Stoyan Madanzhiev Wins 2020 World Series of Poker Online Main Event for $3.9 Million the Largest Payout in Online Poker History

www.CardPlayer.com Vol. 33/No. 21 October 7, 2020

STOYAN MADANZHIEV WINS 2020 WORLD SERIES OF POKER ONLINE MAIN EVENT FOR $3.9 MILLION THE LARGEST PAYOUT IN ONLINE POKER HISTORY

Ian Steinman Talks Connor Drinan Wins Christian Rudolph and Winning His First Final WSOP Online Event, Fedor Holz Win Millions WSOP Bracelet From SixFigure Side Bet With As WSOP Online High His Couch Daniel Negreanu Roller Champions

PLAYER_33_21_Cover.indd 1 9/15/20 10:05 PM PLAYER_18_GlobalPoker_DT.indd 2 8/4/20 10:44 AM PLAYER_18_GlobalPoker_DT.indd 3 8/4/20 10:44 AM Masthead - Card Player Vol. 33/No. 21

PUBLISHERS Barry Shulman | Jeff Shulman ASSOCIATE PUBLISHER Justin Marchand

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Card Player (ISSN 1089-2044) is published biweekly by Card Player Media LLC, 6940 O’Bannon Drive, Las Vegas, NV 89117. Annual subscriptions are $39.95 U.S. ($59.95 U.S. for two years), $59.95 Canada, and $75.95 International. Remit payment to CUSTOMER SERIVCE, CARD PLAYER MAGAZINE, PO BOX 434, CONGERS, NY 10920-0434 or call 1-866-587- 6537. POSTMASTER: Send all address changes to CARD PLAYER MAGAZINE, PO BOX 434, CONGERS, NY 10920-0434. Card Player makes no representations as to whether online gaming is legal in your community. Please check with your local authorities. Reproduction or use in whole or part is prohibited without prior permission from the publisher. Contributors are afforded the opportunity to express themselves to the fullest; however, statements and opinions do not necessarily represent those of the publisher. Information is gathered only from sources considered to be reliable; however, accuracy is not guaranteed. Publisher does not endorse any of the products or services advertised in this magazine, nor is publisher responsible for the contents of any ad copy. Published and printed in the United States.

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004_MastheadA.indd 4 9/16/20 1:51 PM PLAYER_20_ACR_FP.indd 3 9/1/20 1:02 PM Table of Contents - Card Player Vol. 33/No. 21 20 14

Features Strategies, Analysis Also In this Issue 20 & Commentary 4 Stoyan Madanzhiev Wins 24 About Us 2020 World Series Of Poker Online The Worst Celebrity Poker Players 35 Main Event For $3.9 Million In Hollywood Tournament Schedules By Erik Fast By Houston Curtis 38 26 Poker Leaderboards The Inside Straight Gamble 102: Remove Your Biases 8 To Become A Strong Poker Player Poker News Recap By Nathan Gamble Tournament 13 28 Hand Matchups Player Of The Year Update Playing Top Pair By Predicting Opponent 27 Reactions 14 By Jonathan Little Christopher Hunichen vs. Christian Rudolph Poker Stories Podcast With 29 Mark Gregorich 29 Re-Entry And Rebuy Tournaments By Card Player News Team Part 2 – Attitudes Aram Zobian vs. Jason Koon 16 By Greg Raymer 31 Ian Steinman Discusses Winning His First 30 Aleksejs Ponakovs vs. Shankar Pillai Bracelet From The Couch Adjusting To Your Opponents’ By Erik Fast 34 Negotiating Styles Jason Koon vs. Aleksejs Ponakovs By Alan Schoonmaker 32 Badeucey: A Survey of Starting Hands and Initial Discard Decisions By Kevin Haney

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006_TOC.indd 6 9/17/20 11:37 AM Poker Stories Podcast

Poker Stories is a long-form audio podcast series that features casual interviews with some of the game’s best players and personalities. Each episode highlights a well-known member of the poker world and dives deep into their favorite tales both on and off the felt.

