The 2026 Arizona State Poker Championship reached Day 1c at Talking Stick Resort with 1,767 entries recorded through the first two starting flights and 212 players already bagged for Monday’s Day 2. Gregory Brown held the biggest stack so far at 1,354,000 chips, and only five players had moved past the seven-figure mark.

As reported yesterday, Day 1a drew 816 entries and sent 98 players on to Day 2, with Brown already among the biggest stacks. The 20th annual championship is still playing out in Scottsdale, and Brandon Mitchell returned as the defending champion after winning last summer for $525,700 over 3,546 runners.

According to PokerNews, players began with 40,000 chips and 100/100 blinds with a 100 big blind ante, with 40-minute levels and a 15-minute break every three levels. Each flight allowed unlimited reentries until the start of Level 10 around 5 p.m. local time, when a late-registration stack was worth 27 big blinds. The event preview described the tournament as a $1,100 No-Limit Hold’em event with a $3 million guarantee, while the Day 1c structure page listed the buy-in at $1,130.

Day 1c was scheduled to deal cards at 10:15 a.m. local time. Play continued until roughly 12% of the field remained, at which point survivors bagged for the Monday restart already in the money. Day 1b had produced the earliest finish so far, ending with 5:40 left in Level 16 at 4,000/8,000 blinds.

The second and final starting flight of the Potomac Summer Poker Open $3,000 Main Event got underway at MGM National Harbor, with 52 runners already in the mix during Level 1. The field was still chasing the event’s $750,000 guarantee, and the players who survive Day 1b will join the Day 1a bag.

According to PokerNews, Day 1a drew 100 entries and sent 20 players through to Day 2, with David Van Noy leading the way on 655,000 and Justin Liberto close behind on 638,000. Ed Hill finished with 495,000, while Casey Hatmaker, Samuel Rosen, Ari Katz, Nicholas Verderamo, Faraz Jaka and Christian Harder also moved on.

The structure for the $3,000 buy-in event is straightforward. Players start with 60,000 chips, play 45-minute levels on Day 1, and get breaks after every three levels. Late registration stays open through the start of Level 13, with 15 levels scheduled for the starting flight and a one-hour dinner break after Level 9.

PokerNews had said Day 1b would be much bigger than Day 1a, with the poker room expected to be packed as the final entry window stayed open. The remaining stacks are set to combine for Day 2 at noon on Aug. 16, before the tournament moves on to the final table on Aug. 17 at 1 p.m.

partypoker.it is back in PokerStrategy’s partner lineup, and the new member deal gives fresh sign-ups a choice between €15 in SPINS tickets or a 100% deposit bonus up to €500. The offer needs a minimum €10 deposit, and the €15 SPINS tickets expire after 7 days if they are unused. The usual time limits, exclusions and terms and conditions apply.

PokerStrategy also said members can get up to 25% cashback, and on top of weekly rakeback they can earn 3 StrategyPoints for every $1 of rake they generate. Players who signed up to partypoker via PokerStrategy.com after 2016 and did not receive free starting capital remain eligible for StrategyPoints and future exclusive promotions.

It will host exclusive member promotions later this month, plus a special guest Twitch webinar with a well-known member of Team partypoker soon. To celebrate the partnership, it also launched a $2,000 tournament-ticket raffle. Tracked partypoker.it players who earned 1 StrategyPoint between April 20 and April 30 were eligible, but they had to post their partypoker.it username in the thread by April 30 at 23:59 CET.

If a player has an old inactive or Play Money account, linking it to the partnership is handled case by case and may not always be possible.

partypoker.cz is back in PokerStrategy’s partner lineup, giving members a fresh set of site perks. New players who sign up through PokerStrategy can start with a 200 Kč cash bonus on their first deposit, and the partnership also includes weekly cashback and StrategyPoints.

According to PokerStrategy, the bonus is for new players only, requires a minimum 200 Kč deposit, and also needs account verification. For play at partypoker.cz, members can earn 3 StrategyPoints for every $1 of rake they generate.

The site also said the return is not only for brand-new customers. Members who signed up to partypoker through PokerStrategy.com after 2016 and never received free starting capital can still collect StrategyPoints and qualify for future exclusive promotions. Players with old inactive or Play Money accounts can send in a ticket to see whether the account and username can be linked, but that is handled case by case and may not always be possible.

It framed partypoker as a former partner, noting that many members may already have accounts there. It highlighted PKOs, Short Deck and Fast Forward cash games among the features on partypoker.cz, and said more member promotions will roll out later this month. It also plans to host a special guest Twitch webinar soon with a well-known Team partypoker member.

Danny Tang won the APT Incheon 9-Game High Roller, taking the Gold 2D Lion Silhouette Trophy and $19,729. By beating Takuro Yamashiki heads-up, he became the first player to collect all three 2D Lion Silhouette trophies.

Poker.org described Tang as a Hong Kong pro and Triton regular with more than $44 million in live tournament earnings. It also said the win gave him five APT titles overall, including the Silver and Black Lion Silhouette trophies he captured at APT Jeju last year.

The result came during APT Incheon 2026, which runs from August 7 to 16 at Paradise City casino resort in Incheon, South Korea, in partnership with Paradise Group. The festival packs in 108 events, including satellites, and has more than KRW 4 billion, about USD 2.7 million, in prize pool guarantees.

The Asian Poker Tour listed the 9-Game tournament as Event #84 on Friday, August 14. It carried a KRW 3 million, about USD 2,000, buy-in, a 50,000-chip starting stack, and 30-minute levels. The format mixes poker variants and changes games every orbit.

The event is still a young part of the APT schedule. APT said the High Roller – 9-Game debuted at APT Incheon 2025 and had been played four times over the previous 12 months. Its inaugural winner was Japan’s Nagino Makoto, who beat a 24-entry field for a KRW 62.2 million, about USD 45,000, prize pool and a KRW 26.1 million, about USD 18,900 top prize. APT says the event averages 23 entries, with an average prize pool above USD 40,000 and an average top prize above USD 14,900.

Tang’s next stated target is the set of Mega Lion trophies for the APT Main Event, APT High Roller and APT Super High Roller. No player has won two of those yet.

Preston McEwen won Event #9: $1,100 No-Limit Hold’em at WSOP Circuit Cherokee, banking $130,433 after outlasting a 747-entry field over two starting flights. The event generated a $728,325 prizepool, and the victory gave him his 12th career WSOP Circuit ring plus a ticket to the December finale in the Bahamas.

SpadePoker’s report said the win was his third Circuit ring of 2026. It also put him in rare company as only the ninth player in history to reach 12 or more WSOP Circuit rings, which leaves him tied for sixth overall. Nicholas Nasuti finished second for $85,460, Yi Li took third for $59,024.

The result also fits a career that has been built on the road. A Card Player profile said McEwen moved from touring drummer to full-time poker player in 2018, and said he spends about half the year traveling the southeastern poker circuit and the other half at home with his wife and two daughters. WPT.com described him spending a lot of time traveling the country playing RunGood Poker Series and World Series of Poker Circuit stops. McEwen told PokerNews that the score was a relief for him and his family after what he called one of the lowest stretches of his career.

PokerNews had already chronicled a Cherokee heater in 2023, when McEwen made seven final tables there since February and earned $351,111 from those runs. That stretch included a WSOP Circuit Tunica Main Event win for $183,563, a Cherokee runner-up finish for $29,210, another Cherokee ring for $71,525, and a seventh-place finish in the Monster Stack for $19,002.

Nathan Gamble picked up another Omaha eight-or-better title at the Potomac Summer Poker Open, winning the $400 PLO 8 event for $8,863. He beat Justin Liberto heads-up to take the trophy.

As Card Player reported, Gamble had already won the WSOP $10,000 Pot-Limit Omaha Hi-Lo 8 or Better Championship for $767,395. That was his third WSOP bracelet, and all three of his bracelets have come in PLO8.

The official WSOP results page listed that championship at 390 entries. Card Player said it built a $3.627 million prize pool, with the top 59 finishers sharing the money.

PokerNews said the Potomac result was part of Gamble’s continuing PLO8 run and noted that he had dropped back down to the $400 buy-in level after the bigger WSOP score. The site also described him as a mixed-game specialist and said he was extending that dominance beyond the World Series of Poker.

At Potomac, the smaller buy-in did not slow him down. Gamble finished the event with the title and the $8,863 first prize, while Liberto was left as the runner-up.

Matt Mullins reached the final table of the $400 PLO 8 event at the Potomac Summer Poker Open and was in position to chase a third straight mixed-game win in the series. The event had already hit the money bubble, paid 10 spots, and locked every player at the final table for at least $886. The first-place prize was set at $8,863.

Mullins chopped the $400 PLO Mix for $5,990 apiece. He also won the $400 8-Game Mix outright for $8,201. That 8-Game event drew 72 runners and generated a $23,430 prize pool. Seun Ohulnole finished second for $4,686, followed by Robert Paul in third for $2,870, Andrew Pham in fourth for $2,050, and Matthew Kelley in fifth for $1,582.

PokerNews described Mullins as having shown mixed-game prowess this series and having “earned him back-to-back victories.” That left him with a chance at extending the streak in the PLO 8 final table.

MGM Resorts’ newsroom said the Potomac Summer Poker Open returned to MGM National Harbor with 23 trophy events in partnership with BetMGM Poker. PokerNews added that the festival’s mixed-game slate included TORSE, Mixed PLO, 8-Game Mix, PLO 8 and Big O, with the $3,000 Main Event still to crown its champion on Aug. 17.

Kyle Lin of North Carolina won the $1,100 no-limit hold’em event at the 2026 Potomac Summer Poker Open for $31,559 after a heads-up deal with Nathan Bomey. Bomey took $26,540 in the agreement, while Lin kept the trophy that came with the title.

The event carried a $100,000 guarantee. After the win, Lin told PokerNews he was ready to play the $3,000 Main Event. His live earnings were listed at $421,582 at the time of the report.

That result came after an earlier update showed nine players left in the field and all of them already bagging chips for the next day. Andrew Huene had the lead at that stage with 2,265,000, and he was the only player above a million. The remaining players were set to return on Friday at 2 p.m. local time, with each guaranteed at least $3,558 and the winner expected to earn $35,548.

Casey Hatmaker also surfaced in the same event. He entered Day 1a after falling in ninth place for $3,558, and he had already qualified through an online $500 satellite on BetMGM Poker.

Tim Pool's run in the Potomac Summer Poker Open $3,000 Main Event ended on Day 1a after he arrived with only ten minutes left in late registration. He picked up queens, but the run ended when a king came on the river.

According to PokerNews, Pool had not even planned to play the flight. As covered in the earlier report on the event's launch, Day 1a opened at MGM National Harbor with 60,000-chip stacks, 45-minute levels, and 15 levels scheduled for the day.

One account of the hand said Pool flopped two pair against Nicholas Verderamo's kings before Verderamo spiked a king on the river to make a set and send him out. Another description of the same bustout said Pool four-bet jammed, got called by pocket kings, and was knocked out by the river king. Either way, the result was the same: his Main Event run was over.

The opening flight drew 100 entries and finished with 20 players remaining. David Van Noy ended Day 1a in the chip lead with 655,000, while Justin Liberto was right behind on 638,000.

After the bustout, Pool moved about 100 feet to a $2/$5 cash game table and sat down chasing his losses. PokerNews had spoken with him after the elimination and planned to follow up the next day with an interview about his poker background.

David Van Noy finished Day 1a of the Potomac Summer Poker Open $3,000 Main Event with 655,000 chips and took the lead over Justin Liberto, who bagged 638,000. Twenty players survived the opening flight from a field of 100 entries.

As covered yesterday, the event opened at MGM National Harbor with two starting flights and a 60,000-chip starting stack. According to PokerNews, Van Noy’s surge came after he faced Nicholas Verderamo in a big pot, called off his last 130,000 with aces and tens, won the hand on the river, and then kept building his stack through the rest of the night.

The top end of the leaderboard was crowded behind him. Ed Hill bagged 495,000, Casey Hatmaker finished with 351,000 after spiking a river set of jacks late in the last level, and Yebetse Wedeneh ended with 343,000. James Morris moved on with 340,000 while multi-tabling a blackjack tournament downstairs, and Samuel Rosen and Ari Katz each finished with 325,000.

A few other familiar names also made it through. Faraz Jaka bagged 186,000, Nicholas Verderamo finished on 247,000, and Christian Harder advanced with 151,000. Last year’s version of the $3,000 Main Event drew 377 players and was won by Robert Anderson for $211,915, while this year’s Day 1b starts tomorrow at 11 a.m., with Day 2 on Aug. 16 at noon and the final table set for Aug. 17 at 1 p.m.

The 2026 Potomac Summer Poker Open $3,000 Main Event opened at MGM National Harbor with Day 1a starting at 11 a.m. local time. The event carries a $750,000 guaranteed prize pool, and players begin with 60,000 chips.

Day 1 uses 45-minute levels, with a break after every three levels and a one-hour dinner break after Level 9. According to PokerNews, the opening day is set for 15 levels, with late registration open until the start of Level 13. Day 1b follows tomorrow at 11 a.m., and all surviving players return for Day 2 on Aug. 16 at noon. From there, levels extend to 60 minutes and the field plays down to a final table.

As reported in July, the series returned to MGM National Harbor from Aug. 5-17 with 23 trophy events and more than $1.5 million in guaranteed prize pools. The MGM schedule also lists the Main Event flights on Aug. 14 and 15, Day 2 on Aug. 16, and the final-table day on Aug. 17 at 1 p.m. The press release described the festival as a bi-annual series with mixed games and bounty events, run in collaboration with BetMGM Poker.

PokerNews called the Main Event the crown jewel of the series and said it would provide wall-to-wall live coverage through the end of the event. That coverage window runs through the final table, matching the two starting flights and the three-day path to a champion.

Last year’s $3,000 Main Event drew 377 entries and produced a $1,017,900 prize pool. Robert Anderson won it by defeating Lucas Vergara heads-up for $211,915.

Raoul Kanme won the 2026 Onyx Super High Roller Series $25,000 no-limit hold’em Main Event, cashing for $1.25 million after outlasting a 255-entry field at the Merit Royal Diamond Hotel Casino & Spa in North Cyprus. The result pushed the prize pool to $6,120,000, more than $1.1 million above the event’s $5 million guarantee.

As reported in our Aug. 13 update, Kanme took the chip lead into the final table after the field was trimmed to nine. He kept that momentum through the last day and closed out the event after more than six levels of play.

The first final-table casualty was Fahredin Mustafov, who finished ninth for $143,000 when his 10-3 suited ran into Jordan Woodall’s pocket kings. Anze Smajd went out eighth for $171,000 after his kings lost to Kanme’s queens, and Italo Modena finished seventh for $200,000 when his kings ran into Matthias Lipp’s aces.

