Just a few months after breaking attendance and prize pool records at the Wynn in Las Vegas, the World Poker Tour (WPT) announced the return of the WPT World Championship this December to commence Season XXI of the iconic poker tour.

The inaugural WPT World Championship at the Wynn was recently named the 2022 Event of the Year at the Global Poker Awards after drawing 2,960 entrants to nearly double the $15 million guaranteed prize pool. Canada’s Eliot Hudon took down the event for $4.1 million, while England’s Benny Glaser finished runner-up for $2.8 million.

This year’s WPT World Championship festival will run from Nov. 29-Dec. 23 and the championship event is scheduled to take place Dec. 12-18. The festival will also feature the WPT Prime Championship from Dec. 7-12 and the WPT Ladies Championship from Dec. 16-18.

“The WPT World Championship festival was such an extraordinary milestone during our 20th season last year, thanks to our partner Wynn Las Vegas and the enthusiastic support of the players,” said WPT CEO Adam Pliska. “It is our hope that we have started a tradition in poker that we can enhance and add to each season. We look forward to making this year’s World Championship even more memorable for players.”

Read about the record-breaking 2022 WPT World Championship!

Another Record-Breaking Event?

Last year’s WPT World Championship festival was one of the most memorable in recent poker memory. Featuring several $10,000 seat giveaways, a Super Bowl-esque halftime show and meet-up games with the likes of Doyle Brunson and Phil Ivey, it is hardly surprising the championship event smashed attendance records.

Wynn Executive Director of Poker Operations Ryan Beauregard, who played an integral role in promoting several of last year’s massive guaranteed tournaments, said that “after paying out more than $53 million in total prize money last December, we are excited for the return of the WPT World Championship at Wynn.”

“Due to last year’s incredible turnout and the strong rapport we built with WPT, we have extended the festival dates and will create a tournament schedule to make 2023 even more memorable,” he said in the press release.

Stephen Song took down the 2022 WPT Prime Championship for $712,650 en route to being named both the overall and Mid-Major Player of the Year, while Lina Niu took down last year’s WPT Ladies Championship for $105,136.

Other notable tournaments on the schedule include a Seniors event from Dec. 6-8 and the return of the Mystery Bounty event from Dec. 18-21.

The complete schedule for the 2023 WPT World Championship festival will be finalized and made available in the coming months, according to WPT.

_{Photos courtesy of WPT}

If you’re looking for great poker live streaming and watch to watch poker for free, we have a long starter list of some of the best poker streamers on Twitch out there today.

Of the thousands available, here are our top 10 best Twitch poker streamers you have to watch, including both some of the most famous names and also promising up-and-comers in this department.

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Arlie Shaban

A poker streamer from Canada, Arlie Shaban‘s first claim to fame came in 2014 when he competed on Big Brother Canada 2. Three years later, he started streaming his low-stakes online poker games and captured the spotlight after streaming for 1,000 hours over 125 consecutive days. This insane marathon finished with a 43-hour stream.

Later on, Shaban became an ambassador for Somerville’s brand Run it Up and in the latter part of 2018, he did a “Herculean Challenge from the Poker Gods” that landed him a $30,000 Platinum Pass from PokerStars. Shaban went on to become a PokerStars Ambassador, a role in which he currently serves.

There are now 52,800 people who follow him on Twitch and you can watch one of his most viewed clips here: “We’re going to the Bahamas yes baby” (Dec. 25, 2018).

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Ben “Spraggy” Spragg

Ben Spragg, a British online poker player, is one of the members of Team PokerStars Online. After graduating in 2012, he started playing poker and streaming on the internet. “Spraggy” isn’t only streaming on his own channel because together with his mate, Fintan “easywithaces” Hand, he also streams on the PokerStars channel.

Spragg started as a cash game player, but after grinding those tables he moved over to tournament poker. That is when he started streaming his poker sessions and gained popularity after winning a $7.50 tournament. Spragg now has 150,000 followers on Twitch and you can watch one of his most viewed clips here: “HOW DOES HE CALL WITH 9-7 suited” (May 24, 2018).

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Kevin “Kmart” Martin

Kevin Martin is a Canadian poker player who first appeared on the reality TV series Big Brother Canada. Originally from Calgary, Martin is best known as one of the earliest adopters of the Twitch platform, having streamed his play since 2015. He is currently a member of the GGSquad on GGPoker, having joined in October 2020.

After appearing on Big Brother Canada, Martin originally signed as a member of Team PokerStars Pro Online in May 2016. During this time he racked up over $200K in live cashes included four tournament wins in Calgary and his biggest-ever live cash of $48,210 for finishing runner-up in the Run It Up Reno VII Main Event before quitting in 2019.

