one-on-one encounter. The final hand started with a min-raise with ace-seven from emperor_H, and a three-bet to 8.2 big blinds with pocket nines by katekajie. emperor_H shoved all-in, and katekajie called off the 21.4 big blinds they had behind. The board double-paired with kings and tens, counterfeiting katekadjie’s hand, eliminating them in second-place in the cruellest of ways.

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

Other The Festival Opening Event Results

Two other The Festival Online Series events ran alongside the $100,000 guaranteed Mystery Bounty. The first was a $22 buy-in $25,000 guaranteed affair that saw 1,373 players create a $27,460 prize pool. “PAPA_VINCENT” took that down for $2,556, with 21st place finishers “cinostyler” capturing the top $2,500 mystery bounty.

One-hundred-and-four high rollers paid $525 for the chance to become the $40,000 Mystery Bounty High Roller champion, and “DirtyPig” outlasted them all. The victory came with a total prize worth $11,796, with fifth-place finisher “Browne118” reeling in a $4,000 bounty as part of their $5,620 mystery bounty haul.

Six months after accusing Robbi Jade Lew of cheating, the show’s most popular player — Garrett Adelstein — is no longer permitted to play on Hustler Casino Live. But the ban is considered “indefinite,” according to co-owner Nick Vertucci, and he won’t rule out the possibility of one day allowing the high-stakes crusher to return.

Don’t count on that return any time soon, however. On the Nick Vertucci Show, guest Ben Lee, a regular on HCL, asked the host when Adelstein would rejoin the live-streamed cash game show from Hustler Casino in Los Angeles.

Vertucci, who spoke with PokerNews via a Monday phone conversation, made it clear that Adelstein isn’t banned from Hustler Casino Live. But, along with co-owner Ryan Feldman, he made a “business decision” in regards to Adelstein’s current status on the show.

Adelstein accused Lew of cheating during an infamous jack-four hand on Sept. 29 and hasn’t appeared on HCL or any live-stream since. He toyed with the idea in a tweet earlier this year of returning for Hustler’s $1 million buy-in cash game in May. But Vertucci made it clear in his podcast and to PokerNews that he won’t be among that show’s lineup.

“It’s Not Personal

Adelstein, Vertucci, and Feldman have some history together, and most of it has been positive. Feldman previously ran the competing live-stream show Live at the Bike and “G-Man” was the most popular regular in the game, much like he’s been at Hustler.

“We have no hard feelings toward (Adelstein),” Vertucci said. “We wish him the best. It’s not personal.”

Vertucci said he wasn’t opposed to bringing the long-time star of Los Angeles live-stream poker back. In fact, he initially proposed the idea of having Lew and Adelstein both on the same episode. That would almost certainly attract a massive audience and getting views is what pays the bills, but Feldman saw it differently.

“As a matter of fact, I even told (Feldman) why don’t we have them both on and we’d get a ton of views and he said, ‘I don’t care about the views, I’m not doing it,'” Vertucci said.

Vertucci reiterated that he has no ill-will towards the former star of his show. He explained that it was a “business decision” and that as a friend and business partner with Feldman, he “supports his decision.”

The Hand the Poker World Can’t Stop Talking About

The infamous J4 hand brought about some publicity for Hustler Casino Live, but the show was already booming and didn’t exactly need the mainstream media talking about a potential cheating scandal occurring during one of their streams.

Adelstein was adamant that Lew had cheated him out of a $270,000 pot when she called off a six-figure bet on the turn with nothing but jack-high and was correct. He left the game shortly after in protest and then took to social media and internet forums in the days and weeks after to share circumstantial evidence in an attempt to back up the accusations.

Hustler Casino Live‘s production company, High Stakes Poker Productions, brought in a third-party investigator to look into the allegations. Following a month-long investigation, no proof of cheating was found. Lew even took a polygraph test and passed.

