ClubWPT Gold will begin its 5 Million GTD Free Entry Tournament on Sunday, Nov. 1, giving every player a free entry into each opening flight. The World Poker Tour describes it as the biggest tournament in ClubWPT Gold’s history, with a 5 million guaranteed prize pool and 1 million set aside for the winner.

The event runs Day 1 flights daily through Nov. 28, with at least two starting each day at 1 p.m. PT and 7 p.m. PT. Players can register through the ClubWPT Gold lobby.

The free-entry setup does not prevent players from putting more chips into an individual flight. A player who busts can re-enter for 100 Chips, and one 50 Chip add-on is available per flight.

Five percent of each Day 1 field will receive a share of that flight’s prize pool, while 3% will advance to Day 2. Players who make the top 5% more than once receive a prize on each occasion, and those who qualify through multiple flights will combine their stacks for Day 2.

The tournament is open to all ClubWPT Gold players. The service is available as a sweepstakes-based poker club in 45 U.S. states and territories; no purchase is necessary, and it is void where prohibited.

The scale exceeds the club’s previous offerings. A 2025 Gold Rush campaign culminated in a 1 million Sweeps Coin freeroll for ticket holders, while its related online festival carried more than 14 million Sweeps Coins in guarantees across its events.

The anonymous CoinPoker account Giselle54 had built $4,794,902 in tracked cash-game profit during October as of PokerStrategy’s Oct. 29 report. The figure covered cash games, not tournament results, and came chiefly from high-stakes Pot-Limit Omaha and five-card PLO.

The total is based on tracked results and published session reports rather than independently audited financial records. Still, it puts Giselle54 well clear as October’s reported standout in CoinPoker’s nosebleed games, where blinds reached $1,000/$2,000.

The identity behind the screen name had not been publicly confirmed. Giselle54 had become a regular at the site’s biggest Omaha tables, playing established professionals and other high-stakes accounts in heads-up action.

One early-October week reportedly produced about $2.2 million in profit. In a separate one-day result, Giselle54 finished $1.52 million ahead, including roughly $788,900 won over 335 hands against samjazzykins in a $500/$1,000 five-card PLO match.

The biggest reported session came Oct. 21 against yolof1. Giselle54 played 1,674 heads-up hands across stakes from $500/$1,000 to $1,000/$2,000 and finished almost $2 million ahead.

That match included two pots above $500,000. The larger, a $556,640 PLO5 pot at $1,000/$2,000 with a $1,000 ante, went to Giselle54 with kings full; another reached $517,400. In five-card PLO, players receive five hole cards but must use exactly two to make their final hand.

Giselle54 also faced GucciNIKE, with more than $1 million on the table in their heads-up PLO sessions and several pots exceeding 600 big blinds. PokerStrategy identified GucciNIKE as CoinPoker’s biggest tracked winner across all of 2026 at the time, even as Giselle54 led the site’s October results.

The anonymous account had already drawn attention in September 2025, when PokerStrategy reported Giselle54 turned $100,000 into $650,000 in 24 hours at $500/$1,000 heads-up PLO, including a $471,000 pot against LUKAKU. PokerStrategy has compared the current CoinPoker action with Full Tilt Poker’s Rail Heaven era, when names such as Tom Dwan, Phil Ivey, Patrik Antonius and the then-unidentified Isildur1 played for huge sums. Isildur1 was later identified as Viktor Blom.

Sergei Kislinskii captured his first PokerGO Tour title by winning the $5,300 Sprint Event No. 4 at the PokerGO Studio. He outlasted 57 entries to collect $91,200 from a $285,000 prize pool, the biggest live tournament score of his career.

The event paid its top nine finishers. Kislinskii’s victory lifted his lifetime tournament earnings beyond $1.1 million and earned him 240 points in the 2026 Card Player Player of the Year race sponsored by CoinPoker.

Card Player reported that Brandon Sunshine entered heads-up play with more than a 3:1 chip lead, after eliminating Joe McKeehen in third for $39,900. Kislinskii had doubled through McKeehen with pocket sixes against pocket fours, then took the lead from Sunshine in a post-flop cooler when Sunshine held top two pair and Kislinskii had flopped a straight.

Sunshine moved all-in on the button in the final hand with K♠9♥, trailing Kislinskii’s A♣10♥. The A♥Q♠9♠6♠2♦ board sealed the title for Kislinskii, while Sunshine received $57,000 for second.

The runner-up had also placed third in Sprint Event No. 3 a day earlier, earning $37,050, making this his second straight final table. The two results pushed Sunshine’s career tournament earnings past $1 million.

McKeehen’s third-place finish was followed by Andrew Lichtenberger in fourth for $28,500. Lichtenberger had made final tables in three of the first four Sprint events, including a runner-up finish in the opener. Dorian Pavon finished fifth for $21,375, while Pierce McKellar placed sixth for $15,675.

Before this victory, Kislinskii’s largest recorded payday was $78,750 for a runner-up finish in 2024 PGT Kickoff Event No. 2. He also won the 2023 Mid-States Poker Tour Venetian Main Event, a 238-entry $1,600 event, for $73,019. The MSPT described that result as his first recorded tournament win and, at the time, his biggest score.

The live breakthrough came amid a productive 2026 online run: as we reported Oct. 24, Kislinskii had won two WSOP Online bracelets and posted two runner-up finishes through the first 18 events of the fall bracelet series.

Nacho Barbero carried the biggest stack into Day 2 of the €1,500 WSOP Circuit Madrid Main Event after the fourth and final starting flight at Casino Gran Vía. Barbero bagged 1.517 million chips, putting him ahead of the 140 players still in a tournament that drew 918 entries.

PokerNews’ live coverage said Day 1d drew 147 entries and sent 23 players through. Barbero arrived late in the flight but built the overall chip lead, later writing on social media: “I fired a bullet in the tournament and bagged chipleader.”

Every remaining player had locked up at least €3,000 from a prize pool of about €1.16 million. Day 2 was set to play down to the eight-handed final table, with the eventual winner due to become the first WSOP Circuit Main Event champion on Spanish soil.

The stacks behind Barbero remain substantial. Ricardo Hernandez Montalvo led his starting flight with 1.2 million, while Joao Cardoso Novais bagged 980,000 after topping Day 1c. Ladislao Dalfo Batlle advanced with 841,000, Rene Lazaro Cifuentes had 785,000 and Andoni Larrabe Sanchez returned with 764,000.

As reported after the opening flight, Larrabe Sanchez was the Day 1a leader; he remained among the healthier stacks after all four opening days. Ignacio Molina brought 711,000 into Day 2, followed by Cristobal Ochoa with 664,000 and Antonio Guimaraens with 601,000.

Cifuentes secured his Day 2 seat by cracking pocket jacks to burst the bubble. Pierre Calamusa also survived with 434,000 after more than doubling during the bubble period, keeping alive his chance of adding the Main Event ring to the High Roller title he won earlier in the week.

Other notable survivors included Kyle Julius with 429,000, Thomas Taylor with 402,000, Fausto Munz with 284,000, Serafim Kovalevskiy with 204,000 and Arnaud Enselme with 176,000. Ahmet Kalebas was the shortest listed stack on 15,000.

Day 2 was due to resume Saturday at 12:30 p.m. local time with 60-minute levels, beginning at 5,000/10,000 blinds and a 10,000 big blind ante. The final table is scheduled for Sunday, when the Main Event concludes as part of the first WSOP Circuit stop in Spain.

Dan “Jungleman” Cates has announced Pokerworld: At the Table with Cheats & Saints, a memoir written with Washington Post journalist Rick Maese. The book is scheduled for publication on May 4, 2027, by Matt Holt Books, with Simon & Schuster distributing it.

The 208-page book is listed at about $28 by retailers including Amazon and Target, and preorders were available. Simon & Schuster said the memoir will “pull back the curtain on the quirky, high-pressure universe” that made Cates one of poker’s most unconventional high-stakes players.

PokerNews reported that the book follows Cates from his early online poker years into private games around the world. Cates’s account includes his path from an online heads-up specialist before age 22 to high-stakes games in Las Vegas, Macau and Montenegro.

Pokerworld is framed as an anecdotal memoir rather than a strategy manual. It examines decision-making with incomplete information, uncertainty, downswings and unexpected crises, while drawing lessons for business and life from discipline and emotional control.

The book also promises accounts of controversial moments and opponents from Cates’s professional career. Its title points to the “cheats” and “saints” of poker’s high-stakes world, while the publisher’s description emphasizes humility over bravado.

Cates built his “Jungleman” name as an online screen name and became a leading heads-up hold’em player after beginning online as a teenager. Before turning 22, he had won more than $5 million in online heads-up games and played online opponents including Viktor Blom and Tom Dwan.

His later results include back-to-back victories in the $50,000 World Series of Poker Poker Players Championship in 2021 and 2022. He has also recorded more than $19 million in Hendon Mob live-tournament cashes and won $15 million in three consecutive heads-up matches against Ossi “Monarch” Ketola.

GTO LAB will begin a 21-day Mystery Bounty Masterclass on Nov. 3, aimed at a tournament format whose strategy changes sharply once bounty prizes become available. The course will cover play at every stage and include bounty tools designed to help players decide when to gamble, when to pass and how to maximize expected value.

PokerNews’ promotion says the program was created by Axel Hallay, Nick Petrangelo and Daniel Dvoress, who have more than $100 million in combined live-tournament cashes. Petrangelo accounts for $46 million of that total and has won two World Series of Poker bracelets.

The course costs $999. Players who preorder before Nov. 3 receive a $200 discount, described as 20% off, plus a free month of Pro access and a mystery prize. Petrangelo said even experienced professionals can benefit from the material and claimed the Masterclass will “pay for itself.”

Mystery bounties have become a major tournament format in both live and online poker. They are generally played as standard tournaments until a designated bounty phase, when eliminating an opponent earns a randomly selected prize that can sometimes exceed the top prize in the regular payout structure.

That payout uncertainty creates different incentives from conventional multi-table tournaments and progressive-knockout events. A GTO Wizard guide says players should focus on the average value of all remaining bounties rather than chase the biggest individual prize, while also accounting for ICM and stack coverage. Players who cover opponents can pursue eliminations more aggressively, while covered stacks have less freedom to do so.

WSOP Online’s November Super Circuit schedule points to the current 888-powered poker platform staying live through at least Nov. 22, rather than being replaced before the series ends. The 18-event festival runs from Nov. 5 to Nov. 22, with a Circuit event scheduled each day.

Pokerfuse reported that the schedule does not establish a launch date for a replacement. But it makes a change during the series unlikely, and the existing platform could remain in use for the rest of 2026. Jan. 1 is one possible transition date, although Caesars has not announced either a supplier or a timetable.

As we reported Oct. 15, Caesars Digital is recruiting a Senior Product Manager, Poker, for a standalone poker app across iOS, Android and the web. The role also covers poker integrations in Caesars Sportsbook and iCasino, from the player journey and lobby to game selection, cashier, responsible-gaming features and post-launch updates.

The vacancy indicates Caesars plans to license underlying poker technology from a third party rather than build it internally. It does not identify the supplier, and neither Caesars nor PokerLab, one company considered a possible fit, has confirmed an agreement. Established business-to-business suppliers that could be candidates include Playtech’s iPoker, EvenBeter Gaming, BetConstruct and Connective Games, though limited public information directly links EvenBeter Gaming, BetConstruct and Connective Games to Caesars’ plans.

WSOP Online has used 888 Poker technology since entering the regulated US market in 2013. Caesars renewed that technology arrangement for five years in 2021, with the current term due to end in 2026. Caesars therefore faces a choice between another multiyear extension with 888 or a move to another provider.

The potential technology decision remains with Caesars Interactive, which operates WSOP’s US online poker business. NSUS acquired the WSOP brand in 2024, but that ownership did not transfer control of the US poker operation; Caesars Interactive is separate from NSUS and GGPoker.

A platform move would follow Caesars and WSOP’s 2024 launch of the upgraded WSOP Online service, which pooled liquidity across Michigan, Nevada and New Jersey and rebranded WSOP.COM. The WSOP website now lists WSOP Online as available in Nevada, New Jersey, Michigan and Pennsylvania.

WSOP.com has profiled poker live reporter Liam Gannon ahead of his first planned trip to WSOP Paradise, where he intends to play the $2,750 No-Limit Hold’em WSOP Circuit Championship Mystery Bounty. Gannon earned a $5,000 Paradise package by winning his second career WSOP Circuit ring at Grand Victoria Casino in Elgin, Illinois, in April.

The package awarded to every 2026 Circuit ring winner includes entry to the Mystery Bounty and a hotel stay at Baha Mar in the Bahamas. As we reported Oct. 16, winners must reserve the package by Nov. 1.

Gannon’s profile described the Mystery Bounty as carrying a $3 million guarantee. The official WSOP Paradise schedule now lists it as Event No. 1 with a $5 million guarantee and multiple starting flights.

The April victory came in a $600 event that Gannon entered at the maximum late-registration point. He reached the final table, built a large chip lead and beat Matt Miller heads-up after picking off a bluff in a major pot.

Gannon had previously won a Paradise package with his first Circuit ring, in the $400 No-Limit Hold’em Mini Main at Horseshoe Council Bluffs in September 2025, but did not make the trip. PokerOrg reported that victory was worth $28,903, then his career-best tournament score, and followed a runner-up finish to Jared Ward in a $400 bounty event two days earlier.