After a short break, Martin joined partypoker Team Online but resigned four months later.

That was until October 2020, when he joined GGPoker as a member of their new GGSquad. Martin also claimed the 2022 Global Poker Award for Streamer of the Year.

Kevin Martin Wins “Streamer of the Year” at 2022 Global Poker Awards

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Patrick “Egption” Tardif

Patrick ‘Egption’ Tardif is a Canadian poker Twitch streamer and member of the GGPoker Twitch Squad.

Having graduated from the University of Western Ontario, Patrick relocated to South Korea to teach English as a foreign language. However, he quit his career as a teacher in 2017 and transitioned full time to Twitch poker streamer.

Tardif has amassed $400,754 in tournament earnings including a career-best $159,157 for finishing 2nd in the 2020 World Poker Tour – WPT Fallsview, Niagara Falls C$2,250 + 250 No Limit Hold’em – $2,500 Event.

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Rayan “Beriuzy” Chamas

Rayan Chamas is a poker streamer born in Lebanon and living in Canada. Chamas went to college pursuing a degree in business and hotel management. During college, Chamas played poker as a hobby and quickly excelled in the game. Despite completing his degree and some work experience in the hotel industry, Rayan’s true passion was poker and that’s the road he chose the take. Chamas plays high stakes tournaments both live and online and recently joined the GG Team. You can find Chamas playing HS games on Twitch with 13.5k followers and posting great poker content on YouTube as well!

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Felix “xflixx” Schneiders

On his website, Felix “xflixx” Schneiders explains who he is: “I’m a long-time professional poker player on Team PokerStars Pro Online with expertise in cash games. My website provides you with poker videos, strategy tips, personal poker coaching and live poker training so you can start crushing the tables!”

He is closing in on 70,000 Twitch followers and his most popular YouTube video Grinding it UP! #1 – $80 to $8000 Poker Bankroll Challenge has 146,000 views.

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Fintan “EasyWithAces” Hand

In his bio on the PokerStars Team page, we learn it all started for him with dealing poker: “From poker dealer to poker player, it didn’t take Fintan long to realize he could make more money on the other side of the table and since then, the man who goes by the moniker ‘EasyWithAces,’ has never looked back.”

Fintan “EasyWithAces” Hand achieved his big dream of becoming a Team PokerStars Online player, and now has more than 131,000 followers on Twitch. One of the most viewed clips of his channel is a classic one, where he finds out that trapping is for nerds.

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Jaime “PokerStaples” Staples

The 31-year old Jaime Staples is a Canadian poker player who streams around five days a week on his Twitch channel. Jaime is one of the most popular streamers on the internet with over 157,000 followers. A few years ago, he and his brother Matt won a $150,000 weight loss/gain prop bet made with Bill Perkins, which further put him in the spotlight as he shed 100 pounds in a year.

Like some others, Staples has also made the switch from PokerStars online pro to Team partypoker Online. One of the most popular clips on his channel is called “Sick Call Awful River” that featured an amazing call followed immediately by a brutal river card.

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Lex “LexVeldhuis” Veldhuis

Lex Veldhuis, known by his moniker “RaSZi”, been playing poker for over 20 years now. The member of the Dutch Poker Hall of Fame is also a member of Team PokerStars Online and is one of the most popular streamers of the day, capturing 2019 and 2020 “Streamer of the Year” honors from the Global Poker Awards.

Veldhuis made it to the highest stakes worldwide both live and online but when he started streaming his sessions on Twitch, he was completely focused on online tournaments. He now has over 307,000 Twitch followers. Lex has made it known that twitch will always be meaningful to him but he’s intent on building a vibrant content channel over on YouTube as well.

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Matt Staples

Matt Staples is a Canadian poker player and PartyPoker Ambassador.

The popular Twitch streamer joined PartyPoker in 2019 and is mid & high stakes MTT regular.

In 2018, Staples famously won a $150,000 Weight Loss Bet against Bill Perkins. Staples is a regular streamer on Twitch with over 108,000 followers on his channel.

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There are a significant number of reasons to play on PartyPoker, and their Sit & Go (SNG) poker games is just one of them.

And now there is even more incentive to play the platform’s SNG’s as P$15,750 is being dished out weekly thanks to the SNG Leaderboards.

How to Earn SNG Leaderboard Points

With the exclusion of SPINS, SPINS Ultra (PartyPoker’s version of Spin and Go’s), Satellite SNG and Heads-Up SNG, every Sit and Go game earns you points that count towards the leaderboard. And what’s even better is that you don’t even need to make the money to accrue these points.