Daniel Rezaei placed sixth for $250,000 and 476 Card Player Player of the Year points, and Manuel Fritz took fifth for $320,000. Woodall then locked up $600,000 in third place, a career-high score, before Kanme took more than a 7-to-1 chip lead into heads-up play against Lipp.

The deciding hand came when Lipp shoved 3,200,000 from the small blind with K♥3♥ and Kanme called with A♣3♦. The board ran out 8♥7♣5♦J♥4♠, ending the event and sending Lipp home with $800,000 for second.

Kanme said the win brought him relief after a stressful few months, and he also dedicated the trophy to a cousin who had been diagnosed with cancer three or four months ago. The victory gave him 1,428 POY points, lifted him to 1,588 for the season, and moved him inside the top 250 in the 2026 CoinPoker POY standings. His career earnings climbed to nearly $2.4 million, up from a previous best score of $157,368 from a runner-up finish in a €3,000 event at last year’s Master Classics of Poker. After months of travel, he said he plans to take some time away from the felt and move into vacation mode.

The second starting flight of the 2026 Arizona State Poker Championship got underway at 10:15 a.m. on Aug. 14 at Talking Stick Resort in Scottsdale. The event is still moving through its opening slate on the way to Monday’s Day 2.

As reported yesterday, Day 1a drew 816 entries, added $816,000 to the prize pool and sent 98 players on to Day 2. Gregory Brown, Nicholas Julia and Vinny Tran all bagged seven-figure stacks, with Brown leading the way at 1,354,000, Julia on 1,138,000 and Tran on 1,050,000.

Brown’s stack came after what PokerNews described as a heater, and the recap also noted that he is trying to keep a strong summer going after a second-place finish in a WPT Venetian event for $270,000 and a 62nd-place finish in the WSOP Main Event for $150,000. Julia was identified as a WSOP bracelet winner.

The opening flights are being played with 40,000 chips, blinds of 100/100 and a 100 big blind ante. Levels are 40 minutes long, players get a 15-minute break every three levels, and each flight runs until roughly 12% of the field remains so survivors can bag for Monday’s restart after locking up the minimum cash.

Unlimited reentry is available until the start of Level 10, around 5 p.m. local time, after which a late-registration stack is worth 20 big blinds. The live update on the second flight listed the buy-in as $1,130, while earlier PokerNews coverage and a July 31 F5 Poker preview had put it at $1,100.

That preview also said additional opening flights run once per day through the rest of the week, with Day 2 set for Aug. 17, Day 3 for Aug. 18 and the final table on Aug. 19.

PokerStars’ $5 Spin & Go has produced a third $1.2 million prize pool in less than a month, with the latest hit coming on Aug. 12. The three-player table played for the full top-end jackpot, and the winner was Gwaugh1 from the United Kingdom, with Kepes897 of Hungary taking $120,000 for second and g3t real finishing third for $80,000.

As covered in July, the run began when Denmark’s dillerfar19 turned a $5 entry into $1 million on July 17, with Brazil’s malakaio300 taking $120,000 and Belarus’s KuCoH collecting $80,000.

Nine days later, Argentina’s Anatsuk334 hit the same $1.2 million prize pool again in another $5 Spin & Go. Hipther reported that the second-place finisher was Switzerland’s StephanShakes for $120,000 and that Ukraine’s GrozovaIra earned $80,000 for third.

Pokerfuse said the Aug. 12 result meant it was the third time in less than a month that PokerStars had awarded a $1.2 million Spin & Go jackpot, and that all three hits in the streak came in the $5 game. It also noted that PokerStars had logged just two $1.2 million Spin & Go jackpots in all of 2024 and only one in 2025, so the recent run matched that combined total in under a month.

The rarity is extreme even by Spin & Go standards. Pokerfuse said the 240,000x multiplier carried one-in-10-million odds, and that under a simple assumption of 100,000 $5 games a day, the 27 days from July 17 through Aug. 12 would add up to 2.7 million games, or only 0.27 expected jackpots. On that math, the chance of seeing three or more would be about 0.27%.

The $5 game normally pays far less. PokerNews had previously noted that more than 87% of $5 Spin & Go entries land in 2x or 3x prize pools, and Pokerfuse said the regular top prize at $5 is $50,000, compared with $20,000 at $2 and $100,000 at $10.

Pokerfuse also reported that PokerStars has now removed the 240,000x jackpot from the $5 Spin & Go, restoring the maximum prize there to $50,000. Million-dollar jackpots remain available at $100 buy-ins and higher, and it is unclear whether the promotional change simply ended on its own or whether the recent streak played any role in the timing.

Joe McKeehen won the 2026 Seminole Hard Rock Poker Open Championship, the $5,300 flagship event in Hollywood, Florida, for $462,600 and the SHRPO Guitar Tower trophy after beating David Greufe heads-up.

As reported in the earlier update, McKeehen had already doubled through Artem Metalidi in the Championship. The Championship ran August 7-11 as the 43rd event of the series, drew 673 entries, and built a $3,262,704 prize pool with 85 players paid.

The final table began with Greufe leading on 130 big blinds, Loni Hui on 108, and McKeehen third with 59. Hui grabbed early momentum by taking three of the first four knockouts, while McKeehen said the table draw and chip distribution were awkward and that he did very little until five-handed, when he caught a bluff for a big pot.

Heads-up turned into a long, swingy match. The official recap said the duel lasted more than three hours and saw McKeehen build an early 20-to-1 lead, only for Greufe to surge back and even leave McKeehen at nine big blinds before the comeback flipped again. The pair agreed to an ICM chop first, then kept playing for an extra $40,000 and the trophy, and McKeehen finished it with a pair of queens.

Loni Hui finished third for $250,000, Eddie Pak took fourth for $188,000, and Frankie Rivera was fifth for $142,000. The results list also showed Jose Nadal seventh for $83,000, Robert-Andrei Burlacu eighth for $65,000, and Darren Rabinowitz ninth for $51,000. One local report put McKeehen’s biggest comeback at 11-1 down, but the official recap framed it as a sequence of repeated chip swings. The win pushed his live tournament earnings past $22 million.

Andrew Chang won the Potomac Summer Poker Open $500 Monumental Stack at MGM National Harbor after the final five agreed to a chop and then settled the trophy with a high-card draw. Even as the shortest stack in the deal, Chang ended up posing for the winner’s photo after drawing an ace to clinch the title.

PokerNews reported that Jack Arnal, who held the chip lead when the deal was made, took the biggest share at $22,882. Chang’s locked-in payout was $16,600, which was still enough to leave him with his first career trophy.

The tournament drew 403 entries and built a $167,245 prize pool. As covered in the Aug. 13 report, Shahab Shirazi led the event into Day 2 with 2.2 million chips, the only stack above the 2 million mark, while 52 players returned already in the money.

Day 2 restarted at 11 a.m. local time with about 25 minutes left in Level 23, at blinds of 20,000/40,000 with a 40,000 big blind ante. Levels were stretched to 40 minutes, and the field thinned quickly as Dennis Backhaus went out in 37th, Matt Mullins in 22nd, Kash Corpening in 17th, and Shirazi in 18th.

Chang also picked up queens to bust Linda Swears in seventh, and the final five first paused the clock after Valentin Lita made two queens to send Timothy Conrow out in sixth. The group initially could not agree on a deal, played another 20 minutes, and then revisited the numbers before a 45-minute dinner break, reaching the chop on the second attempt.

Chang had 10 final tables on his resume before this win, including a runner-up finish in Las Vegas in 2024 and a third-place finish in the $3,500 High Roller at the 2023 Potomac Poker Open at MGM National Harbor. He said he had been fortunate to get there and felt lucky to come away with the trophy after the high-card draw.

World Poker Tour is heading back to The Venetian Resort Las Vegas this fall with another Championship event carrying a $2 million guarantee.

A separate Season 24 press release says WPT will kick off the new year with the launch of Season 24. It also says the tour has additional stops planned in Hollywood, Florida, for the WPT Seminole Hard Rock Lucky Hearts Poker Open Championship, and in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, for the WPT Prime Cambodia Championship and WPT Cambodia Championship.

As covered in July, the last WPT Venetian Las Vegas Championship produced Nico Betbese as champion. He topped a 1,153-player field, agreed to a heads-up deal with Francis Cruz, and collected $706,960, along with a $10,400 seat into the WPT World Championship at Wynn Las Vegas this December.

PokerNews also reported that Betbese’s win earned him a place on the Mike Sexton WPT Champions Cup, and that the final table was broadcast live from The Venetian. After the victory, WPT CEO Adam Pliska called it an exceptional performance and said it was always an honor to celebrate those moments with The Venetian Resort Las Vegas.

Raoul Kanme will take the chip lead into the final table of the Onyx High Roller Series $25,500 Main Event after a fast-moving penultimate day in Northern Cyprus. The tournament is down to nine players from a 255-entry field, with $6.12 million in the prize pool and $1.25 million reserved for the winner.

As covered earlier in the series, Kanme had already bagged 1,325,000 chips from Day 1b before his push on Day 2, according to PokerNews. The penultimate day started with 38 players and lasted just about four hours before the field was whittled down to the final nine.

The pace was relentless from the start. By the first break, roughly 90 minutes in, only 20 players were left, and several familiar names had already exited, including David Coleman, Matthew Wantman, Sondre Stormyr, Nicholas Seward and Mikalai Vaskaboinikau.

Aleksejs Ponakovs, Boris Kolev, Sergio Aido, Eelis Parssinen and Weiran Pu all fell in a short burst that left the field two eliminations short of the official final table, before Danilo Velasevic went out in 11th.

The bubble then became a Ravi Sheth story. Sheth doubled through Anze Smajd once, survived an hour of hand-for-hand play, and then ran into Kanme again. Kanme first won a preflop five-bet pot without seeing a board, taking a little over a million chips, and then sealed the final-table lineup by busting Sheth just short of the nine-handed stage.

In the 10th-place hand, Italo Modena opened, Sheth three-bet, and Kanme cold four-bet from the small blind. Sheth shoved with A-K, Kanme called with pocket jacks, and the board ran out safely for Kanme to send Sheth out with $120,000.

Kanme was one of only two players to finish the day with more than 100 big blinds. Daniel Rezaei ended on 10,210,000 chips, close enough to keep the pressure on, while Manuel Fritz bagged 6,880,000 for third place on the leaderboard.

Jordan Woodall, who had started the day as chip leader, finished with 4,785,000 and landed in the middle of the pack for the final day. Italo Modena bagged 2,750,000, which was good for 28 big blinds, and Fahredin Mustafov came back with just 2.5 big blinds after winning this same event 12 months earlier.

The nine finalists are all guaranteed $143,000, with eight eliminations left before someone turns that into the $1.25 million top prize. The final day is set for 1 p.m. local time on Aug. 14.

Alex Foxen has crossed $60 million in recorded live tournament earnings, and Card Player’s Aug. 13 roundup said that makes him the ninth player ever to clear the mark. The same roundup said a strong summer start pushed him over the line.

The biggest boost came from the 2026 WSOP, where Foxen won a $10,000 super turbo bounty event for $594,246 and his fourth career gold bracelet. A few days earlier, he had taken sixth in a $100,000 buy-in event for $522,347. Card Player said the bracelet win was the largest of his 13 cashes since the beginning of June, and that he had added more than $2 million to his career earnings in that stretch.

The run also put him atop the Player of the Year race, with five titles and 12 final-table finishes in 2026. He was also inside the top five in the 2026 PokerGO Tour points race with 14 qualified cashes. Foxen has said he views success through consistency and longevity, and described his goal as being the best tournament player ever.

An earlier June 15 Card Player report had already put Foxen at $60,565,402 in career cashes after that WSOP victory. Before that, the Review-Journal had listed him at more than $58.8 million and 10th on the Hendon Mob all-time money list. That report also said he was one of the big stacks on Day 3 of the WSOP Main Event, with 830,000 chips at the dinner break and a place inside the top 50.

Garrett Adelstein said he is preparing a documentary-style YouTube video that will break down the full Jack-Four story. He said he has put an “outrageous amount of time” into laying out the details and evidence around what he called the most controversial hand in poker history.

Adelstein also said nearly all of the material he plans to present has never been public. In his telling, the controversy still leaves open a basic question: who was in the wrong and who was in the right.

The J4 hand came from the Sept. 29, 2022 Hustler Casino Live stream. Robbi Jade Lew won a $269,000 pot after calling Adelstein’s semi-bluff for her remaining stack of more than $100,000.

Adelstein accused Lew of cheating, while the poker world split over whether she had cheated or simply gotten lucky. In the aftermath, he said he had no idea “an avalanche was coming” after the livestream accusations, quickly stacked about $2 million in chips, and left the casino without stopping at the cashier’s cage.

The fallout also pulled in Hustler Casino Live ownership, Jacob “Rip” Chavez, and Nick Vertucci. Adelstein said he was told the show was ready to go public with Ryan Feldman’s account of his request for money back, and he said Vertucci later suggested around 4 a.m. that he should return the money or things could get worse.

A separate investigation by High Stakes Poker Productions found no evidence of cheating in the hand or other alleged spots, according to poker.org. The review still said cheating with the Sept. 29 setup was possible, and Vertucci said the team found no evidence of wrongdoing but could not say with 100% certainty that none occurred.

That inquiry also looked at security around the stream. It covered a technical audit and dozens of hours of hands from multiple streams, and it concluded that the Deckmate shuffling machine was secure, the RFID system was safe, and there was no evidence that radio communication to the on-floor camera operator was an issue in the Lew-Adelstein hand.

PokerNews reported in March that Adelstein is also publishing a memoir, Beneath the Cards, on Sept. 1. He said that book will cover the Jack-Four hand, the controversy that followed, and the lasting impact it had on his life and the game.

The documentary-style YouTube video is slated for late 2026.

Lex Veldhuis is a free agent after 17 years under the PokerStars banner, and he is not rushing into the next deal. He has said he is comfortable taking his time, because it’s also about what he wants.

Poker.org noted that Veldhuis has 145K YouTube subscribers, 59.7K Instagram followers and 76.9K X followers. The piece also said he stepped away from streaming as his PokerStars run wound down, then came back strongly in the new year.

Veldhuis has made clear that the decision is about more than the deal itself. He said he liked PokerStars for its approach to content and Twitch, and added that vision matters because it shapes the climate he would be working in. He also said he is “okay in terms of financials” and does not need to make “crazy decisions.”

He framed the moment as one of freedom, saying, “I trust in my platform, I trust what I do, I trust in my viewership, my skills. I’ve been with Stars for 17 years, let’s just chill.” In the same comments, he said he was enjoying that freedom and asked why he should not try spots like a Venom, streaming from Vienna, or checking out CoinPoker and WPT.