His decision to go this year was partly prompted by his sisters’ reaction to the missed 2025 trip. “You have a free seat to the Bahamas, and you’re not using it?” Gannon recalled them saying. He said he hopes his parents can join him, although he will travel alone if they cannot.

Gannon joined the PokerNews live-reporting team for the 2021 WSOP after meeting Chad Holloway. He now works live-reporting assignments for PokerNews and Poker.Org while playing tournaments, principally in the Midwest, between stops. His first tournament was a $20 charity event at age 18, where he finished 27th for $60.

WSOP Paradise runs at Baha Mar from Dec. 2 through Dec. 17, with 20 bracelet events and $120 million in announced guarantees across the series.

ACR Poker’s Nov. 1 schedule combines another WSOP Paradise Mega Satellite with the bounty-stage launch of its three Halloween Mystery PKO tournaments. The $1,050 Mega begins at 3:05 p.m. ET and guarantees seven Bahamas packages worth $30,000 each, or $210,000 in total.

Each package includes the $26,000 buy-in to WSOP Paradise’s $50 million guaranteed Super Main Event, plus room-only accommodation at SLS Baha Mar from Dec. 5-18. Winners must cover travel, meals and other personal expenses. The Super Main Event runs Dec. 10-17.

As reported Oct. 25, the previous Mega also awarded all seven packages after drawing 190 entries. The Oct. 11 and Oct. 18 Megas each produced more than $50,000 in overlay, while the Oct. 25 event had a $20,000 overlay.

The Paradise promotion offers 100 packages overall through Nov. 22. Megas on Nov. 8 and Nov. 15 each guarantee seven packages, before the Nov. 22 event increases that number to eight. Players can enter $95 Beast satellites for a future Mega, with winners placed into the following Sunday’s tournament, meaning the Nov. 1 Beast feeds the Nov. 8 Mega rather than the day’s seven-package event.

The Halloween Mystery PKOs also reach Day 2 on Nov. 1, when eligible knockouts begin producing mystery and progressive bounty rewards. The three events carry $650,000 in combined guarantees: $500,000 in the $109 tournament, $100,000 in the $33 edition and $50,000 in the $5.50 event.

Daily starting flights began Oct. 18 and continue through Nov. 1. ACR Poker reported 1,117 combined Day 2 qualifying spots as of Oct. 26, up from 367 on Oct. 20. That total is not a count of unique players, since players can qualify through multiple flights and combine stacks under tournament rules.

The $109 event had 191 qualifying spots at that point, the $33 tournament had 171 and the $5.50 event had 755. ACR Pro Rob Kuhn had qualified for the $109 event, while Jeff Boski had secured stacks in both the $33 and $5.50 tournaments.

The Mystery PKO format combines a hidden prize with a progressive bounty. No bounties are paid during Day 1 and every Day 2 entrant begins with no accumulated progressive bounty. Once bounty play opens, half of a revealed mystery prize is paid immediately to the player scoring the knockout and half is added to that player’s progressive bounty; any existing bounty on the eliminated player is split the same way.

The format is described by ACR Poker as exclusive to the Winning Poker Network. The remaining Nov. 1 flights offer the final chance to reach the bounty stage before play moves into Day 2.

JackPoker has brought back its Private Table feature for a one-week promotion running from Oct. 30 through Nov. 6. Players can create cash-game tables for invited friends, with random Cash Drops ranging from three big blinds to 10,000 big blinds available during regular sessions.

Players must contact JackPoker Support to request a table. They can choose the table name, stakes and game format, then receive access details from support and share the password with their group, according to Card Player.

The available formats are No-Limit Hold’em, Pot-Limit Omaha 5 and Pot-Limit Omaha 6. Cash Drops may appear during regular cash-game sessions at private tables during the promotional period.

JackPoker is also pairing the feature with a deposit offer: a $40 deposit earns a $5 tournament ticket. That is separate from the room’s stated welcome offer, which gives qualifying first-time depositors making at least a $50 deposit $10 in instant cash.

The run overlaps JackPoker’s Halloween Giveaway, which added daily Omaha tasks on Oct. 26, as we reported Oct. 27. Earlier in October, JackPoker also launched its $100,000 Monster Hand Hunt, built around qualifying monster hands, Flipouts and giveaways.

The new promotion uses the same three-to-10,000-big-blind prize range as JackPoker’s September Cash Splash campaign, PokerListings reported. That earlier promotion ran at participating five-card and six-card Omaha cash tables from Sept. 3 through Sept. 22, while the Private Table offer lets players select from Hold’em, PLO5 and PLO6 and play in an invite-only setting.

During the first stage of Cash Splash, JackPoker made up to $40,000 a day available and said drops triggered about once every 30 hands on average when at least three players were seated. Those conditions were specific to Cash Splash and have not been stated for the Private Table promotion.

RunGood Poker Series will return to Graton Resort & Casino in Rohnert Park, California, for the RGPS Bay Area stop from Nov. 12-22. The 11-day festival has 18 ring events and more than $500,000 in guaranteed prize pools.

The headline change is an $800 Main Event buy-in, down from $1,100, while the guarantee remains $300,000. The tournament begins Friday, Nov. 20, with four starting flights across Friday and Saturday before a Sunday finale. PokerNews will provide live coverage including chip counts, major hands, eliminations and updates from the tournament floor.

As we reported in August, Graton was set to host the RGPS NorCal Poker Championships from Aug. 20-30.

The $400 PokerNews PowerStack Mystery Bounty is the other major guaranteed event, with a $200,000 guarantee. It has five starting flights from Nov. 12-14, with surviving players returning on Sunday, Nov. 15, to play for the title and mystery-bounty prizes.

The early schedule also includes a $300 Series Opener on Nov. 12 and a $400 Big Bounty on Nov. 15. Other highlights are the $300 Graton Harvest Classic, $400 Monster Stack, $400 Seniors 50+ event and Tag Team PLO/NLH tournament, alongside lower-buy-in turbo events.

Mixed-game players have several formats on the calendar: Limit Omaha 8, Mixed PLO, Pot-Limit Omaha and Double Board Bomb Pot PLO. Players looking to qualify for the Main Event can enter $200 satellites, which award one $800 Main Event seat for every five entries.

The Bay Area festival is part of RGPS’s Golden Expedition fall season. Players can compete in both the 2026/27 RunGood Player of the Year race and the PokerNews PowerStack Leaderboard, whose top 10 finishers each receive a Thunder Valley package and entry to the $300 Dream Seat Invitational.

Golden Expedition is RGPS’s tournament season across North America and the Caribbean, built around championship-ring events. The season concludes with the Dream Factory Festival at Thunder Valley Casino Resort in Lincoln, California, from Nov. 27 through Dec. 3, including two invitationals for 2026 RunGood ring winners.

Jesse Lonis won Event No. 3 of the 2026 PGT Sprint, converting a third consecutive final-table appearance into his first title of the series. He earned $101,000 after topping 78 entries in the $5,300 no-limit hold’em event, which created a $390,000 prize pool.

Lonis had finished sixth in Event No. 1 and third in Event No. 2, making $175,350 across the opening three tournaments. The victory was his second of 2026 and his 19th final-table finish of the year. It also represented the 64th six-figure cash of his career and pushed his lifetime tournament earnings beyond $35.2 million.

Lonis entered the seven-handed final table with the chip lead and retained it through the early exits. Natalie Ferguson finished seventh for $15,600, Patrick Leonard took sixth for $19,500, and Lonis eliminated Jim Collopy in fifth when his pocket aces held against A-10.

Brandon Sunshine finished fourth for $37,050 after Sam Laskowitz eliminated him, while Adam Hendrix collected $50,700 in third. Lonis took nearly a 4:1 chip advantage into heads-up play against Laskowitz.

The two finalists agreed to redistribute some of the remaining prize money while continuing for the title and PGT ranking points. Laskowitz received $78,400, and Lonis closed it out with A-clubs-4-clubs against A-spades-6-hearts after the flop came 10-clubs-5-clubs-2-clubs, giving him a flush.

The win earned Lonis 164 PGT points, while his three Sprint results totalled 276 points and moved him into the top 40 of the season-long PGT standings. He also rose to fourth in the Card Player Player of the Year standings, with nearly $5 million in qualifying earnings for the year.

Lonis’s win followed his third WSOP bracelet earlier this month, as we reported.

The CNP Winamax Grand Final will return to Casino Gran Madrid Torrelodones from Nov. 12-23, with organizers aiming to push the €550 Main Event beyond 3,000 entries for the first time. The target would top the record 2,684 entries set by the same event in 2025.

The Madrid stop closes the five-destination 2026 CNP Winamax season, which also visited Sevilla, Barcelona, Murcia and Alicante. More than 1,200 Grand Final tickets have already been distributed through Laroush live-event promotions, while Winamax online satellites are continuing to qualify players.

The 2025 Main Event generated a €1.2 million prize pool, with David Nus winning €134,060. Twenty-one players returned for Day 4. That attendance record followed a fast start: Day 1B alone drew 662 entries, taking the field to 1,059 after two days.

The venue is preparing 126 poker tables across three areas to accommodate the projected Main Event field and a full slate of side tournaments. The French Room, or Sala Francesa, will be the main tournament area with 76 tables, while the Poker Room will contain the televised feature table.

Mandalay Gardens will add 35 tables from Nov. 19, principally for side events and to ease pressure on the main rooms. The casino will also provide a Player Lounge in Sala Mandalay on the first floor.

Advance registration is intended to cut queues, congestion and waiting times, according to the Circuito Nacional de Poker. Players will be able to buy entries before the day of a tournament rather than waiting until it is due to start.

The €550 Main Event begins Nov. 18 with six starting flights and a 50,000-chip stack. A €300 low-cost flight follows on Nov. 19 and gives players 25,000 chips.

Organizers will split Day 2 into two sessions on Nov. 21 because of the anticipated turnout. Day 2A starts at noon for survivors from Flights 1A, 1B and 1D, while Day 2B begins at 5 p.m. for Flights 1C, 1E and 1F; late registration remains open through the end of Level 13 in both sessions.

The field then combines for Day 3 on Nov. 22, with the champion due to be decided Nov. 23. The festival opens with a tournament on Nov. 12 and includes High Roller, 6 Max, Omaha, Dos Vidas, Mystery Bounty, El Cazador, Mini CNP and Crazy Pineapple events. The €1,100 High Roller starts Nov. 16 with 80,000 starting chips.

Clubs Poker will begin its second Clubs Poker Championship on Nov. 1, a 36-day poker festival with 1 million SC in combined guarantees across nearly 600 events. The operator calls it its biggest event of the year, with daily tournaments, bounty events and dozens of designated Trophy Events.

Buy-ins range from 5.5 SC to 250 SC, and every tournament carries a guarantee regardless of its entry count. The schedule is focused on big-bet games, after earlier championship events targeted mixed-game players, and includes No Limit Hold’em, Pot Limit Omaha, five- and six-card Omaha, Draw Mix and Big Bet Mix.

The 250 SC CPC Major is the series’ Main Event. It carries a 100,000 SC guarantee, the largest guarantee yet attached to a Clubs Poker tournament, and starts at 4 p.m. ET on Dec. 6. The Mini Main also begins at that time; both are No Limit Hold’em progressive knockout events.

Players can pursue a Major seat through a three-stage qualification path. Stage 1 freerolls run three times a day and guarantee 10 Stage 2 tickets apiece, while Stage 2 costs 5.50 SC and Stage 3 costs 55 SC, with the latter able to award direct Major entries. CPC poker and casino missions can award Stage 2 and Stage 3 tickets, and Clubs Poker plans further Major-ticket giveaways through Facebook, Instagram and X.

The festival also has Low, High and Overall leaderboards, each paying 5,000 SC to the top 25 players for 15,000 SC in added prizes. The Low table covers eligible events costing 25 SC or less, including the Mini Main; the High table covers eligible events above 25 SC, including the Major. Eligible in-the-money finishes earn points, early registration adds 10 points per eligible event, and Trophy Events award double placement points.

Tournament winners receive a CPC Winner Avatar after results are confirmed, with repeat victories adding a title counter. Winners of designated Trophy Events can also receive a physical CPC-branded chip protector, subject to verification and delivery arrangements. The official CPC page includes an all-time titles list and Hall of Fame; Zopilote led the prior festival with four wins and topped the CPC rankings when Pokerfuse published its preview.

Published schedule times are Eastern Time, although Clubs Poker says tournament details can change and directs players to check the lobby. The championship concludes with the CPC Major and Mini Main on Dec. 6.

Luiz Inácio “Lula” da Silva’s reelection has renewed uncertainty over Brazil’s online betting and gaming market, including the longer-term position of major operators. Lula defeated Flávio Bolsonaro with about 51.8% of the vote and is set to begin a fourth presidential term.

Before the election, Lula made a nationwide ban on online sports betting and casino games a central campaign theme, presenting it as a measure to protect indebted households. He had announced the proposed restrictions in September, calling online gaming a “cancer” and saying, “Either we remove the tumor, or it kills us.”

The election result does not by itself settle the ban’s legal future. Congress must approve both the online-wagering ban and fixed-odds-betting measure within 120 days for them to remain in effect. Efforts to overturn the policy could also go through Congress or Brazil’s Supreme Federal Court.

As we reported Oct. 6, Brazil’s new gambling restrictions closed licensed online betting and gaming offerings while leaving online poker available, with PokerStars, GGPoker and partypoker continuing to serve Brazilian players. The difference rests on poker’s treatment as a game of skill, rather than fixed-odds betting.