However, winning the SNG’s you participate in will reward you more. So while putting in the volume can see you climb up the leaderboard, quality over quantity is also a route for you to take as you look to place on the leaderboards.

PartyPoker’s Daily fastfoward Leaderboards to Give Out More Than P$1,000 Every Day

What Can You Win?

There are two SNG leaderboards, which are split into micro and low buy-in levels. You have the Monday to Friday SNG leaderboard and the Weekend SNG leaderboard.

Microstakes SNG’s come with buy-ins of $1-$4.99, while the Low SNG have entry fees of $5-$19.99. These are the only stakes where leaderboard points can be accrued. If you’re battling in the microstakes, the top 75 places pay out a prize, while the top 50 players will be rewarded in the Low leaderboard.

The Weekend leaderboard sees things heat up as prizes are boosted over Saturday and Sunday. Be sure to check out what rewards are paid out in the tables below. All prizes awarded are paid out in Party Dollars (P$), which can be used to buy into any of the site’s real-money poker games.

Monday to Friday SNG Leaderboard

Weekend SNG Leaderboard

PartyPoker Revamps MTT Schedule; Launches Two New Sunday Majors

Join PartyPoker To Get This Incredible Welcome Package

New PartyPoker customers can get a 100% match-up to $600 welcome bonus plus up to $30 worth of free play in the form of SPINS tickets. Download PartyPoker via PokerNews, create your account, and decide how much you want to deposit.

Deposit $10, and you receive $10 worth of tickets over six days:

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Do You Know The Fastest Way to Earn PartyPoker Cashback?

Make your first deposit of $20 or greater to receive the following package worth $30:

• Day 1: 1x $5 SPINS and 5x $1 SPINS tickets
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Your initial deposit is matched 100% up to a maximum of $600. The bonus releases into your playable account balance in 10% increments of the deposit amount. You must earn four times the bonus amount in loyalty payments within 90 days to release the total amount.

The bonus is slightly different for residents of the United Kingdom. Your deposit bonus is 100% up to £400, with the same release rates. Your deposit of at least £10 comes with £40 of free play, consisting of the following:

• Day 1: 5x $1 SPINS and 1x $5.50 MTT tickets
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On Episode 8 of High Stakes Poker Season 10, which aired Tuesday night, Antonio Esfandiari and his good friend Bill Perkins gambled with drawing hands in a $606,000 pot.

While that was far and away the most entertaining pot of the night, it wasn’t the only hand worth mentioning. For the fourth straight week, the table remained mostly the same with the two aforementioned players in action along with Jennifer Tilly, Bobby Baldwin, Robert Sanchez, and Roger Sippl.

The high-stakes no-limit hold’em game on PokerGO brought about multiple six-figure pots and some exciting action, but none more so than the following hand.

Gambling for Stacks

Last week on High Stakes Poker, we saw Esfandiari win an epic three-way cooler. This week, he fought for another monster pot in thrilling fashion.

In the hand in question, with a double straddle on, Tilly called the $2,000 straddle from the button with before Perkins raised to $10,000 from the big blind with . Seated in the first straddle, Sippl called with , as did Esfandiari in the bigger straddle with .

“I’m forced to call,” Tilly then said, acknowledging she was pot-committed.

The flop ran out , something for all four players. Action checked to Esfandiari with the nut flush draw, and he tossed out a wager of $16,000, about half the size of the pot. Tilly called with top pair, but when Perkins raised it up to $50,000 with a straight flush draw, Sippl folded his gut-shot straight draw.

Esfandiari, with over $500,000 behind, paused for a moment before raising to $166,000. Tilly couldn’t call such a massive bet with just top pair, so she sent her cards into the muck. But Perkins, whose stack was at just over $280,000 when the hand began, moved all in, and the “Magician” called.

They agreed to run the turn and river twice, and the first run-out came , followed by the on the second board, both going Esfandiari’s way. As a result, he shipped the $606,400 pot,

In a later hand, Perkins was dealt and asked the table if he could pay $5,000 to be dealt two new cards. They agreed and his new hand got even worse – . After Esfandiari raised to $3,200 with in the dark – he hadn’t even looked at his cards — Perkins bumped it to $15,200.

Esfandiari then peeked at his cards, showed the four-high, and mucked them. Perkins turned over the five-high and took down the pot in what would be the final hand of the session.

Sippl Makes a Move on Perkins

In the second hand of note from Episode 8, Baldwin raised to $2,000 with . Sanchez called with as did Perkins on the button with . Sippl, in the small blind, then went for a three-bet to $6,000 with and only Baldwin folded.

