Warren Buffet’s right-hand man Charlie Munger has once more let his disdain for cryptocurrencies be known. Speaking in a Wall Street Journal op-ed this week, the 99-year-old called on the US authorities to ban cryptocurrencies, liking them to gambling contracts.
He believes that cryptocurrencies are a scam that targets regular investors. In the op-ed, Munger stated his belief that a cryptocurrency is not a security, a commodity, or a currency. He explained: “Instead, it’s a gambling contract with a nearly 100% edge for the house, entered into in a country where gambling contracts are traditionally regulated only by states that compete in laxity.”
called on Congress to copy China’s approach
The Berkshire Hathaway vice chairman called on Congress to copy China’s approach. The People’s Republic of China banned cryptocurrency mining and trading in 2021 because of concerns over possible risks. Despite the 99-year-old’s request, it does not look likely that the US government will take such drastic measures.
Munger has not held back his strong views on crypto in recent years. He has compared the crypto sector to an “open sewer” and stated that he believes anyone selling crypto is “either delusional or evil.”
The post Billionaire Charlie Munger Likens Cryptocurrencies to Gambling appeared first on VegasSlotsOnline News.
Sports Information Services, better known as SIS, a flagship provider of multi-channel 24/7 live betting services, such as horse racing and greyhound racing, based in Milton Keynes, UK, has signed a lucrative deal with innovative, renowned Johannesburg-based software company, Kiron Interactive, to create its latest, customized 24/7 channel, which will supply the whole of Africa with chosen mix of leading Numbers products from both companies.
The main purpose of the deal:
With this latest partnership, SIS will join forces with a leading global technology and software company, drawing on its experience and knowledge of numerous markets across the continent to create a channel custom-made for African regulated markets, adding value with non-traditional Numbers products to both firms’ innovative content.
The latest Number products will give players and operators in Africa wider access to SIS’s internationally recognized 49’s Original Live Draw and the newest high-margin 39’s draw which includes high-frequency, live draws every five minutes. Moreover, SIS’s Numbers products are widely popular across Africa, especially with punters who love the chance to win big from small bets!
Increased popularity of 24/7 live betting in Africa:
This deal reveals the growing need for SIS’s 24/7 live wagering services and helps the company solidify its presence in regulated markets in Africa.
However, it also represents the newest commercial agreement that SIS has signed in Africa to date.
Commenting on the partnership, Joe Andrews, Head of Sales for Africa at SIS, said: “Having the right partners in regions with a disparate makeup such as in Africa is essential to ensuring we continue growing our brand and products there.
“Kiron’s heritage across the continent provides us with a hugely valuable advantage in developing and launching this new channel, which will be a significant boost to our commercial ambitions in the region.
“Our content is renowned for driving incremental revenue as the high-frequency, 24/7 nature of our Numbers games is popular among African bettors.”
Gaining more popularity:
On the other hand, Kiron will enjoy the popularity that comes from combining its knowledge with the expertise of one of the globally recognized providers such as SIS, meaning that in the future we can expect the company to become more well-known around the world.
In this regard, Steven Spartinos, Co-CEO of Kiron Interactive added: “As we continue to expand the reach of Kiron and broaden the scope of the services we offer and the number of partners we work with, collaborating with a leading brand such as SIS is key.
“While we operate globally, Africa is where our roots lie, and as such, we offer unrivalled insight into the many diverse markets here. We’re delighted to work with SIS and look forward to working together to bring the combination of our respective revenue-boosting content to an even wider audience.”
The 2023 PokerStars Players No-Limit Hold’em Championship (PSPC) is in the books. While Aliaksandr Shylko wound up winning the prestigious tournament for $3,121,838, there were 175 players who walked away with a piece of the $24,843,000 prize pool, including some of the more than 400 Platinum Pass winners.
One of them was 50-year-old John Orlowski, who hopped on an airplane for the first time in his life to travel from frigid Michigan to the luxurious Baha Mar Resort in the Bahamas!
“I’ve never flown. I’ve never left Michigan, pretty much just Canada by driving,” he said. “First time being on a plane. I had to rush my passport. I was going to come by myself but my nephew decided he wanted to come, so he came with me.”
The part-time home game dealer won his Platinum Pass on PokerStars Michigan via a “Golden Ticket” giveaway that got him into a freeroll satellite, which he won.
“I played micro stakes, like $5 $10 tournaments, knockouts, and stuff,” Orlowski told PokerNews. “I played some like 20-cent slots on there. And then the ticket thing and all the little treasure things you build up from playing. I clicked on it and it said that I won a golden ticket. I was scheduled for the tournament, it was supposed to be on a Tuesday in November I think, but for some reason, they changed it to a Saturday. Not sure whether or not enough people registered. There were only 30 people in it when I won it.”
He added: “I got short-stacked in that tournament too. I didn’t think I was making a comeback.”
But he did, and the victory came at a good point in Orlowski’s life as in the preceding years he experience some health issues.
“I can’t do too many things because of my health. I’ve gotten along a lot better than now than I used to. Like last year, I might not have been able to do this, for sure two years ago I wouldn’t haven’t been able to physically.”
With his nephew in tow, Orlowski traveled to Nassau to compete against the world’s best where he wound up finishing in 76th place in a field of 1,014 runners, good for $53,400.