That free-agent status comes with a wider online poker backdrop. Pokerfuse describes WSOP Online bracelets as an online extension of the World Series of Poker, with players in the US and worldwide able to chase the same bracelets from home. The guide says WSOP Online usually runs twice a year, with a summer series and a fall series for US players.

For 2026, the summer WSOP Online series ran from May 30 to July 14 and featured 30 bracelet events, according to Pokerfuse. It also generated $24.5 million in prize money, which the site said was well below the $30 million awarded in 2025.

PokerNews reported the same 30-event summer slate when Caesars released the schedule in April. It said the series carried $7 million in guaranteed prize pools, was open to players in Nevada, New Jersey, Michigan and Pennsylvania, and started with a $400 NL Hold’em Kick Off on May 30 followed by a $555 Mystery Bounty with a $1 million guarantee the next day.

The schedule also included $50,000 in leaderboard prizes and two $215 Scramble tournaments, each awarding 25 seats to the $10,000 WSOP Main Event. Pokerfuse said online bracelet buy-ins ran from $250 to $5,300.

BBZ Poker has released Small Blind Mastery: Limped Pots, a $185 tournament course led by founder Jordan “BBZ” Drummond. The package runs 10 hours across 62 videos and 13 chapters, and it focuses entirely on blind-versus-blind limped pots.

PokerNews reported that Drummond built the course after seeing students repeatedly struggle with the complexity of blind-versus-blind play. He said they needed systems that could turn wide ranges into repeatable and executable strategies, and BBZ says the course is available now through its training platform.

The course is built as a road map from preflop limping ranges to river decision-making. Its material covers minimum defense frequency, geometric bet sizing, relative hand strength, bluff-to-value ratios, and two separate river bluffing systems, while also looking at how ranges develop street by street and how betting and defense can follow the same underlying logic.

It describes limped pots as the most frequent blind-versus-blind configuration and the least studied, with wide ranges that are capped in strange places. It says many players improvise, spew off small bets, and bleed away the biggest edge available to a competent small blind.

The page also says the course is meant to give players limping ranges that make sense and a bet-versus-bet framework that carries from flop to river. The product page adds a short bio note on Drummond, saying he has been a force in poker for more than 15 years, has won over $1 million in his playing career, founded BBZ Staking in 2012, and launched BBZPoker.com in 2019 as coaching demand grew.

The company said BvB pots are among the most frequent and most misplayed spots in tournament poker, where thin margins and wide ranges make small mistakes add up. That guide breaks the spot down by stack depth, saying the small blind can play about 80% of hands at 10 big blinds, around 85% at 15 to 20 big blinds, and roughly 75% of hands through limping at 60 big blinds.

BBZ’s short-stack guide also shows how much limped and raised pots can diverge. At 14 big blinds, it says limped pots create an SPR of roughly 5 and lead to a check-heavy small-blind strategy, with the SB checking about 57% of flops and betting 43%, while raised pots compress the SPR to around 2 and push the small blind toward betting 78% of flops.

Olybet Poker is bringing the Coolbet Open back to Hilton Tallinn Park in Tallinn from Sept. 1-6. The ninth edition will center on a €550 No-Limit Hold’em Main Event and a schedule that runs to more than 30 tournaments over six days.

According to PokerNews, the festival is returning to the venue after several successful editions there before moving elsewhere in recent years. The report says the stop still fits Tallinn’s growing profile as a live poker destination, with Hilton Tallinn Park close to the historic city center and the Old Town.

The Main Event has three starting flights. The first begins at noon on Wednesday, Sept. 2, a second flight is set for Thursday, Sept. 3, and a turbo-style third flight runs later that same day.

Players who advance will return for Day 2 on Friday, Sept. 4, and the festival will crown its newest champion on Saturday, Sept. 5.

The opener is a €350 DeepStack Mystery Bounty on Tuesday, Sept. 1. The six-day lineup also includes a €1,100 Coolbet Open DeepStack starting Friday, Sept. 4, a €150 Ladies Event, and multiple satellites that award Main Event and DeepStack seats.

Beyond the headline events, the schedule leans heavily into variety. It includes No-Limit Hold’em, Pot-Limit Omaha, mystery bounty events, progressive bounty tournaments, mixed games and nightly hyper turbos, with mixed-game variants listed as Sviten, TORSE, Open-Face Chinese Pineapple, PLO5, PLO6, Seven Card Stud, Razz, Omaha Hi-Lo and 2-7 Triple Draw.

King’s Resort in Rozvadov will host the IPS Italian Poker Sport Summer Edition from Aug. 18 to Sept. 1, and the stop will feature 59 tournaments across the schedule. The headline is a €1.5 million guaranteed Main Event, while the rest of the series starts from €35 and tops out at €380 for the flagship event.

The Main Event is built around multiple starting flights. PokerNews says the opening options include Speed Day 1s, a Turbo flight, and a Flip and Go Pineapple flight, giving players both slower-paced and quicker ways into the tournament.

The timetable is spread across the end of August and the start of September. Day 1A Part 1 begins at 2 p.m. on Aug. 21, another Day 1 is set for King’s Prague on Aug. 28, and the field then moves to Day 2 on Aug. 30, Day 3 on Aug. 31, and the final day on Sept. 1.

Satellites start on Aug. 18 and give players cheaper routes into the bigger events. A €50 Main Event satellite guarantees €3,800 in prizes, while €35 satellites feed the €50,000 guaranteed IPS Summer Opener and €40 satellites qualify players for the €100,000 Mystery Bounty. The satellite schedule also includes events tied to specific Day 1 flights, plus options that let players choose between different starting flights.

The rest of the schedule leans into the usual IPS mix of formats and buy-ins. The series includes Mystery Bounties, Knockout events, Pot-Limit Omaha, Turbo tournaments, a Ladies Event, and a €700 High Roller.

A separate MTTDB listing describes the Summer Edition as a dedicated IPS summer stop at Rozvadov and puts the festival prize pool at €300,000. That listing says the format follows the familiar IPS blueprint of a multi-flight Main Event, side events, satellites, and mixed No-Limit Hold’em and Pot-Limit Omaha action, with a 50,000-chip starting stack and levels that stretch from 40 to 60 minutes as play goes on.

MTTDB also says IPS stops at King’s have drawn very large fields in recent years. It cites the 54th edition, which passed 7,000 entries and generated more than €2.2 million in total prizes, and says Rozvadov prize pools often include added WSOP Europe Main Event tickets on top of the cash.

Shahab Shirazi took the lead into the final day of the Potomac Summer Poker Open $500 Monumental Stack at MGM National Harbor with 2,200,000 chips. He is the only player to clear the 2,000,000-chip mark, and Matthew Faust is next closest with 1,840,000.

Jong Han sits third with 1,740,000, followed by Edward Tufarelli on 1,485,000 and Rick Aasen on 1,465,000. Kyle Dishongh is also well placed with 1,430,000, while Timothy Conrow, Andrew Touchette, Matt Mullins, Linda Swears, Dennis Backhaus and Kash Corpening are all still alive with playable stacks.

The Monumental Stack sits on the Potomac Summer Poker Open schedule at MGM National Harbor. The $500 event got to this point through two starting flights that built the field to 403 total entries.

That left 52 players returning in the money for Day 2. Day 1b drew 225 entries on its own and sent 29 players on, with Aasen among those to survive. He had already won the $400 T.O.R.S.E. event a few days earlier, adding another reason for his stack to stand out near the top of the counts.

Day 2 starts at 11 a.m. local time with about 25 minutes left in Level 23. The restart picks up at blinds of 20,000/40,000 with a 40,000 big blind ante, and the levels stretch to 40 minutes as the tournament plays down to a winner.

With Sept. 6 still three weeks away, the Sunday Million 20th Anniversary had already processed 24,881 entries across completed $109 Phase 1s, and 799 players had locked up Phase 2 seats. Benjamin “Spraggy” Spragg was among them after turning a 10,000-chip start into 187,043 chips, enough to sit 544th in the current standings.

PokerNews reported that Phase 1 action was still continuing, so that qualifying picture could still change before Phase 2 gets underway. As reported in July, PokerStars had been stringing together daily Phase 1s in the build-up to the Sept. 6 cutoff.

The lobby was still listing $109 Phase 1s for Aug. 13-15 at 4:25 p.m., 7:25 p.m. and 10:25 p.m. BST. Each flight began with 10,000 chips, used 10-minute levels, allowed up to three re-entries while late registration was open for about 100 minutes, and ended when only 3% of the field remained.

The top of the Phase 2 leaderboard was led by Austria’s go1vs1 legko with 1,076,054 chips, while Canada’s getdamoney was the other player above seven figures with 1,045,132. To crack the top 10, players needed more than 863,000 chips.

Other qualifiers already on the board included roo_400, P0TCHECKER99, Steven “SvZff” van Zadelhoff, efkinis24, Peter “Belabacsi” Traply, Tom “Tom_Poker_NL” Talboom, Blaise “bigdaddyblaise” Bourgeois, Jussi “calvin7v” Nevanlinna, Dalton “daltonhb” Hobold, Tobias “TOBSEN_TE9” Eichenseher, Scott “Aggro Santos” Margereson, Sintoras, Patrick “JaegsPL” Lauber, Robin “robinho” Ylitalo, Simon “TaxationIsTheft” Gilles, Andreas “mrAndreeew” Berggren and PokerStars’ Marle “MarlzTV” Spragg.

The event’s qualifying funnel was still wide open. Satellites started at $0.55, special Spin & Go games were listed at $0.75 and $4, and the Ticket Machine promotion was still handing out 918 $109 seats every Saturday while allowing players to complete challenges up to four times for as many as 20 entries in the next draw.

Jordan Woodall bagged the biggest stack in Day 1b of the Onyx High Roller Series $25,500 Main Event at Merit Royal Diamond Hotel Casino & Spa, finishing with 3,935,000 chips after a 106-entry flight sent 16 players on to Day 2. Boris Kolev was close behind on 3,700,000, and Ravi Sheth completed the top three with 2,300,000.

According to PokerNews, Woodall's late push came from applying pressure to shorter stacks and using the bubble to his advantage. As covered yesterday, Fahredin Mustafov had topped the opening flight with 3,555,000, while 17 players advanced from Day 1a.

The Day 1b bubble lasted about 45 minutes. Ponakovs pushed repeatedly during that stretch but never got called, and the final hand came when Aysar Batayneh moved all in for three big blinds and Kolev called in the big blind. The board ran out Kolev's way, bursting the bubble and sending the remaining 16 players into the money.

Several well-known names missed the cut, including Eelis Parssinen, Selahaddin Bedir, Mikita Badziakouski, Artur Martirosian, Timur Margolin, Alex Kulev, Nacho Barbero and Tom Middleton. Sergio Aido, who had finished 20th in Day 1a, came back to bag 1,580,000, while Alexey Borovkov finished with 880,000, David Coleman with 630,000, Dmitry Gromov with 575,000, Aleksejs Ponakovs with 280,000 and Matthew Wantman with 200,000.

With two starting flights complete, the turbo Day 1c was already underway with 36 entries and was set to play down to five survivors. Day 2 will use 60-minute levels, and the remaining players will return on Aug. 14 for the final day to battle for the title.

ACR Poker has added 91 Venom Specials across seven session dates from Aug. 17 through Aug. 31, building a $10.16 million side schedule around its August Dual Venom stretch. The extra events sit alongside the headline Venom action, and players can enter them without taking part in the $15 million Dual Venoms.

As reported in July, ACR Poker was already saying more than 85% of the 1,500 guaranteed Venom Fever seats were still open as the Dual Venoms approached. The new Venom Specials slate gives players another way to stay in the August mix without needing a Dual Venom entry.

According to ACR Poker’s news post and schedule page, the side events are split into two waves. The first wave lands on Aug. 17, 20 and 23, and totals $3.575 million in guarantees. Aug. 17 opens with 15 tournaments and $915,000 guaranteed, Aug. 20 offers 11 events and $820,000, and Aug. 23 climbs to 12 tournaments and $1.84 million.

The second wave is larger, with Aug. 24, 27, 30 and 31 combining for $6.585 million. Aug. 24 has 11 tournaments and $805,000 in guarantees, while Aug. 27 matches the event count but raises the daily total to $995,000.

The biggest activity comes at the end of the month. Aug. 30 brings 13 Venom Specials and $2.34 million in guarantees, including $600,000, $500,000 and $250,000 events. Aug. 31 closes the series with 18 tournaments and $2.445 million, led by a $750,000 special, plus a $500,000 tournament and a $200,000 progressive knockout.

The schedule spans regular no-limit hold’em, progressive knockouts, 6-max events, mystery bounty tournaments and Omaha variants. Individual guarantees run from $15,000 up to $750,000, and ACR Poker says players can review the full tournament schedule and map out which dates to prioritize before the lobby gets busy.

WPT Global has opened a cheap online path into the WPT Prime Cyprus Championship, with daily $1.10 and $11 feeders rolling into weekly $108 satellites that award $2,000 packages. The live event is set for Cyprus in October and carries a $1 million guarantee.

As covered in our Aug. 3 report on WPT Global’s $4.40 route to IPO Dublin seats, the site has been leaning on low-cost feeder ladders to send players into live tournaments. The Cyprus offer follows that same model, but the reporting is not fully aligned on the calendar.

Pokerfuse said the Cyprus satellites launched on June 28 and would run through Aug. 9. Its version of the promotion used a three-step ladder, starting with $1.10 feeders, then $11 satellites, then the $108 Sunday qualifier, while Rakerace put the qualifier at 18:06 UTC. That report also said players could enter from eligible jurisdictions, and that the package included the championship seat, hotel, food and beverage, transportation, and a $100,000 bonus if a satellite winner later won the full tournament.

A later PokerListings report said the room was giving away packages every Sunday from Aug. 10 to Sept. 28, with $108 satellites starting at 18:05 UTC and weekly feeders at $1.10 and $11. It added that every qualifier also gets a $100,000 Golden Ticket, and that the ticket can only be used for the $1,100 WPT Prime Cyprus Championship, cannot be transferred or cashed out, and is forfeited if unused at the end of the series.

PokerNews described the weekly event similarly, saying it runs each Sunday at 6:05 p.m. UTC and guarantees two $2,000 packages. It also said every package winner receives a $100,000 Golden Ticket, and that WPT Global will pay another $100,000 bonus if a player who already secured that ticket goes on to win the $1,100 championship outright.

The Cyprus push also comes with some live-event background. PokerNews said the WPT Prime Cyprus Championship had originally been planned for March, but WPT pulled it because of the escalating conflict in the Middle East. Chamada then ran its own $1,100 buy-in, $1 million guaranteed tournament, which Frank Koopmann won from a 1,114-entry field for $178,580 out of a $1,080,580 prize pool.