Entain’s partypoker and Flutter Entertainment’s PokerStars have significant Brazilian operations. A lasting ban could also affect betting operators and suppliers including Bet365, Genius Sports and Sportradar, while Flutter is also the parent company of FanDuel.

Brazil’s regulated fixed-odds framework is relatively recent. Law No. 14,790, assented to by Lula on Dec. 30, 2023, allowed authorized companies to offer fixed-odds betting on sporting events and certain online games. The law requires Ministry of Finance authorization and permits operators to pay fees of up to 30 million reais to use up to three commercial brands over five years.

The stakes are considerable. Regulus Partners estimated Brazil’s gaming industry generated about $5.7 billion in annual net revenue, while the government put household online-betting spending at roughly $11.6 billion a year. Brazil has almost 214 million people and has been a major market for online poker operators.

The policy faces political and commercial resistance. Card Player reported that the National Association of Games and Lotteries planned a court challenge and intended to seek recovery of five-year license payments, including 30 million reais plus claimed investment and moral damages. Flávio Bolsonaro called the ban announcement “populist, hypocritical, and politically motivated.”

Sports organizations have raised separate concerns because gambling has become an important revenue source for Brazilian soccer. Major soccer franchises collected about $212 million from the industry in the previous year, according to Globo, and Grêmio warned that curtailing online gaming could push activity toward illegal betting and threaten clubs’ finances.

Political support for the restriction is not clear-cut. Brazil’s legislature moved to the right in the latest elections, creating uncertainty over congressional approval, although Reuters polling cited by Sportico found roughly 75% of Brazilians backed a complete gambling ban. Jordan Bender said investors had already priced in the risk of Brazil removing sports betting and iGaming, and warned that operators may reconsider future investment even if some form of gambling returns.

The Global Poker Awards will return on Dec. 4 at Baha Mar in The Bahamas, with the seventh ceremony taking place during the opening days of WSOP Paradise. The event had previously been ruled out for 2026, but Global Poker Index and The Hendon Mob have now restored it with a lineup that puts more emphasis on players and poker personalities.

The revised awards are less centered on the wider poker industry than earlier editions. Best Podcast, Best Poker Book, Best Industry Person and Best Media Content have been dropped from the announced categories, while Best Live Streamer and Best Vlogger remain among the awards for creators.

New player-facing honors include Best Villain, Best Table Mate and multiple Most Feared Player categories. Organizers said the change reflects performances on the international circuit and is intended to recognize people whose results and accomplishments have made an impact over the past 12 months.

Fans can already vote in Fans’ Choice: Most Entertaining Player. Ballots close Nov. 3, a month before the ceremony.

The awards were originally canceled in November 2025 because of the time needed to prepare and produce them. Eric Danis said the process took two members of the organizers’ small team away from their regular work for two months each year.

Placing the ceremony alongside WSOP Paradise is intended to give organizers access to a larger concentration of elite players and improve attendance. Sources cited on Daniel Negreanu’s Mania Podcast said player attendance was a problem at the sixth awards.

This will also be the awards’ first ceremony away from Las Vegas since they settled at PokerGO Studio at ARIA in 2019. The first event was held in Europe in 2001 before moving to Los Angeles in 2014; the sixth ceremony took place in Las Vegas in February 2025 and presented 38 awards.

Baha Mar is also a new home for WSOP Paradise, which is moving from Atlantis Paradise Island for its 2026 edition. The festival runs Dec. 1-18, placing the awards near the start of the series.

Brock Wilson won PGT Sprint Event No. 2 at PokerGO Studio in Las Vegas, collecting $110,600 in the $5,300 no-limit hold’em tournament. The 79-entry event gave Wilson his fifth PokerGO Tour title of the 2026 season, moving him into second in the Player of the Year race.

Wilson earned 166 PGT points, taking his season total to 1,942. Sean Winter remained the leader with 2,223 points, a margin of nearly 300, but Wilson broke a three-way tie for the season lead in titles with Sam Soverel and Adrian Mateos, who each remained on four.

The tournament created a $395,000 prize pool and paid 12 places. Martin Zamani finished runner-up for $71,100, while Jesse Lonis took $51,350 in third, Joe McKeehen earned $37,525 for fourth and Jamie Dwan received $27,650 in fifth.

Zamani began heads-up play holding roughly a five- or six-to-one chip lead, according to the two reports. Wilson doubled twice, moved in front and won the final hand when his ace-king called Zamani’s all-in with suited ace-three. A king-high board gave Wilson the winning pair.

The win was Wilson’s 16th cash on the 2026 PGT, pushing his tour earnings for the year beyond $1.6 million. His recorded career tournament earnings rose above $15.6 million.

Wilson’s previous four PGT wins this year came in pairs at the PokerGO Cup and U.S. Poker Open, and he won the overall series title at both stops after additional deep runs. In April, he beat Nick Schulman in the $10,000 U.S. Poker Open Event No. 6 for his second victory of that series and the top spot on its leaderboard.

PGT Sprint is a seven-event schedule of single-day tournaments. The broader PGT season had awarded nearly $100 million across 102 completed events by Oct. 8, when roughly three-quarters of the calendar was complete.

Betsson has received approval to launch online poker in France, becoming the ninth operator authorized to offer the product in the country. France’s Autorité Nationale des Jeux approved Betsson’s French business on Oct. 15, allowing it to offer poker and share liquidity internationally.

French customers will use Playtech’s iPoker network, which has been approved for liquidity sharing. Nadir Ounissi, partner of Betsson France, called the poker licence an important milestone and said the company aimed to use Playtech’s established platform to provide an experience centered on quality, customer service and responsible gaming.

The move adds poker to Betsson’s existing French presence. The company received an ANJ licence for its flagship sportsbook brand in September 2023 through a joint venture with a local partner, and its sportsbook product launched in the third quarter of 2024 through a venture involving Ounissi.

Betsson said the poker launch is intended to build on that sportsbook foothold, its own poker experience and Playtech’s iPoker product. It also stressed that its decision was based on the French poker market as it currently stands, rather than on an anticipated expansion of the country’s regulated gambling offering.

Any such expansion is for French lawmakers to decide, Betsson said. The company said it would continue working with the ANJ and develop its French business under the current regulatory framework.

Playtech has already expanded its French poker supply arrangements in recent years. La Française des Jeux joined Playtech’s iPoker.EU Network in 2023, followed by Pari Mutuel Urbain in February 2025. Both Playtech partnerships covered poker network services and content, including cash games, tournaments and Twister Poker.

PokerStars will stage two livestreamed no-limit hold’em cash-game sessions under its Ace Chase promotion on Nov. 6 and Nov. 21. The 90-minute games will run at $1.50/$3, giving selected players a direct seat against six named players.

The sessions are called “Ace Chase Mission: The Sleeper Agent,” according to Poker.org. Ben “Spraggy” Spragg, Marle Spragg, Nick Walsh, Seb Huber, Felipe Phil and guest streamer Joe Bold will all broadcast the games simultaneously on their Twitch channels.

Each game carries a $300 buy-in. PokerStars will cover the selected sleeper agents’ entries, allow auto-top-ups and give each player $1,000 in total credit; the players also keep whatever they win. A further $1,000 bonus goes to the player with the most showdown wins using an ace.

The promotion is tied to Ace Chase, which offers $3,000 in daily cash rewards through its leaderboards until the end of November. Players earn points by winning hands containing an ace. After four such wins, they receive a randomized leaderboard score, and can try to improve that score up to 12 times a day.

Ace Chase leaderboards cover stakes from $0.02/$0.05 through $1/$2, so the mission games sit above the regular promotion’s listed leaderboard levels. The cash-game format is fixed at 90 minutes despite the flexibility usually associated with ring games.

To become eligible as a sleeper agent, a player must have belonged to an ambassador’s channel for at least three months. For the Nov. 6 game, eligible players need to record an Ace Chase leaderboard score from Oct. 30 through Nov. 1. The qualifying window for the Nov. 21 session is Nov. 14 through Nov. 16.

The five highest eligible leaderboard players who submit their Stars ID through Discord go into a random draw on Spraggy’s Discord channel. Two players are then selected to face the lineup.

GGPoker is set to run its next PLO Series from Nov. 1 through Nov. 17, putting its Ocean KO jackpot progressive-knockout format at the center of a dedicated Omaha schedule.

The series will feature one-day Ocean KO tournaments with buy-ins of $10, $50, $100, $500 and $1,000, and guarantees from $25,000 to $200,000. These daily events will begin in groups of two or three and are listed in the PLO Series tab under Daily Events.

Two of the Ocean KO tournaments will use Five-Card Omaha. The rest will be Four-Card Omaha, according to PokerListings.

The schedule also includes a flighted $25 PLO Ocean KO tournament carrying a $1 million guarantee. Players can enter any number of flights to build a stack for the Final Stage; flights run until 18:30 UTC on Nov. 2, when Day 2 begins.

At the top end, GGPoker has scheduled three $10,000 GGMillion$ Pot-Limit Omaha high rollers, each with a $1 million guarantee and the same tournament structure. Players who register by Level 5 receive extra chips through the Early Bird promotion, while routes into the events include a $525 qualifier and a satellite ladder costing $108 to $1,050.

The series leaderboard has a $200,000 prize pool and will pay 1,500 players after the festival ends.

As we covered earlier this month, Ocean KO made its debut during GGPoker’s Bounty Hunters Series, where its first three tournaments all exceeded their guarantees. The format combines a progressive knockout with a random bounty multiplier: half of each buy-in funds the player’s starting bounty, with the rest going to the regular prize pool and fee.

When a player eliminates an opponent, the bounty is multiplied by a random figure from 0.4x to 400x. Half of the resulting value is paid immediately in cash, while the other half increases the winning player’s own bounty.

Pokerfuse reported that the multipliers average 1x over the long run, although individual results can vary sharply. Almost three-quarters of knockouts pay below face value, while a 10x-or-higher multiplier occurs about once every 40 knockouts. The 400x top multiplier is much rarer, appearing once in every 50,000 bounties.

The PLO Series opens Nov. 1, with the $25 Ocean KO tournament’s flight stage closing the following day.

PokerStars will run two progressive-knockout Spooky Sunday Special tournaments on Nov. 1, with Kenny “SpaceyFCB” Hallaert hosting both and carrying a special prize for the player who eliminates him. The $5.50 Mini Spooky Special guarantees $25,000, while the $75 Spooky Sunday Special has a $250,000 guarantee. Both begin at 6:05 p.m. GMT.

Anyone who knocks out Hallaert in either event receives a $109 ticket for the Sunday Million Spooky Season Finale on Nov. 8. In the $75 tournament, the winner of Hallaert’s bounty also collects the value of his regular bounty. The offer is unavailable in Belgium, Denmark, Germany and Sweden, according to PokerNews.

The ticket grants entry to the $1 million-guaranteed Sunday Million Spooky Season Finale, a $109 progressive knockout and the largest-guarantee tournament on the Spooky Season schedule. As we reported earlier this month, that Halloween-themed series runs through Nov. 11 and includes 94 events.

The lower-buy-in Mini event gives every player 25,000 chips, with blinds beginning at 100/200/25a and rising every 10 minutes. Late registration lasts two and a half hours, and players can make up to five re-entries during that window. Each knockout pays at least a $1.25 bounty.

The $75 edition starts players with 50,000 chips and opens at 125/250/30a. Its blinds increase every 15 minutes for the first 15 levels, then every 12 minutes. Registration remains open for four hours, with up to five entries permitted, while regular bounties start at $12.50.

Players can satellite into the $75 tournament for buy-ins from $1.10 to $16.50. Two $1.10 satellites on Nov. 1, beginning at 3:30 p.m. GMT and 5:18 p.m. GMT, guarantee 10 seats each. A $5.50 satellite at 4:05 p.m. GMT guarantees 75 seats.

The Nov. 8 Sunday Million finale is followed by the final Spooky Season events on Nov. 9, including the $75 Season Wrap-Up and $82 Turbo Epilogue – Last Scream.

A professional online poker player identified as Alex said a Claude AI agent reviewing his play statistics found MeshAgent running in the background of his computer on Sept. 25. The agent indicated the remote-access software had been installed April 24 by someone other than Alex, and that it could capture his screen and control the machine.

Alex told WIRED that the agent identified 11 timestamped screen-capture events through graphical errors during screen-sharing sessions. He was playing on Americas Cardroom, or ACR, in every one, and an opponent using the handle OxOO appeared at his table in 10 of them.

Alex and other high-stakes players had already been questioning OxOO’s results. Alex said the account’s publicly tracked win rate was far above those of the world’s strongest players and statistically impossible over its sample of hands. He estimated his own losses at about $30,000.

The account appearances do not by themselves establish that OxOO operated the malware or cheated. Winning Poker Network has stressed that identifying remote-access capability does not itself prove a device was compromised or that cheating occurred. ACR said Oct. 18 that its review found no compromised game outcomes or wrongdoing and that it would not issue refunds.

Alex and fellow players concluded the same threat actor may have targeted hundreds of players over several years, with alleged losses across major sites running into millions of dollars. WolfSec, which publicly disclosed the MeshAgent scheme on Sept. 29, believed the attacker was initially conducting reconnaissance and may have tried a simpler method against players as early as 2022.

The suspected operation focused on poker players’ computers rather than poker-site servers. AceGuardian, which published an open-source detection method after the disclosure, said compromised code-signed builds of two legitimate poker utilities could give an attacker live screen access, keyboard and mouse control, and file access. It said the earliest confirmed activity it identified dated to March 2024 and that initial estimates covered up to 30 machines.