Download it directly to your device from any number of mobile apps, such as Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, Google Play, or Spotify. Catch up on past episodes featuring notables such as Doyle Brunson, Antonio Esfandiari, Daniel Negreanu, Jennifer Harman, Justin Bonomo, Nick Schulman, Barry Greenstein, Michael Mizrachi, Bryn Kenney, Mike Sexton, Maria Ho, and many more.

www.CardPlayer.com/poker-podcasts

CP_Brand_40_Podcast.indd 3 9/3/20 11:38 AM THE INSIDE STRAIGHT

the INSIDE STRAIGHT News, Reviews, and Interviews From Around the Poker World

POKER HALL OF FAMER, LONGTIME VOICE OF WPT MIKE SEXTON PASSES AWAY AT AGE 72 By Julio Rodriguez

e poker community lost a true icon Sunday, Sept. 6, the legendary Mike Sexton. e announcement came from fellow Poker Hall of Fame member Linda Johnson, who had been among those by Sexton’s side as he entered hospice care following a battle with prostate cancer. Sexton passed away two weeks shy of his 73rd birthday. Sexton is best known to poker fans as the longtime voice of the World Poker Tour, serving as a television commentator for 15 years. For many watching at home, Sexton was their ﬁrst introduction to hold’em, explain- ing the rules of “the Cadillac of poker,” a game that took just “a minute to learn, and a lifetime to master.” He would end every episode with the sign oﬀ, “May all your cards be live, and may all your pots be monsters.” He stepped down from the role in 2017 to take a chairman position with partypoker, an online poker site he had a hand in launching back in 2001 before the poker boom. e former Ohio State University gymnast volunteered for Vietnam as a U.S. Army paratrooper, and even taught ballroom dancing and contract bridge before becoming a professional poker player in 1977. Sexton had been taught the game by his childhood neighbor, stud great Danny Robison. Although he will be remembered for his work as a poker ambassador and tireless promoter of the game, Sexton was also an accomplished player. He won a World Series of Poker bracelet in the 1989 stud split event, and in 2006, he won the Tournament of Champions, a tournament he created, giving half of the $1 million prize money to charity. After years of not being able to play in WPT events because of his commentating duties, he won the 2016 WPT Playground Poker Fall Classic for $317,896, and as a tour winner, had his name etched on the WPT Champions Cup Trophy. In July, the WPT renamed the trophy in his honor. “I was most proud of being inducted into the Poker Hall of Fame,” Sexton said. “I didn’t think anything could ever top that, but in my mind, this does.” e former Card Player columnist chronicled his life in his autobiography Life’s A Gamble. In 2017, he also shared many stories about his high-stakes gambling days on the Poker Stories podcast. Look out for the next issue of Card Player, which will commemorate Sexton’s life and contributions to the poker industry. m

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008_News.indd 8 9/15/20 10:06 PM THE INSIDE STRAIGHT

