Bill Perkins pulled off one of the wildest live-streamed bluffs ever at The Lodge Card Club in Texas on Sunday night, but he didn’t even know he won the six-figure pot until an hour later.

The hedge fund manager had a plane to catch to Phoenix and couldn’t stick around for the completion of the game. As he explained on Twitter, his friend was opening for comedian Tiffany Haddish and it’s important for him to show up to support his friend. But he left the game in quite a memorable fashion a couple of hours early.

Getting a Live Read on an Empty Seat

The Lodge, a card room co-owned by Doug Polk, had a few big name players in the game Sunday playing a $100/$200/$400 no-limit hold’em. Polk, Dan Smith, Xuan Liu, and Perkins were all battling for some six-figure pots.

About three hours into the game, Perkins realized it was getting late and announced, “this is my last hand, boys and girls.” He then looked down at K♠J♥ in the cutoff and raised it to $3,000.

“He was going to raise it no matter what,” another player said.

Alex made the call in the big blind with A♠5♥ before Handz, a Hustler Casino Live regular, made it $17,000 with 10♥10♣ from the straddle. Perkins called, while Alex moved out of the way.

The flop came out 6♣3♠2♦, a complete whiff for Perkins. Handz, loving the three undercards on the board, bet $20,000. Despite missing the flop, Perkins went for a min-raise to $40,000 and received a call. When the 9♣ appeared on the turn, both players decided to check. But the 6♦ on the river brought about some crazy action.

Handz went for value with his overpair and bet out $40,000, leaving $134,000 behind. Perkins, who had him easily covered, moved all in before standing up from his chair to head for the door.

“I have a plane to catch and that’s more important because my wife will be f*****g pissed, so whatever happens, happens,” Perkins said as he left the game in the middle of the hand.

Perkins’ cards remained in front of his stack, face-down while Handz had a tough decision to make. He was facing an all-in wager against a now invisible opponent for what had become a $331,600 pot.

Getting a read on an empty seat is pretty much impossible, but Handz tanked for a few minutes to think back on how the hand had played out. He would eventually decide on a fold, concerned his opponent hit trips on the river, meaning he likely became the first poker player ever to get bluffed by a non-existent player on a live stream.

Perkins had no idea if he’d won the hand until it aired on the stream an hour later. He appeared in the chat on the Lodge’s YouTube channel to find out the outcome along with all the viewers.

Although he pulled off one of the goofiest bluffs ever, Perkins still lost almost $200,000 for the session. Handz dropped $115,000 and had a rough weekend of poker. On Friday’s Hustler Casino Live show, he had aces-up twice against superior hands but was able to find a fold on the river both times to avoid an even more disastrous outcome.

A total of 605 players tried their luck in the $700 RunGood Poker Series Checkpoint Main Event at The Horseshoe Casino In Council Bluffs Iowa. That tally created a prize pool worth $363,000 that only 74 players were lucky enough to see any piece of.

After the dust cleared it was local player Joshua Kopp who stood with the ring wrapped around his finger, and a sum of $68,799 for a prize. “I feel pretty good,” the newly crowned champion said after winning his ring “It’s still pretty surreal.”

Kopp is a local player who’s only prior Hendon Mob cash was his 29th place finish in the last iteration of The RGPS Main Event in Council Bluffs last October.

“I play a lot of home games, and a couple Saturdays a month I play the fat stack tournament,” he said when discussing his experience playing. “The main thing I tried was just to be calm and not do anything stupid, eliminate as many mistakes as I could.”

Kopp also becomes the latest winner of the free roll to the dream seat tournament at the end of the year, of which he says “I will be making whatever arrangements I need to for that tournament.”

RGPS Council Bluffs Checkpoint Main Event Final Table Results

Final Day Action

It did not take long for the players to start dropping. Many accomplished players saw their days end earlier than their hopes as players like Caitlin Comeskey (74th-$917), two time RGPS champion Dakotah O’Dell (64th-$1,074), Jared Ward (54th-$1,441), Kevin Berthelsen (44th-$1,641), and last year’s runner up Mark Homan (13th-$4,577) all fell on the outside of the final table. The last player to fall before the final table was Michael Brewer, who had flopped top pair top kicker on an ace-high board, only to be drawing nearly dead against Renato Spahiu’s flopped wheel. Brewer collected $5,725 for his efforts and the final nine players took their seats.