Check out our review of PokerStars MI here!
Battling Poker’s Best
Orlowski learned to play penny poker with his family when he was six years old, and it wasn’t until Chris Moneymaker won the 2003 World Series of Poker (after qualifying via PokerStars) that he was introduced to Texas hold’em. So, what did he do to prepare for the biggest poker tournament of his life?
“I watched a lot of stuff on YouTube about positions, stuff like that, raising in position, how they pick on your blinds,” he explained. “So, I used some of that during the regular part of the tournament, but then when it got towards the bubble, I couldn’t do much when they were doing it. I know they were picking on me, but I never had many hands.”
Orlowski survived Day 1, but it didn’t come easy.
“It was crazy, it was strenuous,” he admitted. “Much more strenuous later tournament. Poker pros really hammered to get the fish pretty much.”
Among the pros Orlowski had to battle were reigning WSOP Main Event champ Espen Jorstad, Jeremy Ausmus, Jared Jaffee, and Conor Beresford. While that may have been a bit intimidating, Orlowski held his own.
In fact, on Day 2 Orlowski won a flip to double through Beresford. It happened in Level 14 (2,000/5,000/5,000) Orlowski raised from early position to 11,000 and was met with a three-bet from Conor Beresford to 26,000 in the cutoff.
The rest of the table folded before Orlowski slid out a four-bet to 86,000. Beresford took some time before five-betting enough to put Orlowski at risk. The call was made and both hands were revealed.
John Orlowski: Conor Beresford:
Beresford was behind but picked up additional outs on the flop. The turn and river left Orlowski in front to stay alive and double his stack.
Conor Beresford
Severin Rasset Talks PokerStars in US: $1M GTD Weekly, Nevada Update & Live Event Return
Making the Money
From there, it was on to Day 3 with the money bubble looming.
“I started Day 3 with like 300k, which was over the average stack. I probably could have just walked away and made the money,” said Orlowski. “This tournament was way different than playing in a small home game. People call your raises here. They think about their decisions more, which makes sense given it is more money.”
On Day 3, Orlowski not only cruised into the money but instead of min-cashing for $35,100, he began to ladder up. With 77 players remaining, Orlowski eliminated another Platinum Pass winner in Level 20 (10,000/20,000/20,000) when Germany’s Bastian Hess was all in and at risk in a heads-up pot against Orlowski.
Bastian Hess: John Orlowski:
Hess couldn’t hit a jack despite calling for one on every street as the board ran out to mark his elimination in 77th place for $53,400. Unfortunately for Orlowski, he followed him out the door a short time later in 76th place for the same payout.
John Orlowski in the 2023 PSPC.
“It was a great time,” Orlowski told PokerNews the next day. “Everybody with PokerStars, from the top down, they helped us with a lot of things. If we had any questions, they answered them. We got taken care of very well.”
As for the money, that’s going to come in handy.
“The reason I started playing online as I used to live in the Detroit area so I could go anywhere and play the casinos there, but now I’ve moved up north,” Orlowski explained. “There are no places near me with games. So, you gotta drive and they got one charity room up there but it’s just not worth driving to … I gotta fix up my new place. I just bought a truck. Where I live it’s snowing and cold, so you’ve got to have a truck.”
It started with a Golden Ticket, turned into a Platinum Pass, and ended in the poker adventure of a lifetime… plus $50,000 in cold hard Michigan cash!
Jalen Hurts and Patrick Mahomes are early favorites to win Super Bowl LVII MVP at most sportsbooks.
based on both historical precedent and recent performances
While quarterbacks always get the plaudits, the current odds are overlooking several candidates that have very strong chances of winning the MVP. That’s based on both historical precedent and recent performances.
Let’s dive into which players are being overlooked in MVP markets, and why they have so much value.
Don’t ignore history
The most likely non-QB MVP, according to the sportsbooks, is Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce (+1100 at BetMGM). He already has three touchdowns in two games this postseason and set a postseason record for most catches in a game (14) in the divisional round against the Jacksonville Jaguars.
Two of the last four Super Bowl MVP winners have been pass catchers: Cooper Kupp and Julian Edelman. Kelce is also etching his name further into football lore, having recently moved into second place for all-time playoff receptions and touchdowns. It is not unreasonable to expect him to go for at least 100 yards and a touchdown in the big game, and the combination of that with his movement up the all-time charts could sway MVP results.
Philly running back Miles Sanders (+2800) is another player that is being criminally overlooked in Super Bowl MVP betting markets. He made the Pro Bowl for the first time in his career this season, meaning that his reputation around the league is growing, and ran for two touchdowns in an NFC Championship Game win over the San Francisco 49ers.
Hurts is averaging just 174 total yards in these playoffs
Sanders’ chances are also buoyed by his quarterback having a history of underperforming in postseason games. Hurts is averaging just 174 total yards in these playoffs and was even worse in college.
In five postseason games at the University of Alabama and the University of Oklahoma, Philly’s QB averaged a lowly 157.8 total yards and 50% completion rate to go with six touchdowns and an interception. Very pedestrian for a supposed odds-on favorite, though, to be fair, that was college and now he’s a Pro Bowl starter.
Great value
While Mahomes and Hurts are stealing the shine, two of the best defensive players in the game this year are readying to suit up.