PokerNews also said WPT Global arranged special hotel rates for October players, including all-inclusive rooms at the Chamada Prestige Hotel for $250 per night for one person or $300 for two, plus Chamada Girne rooms for $150 or $200 a night with shuttle service to the Prestige Hotel. It also noted a $10 minimum deposit promotion that unlocks a $15.50 welcome gift package and a 100% cashback offer up to $3,000 over 60 days.

Phil Galfond’s Beyond The Game poker training program is back for Season 3, and this time applicants can choose between a six-month membership and a 12-month option. Pokerfuse reported that the program is still selective, with applications hand-reviewed by the team before a final decision that can mean acceptance, rejection, or more questions.

The new structure is a change from the first two seasons, when BTG only offered a full-year commitment that cost around $8,000. For Season 3, the six-month membership is priced at $4,500, and payment plans are available for yearly memberships.

The program still runs with a seven-coach team that includes Galfond, Kevin Rabichow, Jason Paster, Chris “DeathDonkey” Vitch, Samm Hunter, Fabian “suhepx” Riebau-Schmithal, and a coach who goes only by Paul. Pokerfuse said Vitch is the mixed-game specialist on the roster, while Paul preferred not to share his surname publicly and works privately with several high-stakes pros.

BTG also comes with a fairly packed schedule. According to Pokerfuse, it includes weekly calls with coaches, 40 of them led by Galfond himself, plus 100 co-working sessions and 16 live Q&As.

On Galfond’s coaching site, BTG is described as his group coaching program for serious poker players. The page says the work is built around strategy, decision-making, consistency, mindset, and the career and life built around the game, not just poker theory on its own.

That same page says applications are open. The site’s pitch is direct about the target player, telling visitors to apply no matter who they are or what they do.

Boris Kolev won the Onyx High Roller Series $10,400 Mystery Bounty in Cyprus, taking the title and $129,000 after outlasting a 114-entry field. He beat Aleksandr Kirichenko heads-up at Merit Royal Diamond Hotel Casino & Spa, and the event built a $1,094,400 prize pool.

The tournament was a two-day mystery bounty with 100,000 starting stacks and late registration open through Level 12, which closed at about 10:45 p.m. local time. Once the bounty portion began, every elimination carried a shot at one of the hidden prizes.

As reported earlier, Kolev had already bagged the Day 1 chip lead and returned for Day 2 as the best-positioned player among the 17 survivors. He ended the opening day with 1.7 million chips, good for 57 big blinds, and Day 2 got underway at 1 p.m. local time on Aug. 11.

PokerNews’ recap of the run said Kolev picked up seven mystery bounties on the way to the title, although another report page put the number at eight. His path through the later stages included knockouts of Mr Teddy, Fabian Schmidt, Geoffrey Mooney and Felipe Ketzer, then a stretch where Kirichenko doubled through him more than once.

Those swings included a hand where Kirichenko rivered king-nine to beat Kolev’s pocket fours and another where queen-jack made a river jack against Kolev’s king-six. Kolev answered with pots of his own, including one where ace-high was good at showdown and another where a 1,800,000 river bet got a fold.

The finish came when Kolev shoved from the small blind with king-four and Kirichenko called off 2,000,000 with king-jack. A king-four-deuce flop gave Kolev two pair, and the board ran out 4♦ 2♥ K♥ 8♠ A♦ to end it.

There is some reporting inconsistency on the exact payout figures. One PokerNews recap page listed a $127,400 top prize and a $92,000 runner-up payout, while the main report said Kolev earned $129,000 for first.

Afterward, Kolev said Cyprus is his favourite place to play and described the venue as feeling like a holiday rather than work. He also said the series is improving and going in the right direction.

PokerNews has brought back its PowerStack leaderboard for the 2026 RunGood Poker Series fall season. Every eligible PowerStack result in the fall will earn points, and players can build those totals across multiple RGPS stops.

The payoff is a top-10 prize that sends each finisher to Thunder Valley and into the $300 Dream Seat Invitational. That invitational runs during the RunGood Dream Factory Festival from Nov. 27 through Dec. 3, and the winner earns a seat in the PGT Championship at PokerGO Studio in January 2027.

The first fall PowerStack lands at RGPS Golden Expedition at Caesars Southern Indiana in Elizabeth, Indiana. The six-day series runs Aug. 18-23, and the $400 PowerStack starts Aug. 19 with flights at noon and 6 p.m., a $50,000 guarantee, and a return on Aug. 20 for the survivors to play to a champion.

The Indiana stop itself carries 10 ring events and $260,000 in guarantees. The headline tournament is the $800 Main Event, which has a $200,000 guarantee, four starting flights from Aug. 20-22, and a final-day return on Aug. 23.

The schedule also includes a $300 Seniors Ring Event for players 50 and older, a $200 Tag Team NLH event, a $400 Pot-Limit Omaha tournament, and a $300 Black Chip Bounty NLH event on the final day. Players can also chase the PowerStack through $105 turbo satellites, with one seat awarded for every five entries.

The fall reset follows the first PowerStack race earlier this year, when 11 players earned seats into the $1,200 Million Dollar Main Event at the RGPS Passport Season Finale at Thunder Valley. Nicholas Rigby finished on top of that board, while Paul Schreiner and Sean Hold both turned free Main Event entries into $5,400 cashes. JC Tran then won the 1,086-entry Main Event for $163,700, and the prize pool reached $1,140,300.

PokerStars is bringing back MicroMillions from Aug. 16 to 31 with 139 events, more than $2 million in combined guarantees, and buy-ins ranging from $1.10 to $22.

As covered in the Aug. 11 Boot Camp report, PokerStars had already put $800,000 in guarantees behind the WCOOP Boot Camp Main Events. MicroMillions begins as that warm-up concludes, and the schedule is built around low buy-ins ahead of WCOOP.

Several headline events carry guarantees despite their small prices. On Aug. 16, players can jump into a guaranteed $75,000 $11 Sunday Storm and a $22 High Roller with the same guarantee. Both of those events run again on Aug. 23, while the $22 PKO Main Event starts on Aug. 30 and comes with a $250,000 guarantee.

The low buy-in structure is part of the appeal. Poker.org said the series is a good place to start with WCOOP looming, and quoted PokerStars Ambassador Benjamin “Spraggy” Spragg calling MicroMillions the ideal place to start for WCOOP this September. He pointed to the low buy-ins, plenty of satellites, and packed schedule with different formats as a way for players to gain experience, try something new, and chase a title without needing a huge bankroll.

Recent editions show why the series still gets attention. In 2025, the MicroMillions Main Event drew 20,600 entrants, and Brazil’s “pretinhouva” won $25,911 including bounties. In 2024, “vinivarella22” turned a $22 investment into $28,319 after a three-way chop. MicroMillions ends a week before WCOOP action starts on Sept. 6.

ACR Poker has launched Vault Rush, an ongoing promotion built around weekly keys, a digital Vault and a sequence of player challenges. The setup lets players collect a key, use it in the client and find out what is behind the Vault, with prizes that can range from tournament tickets and staking tickets to other promotional rewards or nothing at all.

As covered on Aug. 3, ACR had already introduced the Venom Vault during its Venom Fever promotion. In Vault Rush, the weekly cycle starts in the official Telegram group, where a new free-key link is posted each week. Players then return to the poker client to finish the claim before 11:59 pm ET on Sunday, and each account can claim only one free key per week. Missed keys do not roll over, and joining Telegram once is enough as long as the player stays in the group.

According to ACR Poker, claiming that weekly key unlocks the first challenge. The sequence then asks for a qualifying deposit of at least $25 using an eligible payment method, a qualifying cryptocurrency deposit of at least $25, and finally a referral task tied to The Side Hustle, the company’s refer-a-friend program. The Side Hustle pays cash rewards for bringing in new players, and a referral only counts when the friend signs up, deposits at least $25 and generates $25 in rake.

Once a key is available, the Vault opens inside the client and the prize stays hidden until the key is used. ACR says staking-ticket percentages are assigned at random, players have to accept a staking ticket in the Staking section before using it, and if more than one ticket applies to the same eligible event and one is used to qualify for Day 2, the remaining tickets for that event lose their value. Keys earned through completed challenges can take up to 24 hours to appear, unused keys expire at the end of the promotional period, and the official Telegram group may also surface bonus links, extra keys and limited-time prizes without advance notice.

EvenBet Gaming has added two configurable cash-game mechanics to its online poker software: Straddle from any position and No-Look All-In. The company said both features are available to existing and new operator partners, and both can be switched on or off independently for individual tables through its back-office tools.

No-Look All-In lets a player go all-in before seeing their hole cards. Straddle from any position lets the first eligible player post the opening straddle, which the company said gives players greater control over how hands develop.

The update is aimed at making cash-game sessions feel less routine. EvenBet Gaming CTO Alexander Tamplon said the industry is in “a fierce race for user attention” and that if a table feels slow or predictable, players “simply switch apps.”

Tamplon said adding the two mechanics gives partners a tool to eliminate table routine, keep players deeply engaged, and ultimately drive higher revenues. Focus Gaming News framed the rollout in similar terms, saying the features are meant to add more variety, more high-intensity moments, and more opportunities for higher-value gameplay.

EvenBet said the double update is intended to strengthen player engagement, player lifetime value, and overall rake. That lines up with the company’s own rake explainer, which describes rake as a service fee that helps cover operating costs and as a lever for extending player lifetime value, keeping sessions running longer, and maintaining table liquidity.

EuropeanGaming.eu said the launch comes as cash games remain the largest segment of the online poker market by revenue and operators face pressure to differentiate their products. It also said the release extends EvenBet’s recent run of product updates, including the Spins Poker format and a five-year B2B supplier licence from Sweden’s Spelinspektionen.

Day 1b of the Onyx High Roller Series $25,500 Main Event kicked off at 1 p.m. local time at Merit Royal Diamond Hotel Casino & Spa after the opening flight drew 113 entries and sent 17 players through to Day 2. Fahredin Mustafov led the survivors with 3,555,000, while Aliaksandr Shylko bagged 2,920,000 and Ali Al-Kubasi finished with 2,640,000.

Manuel Fritz also advanced with 1,610,000 after a tricky bubble run. Daniel Rezaei returned with 1,410,000, Raoul Kanme with 1,325,000, Arsenii Karmatckii with 725,000 and Weiran Pu with 665,000.

According to PokerNews, the opener ended when Julian Pineda Lozano moved all in preflop and ran into Mustafov’s pocket aces. The board did not help Lozano, and the 17 survivors bagged up after the bubble burst. The day also had a wild stretch where three players were at risk on three tables at the same time, and all three survived that sequence before Daniel Koloszar and Zorlu Er got their money on the bubble.

As reported yesterday, Mustafov entered the series as the defending champion after winning the 2025 Onyx High Roller Series Main Event for $1.3 million. The Main Event carries a $5 million guarantee, and each player starts with 200,000 chips at 500/1,000 with a 1,000 big blind ante. The first two flights use 40-minute levels, while the turbo flight switches to 20-minute levels.

Instead of ending after a set number of levels, each starting flight plays until just 15% of the field remains. At that point, players secure a place in the money and bag their chips for Day 2. Two more starting flights remained for players who missed the opener, with a 1 p.m. local-time flight on Aug. 12 and a turbo session at 9 p.m. that night. Survivors from all flights return for Day 2 on Aug. 13 at 1 p.m. local time, and the field is set to play to a champion on Aug. 14.

PokerNews reported that the anonymous player known as Goofy won the Onyx High Roller Series $10,400 Premiere for $1 million at Merit Royal Diamond Hotel Casino & Spa. He beat Mikita Badziakouski heads-up to take the biggest share of the $4,765,800 prize pool, while Badziakouski earned $585,000 for second.

As covered on Aug. 10, Damir Gabdullin carried the chip lead into the nine-handed final table after the 507-entry event had already locked up 76 paid finishers. Goofy came into the last day third in chips, behind Italo Modena and just ahead of Badziakouski, with Sergio Aido also among the contenders.

Goofy sent Ravid Garbi out in ninth, then watched Badziakouski seize control by making quad kings against Gabdullin’s queens. Badziakouski later eliminated Gabdullin in sixth and Aido after that, and he kept building a lead as Goofy, Giorgiy Skhulukhiya and Oshri Lahmani tried to catch him.

That was the point where Goofy’s run looked shaky. He fell to the bottom of the counts with four left, but he chopped a pot to stay alive against Skhulukhiya, doubled with ace-king against pocket sixes, and later survived another dangerous spot against Badziakouski when a river card went his way.

The heads-up match still began with Goofy facing a steep deficit, and he said afterward that he knew there would be no deal and that the battle was “really tough.” He chipped away with an ace-nine double against king-seven, then a river check-jam with trip eights that Badziakouski paid off with top pair, and later a hero call with bottom pair that moved him into the lead for the first time.

The final hand started with Goofy opening to 2 million holding 9♦6♥ and Badziakouski defending with 5♥4♥. On a 9♠4♣2♦ board, Badziakouski check-shoved for 12.6 million, but Goofy called and held through the 7♥ turn and 2♠ river to finish the marathon match.

PokerStars is adding a new €2,200 “In the Money at 180,000” tournament to EPT Barcelona, and the gimmick is exactly what the name suggests. Once a player reaches 180,000 chips, the stack is bagged for Day 2 and a cash is locked up, which removes the usual money bubble pressure from the event.

A separate preview placed the new tournament on Aug. 17-27 at Casino Barcelona. The wider festival itself is listed for Aug. 16-29 at the same venue, and the card still revolves around the €5,300 EPT Main Event, the €1,650 PokerStars Open Main Event, the €100,000 Super High Roller and the €10,300 EPT High Roller.

The stop also has some recent history behind it. Last year’s EPT Barcelona Main Event drew 2,045 entries, and Frenchman Thomas Eychenne won it for €1,426,900 after a deal with Romanian Sebastian Ionita. EPT Tournament Director Toby Stone said the new format was built for qualifiers, adding, “If you love our qualifiers, you’ll love In the Money at 180,000,” and, “Hit 180,000 chips, instantly bag your stack and lock up a Day 2 cash. No bubble sweat. Just pure poker and action.”

Barcelona also matters for PokerStars Live League. PokerNews says the 2026 race reaches its halfway point here, with Danilo Donnini leading the Low board, Andrew Hulme on top of Medium, and Juan Pardo leading High. The top three in each tier will split €157,500 in PokerStars LIVE credit, and the top 30 in each tier qualify for a €100,000 freeroll at the first EPT stop of 2027.

Away from the tables, the festival will add karaoke, quiz and games nights, welcome drinks, a sports matchup and a Guess the Hand contest, with prizes and Mini Spades also on offer. EPT Wellness Community will run daily yoga and Pilates from Aug. 18-27, and seven days of live streaming begin Aug. 23 on PokerStars’ Twitch and Facebook channels in English, French, Spanish, Italian, Brazilian Portuguese and German, with Portuguese commentary making its festival debut.