But the incident and accusations brought out a negative light on Hustler Casino Live. They even opened up a can of worms from conspiracy theorists who went so far as to allege that Vertucci, and possibly others, had been cheating for quite some time on HCL.

“Garrett decided to lean into his narrative without any proof and continued to lean into that narrative without any proof, and all the indications in his writings about what he thought happened didn’t do us any good,” Vertucci said.

Vertucci continued to explain that although he wasn’t thrilled with Adelstein going public with the cheating accusations, he said, “I don’t blame Garrett for anything. He has a right to his opinion.”

The Infamous Jack-Four Hand Explained

Will Adelstein Makes His Return to Live at the Bike Instead?

Long before Hustler Casino Live launched in July 2021, Adelstein was a regular on Live at the Bike at the Parkwest Bicycle Casino not too far from Hustler.

Prior to the J4 incident, he’d continued playing on LATB fairly regularly on days he wasn’t playing at Hustler. So, with HCL announcing that Adelstein won’t be welcomed back for the time being, that could leave open the possibility of his return to LATB instead.

“When Garrett decides he wants to play live-stream poker again, we look forward to having him,” Houston Curtis, Live at the Bike’s executive producer told PokerNews.

Lew has already made her live-stream return and did so multiple times recently on both Live at the Bike and in Texas at The Lodge Card Club.

But would she be welcomed back on Hustler Casino Live if she wanted to play on the stream?

“Robbi has never reached out to even ask about playing ont he show since the infamous game in late September,” Feldman said. “As of now, we have no intention of inviting her to any games in the near future.”

Adelstein issued a tweet in response to Vertucci’s comments on the Nick Vertucci Show. As you can tell from the following tweet, he wasn’t too thrilled about what was said.

Adelstein appeared 53 times on Hustler Casino Live, none since Sept. 29, 2022. According to the website TrackingPoker.com, he’s up over $1.5 million on the show lifetime.

Vertucci said he doesn’t worry about the popular poker pro returning to Live at the Bike and that show potentially stealing some Hustler viewers away because “of course I took that into consideration.”

“I was for having him back because how good he is for the show, but Ryan, because he makes the lineups, felt because the games are playing longer and deeper, it was a better long-term decision not to bring him back,” Vertucci continued.

Hustler Casino Live has over 228,000 YouTube subscribers, up nearly 30% since the J4 incident. Live at the Bike has 213,000 YouTube subscribers and has recently touted on social media increased viewership over the past month. Wherever Adelstein appears, if and when he does, there will certainly be plenty of poker fans tuned in.

Unlike the over-sharing Allen Kessler, Daniel Negreanu isn’t one to tweet often about hands that sent him to the rail. But a crucial pot he lost in a PokerGO Tour pot-limit Omaha bounty event he played on Friday “stung” badly enough to discuss it with the Twitter world.

The hand in question came against Isaac Haxton in the $25,000 buy-in tournament at the PokerGO Studio in Las Vegas on Day 1. It was Event #7 of the PLO series, eventually won by Lautaro Guerra for $228,000 along with another $75,000 in bounties. Another Isaac — Isaac Kempton — took second place out of 114 entrants for $171,000.

Well before the champion was crowned on Day 2 (Saturday), a hand in Level 12 (10,000/20,000 blinds) was heavily discussed on social media thanks to Negreanu’s following tweet:

Early PGT Tour PLO Series Recap

Poker Can Be Cruel Sometimes

The hand Negreanu shared was debated as to if the Poker Hall of Famer played it optimally. It was initially live reported by PokerGO as follows:

On a board of , Haxton made a pot-sized bet of 800,000 with , giving him an ace-high flush and he could only lose to a straight flush. Negreanu, with , had a king-high flush and went into the tank for a few minutes before calling to find out the bad news.

The 2,400,000-chip pot was a game-changer for both players as it gave Haxton at the time over 2.7 million chips — more than 135 big blinds — and left “DNegs” with nothing but crumbs. Haxton would go on to finish in sixth place for $68,400 and Negreanu busted in 12th place for $34,200.