Eagles pass rusher Haason Reddick (+3000) tied for the second-most sacks (16) and most forced fumbles (five) in the regular season and has 3.5 sacks and another forced fumble in two postseason games. He was also the player who knocked Niners QB Brock Purdy out of the game after getting to him with a sweet move past a blocker.
still dealing with the after effects of a high ankle sprain
Mahomes worked wonders in the AFC Championship Game, but is still dealing with the after-effects of a high ankle sprain and is not as mobile as he normally is. If Reddick picks up a couple of sacks and the Eagles win a low-scoring game, he could easily win MVP of the game.
On the other side, Chiefs defensive tackle Chris Jones (+5000) can also wreak havoc on a game. He was responsible for 15.5 sacks in the regular season and brought down Burrow twice in the AFC Championship en route to a 23-20 win.
The Eagles are a smashmouth football team that will run early and run often – this will give Jones a ton of opportunities for tackles for loss, and when Hurts tries to scramble from the pocket, sacks.
The Eagles’ wide receiver pairing of A.J. Brown (+1400) and DeVonta Smith (+2500) and Chiefs running back Isiah Pacheco (+5000) are also near the top of the list of non-QB favorites.
There’s no guarantee that Hurts (+110) or Mahomes (+125) won’t win the award – after all, quarterbacks have won Super Bowl MVP far more than any other position – but there are a lot of players with tremendous value that are being heavily overlooked.
The post Bet on These Players to Win Super Bowl LVII MVP over Jalen Hurts and Patrick Mahomes appeared first on VegasSlotsOnline News.
The final $25,000 High Roller at the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure has come to an end and Ognyan Dimov is the champion after he defeated Ren Lin in heads-up play. Dimov outlasted a returning field of 17 on Day 3 to take home the top prize of $990,655.
The field of 187 players generated a prize pool of $4,444,055 and the top 27 players all took home at least $43,800. Lin won $619,200 for second, while Anthony Hu claimed $442,300 for third place. Kayhan Mokri and Brock Wilson rounded out the top five with $340,200 and $264,700, respectively.
$25,000 PCA High Roller Final Table Results
Rank
Name
Country
Prize
1
Ognyan Dimov
Bulgaria
$990,655
2
Ren Lin
United States
$619,200
3
Anthony Hu
United States
$442,300
4
Kayhan Mokri
Norway
$340,200
5
Brock Wilson
United States
$261,700
6
Mustapha Kanit
Italy
$201,300
7
Dylan Smith
United States
$167,700
8
Elio Fox
United States
$139,700
9
Yuri Dzivielevski
Brazil
$116,400
The win is the largest in Dimov’s career and a long time coming since his 2015 victory in the EPT Main Event at Deauville in northwestern France.
“I’ve been waiting for many years for such a big score like this,” Dimov said in his post-win interview with PokerNews. “I’m very happy.”
Dimov enjoyed his time in The Bahamas—where he cashed four times and enjoyed a second place finish in the $10,000 Bounty Freezeout. The series has been an opportunity for poker regulars to bring their families and Dimov was no exception.
“I’m with my family here (wife Simoneta and son Boyan) and they can enjoy the place. I feel like I don’t have much time to do it, but still, it was worth it.”
Day 3 Action
The third and final day of the $25,000 PCA High Roller kicked off with 17 players and Ben Heath was the first to go when his nines ran into Dylan Smith’s queens. Heath’s elimination sent the tournament to the final two tables and Mario Navarro, Ryan Riess, Santiago Plante, Ethan “Rampage” Yau, Rodger Johnson, Joao Vieira, and Carlos Chadha were all eliminated before the final table. Yau is picking up where he left off after a breakout 2022 that finished up with a win in the $25,000 High Roller at the WPT World Championship in Las Vegas.
The final nine kicked off final table action three hours into Day 3 and Yuri Dzivielevski was the first one out in ninth when his king-ten lost to Elio Fox’s ace-jack. Dimov eliminated Fox in eighth shortly thereafter and Smith fell in seventh when Dimov’s tens caught up to his pocket kings.
The final six played for another hour and Mustapha Kanit had gone on a run in the early stages of the final table, but he fell back to the pack and was knocked out in sixth when Lin beat his pocket eights with a flopped pair of aces. Moments later, Brock Wilson bowed out in fifth place when he got it in with pocket fours but ran into Lin’s pocket aces.
Kayhan Mokri had an up and down day, but always seemed to find himself back at the chip average. However, his night ended in fourth place when his ace-queen couldn’t beat Dimov’s pocket tens.
Dimov’s turning point came during three-handed play when he called with mid-pair after Hu fired a big bluff on the river with a missed flush draw. The hand gave Dimov the chip lead and he soon sent Hu to the rail in third with pocket eights.
Lin entered heads-up play with a big disadvantage against Dimov’s towering chip stack and he wasn’t able to make up much ground. The big moment came when Lin got it all in on the flop with an open-ended straight draw, but Dimov dodged the outs to win with two pair.
That wraps up coverage of the $25,000 PCA High Roller from Baha Mar Resort in The Bahamas. Be sure to keep it with the PokerNews team for live updates from your favorite tournaments throughout the world in 2023.