World Poker Tour said it will open Season 25 in Phnom Penh with WPT Cambodia at NagaWorld Integrated Resort. The stop is being billed as a return to one of the tour’s recurring live venues.

EuropeanGaming.eu reported that NagaWorld has hosted WPT Cambodia festivals since 2019. In June, it said WPT would return there in August 2026 for a 13-day Passport to the World Championship festival with 70 events and $1 million in guaranteed prize pools, and that the Main Event would carry a $1,300 buy-in and a $500,000 guarantee.

The same report said the January-February 2026 Cambodia festival ran for 20 days and featured 138 tournaments with buy-ins from $200 to $20,000. It also said the 2025 Cambodia festival drew more than 10,000 entries and awarded over $10 million in prize money, while a July 2024 main event drew 913 entries and built a $1,040,592 prize pool.

ASGAM quoted WPT CEO Adam Pliska saying the Cambodia series gives players a chance to compete at one of the region’s premier poker destinations and offers a pathway to the WPT World Championship. The next Phnom Penh festival is scheduled for Jan. 12-Feb. 2, 2027.

PokerStars has put a combined $800,000 in guarantees behind the two WCOOP Boot Camp Main Events. The lower buy-in tournament costs $109 and carries a $500,000 prize pool guarantee, while the $1,050 version has a $300,000 guarantee.

Both Main Events start at 1:00 p.m. CEST on August 16 and run across two days of play.

PokerNews says the Boot Camp itself runs from August 2-17 and features 65 events across low and high buy-in tiers. The series is advertised with more than $6.5 million in combined guaranteed prize pool, far above the Main Event total on its own.

The schedule covers a broad mix of poker formats. It includes No-Limit Hold’em, Pot-Limit Omaha, H.O.R.S.E., No-Limit 2-7 Single Draw and 8-Game, along with progressive knockouts and mystery bounties. The events also vary by table format, with full ring, six-max and heads-up play all on the slate, plus regular, turbo and hyper-turbo blind structures.

Satellites for the opening-night $75 NLHE Progressive KO Sunday Special were already in the PokerStars lobby, with $11 buy-ins available. That event, WCOOP Boot Camp 04-L, carries the biggest guarantee on August 2 at $300,000.

Another $300,000 guaranteed event, WCOOP Boot Camp 32-H, is set for August 9. The wider WCOOP schedule is due to follow from September 6-30.

PokerStars has teamed up with BBZ Poker, founded by Jordan “bigbluffzinc” Drummond. Free sessions are set for every Friday at 1:00 p.m. EST on the BBZ Discord server, ending with a $0.01 buy-in, password-protected tournament at 2:00 p.m. CEST, where up to $1,500 in WCOOP tickets will be awarded.

PokerStars Ambassador Benjamin “Spraggy” Spragg said the idea behind WCOOP Boot Camp is preparation: reviewing hands, challenging decisions and making small improvements before the main series begins.

The $25,500 Main Event begins at the Onyx High Roller Series in Merit Royal Diamond Hotel Casino & Spa in Northern Cyprus, and it carries a $5 million guarantee. The tournament sits in a festival that began on Aug. 7 and runs through Aug. 16.

The first of three starting flights began at 1 p.m. local time. Day 1b follows on Aug. 12 at 1 p.m., and the turbo Day 1c starts that night at 9 p.m.

Players start with 200,000 chips and enter at 500/1,000 with a 1,000 big blind ante. The first two flights use 40-minute levels, while the turbo flight runs with 20-minute levels. Rather than a set number of levels, each flight plays until only 15% of the field remains, and those survivors bag for Day 2.

The wider schedule, outlined earlier by PokerNews, stretches from $5,200 up to $50,500 and carries more than $10 million in guarantees across No-Limit Hold'em and Pot-Limit Omaha events. It includes the $10,400 Mystery Bounty with a $1 million guarantee, the $5,200 PLO Bounty on Aug. 9, the $15,300 NLH 6-Max on Aug. 13-14, and the $10,200 Bounty on Aug. 15-16. The $50,500 Onyx High Roller Championship closes the series.

The rules package also bans sunglasses, masks, scarves, and any intentional face covering when a player has live cards, and shot clocks are in use from the start of every event. Fahredin Mustafov won the Main Event from a 227-player field a little under 12 months ago and collected $1.3 million. Survivors return for Day 2 at 1 p.m. on Aug. 13, when levels stretch to 60 minutes, and the champion is decided the following day.

ACR Poker has launched a 14-part weekly editorial interview series built around first-person WSOP stories from the 2026 summer. The format turns natural interviews or voice-note conversations into full features, with the goal of getting beyond a standard results recap and into the hands, decisions, frustrations and lessons that shape a run.

According to ACR Poker, Alex Foxen opens the series after what the company called one of the strongest summers of his career. He won his fourth career bracelet in the $10,000 Super Turbo Bounty No-Limit Hold’em event for $594,246, and his listed series total finished at 14 cashes and $2,067,005.

Foxen’s interview revisits the hand he called the most important moment of the summer, a three-way all-in with sixes against ace-nine and king-jack. He said that spot moved him from around an average stack to the chip lead with about 16 players left, and he treated that endgame experience as a major edge from there.

The piece also looks at the misses that stayed with him. Foxen discussed his seventh-place finish in the $25,000 High Roller Pot-Limit Omaha event, which he described as the big near-miss of the summer, and his final-table run in the $100,000 High Roller No-Limit Hold’em event. He said the $25K PLO came immediately after his Super Turbo win, after a finish that sent him to bed around 1 or 2 in the morning before he came back, fired a first bullet and ran the event up.

Another thread runs through Kristen Foxen’s bracelet win in the $25,000 High Roller No-Limit Hold’em event. Alex said presenting her with bracelet No. 6 was the moment he expects to remember most, even more than his own win. He also said that mixed games are more fun than he thought and that being aware of fatigue is difficult and important.

The series will continue with one new feature each week. The lineup includes Chris Hunichen, Chris Moorman, Chance Kornuth, Chris Moneymaker, Robert Kuhn, Katie Lindsay, Jeff Boski, Ana Marquez, Drew Gonzalez, Monika Zukowicz, Jon Pardy, Michael Loncar, and Rene and Casey Nezhoda, while the publication order can still shift as interviews are completed and approved.

FanDuel Poker has confirmed it will run a major tournament series in September, but the operator is still keeping the basics under wraps. The name, number of events, overall guarantee and exact dates have not been announced yet, and the company says a tournament leaderboard will be part of the festival.

A company representative confirmed on the official US Poker Discord server that a “September Series Schedule” is being prepared, and more details are expected later this month. The confirmation matters because this would only be the second major series FanDuel Poker has staged since taking over the PokerStars US operation.

The first was the Ignite Series, an ambitious $5 million festival. It ran for 90 tournaments over three weeks and finished with a $500,000 guaranteed Main Event.

That launch also came with a heavy amount of overlay. Poker Industry PRO calculations cited by Pokerfuse put the total overlay at $1,063,762, meaning the operator had to cover more than $1 million in shortfalls from its own funds. The outlet said that made the series player-friendly, because the missed guarantees effectively added money to prize pools without raising entry costs.

It is not clear whether FanDuel and PokerStars will use a similar guarantees strategy in September. For now, the only confirmed addition is the leaderboard, alongside a schedule that is still being built.

The September festival comes after a broader reset for PokerStars on FanDuel in the US. In April, FanDuel announced that PokerStars exclusively on FanDuel had launched in Michigan, New Jersey and Pennsylvania, with player liquidity merged across those markets and a wider slate of tournaments and cash games.

By April 2026, Bettors Insider reported that migration was complete and the three states were running in a single shared liquidity network. PokerStars has traditionally built its major tournament calendar around COOP branding, which has long been used for major series internationally, including SCOOP and WCOOP, and in US market-specific versions such as USCOOP, NJCOOP, PACOOP and MICOOP.

On PokerStars on FanDuel, the inaugural festival used the Ignite name instead of a COOP label, and the aggressive guarantee was seen as a way to establish a separate identity.

Beyond The Game’s public team page lays out a broad roster of leaders, camp directors, speakers and mentors behind the youth nonprofit.

According to Beyond The Game’s Meet the Team page, the organization is a 501©(3) non-profit founded in February 2016. Its mission statement says it is about building youth opportunities through helping educational growth and maintaining excellence, and the organization describes itself as helping kids understand that sports can be a platform to higher education and reaching their potential as adults.

The page lists Devin Jordan as president and Elijah Desmond as vice president. Brandi Jordan is named as Girls With Pearls & Guys With Ties coordinator, while Ashton Knappenberger is listed under human resources and administration and Matthew Brady as content creator.

Melvin Weatherspoon is listed as FNL Camp Director / Leader – Guys With Ties, Korry Lee as FNL Camp Director, and Thomas Gunn as FNL Camp Director. Gunn’s bio says he has 15+ years of experience coaching youth, high school and college football, and quotes him describing coaching as a way to build character, discipline and excitement for what comes after the final whistle.

The page also names several other staff and mentors tied to its programs: Neeko Longshore as Leader – Guys With Ties, Jamal Luke as a motivational speaker for Guys With Ties, John Taylor as a motivational speaker for Mental Manual, Antonette Lackey as Leader – Girls With Pearls, Samuel Rodriguez in marketing and sponsor and donor relations plus Guys With Ties mentor, Rohan Patel as Guys With Ties coordinator, Reva Franklin as a Girls With Pearls mentor since 2025, Ava Dean as a Girls With Pearls mentor since 2022, and Jessie Scott as a Guys With Ties mentor. Weatherspoon’s bio on the page sums up the group’s tone with the line, “Changing Boys to Men one pass, one catch, one kid at a time!”

The WSOP Online Circuit returned to WSOP.com in August with a 12-day slate that carries 12 WSOP rings and $1.4 million in guaranteed prizes. The series runs daily from August 6 through 17, and players in Michigan, Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Nevada are eligible to compete for the titles and payouts.

According to Pokerfuse, the buy-ins range from $100 to $1,000, with one new WSOPC event added each day. The schedule also features a $250,000 Main Event on August 16 and a $150,000 NLH Mystery Bounty on August 9.

The lineup includes a $1,000 NLH High Roller with a $150,000 guaranteed prize pool. Pokerfuse also reported that every one of the 12 circuit champions will receive a WSOP Paradise package valued at $5,000, tied to a WSOP rule update meant to make sure online champions are included.

There is also a reload offer for players who deposit into an existing or new WSOP Online account during the series and use promo code AUG26. Deposits between $10 and $400 are matched in full, and $10 of bonus money is released for every 100 wagering points earned through play at WSOP Online.

August 16 is another highlight on the online schedule because major tournament buy-ins are cut in half for the day. The Sunday Sale promotion returns alongside the Main Event, with the three Sunday majors dropping from $215, $1,000 and $500 to discounted prices.

Brazil’s Dalton “daltonhb” Hobold won the latest PokerStars WCOOP Boot Camp $530 NLHE Bounty Builder High Roller, topping a 143-player field for $14,256. He beat “Deal with It” heads-up, and the final table also included Claas “SsicK_OnE” Segebrecht, Daniel “DaniC19941893” Custodio and Austria’s “tekelson221”.

The result gives Hobold a timely boost heading into WCOOP. He now has four SCOOP titles and one WCOOP title, and four of those wins came in Progressive Knockout events.

PokerStars’ WCOOP Boot Camp is running from August 2 through 17 and features 65 events with more than $6.5 million in combined guarantees. The warm-up series covers No-Limit Hold’em and mixed games, and the full WCOOP follows from September 6 to 30 for the 25th straight year.

The Boot Camp has also been pushing players toward the final stretch with Main Events on August 16. The $109 version carries a $500,000 guarantee and the $1,050 edition is set at $300,000, with both Main Events scheduled to run across two days and Day 2 set for August 17 at 7:05 p.m. CEST.

Germany’s mr.diego97 won 888poker’s latest $80,000 Mystery Bounty Main Event after two days of play, beating a 779-entry field and collecting $7,842. The $109 event ended with a river call in heads-up play, and the champion kept himself near the top of the count for most of the final table.

He reached the eight-handed final table fourth in chips with 34 big blinds, then won a few sizeable pots early. From there, he never fell lower than second in chips before closing out the title.

The bounty side of the event had mostly been decided before the final table began. All of the big mystery bounties had already been claimed on Day 1, including an $8,000 jackpot bounty that ended up in BandeDePitre’s account. mr.diego97 came in with $1,073 in bounties, while cologne97 had already banked $3,996.

Malte64 was the first finalist out, three-betting all in with king-jack and running into cologne97’s ace-seven of diamonds. Mayanking followed about 15 minutes later after c0rbl1meyguv flopped top set with pocket jacks and left Mayanking drawing dead on the turn.

Tsokhla then tried to survive with pocket fours, but c0rbl1meyguv’s queen-six made a runner-runner straight after Tsokhla had flopped a set. Arrivider4i was next to go, open-shoving for 12 big blinds with pocket nines and running into KARNA1983’s pocket kings, which left only four players after 30 minutes of final-table action.

The next major swing came shortly after a scheduled break. mr.diego97 flopped trip aces and improved to quads on the river, while c0rbl1meyguv made a full house when the third ace arrived. After calling a river raise, c0rbl1meyguv was left with 13 big blinds.

Heads-up against c0rbl1meyguv, the chip lead changed hands several times. mr.diego97 went into the break with a 55.7-to-27.8 big-blind edge, the stacks later evened out, and then he built a bigger lead before the finish.

The final hand brought the title home. mr.diego97 raised with five-four and KARNA1983 called with seven-six. The board ran out eight-ace-four, then an offsuit queen on the turn, and another eight on the river. KARNA1983 over-bet shoved 12.3 big blinds into an 8.7 big blind pot, and mr.diego97 tanked before making the call that crowned him champion.

The result also fits into a short run of 888poker Mystery Bounty Main Events that had been drawing fields under the guarantee. Earlier PokerNews reports on the same series covered 744-entry and 776-entry editions after 888poker had cut the guarantee from $100,000 to $80,000 amid a stretch of overlays.

Damir Gabdullin carried the chip lead into the Onyx High Roller Series $10,400 Premiere final table after a long Day 2 at Merit Royal Diamond Hotel Casino & Spa. The field went from 76 returnees to nine survivors in about 12 hours, and the winner is set to collect $1 million.

According to PokerNews coverage, the event drew 507 entries across four starting flights and generated a $4,765,800 prize pool. The tournament had a $5 million guarantee, and every player who made Day 2 was already guaranteed a payout.