The operation used two delivery routes. The attacker allegedly accessed Jurojin’s update system to send MeshAgent through automatic updates. Separately, a compromised Jurojin developer test computer was allegedly used to add malicious code to an IntuitiveTables build before the developer signed it; the altered version was then posted as an official download.

The modified IntuitiveTables software reportedly checked users’ files for poker usernames and downloaded additional malicious files only if a name appeared on a hard-coded list. The apparent targets were regular high-stakes players across several sites. The use of normal update channels and official releases meant users and antivirus software did not detect the malicious code.

This adds a player-level account to the targeted software-update compromise we covered earlier this month. Jurojin’s own security notice described intermittent tampering with packages sent to a specific group of users between June 2025 and January 2026, some carrying a remote-access tool. It said the campaign ended in January, with nothing else uploaded to its servers after Jan. 28.

Jurojin called it a highly targeted operation intended to view selected opponents’ hole cards remotely, not a mass attack. The company said only a handful of high-stakes players were harmed in games where the attacker could view their cards, although more users may have received altered software. That narrower assessment differs from the players’ investigation, which suggested a far wider pool of potential targets.

Jurojin has introduced download logging, stronger administrative audit trails, tighter access to sensitive configuration and multifactor authentication for key server-data changes. It recommends a clean Windows reinstall for potentially affected users and offers its Jurojin Mesh Check tool as an alternative check. Jurojin and IntuitiveTables have also released tools intended to help users determine whether MeshAgent affected their machines.

WPN activated its ScreenShield protection Sept. 29. The feature is intended to block covered screen-capture and screen-sharing methods while allowing players to view their tables normally.

ACR Poker launched The Moneymaker Minute on Wednesday, Oct. 28, a weekly newsletter led by ACR Poker Pro Chris Moneymaker. The publication is sent automatically to account holders every Wednesday, with no separate sign-up required.

The newsletter packages tournament results, player stories, upcoming events, Moneymaker’s weekly selections and occasional giveaways. It is exclusive to ACR Poker account holders and is intended as a more conversational alternative to a schedule of tournament dates and promotions.

Moneymaker summed up its approach as: “All the good stuff, none of the homework.” The 2003 World Series of Poker Main Event champion entered that event through an online satellite, beat Sammy Farha heads-up and won $2.5 million. He was inducted into the Poker Hall of Fame in 2019.

The first edition revisited the champions of ACR Poker’s recent Dual Venom PKOs and featured Gabriel “kingqueensuited” Tavares’ consecutive Sunday Banana wins. Tavares won the Oct. 4 event for about $96,000 and the Oct. 11 Venom Special Sunday Banana for about $108,000, producing combined first-place payouts of about $204,700.

The first Sunday Banana had a $1,050 buy-in, 436 entries and a $436,000 prize pool. The Venom Special drew 502 entries and generated a $502,000 prize pool. Tavares had previously won ACR Poker’s $10 million guaranteed NLH Venom in April 2025, collecting about $1.5 million after a 3,735-entry field.

The debut also previewed the conclusion of the $650,000 guaranteed Halloween Mystery PKO series, The Quattro’s $75,000 in combined weekly guarantees and the $1 million guaranteed Moneymaker Mystery PKO. Its recurring “Don’t Punt This — My Pick of the Week” feature began with ACR Poker’s Bahamas satellites, which offer routes toward $30,000 WSOP Paradise packages.

Eligible recipients of the initial newsletter received a $1 On-Demand tournament ticket. Subject to eligibility and terms, it can serve as a starting point toward a Bahamas package, and it expires Monday, Nov. 2. Readers were also directed to ACR Poker’s Telegram channel for news, community updates and giveaways, while future editions may add further special offers.

The Bahamas packages include a $26,000 entry to the $50 million guaranteed WSOP Paradise Super Main Event and accommodation at SLS Baha Mar. That event runs Dec. 10-17 in The Bahamas.

Pennsylvania’s Office of Enforcement Counsel has objected to a proposed licensing arrangement intended to clear Bally’s Intralot’s acquisition of evoke, the owner of William Hill, 888 and Mr Green. The Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board has the final say, and the enforcement office recommended a series of safeguards if the board nevertheless approves the request.

The filing, dated Oct. 26 and listed as docket 14574-2026, concerns evoke’s remaining Pennsylvania business rather than a consumer-facing 888 or William Hill operation. Gambling.com reported that evoke and its 888 Atlantic subsidiary provide technology, player-account-management and customer-support services to Caesars Interactive Entertainment for WSOP Online in Pennsylvania.

888 Atlantic operates under an interactive gaming manufacturer licence. The petition, filed around Aug. 18 by evoke, 888 Atlantic, Bally’s Intralot and Bally’s Corporation, seeks conditional surrender of that licence and approval for a change of control of 888 Atlantic.

The obstacle is Bally’s existing Pennsylvania position. NEXT.io reported that state regulations restrict acquisitions of interactive gaming manufacturers by groups holding interactive gaming certificates. Bally’s Corporation owns 58.79% of Bally’s Intralot and is licensed in the state; Bally’s Pennsylvania holds two interactive gaming certificates.

The petitioners said their commercial rationale for the deal relates to evoke’s operations outside the United States, making its U.S. activities irrelevant to that objective. They also said a conventional licensing process could take at least nine months. Bally’s Intralot offered 0.537 of its shares, valued at £0.52, for every evoke share, in a transaction reported to be worth about £243 million.

The OEC opposed any waiver of the rules, arguing that a substantially similar future application could rely on the board’s decision as precedent. Still, it said it was not overly concerned that an approval would materially harm Pennsylvania’s public or licensed gaming if the waiver were granted.

Its proposed conditions include weekly post-closing updates, monthly administrative oversight fees, delivery of executed closing documents within five business days, and a rule that the licence surrender takes effect only after final board approval and staff confirmation. The recommended supervision payment was $20,000 a month, and the safeguards would also prevent unlicensed people gaining control of 888 Atlantic during the transition.

The Caesars services agreement dates to January 2012. Its latest amendment ran through Sept. 19 and allowed a wind-down period of up to six months. Caesars confirmed in April 2025 that Pennsylvania had joined its WSOP Online shared-liquidity pool with Nevada, New Jersey and Michigan, creating the first U.S. online poker network shared across four jurisdictions.

Evoke said in its Oct. 23 trading update that both shareholder groups had approved the transaction and that most required regulatory approvals had been received. It projected completion in late 2026 or early 2027, subject to the remaining conditions, including the unresolved Pennsylvania petition.

The €1,500 WSOP Circuit Madrid Main Event moved into Day 1b at Casino Gran Vía on Thursday, with Andoni Larrabe Sanchez leading the players who made it through the opening flight. Day 1a drew 152 entries and ended with 23 survivors, each of whom had secured a min-cash and a place in Day 2.

Larrabe Sanchez bagged 764,000 after bursting the money bubble with aces, according to PokerNews. Cesar Montanes Alonso finished close behind on 728,000, followed by Youssef Aboussaad with 677,000 and Borja Camara with 628,000.

Among the other Day 1a survivors, Marcus Stein bagged 356,000 and Tom-Aksel Bedell had 349,000. Antonios Onoufriou advanced with 171,000 after tripling up during the final level, while Ryan Plant had 182,000.

Day 1b is the second of four opening flights for WSOPC Event #7. It was scheduled to begin at 12:30 p.m. local time with 50,000 starting stacks, 40-minute levels, 100/200 blinds and a 200 big blind ante. Players could reenter without limit through the first 12 levels, with late registration due to close at about 10:20 p.m.

The flight was set to stop once 15% of its field remained, ensuring every qualifier a cash before the combined Day 2. The third starting flight uses the same 40-minute structure, while Friday’s final Day 1d uses 20-minute levels.

As we reported Oct. 23, the Madrid festival is the WSOP Circuit’s first stop in Spain. The Main Event is one of 11 ring events on the Casino Gran Vía schedule, and its four starting flights feed into Day 2 on Saturday before the first Spanish WSOP Circuit Main Event champion is due to be crowned Nov. 1.

The PokerGO Tour will close its 2026 season with a $500,000 Championship Freeroll at PokerGO Studio in Las Vegas on Jan. 11-12, 2027. The field will include the top 40 players on the season leaderboard, along with selected Dream Seat winners from the RunGood Poker Series and other qualifying routes.

PokerNews reported that five players will be paid. The champion receives $250,000, split between $100,000 in cash and $150,000 in PGT Passport cash, while the minimum payout is $25,000, comprising $10,000 in cash and $15,000 in PGT Passport cash.

Leaderboard position will matter before the first hand is dealt, as starting stacks are based on each player’s standing. Players seeking a leaderboard place must have cashed in at least four PGT events during the season, including one tournament owned and operated by PGT, and must opt in before the PGT Last Chance Series begins.

At the time of the announcement, Sean Winter led the standings with 2,223 points, with two wins and 17 cashes. Eelis Parssinen and Jeremy Ausmus followed him, with Ausmus having recently added points through a Poker Masters trophy.

Alex Foxen, Brock Wilson and Adrian Mateos were also in the top 10. Foxen is a 13-time PokerGO champion, Wilson has won the PokerGO Cup and US Poker Open, and Mateos recently captured the overall Poker Masters title despite bubbling half of that festival’s events.

Daniel Negreanu was inside the top 40. His season included an eighth bracelet, won in a $100,000 PLO High Roller for $2.3 million, plus a runner-up finish in a $26,000 Poker Masters no-limit hold’em event worth $262,500.

The standings are still not final. The PGT Sprint festival was underway when the Championship was announced, and January’s Last Chance festival will offer another five Dream Seats. As we reported Oct. 1, the RunGood Dream Factory Festival also has two separate PGT Championship-seat routes for eligible RunGood ring winners.

PokerGO CEO Brent Hanks called the Championship the culmination of poker’s toughest year-round competition, saying the freeroll gives players who have competed through the season a final chance at a signature win.

The new event carries half the prize money of the previous season’s Championship Freeroll, which drew 54 players for a $1 million prize pool. Chad Eveslage won that event’s $500,000 first prize, ahead of Andrew Lichtenberger, Michael Wang and Negreanu.

The WSOP Circuit will stage a nine-ring festival at Casino Middelkerke Betfirst by Partouche in Belgium from Nov. 6-15. The stop gives players a compact 10-day schedule dominated by No-Limit Hold’em, with eight of the nine ring events using that format.

The opening event is a €300 No-Limit Hold’em Mini Main Event on Nov. 6. It has four starting flights, labeled A through D on the official schedule, and players may re-enter each of those flights.

PokerNews reported the Belgian stop. The schedule is led by a €1,500 No-Limit Hold’em Main Event beginning Nov. 11, with four Day 1 flights and a scheduled Day 2 on Nov. 14. Players receive 50,000 chips, with 40-minute blind levels.

Although the Main Event is the festival’s biggest tournament, the €2,500 No-Limit Hold’em High Roller is the largest buy-in event. It begins Nov. 10 as Event #5.

Other featured tournaments include the €550 No-Limit Hold’em Mystery Bounty, which starts Nov. 8 and has three starting flights, and a €500 No-Limit Hold’em Knockout. The official schedule also lists a €550 Seniors Event for players aged 50 and over, a €1,000 Deepstack and a €350 Bigstack.

The only non-hold’em ring event is a €300 Omaha tournament on Nov. 15, the final day. It is listed as Event #8, while the Bigstack closes the nine-event program as Event #9.

The venue is at Zeedijk 117A/116/Z in Middelkerke. Belgium brings an established poker pedigree to the Circuit calendar, including Kenny Hallaert, a two-time WSOP Main Event final tablist, and WSOP bracelet winner Davidi Kitai.

The World Series of Poker says dozens of Circuit events run throughout the year for players seeking competition closer to home. Full tournament details for the Middelkerke series are available through the WSOP LIVE app.

WSOP has named Lucas Jumalon, Daniel Negreanu, Phil Hellmuth, Michael Mizrachi and Chris Moneymaker among the players set for WSOP Paradise 2026, bringing five prominent players to the Bahamas series.

The festival is the finale of the 2026 WSOP calendar and will be played at Baha Mar, the series’ new home on Cable Beach in Nassau. The venue change moves the event from Atlantis Paradise Island, where earlier editions were held.

As we reported in August, Paradise will carry 20 bracelet events and $120 million in total guarantees, led by a $26,000 no-limit hold’em Super Main Event with a $50 million guarantee. The current Baha Mar listing places the festival from Dec. 2 through Dec. 17.

Jumalon arrives as the new WSOP Main Event champion. The 22-year-old won the 2026 title for $10 million, becoming one of the youngest players ever to claim the title. He also finished 14th in September’s record-setting WSOP Circuit Main Event at Texas Card House–Austin, earning $22,430, and serves as a WSOP Academy ambassador.

Negreanu, the all-time WSOP money leader, has eight bracelets after winning the $100,000 Pot-Limit Omaha High Roller during the 2026 WSOP. That victory paid about $2.3 million.

Hellmuth has separately announced that he will play in Paradise. His 17 WSOP bracelets remain the series record; his most recent bracelet came in 2023. Hellmuth also became the first player to win both the WSOP Main Event and WSOP Europe Main Event when he completed that double in 2012.

Mizrachi will be returning after another significant WSOP campaign. He won the $10,000 Pot-Limit Omaha Championship for his ninth bracelet in 2026, a year after winning both his fourth Poker Players Championship and the WSOP Main Event within weeks. Those 2025 results were followed immediately by his induction into the Poker Hall of Fame.