Matt Hansen
Live Reporting Executive
Las Vegas-based PokerNews Live Reporting Executive, originally from Chicago, IL
Jacob Mitich had the easiest heads-up battle ever — literally — in a $400 buy-in tournament at the Potomac Winter Poker Open when his opponent, William Pinkerton, simply conceded and took second-place money. We’re not talking about chump change either as there was a $8,716 difference between first and second-place payouts.
Pinkerton didn’t even ask for an ICM chop, a chip chop, a Tomahawk Chop, or any kind of chop. He was down approximately 6-1 in chips and still had more than 10 big blinds. Clearly, he was an underdog at that point, but anyone who has followed tournament poker for more than, oh, five minutes, knows that you’re never out until there isn’t a single chip left in front of you. At the very least, he could’ve moved all in dark and rolled the figurative dice.
Jacob Mitch
Chip and a chair, as the late Poker Hall of Famer Jack “Treetop” Straus famously said. Just ask Phil Hellmuth, who rallied to win after being down approximately 96,000-4.000 in chips to Daniel Negreanu in the first of three High Stakes Duel matches between the two poker legends.
Needless to say, the poker world was a bit flabbergasted by what transpired, which is why PokerNews reached out to Mitch (our attempts to locate Pinkerton were unsuccessful) to get a few more details.
“Yeah, I definitely haven’t had that happen before. It was extremely odd,” Mitch explained. “As soon as the guy busted in third, the guy who I was heads-up with looked at my chips and said I’ll just take second. I said what do you mean you’ll just take second and his response was, ‘You have way too many chips, there is no way I can come back. I said okay, GG.”
Mitch, who offered to buy Pinkerton dinner, said that he believed his opponent to be a recreational player. In fact, Pinkerton had told him that he was attending flight school and just playing for fun.
“The dealer said, ‘Alright, we’re done here.’ And floor guy was a little confused but he was just like, ‘Alright, that’s it I guess,'” Mitch said before adding, “Poker is alive.”
Event #6:$400 Monster Triple Stack Final Table Results
Position
Name
Country
Prize
1
Jacob Mitich
United States
$22,298*
2
William Pinkerton
United States
$13,582*
3
Brett Butz
United States
$9,865
4
James Liddell
United States
$7,617
5
Minwoo Ahn
United States
$5,506
6
Jim Dike
United States
$4,310
7
Belram Rais
United States
$3,212
8
Alan Gendelman
United States
$2,524
9
Cory Sitzman
United States
$1,835
*Denotes heads-up surrender.
Strange End to a Poker Tournament
PokerNews was on-site live reporting the 275-player Potomac Winter Poker Open no-limit hold’em tournament, which paid $22,298 to its winner. Pinkerton took home $13,582, nearly $9,000 less than he’d have won had he rallied to defeat Mitich.
William Pinkerton
With three players left, Mitich was behind with against the of Brett Butz, who was all in and at risk preflop. Mitich would end up rivering a straight, sending Butz to the cashier’s cage in third place ($9,865).
That set up what was supposed to be heads-up play with the blinds at 150,000/300,000 and the chip leader up about 19,000,000 to 3,500,000.
According to our live reporter, it appeared to him that Pinkerton was ready to go and wasn’t too concerned with the potential pay jump. A $13k score is still a nice score, any way you slice it.
Still, it was one of the more odd endings to a poker tournament you’ll ever see.
This wasn’t an instance where a player lost to a runner-runner flush to bust with the tournament on the line, a common occurrence. Pinkerton simply decided to surrender instead of battling to beat the odds.
Poker World Reacts
As you probably expected, when news of the surrender spread on social media, the poker community was a bit flabbergasted and confused as to why anyone would just quit during heads-up play. Aubrey Williams (@TheAwwbrey) was baffled as to what she had just read from our live reporting update of the tournament conclusion.
Wtf did I just read, the guy got to heads up and just gave up didnt even get a deal aaaa what????… https://t.co/Z8RoQq0NtL
— Aubrey Williams (@TheAwwbrey)
“Maybe his opponent pulled some mind-clouding maneuver on him,” Zachary Elwood wrote.
“Maybe he had somewhere to be, or a flight to catch? there are only a few acceptable reasons why I could see someone giving up when HU,” @yaboiijimothy opined.
“Seeing several reasonable explanations on here but maybe they made a side deal?” @oldmaninvegas asked.
“Pro tip: don’t forfeit your chips in a tournament, especially in high ICM situations. Idk what how big of a chip deficit it was to start HU, but I’m sure he could have gotten at least $200 from the winner in a chop of sorts,” @goad advised.
PokerNews attempted to catch up with Pinkerton before he left the tournament room but were unable to locate him.
The RunGood Poker Series (RGPS) has once again been nominated for “Best Mid-Major” at the annual Global Poker Awards. Not only that, RGPS founder and president Tana Karn has also been nominated for “Industry Person of the Year.” Needless to say, it’s an exciting time for the tour, and that’ll be doubly true February 21-26 when they head to Jamul Casino in San Diego for the second stop in its “Checkpoint” season.
Headlining the stop is a $600 buy-in, $150K GTD Main Event that will be live reported by PokerNews. Day 1a of that tournament will take place at 6 p.m. PST on Friday, February 24. Meanwhile, there will be two flights on Saturday, February 25th with Day 1b at 11 a.m. PST and Day 1c at 6 p.m. PST. The surviving players from each flight will then return at Noon local time on Sunday, February 26 to play down to a winner.