Final Table Action

The first casualty of the final table came quickly. Jared Langbehn spent most of his time at the final two tables as the shortest stack, but managed to navigate up several pay ladders. The bell tolled for him when he moved in his final four big blinds over a raise from Nick Stille, only for Renato Spahiu to isolate in the big blind. Langbehn’s jack-ten could not improve against Spahiu’s queen jack and collected $6,882 for his ninth place finish.

Angela Jordison was the next one out the door after a few hands had already passed. She defended her big blind against an open from Joshua Kopp from under the gun. She check-jammed her king-jack on a turn that gave her a pair of jacks, only to run into Kopp’s pocket kings. She was unable to improve and Jordison added a RGPS final table to her already illustrious resume. She collected $9,173 for her eighth place finish.

A few hands of jockeying over the lead occurred over the next level. At the end of it, it was one of the chip leaders at the start of the final table Matt Donaldson who ended his run in seventh place. He lost a big pot to Matt Morfitt at an earlier point in the final table which had sent him down the chip counts, but at the end of it he got in his pocket nines against Spahiu’s ace-queen, only for an ace-high board to dash his hopes and send him to the payout cage to collect $11,503.

Though he dropped out of the lead for a bit, Spahiu would regain the lead when Stille four-bet shoved in a multiway pot on a nine-high two clubs board with king-queen of clubs, only for Spahiu to call with a nine-eight for top pair. The turn queen of diamonds put Stille squarely in the lead with top pair, but the river eight gave Spahiu the lead with two pair and he once more took the lead while Stille exited the tournament in sixth place for $13,957.

In fifth place it was Terry Williams who was eliminated. He was left with under ten big blinds and moved in his final chips on the button with king-queen of clubs only for Kopp to call with pocket sixes and flop a set. Though a flush draw appeared on the turn, Williams could not find the river club to scoop and he collected $16,999 for his efforts.

Start of day chip leader Matt Morfitt was the victim of many beats throughout the day. He had actually nearly knocked out David Caron when he got in his aces in against Caron’s queens. A river queen kept Caron alive and left Morfitt with the shortest stack in the tournament. He survived even left short and a few timely double ups saw him get to four-handed play. He got in his final chips against Caron when he moved all in with ace-three, but could not improve against Caron’s pocket fours. The 2017 RGPS Council Bluffs third place finisher exited the tournament in fourth place for $22,147.

What followed was three handed battle where both Spahiu and Kopp took their shot at the chip lead. Caron eventually doubled through both of them and it was Spahiu who could not hold up against Kopp when he got in his final chips with ace-ten against Kopp’s king-four. A four on the flop sent out the decorated grinder out in third place for $31,015 and the heads up battle commenced.

Caron held the chip lead for the beginning portions of heads up, but a costly pot where Kopp held pocket queens marked the end of his lead. At the end of it all, Caron got in his final chips with pocket sixes against Kopp’s nine ten suited, but an all diamond flop gave Kopp the flush and left Caron drawing dead on the turn. Caron shook hands with Kopp and the RGPS regular finished his deep run in second place for $48,232.

RGPS Council Bluffs Series Event Winners

Yiannis Liperis showed everyone what he is worth as he crushed the final table of the €2,200 FPS High Roller here at the 2023 PokerStars European Poker Tour presented by Monte-Carlo Casino®. With seven players returning to the felt on the unanticipated third day of the event, he took care of all of them as he eliminated them one by one in a calm demeanor.

He defeated Sim Kok Wai heads-up, who started the day with a slight chip lead over Liperis, pipping him with two big blinds when they bagged last night on Day 2. Liperis retains the top spot in the Cyprus all-time money list on The Hendon Mob by increasing the gap between him and Peter Costa to almost a million dollars.

His previous biggest cash came when he finished in 13th place in the inaugural PokerStars Players Championship back in 2019 for $261,750 and finished in fourth place in this exact tournament in 2022 for €99,190.

With two starting flights taking place, the tournament attracted 1,234 entries to create a total prize pool of €2,369,280, with 182 players cashing on Day 2 for at least €3,340. This meant another record-breaking event for PokerStars, as it stood at 918 previously.

