The Grosvenor UK Poker Tour (GUKPT) is in London for the sixth leg of its 2023 season, and Ravi Sheth has got the series off to a flying start. Sheth came out on top in the £550 GUKPT Midi Main Event and padded his bankroll with the £48,550 top prize.

Sheth is a man in form. Less than a fortnight ago, Sheth navigated his way through most of the 910-strong field in the £3,300 No-Limit Hold’em WSOP Super Circuit Main Event in London. His impressive run ended in a fourth place finish, which netted him a career-best £140,000 score. August has been quite memorable for Sheth, and it is not yet over.

2023 GUKPT London Midi Main Event Final Table Results

Some 369 players bought into the GUKPT London Midi Main Event at The Vic, creating a £184,500 prize pool as a result. The top 34 finishers captured a slice of that pot, and there were plenty of well-known grinders among those cashers.

Lorenc Boci was one of the first players to cash. The likes of Michael Howard, Colin Gillon, James Williams, and Martins Adeniya joined Boci at the payout desk.

Each of the finalists was guaranteed at least £3,190, the sum Iwan Jones picked up when he lost his stack in ninth place. Five of Jones’ last six live cashes stem from GUKPT events, so look out for his name appearing on PokerNews again before this festival concludes.

Karim Louis finished in eighth for £3,800, less than three weeks after helping himself to a £13,000 score in the £450 Colossus at the WSOP Super Circuit London.

The 2022 GUKPT Leeds champion, Chris Johnson, busted in seventh for £4,600, with Brandon Sheils crashing out in sixth for a £6,020 addition to his bankroll. £8,300, the last four-figure prize awarded in this tournament, went to Callum Gordon, which happens to be Gordon’s second-largest live haul.

Alex Todd Goes Wire-to-Wire to Win Record-Breaking 2023 Goliath Main Event (£178,860)

Garry Bush has recorded live cashes dating back to 1999, and is a regular in various Grosvenor-run tournaments up and down the country. Bush came unstuck in fourth place, a finish good for £12,400.

Jamie Dwan, no relation to high-stakes cash game guru Tom “durrrr” Dwan, banked the £19,660 third-place prize. Earlier this year, Dwan took down a £440 buy-in Mystery Bounty tournament at the GUKPT Manchester stop and took home £16,920 for his efforts.

Dwan’s elimination left Sheth heads-up against Arian Hassankashani. No deal was struck despite a £16,000 difference in the payouts, meaning Hassankashani collected £32,230 when he fell at the final hurdle, leaving Sheth to scoop the £48,550 top prize. It was yet another solid performance from Hassankashani, who is racking up cashes. In April, he finished second in a £444 buy-in event at 888poker LIVE London for £28,140, and followed that up with a £43,800 prize after winning the £1,500 GUKPT Edinburgh High Roller in May.

However, the night belonged to Sheth, who has won more than $250,000 during 2023.

2023 GUKPT London Schedule

Plenty of events are yet to run at The Vic, including the £1,250 buy-in Main Event. A similarly-sized tournament ran at The Vic in mid-January 2023, and saw 459 players create a £475,750 prize pool. That tournament ended in a three-way deal involving third-place finisher Devan Patel (£98,800), runner-up Calogero Morreale (£65,950), and champion Jonathan McCann (£89,600).

The opportunity to enter a major live poker tournament in Philadelphia on the cheap is possible on the merged Michigan and New Jersey PokerStars platform.

PokerStars is bringing back its live poker action later this month at the Live! Hotel & Casino Philadelphia, one of the top spots in the northeast to play poker. On Aug. 17, players in NJ and MI began competing in inexpensive online satellite tournaments that paid out seats into the upcoming live events in Philadelphia. They can continue chasing a seat and travel package into the PokerStars Summer Series through Aug. 27.

The series in the City of Brotherly Love features $1 million in guarantees and runs Aug. 24- Sept. 10. In the final week of August, there will be plenty of opportunities for players to satellite into the $300,000 guaranteed $1,100 NLH event and the $500,000 guaranteed $2,200 NLH event.

Read More About the PokerStars Live Summer Series!