Day 1c was played with 100,000 starting chips, with 40-minute levels, while the Day 1d turbo used 20-minute levels. Late registration ran until the start of Level 10 after the dinner break, and the flights played down to roughly 15% of the field, which meant every survivor locked up at least a min-cash.

Artsiom Lasouski entered Day 2 as the player to catch with 2,180,000, the only stack above two million after leading Day 1c. Alex Kulev returned on 1,840,000 after leading Day 1b, and Sorel Mizzi came back on 1,720,000 as the Day 1a chip leader.

Gabdullin finished the job by scoring the last knockout of the day. He turned a flush to crack Sinan Unlu’s aces at the bubble. Unlu was later eliminated in 10th for $63,000, setting up the final table.

A cluster of big names missed the final table, including Dietrich Fast, Aren Bezhanyan, Aliaksandr Shylko, Oliver Weis, Artur Martirosian, Boris Kolev, Timur Margolin, Fahredin Mustafov, Mehdi Chaoui and start-of-day big stack Alex Kulev. Mikita Badziakouski made a deep run, taking out Sorel Mizzi in 18th, Andrey Pateychuk in 17th and Danilo Velasevic in 13th before returning with 5,450,000.

Italo Modena returned with 7,400,000, while 'Goofy’ bagged 7,050,000. Giorgiy Skhulukhiya sat on 4,400,000, with Ravid Garbi and Sergio Aido close behind on 3,775,000 and 3,750,000.

The final table is set to start Tuesday, August 11 at 1 p.m. local time on Level 24, with blinds of 80,000/160,000 and a 160,000 big blind ante. Play will use a hands-per-level format instead of a tournament clock, and the table will also be streamed, with the streaming schedule yet to be confirmed but expected shortly after cards go in the air.

Boris Kolev emerged with the biggest stack after Day 1 of the $10,400 Mystery Bounty at the Onyx High Roller Series, where 114 entries pushed the prize pool past the $1 million guarantee and left 17 players moving on in the money.

The tournament is part of the 2026 Onyx High Roller Series at Merit Royal Diamond Hotel Casino & Spa, which runs from Aug. 7 to 16. The Mystery Bounty is a two-day event with a 100,000-chip starting stack, and opening level was 200/500 with a 500 big blind ante. Late registration closed at the end of Level 12 at about 10:45 p.m. local time, and once the field reached the money, the mystery bounties came into play.

Armin Rezaei delivered the bubble hand. He fired on all three streets against Orhan Ates and put him all in on the river, and Ates could not continue after pairing his queen.

Rezaei’s knockout locked up payouts for the remaining players and sent them into the bounty phase. Day 1 ended after Level 16 with 17 players bagging for Day 2.

Kolev of Bulgaria finished with 1,700,000 chips, which was good for 57 big blinds when play resumes. Show77 was second with 1,145,000, Fahredin Mustafov of Bulgaria bagged 1,115,000, Rezaei ended on 935,000, and Aram Sargsyan closed the top five with 805,000.

The 17 survivors return at 1 p.m. local time Tuesday, when play restarts at Level 17 with blinds of 15,000/30,000 and a 30,000 big blind ante.

The $330 Super Seniors event at the Potomac Summer Poker Open ended with a nine-way ICM deal at MGM National Harbor, and chip leader Phillip Murphy took the biggest share at $6,088. The tournament was open to players 60 and older and drew 153 entries for a $50,490 prize pool.

The final table had been set to play for a $13,750 first-place payout, but the players flattened the payouts instead. Michael Mathers took $5,832, Lawrence Zerolnick $5,591, Frederick Narding $5,133, and Pepper Rodgers, the shortest stack, $2,881. The original ninth-place payout was only $1,357, so even the smallest chop share came out ahead of the posted finish money.

PokerNews’ strategy explainer says an ICM deal assigns cash value to chips based on each player’s stack and their chances of finishing in the remaining spots. In a normal chop, the clock stops while players discuss a deal, and once everyone agrees, the tournament ends and the prize money is distributed under that agreement.

The final table also moved quickly by series standards. PokerNews said several events at the Potomac Summer Poker Open ran into the early morning, but this group was out of the poker room by around 9 p.m. Justin Arnwine said he and other players had already predicted a nine-way chop, and he summed up the mood with, “It’s 9 p.m., time for bed!”

Arnwine finished fourth in the $600 Opener for $36,157, while Ivan Tomic beat Atharv Kumar heads-up to win the trophy and $156,190. PokerNews also noted that the Super Seniors deal was not the only large chop this summer, pointing to an 11-way split in a July Monster Stack event at Grosvenor Goliath and a 15-way chop in a 2024 Ladies Event at Wynn Las Vegas.

Crispin Rovere’s latest CoinPoker investigation tries to answer two basic questions: who owns the poker room, and who keeps putting it in front of players. The LegalUSPokerSites piece says he works through archived site records, company registries, audited accounts and advertising transparency data rather than stopping at the brand name.

The report says the paper trail begins with a CoinPoker website footer and then moves through a company, its directors, shareholders and holding companies. It describes the structure as deliberately hard to read, and says Rovere’s search promises to keep going until it reaches “either a human being or a wall designed specifically to prevent one from being found.”

According to the account, archived versions of CoinPoker’s site showed the brand operating through Precise IG Solutions B.V. under a Curaçao sublicensing arrangement before that regime was dismantled. After that, CoinPoker appeared under an Anjouan licence, and the report says Rovere points to regulatory action involving Precise IG Solutions in Australia and Louisiana.

The same piece says the licensing setup did not give the broad territorial permission that marketing might lead ordinary players to assume. It also follows the trail to Panama, where a company called Precise Interactive Incorporated appears in the corporate record, but the public filing cited there does not reveal the ultimate shareholders.

The investigation’s most interesting turn comes when it shifts away from licensing and into advertising. Google’s Ads Transparency Center identifies Josh Consultancy Limited as the verified advertiser behind CoinPoker ads, and the company is described as a UK management consultancy rather than a gambling operator.

The report links Josh Consultancy director Suresh Chandra Joshi to another advertising company, Amplify Alliance. From there, Rovere frames the issue as who is responsible for putting CoinPoker in front of potential players and how wide the marketing network reaches.

That leads into ClickOut Media and Finixio, which the report says appear closely connected through their corporate histories, ownership structures and websites. It also says those companies’ wider media portfolio ties back into CoinPoker promotion, with the investigation naming PokerStrategy, CardPlayer and PokerScout.

The piece argues that buying established websites has value in the internet economy because it brings domain authority, an existing audience and Google’s accumulated trust. Archived versions of CardPlayer and PokerStrategy reportedly show new online-poker pages featuring CoinPoker prominently, while PokerScout stands out because its original purpose was to provide measured poker traffic data.

Rovere says CoinPoker was once ranked around 31st in the world on PokerScout’s traffic measurements, before promotional material later placed it at number one. The report reads that change as a sign of parasite SEO, where the authority of established platforms is used to capture search traffic and funnel users toward CoinPoker.

The financial trail gets messier in Finixio’s records. The report describes a former auditor resignation statement as a rare “fire alarm” filing, says the auditor raised concerns about transactions described as marketing costs that may have involved over-the-counter cryptocurrency purchases and possible mischaracterisation, and notes that Finixio disputed that interpretation and blamed the recipient of the transactions.

Subsequent accounts, the report says, disclosed substantial cryptocurrency movements through the company. Rovere highlighted tens of millions of pounds of crypto additions and disposals over successive financial years, which he treats as another sign that the commercial structure is more tangled than the public branding suggests.

The report also broadens the cast around Tony Tajinder Dhanjal, naming JLT Digital Media and GTO Strategy. JLT Digital Media is said to be connected to Jemlit, a mystery-box website, and Jemlit’s advertising was purchased through the same Josh Consultancy network mentioned earlier.

GTO Strategy is described as a poker training operation that featured testimonials from CoinPoker-associated figures. Dr. Slobodan Popovic is also said to appear in the picture, with his LinkedIn profile identifying him as both head of outreach at CoinPoker and an employee of ClickOut Media, while the report adds that he maintains an academic career linked to Serbia’s Institute of International Politics and Economics.

The investigation says it also explores Popovic’s links to Chinese state-owned media and CoinPoker’s promotion of Chinese-language gambling products. Rovere says he has no evidence of direct Chinese state involvement in CoinPoker, which keeps the report away from alleging a direct state connection.

The conclusion does not name a single owner. Rovere says he strongly doubts ClickOut Media is the secret owner of CoinPoker, and instead sees it as the marketing arm of the site, pushing an affiliate ecosystem with aggressive incentives.

The report also says Google has updated its gambling advertising requirements so affiliates must link directly to gambling entities licensed for the relevant jurisdiction rather than using intermediary routes to get around restrictions. In Rovere’s framing, that kind of affiliate model creates an asymmetry of risk that could draw regulatory attention.

Two public CoinPoker policy documents add more current compliance detail. The May 2025 AML/CFT policy names Precise IG Solutions B.V., lists registration number 162989 in Willemstad, Curaçao, says the company’s main business is online gaming services, and says it uses a risk-based approach with low, medium and high risk customers.

That AML policy says customers are checked with publicly available information and other reliable sources, including Google, OFAC’s sanctions search site and dilisense.com. It also says suspicious findings must be kept for at least five years and be available to Anjouan supervisory authorities, and that the company appoints an MLRO to file a quarterly preformatted risk report with designated authorities.

A March 2026 privacy policy names Precise Interactive Inc. in Panama and says the platform operates as a licensed Curaçao-based gaming operator. It says CoinPoker collects account, financial, technical, usage and communications data, and uses geo-location and jurisdiction screening at onboarding and during continued use.

That privacy policy also says personal data may be processed to determine user jurisdiction and eligibility, and may be shared with regulators, licensing bodies and law enforcement where required. It says restricted territory detection includes India, and accounts or transactions linked to restricted jurisdictions may be flagged, restricted or blocked.

888poker has published the full schedule for the penultimate UK Poker League stop of 2026, with Manchester set for Sept. 15-20 at Grosvenor Casino Bury New Road.

The card is built around a £560 No-Limit Hold’em Main Event. PokerNews described that event as carrying a £100,000 guarantee, while Grosvenor Casinos’ UKPL page says the 2026 Main Event guarantee was increased from £100K to £150K and that each festival carries £300,000 in guarantees.

The rest of the schedule includes a £250 Opening Voyage, a £1,100 High Roller and a £330 KO Rumble.

UK players also have a route into the Main Event through the UKPL Manchester Challenge, which runs from Aug. 10 through Sept. 5.

PokerNews said the challenge asks players to complete at least 40 tournaments, including BLAST, with buy-ins of $5 or more. pokerfuse described the same path as at least 40 tournaments with a £5 minimum buy-in, and said regular tournaments and BLAST both count.

Meeting the requirement earns a freeroll ticket, and pokerfuse said it should appear in the account within 72 hours. The ticket is then used for the special freeroll on Sept. 6 at 7:00 p.m. GMT.

The freeroll sends the top 30 finishers to the £560 Main Event. The prizes are seat-only, so winners must make their own way to Manchester.

The Manchester stop follows a UKPL season that has already included Luton, Blackpool and Reading South. pokerfuse said Luton opened the season with 556 entries and a prize pool of just over £264,000, while Blackpool drew 318 entries and Reading South drew 313.

Manchester last hosted UKPL in 2024, when Jamie Geraghty won the £560 Main Event, outlasting 327 opponents for £30,610. PokerNews said that score later helped fuel cashes in Scotland, Ireland, Slovakia and at the 2025 World Series of Poker.

Grosvenor’s UKPL page adds that most events count toward the National Poker League, and that Live Event Credit can be used in any UKPL tournament. It also says feeder satellites run from as little as £1 through a £1 > £5 > £30 > £250 or £1,000 Credit progression, and that Live Event Credit never expires.

Local favorite Scott Aulds won the San Diego Poker Classic $600 Main Event at Jamul Casino Resort after coming back from a nearly 5:1 heads-up deficit against Ediberto Pilotin. PokerNews reported the win earned Aulds $45,311 from a $225,680 prize pool, and it gave him his fifth SDPC title.

The road to the title started with a strong Day 1a. Aulds bagged 592,000 chips to lead the opening flight, which drew 91 entries and sent 11 players through.

By Day 2, 52 players returned, and the field was down to 22 by the first break. Day 2 reached the final table after six hours of play, and the final table itself lasted more than six hours as the pace slowed into a long grind.

Robert Fortuno entered the final table as chip leader but finished ninth, while Wesley McGraw went out in eighth and Kenneth Hirose fell in seventh after roughly two hours without another elimination. Desmond Teal then knocked out Cary Williams and Michael Starek to leave four players, and Pilotin sent out Kyler Somers and then Teal to reach heads-up.

Aulds said his plan was “slow and steady,” with a routine designed to make a long final table last. He also said he tries to maximize his good hands, minimize his bad ones, and use breathing exercises when he starts getting anxious or bored.

The heads-up match swung both ways before Aulds closed it out with an ace-high flush. He got an early double-up, won a big pot to grab a 3:1 lead, then watched Pilotin pull nearly even and later double twice to stay alive.

In the deciding hand, Pilotin held Q♣ J♦ against Aulds’ A♣ 4♣, and the Q♣ on the board completed the flush to end it. Three years after finishing runner-up in the same event, Aulds said this title was especially meaningful because the trophy had been eluding him ever since.

Brett Hagopian, a police officer from Granite City, won the RunGood Poker Series Gateway Poker Classic $800 Main Event at Hollywood Casino in St. Louis after beating Ben Miller heads-up. He called the victory his biggest poker accomplishment.

The main event drew 705 entries and built a $493,500 prize pool. The final 86 players came back for Day 2 already in the money. Before this run, The Hendon Mob listed Hagopian with $94,000 in live tournament earnings.

RunGood’s schedule showed the series ran from Aug. 4 to 9, with $800 Main Event flights on Aug. 6, 7, and 8, and Day 2 finals on Aug. 9. Hagopian said he plays every RunGood stop in St. Louis and had bagged about 200K late in Flight C after grinding through the week.

Day 2 had a few early names go quickly. WSOP bracelet winner Jason Simon was among the first bustouts, Horace Ingram fell within the first hour, Jeffrey Copeland finished 40th, and Day 1a chip leader Steph Martines ended up 24th.

Hagopian also had to survive some big spots. He nearly busted early against Adam Latham, but turned a straight to double up, then later shoved from the small blind with ace-five against Greg Iken and doubled again with aces against Javier Terrazas.

The final table opened with Iken in command on 9,200,000, more than twice Keith Heine’s stack. The short stacks kept hanging around, with Jerry Knoche doubling with kings, Matthew Blackwell winning a flip against Iken, Ben Miller doubling through Knoche, and Tyler Breeding making a full house against Heine.