€2,200 FPS High Roller Final Table Results

A Liperis Masterclass

Liperis was the most experienced player at the final table, and he proved his skills as he took out every player who turned up today to play the tournament down to a winner. In the first hand of the day, he shoved from the cutoff to put pressure on the rest, and Paolo Boi took the bait by making the call with his pocket fours. Liperis held the ace-eight, flopped a higher pair, turned two pair, and improved to an even higher two pair on the river to signal the start of his run.

Thirty minutes later, he called the shove of Walter Ripper with ace-nine and turned the pair of nines even though he was ahead anyways against Ripper’s ace-four. On the next hand, his king-four bested the pocket sevens of Marco Regonaschi when he flopped two pair.

But it didn’t all go his way as Weiran Pu managed to double up once through Liperis with pocket kings before giving some of his chips away to Candido Cappiello. He then lost another chunk to Liperis when he called on a very draw-heavy board and mucked when he saw Liperis had turned a straight. He lost his final ten big blinds to the Cypriot when his king-six couldn’t beat the pocket treys of Liperis.

With three players left, the level duration was reduced to 20 minutes each. Wai had been pretty quiet up till then, slowly blinding down but doubled up through Liperis once and then through Cappiello to leave the latter short. Cappiello managed to double up through Liperis too but eventually lost it all to him anyways when his king-deuce failed to beat the ace-six of Liperis.

Liperis went into the heads-up match with a 4:1 chip lead and never really looked back. Wai doubled up for his last nine big blinds with the higher kicker but then lost a big part of his stack when he made the wrong call as Liperis showed a turned pair of nines.

He doubled one more with his last five big blinds with a flopped pair of fives. But unfortunately for him, in the final hand of the day, his shove with queen-deuce couldn’t beat the suited ten-nine of Liperis, who flopped a pair of tens to the delight of his rail.

Several group pictures were taken with the gang before they all joined him for a small celebration and debrief before continuing their grinds in the other tournaments.

The €100,000 EPT Monte Carlo Super High Roller from the 2023 PokerStars European Poker Tour presented by Monte-Carlo Casino®️ has wrapped up on its third day of play with Alex Kulev, taking home the trophy, title and first-place spoils.

The seven players who returned to the felt today battled it out for the lion’s share of the €3,589,740 prize pool. Kulev received €1,036,287 for the win after defeating Mikita Badziakouski in heads-up play. The final two agreed on a heads-up ICM deal, with Badziakouski also getting an extra €3,500. The duo would then compete for the remaining €43,074 as well as the bragging rights.

The win marked Kulev capturing his first major title, and his exploits on the felt secured the biggest score of his career. It also pushed him over the $2.5 million mark in live tournament earnings.

Final Table Payouts

_{*Denotes heads-up deal}

Winner’s Interview

“I was really fortunate throughout the whole event. This whole occasion is so very special to me. It’s my first big live event, and I love the city, I love PokerStars, and I really appreciate the chance that I get to perform on the stage.” a delighted Kulev told PokerNews

Kulev came into the final day as the chip leader, but that doesn’t always mean going the distance. There have been many instances of the big stack falling short of the final hurdle, but it wasn’t a concern for the champion.

“I did have the confidence [to win]. But in our game, when especially with this calibre of players that were at this final table, luck plays a major factor. So I just got very lucky in all the right moments”

And as always, the Super High Rollers bring out poker’s elite players, and Kulev pointed to that challenge as why he loves playing in these fields.

“That’s one of the main reasons why I played this game. To play against opponents who, you know, are extremely good, and they give me a chance to improve by observing them. The whole challenge is what captivates me and excites me to play,” added Kulev.

Action from Day 3

When the finalists began to play, they were on the money bubble, with the top finishers walking away with a return on their €100,000 investment.

It was a cagey affair to start off with as players were folding premium hands preflop to avoid leaving empty-handed. However, the bubble finally burst in the second level of the day after Santhosh Suvarna’s pocket nines were bested by the ace-jack held by Adrian Mateos in an all-in preflop encounter. Suvarna’s bust out also meant that every player who cashed did so off one buy-in.

The players then went on a break after completing that level, and when they came back, it didn’t take long for the next elimination. Orpen Kisacikoglu bowed out in sixth place after he ran his ace-queen into Badziakouski’s ace-king suited. The latter would go on to river a flush to send Kisacikoglu to the wrong side of the rail. Kisacikoglu collected the €251,300 min-cash, which is a nice addition to the €497,090 he picked up for winning a €25,000 NLH event at EPT Monte Carlo just a few days ago.