The flop came out and action checked over to Perkins, who fired out a bet of $5,000. Sippl called, Sanchez folded, and the appeared on the turn. Sippl checked his queen-high flush draw to Perkins, who had just paired up and ripped off another bet, this time for $10,000.

The turn bet didn’t force a fold and they both saw the on the river. Although that card did nothing to improve ace-high, Sippl jammed all in for $45,000, which convinced his opponent, who had the best hand, to fold.

Sanchez Lets Esfandiari Take Pot with Ace-High

Sanchez raised on the button to $2,000 with . That action was followed by Sippl calling from the big blind with and then Esfandiari three-betting to $10,000 with in the straddle, which didn’t convince either player to fold.

All three remaining players looked at a flop of , giving Sippl a monster combo draw. Esfandiari, who completely whiffed, still bet out $13,000. He received just one call, of course from Sippl.

The turn was the , no help to either player. With $80,000 in the pot, Esfandiari bet $23,400 and again was called. After the appeared on the river, Sippl checked, putting the “Magician” in a tough spot. He’d already been called on the flop and turn, so the only way he could win at showdown was if his opponent had been chasing a flush or straight draw.

As it turned out, Sippl was chasing a draw, which meant a check from Esfandiari’s ace-king was good enough to win the hand without a bet.

High Stakes Poker Season 10 returns next week on PokerGO at 5 p.m. PT with Episode 9.

Crazy High Stakes Poker Chop Pot

Past High Stakes Poker Recaps

Check out our past recaps from Season 10 of High Stakes Poker on PokerGO:

_{*Images courtesy of PokerGO.}

Looking to play low or mid-stakes mixed games in Las Vegas with a chance to win a trip to Europe? Then you’re in luck. Robbie Strazynski’s beloved Mixed Game Festival is returning to Resorts World March 19-23 and will feature dealer’s choice cash games around the clock at stakes ranging from $4/$8 to $8/$16 and higher and multiple tournament offerings.

The Cardplayer Lifestyle and PokerStars-sponsored festival will award a European Poker Tour (EPT) Prague prize package to the winner of the $260 buy-in H.O.R.S.E. event, a package that includes a mixed game tournament buy-in up to €550, roundtrip airfare and four nights of accommodation at the Eastern Europe festival in December.

The upcoming Mixed Game Festival in the luxurious Resorts World Poker Room will feature several other giveaways, including bubble protection, brand merchandise and signed copies of books from poker authors like mixed game specialist Dylan Linde and Poker Hall of Famer Eli Elezra.

Read about last year’s Mixed Game Festival!

With around-the-clock mixed game action that is sure to feature several household names and top pros, the Mixed Game Festival could be the best way to prepare for the upcoming 2023 World Series of Poker (WSOP), which features several mixed game events in the first few weeks.

It is also a great way to prepare for the upcoming EPT stops in Prague, Monte Carlo and elsewhere, which will also feature their fair share of mixed game action.

“What we love about this event is it has a very specific purpose and style; it provides players who love to dabble in a variety of games a home-game type atmosphere and environment, but of course with some serious competition,” PokerStars Director of Partnerships and PR Rebecca McAdam Willetts said in a press release. “We always try to encourage and support such demonstrations of love for the game and are very happy to be a part of it by giving the community something that continues the journey onwards after the Vegas shenanigans!”

As an extra bonus for participants, the Mixed Game Festival will award bubble protection for both the H.O.R.S.E. tournament and the $260 Omaha 8/Stud 8 event and free memberships to PokerCoaching.com.

The festival will also feature three different book signings. Linde, author of Mastering Mixed Games, will be signing copies as at a discounted price, while Getting Started With HORSE author Chris Wallace will be doing the same.

At the 2022 festival, Eliza signed copies of his autobiography Pulling the Trigger and played low-stakes mixed games before going on to win his fifth bracelet in the $10,000 Pot-Limit Omaha Hi-Lo 8 or Better Championship. Elezra will be back this year and will once again be signing copies of his autobiography.

A portion of all the proceeds will go to Poker Gives, a non-profit that assists military families, homeless veterans and youth in Las Vegas.

To take part in the Mixed Game Festival, simply show up and get your name on the mixed game list at the Resorts World Poker Room.

The highly anticipated 2023 Irish Poker Open (IPO) returns to Dublin next month from April 3-10.

PokerStars and Paddy Power have joined forces to sponsor the series, which is headlined by the €1,050 buy-in Irish Open Main Event and comes with an impressive €1 million guarantee.