THE BIGGEST STORIES FROM THE FINAL WEEKS OF THE 2020 WORLD SERIES OF POKER ONLINE By Erik Fast

Kristen Bicknell Nahrain Tamero Melika Razavi Michael Gathy

The 2020 World Series of Poker Bicknell became just the fourth tournaments around the globe. She Online officially came to a con- female player ever to win three followed up that win with a deep clusion on Sept. 6, with the final bracelets, defeating a field of 892 run in the $10,000 buy-in ‘Super weeks of the series packed with a entries to win the $2,500 six- MILLION$’ event, placing 13th number of exciting storylines that max no-limit hold’em event for for another $80,109. might have been overshadowed by $356,412. Just days later Nahrain Michael Gathy Joins Elite Ranks Of the record-setting $25 million guar- Tamero took down the $1,000 buy- Four-Time Bracelet Winners anteed main event and a pair of in no-limit hold’em championship Belgian poker pro Michael Gathy $25,000 buy-in high rollers. For to end the US-facing segment of the beat out a field of 4,012 total entries more information on those three series, winning $310,832 and her in the $500 buy-in no-limit hold’em tournaments, check out this issue’s first piece of WSOP hardware. ‘Closer’ event, earning $272,504 cover story. In the 74th event of the series Thi and his fourth bracelet as the cham- Four Female Players Won Open Truong outlasted a ﬁ eld of 972 entries pion, becoming just the 51st player Events For The First Time In WSOP to win the $1,500 pot-limit Omaha in poker history to have won four or History event. She defeated recent bracelet more bracelets. The last fortnight of the series winner Enrico Camosci heads-up to Gathy first won at the series saw two women capture their first earn the top prize of $215,938. in 2012, taking down a $1,000 WSOP gold bracelets, bringing the Melika Razavi took down the buy-in no-limit hold’em event for total number of female champions $1,050 buy-in ‘Beat The Pros’ no- $440,829. The following year he to four for the series. This was the limit hold’em bounty event in the won another $1,000 buy-in tourna- first time ever that four female play- final few days of the schedule, ment, this time featuring a turbo ers won open-field events. There overcoming a field of 2,024 total structure. He took home $278,613 were also four female champions entries to win her first bracelet for that victory. His most recent run crowned in 2004, but one of those and the top prize of $239,180. to the winner’s circle came when bracelets was earned in the $1,000 Razavi represented Iran in the he won the $5,000 buy-in six-max Ladies event. There was no female- 2016 Miss Global pageant and has no-limit hold’em event in 2016 for only bracelet event held as a part of had other successes in that world a career-best $560,843. He now has the WSOP Online this year. in recent years, while also being more than $2.1 million in career Earlier in the series, Kristen a frequent participant in poker earnings at the WSOP. m