The table thinned fast after Blackwell busted to Miller, Cameron Dugan fell eighth to Heine, and Knoche went out seventh to Heine. Terrazas later doubled through Iken, and with the stacks getting shallow the remaining six players paused, agreed to an ICM chop, and locked in a deal.

PokerNews reported that Hagopian secured $45,740 as the chip leader and left $26,000 for the eventual champion. A separate event-page summary listed him at $71,740 after the six-way deal.

Play resumed after the deal, and Miller busted Iken in sixth while Breeding sent Heine and Terrazas out in fifth and fourth. In heads-up play, Miller led 15,000,000 to 13,000,000 before Hagopian finally closed it out, and PokerNews said the RGPS returns to St. Louis in October, when Hagopian is expected to defend his title.

The 2026 Onyx High Roller Series moved into its $10,400 Mystery Bounty event at Merit Royal Diamond Hotel Casino & Spa, with a $1 million guaranteed prize pool on offer.

The two-day tournament began with 100,000 chips for each player and Level 1 set at 200/500 with a 500 big blind ante. Levels were 30 minutes long, with breaks scheduled after every four levels and a 75-minute dinner break at the end of Level 8.

Late registration stayed open through the end of Level 12, around 10:45 p.m. local time. The mystery bounty prizes were set to be revealed only after registration closed, and bounty payouts did not come into play until the field reached the money.

Day 1 ran until just seven players remained, which set a seven-handed final table. Those seven survivors returned for Day 2 to play down to a champion.

PokerNews said it would provide live reporting throughout the event, covering major pots, eliminations, and the run to the final table.

The Mystery Bounty sat inside a larger Onyx High Roller Series that F5 Poker described as a ten-day festival in Northern Cyprus running through 16 August. That report said the schedule opened with a $10,400 Premiere carrying a $5 million guarantee and stretched from $5,200 side events up to a $50,500 Onyx High Roller Championship.

F5 Poker also listed the broader schedule as including a $25,500 NLH Main Event with a $5 million guarantee, a $5,200 PLO Bounty on 9 August, a $15,300 NLH 6-Max on 13-14 August, and a $10,200 Bounty on 15-16 August. It said the series spanned No-Limit Hold’em and Pot-Limit Omaha events.

PokerStars will start operating as “PokerStars on Betfair” from August 13, and UK-based customers will later move onto the Betfair platform while still using PokerStars software and the PokerStars global player pool. The first stage of the change is about how UK players access their accounts, not about taking them off PokerStars.

According to PokerNews, non-UK PokerStars players can keep using the site as they always have. Betfair Poker customers will also begin accessing poker through PokerStars on Betfair from August 13.

The migration will use the same PokerStars software that the company described as the industry standard for the past 25 years. UK-based players will still be able to play the Sunday Million, Spring Championship of Online Poker, World Championship of Online Poker, and Spin & Go tournaments, and they will still be able to qualify for major live events such as the European Poker Tour.

In the coming months, Paddy Power Poker and Sky Poker will replace their own poker product with PokerStars software. PokerStars said that move should add liquidity to the PokerStars.com global liquidity pool, and that merging the UK-based customers of PokerStars and Betfair, plus the later additions of Paddy Power Poker and Sky Poker, should boost liquidity in cash games and tournaments.

The restructuring sits inside a broader shift in how Flutter treats poker. PokerStars Network, or PSN, connects players across Flutter brands into shared pools, with the aim of getting more players together in bigger fields more often and supporting the long-term health of the game.

The company said it is rebuilding liquidity in partnership, starting with other Flutter brands, and pointed to PSN-style success already seen for PokerStars in Italy with Sisal and SNAI, and in North America with FanDuel.

Mike Woodbridge, PokerStars’ chief commercial officer, said recent years have been harder for poker brands because regulation has fragmented the global game and pushed PokerStars to exit some markets and avoid others. He said players have felt that through thinner fields and smaller tournament prizes, and that the move is meant to improve liquidity and bring people back to the poker table.

Kim Daly, Betfair’s managing director, called the changes a “powerful moment for the industry.” She said integrating PokerStars onto the Betfair platform brings together two category-transformers, and that combining it with the Betfair Casino product creates a broader offer covering poker, sports betting, and premium casino gaming.

PokerStars said customer support teams will contact their respective customers to explain the migration process and answer questions, and more details are available on the PokerStars Blog.

Global Poker has added PowerStreak, a daily leaderboard promo for its Jackpot Sit’n’Go games that rewards players for stringing together five consecutive games and posting strong results. The top scorers each day get a share of more than SC 500 in Jackpot Sit’n’Go entry tickets, split across separate low- and high-buy-in leaderboards.

According to Pokerfuse, the promotion is free to enter and all prizes are funded entirely by the operator. Global Poker also says Sweeps Coins can be redeemed for real money at a rate of 1 SC to $1 USD, which is part of the pitch for why consecutive play may be more tempting.

PowerStreak uses the best five-game run from each player, and there is no limit to how many streaks a player can attempt in a day. The streak can start at any point in a session as long as the games are played consecutively, and Global Poker automatically selects the highest-scoring five-game streak at the end of the day.

Scoring is based on points awarded for each game according to the jackpot multiplier rolled, capped at 10x for scoring purposes. A tournament win doubles the points, and playing the higher buy-ins on the High leaderboard gives players an additional scoring multiplier.

The leaderboard is split to keep things balanced. The Low leaderboard covers SC 0.25 and SC 1 Jackpot Sit’n’Go games, while the High leaderboard covers SC 5 and SC 10.

The Low side distributes SC 100 in daily prizes across the top 10 finishers, paid in SC 1 tickets. The winner gets 40 SC 1 entries.

The High side pays out SC 410 a day among its top 10 finishers, in SC 10 tickets. The winner on that board collects 15 SC 10 entries.

The new promo does not change the underlying Jackpot Sit’n’Go format itself. Those games remain three-handed, winner-takes-all hyper-turbo events, available at four buy-in levels, with the top prize still set at 200x the buy-in.

Most Jackpot Sit’n’Go games pay between 2x and 10x the buy-in, while the 200x jackpot is much rarer. The article says the odds of hitting that top prize are roughly three in every 10,000 games, and that the only exception to winner-takes-all is when the 200x jackpot lands.

In that case, first place receives 75% of the prize pool, second place gets 15%, and the first player eliminated still collects the remaining 10%. The article also says Global Poker charges a 6.1% rake on these games.

Ivan Tomic won the $600 NLH Opener at the 2026 Potomac Summer Poker Open at MGM National Harbor in Maryland, earning $156,190 after beating Atharv Kumar heads-up.

According to PokerNews, the opener drew 1,508 runners and generated a $723,540 prize pool, smashing the half-million guarantee. Day 2 started with 153 players, and everyone had already made the money after seven separate bubbles in the Day 1 flights.

Justin Arnwine was viewed as the favorite and held the chip lead for most of Day 2. The report said he was the most accomplished player at the final table, with more than $2 million in live earnings, but he finished fourth after losing to Phillip Luy.

Luy briefly took the three-handed chip lead before running into Tomic’s aces and finishing third. Dominic Lake had gone out in 12th after his jacks ran into queens, and Tomic then rode that momentum into the final stretch.

Heads-up play lasted less than ten minutes. Kumar’s jack-ten could not improve against Tomic’s ace-high.

In a winner’s interview, Tomic called the six-figure score a career highlight and said he was an on-and-off semi-pro who had been playing recreationally for two decades. He said he found poker during the Poker Boom, watched Poker After Dark, and thanked MGM National Harbor for opening because he had grown tired of driving to Charlestown.

Joe McKeehen doubled through Artem Metalidi in the SHRPO Championship after his pocket jacks held in a big all-in pot. The hand came in the $5,300 no-limit hold’em event when 125 players were left from a field of 673.

The live update said the clash came on Level 14, with blinds of 3,000/5,000 and a 5,000 ante. McKeehen opened from UTG+1, Metalidi reraised from the big blind to 40,000, and McKeehen shoved for 166,000.

Metalidi called, but McKeehen’s jacks held on the runout and the pot pushed him to 338,000 chips, or 68 big blinds. Metalidi finished the hand with 242,000, or 48 big blinds.

The update put the average stack around 269,000, or 54 big blinds, with 85 players set to finish in the money and a $9,700 min-cash. The page also showed a prize pool of $3.26 million.

The tournament’s event sheet lists the SHRPO Championship as a $5,300 no-limit hold’em event. Players start with 50,000 chips, and registration plus one re-entry per day remain open until the start of Level 9.

Artsiom Lasouski took the overall lead in the $10,400 Premiere after Day 1c of the Onyx High Roller Series at the Merit Royal Diamond Hotel Casino & Spa. He bagged 2,180,000 chips, the only stack above the two-million mark, while Kadir Altinbasak finished on 1,630,000 and Andrey Pateychuk bagged 1,200,000.

PokerNews said Day 1c drew 137 entries and sent 21 players through to Day 2 with at least a min-cash locked up. After Day 1d Turbo late registration closed, the field had reached 507 entries, and a maximum of 77 players were set to return for Day 2 with a share of the $5,000,000 guaranteed prize pool.

Lasouski had already built one of the biggest stacks in the room before registration closed, then pulled farther ahead after sending Jamil Wakil to the rail. He also hit a set of deuces to bust Xiaosheng Zheng near the money, and the report described him as the man to catch for Day 2.

The bubble hand went to Danilo Velasevic, who called Michael Allen’s shove and won with Q♠ 5♣ against A♥ K♥ on a board of 5♦ 7♥ 8♦ 8♠ 3♥. Manig Loeser had already gone out in the soft-bubble spot after pocket jacks ran into Maksym Mamon’s kings, and the remaining players bagged with 34 minutes left in Level 15.

Day 2 begins at 1 p.m. Monday, with the survivors from the four opening flights combining under one roof for the first time. Blind levels increase to 60 minutes, and the plan is to play down to a final table.

The $600 NLH Opener at the Potomac Summer Poker Open moved into Day 2 with 153 players still alive from a field of 1,508, and everyone returning was already in the money. The top prize is $156,190, while the minimum cash is $1,157.

Matthew Mizel led the pack with more than 1 million chips. Valentin Lita sat next with 905,000, followed by Arash Asadabadi on 851,000, Isaac Bolden on 731,000, and Kyle Kishonsh on 633,000.

PokerNews said the opener used seven starting flights, and all of the Day 1 bubbles burst before play moved on. That left the full Day 2 field paid, with 153 spots in the money.

The coverage of the event began on Day 2, which was August 9. The field is now just over 100 eliminations from a winner being crowned, since the event will play down to a champion.

The broader series is running at MGM National Harbor from August 5-17. In a press release, MGM Resorts said the Potomac Summer Poker Open is back in collaboration with BetMGM Poker and features 23 trophy events, including a $500,000 guaranteed Opener and a $750,000 Main Event.

The MGM National Harbor schedule lists the opener’s Day 2 restart for August 9 at 11 a.m.

Horace Ingram bagged the Day 1c lead in the Gateway Poker Classic $800 Main Event, finishing with 767,000 chips after a 237-entry third starting flight at Hollywood Casino & Hotel.

He moved in for his last 200,000 with two queens and ran into Fouad Fahsi’s kings. A queen on the turn gave Ingram the win in the massive pot, and he celebrated, “I finally suck out the first time in my life!”

Only 29 players survived the flight. Shelby Burton finished second with 698,000, followed by Gene Janushanis with 643,000, Kyle Parrish with 597,000 and Jerry Knoche with 542,000. Matthew Blackwell bagged 430,000 after spiking the river on back-to-back hands, while Brady Schlueter ended with 393,000, Jason Simon 343,000, Mark Lafata 195,000 and Glen “the Cannon” Gruner 150,000.

According to PokerNews, the Day 1c turnout pushed the event to 521 entries through the first three opening flights. At the time of the update, 179 players were still in Day 1d and 64 had already secured Day 2 seats.

By the time all four starting flights were in the books, the field had grown to 705 entries and a $493,500 prize pool. Phil Boyd led the Day 2 counts with 1,082,000 chips, the only stack above a million, while Ingram sat among the top stacks behind him. Nick Lafata returned with 742,000, Shelby Burton with 698,000, Mike Bell with 693,000 and Steph Martines with 615,000. Bradley Young came back with 521,000, Keith Heine with 453,000, Jason Simon with 343,000, Jeffrey Copeland with 260,000 and David Nickel with 285,000 after being the only player to double-bag. A total of 86 players returned to Hollywood Casino & Hotel for Day 2.

Day 2 of the RunGood Poker Series Gateway Poker Classic $800 Main Event got underway at noon local time at Hollywood Casino & Hotel in St. Louis, with 86 players returning and Phil Boyd still out front on 1,082,000 chips. He was the only player above the million-chip mark as the field came back in the money.

Boyd had already set the pace after Day 1b, when he became the first player in the event to cross a million chips. According to PokerNews, he also capped that flight by busting Robert Weeks on the money bubble, then carried the same 1,082,000 stack into Day 2.

Horace Ingram entered second with 767,000, followed by Nick Lafata on 742,000. Shelby Burton sat on 698,000, Mike Bell on 693,000 and Steph Martines on 615,000.

A few recognizable names also returned with workable stacks. Bradley Young came back with 521,000 after finishing second in an RGPS event at the same venue in March. Keith Heine returned with 453,000 as the 2023 RGPS St. Louis champion, Jason Simon had 343,000 as a WSOP bracelet winner, and RunGood ambassador Jeffrey Copeland came back with 260,000.

David Nickel was the only player to double-bag, bringing 285,000 into Day 2. The action resumed with three minutes left in Level 17 at blinds of 6,000/12,000 with a 12,000 big blind ante, and each later level was set to stretch to 40 minutes.

The four starting flights produced 705 entries and a $493,500 prize pool. The remaining players were already guaranteed a payout, with the official list due shortly after play began, and the event was scheduled to play down to a winner by the end of the night.

Jason Koon, the Weston native with a long poker résumé, has been inducted into the Poker Hall of Fame. The Hall called him its 34th living member, and the honor came after he reached more than $77 million in live tournament earnings and climbed to third on poker’s all-time money list.

According to the World Series of Poker, Koon got in in his first year of eligibility after turning 40. The Hall’s 2026 voting format allowed multiple nominees to be inducted if they won support from at least two-thirds of the living Hall members, and Koon was the only candidate to clear the 22-vote threshold.

The Hall is reserved for players whose careers have made a lasting impact on the game. PokerNews reported that Koon was welcomed into the Hall on Aug. 3 at Horseshoe & Paris Las Vegas, the same day the 2026 WSOP Main Event final table got underway.

Koon’s path started in Lewis County. He grew up in Weston, attended Lewis County High School, and then went on to West Virginia Wesleyan College, where he was a sprinter before a college injury changed his path.