The stop will kick off with a $200 buy-in Guest Bounty Ring Event at 7 p.m. PST on Tuesday, February 21. Special guests will be holding bounty envelopes that contain prizes between $1,000 CASH and RunGood Apparel Store Credit.
Other events on the schedule include a $250 buy-in DeepStack Ring Event, a Pot-Limit Omaha (PLO) Ring Event, and a $165 buy-in Flip and Go Ring Event, just to name a few.
All RGPS Ring Event or Main Event winners will earn a seat in the PokerGO Tour (PGT) Championship Million Dollar Freeroll at the end of the year inside PokerGO Studio.
In addition, PokerGO will be awarding a “Dream Seat” as an added prize for the winner of the 2023 RunGood Dream Seat Invitational, which will take place at California’s Thunder Valley Casino Resort in November.
Check out the RGPS Hub on PokerNews here!
RGPS Jamul San Diego Schedule
The Checkpoint Season seeks to raise funds for their non-profit partner, Operation Gratitude. Operation Gratitude is a 501(c)3 organization that provides opportunities for the American people to express their gratitude and show our Military and first responders that what they do matters. Since 2003, they have sent a total of 3.5 million Care Packages containing carefully chosen items meant to boost the morale and resilience of our service members and give them warm reminders of home.
Survivor Alum & Reality Star “Boston” Rob Mariano Wins 2022 RGPS Pro-AM in Vegas
A Look Back at the Last Visit
Nova Baghdasarian
The RGPS last visited Jamul Casino back in November, which is when local Nova Baghdasarian topped a 460-entry field to win the Main Event for $40,950 after a heads-up deal with WSOP bracelet winner Rich Alsup, who took $39,005 in prize money.
Others to win rings in side events that stop were David Berger (Event #2: $200 Guest Bounty for $3,075), Eric Rivkin (Event #4: $200 One-Day NLH for $16,480), Mary Sarver (Event #7: $200 Ladies Event for $2,720), and Adrian Cruz (Event #8: $250 Black Chip Bounty for $2,943).
Looking ahead, the RGPS will head to Horseshoe Tunica from February 28-March 5 along with a stop at Graton Casino in the Bay area from February 28-March. Then, from March 23-April 2, the tour will be at bestbet Jacksonville followed by the RGPS Downstream Casino Joplin from April 11-16.
All but one tournament has concluded on the final day of the 2023 PokerStars Caribbean Adventure and the penultimate High Roller trophy was awarded to American poker pro Isaac Haxton. Out of 46 entries in Event #66: $100,000 7-Handed High Roller, he took home the biggest slice of the $4,508,460 prize pool after defeating German wunderkind Fedor Holz in heads-up play.
It was the second victory for Haxton during this very successful stop at the Baha Mar Resort on The Bahamas. He came out on top of a three-way deal with Seth Davies and Adrian Mateos in the opening $100,000 PCA Super High Roller before banking almost half a million in the $25,000 8-Handed High Roller, falling short of a victory to Justin Bonomo and Rui Neves Ferreira.
The third time was a charm again, and there were no deal discussions at all this time when Haxton and Holz battled for the victory. Coming into the duel with a slight lead, Haxton always remained on top to score a payday of $1,555,360, while Holz had to settle for a consolation prize of $1,014,400.
“Only second place, but I’ll take it … it was kind of a sad heads-up,” Holz told his German rail after he came up just shy of the win. The German has limited his live poker appearances in the last few years but hasn’t forgotten any of the skills that gave him the label of “wunderkind”.
Haxton, in the meanwhile, was delighted with the outcome of the trip to The Bahamas. “Wow, what a week, can’t complain,” he said immediately after the final hand.
Among those to cash were also Aleksejs Ponakovs, Steve O’Dwyer, Nick Petrangelo and David Peters. The aforementioned Mateos was eliminated by Haxton on the money bubble in rather cruel fashion.
Final Result Event #66: $100,000 7-Handed High Roller
Place
Player
Country
Prize (in USD)
1
Isaac Haxton
United States
$1,555,360
2
Fedor Holz
Germany
$1,014,400
3
Aleksejs Ponakovs
Latvia
$698,800
4
Steve O’Dwyer
Ireland
$518,500
5
Nick Petrangelo
United States
$405,800
6
David Peters
United States
$315,600
Isaac Haxton, Luca Greenwood, Steve O’dwyer, Mike Watson, Justin Bonomo
The final day recommenced with 12 Day 1 survivors out of 21 entries returning to their seats, but the late registration and re-entry period were available for the first hour. During that time frame, the field size more than doubled in a frantic opening stage. Big names of the international poker scene arrived and departed without anything to show for but an expensive final day of the series.
Among the early casualties were the likes of Ben Heath, Mike Watson, Stephen Chidwick, and Timothy Adams. The $250,000 Super High Roller runner-up Jean-Noel Thorel was eliminated in a memorable three-way all-in in which David Yan pulled a rabbit out of the hat thanks to a runner-runner straight.