Win a Seat into the PokerStars Summer Series

Satellite action has already begun but there’s still plenty of time to get in on it at PokerStars MI/NJ, the largest US merged online poker network.

The first five players to secure a seat were “loxonbagel,” “sixers13,” “TightIsRight570,” “WinninForALivin,” and “ninelinebind,” all of whom will compete for free in the $1,100 buy-in tournament at Live! Philadelphia and receive travel money for the trip.

There are three live tournaments players can earn admission into. The first is the $550 buy-in Aug. 24-27, which features a $200,000 guaranteed prize pool. Next up will be the $1,100 buy-in event with $300,000 guaranteed from Aug. 31-Sept. 4. Action at Live! Philadelphia wraps with the biggest tournament of them all — $2,200 buy-in ($500,000 guaranteed) Sept. 7-10.

PokerStars MI/NJ Summer Series Qualifiers Schedule

Every poker player wants to go into a major live festival in hot form, and Juan “Malaka$tyle” Pardo is doing just that. With the 2023 European Poker Tour Barcelona series right around the corner, Pardo has given his confidence a significant boost, and his bankroll roo, after taking down the $5,200 Titans Event at PokerStars for $83,582.

Pardo has an exceptional record in Barcelona-based tournaments. In 2018, Pardo finished fifth for €150,000 and second for €450,000 in two €25,000 buy-in PartyPoker LIVE events. Less than 18 months later, Pardo won back-to-back €25,000 and €50,000 buy-in events at EPT Barcelona for combined scores of €1,505,460 before following up those results with a fourth-place finish in another €25,000 High Roller worth €259,240.

At the 2022 EPT Barcelona festival, Pardo was the runner-up to Steve O’Dwyer in another €25,000 High Roller, a result good for €268,430. Pardo heads to Barcelona full of confidence following his latest online poker victory.

Sixty-five players bought into this weekend’s $5,200 Titans Event and created a $325,000 prize pool that the top nine finishers shared. “Ebaaa11” was the unfortunate soul who popped the money bubble; their exit locked in $10,132 for the nine surviving players.

Jans “Graftekkel” Arends was the first of the finalists to fall by the wayside. Bulgarian grinder “AchoBogdanov” joined the Austria-based Dutchman on the sideline before “Gogac sniper” was shot down in seventh, and Ukraine’s “234241234214432” busted in sixth.

Brazilian star Rodrigo “SELOUAN1991” Selouan saw his deep run end in a fifth-place finish, with “ibotown” of Austria crashing out in fourth.

Any of the final three hopefuls would have made a worthy champion; all three have been in the winner’s circle numerous times.

Third place and $49,211 went to Yuri “theNERDguy” Dzivielevski, leaving Pardo heads-up against David “MissOracle” Yan. The heads-up duo struck a deal to slightly lessen the pay jump, and that deal ultimately resulted in Yan banking $69,840 when he busted in second place. Pardo yet again, emerged from a high-stakes tournament victoriously. This latest win earned the popular Spaniard $83,582.

$5,200 Titans Event Final Table Results

*reflects a heads-up deal

Brazilians Dominate the $1K Sunday High Roller; Bruschi Wins

Four of the nine players who reached the final table of the $1,050 Sunday High Roller hailed from Brazil, so it was unsurprising to discover the eventual champion was a Samba star.

As you would likely expect from a $1,050 buy-in tournament, the final table read like a who’s who of the online poker world. Finnish superstar Tomi “elmerixx” Brouk‘s time under the spotlight was limited because he bowed out in ninth.

Ilya “Leqenden” Anatsky, the seasoned Belarussian veteran, finished in eighth, with the tournament officially becoming short-handed after the untimely demise of “tiga84.”

“Fox__MEF” was the first of the four Brazilian finalists to bite the dust, doing so in sixth place. They were joined on the sidelines first by Blaz “Scarmak3r” Zerjav, and then Germany’s “assel007,” meaning this event would finish as a Brazilian 1-2-3.

“phcrf” was eliminated in third and walked away with $10,860, the first five-figure haul of the evening. Renan “internett93o” Bruschi and Joao “joaoMathias” Baumgarten locked horns heads-up for the lion’s share of the bounty prize pool.