One familiar face already confirmed to be at the IPO is PokerStars ambassador Fintan “easywithaces” Hand. Members of his community are now being invited to play in one of his online Home Games, where 70 seats are up for grabs for his exclusive community meet-up game at the IPO

How to Get an Invite to the Meet-Up Game

From March 15-17, special community games are being hosted in Hands’ Home Game Club where the top ten finishers in any of the tournaments will bag an invite to the Royal Dublin Society (RDS) for the private tournament.

An incredible 70 seats are being dished out, and the buy-in for these home games is just $1.10!

And what’s even better is that PokerStars and Paddy Power have added €10,000 to the meet-up game and IPO Main Event for the winner. The top 18 players will walk away with a slice of the prize pool, and in addition to the ticket, the last player standing will bank a further €2,150 in prize money.

There are also bounties on the heads of all PokerStars Ambassadors playing in the event. Knocking out Hand will also result in a €1,150 IPO Main Event ticket, with additional bounties to be announced.

Place	Prize
1	€2,150 + €1,150 Irish Poker Open Main Event ticket
2	€900
3	€800
4	€700
5	€600
6	€500
7	€400
8	€300
9	€200
10	€150
11-14	€100
15-18	€50

Join Hands’ Home Game on PokerStars

It’s effortless to join Hand’s Home Game club as you only need to head to ‘Home Games’ on the PokerStars client. Once you’re there, click ‘Join a Poker Club’ and enter the Club ID and invitation code which you can see below:

• Club ID: 2168173
• Invitation Code: luckyducky

Once you’ve done the above, Hand will be able to approve your request so you can get in on the fun.

Once your admission has been accepted, you’ll see all the tournaments that you can play with other members of his community. To see which events are scheduled, click the ‘Club Lobby.’

Satellite Your Way to the Irish Poker Open Main Event

PokerStars runs two €109 buy-in Irish Open Main Event satellites each week, a five-package guaranteed affair on Wednesday and an eight-package guaranteed satellite on Sunday. You have the choice of buying into the €109 satellite direct or playing your way in from as a little as, well, nothing.

Also, make sure keep March 19 clear in your diaries because that is the day a whopping 20 seats and expense packages are guaranteed to be won in a single €109 buy-in finale.

The Best Rewards to Find on PokerStars Play

Join PokerStars Today

Now is the time to become a PokerStars player because a 100% up to $600 welcome bonus is waiting for new depositing customers. Joining PokerStars will make you eligible for all the Oracle Red Bull Racing-related promotions throughout the 2023 Formula One season.

Those of you who do not already have a PokerStars account can download the excellent software via PokerNews. Make your first deposit safe, knowing that PokerStars matches your deposit 100% up to a maximum of $600. Your first three deposits in the first 90 days after creating your account are matched 100% up to a combined maximum of $600.

888poker‘s latest $100,000 guaranteed Mystery Bounty Main Event highlighted how cool this popular format is, with a player that did not even reach the money places walking away with the tournament’s largest haul!

Some 1,071 entries were processed, resulting in a guarantee-busting $107,100 prize pool. Ukraine’s “freeeeeeeeak” was one of those entrants. The Ukrainian made it past the 18th level, which is where the mystery bounties came into play. Although they busted in 190th place, with 144 places paid, freeeeeeeeak managed to eliminate an opponent that had a whopping $10,000 mystery bounty on their head, and that $10,000 was enough to become this tournament’s biggest winner!

The 107th place finisher, “HvalaLama” pulled out a $3,000 bounty before they crashed out, while “Fever105” also bagged a $3,000 bounty on their way to an impressive sixth place finish.

$100,000 Mystery Bounty Main Event Final Table Results

The nine finalists sat down under the watchful eyes of the excellent 888poker Twitch stream. The opening ten minutes saw the players get a feel for how one another was playing, before a big hand occurred that resulted in the first elimination.

“CRBDOUGLAS” min-raised with ace-jack of clubs, and then called when “arod1214” three-bet all-in for 12 big blinds from a couple of seats across. CRBDOUGLAS needed to hit the board because arod1214 was all-in with pocket queens. Hit, they did with an ace as the door card. Game over for arod1214.

“pvss10” was the chip leader when eight-handed play began, yet they were still the next player heading out of the door. They lost a few pots, and saw their stack dwindle to a little over 18.5 big blinds after paying the big blind. Those chips when into the middle after three-bet shoving with ace-king over a min-raise from “equalize1” in the cutoff. It was ace-king versus pocket jacks, and those jacks flopped a set before turning a full house, to reduce the player count by one.