Moneymaker’s place in the announced group reaches back to the 2003 Main Event, which he won after qualifying through an $86 online satellite for a $10,000 seat. WSOP credits that victory with sparking the “Moneymaker Effect,” also known as the Poker Boom, as interest and WSOP attendance climbed worldwide. He is now a Poker Hall of Fame inductee.

Paradise is the fourth edition of the series, which began in 2023 with 15 bracelet events and $50 million in guarantees. The 2025 Super Main Event attracted 2,891 entries and produced a $72.3 million prize pool, surpassing its $60 million guarantee.

The Paradise stop is also the final chance to earn points in the updated WSOP Player of the Year race, whose winner receives $1 million. An April announcement listed slightly different Dec. 1-18 dates, but Baha Mar’s current event page lists Dec. 2-17.

Phenom Poker’s first Phenom Series of Poker has made a quick start, paying out more than $185,000 across its first nine events in the opening two days. Every early tournament at least doubled its posted guarantee, while some reached four to five times their guarantees.

The 92-event online series began Oct. 23 and runs through Nov. 15. It advertises more than $1 million in prizes, with buy-ins from 25 to 5,000 CHIP and more than 580 satellites and freerolls feeding the schedule.

As covered when the schedule was unveiled this month, Phenom put mixed games at the center of its inaugural series rather than using a conventional no-limit hold’em Main Event. The 24-day slate includes hold’em, Omaha, draw, stud and mixed-game formats, and closes with a 5,000-CHIP 9-Game Mix Masters High Roller carrying a 50,000-CHIP guarantee.

Two separate series competitions are also sending winners to WSOP Paradise. The main PSOP Leaderboard awards points for tournament finishes, with every cash across the 92 events counting. Its top 150 places receive payouts, and first place earns a $16,000 package that includes entry to the $10,000 8-Game Mix bracelet event.

American player Cal led that leaderboard after winning the 200-CHIP Super Triple Draw Mix and 50-CHIP NLH 6-Max. Mikhail “FAL1st” Yakovlev was second after victories in the 500-CHIP PLO Championship and 1,000-CHIP H.E.R.O.S. Masters, while Brian Rast remained in the race following several deep runs, including second place in the PLO Championship.

The PSOP Rally, by contrast, rewards volume rather than finishing position. Every buy-in, including satellite entries, counts toward the Rally, and the player with the most points wins a $6,500 WSOP Paradise package that includes a seat in the 2,750-CHIP Circuit Championship.

King153246 held the Rally lead, followed closely by Phenom Team Pro Huck Seed, with Yakovlev third. Rast, Phenom Team Pro Viktor “Isildur1” Blom and Phenom Stream Team member Scott “Pokerbrahs” Kenyon were also in contention. The two competitions are independent, meaning one player can win both packages.

The WSOP Paradise awards and 250,000 PHNM allocated to the series are additional to PSOP event prize pools, according to Phenom Poker’s series page. Leaderboard standings are refreshed every few minutes and recalculated after each completed event as the series continues through Nov. 15.

Allen “Chainsaw” Kessler will bring the Chainsaw Mixed Series of Poker to Borgata Hotel Casino & Spa in Atlantic City for the first time when the 11-event festival runs Nov. 4-14. The mixed-game schedule is being held during the Borgata Fall Poker Open.

The series is topped by two $1,100 championship events. The H.O.R.S.E. Championship begins Nov. 5, carries a $25,000 guarantee and plays to a winner the following day. The T.O.R.S.E. Championship starts Nov. 12 with a $35,000 guarantee, according to PokerNews’ initial report on the Borgata stop.

The series also includes several $600 buy-in events. The opening tournament is Omaha H/L on Nov. 4, while the wider lineup includes Stud H/L (8 Or Better), T.O.E., Big O and Chainsaw’s 8-Game Mix. All events count toward a Player of the Series leaderboard, with custom Chainsaw trophies on offer.

As we reported this month, the larger Borgata Fall Poker Open runs Nov. 4-17 with more than $4 million in guaranteed prize pools. Its schedule combines multi-flight tournaments, a $2,700 Championship Event, mixed games and other side events.

Kessler’s series previously ran at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas, where he won a $400 Omaha-Stud event for $2,725 during the August festival. He also made two final tables during the 2026 WSOP summer series, finishing third in the $10,000 Seven Card Stud Championship for $139,036 and fourth in the $2,500 Limit Mixed Triple Draw Lowball event for $66,103.

The series has attracted WSOP Players of the Year Josh Arieh and Jeff Madsen, along with former GPI Mid-Major Player of the Year Nick Pupillo. The Borgata edition closes Nov. 14 with $600 Triple-Triple Draw, featuring Ace-to-Five, Deuce-to-Seven and Badugi.

Chino Rheem won the opening $5,300 PokerGO PGT Sprint event at PokerGO Studio in Las Vegas, defeating Andrew “Chewy” Lichtenberger heads-up to earn $119,600.

The one-day No-Limit Hold’em tournament drew 92 entries and created a $460,000 prize pool, with 14 players paid. Its accelerated structure distinguished it from PokerGO tournaments that run for two or more days.

Jim Collopy was the bubble player in 15th, while Cherish Andrews finished 16th. The official final table began seven-handed, and John Riordan was its first elimination, taking seventh for $18,400.

Lichtenberger collected $75,900 as runner-up. Patrick Leonard, who held the lead with three players remaining, finished third for $55,200; Michael Berk took fourth for $41,400, Neil Warren was fifth for $32,200 and Jesse Lonis finished sixth for $23,000.

Lichtenberger started heads-up ahead with 6.85 million chips to Rheem’s 4.65 million. But Rheem called a large bluff with pocket tens, leaving Lichtenberger with 525,000 against Rheem’s 10.9 million. On the final hand, Lichtenberger moved all-in with six-five and Rheem called blind with seven-two, which held to secure the title.

The victory also brought Rheem PGT Points. The PGT Sprint schedule consists of seven single-day No-Limit Hold’em tournaments with buy-ins from $5,300 to $10,500, offering players a chance to catch season leader Sean Winter.

The series runs at PokerGO Studio through Nov. 4.

A Venetian Poker Live cash-game broadcast produced a rare runner-runner royal flush after Howard called off against Ironman in a $25/$50 no-limit hold’em hand of “Joe’s Game.” The 10♥ river completed Howard’s A♥K♥ into the best possible five-card hand and delivered him a $9,500 pot.

Howard had raised to $400 on the button after three limpers. Dee Arrr, Ironman and Chuck Chuck called, creating a $1,700 pot. According to Card Player’s account of the broadcast, the callers held 10♠9♣, A♠Q♣ and 2♠2♥, respectively.

The Q♥9♦5♦ flop gave Ironman top pair with top kicker, while Dee Arrr had second pair and Chuck Chuck an underpair. Howard bet $1,350 from a $3,900 stack, then called when Ironman moved all-in for $13,200. Dee Arrr and Chuck Chuck both folded, leaving Howard’s A♥K♥ behind against Ironman’s A♠Q♣.

After dead cards were factored in, Howard had a 21.5% chance to win before the turn. The J♥ increased that chance to 32.4%, giving him winning outs that included any king, heart or ten. The 10♥ then completed the royal flush, with the two required late cards making it a runner-runner result.

A runner-runner, also called a backdoor draw, needs specific cards on both the turn and river after the flop. In this case, the turn and river supplied the final two hearts Howard needed. Royal flushes are “ten-to-ace straights in one suit”:https://upswingpoker.com/odds-of-royal-flush/; the odds against making one in Texas Hold’em are 30,939-to-1.

Commentator Remko Rinkema called the hand “one of the craziest things I’ve ever seen on stream,” adding that Howard remained stone-faced after the river. Howard eventually finished the session $6,500 ahead, while Ironman ended down $4,400. The broadcast continued for several hours after the hand.

Venetian Poker Live’s next stream is set for Halloween, with $25/$50 no-limit hold’em beginning at 2 p.m. local time.

PokerNews, GGPoker and Natural8 will award 200 satellite tickets through a freeroll for the APT Championship Taipei Main Event route. The PokerNews Freeroll to APTC 2026 begins at 7 p.m. GMT on Oct. 31 and is open to players able to access GGPoker or Natural8.

The top 200 finishers will each receive a $12 ticket for the Step to $90 APT Championship Taipei Satellite. Players must use the registration password “PNXATPC2026” to enter the freeroll.

The ticket does not provide direct entry to the $10,000 Main Event. It feeds into a $90 Step satellite, followed by a $600 satellite that awards between two and 10 $10,000 Main Event seats.

The target event carries a $5 million guaranteed prize pool and is part of the 2026 APT Championship, which runs Nov. 13-29 at The Red Space Taipei in Taiwan. The festival has $8.1 million guaranteed across 209 events, including 23 Championship Events and 20 women’s events.

The Main Event is a $10,000 freezeout, meaning entrants have one tournament life without rebuys or re-entries. Its 2025 edition drew 671 entries and generated a prize pool of about $6.2 million, above the $5 million guarantee.

The official APT listing schedules Main Event Day 1 for Nov. 23, with a 50,000-chip starting stack.

Stake Poker has signed Colombian professional Farid Jattin as its first dedicated poker ambassador, giving the operator a prominent live-tournament player to represent both its US sweepstakes site and international real-money poker operation.

Jean-Christophe Antoine, who leads Stake’s poker vertical, announced the appointment on LinkedIn. He called it another milestone following Stake Poker’s Mexico launch a couple of months earlier and wrote: “Step by step Stake Poker is getting there… Welcome to the Team, Farid Jattin!”

Jattin brings more than $10 million in recorded live tournament earnings, according to The Hendon Mob. His largest recorded cash came with a seventh-place finish in the inaugural PokerStars Players Championship in the Bahamas in 2019, and he won the $25,000-buy-in Challenge at the 2020 Aussie Millions.

He also won the 2023 Seminole Hard Rock Poker Open Championship in a four-way deal, earning $655,000. That title was his third major trophy at Seminole Hard Rock Hollywood over the preceding two years.

The deal puts a professional poker player on a Stake ambassador roster that had previously featured celebrity names, including UFC champion Alex Pereira, who has promoted the poker product. Jattin previously became an ambassador for crypto-poker platform Phenom Poker in 2024.

Stake launched poker in mid-2024 on both Stake.US, its sweepstakes platform, and its international real-money site. Its browser-based software was developed in-house and sits within the wider online casino. The platform offers cash games and tournaments alongside formats including All-In or Fold, fast-fold poker branded Next!, bomb pots and mystery bounty tournaments, plus Run It Twice, straddles and rabbit hunting.

The company recently increased the guaranteed prize pool for its flagship Stake Showdown from $125,000 to $200,000. Tracking data cited by Pokerfuse put Stake’s international network at about 8,800 daily multi-table tournament entries and roughly 250 occupied cash-game seats. Stake.US recorded more than 6,000 daily tournament entries and about 210 occupied cash-game seats.

That US sweepstakes figure trailed Global Poker’s roughly 12,000 daily tournament entries and Clubs Poker’s approximately 7,200 in the same tracking data. Stake.US is available in more than 30 states, including Texas, Florida, Georgia, Colorado and North Carolina, although the appointment announcement did not specify particular products Jattin will promote or state-by-state availability.

Stake holds a license in Jattin’s home country of Colombia but does not currently offer online poker there. It also obtained a Mexico license in May and is among the relatively small number of platforms offering legal online poker in that market. Stake.US is set to leave Oklahoma on Oct. 30.

IOwnU888 won the $250,000-guaranteed PokerNews Online Championship Mystery Main Event at 888 on Oct. 27, defeating 888 ambassador Aaron “abarone68” Barone heads-up. The victory ended the 10-day, 40-event series and paid IOwnU888 $25,522, while Barone received $17,211 for second.

PokerNews reported that 1,091 entries across several starting flights produced a $254,203 prize pool, narrowly clearing the event’s guarantee. The tournament played out over three days and brought 141 players to Day 2 before the final eight returned for the cards-up Twitch broadcast.

Barone had already opened his series with a win in the $16.50 Mystery Bounty, as we reported Oct. 18. He reached this final table fourth in chips with 37 big blinds, while LookAround and for_science began ahead of the field.

Nick “eastyyy22” Eastwood handled the 888 Twitch commentary alone because his regular co-commentator, Barone, was among the finalists. UrExNewBF, the shortest stack at the restart, was eliminated alongside Iperenoei13 in an early double knockout.

Romania’s 01tdr exited soon afterward when for_science made a river full house with pocket eights against ace-king. Once five players remained, every survivor had secured a five-figure total including bounties; Lithuania’s sankovski was the first to collect one, receiving $13,685.

Barone fell to seven big blinds four-handed after his ace-king lost to LookAround’s pocket tens, but survived through three-handed play. He survived when the board counterfeited IOwnU888’s ace-jack against his ace-nine, then rivered trip jacks with ace-jack to beat LookAround’s ace-king.

IOwnU888 eliminated for_science with ace-king against pocket fives, then knocked out LookAround to set up the heads-up match. Barone began it severely behind, with 19.2 big blinds to IOwnU888’s 71.7, and made his final stand with ace-queen of hearts for 15.3 big blinds after limp-calling. IOwnU888 held jack-ten and completed a straight across the turn and river to take the title.

The championship offered more than $780,000 in guaranteed prize pools, with buy-ins from $8.80 to $525 and formats including traditional tournaments, deep stacks, progressive knockouts and mystery bounties.