It was then confirmed that there would be a new player EPT Monte Carlo Super High Roller Champion, as Mateos’ title defence fizzled out following a blind versus blind confrontation with Ben Heath, who had just pulled off back-to-back double-ups. Heath moved in with ace-nine, and Mateos tank-called for his tournament life with king-three. Neither player connected on the runout, and the tournament was brought to four-handed play.

After hitting the river to survive twice already, Artur Martirosian was once again all in and at risk of elimination. Heath jammed as the bigger stack from the small blind with king-three, and Martirosian called with ace-eight. Heath turned trip kings to leave his opponent drawing dead and brought the tournament to the final three.

But that’s where Heath’s good fortune would end, as he was the next final table casualty as Kulev’s king-five stayed ahead of the former’s queen-nine.

A heads-up ICM deal was then agreed upon, and it was determined that Badziakouski would lock up €993,213 while Kulev would get at least €1,009,853. They then duked out for the remaining €43,074.

Heads-up play then began with Badziakouski having the chip lead by just two big blinds. And his experience began to show in the early goings, with momentum on his side. However, a defiant Kulev battled back and swung the chip lead in his favour after he rivered an ace against Badziakouski’s flopped top pair.

The players were then sent on their final break, and when play resumed, the start-of-day chip leader produced the finishing blow after hitting a three-outer when all the chips went into the middle preflop.

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.

Day 2 of the World Poker Tour (WPT) $3,500 Seminole Hard Rock Poker Showdown saw 378 players from a 2,290-entry field return to action, but by the end of the night only 107 remained. Leading the pack is Alex Nguyen with 2,570,000 while not far behind are Nick Palma (2,295,0000), Ethan “Rampage” Yau (2,135,000), and Natasha Mercier (1,835,000).

Others still in contention for the $1,128,250 top prize include Day 1b chip leader Akash Seth (1,715,000), Kristen Foxen (1,580,000), Steve “Cuz” Buckner (1,285,000), Andrew Moreno (765,000), 2013 WSOP champ Ryan Riess (605,000), AJ Kelsall (380,000), Raminder Singh (350,000), and Chance Kornuth (330,000).

Top 10 Chip Counts at End of Day 2

Check out the WPT Hub on PokerNews here!

The top 287 finishers made the money and some to head to the payout desk on Sunday were Alexander Yen (108th – $9,050), Athanasios Polychronopoulos (118th – $9,050), Phil Hui (139th – $7,550), David “ODB” Baker (147th – $7,550), Alex Foxen (154th – $7,050), Shannon Shorr (163rd – $7,050), Jeremy Ausmus (191st – $6,300), and 2022 WPT World Champion Eliot Hudon (202nd – $6,300).

Likewise, WPT Champions Club member James Calderaro wound up exiting on Day 2. According to WPT updates, it happened in Level 20 (10,000/20,000/20,000) when Calderaro jammed for 380,000 under the gun. Mercier didn’t see his shove and put out 45,000 thinking she was raising. Upon discovering the error, she used a time extension before calling the jam. Marc Spungin then moved all in over the top for 500,000 from the big blind, which Mercier also called.

James Calderaro: 9♣9♦
Marc Spungin: 10♠10♣
Natasha Mercier: K♣Q♣

Mercier went from worst to first when the flop fell K♠7♠3♥ to pair her king. Neither the 7♣ turn nor 6♠ river changed a thing and Mercier scored the double knockout. Calderaro wound up taking 122nd place while Spungin finished in 121st, both for $8,250.

The remaining 107 players are guaranteed $9,050 in prize money, though all are hoping to make their way to the final table where at least six-figure paydays await. Here’s a look at the payouts for the final nine:

Day 3 will take place on Monday, May 1st at 12 p.m. EST with a plan to play down to 16 players. Day 4 is scheduled for Tuesday, May 2nd at 12 p.m. EST and will reach the final table, which will then be played at the Hyper X ESports Arena at the Luxor in Las Vegas, Nevada on May 25th.

_{*Images courtesy of WPT and Seminole Hard Rock.}

Executive Editor U.S.

Executive Editor US, PokerNews Podcast co-host & 2013 WSOP Bracelet Winner.