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

The final seven became six with the elimination of “BalticMouse” of Lithuania. The Lithuanian had been nursing a short stack for a while, and was down to only five big blinds before the busted. equalize1 min-raised with ace-queen from under the gun, and BalticMouse called with king-four of hearts in the big blind. All the chips went in on the turn, with both players having paired their ace and king, respectively. No four landed on the turn, and BalticMouse had been caught.

Sixth place went to “Fever105”, netting $5,955 in total thanks, in part, to a $4,014 bounty payment. Fever105 open-shoved for 3.5 big blinds with pocket threes, and fellow short-stack “Santa.Muerte” called with ace-queen. An ace on the flop was not what Fever105 wanted to see, and their participation in this event ended.

That hand bolstered Santa.Muerte’s stack, but they did not progress deeper than fifth place. They found themselves down to 9.5 big blinds with a pair of nines in the hole and decided to three-bet all-in over the top of a min-raise from CRBDOUGLAS, which they made with ace-queen. CRBDOUGLAS spiked a queen on the flop and an ace on the turn, to leave only four players in the hunt for the title.

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

Third place went to “ashleywardy” of the United Kingdom. The Brit committed their last 3.7 big blinds from the button with ace-six of hearts, “apithanos8” called in the small blind with ace-deuce, only for CRBDOUGLAS to squeeze all-in for 24 big blinds with ace-queen. apithanos08 ducked out of the way, and ashleywardy fell by the wayside courtesy of a queen on the turn.

Heads-up was set when CRBDOUGLAS bowed out after losing a coinflip. CRBDOUGLAS min-raised on the button with ace-king of spades, equalize1 called in the small blind with ace-five of clubs, only for apithanos08 to make it six big blinds to go, with pocket queens. CRBDOUGLAS moved all-in for 17.4 big blinds in total, and apithanos08 called once equalize1 ducked out of the way. The queens held, and CRBDOUGLAS crashed out in third.

apithanos08 held a 52.6 to 27.7 big blind advantage at the start of heads-up. equalize1 clawed their back level before slipping behind, then coming back and claiming the chip lead. The final hand essentially played itself with the stack sizes in play. equalize1 min-raised with king-queen of diamonds, apithanos08 shoved for 22 big blinds with pocket nines, and was called. Three diamonds on the first three community cards left apithanos08 drawing dead, resigning them to a second-place finish, and leaving equalize1 to become the latest $100,000 Mystery Bounty Main Event champion.

888poker: Vivian Saliba’s Top 5 Tips for Building an Online Bankroll

Win Your Way Into the March 19 Edition of the $100K Mystery Bounty Main Event

March 19 at 7:00 p.m. GMT is your next chance to compete in the $100,000 Mystery Bounty Main Event at 888poker. Don’t worry of the $109 buy-in is outside the constraints of your bankroll because there is a plethora of satellites running throughout the week.
Those of you that are VIP Level 40 or above can play in a special freeroll tournament at 3:45 p.m. GMT on March 18 that has 50x $109 seats guaranteed! Good luck if you are involved in that.

$88 Free Plus a $400 Welcome Bonus

You’re going to need an 888poker account if you want to be in with a chance of winning an 888poker LIVE package, so now is the perfect time to join 888poker if you have not already done so. Download 888poker via PokerNews, create your free account, and 888poker will give you a free $88 worth of cash game and tournament tickets – this is a free £20 for residents of the United Kingdom – just for reaching this stage.

Your first deposit is matched 100% up to $400 in the form of a releasable bonus. You have 90 days to release as much bonus as you can. Contact 888poker support for more details.

To some extent, a new kid on the free online games block, PokerStars Play is one of our favorite free social poker apps available to play right now. You can quickly and easily get involved in some top poker games, as well as some great online slots.

This is all well and good (and the games are really good, trust me), but how about some nice rewards to go along your gaming, ALL FOR FREE? Well in this article, we’re going to outline the best rewards and freebies available on PokerStars Play.

Just before we continue, a quick word on loyalty schemes. These programs or player rewards are common with online casinos, but we were quite pleased to see that PokerStars Play have a special experience to offer loyal players. We’ll go into detail during our article, but suffice to say there are points on offer for anyone playing a poker game, as well as one of the many slots available and additional games included in the app. The more points you earn, the higher you’ll climb up the VIP program. This then leads to more and more benefits, as you rank higher and higher.

PokerStars Play is available worldwide, including in the United States and Australia, but please be aware that it doesn’t include real money gambling or an opportunity to win real money or prizes.

PokerStars Play Daily Log-In Rewards

The first rewards you’re likely to encounter as a new player on PokerStars Play, are the Daily Log-In Rewards. If these sound incredibly easy to earn – that’s cos they are!