Both players locked in $11,511 from the main prize pool, but the final bounty payments were worth more than that payout. Bruschi finished his opponent and saw $26,862 land in his PokerStars account, leaving Baumgarten to collect a $16,237 consolation prize.

$1,050 Sunday High Roller Final Table Results

Other Notable PokerStars Results

Also at PokerStars, there were victories for Swedish duo Simon “C. Darwin2” Mattsson and Jerry “Perrymajsen” Odeen, while Raul “Winca_cipo” Manzano defeated online poker legend Chris “Moorman1” Moorman heads-up in the $109 Sunday Cooldown.

*includes bounty payments

Use the PokerNews Online Tournament Calendar to Plan Your WCOOP

Although you can bookmark this article and cast your eye over the 2023 WCOOP schedule whenever you wish, you should also check out the incredible PokerNews Tournament Calendar.

Our free-to-use tool has several filters that make finding your perfect poker tournament, be that a WCOOP event or otherwise, a breeze. The PokerNews Online Tournament Calendar allows you to register for tournaments with a couple of mouse clicks, so you need never miss out ever again.

The folks at 888poker are back once again with more fantastic strategy tips. And this time in the hot seat is ambassador Ian Simpson. In the video below, Simpson details five top tips on how to start multi-tabling for online poker.

Knowing how to multi-table effectively can increase your volume on the virtual felt and possibly boost your hourly win rate.

Play Lower When Adding Tables

If you’re used to playing three tables at once and want to add a fourth table, Simpson recommends choosing a game lower in stakes than your average buy-in. Adding that extra table will mean you’re a little more pressed for time with your decision-making.

You don’t want to make things harder for yourself by playing better opponents that you’ll run into at higher stakes.

Color-Code Your Tables

On 888poker, you have the ability to change the color of your tables. By color-coding your tables, you should make less mistakes when you’re playing a mix of events.

For example, calling with ace-king in a regular tournament is a pretty trivial decision, but could be a disaster if you’re playing a satellite where you’re a favorite to lock up a seat.

Develop a System for Notes

Making good notes when you’re battling at the tables is vital, but typing out a hand history can take time when you’ve got other tables to manage.

You can save time by developing a shorthand for your note-taking. Simpson gives this example with his “CC 3b bb A8o” note. This translates to cold-called a three-bet from the big blind with ace-eight offsuit.

Eliminate Distractions

If you want to play more tables, you can’t have distractions sapping your attention span. Avoid social media apps, put your phone on silent and wait for the five-minute break to check your devices.

Every time your attention goes astray, there’s potential for a slip-up that you could’ve avoided had you not been distracted.

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Know Your Plays

The most important tip when playing more tables at one time is to know your spots. If on one of your tables, you’ve got a decision between betting and checking, but you’ve already studied that spot away from the tables, then no brain power needs to go into it. All you’ve got to do is click a button and move on to the next decision, which may require more thought.

A solid understanding of the basics will help you out in so many ways in this game and being able to multi-table more effectively is just one of those.

Keep Track Of All The Action With The PokerNews Online Tournament Calendar

You should give the PokerNews Online Tournament Calendar a try. This free-to-use tool keeps track of the poker tournaments on major online poker sites like 888poker.

You can filter and search the tournaments to find what you’re looking for quickly and easily, including the PokerNews exclusive freerolls held on 888poker.

Sign up for 888poker today, and you can register for poker tournaments without ever leaving the calendar!

Fresh off of winning the largest-field World Series of Poker (WSOP) Main Event in history, Daniel Weinman has signed to Poker Royalty as an ambassador.

Poker Royalty, which was founded in 2003, is a poker marketing agency that represents many of the biggest stars of the game, including Daniel Negreanu, Phil Hellmuth and Antonio Esfandiari.

In a press release, Poker Royalty praised Weinman for, in addition to his Main Event victory, being “a prominent force in online poker, achieving (PokerStars) Supernova Elite status, given to the highest-volume players on a yearly basis” and for being “widely credited with creating ‘Duckflush’ (a 2-7 lowball variant) and the ‘Fantasyland’ variant of Chinese Poker that became a massive success in the mid-2010s.”