Several poker tournaments took place on Friday, April 28 on PokerStars Pennsylvania, including the $12,500 guaranteed Friday Night Fight, PKO Edition, 7-Max and the Nightly Stars Knockout – $50 NLHE, Progressive KO and Nightly Stars – $50 NLHE, both of which had $8,000 prize pools up for grabs.

There were no bigger winners during the Friday night action than Jeff “TheSwagWagoon” Stellwagon, who took down not one, not two, but three major Friday tournaments on PokerStars PA. The three scores brought the 25-year-old grinder a total of $6,866.31, not a bad payday for a day’s work.

Backing Up the Stellwagon

Stellwagon’s first victory of the night came in the aforementioned Nightly Stars Knockout – $50 NLHE, Progressive KO, which drew a total of 213 runners for a prize pool of $9,691.50 as Stellwagon took home the top prize of $2,306.09 when factoring in bounties.

After that, “TheSwagWagoon” won the first-place prize of $1,026.57 in Friday Night Fight, PKO Edition, 7-Max, the biggest guarantee of the night that drew 207 entrants for a prize pool of $19,002.60 that smashed the $12,500 guarantee.

Finally, the young poker pro took down the $2,200 guaranteed The Hot $50 [Turbo] for $1,026.57 after getting through the field of 95 runners in an event that created a prize pool of $4,322.50.

Earlier in the week, Stellwagon got through a field of 635 players in the $50,000 guaranteed Sunday Special – $100 NLHE to win $10,054.12, a victory he posted about on social media.

For more on Stellwagon, check him out on Twitter at @ARJeff.

Other Winners

Stellwagon wasn’t the only winner on PokerStars PA on Friday as several players earned decent paydays.

In Nightly Stars – $50 NLHE, “Z4Mayor” got through a field of 220 runners to take home $1,952.24, the top prize of the $10,010 prize pool.

Meanwhile, “BaumsDraw” navigated the field of 342 players in the $4,500 guaranteed Mini Friday Night Fight – $30 NLHE [Progressive KO, 7-Max] to earn $1,596.95, the biggest portion of the prize pool of $9,336.60.

Another big winner was “salamifig”, who managed to nab $937.83 in the $3,000 guaranteed Mini Nightly Stars – $20 NLHE, which drew 270 runners for a prize pool of $4,914.

An assorted list of Friday’s winners on PokerStars PA is available in the table below.

Assorted PokerStars PA Winners April 28, 2023

The $5,200 Titans Event at PokerStars is one of the toughest online poker tournaments in the industry, but it appears that the United Kingdom’s “SerVlaMin” did not get that particular memo. On April 30, SerVlaMin became a two-time Titans Event champion, adding $101,216 to their bankroll six months after taking down the same event for $105,462.

SerVlaMin has almost $2.5 million in PokerStars winnings and a significant chunk of that impressive total stems from the Titans event. In addition to their brace of outright victories, SerVlaMin has a second-place finish and a pair of thirds on their resume. The $101,216 SerVlaMin collected this weekend is their third-largest PokerStars score. Only their previous Titans win and a ninth-place finish in the $10,300 World Championship Of Online Poker (WCOOP) Main Event in 2022 ($122,218) surpassing it.

$5,200 Titans Event Final Table Results

Seventy-five entries resulted in a $375,000 prize pool, a hefty sum that the nine finalists shared. Talal “raidalot Shakerchi was the unfortunate soul who popped the money bubble when he fell in tenth place. Shakerchi is a former Titans Event champion, but his wait for another victory must continue for at least another seven days.

Thomas “WushTM” Muehloecker crashed out of the tournament in ninth, a finish good for $11,691. Muehlocker gained some company on the rail when “neeno1990” and Niklas “Lena900” Astedt busted; they padded their bankrolls with $13,385 and $17,870, respectively.

Sixth place and $23,859 went to German grinder “tschibo187” before Christian “WATnlos” Rudolph ran out of steam in fifth, and had to make do with a $31,854 payday, still a healthy return for a few hours’ worth of grinding online.

The pay jumps continued expanding at an alarming rate, with fourth place paying $42,529. Brazilian sensation Pablo Brito “pabritz” Silva receiving that sum. Pokercode coach Manuel “Phemo” Bueno bowed out in third, and saw $56,782 land in his PokerStars account.