Put simply, for the first 7 days of being a PokerStars Play user, you canm claim a reward every time you login to the app. You’ll see the reward icon in the top right of the screen on the main app lobby, and all you need to do is tap the icon and hit ‘Collect’ for that day’s reward. The reward itself comes in the form of Experience Points which go towards your total. These can be redeemed for benefits.

You’ll also see a push notification on your mobile device, when there is a log-in reward waiting for you. So there’s no excuse to miss out!

Rewards from Free & Premium Scratchers on PokerStars Play

Scratchers or ‘scratchcards’ are a great feature to see on a casino app, so how does the PokerStars Play version match up?

The scratchers included in the PokerStars Play App come in two varieties:

Free Scratchers
Anyone playing on PokerStars Play is rewarded with a Free Scratcher every day. You’ll see your Free Scratcher waiting for you in the main lobby when you login to the app.
When you load up a scratcher, you’ll need to scratch off the symbols on the card on screen. Match 3 symbols and you’ll win!

You can also earn an extra Free Scratcher by watching an ad video, and you’ll have the option for this directly on the Scratcher screen.

Premium Scratchers
As well as the Free Scratcher, you have the option to purchase Premium Scratchers. These are a nice touch, as they are a simple way to increase the rewards you can get. Premium Scratchers can be purchased via redeeming some of your chip count.

If you’re lucky enough to have reached the VIP Level Shark and higher, you’ll automatically get a Premium Scratcher every 4 days.

The PokerStars Play League Rewards

For anyone who feels that competitive itch needing to be scratched when playing poker, the Poker Leagues on PokerStars Play will surely be right up your street. The Leagues run in a Season format lasting one week at a time, and players are automatically entered for a specific division with the aim of being the best at your level.

How does this link to rewards? Simple – the higher your league position, the more chance you have of getting rewarded. Your placement in your league is governed by how many chips you have accumulated through gameplay in that season. Finish in the Top Bracket of your league, and you’ll get promoted to the next league. If you’re lucky enough to be promoted, not only will you receive a badge to indicate your rank, but you’ll also receive free chips to be used in your next season.

PokerStars Play VIP Elite Rewards

VIP Elite is effectively the loyalty reward scheme that PokerStars Play uses. Players can earn VIP Points for performing different actions, such as purchasing chips or spinning the Bonus Spin Wheel.

The more VIP Points you earn, the higher tier you will attain and the better the benefits you will receive. The table below details the different tiers, the benefits, and benefit level available for each:

PokerStars Play Challenges

The Challenges included on PokerStars Play present an opportunity to quickly and easily earn rewards within the app. Challenges are presented to players on a daily and weekly basis – 3 daily and 1 weekly challenge.

Completing these challenges provides you with chips to use on the different PokerStars Play poker games and slots. So whilst they’re not rewards in the truest sense, they are a useful and simple way to earn more chips which will then lead to more rewards, should you use these chips to play and win!

How to Get Started on PokerStars Play

Hopefully by now, you have a good idea of the rewards available when starting to play with PokerStars Play. Luckily if you’ve not yet signed-up, it extremely easy.

• The PokerStars Play app is available in over 80 countries across the world, so the best first step is to head to either the Play Store (for Android) or App Store (for iOs) and see if the app is available for you.
• Download the app directly from the correct store for your device.
• Sign-up and enter your details to become a PokerStars Play user.
• Head to the main lobby and choose your game!

Estonia’s Priit Parmasto is the King of Tallinn after he outlasted a record-breaking field of 716 entrants in the 2023 Kings of Tallinn Main Event. Prior to this event, Parmasto’s live tournament earnings weighed in at a shade under $5,500, with a €2,100 ($2,481) score being the Estonian’s largest. That result came in the 2021 Kings of Tallinn Main Event, when he finished in 27th place. Fastforward to 2023, and Parmasto has helped himself to the title of champion, in addition to €97,400 in prize money.

The 716-strong field created a €673,040, the largest in the history of the Kings of Tallinn. Parmasto’s victory marks the first time since Ranno Sootla captured the title in 2015 that the winner’s trophy remains in Estonia.

It was not only the €1,100 Main Event that was a roaring success but the festival as a whole. Some 1,361 unique players from 35 countries bought in 7,838 times across the 53 numbered events, which had buy-ins from €60 up to €5,300. Here is how Parmasto got his hands on the 2023 Kings of Tallinn Main Event title.