“We are thrilled to welcome Daniel Weinman to the Poker Royalty family,” Poker Royalty founder and CEO Brian Balsbaugh said in the press release. “Daniel’s exceptional skills, remarkable track record, and dedication will make him a tremendous ambassador for the game of poker.”

Weinman, who, in addition to playing poker professionally, works as an advisor for Atlanta-based RF Poker, said he was “excited to join Poker Royalty and embark on this new chapter of my career.”

“Their unparalleled expertise and industry knowledge make them the ideal partner to help me navigate the ever-evolving landscape of professional poker,” said Weinman.

Read About Weinman’s 2023 WSOP Main Event Victory!

The Next Move For 2023 Main Event Champ

Weinman is the latest Main Event champion to join the Poker Royalty roster, alongside Hellmuth, Scotty Nguyen and the late Doyle Brunson.

The signing with Poker Royalty after winning the record-breaking Main Event marks a returned focus to poker for Weinman, who said during a recent episode of the PokerNews Podcast that most of his time in the past few years has been spent off the felt.

“Part of the reason that I wasn’t playing as much poker over the past year or two was (that) doing poker full-time was super draining,” Weinman told Chad Holloway in July. “I really wasn’t enjoying it that much anymore. And this job that I started about a year ago was really just a breath of fresh air. It was in the poker industry as well, so it was something I knew, and I think it’ll be pretty interesting going forward what the mix of poker and job looks like, but definitely not going to be quitting.”

Weinman’s victory in the Main Event came after 15 years without success in poker’s most prestigious event. “I came very close to not even going back out for the Main Event. I went home halfway through the summer. I was burnt out and kind of took some urging on from friends and family to go out and play it even to begin with.”

It’s safe to say that Weinman is now a fan of the Main Event that brought him a career-best score of $12.1 million.

The PokerNews Podcast episode with Weinman can be heard below.

Allen Kessler was so thrilled with winning his fourth World Series of Poker Circuit (WSOPC) ring on Saturday that he forgot to tell the server to leave off the “green stuff” at his victory dinner.

The “Chainsaw” won his first WSOP anything tournament since midway through President Obama’s second term when he took down the $400 buy-in Stud-8/Omaha-8 event at Graton Resort & Casino in Northern California. He beat out a field of 57 entrants for a $6,314 payday.

On Friday, Daniel Lowery, by winning the $1,125 buy-in Pot-Limit Omaha in the same series, tied Josh Reichard for third place all-time with 14 Circuit rings. One day earlier, Ari Engel won his 15th ring, which put him in a tie with Maurice Hawkins at the top.

Valentin Vornicu, who once held the record but hasn’t won a ring since 2018, is now alone in fifth place with 12 rings. Lowery’s win, good for $21,518, was his fourth of the year and he now has nearly $1.6 million in WSOPC cashes. The all-time top 10 standings are as follows:

Small But Proud Victory

The buy-in was relatively small, and the field even smaller. But it was clearly a proud moment for Kessler as he ended a nearly decade-long drought. Still, that didn’t stop Shaun Deeb from raining on his parade.

https://twitter.com/shaundeeb/status/1693076227056124207

The mixed game event champion defeated Wendy Freedman, who was also chasing her fourth ring, heads-up for the title. Graton Poker Room’s X page shared a clip of the final hand in Stud-8 (video below). Kessler caught a nine-high straight and his opponent was unable to hit her straight draw on seventh street.

“Unbelievable,” an enthusiastic four-time ring winner said after the final card was dealt before holding up eight fingers.

https://twitter.com/GratonPoker/status/1693074254047084683

Kessler’s response to Deeb’s negative comment was that he can’t control the buy-in or field size. “I just came here to play mixed events.” The Chainsaw, who is often fixated on The Hendon Mob results, now has 456 cashes across all lifetime live poker tournaments, per the database he frequents, for a total of $4.3 million in cashes.

He’s still chasing his first World Series of Poker (WSOP) bracelet despite breaking the 100 cashes mark this past summer in bracelet events.