Heads-up pitted SerVlaMin against Ian “Drakeylfc” Drake of the Isle of Man. Drake was already guaranteed his largest-ever PokerStars score regardless of whether or not he won the event or finished second. The latter occurred when SerVlaMin defeated Drake heads-up, resigning Drake to a $75,810 score, and capturing the $101,216 top prize for themselves.

Keep an eye out for SerVlaMin in the upcoming Spring Championship Of Online Poker (SCOOP) festival. They already have a brace of WCOOP titles to their name, but, so far, a SCOOP title remains elusive.

Other PokerStars Results From April 30

It was not only SerVla min and the other Titans Event finalists that came away with five-figure prizes because British player “foxjoke” netted $40,502, including bounties when they triumphed in the $530 Bounty Builder High Roller event.

Also, Patrice “pAtcAsh83” Brandt took down the $109 Sunday Cooldown for $15,450, while “whereisdonny” won the $1,050 Sunday Supersonic for $19,410.

*includes bounty payments

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PartyPoker is upping the stakes for this year’s MILLIONS Online series with an all progressive knock-out (PKO) edition of the online poker festival.

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PartyPoker MILLIONS Online KO Schedule

_{*Day 1A for events with multiple Day 1s. Check out the partypoker MILLIONS PKO Edition site for full details of all Day 1s, side events, and satellites.}

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The 2023 PokerStars European Poker Tour presented by Monte-Carlo Casino®️ kicked off with the €1,100 France Poker Series (FPS) Main Event and after four starting flights and three more days of action-packed poker, Japan’s Daisuke Ogita claimed the trophy and €307,160, defeating France’s Rubens Sellam in heads-up play.

This year’s FPS Main Event saw a record-breaking field of 2,138 entries create a massive €2,052,480 prize pool, smashing the previous record for this event. Players from 65 different countries came to compete, with France representing nearly 36% of the field.

Several PokerStars Ambassadors were in the mix, but it was none other than Benjamin Spragg who made the deepest run out of his colleagues with a late Day 3 finish in 21st place for €8,850.

Ogita came into the final day second in chips and navigated his way into the chip lead early on, keeping his foot on the gas pedal until the end to finish victorious. With over $800,000 in live tournament earnings, according to The Hendon Mob, Ogita was arguably the most experienced player at the final table, and his spectacular play showed just that.

Coming off a recent first-place finish in the 2023 EPT Paris €5,150 6-Max for €111,000 just this past February, Ogita had his eyes set on the top spot to up that score and put himself into the top ten all-time money winners from Japan.

€1,100 FPS Main Event Final Table Results

Day 4 Action

Only eight players returned to action at the start of Day 4, and with the average stack being less than 30 big blinds, things got off to a hot start. Switzerland’s Maksym Mamon was the first casualty when he picked up pocket queens and moved in from under the gun. The action folded around to Ogita, who made the call with king-nine and when the board flopped a king, Mamon was sent to the rail in eighth place.

A few hands later, Adel Rahou picked up queen-jack and found himself in a great position for a double up when he flopped a jack against the pocket sixes of Quentin Laugt. The turn, however, had other plans when a six fell to eliminate Rahou in seventh place. Stefan Dimitrov was the next victim when he picked up ace-jack but ran into the pocket aces of Ogita and couldn’t find improvement, sending him out in sixth place.

Every Past PokerStars EPT Monte Carlo Main Event Champion

Soon after, Laugt would be on the short stack and moved in with ace-queen. Ogita held ten-seven suited and made the call to put Laugt at risk. The board ran out, giving Ogita a rivered flush, and Laugt was forced to settle for a fifth-place finish. Anatoly Chen managed to maneuver his way to a healthy stack for much of the day, but in the end, picked up ace-jack and jammed all in against the queens of Tomas Patka. The board didn’t improve the ace-jack, and Chen was sent to the exit in fourth place for a six-figure payday.

Three-handed play lasted the longest on the day, and after close to two hours of a back-and-forth battle, it was the start of day chip leader Patka that was left with only four big blinds. Patka called a shove from Ogita with ace-three versus his pocket eights. The board stayed clean for the eights and Patka was eliminated in third place.

The heads-up battle started slow,ly with many pots being taken down preflop, but on the 50th hand, Sellam saw a flop of ten-high and held ten-four to get his remaining stack in well ahead. Ogita made the call with the overwhelming chip lead holding ace-queen. The turn was safe for Sellam, but when the river brought a queen, it was the money card Ogita needed to seal the victory and send Sellam out in runner-up position.