Lucas Jumalon will begin a worldwide WSOP Circuit talent search in Nottingham on Nov. 13 after becoming global ambassador for the new WSOP Academy app. The reigning World Series of Poker Main Event champion will host an Academy-user meet-up game at Dusk to Dawn Casino, the first stop on a season-long tour.

The WSOP announced the appointment on Oct. 27. Jumalon will visit Circuit events around the world, where each exclusive meet-up game will award one participant a complimentary entry to that stop’s WSOP Circuit Main Event.

At the end of the tour, Jumalon will choose one standout player from the meet-up winners. That protégé will receive an invitation to play the $10,000 2027 WSOP Main Event in Las Vegas under his mentorship.

As we covered in August, the 22-year-old Jumalon won the 2026 WSOP Main Event for $10 million. He said he had gone from being a kid who dreamed of winning the World Series of Poker Main Event to having the chance to help somebody else pursue the same goal.

The academy app is designed to teach poker and bring new players into the game. Its iPhone version is free to download with in-app purchases and includes lessons, quizzes, summaries, leaderboards, hand-play tables and a Poker IQ Quiz.

The WSOP has told Academy users to await details on how to enter the Nottingham meet-up. Its Circuit portfolio has roughly 50 events each year across five continents.

A WSOP production team will follow Jumalon on and away from the tables, with travelogue-style episodes set for the official WSOP YouTube channel. Spade Poker reported that the selection criteria for the final protégé have not yet been disclosed and that the first episode is expected by the end of November.

The World Series of Poker Circuit is back at Choctaw Casino Resort in Durant, Oklahoma, for a 13-day stop running through Nov. 9. The festival has 18 official gold-ring events, led by a $1,700 No-Limit Hold’em Main Event with a $1 million guaranteed prize pool.

The Main Event has two starting flights: Flight A begins Friday, Nov. 6, and Flight B follows Saturday, Nov. 7. A $1,100 Mini Main Event begins Nov. 5 with a $200,000 guarantee.

The early schedule opens with a $400 No-Limit Hold’em Monster Stack. Other ring events include a $400 Gargantuan with a $250,000 guarantee, plus Ladies, Seniors, Big O and further No-Limit Hold’em tournaments.

Choctaw is a longtime Circuit destination that draws players from across the southern United States. The casino’s Durant poker room has more than 30 tables, and the property is about 90 miles from Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport and Dallas Love Field Airport.

The venue previously hosted a November 2022 Circuit series with 16 ring events and more than $1.6 million in guarantees. That stop also used a $1,700, $1 million-guaranteed Main Event, while its Gargantuan carried a $200,000 guarantee.

WSOP says winners of eligible 2026 Circuit ring events, including qualifying online events, receive a $5,000 WSOP Paradise package. The package includes entry to Flight A of the $2,750 WSOP Circuit Championship Mystery Bounty and complimentary accommodations at Baha Mar in The Bahamas. WSOP Paradise runs Dec. 2-17 with $120 million in combined guarantees.

RunGood Poker Series will return to Horseshoe Casino Tunica for a six-day Golden Expedition stop from Nov. 10-15, led by a $600 Main Event carrying a $200,000 guaranteed prize pool. The Mississippi festival has 13 ring events and hundreds of thousands of dollars in guarantees across its schedule.

PokerNews will provide live reporting from the Main Event, which has three starting flights across Nov. 13 and 14 before survivors return for Day 2 on Nov. 15. The schedule also offers $145 turbo satellites, awarding one Main Event seat for every five entries.

The series’ other headline tournament is a $250 PokerNews PowerStack with a $50,000 guarantee. It has two opening flights, at noon and 6 p.m. on Nov. 11, followed by a return day on Nov. 12.

Players in designated PowerStack events earn points toward the season-long leaderboard. After 10 Golden Expedition stops, Jesse Stephens and Derek Kerns were tied atop the standings on 70 points, with Shannon Lee five points back.

The top 10 leaderboard finishers each receive a Thunder Valley package that includes entry to the $300 Dream Seat Invitational. That event runs during the RunGood Dream Factory Festival at Thunder Valley Casino Resort from Nov. 27 through Dec. 3, and its winner earns a seat in the PGT Championship at PokerGO Studio in January 2027.

As covered in September, this will be RunGood’s second Horseshoe Tunica stop of the fall after the Mississippi Poker Championship ran there Sept. 15-20. Its previous March visit, under the RGPS Passport banner, drew 495 entries for the $600 Main Event and produced a $252,450 prize pool.

William Latta won that Main Event for $49,110 and an RGPS ring after defeating Kyle Cartwright heads-up. The earlier Tunica PowerStack drew 452 entries and generated a $90,400 prize pool, with Cody Stanford winning $18,067 and a ring after beating Tony Wofford heads-up.

The Nov. 10 opening day includes a $250 Seniors Ring Event, a $250 Series Opener and a $200 Tag Team Double Ring Event. Other events include a $200 Five-Card PLO tournament, a $300 Pot-Limit Omaha event, a $300 Ladies Ring Event, a $200 Turbo NLH tournament and a Flip & Go.

A $250 Big Bet Bounty on Nov. 12 pays $400 bounties once players reach the money. The final day includes a $400 Black Chip Bounty Ring Event alongside the Main Event’s Day 2.

The Santa Monica Police Activities League raised more than $50,000 for local youth programs through its annual Charity Poker Tournament, held Oct. 17 at the Santa Monica Moose Lodge. The fundraiser drew 90 participants for an evening combining poker, dinner and other fundraising activities.

Moe Ansari won the tournament title, while Clipper Darrell, described as a Los Angeles Clippers superfan and community personality, emceed the event. Eula Fritz, PAL’s director, thanked players, sponsors and community supporters for helping fund opportunities for young people, according to the Santa Monica Daily Press.

Tournament proceeds will support PAL’s free after-school programs and activities. PAL serves youth ages 6 to 17 through educational, recreational, fitness and leadership programming, with a mission that includes building positive relationships between Santa Monica youth and law enforcement.

The City of Santa Monica says PAL’s free after-school programs are available to young people who live in Santa Monica or attend the city’s public schools. The programs provide educational support, college preparation, leadership development and fitness training, while connecting participants with community resources and opportunities to develop social and life skills.

PAL is a public-nonprofit partnership operated by the City of Santa Monica and led by a volunteer nonprofit board. The city says board fundraising support helps sustain the organization as a resource for young people in Santa Monica.

Hun Wei Lee beat Joe Hachem heads-up to win the A$2,500 Victorian Poker Championship Main Event at Crown Melbourne, collecting A$350,000 from a 715-entry field. Hachem, the 2005 World Series of Poker Main Event champion, took A$210,000 for second place after a heads-up contest lasting more than two hours.

The tournament generated an A$1.573 million prize pool and paid 89 places. Lee began the nine-handed final table with the chip lead, briefly lost it, then rebuilt a substantial advantage after eliminating Nektarios Dimitrakis.

Hachem remained a serious obstacle. He doubled through Lee early at the final table, taking the lead when his A♥8♣ made top pair against Lee’s 6♠6♣. The two finalists then traded the lead several times once play became heads-up.

The closing hand gave the match a dramatic finish. Hachem held A♣5♦ against Lee’s J♣J♦; Hachem moved ahead on the flop, but the J♥ on the river gave Lee a set and the championship.

Lee said beating Hachem made the victory especially meaningful because Hachem was the reason he began playing poker. “To be able to play him heads up is really an honor,” Lee said. “And to beat him is just icing on the cake, it’s a dream come true, really.”

It was Lee’s second major Crown Melbourne title in six months. In May, he won the $25,000 Challenge at the 2026 Aussie Millions Poker Championship. He also owns a WSOP bracelet from the 2020 WSOP Online $1,050 pot-limit Omaha bounty event.

Hachem had already won the Limit Omaha Hi-Lo event earlier in this Victorian Poker Championship series. Lee’s Main Event result earned him 1,368 Card Player Player of the Year points, taking his 2026 total to 2,124 across his two title runs and placing him inside the top 200 of that race.

TonyTheToenailcollector won CoinPoker’s $1,050 Sunday Grand for $74,432, adding another notable result to a run that already included the site’s inaugural The One title. The player beat quierotuvaro heads-up, while the runner-up collected $53,388.

The Sunday Grand payout stands as TonyTheToenailcollector’s second-largest score on CoinPoker, behind the $1 million prize won in The One, according to Card Player. The player also won a $215 Global Online Poker Championships event for $42,000 in September.

The One was a $250 buy-in tournament with a $5 million guarantee and a $1 million guaranteed first prize. It ultimately drew 24,075 entries from 8,139 unique players and generated a prize pool of about $5.54 million.

TonyTheToenailcollector won that event on an eighth attempt, having spent $2,025 on entries. The champion defeated zoru99 heads-up, with zoru99 taking $500,000, and held the chip lead from 177th place through the final match.

The latest win also came while TonyTheToenailcollector sat atop CoinPoker’s tournament skill scoreboard with 996 points. DRATINI was one point behind. The player has been a regular in CoinPoker’s highest buy-in tournaments and also played some of its highest-stakes cash games after the The One victory.

CoinPoker has confirmed that The One will return in 2027.

The Den Poker Lounge is set to open in Rowlett, Texas, on Nov. 12, positioning itself as a membership-based poker club with an explicit focus on making the game more welcoming to women. Doors are scheduled to open at 3 p.m. local time, followed by a 4 p.m. ribbon-cutting ceremony.

PokerNews described the venue as Texas’s first women-only owned poker room. Its own team page identifies Jamie Kempf and Marjorie Bradford as co-founders and owners, with Kempf serving as assistant general manager and Bradford as director of compliance. The page also lists Rick Bradford, Quaint Kempf and Gregg Bothwell as co-founders in operational, security and talent roles.

The club will be open to all players, while putting more emphasis on bringing women into poker. Kempf said the project had taken more than two years to develop and grew from her and Bradford’s desire to build something different in a traditionally male-dominated game.

The planned room will have 15 tables. Its cash-game offering is expected to include no-limit hold’em from $1/$2 to potentially $50/$100, with pot-limit Omaha, mixed games and bomb pots added according to player demand. The Den also advertises daily tournaments, with details directed to PokerAtlas.

The women-focused approach comes against a wider participation gap. A Las Vegas Review-Journal report cited estimates that women made up “about 5 percent of poker-room players”:https://www.reviewjournal.com/sports/poker/women-make-up-a-tiny-part-of-the-competitive-poker-world-heres-why-2391898/; women accounted for 350 of 8,569 entrants, or 4.1 percent, in the 2019 WSOP Main Event. That report also noted that some women cited hostile or vulgar cardroom environments as a deterrent, while women-only events could provide a more comfortable introduction to the game.

The Den is entering an established Dallas-Fort Worth poker market, where Texas Card House and Palace Poker are among the competing rooms. The area has about 8.5 million residents. Kempf previously finished runner-up for a WSOP Circuit ring in 2024.

Like other Texas private poker clubs, The Den plans to use a social-club membership model. The Texas State Law Library says playing and betting for money at a card game is generally a criminal offense, although statutory defenses can apply when three elements are met. It also says the legality of private poker clubs remains under debate: clubs contend that membership fees and dues, rather than taking a percentage of pots, keep them compliant, while critics argue that model exploits a loophole.

The Den says it wants to become part of Rowlett’s local community, a city along Lake Ray Hubbard east of Dallas.

Quoc Mai will take the chip lead into the six-handed televised final table of the WPT Bay 101 Shooting Star Championship after the $5,300 no-limit hold’em event drew 584 entries in San Jose. The final table resumes Dec. 15 in Las Vegas, where the winner earns $470,500 and a place on the Mike Sexton WPT Champions Cup.

The event began at Bay 101 on Oct. 23, as we reported when the Championship opened with three starting flights and its signature Shooting Star bounty format. Play stopped on the night of Oct. 26 after the field was cut from 10 to six through consecutive double eliminations.

Mai, a San Francisco resident, bagged 10.2 million chips, worth 254 big blinds. He locked up a career-best tournament score by reaching the final table, surpassing his previous top payout of $4,660 for a 51st-place RunGood Poker Series finish at Thunder Valley Casino Resort.

The decisive late hand saw Mai’s pocket kings beat Jeremy Menard’s ace-queen and Joe Nguyen’s pocket threes in a three-way all-in. Menard collected $72,000 in seventh place and Nguyen received $56,500 in eighth, while Mai also claimed Nguyen’s $2,500 Shooting Star bounty.

Chahn Jung begins second with 9.1 million, or 227 big blinds, after pocket kings held against Adam Hendrix’s ace-jack and Aaron Massey’s pocket threes in the preceding three-way confrontation. That hand eliminated Massey in 10th for $41,500 and Hendrix for $48,500. Jung was runner-up in this year’s WSOP $3,000 no-limit hold’em event and has nearly $2 million in recorded scores.

Ziao Guo is the only other finalist above 100 big blinds, carrying 4.1 million. Guo has guaranteed at least $94,000, a personal-best payday on the circuit. Shawn Daniels, the 2025 WPT Rolling Thunder main-event champion and a bracelet winner with more than $3.9 million in career cashes, sits fourth with 3 million.

Eric Zheng returns with 2.1 million, while William Davis is the short stack on 700,000. The official seating order places Zheng in seat one, followed by Guo, Jung, Daniels, Davis and Mai. Play will restart in Level 23 with 4 minutes, 5 seconds remaining at 20,000-40,000 blinds and a 40,000 big-blind ante; the button will be drawn when action resumes.

