Dropping into the action on Day 4 of the Main Event we can now settle in and watch all 14 episodes over seven Sundays in September and October thanks to ESPN before the November Niners reconvene to play the Main Event Final Table on Sunday October 30.
The action starts as 357 players remain from the 6,737 that entered and registered for the event.
Poker pro David Williams came close to scooping the MasterChef title, finishing as runner up, narrowly missing out on the $250,000 prize money and cookbook deal— Las Vegan DJ, Shaun O’Neale ended up winning the Series.
The series started airing back in June when there were 40 contestants battling it out to impress Gordon Ramsey & Christina Tosi.
Watch as Williams speaks to PokerNews during the WSOP Main Event break about why he decided to enter the cooking competition.
You can relive the final moments of MasterChef Season 7 below or watch them all again here.
Congrats David, what a huge achievement in getting to the final.
Vanessa Selbst and Daniel Negreanu are joining forces to bring you a night of high class entertainment—all in support of a good cause, The Urban Justice Center — a non for profit organization that provides much needed legal services to NYC’s most vulnerable residents.
Justice is Blinds is an evening of poker, food and cocktails with special celebrity guests including Hank Azaria, Eric Bogosian, Richard Kind and Tony Yazbeck.
Poker players will be proudly represented by Olivier Busquet, Stephen Chidwick, Andy Frankenberger, Jonathan Little, Melanie Weisner, Erik Seidel and others.
Prizes up for grabs during the night include:
*Winner’s choice of travel to anywhere in the Continental US, including hotel and airfare
If you are keen to make a difference and be part of the evening, tickets can be found here.
Here’s Selbst talking about why she decided to set up her own charity poker event, last year.
Poker Central Ambassador Brian Rast —who is also moonlighting as the 2016 WSOP Poker Players Champion, has called poker anti-christ Sheldon Adelson’s bluff.
Adelson who is one of the richest men in the world (with an estimated $30.7bn to his name) thanks to running The Las Vegas Sand Corporation (a portfolio of high profile casinos) has always insisted poker is not a game of skill and actively denounces the game when he can. Ironic considering how he has made his fortunes.
But it looks like Rast has finally had enough of his diatribe by suggesting a $2 million heads up wager. Because remember, if poker isn’t a game of skill, Adelson has a real chance of winning.
Does Adelson have the balls to take Rast up on his challenge?
Is CrownUpGuy (aka Fedor Holz) about to win another title as a recreational player? As he heads into the final table of the World Championship of Online Poker (WCOOP) $102,000 buy-in Super High Roller in third place, he just might.
That would be another $1.4 million and his second super high roller title as a recreational player.
Team PokerStars Pro Jason Mercier didn’t manage to go the distance and busted in 18th place—which you may have seen live as Mercier was streaming the whole thing on Twtich with Jason Somerville which you can watch in all its glory retrospectively here.
To round things out, here is Doug Polk's betting tips on the $102,000 Super High Roller event— it’s worth a watch to see how his picks panned out and to see Polk wearing a bad reg t-shirt when talking about Mercier.
If you’ve ever wanted to really know what the underground poker scene in New York City is really like, then listen to this podcast from the guys at 2+2.
Mid way through the episode, they welcome Ian an ex underground poker dealer that dishes the dirt on what it’s really like to work in an underground commercial poker game.
He gets asked whether characters like John Malkovich’s “Teddy KGB” in Rounders really do exist? Ian goes into details about what raids are really like, and what you can expect from the SWAT teams. And that’s just the half of it.
In the meantime all this talk of Rounders has got us in the mood to watch these Matt Damon clips again.
Watch: One of the Best Laydowns at PSPC, and Possibly of All Time
Thi Xoa Nguyen makes an incredible fold with a full house at the $25K buy-in PSPC event.
It was during day 2 of the history-in-making $25,000 buy-in PokerStars Players No Limit Hold’em Championship when a Vietnamese lady by the name of Thi Xua Nguyen stunned everybody by making this incredible laydown versus Athanasios Polychronopoulos, a Greek-American professional poker player with two WSOP bracelets.
220 players remained on the field when Nguyen raised from the button with Ad Qc only to get 3-bet to 37,000 by Polychronopoulos from the big blind who held a pair of Aces.
Nguyen made the call and the flop landed Ks 9s Qd. Both the players checked. The Qh on Turn improved Nguyen’s hand to trips. She bets 17,000 after Polychronopoulos checked for a second time. He made the call and the Ace of Spade gave both the players a full house.
Polychronopoulos once again checked on the river with his Aces full. Nguyen bets 50,000 leaving her 153,000 chips behind but finds herself in a check-raise-all-in situation.
This is where things go crazy!!!
After tanking for a while, Nguyen lays down Ad Qc face up—a freaking Full house!!!. Out of respect for her incredible fold, Polychronopoulos flips out Aces and was himself stunned.
Did she misread her hand? No!!! She knew what she was doing. Nguyen put him on Aces or Kings and she was bang on right!!!