Several eliminations in quick succession brought the field down to the final three tables with Justin Bonomo and Kannapong Thanarattrakul among those to depart. Chris Brewer, Michael Addamo, Bryn Kenney, and Cary Katz found no trip saver thereafter either while the exit of Day 1 chip leader Daniel Dvoress set up the final two tables.
Short-handed play close to the money bubble brought with it the eliminations of Seth Davies and Kathy Lehne, which created the seven-handed final table on the money bubble.
Adrian Mateos
Haxton was responsible for bursting the bubble when he jammed ten-trey into the ace-king of Mateos and turned a wheel. It didn’t take long to lose three short stacks in quick succession after that, as Peters, Petrangelo and O’Dwyer were gone within half an hour.
Holz soared to the top of the leaderboard, and a pivotal hand then took place between Ponakovs and Haxton. The Latvian high-stakes crusher fired three barrels with the missed nut flush draw and was called by Haxton with just the middle pair.
“I have to look it up later but the computers probably won’t like it,” eventual champion Haxton remarked right after it happened.
Heads-up play between Holz and Haxton lasted for around an hour and small ball poker dictated the action right out of the gates. Eventually, Haxton established a commanding lead and ultimately prevailed with ten-eight suited versus king-nine suited to cap off the series in The Bahamas with a second trophy.
This concludes the PokerNews live coverage from the PokerStars flagship series in the Caribbean, but the first stop of the European Poker Tour in Paris is just around the corner.
The country made changes to its approach to corporate governance. That’s why it received the FATF vote for Malta, taking it out of the grey list after one whole year in it. The country fixed deficiencies in the battle against tax evasion and how beneficiary owners were listed. Consequently, Malta was praised for its progress in tackling money laundering.
The way in which Malta is now combating tax evasion by collecting information on ultimate beneficial ownership, and sharing this with regulators, are just some of the areas that have been improved over the last year. All in all, there has been excellent progress in addressing the strategic anti-money laundering and counter-terrorist financing issues.
The FATF Grey List – Malta Excluded in 2022
The FATF holds three yearly meetings, discussing whether the member countries are tackling financial crime effectively. The FATF states the jurisdictions with faulty measures through two documents issued at the end of the meetings. The worst designation is the blacklist, which includes countries with serious deficiencies. Therefore, the FATF encourages not to do business with these countries, which now include North Korea and Iran.
The other public document is called Improving Global Anti Money Laundering Compliance: On-Going Process, also known as the greylist. This list includes jurisdictions with weaknesses when fighting money laundering and terrorism financing. However, they have committed to fixing them. Countries on the FATF greylist include Myanmar, Pakistan, Haiti, Jamaica, South Sudan, Panama, and Syria, among others.
As we said, the FATF grey list excluded Malta in June 2022 due to the country’s improvements in the aforementioned areas. The fact that one year earlier, it was included in the list was a topic of controversy since Malta was the first EU Member State to be grey-listed. Also, the country is subject to harsh EU anti-money laundering and financing of terrorism laws and regulations.
FATF Vote for Malta
The FATF vote for Malta or any other country in the black and grey lists is secret. To be included on the grey list, the country was put under scrutiny by international assessors and bodies. The decision to remove Malta from the list came after the jurisdiction completed reforms and addressed the flaws identified.
Malta had to execute a lot of changes. These included improving the way in which the country combated tax evasion, collected information on ultimate beneficial owners, and how it shared information with authorities. Those issues had to be rectified to remove Malta from the grey list by the FATF.
When the FATF Malta vote was favourable, Prime Minister Robert Abela said that he would respect FATF confidentiality requirements and talk about the results only when the plenary meeting of the inter-governmental body was concluded. He affirmed that Malta would commit to the reforms. This way, the country will continue being a reliable financial jurisdiction.
It said that Malta’s reputation shouldn’t have been harmed by the Financial Action Task Force’s grey list. Mistaken government decisions are to blame, according to the political opposition in the country. The financial action task force for Malta was scrutinised among 37 jurisdictions, the European Commission, and the Gulf Cooperation Council.
Further Details
The FATF Malta issue came from instances where companies’ beneficial ownership information was not accurately recorded by gatekeepers. As a result, they were not appropriately filed at the Malta Business Registry. This was a subject of concern because difficulties in identifying beneficial ownership are indicators of possible terrorist financing and/or money laundering.
Companies are required to provide information regarding the beneficial ownership to the Malta Business Registry (MBR) in obedience to the Companies Act (Register of Beneficial Owners) Regulations. Failure to do this will mean being fined and suffering other possible penalties. The MBR has introduced a section on its website where users can access beneficial ownership information on active companies for a small fee.
Two institutions have entered into a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on cooperation and exchange of information. These are the Malta Business Registry (MBR) and the Malta Gambling Authority (MGA). The main aim of MoU is to ease communications between the two authorities and to support the effective sharing of information on matters of mutual interest.
In 2021, the MBR and the Financial Intelligence Analysis Unit (FIAU) conducted intensive inspections at gatekeepers that focused on the accuracy and validity of beneficial ownership information that was submitted to the MBR. The FIAU issued the results of such inspections in a publication, which were quite positive. The aforementioned aspects have contributed towards addressing the deficiencies that were identified.
As a result, the removal from the FATF grey list for Malta occurred. The FATF felt that money laundering cases were not prioritised. Thus, more law enforcement was needed to increase the number of convictions and tackle money laundering cases. A lot of changes were made to combat this issue, like top officials being replaced in the Malta Police Force and in the MGA.