That wraps up the coverage of the €1,100 FPS Main Event. Stay tuned as the PokerNews team continues to bring coverage from Sporting Monte-Carlo of select events from the 2023 PokerStars European Poker Tour presented by Monte-Carlo Casino®️.

On Saturday night, Day 1b of the World Poker Tour (WPT) $3,500 Seminole Hard Rock Poker Showdown was taking place in the main ballroom at the Seminole Hard Rock in South Florida. Across the hall, Event #48: $250 Ladies No-Limit Hold’em was also playing out.

That tournament attracted 83 entries and offered up a $17,430 prize pool. Unfortunately, one of the competitors was a man, Dave Hughes, who wound up winning it for $5,555. Per state law, management is unable to bar a man from entering a ladies’ event in Florida.

Ebony Kenney documented the whole ordeal on Twitter:

Minnesota Male Poker Player Competes in 2021 WSOP Ladies Event

Wider Poker Community Reacts

As word spread throughout the poker community, many prominent members weighed in on the topic of men entering ladies’ events.

“I don’t think men should play in ladies-only tournaments.”

“I love ladies-only poker tournaments. I would have no problem with them having a men’s only and I wouldn’t enter it as I would not qualify for it,” said Poker Hall of Famer Linda Johnson. “I would have no problem if they had a tournament for 26-year old, motorcycle riding, Mohawk-haircut seniors and I wouldn’t enter it because I wouldn’t qualify.

She continued: “I don’t think men should play in ladies-only tournaments. That said, I think there is a total overreaction to the few man who do enter. They are usually looking for attention, so why give it to them? Maybe we should just ignore them and play our best. This is just my two cents and you are welcome to your own thoughts on this.”

Kevin Martin took to Twitter to ask for thoughts:

Andy Bloch responded by stating: “1) The guy could be a nice guy, who has what he honestly believes is a good reason to play, unaware that it may be a “dick move.” 2) For sure people would criticize him even more if it was obvious that he was pretending to identify as a woman.”

While the debate continues online, Kenney did send out another tweet to bring it back to the true spirit of the event:

“Had a blast connecting with all of the women who played the WPT ladies event yesterday. I met so many Embodied Confidence members and had soooo many beautiful convos & moments. This is what it’s all about.”

Not the First Time

A man entering a woman’s tournament is not uncommon. In many states, it’s against the law to restrict a man from entering, such as in Nevada at the World Series of Poker (WSOP). However, in 2013, the WSOP worked some magic to make the buy-in for the Ladies Event $10,000 with women receiving a 90% discount, so just $1,000 for them. That was legal and meant any man who wants to enter would have to pony up the entire $10,000.

While a deterrent, it hasn’t stopped all men from entering the tournament. Six years ago, Tony Roberto jumped in after losing a prop bet. More recently, Minnesota’s Tom Hammers entered in an attempt to raise money for charity.

Even with noble intentions, men are almost always criticized for entering a ladies’ event, which is designed to offer women their own place to play where they might feel safer, have more fun, etc.

Hughes’s victory also wasn’t the first time a man has won a ladies’ tournament. Back in 2009, Abraham Korotki won the $300 Ladies Event at the Borgata Poker Open besting a field of 269 entries. Korotki won that tournament for $20,982 and didn’t make any friends when he denied a chop with Nicole Rowe, who had recently been diagnosed with breast cancer and was hoping to use the prize money toward medical care.

At the time, Borgata Director of Poker Marketing Ray Stefanelli issued the following statement:

“Borgata offers specialty tournaments, such as the ladies event, as it has been our experience that these events are favored by certain segments of our customers. In the spirit of this event, it was our hope that only women would seek to participate, which has been the case in the past.” Stefanelli continued, “However, given both legal and regulatory requirements, we must allow anyone who is over the age of 21 the opportunity to participate in all of our events. As such, when Mr. Korotki insisted upon gaining entry into the tournament against our wishes, we had no option but to allow him to participate.”

Despite most men steering clear of ladies’ events, there are seemingly those without shame as seen this past weekend down in Florida.

On a positive note, the WPT did host a social media content during the tournament and one lucky winner received a passport to the WPT Ladies Championship at Wynn Las Vegas in December!

Executive Editor U.S.

Executive Editor US, PokerNews Podcast co-host & 2013 WSOP Bracelet Winner.