2023 Kings of Tallinn Main Event Final Table Results

*reflects a three-handed deal leaving €15,000 for the champion

The final table kicked off with Lithuania’s Ignas Vaitulionis holding a sizeable chip lead, his 5,655,000 stack (94 big blinds) dwarfing that of the short-stacked Albert Ostrovkij (730,000). Obstrovskij was the first finalist heading to the cashier’s desk. Down to only 70,000 chips at the 50,000/100,000/100,000a level after losing with king-jack versus ace-jack, Obstrovskij was all-in with six-five from the big blind. Parmasto min-raised to 200,000 with pocket kings in the hijack, Sergejs Korobovs three-bet to 600,000 from the cutoff with pocket tens, and then called when Parmasto four-bet shoved for 1,500,000. An ace-high board kept Parmasto’s kings true, doubling his stack, and eliminating Ostrovskij from the tournament.

Less than 30 minutes later, Danius Antanaitis joined his fellow Lithuanian on the rail. Antanaitis opened to 690,000, leaving himself 500,000 chips behind. Antti Vetelainen moved all-in from the big blind, and Antanaitis called off the rest of his chips. It was ace-jack for the all-in player but a pair of red kings in the hole for Vetelainen. The kings held, and Antanaitis was gone.

Koborovs never recovered from the tens versus kings hand at the start of the final table, and he ultimately fell in seventh place. Korborov was down to around eight big blinds when he moved all-in for 1,300,000 with ace-queen from under the gun. Parmasto looked him up from the big blind with pocket eights, and those snowmen refused to melt, reducing the player count to six.

Those six became five with the untimely demise of Aleksi Naski of Finland. With blinds now 100,000/200,000/200,000a, Vaitulionis shoved from the small blind with ace-king, and Naski, who only had 215,000 left after posting the big blind, called with the dominated king-queen. Both players paired their king on the turn, but the river bricked, and Naski’s run ended.

Vaitulionis was the next player finding themselves with fresh air where their stack once stood despite winning Naski’s micro-stack. Vaitulionis found himself in something of a cooler spot against Parmasto. Vaitulionis three-bet all-in for 12 big blinds from the big blind after Parmasto had min-raised to 400,000 in the cutoff. Parmasto called, and revealed pocket kings, which were up against ace-king. The jack-high board failed to come to Vaitulionis’ rescue, and he had to make do with a still welcomed €29,800 fifth-place prize.

The remaining four players went on a scheduled break, but Davidi Muccini would not make it to another. Vetelainen open-shoved from the small blind, and Muccini considered his options before calling off the 1,900,000 chips, 7.5 big blinds, he was armed with. Muccini turned over king-four, but was in a world of pain against king-ten. Vetelainen’s ten-kicker played, and Muccini headed to the cashier’s desk.

The three surviving players paused the tournament clock, and discussed a deal. Those discussions proved fruitful, with the last standing trio securing between €82,400 and €102,500, while leaving an additional €15,000 for the champion.

Heads-up was set after a battle of the blinds between Vetelainen and Parmasto. Parmasto limped in from the small blind with ace-queen, and called a 10 big blind shove from Vetelainen, which he made with the dominated queen-jack. Both players missed the flop and turn, leaving Vetelainen drawing to one of three jacks on the river. The river was paint, but it was one pip too high, the queen of hearts resigning Finn to a third-place finish. Vetelainien’s €1,100 investment swelled into a €90,000 payday courtesy of the deal struck.

Parmasto started the one-on-one battle with Petteri Laiho holding a two-to-one chip lead, and it took only two hands to press home that advantage. On the 147th hand of the final table, and with blinds of 175,000/350,000/350,000a, Laiho min-raised to 700,000, Parmasto three-bet to 2,000,000, only for Laiho to jam for 8,700,000. Parmasto called, and turned over pocket sevens, which had Laiho’s pair of fives crushed. The board ran out sans fives or unlikely straights, busting Laiho in second-place for €102,500, and leaving a delighted Parmasto to receive a €97,400 payout, the winner’s trophy, and a place in the Kings of Tallinn history books.

Full 2023 Kings of Tallinn Results

Expand the table below to check out the full list of results from the 2023 Kings of Tallinn festival. They include victories for Kimmo Fagerholm, who defeated Anatoly Filatov heads-up in the €3,000 High Roller event, a result worth €63,156.

Irish legend Fintan Gavin also found himself in the winner’s enclosure, taking down the €660 No-Limit Hold’em Mystery Bounty tournament.

The 2023 Kings of Tallinn has only just ended but players are already planning their assault on the 2024 edition! Stay tuned to PokerNews to discover exactly when that festival will be.

_{All imagery courtesy of the excellent Elena Kask and Tambet Kask}