The FIAU increased the number of inspections on people, banks, gaming companies, corporate service providers, notaries, and real estate agents. Throughout 2021, the FIAU penalised a multitude of individuals, with a total amount of 11 million euros. On the other hand, the FATF felt that Malta was not doing enough to tackle tax evasion cases.
During the course of 2021 and 2022, several Maltese authorities have worked towards improving the tax evasion tackling methodology. A clear national policy has been developed, one that is shared between the Malta Police Force, the FIAU, and the Office of the Commissioner for Revenue. The methodology covers how to tackle tax evasion in a coherent, effective, and proportionate way.
Maltese Benefits Compared to Other Countries
Have a look at the several advantages that Maltese companies have in comparison to other countries. After the FATF vote against Malta, making it appear on the grey list, these benefits have increased. We consider having a look at these advantages beneficial; that is why we have created the table below:
📈 Beneficial Corporate Rates
Having the lowest corporate taxes in the EU, Malta is remarkably beneficial for companies in this aspect.
💸 Political and Economic Stability
Malta enjoys a stable economy and a strong two-party political system.
👅 English Language
English is the official language of the country, along with Maltese. This is a huge international ease.
💪 Competitive Jurisdiction
The expense to set up a business in Malta is way lower than doing it in other renowned financial centres in Europe.
📉 Low Costs
The Malta Business Registry’s fees and the minimum share capital are remarkably competitive. Fees of service providers are also more attractive than other EU Financial Services centres.
🧾 Double Taxation
Since Malta holds double taxation treaties with over 70 countries, this benefit promotes investments and ensures that tax payments occur in just one country.
The appearance in the FATF grey list for Malta is no longer a problem for Maltese companies, who have the aforementioned benefits over other jurisdictions. These companies also include the best online casino sites in Malta, which offer plenty of varied games, interesting bonuses, cool designs, and many other perks.
Conclusion
In June 2022, the FATF vote for Malta was favourable, removing it from the grey list. Consequently, it concluded that the country had made significant progress in addressing the concerns that were identified one year earlier. Nevertheless, Malta should not relax and keep working on the measures that, for the moment, are being carried out effectively.
Frequently Asked Questions
This article about FATF Malta has now come to an end. However, we have created a frequently asked questions section for you to solve any doubts you may have. The answers to the questions will jump to the paragraph of your interest. We hope that you find them helpful, see them below:
1️⃣ What is the FATF Malta?
Many are the countries subject to the FATF decisions. The decision of the FATF for Malta in 2021 included it on the grey list. This happened due to the country’s issues when tackling tax evasion, money laundering, and the way the beneficiary owners were listed. One year later, the country has fixed those issues and is no longer on such a list.
2️⃣ What consequences had the FATF grey list for Malta?
The FATF holds three yearly meetings where it comes to conclusions to whether the member countries are tackling financial crime effectively. On the one hand, there’s the blacklist, where countries with serious deficiencies are included. On the other hand, the FATF grey list includes countries which should improve, as it happened with Malta in 2021.
3️⃣ What was the most recent FATF vote for Malta?
After being grey-listed in 2021, Malta executed numerous changes during one whole year. In 2022, the FATF vote for Malta was favourable. The changes that occurred were the way in which the country combated tax evasion, collected information on ultimate beneficial owners, and how it shared information with authorities.
4️⃣ What are the details regarding the Financial Action Task Force in Malta?
The difficulties in identifying beneficial ownership are indicators of possible money laundering and/or terrorist financing. Among the FATF Malta issues details, there’s the instances where companies’ beneficial ownership information was not accurately recorded. Consequently, they were not filed appropriately at the Malta Business Registry.
5️⃣ Which are the benefits for Maltese companies?
After the FATF vote against Malta, making it appear on the grey list, Maltese companies’ benefits have increased. Malta has the lowest corporate taxes in the EU, it enjoys a stable economy, and the official language is English along with Maltese, among other advantages. FurthermoreMBR fees and the minimum share capital are very competitive.
Three and a half years after the previous PokerStars Players No-Limit Hold’em Championship, a new Player’s Champion has been named. Belarus’ Aliaksandr Shylko took down the 2023 PokerStars Players No-Limit Hold’em Championship for $3,121,838 after reaching an ICM deal with Germany’s Max Menzel (2nd – $2,859,990) and Brazil’s Philipe Pizzari (3rd – $2,524,871) and navigating one of the most memorable final tables in recent memory.
The 26-year-old had the chip lead when the three agreed to play for a remaining $300,000 in prize money and the towering golden trophy before the exits of Pizzari and Menzel, who was the last Platinum Pass winner standing as he attempted to match Ramon Colillas‘ Platinum Pass spin-up in 2019.
All three players were guaranteed to take home their largest-ever live cashes, and the same was true for Nacho Barbero (4th – $1,551,300), Pedro Marques (5th – $1,251,500) and Niclas Thumm (6th – $1,001,200). To take home the seven-figure pieces of the $24,843,000 prize pool, these six players had to get through a field of 1,014 runners that included a mix of the world’s best and part-time hopefuls who won a Platinum Pass into the $25,000 buy-in event.