The tournament created a $2.6 million prize pool and paid 73 places. Nearly $1.4 million remains, with payouts ranging from $94,000 for sixth through $305,000 for second before the $470,500 top prize. The first-place figure includes the winner’s $10,400 entry to the season-ending WPT World Championship at Wynn Las Vegas.

Among the players who cashed but did not reach the delayed final table were Phil Hellmuth, Tyler Patterson, Soheb Porbandarwala, Faraz Jaka, Michael Wang, Matthew Salsberg and Joe McKeehen. The finalists play down to a champion in Las Vegas during the WPT World Championship series on Dec. 15.

The World Series of Poker Circuit will return to Dusk Till Dawn in Nottingham from Nov. 6-15, with 13 ring events and at least £2 million in guaranteed prize pools. The £1,500 Main Event again carries a £1 million guarantee, while every ring winner receives a $5,000 WSOP Paradise package.

PokerNews reported that the package includes entry worth $2,750 to Day 1a of the Circuit Championship Mystery Bounty in the Bahamas, four nights of accommodation and buffet access. The £560 Paradise Mystery Bounty also has one envelope containing a separate $15,000 WSOP Paradise package.

The festival opens with the £300 Mini Main from Nov. 6-8. Its £250,000 guarantee includes 15 seats to the £1,500 Main Event. The £560 Paradise Mystery Bounty follows from Nov. 9-11 with another £250,000 guarantee and 15 more Main Event seats included.

The Main Event’s Day 1a is on Nov. 8. Further starting flights run Nov. 11, 12 and 13, followed by a last-chance flight on the morning of Nov. 14; the tournament concludes Nov. 15.

GGPoker will provide an online route into the festival alongside live satellites at Dusk Till Dawn. Its £165 satellite at 7:05 p.m. GMT on Nov. 2 guarantees 20 Main Event seats, worth £30,000 in total, with feeder satellites starting from £0.01.

The Main Event exceeded its £1 million guarantee last year, drawing 845 entries and generating a £1,095,120 prize pool paid across 129 places. Francis Obadun won £189,030 and his first Circuit ring after defeating Jack O’Neill heads-up; O’Neill collected £126,005.

The 2026 stop adds a ring event to the 12-event UK festival held in 2025. That series also produced a £48,069 Mini Main win for Anthony Desai, while Adam Sandercock won both the £300 6-Max and £560 Bounty events for more than £17,000 combined.

WSOP Paradise takes place in December at Baha Mar Resort in the Bahamas. Its $26,000 Super Main Event has a $50 million guaranteed prize pool.

JackPoker’s Halloween Giveaway is running through Nov. 1, with a seven-day set of Daily Halloween Tasks at its PLO, PLO5C and PLO6C cash tables. The tasks began Oct. 26 and give players a daily route to Instant Cash and entries for the promotion’s final prize draw.

Standard players can receive up to $50 in Instant Cash from the daily quests, while VIP players can receive up to $130. Completing tasks can also earn up to seven giveaway tickets, according to CardPlayer’s Oct. 27 report.

Each task is available only on its assigned day. PokerListings noted that a missed quest cannot be completed later, but players can resume with the following day’s task rather than losing access to the rest of the promotion.

The final Halloween Giveaway prize list includes an iPhone 17 Pro Max, PlayStation 5 Pro, MacBook Air, Apple Watch and AirPods Pro. Instant Cash prizes can reach $5,000.

JackPoker is also offering a separate $50-deposit Halloween promotion. Players using the HANDS code can choose $20 in Instant Cash, while the HOUSE code provides two $10 tournament tickets. PokerStrategy previously described the two choices as cash-game and tournament-focused rewards, respectively.

The cash-game tasks arrive during a broader JackPoker Halloween schedule that has also included the Full House of Horror tournament series, as covered earlier this month. That series runs through Nov. 1 with $2.5 million in tournament guarantees and a $450,000 three-week leaderboard.

The World Series of Poker Circuit will make its first visit to The Reserve Poker Club in Toledo, Ohio, from Oct. 29 through Nov. 9. The 18-event festival carries more than $2 million in advertised guarantees, led by a $1,700 no-limit hold’em Main Event with a $1 million guarantee and three starting flights.

The Main Event begins Thursday, Nov. 5. PokerOrg, which described the stop as an “exciting debut,” reported that The Reserve has previously hosted several million-dollar poker events that drew prominent players.

A buy-in discrepancy appears on the Mini Main Event. PokerOrg’s latest preview lists it as a $400 tournament with a $500,000 guarantee, while the official WSOP schedule lists a $600 no-limit hold’em Mini Main with the same $500,000 guarantee and five starting flights.

The opening $400 Double Stack Kick-Off has a $100,000 guarantee. Other larger guaranteed events include the $600 Monster Stack, with three flights and $100,000 guaranteed; a $1,100 Freezeout with $50,000 guaranteed; and a $2,200 High Roller with a $50,000 guarantee.

The slate also gives mixed-game players several options: a $400 H.O.R.S.E. event with a $20,000 guarantee, a $600 Big O/8 tournament with $25,000 guaranteed and a $600 pot-limit Omaha event. The schedule further includes a $400 Seniors tournament, a $400 Ladies event, the Black Chip Bounty, Deepstack and 40/40/40 events, plus a Double Stack Closer.

The Toledo festival is one of the new Ohio and Arizona additions to the Circuit’s post-WSOP fall schedule. Ohio has hosted a Circuit stop before, with Horseshoe Cincy staging one in 2013, but this is The Reserve’s first turn on the tour.

The Circuit runs dozens of events year-round, and its fall schedule leads toward WSOP Paradise in December.

Pennsylvania lawmakers have filed a bill that would make loss limits compulsory for every online gambling account, rather than leaving players to choose whether to activate protections. House Bill 2879 would require daily and monthly loss limits, set lower caps for people aged 21 to 25, and default accounts to no more than two hours of play in a 24-hour period.

Reps. Tarik Khan and Jamie Flick filed the measure Oct. 21, and it was referred that day to the House Gaming Oversight Committee. The proposal would also limit players to two deposits per day and require an affordability check before an operator accepted more than $5,000 in deposits over 180 days.

The bill would prohibit microbets, VIP and loyalty programs, autoplay features, sign-up and deposit bonuses, and AI-based promotional targeting tied to a player’s losses or problem-gambling risk. It would also restrict advertising aimed at minors and young adults.

For the bill, a microbet would mean a live wager on the outcome of a single play during a game. Its VIP-program restriction would target schemes that provide a player host or reward greater play, deposits or losses.

HB 2879 would amend Title 35, create a restricted account within the Compulsive and Problem Gambling Treatment Fund, and establish an Online Problem Gambling Public Health Task Force. It would impose a 0.75% assessment on online-gaming and sports-betting revenue for prevention, treatment and research overseen by the Pennsylvania Department of Drug and Alcohol Programs.

The measure has nine Democratic sponsors and one Republican sponsor, according to the LegiScan tally cited by USPoker. Khan and Flick announced their wider legislative package on June 3, describing it as modeled on bipartisan bills in Pennsylvania and Colorado. The Pennsylvania Problem Gambling Caucus also launched when the bill was introduced; its six members include Khan, Flick, Reps. Danilo Burgos and Ben Sanchez, and Sens. Nick Miller and Joe Picozzi.

The proposal follows a 126-page Joint State Government Commission study released July 13. The study grew out of House Resolution 60 of 2025, which passed the House 189-14 and directed the commission to examine sports betting and interactive gambling, including ways to reduce problem gambling, gambling debt and children’s exposure to gambling advertising.

The commission said lawmakers could ban in-game microbets and restrict VIP programs. It also recommended that players be required to establish limits on losses and duration before playing, instead of merely having the option to set limits. Khan’s office cited findings that 5.7% of online sports bettors accounted for 80% of gambling spending, while the bill text cited a sportsbook where 0.5% of customers, all linked to its VIP program, produced more than 70% of earnings in 2019 and 2020.

HB 2879 would go further than the Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board’s pending Regulation #125-258, which would offer daily, weekly and monthly limits on deposits, number of deposits and total spending for interactive accounts but would let players decide whether to set them. The Independent Regulatory Review Commission’s docket says the board has not yet submitted a final version of that regulation, which updates compulsive and problem-gaming requirements for interactive accounts and self-excluded people.

The reporting on card funding is not fully consistent. RG.org described HB 2879 as barring direct or indirect use of credit cards to fund wagers, while CDC Gaming said that restriction was contained in separate HB 2875. CDC Gaming also identified HB 2874 as a separate measure intended to strengthen protection for people on Pennsylvania’s self-exclusion list.

The bill would arrive in a large regulated market. Pennsylvania legalized online casinos in 2017 and was described by the Associated Press as the largest online-gambling market in the United States. The state recorded $6.7 billion in gambling revenue in 2025, including $602 million from sports wagers, according to The Philadelphia Inquirer.

Borgata Hotel Casino & Spa will host the Borgata Fall Poker Open in Atlantic City from Nov. 4-17, with more than $4 million in guaranteed prize pools. The 34-event live schedule is led by two $1 million guarantees: the $600 Fall Deepstack Kick Off and the $2,700 Borgata Fall Poker Open Championship.

The official Borgata schedule has the Kick Off opening with six Day 1 flights from Nov. 4-6. Players who bag chips are paid, then return for Day 2 on Nov. 7 and Day 3 on Nov. 8.

The Championship has Day 1 flights on Nov. 13 and 14, followed by Day 2 on Nov. 15 and Day 3 on Nov. 16. Its livestreamed final table is set for Nov. 17. Registration closes after Level 8, and the event will not allow Day 2 registration.

Two more tournaments carry $500,000 guarantees. The $350 Mini-Main runs 17 opening flights from Nov. 4-16, permits one re-entry per flight and pays players who bag chips before its Nov. 17 Day 2. Those Day 2 qualifiers receive a $700 advance payment, with the rest of the payout determined by finishing position.

The $600 Fall Half-a-Milly Almighty has six starting flights from Nov. 9-11, then moves to Day 2 on Nov. 12 and Day 3 on Nov. 13. The schedule also includes $1,100 H.O.R.S.E. and T.O.R.S.E. championships, guaranteeing $25,000 and $35,000, respectively, plus a $365 Seniors Championship for players 50 and older and a $300 Ladies Championship.

BetMGM Poker will run online events alongside the live festival. The $100 Nightly C-Note starts at 6:30 p.m. each night and carries a $30,000 guarantee. The $500 BetMGM Fall Poker Hybrid Championship begins online at 6:05 p.m. on Nov. 8 with $100,000 guaranteed; its finalists must come to Borgata for the livestreamed conclusion on Nov. 13.

Players can also enter a $180 turbo qualifier for the Championship on Nov. 8, awarding one seat for every 20 entries. A $475 Borgata Big 4 qualifier awards a package covering the Kick Off, Mini-Main, Half-a-Milly and Championship to one in every 10 entrants.

The Fall Poker Open returned in 2025 after more than five years away. Live-event participants must be at least 21, hold an MGM Rewards card and present valid identification to collect winnings.

Kyle Grupp won the 2026 World Series of Poker Circuit Turning Stone Main Event in Verona, New York, earning $246,362 and his first Circuit gold ring. The $1,700 no-limit hold’em tournament attracted 996 entries and built a $1.51 million prize pool, clearing its $1 million guarantee.

Grupp, a Clarence, New York resident, emerged after three starting flights and two further days of combined-field play. Card Player reported that the win was the largest live cash of his career, lifting his recorded lifetime earnings beyond $836,000.

The result followed two previous WSOP Circuit Main Event final tables for Grupp. He placed fourth in the 2023 Turning Stone Main Event and sixth at the 2025 WSOP International Circuit Montreal. His previous biggest payday was $165,000 for a 54th-place finish in the 2025 WSOP Main Event in Las Vegas.

The final day began with seven players left. Joel Cattelane held the lead while Grupp was in the middle of the pack, and 114 players had made the money overall.

Cathy Schenone exited seventh for $32,160 when her pocket sixes could not beat Greg Ostrander’s pocket nines. Grupp then eliminated Tina Panichi in sixth, his pocket kings holding against her suited ace-queen, while Ostrander finished fifth for $58,647 and Daniel Wagner placed fourth for $81,282.

Cattelane knocked out Wagner and carried momentum into heads-up play after calling a Grupp bluff during five-handed action. Steven Tabb took third for $114,576 after Grupp made a pair of threes against Tabb’s ace-nine, leaving Cattelane with a little more than a 2:1 lead.

Grupp turned the match around without showdown in a large pot, then took the lead for the first time since the previous evening when Cattelane folded to his 8.35 million river bet, according to Poker.Org. In the deciding hand, Grupp opened to 750,000 and called after Cattelane three-bet to 4.5 million; Cattelane moved all in for 5.7 million on the turn, and Grupp’s second pair held against a nut-flush draw.

Cattelane, of Syracuse, New York, collected $164,220 for second place. It was his best live-circuit result, surpassing the $17,665 he earned for 11th in the same event in spring 2026.

The victory awarded Grupp 912 Card Player Player of the Year points. It was his third POY-qualified final table of the year and moved him to just outside the top 350 in the 2026 standings presented by CoinPoker.

ACR Poker’s Oct. 25 $1,050 WSOP Paradise Mega Satellite drew 190 entries and awarded seven $30,000 Bahamas packages, sending its winners into December’s $50 million guaranteed Super Main Event.

The seven packages were worth $210,000 in total. ACR’s Sunday recap, published via WebWire, named the winners as Ant1killeR, GraphUpGuy, FlyingStyle, one_hundred_eyes, vamoosss, GangBaaangBob and Wahoo_son.