Negreanu would fill in a few blanks compared to the live reported hand as to what transpired preflop, on the flop, and on the turn. He explained that at the six-player table, Alex Foxen had limped from the cutoff with an undisclosed hand, as did Negreanu on the button.

Haxton then raised the pot to 100,000 from the small blind and it went heads-up to the flop. The preflop aggressor bet 70,000 and received a call before checking the turn. Negreanu, who had also picked up a flush draw to go along with the nut straight he turned, bet half-pot, or 200,000. This is where some were critical of his play (more on this in a bit).

The bet didn’t convince his opponent to fold and then the flush came through on the river without pairing the board. According to Negreanu, if the appeared on the river instead of the , he wouldn’t have paid off 800,000 as he knew there was a shot he would have been up against a full house.

Did He Make the Right Play?

One of the criticisms from a couple poker players on Twitter was with the turn bet. Some argued that he should have bet the pot instead of half-pot. Those in that line of thinking said it would have likely forced Haxton off the pot. Negreanu disagreed.

After four days of poker action in the beautiful Es Saadi Resort, Adrien Sanz was crowned the champion of the 55th edition of the Marrakech Poker Open 15,000 MAD Main Event.

Sanz defeated long-time player Karim Lehoussine in heads-up play to collect the first-place prize of 770,000 Moroccan Dirhams (€72,200).

Sanz, who started the day with a comfortable chip lead, managed to stay ahead for the entire final day. Thierry Gogniat’s third-place finish confirmed a full French podium after he collected 380,000 MAD (€34,650).

The only Moroccan player of the final table, Mostafa Boukri, had to settle for fifth for 212,000 MAD (€19,330), while Swiss Dinesh Alt secured a seventh-place finish after bagging the runners-up spoils from the MPO High Roller. Rosalie Petit, who won a WSOP ring in Marrakech in January, made the final table but was the first to depart.

Final Table Results

Winner’s Interview

The victory came with some emotions for the French professional living in Marrakech. Sanz, who most plays Spin and Go tournaments online, captured his first major title in a major event, and in a place that is close to his heart.

“In the few Main Events I’ve played live, I haven’t had much success, so I feel grateful today. But for two years, I have had consistent results. I was the Mystery KO event runner-up in this festival and won the Progressive Bounty the next day, so I’m pleased about my week! ” Sanz told PokerNews.

“I play all the events here, even the monthly regular tournaments. I feel at home. And it’s also my first big final table, with my friends around; it’s a great feeling,” he added.

Sanz won a decisive hand during the heads-up when he called all-in with two pair on the turn while Lehoussine who had hit a flush. Sanz found one of the four outs he needed on the river to make a full house and jumped to a massive chip lead.

“I was in shock, but even with a 2% chance of winning, I still believed in it. I made a mistake in that spot, but you still need luck sometimes,” said Sanz.

Final Day Action

At 2 p.m. local time, just ten of the 295 players returned to the felt, with each of them already guaranteed 68,000 MAD (€7,840). Most eyes were already on Sanz from the start, as well as experienced player Boukri and Nuno Correia, who started in second and third place, respectively.

Boukri started the eliminations by sending Said Basri into the rail in 11th place to set up the official final table. Sanz then continued to extend his lead by eliminating Petit and Jorge Bouquet. Alt followed them out in seventh place after he shoved preflop with ace-queen, but Boukri’s jack-ten paired up on the river was enough to eliminate Alt.

After the exit of Thierry Morel, Boukri ended his run in fifth when his pocket sevens crashed into Lehoussine’s pair of kings.

Not long before the dinner break, Sanz took care of busting Portuguese player Nuno Correia in fourth place. Correia three-bet shoved with pocket eights while Sanz held pocket tens.

The three-handed play lasted two hands, as Gogniat three-bet shoved in the small blind with a pair of queens, while Lehoussine had pocket kings.