That injury pushed him toward poker, starting online before his live-event career took off. His early breakout results included a 2009 SCOOP win for more than $300,000, a fourth-place finish at WPT Festa Al Lago in 2010 for $225,680, and a three-way chop of a massive 2011 FTOPS event for $458,550.

From there, the results kept stacking up. PokerNews tracked wins in 2015, 2016, and 2017, including the $50,000 L.A. Poker Classic Turbo High Roller, Bellagio High Roller VII, the Seminole Hard Rock Poker Open Championship, and the $100,000 PokerStars Championship Super High Roller for $1.65 million. He moved into Triton Poker in 2018 and eventually became the series’ most successful player, according to the outlet, and a Triton ambassador.

His résumé also includes a 2020 Poker Masters Online win, a first WSOP bracelet in 2021, and a second in 2025 when he took the $50,000 No-Limit Hold’em High Roller for $1,968,927. In April 2022, he logged seven cashes at Triton Cyprus, all six-figure scores, and in May 2025, double Triton victories in Montenegro took him to 12 titles.

This year, he added a €100,000 EPT High Rollers Invitational Freezeout win in Monte Carlo for $1,173,378, plus a fifth-place finish in the $250,000 No-Limit Hold’em Super High Roller at the WSOP.

Speaking to WOWK, Koon said the Hall news was “a little bit of a shock.” He also said West Virginia remains very important to him, even though he has not lived in the state since college.

Koon said he gets back to West Virginia as often as he can. He also helped raise $26,000 for flood recovery in Lewis and Upshur counties, and after the induction he said he plans to keep focusing on being a father and on the game he loves.

According to Seminole Hard Rock Poker Open updates, Viktor Kovachev was second in chips when players came back for Day 2 of the $5,300 SHRPO Championship. Jonathan Wang led the 217 survivors when cards went back in the air, and Kovachev later climbed to 651,000 chips, or 217 big blinds, as the blinds went up.

The championship drew 673 entries across two starting flights and built a $3,262,704 prize pool, topping the $3 million guarantee. A total of 217 players advanced to Day 2.

The event is Event 43, a No Limit Hold'em championship with a four-day schedule and two starting days. Players begin with 50,000 chips, and on-site registration with one re-entry per day stayed open until the start of Level 9.

Day 2 began with Level 11 at 1,500/2,500 and a 2,500 ante, then moved to Level 12 at 1,500/3,000 with a 3,000 ante. By the later update, 168 players remained.

The final 85 players get paid, the min-cash is $9,700, and the winner receives $513,404 plus an SHRPO Guitar Tower Trophy. Second place pays $340,000, third $250,000, fourth $188,000, fifth $142,000, and sixth $108,000.

The schedule called for 60-minute levels until 24 players remained, then 90-minute levels, with a dinner break from 6:30 to 8 p.m. Day 2 was set to end after Level 20, and survivors were due back the next day to keep working toward the final table.

Alex Kulev took the lead in the Onyx High Roller Series $10,400 Premiere’s second starting flight, bagging 1,840,000 at Merit Royal Diamond Hotel Casino & Spa. The Day 1b field played down to 19 survivors, and every one of them locked up a payday and a seat in Day 2.

PokerNews reported that Day 1b drew 125 entries and kept going until the tournament hit the stone bubble. Bogdan Jontulovic became the bubble boy after moving all in for 180,000 with ace-king and running into Lars Kamphues’s pocket kings, which left Jontulovic unimproved on the board and sent the last 19 players through with cash already secured.

Kulev’s stack put him well clear of the pack, with Tommy G next at 1,680,000. Daniel Montagnolli and Ali Al-Kubasi shared the next spot on 990,000 each, while Oliver Weis finished on 870,000 and Sergio Aido on 655,000.

The rest of the notables who advanced included Aliaksandr Shylko with 510,000, Manuel Fritz with 335,000, Geoffrey Mooney with 285,000, Dietrich Fast with 240,000 and Selahaddin Bedir with 215,000. Fast also had one of the key bubble-period swings, surviving all in with a full house after Sergio Aido called him with nines.

The day was not short on rail casualties either. The report listed Ravid Garbi, Jamil Wakil and Daniel Rezaei among the players who missed out, and it noted that play paused at the stone bubble before the final elimination settled the flight.

This was the second starting flight of the event after Day 1a drew 178 entries and produced 27 Day 2 qualifiers after 16 levels. Sorel Mizzi led that opening flight with 1,720,000, while Timur Margolin and Artur Martirosian also finished among the biggest stacks.

The event is a $10,400 buy-in with a $5 million guaranteed prize pool. Players started with 100,000 chips, the opening flights used 40-minute levels, late registration stayed open until the start of Level 10 after the dinner break, and unlimited reentries are allowed across the starting flights.

Kulev also entered the day with strong recent form. He was nearing $7 million in 2026 earnings and had already collected more than $3.25 million for winning the inaugural EPT €250,000 Super High Roller in Monte-Carlo.

Two starting flights remain on the schedule. Day 1c gets underway Sunday at 1 p.m. local time, and Day 1d follows at 9 p.m. with 20-minute levels.

India’s Supreme Court is moving closer to final hearings on the constitutional challenge to the Promotion and Regulation of Online Gaming Act, 2025, after a three-judge bench asked the parties to finish their pleadings before the court takes up the case in full. The law is already in force and bans online real-money games across India, whether they are based on skill or chance.

The challenge is being heard as Head Digital Works v Union of India, case T.C.(C) No. 133/2025, according to the Supreme Court Observer case page. The listed bench includes Chief Justice Surya Kant and Justices Joymalya Bagchi and V.M. Pancholi, and the petitioners include Head Digital Works, Dr K. A. Paul, Clubboom 11 Sports and Entertainment, K. Anand, Habil Musten Jiruwala, Centre for Accountability Systemic Change, Manav Pradeep Arya, Bagheera Carrom OPC, and Anmol Mehta, Vaibhav Arora and Falguni Somani.

The Act was passed by Parliament on 21 August 2025, received Presidential assent on 22 August 2025 and was brought into effect on 1 May 2026. The case page says the next hearing for T.C.(C) No. 133/2025 was listed for 5 August and described the matter as pending.

The statute is broad. Its long title says it prohibits offering, operating, facilitating, advertising, promoting and participating in online money games through computer resources, mobile devices or the internet, especially where the activity crosses state borders or comes from foreign jurisdictions. It also says the goal is to protect individuals, especially youth and vulnerable people, from social, economic, psychological and privacy-related harms.

Under the Act, online money games are banned regardless of whether they are based on skill, chance or both, and e-sports are excluded. The law also prohibits ads that promote online money games and bars banks and other financial intermediaries from facilitating payments tied to those services.

The Act sets up an authority, or lets the government designate an existing one, to determine whether a game is an online money game after inquiry. It also creates penalties for violations, including imprisonment of up to three years and a fine of up to one crore rupees for offering online money gaming services in contravention of section 5.

The constitutional issues in the case are broad too. The petitioners are challenging the law under Article 19(1)(g), Article 14, Article 21, Entry 34 of the State List, and on the ground of excessive delegation. The case materials say they argue the ban is disproportionate, overbroad and arbitrary, including for fantasy sports and other skill-based games that had previously been treated as lawful.

The challenge comes after the Supreme Court’s May 27 rulings in other real-money gaming disputes, when it upheld a retrospective 28% GST levy on online gaming companies and also upheld state laws prohibiting real-money gaming platforms. In that context, the court said the skill-versus-chance distinction becomes irrelevant for GST purposes once money is staked on an uncertain outcome.

The Hindu reported that the government tied the online gaming ban to national security concerns, including alleged use of digital wallets and cryptocurrencies for money laundering and illicit transfers. The same report said the law carved out exceptions for e-sports, educational games and social gaming.

With pleadings to be completed before the constitutional challenge is fully considered, the outcome now matters most for real-money gaming operators across India.

Ondrej Goetz won the €1,800 PLO Championship at WSOP Circuit Bratislava, taking €106,800. He also collected a gold ring and a $5,000 WSOP Paradise package after beating Valter Proia heads-up.

The championship was Ring Event #5 and carried a €500,000 guarantee. Poker.pro said the event drew 272 entries and built a €485,000 prize pool, with 41 players advancing to the final day and everyone already locked into at least €4,080.

Goetz began the final table in sixth place and kept climbing. Poker.pro said he entered heads-up after eliminating Kevin Goršič with a 2-to-1 chip lead, then watched Proia flip the script and build a 5-to-1 advantage before Goetz fought back.

The title match lasted more than two hours. In the final hand, Proia shoved K♥Q♠9♥4♣, Goetz called with A♣K♦5♠3♠, and the board ran J♣2♠T♣T♥5♣ to leave Proia second for €71,100.

The final table had a distinctly European feel, with two Czechs, two Slovenians and two Bulgarians among the nine finalists. Kevin Goršič took third for €48,950, Nikola Minkov fourth for €44,450, Jan Maule fifth for €24,790, Borislav Bogdanov sixth for €18,260, Harald Casagrande seventh for €13,760, Damir Alidzanovic eighth for €10,630 and Attila Zab ninth for €8,410. Poker.pro said the win was the best result of Goetz’s career.

Phil Boyd carried the lead into Day 1c of the RunGood Poker Series Gateway Poker Classic $800 Main Event, with 1,082,000 chips and the only seven-figure stack among the players who had already secured their tickets for Day 2. The event had reached 284 entries through the first two starting flights, and the field was expected to grow significantly once Day 1c got underway at Hollywood Casino & Hotel.

That position was familiar for Boyd. PokerNews reported that he was also the Day 1b leader, when he became the first player to clear the million-chip mark and finished with 1,082,000 after busting Robert Weeks on the money bubble. Day 1b added 179 entries, pushing the running total to 284 and leaving 22 survivors from that flight.

Going into Day 1c, 35 players had secured Day 2 seats. Mike Bell was in the mix with 693,000, followed by Travis Gillihan with 644,000, Stephen Martines with 615,000 and Cameron Dugan with 611,000.

Keith Heine had 453,000. The list also included Jeffrey Copeland with 260,000, and Heine was noted as the player who won the RGPS stop in St. Louis in 2023.

Day 1c began with 40,000-chip starting stacks. Levels were 30 minutes long, late registration stayed open through the end of Level 8, and unlimited reentries were available.

Each Day 1 flight ended once 12.5% of the field remained. A Day 1d flight was set for 5 p.m. that evening.

The wider series runs Aug. 4-9 and the Main Event carries a $200,000 guarantee. All survivors from the four starting flights are scheduled to come back for Day 2 at noon, when levels stretch to 40 minutes and the tournament is set to play down to a winner.

The same Hollywood Casino venue hosted an RGPS stop in March, when Gabriel Attoun won the $800 Main Event from a field of 647 entries for $83,141.

The San Diego Poker Classic $600 Main Event had reached the halfway point of its scheduled starting flights at Jamul Casino Resort, with Pablo Costorda still leading on 699,000 chips. Day 1a and Day 1b had produced 91 and 105 entries, sending 11 and 13 players on, and two more starting flights were still on the schedule.

According to PokerNews, Costorda’s Day 1b stack remained the biggest in the tournament through two flights. Matthew Gawel finished the second flight with 219,000, and Ricky Barraza bagged 151,000.

Day 1a had been topped by Scott Aulds, who finished with 592,000. Kyler Somer ended that flight with 500,000, and Robert Fortuno advanced with 426,000.

Aulds said during Day 1a that last year he was chasing trophies to prove a point to himself, but this year he was chasing the money. That earlier flight also saw Kyler Somer eliminate Robin Brown on the bubble.

The fifth annual SDPC Main Event carries a $600 buy-in and a $100,000 guaranteed prize pool. Last year’s champion was Sebastian Acevedo, who outlasted 375 entries and earned $33,216 after an ICM chop with James Kozono and David Fernandez Sanchez.

Each starting flight advances the top 12.5% of the field, rounded down. Players start with 30,000 chips, can re-enter unlimited times per flight, and may play all Day 1 flights. Day 2 begins at the lowest blind level used on Day 1, registration closes at the start of Level 9, and the structure calls for 30-minute levels on Day 1 and 40-minute levels on Day 2.

The $5,300 SHRPO Championship cleared its $3 million guarantee during Day 1B, when the field reached 299 entries on the flight and 619 overall.

The Seminole Hard Rock Poker Open site’s event schedule PDF listed the championship as Event 43, with play set for August 7-11. Day 1A was Friday, Aug. 7, Day 1B was Saturday, Aug. 8, and Day 2 was Sunday, Aug. 9.

Day 1B was the second and final flight, and it started at 11 am with players beginning on 50,000 chips. Levels were 60 minutes long until 24 players remained, then stretched to 90 minutes.

An early Day 1B update showed 63 entries when Flight B got underway. Another page showed play resuming after a 90-minute dinner break at the start of Level 7, with blinds at 500/1,000 and a 1,000 big blind ante.

At that point, the site said Day 1B had 294 entries and needed five more to make the mark. The live coverage later put Day 1B at 299 entries and the overall field at 619, officially pushing the prize pool past the guarantee.

The same live coverage said registration stayed open until the start of Level 9 at 9:15 pm, with one entry and one re-entry allowed per starting flight. It also said action was scheduled to continue until the end of Level 10, around 11:15 pm.

Later site updates showed the field continuing to grow, with Day 1B listed at 335 entries, then 338, and finally 353 at registration close. Those updates put the overall field at 655, 658 and an estimated 673, with the prize pool projected at more than $3.25 million.

A break-time leaderboard also showed five players over 290,000 chips. Artem Metalidi led with 412,500, followed by Jeff Trudeau on 326,500, Anthony Bertuccio on 310,000, Colin Robinson on 301,500 and David Jackson on 291,000.

The event page and PDF described Event 48 as a one-day $800 Deep Stack No-Limit Hold’em/Pot-Limit Omaha Mix with a $50,000 guarantee. It was set for Aug. 8 at 2 p.m. as part of SHRPO’s Day 12 slate.

Players started with 25,000 tournament chips. Levels ran 30 minutes each, the field was nine-handed, and the structure used a big blind ante format with a single ante posted from the big blind equal to the blind level each hand.

Late registration and unlimited re-entries stayed open through the start of Level 9 at 6:30 p.m. The PDF broke the $800 into a $698 entry fee that went to the prize pool and a $102 registration fee, including $30 for staffing and $2 for the SHRPO Tournament Leaderboard promotional fund.

Entries were non-transferable and non-refundable, and players had to be 18 or older, show proper ID and be a Unity Member. On the same day’s schedule, Event 48 followed the 12 p.m. Event 47 and came before the 5 p.m. Event 49.

For context, SHRPO had opened on July 28 with a one-day $300 Deep Stack NLH Slater Scoops opener that carried a $100,000 guarantee.