The hand was caught during the live stream and obviously, the viewers glued to the stream went berserk including the commentators James Hartigan, Joe Stapleton, and Lex Veldhuis.
Nguyen eventually finished 153rd for $25,450 and Polychronopoulos also made cash but busted against Platinum Pass winner, Jussi Nevanlinna.
What is more crazier is that on day 1 Nguyen won an EPT Monte Carlo package during a random draw table giveaway.
Lex Veldhuis Ships Sunday Warm-Up Live on Twitch
Last night, Lex Veldhuis took down the PokerStars Sunday Warm-Up Live on Twitch for over $34,000.
#10YearChallenge: PokerStars
Let's have a look at how PokerStars has changed in 10 years.
Just How Much Did Platinum Pass Holders Win at the #PSPC?
PokerStars gave away 320 free entries to the $25,000 buy-in PokerStars Players No Limit Hold’em Championship (PSPC) over the course of the previous year via Platinum Passes that after accomodations and spending money were valued at $30,000.
Watch: Crucial Hands at the #PSPC Final Table
In case you missed out on the Final Table stream of the PokerStars Players No Limit Hold’em Championship (PSPC) event, here are clips of some of the most crucial hands at the Final Table of the event.
Bill Perkins Dishes Out The Wisdom At The PSPC
Joey Ingram sat down with Bill Perkins at the PokerStars Players No Limit Hold’em Championship (PSPC) for a podcast that would almost hit the three hour mark.
This is Why One PSPC Platinum Pass Winner Tanked Two Minutes with Aces Preflop
With life-changing money on the line, one Platinum Pass winner genuinely considers folding aces pre-flop!
MILLIONS Online Will Return in 2019
A historic moment was created on December 4 as partypoker pulled off an incredible feat by setting the record for the biggest tournament in the history of online poker.
Knitting Mom Scores $30,000 Poker Package
Jennifer Carter knitted her way to a $30,000 Platinum Pass from PokerStars, granting her entry into the PokerStars Players No Limit Hold’em Championship (PSPC) taking place in the Bahamas in January.
Watch & Learn: Phil Ivey Playing Short Deck Hold'em
Short Deck Hold’em, AKA 6+ Hold’em, is one of the hottest poker variants being played today, and courtesy of these highlights from the HKD 500k ($64k USD) buy-in Short Deck Event at the Triton Poker SHR Jeju 2018 series, you can learn from one of poker’s all-time masters, Phil Ivey.
OP-Poker Takes a Look at PokerStars VR
OP-Poker, a team of Twitch streamers and official ambassadors of PokerStars’ Power Up, was recently invited to have a look at PokerStars’ brand new upcoming Virtual Reality Product PokerStars VR held at EGX conference at Birmingham.
Watch: PokerStars Team Pro Liv Boeree's Recent TED Talk
PokerStars Team Pro Liv Boeree in her latest TED Talk gave a six-minute speech on how poker taught her three important lessons that can be used in life.
Rounders Turns 20
Continuing the celebration of Rounders turning twenty this year, The Ringer now brings us “Going All In: An Oral History of Rounders” —which doesn’t disappoint.
Molly Bloom To Speak At Unibet Open Bucharest
Unibet has announced that the Poker Princess, Molly Bloom, who’s “Hollywood high stakes poker game was the subject of the Oscar-nominated and critically acclaimed film Molly’s Game“ will be their special guest!
ICYMI: Phil Hellmuth's Grand Entrance at 2018 WSOP Main Event
Words escape me. Prepare yourself for the grand entrance from WSOP 14 time bracelet winner, Phil Hellmuth (as captured by PokerNews).
Do You Think This is Collusion?
This story still has the poker community talking. Real life poker couple Kristen Bicknell (who is signed by partypoker) and Alex Foxen made the final table of a tournament at The Venetian in Las Vegas last month. Their alleged soft-play and collusion has the poker community riled up with the likes of Doug Polk and Justin Bonomo still talking about it long after play finished up.
Doyle Brunson Will Retire From Poker After Last WSOP Outing This Summer
*Doyle “Texas Dolly” Brunson has announced his retirement from poker so that he can spend more time with his wife, who is in failing health.
Watch Chris Ferguson's Nothingburger Full Tilt Statement
It has only taken 7 years for Chris “Jesus” Ferguson to apologise for his part in the Full Tilt fiasco that followed Black Friday. He has finally commented via Vimeo. Check it out below.
Jaime & Matt Staples Win Prop Bet!
A year on from agreeing to a crazy prop bet with billionaire Bill Perkins, the Staples brothers have walked away with $150,000 and won their bet to get within 1 lb of each other.
#QUEENRULES At Unibet
Unibet have worked with creative agency FCB Inferno to release a custom deck of cards to accompany the launch of a new poker format where the Queen outranks the King.The project is intended to help draw attention to gender equality and unconscious gender bias in poker.
Daniel Negreanu: "Forget Books...Watch Twitch Streamers"
Daniel Negreanu has taken to Twitter to let his followers know that he thinks Twitch streamers are “more engaging and entertaining than a book”.