The heads-up lasted more than one hour, and Lehoussine even came back close to Sanz in chips despite his terrible bad beat after Sanz hit his aforementioned four-outer. However, Lehoussine called the four-bet shove from Sanz with ace-six while his opponent held ace-jack and found no help on the board to secure a second-place finish for €48,320.

The Irish Poker Open is one of the most eagerly anticipated live poker festivals on the live poker calendar, and the wait for the 2023 edition is almost over. The 2023 Irish Open runs from April 3 through April 10 at the Royal Dublin Society (RDS) in Anglesea Road, Dublin, and everything points to it being a spectacular week of poker action.

You have to go back to 1980 to find the inaugural Irish Poker Open Main Event, making the tournament the longest-running major live event after the World Series of Poker (WSOP). Since that very first event, the Irish Poker Open has grown in size and stature to the point its Main Event is a must-play tournament.

€1 million Guarantee Irish Poker Open Main Event

This year’s Irish Poker Open Main Event commands a €1,150 buy-in, and has a cool €1 million guarantee on its prize pool. There are four starting flights, each seeing players sit down with 30,000 chips, and play to 60-minute levels on Day 1A-C and 20 minutes on the turbo-structures Day 1D. Blind levels remain at an hour until three-handed play begins when the blinds shorten to 40 minutes.

Late registration remains open until the start of Day 2, and one re-entry per flight is permitted.

Irish Poker Open Main Event Day 1 Blind Structure

The blind structure is superb, and allows for the cream to rise to the top; you’d still have 25 big blinds if you bought in just before the start of Day 2! Here is the structure for the four Day 1s.

Irish Poker Open Main Event Online Satellites

The Main Event should obliterate its guarantee thanks to the popularity of the tournament and the online satellites taking place at PokerStars and Paddy Power Poker. At the time of writing, 210 PokerStars players have won €1,150 Irish Poker Open Main Event seats, a number that is set to rise with PokerStars running satellites right up to the Main Event shuffling up and dealing.

March 22 at 8:00 p.m. GMT, there is a €109 buy-in satellite guaranteeing five packages to the Irish Poker Open Main Event. Those packages consist of a €1,150 Main Event buy-in plus €350 to help with any travel and accommodation expenses. A similar €109 satellite runs at 8:00 p.m. GMT on March 26 that has eight such packages guaranteed.

Of course, you can win your way into these €109 package-awarding satellites for peanuts.

Paddy Power Poker also has Irish Poker Open Main Event satellites running in the run up to the festival. At 8:00 p.m. GMT on March 23, 25, 26, 30, and April 1, there is a €50 rebuy satellite guaranteeing at least two €1,150 seats. At the same time on April 4 and 5, the same satellite runs but with five seats guaranteed. Feeders for those €50 satellites start at a mere €0.01.

2023 Irish Poker Open Schedule; PokerNews is Reporting From the Main and €5K

There are almost 40 tournaments and satellites running between April 3-10 that have buy-ins from €115 up to €5,000, and everything in between those two extremes. The €5,000 buy-in is reserved for the Irish Poker Open High Roller that is running April 4-5. There is also a €3,000 High Roller on April 8-9 that is sure to attract some supreme tournament talent.

PokerNews‘ industry-leading live reporting team will be on the ground throughout the €5,000 High Roller and the €1,150 Main Event, bringing you all of the action as it happens.

PokerNews Launches NEW Online Poker Tournament Calendar

Irish Poker Open Main Event Champions Since 2010

Some of the biggest names in the poker industry have returned home from Dublin with the Irish Poker Open Main Event trophy and top prize in tow. Steve O’Dwyer is the reigning champion, having outlasted 2,039 opponents in 2022 to claim €318,700 of the €1,989,000 prize pool. There is no doubting that O’Dwyer, who resides in Ireland, will be back in the hot seat attempting to retain his hard-earned title.

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