Kessler ranks sixth all-time in combined WSOP brand cashes with 236, trailing only Roland Israelashvili (432), Arkadiy Tsinis (345), Engel (291), Daniel Negreanu (245), and Ian Steinman (239).

Many of those players have racked up cashes in online Circuit and bracelet events, tournaments that Kessler of course considers “fake.” The now four-time ring holder was quick to share a picture with his X followers of his celebratory dinner, and he didn’t disappoint.

https://twitter.com/AllenKessler/status/1693083862379675941

Presumably, the meal was paid for with casino comps (that’s how the “Chainsaw” rolls), and no word on if he asked the waitperson to remake the dish without all that icky green stuff. For those who haven’t followed Kessler’s Twitter/X account the past few years, you’ve been missing out on some culinary masterpieces.

The WSOPC Graton Resort stop has completed 15 of its 20 scheduled ring events. On Friday, the $1,700 Main Event, a $500,000 guaranteed no-limit hold’em tournament, began. Day 1b took place on Saturday, and the tournament will conclude with the final table slated for Monday.

_{*Images courtesy of Hayley Hochstetler and 8131 Media}

Pocket aces doomed Mariano Grandoli during Friday’s Hustler Casino Live stream in a $295,000 pot against Dan “Jungleman” Cates, who rivered a flush. But would the poker vlogger have saved the $85,000 river bet if not for holding an important blocker?

Before we show you the hand in question, Cates told PokerNews that he believes Mariano’s play was game theory optimal (GTO) and that it was the correct decision. And we certainly aren’t about to question the poker strategy of one of the best in the game who just so happens to be a likely future Poker Hall of Famer. That said, here is the hand:

https://twitter.com/HCLPokerShow/status/1692783337830486302

With the blinds at $400/$800, Jungleman opened to $2,600 from the hijack with K♥Q♥ before Mariano three-bet to $8,500 in the cutoff with A♥A♣. A call was made and the flop came out 4♥Q♣J♥, pretty much ensuring there’d be some blood on this hand.

After Cates checked the flop, the preflop aggressor continued with a $13,000 wager and received a call. Following the uneventful 2♠ on the turn, action again went check-bet-call, this time for $40,000, creating a pot of $125,000.

When the 8♥ on the river completed Jungleman’s flush, he checked for a third time, hoping to set the trap. His opponent obliged with an all-in shove for $85,000. Cates, who booked a $148,000 win on the session, snap-called and took down the $295,000 pot.

Was it Possible to Get Value on the River?

There was some discussion on social media about Mariano’s decision to bet on the river in position. He could have cut his losses short by just checking. Of course, it’s easy to say for those who saw the hole cards during the live-stream.

Mike Matusow is one of the poker players on X who criticized the jam.

https://twitter.com/themouthmatusow/status/1692919442013814812

Much of the discussion centered around Mariano, who lost $200,000 overall Friday night, holding the A♥, a key blocker because having that card made it impossible for Cates to have the nut flush, and also less likely that he had any sort of flush. Those who approved of the play referred to that blocker as their reasoning, and it does seem logical.

But others argued that there weren’t many hands for pocket aces to extract value from. Doug Polk said the attempt at getting maximum value was “too thin.”

“He’s actually not that likely to be beat because he blocks tons of flushes, but there isn’t enough hands to call him,” the Upswing Poker founder argued.

“I def didn’t see that all In coming and I can’t even think of a good reason to make that all in bet there.. you’re either beat or u can maybe extract a little value from top pair… not worth even betting in that spot. Am I missing something?” @CODEiNEROBiNSON questioned.

“Everyone here talking shit like they wouldn’t lose as much. Or they somehow always check back the river 100%. Ya right y’all,” @DougFMoeller tweeted.

Most poker players agreed that Mariano could only extract value from AxQx, KxQx, and maybe AxJx or similar hands. It’s possible that the vlogger would have checked back the river if his pocket aces didn’t include the A♥. Or, perhaps he just felt it was unlikely his opponent had an over pair to the board beat.

Vote below to share your thoughts on Mariano’s river jam.