Each package covers the $26,000 Super Main Event buy-in and accommodation at SLS Baha Mar from Dec. 5 through Dec. 18. Travel, meals and personal spending are not covered.

The Super Main Event runs Dec. 10-17 as Event #13 at WSOP Paradise, which takes place at Baha Mar in the Bahamas from Dec. 2-17. The World Series of Poker has announced $120 million in guarantees across 20 bracelet events for the festival.

As reported Oct. 25, ACR had expanded its lower-cost qualification schedule after the Oct. 11 and Oct. 18 Megas each awarded seven packages despite more than $50,000 in overlay. The Oct. 25 result continued the seven-package weekly allocation, with the promotion offering 100 packages overall.

A further $1,050 Mega guarantees another seven packages on Nov. 1 at 3:05 p.m. ET. Weekly Megas are set to continue through Nov. 22, while winners of $95 Beast satellites are pre-registered for the following Sunday’s Mega.

BetRivers Poker will add Mystery Bounty tournaments across Pennsylvania, Michigan, Delaware and West Virginia on Tuesday, Oct. 27. The rollout makes it the third regulated U.S. online poker operator to offer the format, after WSOP Online and PokerStars on FanDuel.

Pokerfuse reported that the launch will give Delaware and West Virginia their first Mystery Bounty tournaments in the regulated market. BetRivers is the only online poker operator in both states, and will offer the new games alongside its existing Progressive Knockout schedule.

Mystery Bounties pay players for eliminating opponents, but the value of each prize is hidden until the knockout happens. BetRivers will begin the bounty phase only once a tournament reaches the money, then award each eliminator a randomly drawn bounty from the remaining prize pool and reveal it immediately at the table.

About half of every entry fee will fund the regular prize pool, with the other half allocated to bounties. The operator says the format will be available at every buy-in level, giving players a chance to land a large bounty without necessarily making a deep run.

The table presentation includes animations, sound effects and visual cues. A target marker will flag an all-in opponent covered by the player, while a live bounty pay table will show which prizes remain available.

The rollout coincides with Anniversary Week, a separate BetRivers promotion running through Nov. 1 that we covered last week. BetRivers also expects to run Mystery Bounty-specific promotions and may add the format to the latter stages of an upcoming tournament series.

Adrian Mateos won the 2026 Poker Masters Purple Jacket after finishing first in the 10-event series at PokerGO Studio in Las Vegas. His 451 PokerGO Tour points held up when Jeremy Ausmus, the last player who could pass him, was eliminated in fourth place in the $51,000 finale on Oct. 23.

Mateos also received a $25,000 PGT Passport. Nicholas Palma finished second in the series race with 407 points, while Nicholas Seward took third with 397.

As we reported Oct. 17, Mateos took the Purple Jacket lead by winning Event #5, and he ultimately built his winning total from only three cashes. He was runner-up to Palma in Event #2 for $151,200, beat Nick Schulman for $229,500 in Event #5, and placed fourth in Event #7 for $87,000, totaling $467,700.

The run was marked by narrow misses as well. Mateos bubbled the money five times during the series, then failed to cash in Events #8 through #10. “I had a big lead all the way, but in the last three events I wasn’t able to cash, so the sweat was real,” Mateos said.

The jacket is awarded to the Poker Masters player with the most official PGT leaderboard points across the series. Points come from in-the-money finishes, with the value determined by the payout and buy-in category. The 2026 edition produced 10 different event winners, while Daniyal Gheba and Sam Laskowitz were the only players in the final top 10 without an event title.

Sean Winter won the finale, defeating Laskowitz heads-up for $620,000. The 31-entry tournament created a $1.55 million prize pool and paid its top five finishers; Laskowitz earned $387,500 for second, while Ausmus collected $170,500 for fourth after needing at least a runner-up finish to overtake Mateos.

Winter’s second PGT title of the season took him to 2,223 season-long points, making him the first player to pass 2,000 in 2026. Ausmus moved to third with 1,812 points, while Mateos stood sixth on 1,760.

The PGT Sprint begins Oct. 27 at PokerGO Studio, running through Nov. 4 with seven single-day events carrying buy-ins from $5,300 to $10,500. Its points count toward the top 40 qualifying positions for the $500,000 PGT Championship freeroll on Jan. 11-12, 2027.

PokerStrategy has set Nov. 10 for its next $3,000 Strategy Token freeroll. Players need to earn 10 Strategy Tokens during October, then use 10 tokens to enter the tournament.

The prize pool includes CoinMillion and CoinMasters tickets, and PokerStrategy says the new event will be bigger than its previous Strategy Token freeroll. The company also plans to expand its raffle prize pool in November with additional tournament tickets and CoinPoker 3-Bet Club subscriptions.

Strategy Tokens replaced PokerStrategy’s former StrategyPoints system as part of an updated loyalty program. Players earn them by registering at participating poker rooms through PokerStrategy.com, linking the account on their profile page and making a first deposit. The size of that deposit does not affect eligibility.

PokerStrategy describes the tokens as additional cashback on the same play, on top of the rewards offered by the poker room itself. Tokens can be redeemed for monthly benefits, including a 50% discount on GTO Strategy.

The token balance works on a rolling four-month window: the current month plus the previous three. On the first day of a new month, tokens from the oldest active month expire. A player’s tier is based on their strongest month in that same four-month period.

There are three tiers: User, Player and Grinder. Grinder status requires 100 Strategy Tokens and currently provides the highest available GTO Strategy discount. PokerStrategy says Strategy Token perks will be significantly improved in 2027 and that the Grinder tier will receive additional advantages.

The previous $3,000 CoinPoker freeroll drew 58 qualifiers, although PokerStrategy said many other eligible players did not take part. It had projected that the next event could have fewer than 100 players, which it estimated would equate to an effective $50 buy-in, and said players could potentially qualify by generating $10 in rake.

CoinMasters, one of the ticket-prize destinations, advertises $100,000 in freerolls and $250,000 in total prizes. Its Championship Final Table carries a $100,000 poker-career package for the winner.

Pennsylvania’s online poker revenue fell 1.76% year over year to about $2.27 million in September, even as the state’s wider gaming market reached about $555 million for the month. Combined revenue, including fantasy contests, rose 4.07% from September 2025 and produced about $242.6 million in tax revenue.

The Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board’s September revenue report put total iGaming revenue at about $249.3 million, up 6.82% from a year earlier. Online slots were the main driver, rising 8.99% to about $197.4 million, while online table-game revenue slipped 0.63% to about $49.7 million.

Poker’s $2.27 million result compared with about $2.31 million in September 2025. As covered in September, Pennsylvania poker revenue had also declined year over year in August, when it fell 5.2% to about $2.4 million while the broader iGaming category grew.

Hollywood Casino at Penn National Race Course led the state’s overall online market with about $99 million in September iGaming revenue. Valley Forge Casino Resort followed with about $69.8 million, while Rivers Casino Philadelphia generated about $38.5 million.

Sports wagering delivered the month’s sharpest revenue gain. Taxable sports-betting revenue rose 50.45% year over year to about $44.7 million, although the amount wagered fell 6.09% to about $798.7 million. Online sportsbooks contributed about $40.3 million of sports-wagering revenue, compared with about $4.4 million from retail locations.

Among land-based categories, retail slot revenue increased 2.44% to about $196.2 million, while retail table-game revenue dropped 18.07% to about $60.2 million. Fantasy-contest revenue fell 23.75% to about $1.5 million, and video gaming terminals generated about $3.2 million, down 4.90% from a year earlier.

Pennsylvania had 18 land-based casinos under the board’s oversight in September, alongside its online casino, sports wagering, truck-stop video gaming terminal and fantasy-contest markets. Board-regulated gaming generated nearly $3.1 billion in taxes and fees during fiscal year 2025/26.

Sean Winter won the $51,000 no-limit hold’em finale of the 2026 Poker Masters at PokerGO Studio in Las Vegas, banking $620,000 and moving past 2,000 points in the PokerGO Tour’s season-long race.

Winter topped a 31-entry field that generated a $1.55 million prize pool. He started the final day third in chips among seven remaining players, with only the top five set to be paid.

PokerNews reported that Chris Brewer fell on the money bubble when his ace-jack ran into Jeremy Ausmus’ pocket aces. The five paid finishers were Winter, Sam Laskowitz ($387,500), Igor Yaroshevskyy ($248,000), Ausmus ($170,500) and Marius Gierse ($124,000).

Winter began heads-up against Laskowitz with nearly a 3-1 chip lead. Laskowitz briefly drew even, but Winter regained control and ended the match when his two pair held against Laskowitz’s top pair. The runner-up result was Laskowitz’s largest live tournament score, according to the PokerGO Tour.

Ausmus’ fourth-place elimination also settled the Poker Masters Purple Jacket race. He needed a top-two finish to pass Adrian Mateos, but Winter knocked him out when ace-king beat pocket fives after an ace arrived on both the turn and river.

Mateos won the overall Poker Masters title with 451 points from three cashes, earning $467,700 across the 10-event series. His results included a $229,500 victory in Event #5, a runner-up finish in Event #2 and fourth place in Event #7. Nicholas Palma finished second in the series standings on 407 points, followed by Nicholas Seward with 397.

Winter’s win was his second PGT title of 2026. He said taking the $15,000 event off during the series helped him reset after he was not executing as he wanted.

As we reported Oct. 8, Winter entered the final stretch of the PGT season with only a seven-point lead over Eelis Parssinen. The finale lifted Winter to 2,223 points, making him the first player to clear 2,000 this season and the clear front-runner for PGT Player of the Year.

Winter now has 17 PGT-qualifying cashes worth about $4.4 million in 2026. Before Poker Masters, he had led the standings with 1,850 points from 15 cashes and more than $3.6 million in PGT-qualified earnings.

CoinPoker and PokerGO have announced PokerGO Tour Online, a six-series online circuit running from November through November 2027. The schedule carries $250 million in total guarantees and will award 50 seats to a $1 million winner-take-all live final at the PokerGO Studio in Las Vegas in January 2028.

The announcement gives the PokerGO Tour brand an online qualifying route through CoinPoker, an offshore crypto poker site, rather than a state-regulated U.S. operator. USPoker reported that CoinPoker teased the partnership on X on Oct. 19 before posting its formal PGT Online announcement on Oct. 23.

The opening festival, PGT KickOff Online, runs Nov. 8-30 with a $50 million guarantee. It begins with a $530 PokerGO Kickoff event guaranteed at $1 million and ends with a $530 KickOff Main Event carrying a $5 million guarantee, whose Day 2 is set for Nov. 30.

The first series also includes the $530 Mystery Million on Nov. 15. It has a $1 million guarantee and marks CoinPoker’s first Mystery Bounty event, with a top bounty of $50,000.

The $50 million opening guarantee matches CoinPoker’s first Global Online Poker Championship, as covered in August. That earlier series paid out $88.44 million against its $50 million guarantee, attracting more than 2.1 million entries from 48,815 players in 172 countries over 37 days.

The new circuit extends a growing relationship between the two brands. CoinPoker was presenting sponsor for seven consecutive days of PokerGO’s High Stakes Poker broadcasts from Aug. 25-31, and the companies also offered online qualifying for a $100,000 High Stakes Poker seat.

The live PokerGO Tour Championship remains separate from the online circuit’s finale. It is scheduled as a $500,000 freeroll on Jan. 11-12, 2027, while PGT Online’s finale will later award the single $1 million prize in Las Vegas.

ACR Poker has added nine $109 Super Satellites to its WSOP Paradise qualification schedule after its first two $1,050 Sunday Megas each generated more than $50,000 in overlay. Both the Oct. 11 and Oct. 18 tournaments still awarded their full seven $30,000 Bahamas packages.

The expansion takes the weekly $109 Super Satellite schedule from five events to 14. Each Super Satellite guarantees five $1,050 Mega entries, creating 70 guaranteed Sunday-Mega tickets each week through that route. A Super Satellite win awards entry to the Mega rather than a Paradise package directly.

The next $1,050 Mega is scheduled for 3:05 p.m. ET Sunday, Oct. 25, with another seven packages, worth $210,000 in total, guaranteed. The Oct. 18 $95 Beast feeder had already guaranteed 50 seats into that event, meaning the expanded $109 schedule and Beast route account for 120 guaranteed Mega seats for Oct. 25.

As we reported Oct. 18, ACR had scheduled the second Mega to again offer seven packages, matching the opening event. PokerStrategy reported that the Oct. 11 Mega drew 148 entries, while both of the first two Megas carried $210,000 in guaranteed package value regardless of turnout. Their combined overlay exceeded $100,000.

A separate World Poker Deals account gave a conflicting tally for those two events, saying they awarded 10 packages worth $30,000 each and had $210,000 in combined package value, including $100,000 of overlay. That differs from PokerStrategy’s report of seven packages awarded in each Mega and a $210,000 guarantee for each tournament.

Players can also buy directly into the $1,050 Mega or play the $95 Beast, which targets the following week’s Mega. The next Beast begins at 5:05 p.m. ET on Oct. 25 and feeds the Nov. 1 Mega, while the final Beast on Nov. 15 is set to guarantee 60 seats into the Nov. 22 event.

The $30,000 packages include a $26,000 seat in the $50 million-guaranteed WSOP Paradise Super Main Event and room-only accommodation at SLS Baha Mar. Winners remain responsible for travel, meals and personal expenses. The Super Main Event runs in The Bahamas from Dec. 10-17.