Shylko, a slender and cheerful Belarusian who has been playing poker professionally for six years, had just over $423,000 in Hendon Mob-reported cashes heading into the event, including a victory in the €2,000 Eureka High Roller in May 2022 for $80,853, just a fraction of his seven-figure score.
“To be honest, I don’t feel that [many] emotions because I wanted to win so much and I was too focused,” Shylko told PokerNews in a winner’s interview. “I was just trying to be as calm as possible … All the guys I think hate me because I’m asking them [about] their stacks all the time because I want to be precise. So yeah, it’s just a lot of work and I guess I will understand what is going on maybe in a week, maybe more.”
2023 PokerStars Players Championship Final Table Results
Place
Player
Country
Prize (USD)
1st
Aliaksandr Shylko
Belarus
$3,121,838*
2nd
Max Menzel
Germany
$2,859,990*
3rd
Philipe Pizzari
Brazil
$2,524,871*
4th
Nacho Barbero
Argentina
$1,551,300
5th
Pedro Marques
Portugal
$1,251,500
6th
Niclas Thumm
Germany
$1,001,200
7th
Thomas Eychenne
France
$801,000
8th
Petar Kalev
Bulgaria
$621,300
9th
Andrei Boghean
Romania
$449,700
*Denotes three-handed deal
Shylko’s Unlikely Road to Victory
As is often the case in poker tournaments, Shylko’s road to victory was an unlikely one.
Late on Day 4 with three tables remaining, Shylko found himself at risk of busting in a three-way all in where he and last woman standing Nadya Magnus held ace-king to dominate the ace-queen of the bigger-stacked Menzel, who managed to spike a queen on the flop to take the life out of the mild-mannered Shylko.
However, the dealer then peeled off a king on the turn and the eventual champion lived to see another day in what he called “the biggest moment in my life, in poker” up to the final table.
“It was really a really emotional one for me,” he admitted.
Aliaksandr Shylko
The poker pro kept his composure throughout the hand and the rest of the tournament, but the poker world got to see an emotional side of Shylko when he was at risk of going out in fifth place when his ace-ten was dominated by Pizzari’s Big Slick.
A king-high flop was no help to Shylko but left him hope with a gutshot to a Broadway straight. It didn’t come on the turn but the river gave Shylko one of his four outs and he erupted in cheer before running over to his rail, stopping only to apologize to his opponent for the understandable outbust.
Aliaksandr Shylko
Nacho Typical Final Table
The energy was electric as the six players returned for play on Day 5 with tens of thousands of eyes on the live-streamed final table. Most of those eyes were on Argentina’s Barbero, the most experienced player at the final table who had a commanding chip lead to put him on the trajectory to victory.
The trajectory slanted downward in just the first hour of play when Barbero made a massive misclick to raise-fold for over 20 big blinds. With blinds of 125,000/250,000/250,000, Shylko opened to 500,000 from under the gun with pocket jacks and Barbero, busy talking to the rail and having not noticed a raise in front of him, raised to 5,125,000 in the small blind with just nine-three. A four-bet jam from Shylko forced a fold from Barbero and he gave up the chip lead.
Nacho Barbero
“I made a mistake,” Barbero told PokerStars in an interview afterward about the raise that cost him five million in chips.
The mistake may very well have also cost Barbero millions of dollars as he later bowed out in fourth place to miss several payout jumps and the $4,053,200 first-place prize. The Argentinian WSOP bracelet winner admitted he was “tilted” after the hand but managed to re-take the chip lead before a few unfortunate runouts left him short before a top pair versus two pair cooler to mark his elimination.
It wasn’t the only big mistake at a final table that commentator Maria Ho called “crazier than I could have imagined.” Not long after Barbero’s televised misclick, Pizzari folded the winning hand at showdown as he apparently didn’t realize he had a pair to be ahead of the king-high of Thumm.
Despite the chaos around him, Shylko kept it together and played his A-game.
“I was just trying to be focused on the game,” he said. “I just rewatched the hands and the end of the day, try to go have a good rest and go to [the] ocean. And when I was on the table, I was trying to be as calm as possible and play one hand at a time, that’s it. That’s the best you can do.”
After the three-handed deal, Pizzari fell in third when he moved his short stack in with jack-seven and was looked up by the Menzel, who flopped top pair to secure the Brazilian’s exit. It was a short heads-up battle before Menzel made a straight on the river only to be against the full house of Shylko. A check-jam from Menzel sealed the deal and Shylko stared at the board as things became real.
Max Menzel & Aliaksandr Shylko
Shylko’s emotions shined through once again as Joe Stapleton announced his victory and he lifted the Player’s Champion trophy with some help from the 2019 champ. After posing with the trophy, he video-chatted his friends and family back home in Belarus and the Czech Republic so they could share the moment from afar.
Ramon Colillas – Aliaksandr Shylko
That wraps up PokerNews’ coverage of the specular return of the 2023 PokerStars Caribbean Adventure and PokerStars Players Championship. Be sure to check out the live reporting hub for coverage of other events here in The Bahamas.
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turn and 
river left Orlowski in front to stay alive and double his stack.
to mark his elimination in 77th place for $53,400. Unfortunately for Orlowski, he followed him out the door a short time later in 76th place for the same payout.
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