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008_News.indd 9 9/15/20 10:07 PM THE INSIDE STRAIGHT - News, reviews, and interviews from around the poker world CONNOR DRINAN WINS FINAL BRACELET OF WORLD SERIES OF POKER ONLINE TO SECURE SIX-FIGURE SIDE BET FROM DANIEL NEGREANU By Erik Fast Connor Drinan was one of the best tournament poker players without a WSOP bracelet heading into the 2020 online series. He had accumulated more than $11 million in prior live tournament cashes, with plenty of success online as well. Before the series began, he was one of the players who accepted Daniel Negreanu’s bracelet bet, wagering the maximum for an individual of $100,000 against the six-time winner at the WSOP. e even- money bet would be a push if neither player won a bracelet in 2020, or if they both did. With 84 of the 85 bracelets up for grabs at the series awarded, Drinan’s last shot during was the $5 million guaranteed $10,000 “Drinan ultimately emerged buy-in no-limit hold’em ‘Super MILLION$’ event. Drinan managed a deep run, and although he was quite short around victorious, beating out a field of 899 the money bubble, was able to recover and enter the final table in sixth chip position. entries and a tough final table to win Negreanu, who finished 128th in this event for $21,483, took the six-figure bet, the $1,423,049 top to Twitter during the final table to comment on the situation. “On the bubble this guy had two big blinds, now he is prize, and his first WSOP bracelet.” crushing the final table,” wrote Negreanu. “How sick would it be to lose the bet on the last event of the year! Good luck three-bet shove of 14,850,000. Mishra had him pipped with Connor, I’m rooting for you to come a solid second.” pocket tens. Drinan surged into the lead by hitting a set on the Drinan ultimately emerged victorious, beating out a field flop of Ao 9o 7n. Mishra picked up a flush draw on the 5o turn, of 899 entries and a tough final table to win the six-figure bet, but the Kp river was no help and Mishra was sent home with the huge $1,423,049 top prize, and his first WSOP bracelet. $288,836 as the sixth-place finisher. With that Drinan expanded e strong turnout in this event saw the $5 million guarantee his lead to the point that he had more than twice as many chips easily surpassed, with $8,720,300 in total prize money paid out as his nearest competitor. among the top 134 finishers. As one might expect, there were e knockout spree continued for Drinan when Sylvain numerous notable players among those that cashed, including Loosli shoved for 11 big blinds when it folded to him in the two-time bracelet winner Upeshka De Silva (132nd – $21,483), small blind. Drinan called with the Am 2n and found himself three-time bracelet winner Adrian Mateos (103rd – $21,483, ahead of Loosli’s Ko 4n. Neither player improved and Drinan’s 2018 Card Player Player of the Year award winner Jake Schindler ace high was enough to earn him the pot. Loosli cashed for (100th – $21,483), three-time bracelet winner Nick Schulman $398,010 as the fifth-place finisher. (95th – $25,029), six-time bracelet winner Chris Ferguson (54th With that Drinan took more than half of the total chips in play – $29,160), reigning POY award winner Stephen Chidwick into four-handed action. He extended that advantage even further (43rd – $33,973), Sam Trickett (27th – $33,973), and recent by busting fellow American poker pro Chris Oliver in fourth place bracelet winner Melika Razavi (13th – $80,109). ($548,450). Oliver got his last chips in with Am 8o from the cutoff Suraj Mishra took the chip lead into the final table, with and found himself up against Drinan’s Ap Jo out of the big blind. 2013 WSOP main event fourth-place finisher Sylvain Loosli sit- Both players paired on the flop, and Drinan’s superior pair of jacks ting in second chip position. Kenneth Smaron was the first to hit remained the best hand by the river. the virtual rail when his top pair failed to beat out the flush and Just a few minutes later, Viktor Ustimov got all-in with straight draws of Christopher Kruk. Smaron earned $110,389 as pocket sevens against the AnQo of Drinan. Drinan ended up the ninth-place finisher. flopping two pair, earning him yet another knockout. Ustimov Arsenii Malinov was the next to fall. He called all-in from the earned $755,754 as the third-place finisher. big blind with Am Qp facing a small-blind shove from Loosli, Drinan took more than a 4:1 chip lead into heads-up play who held 9n 7n. Loosli flopped two pair and held from there to against Daniyar Aubakirov. e Kazakhstani player was able knock Malinov out in eighth place ($152,113). to close the gap a bit in the early going, only to have Drinan Drinan scored his first elimination of the final table with reopen a big lead. Aubakirov scored a few double-ups to keep pocket aces. He raised from early position and Christopher Kruk his chances alive, but ultimately was unable to battle back into moved all-in from the small blind with Am Jp. Drinan made the match. In the final hand he got all-in with Am Jp and the quick call and his aces remained the best hand after the five was in good shape to find yet another double, as Drinan held community cards were dealt. Kruk took home $209,609 for his Ap 9m. e An Kn 4m flop kept Aubakirov ahead, and seventh-place showing in this event, while Drinan climbed into the 8m turn meant that only a nine on the river would end the chip lead. the tournament right then and there. The 9p appeared to Drinan next clashes with start-of-day leader Suraj Mishra. He give Drinan two pair, securing the pot and the title for the opened from the cutoff with pocket nines and called Mishra’s American. Aubakirov earned $1,041,414 as the runner-up. m

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008_News.indd 10 9/15/20 10:07 PM THE INSIDE STRAIGHT PANDEMIC CAUSES MICHIGAN REGULATORS TO PUSH FOR EARLY LAUNCH OF ONLINE SPORTS BETTING By Steve Schult

Michigan rolled out its in-person close to pre-pandemic revenues, which that he hoped to allow sites to launch sports betting operation, opening ultimately hurts state coffers. online books by mid-November. retails sportsbooks March 11, just a few When Whitmer signed the online “We all know that the online por- days before Gov. Gretchen Whitmer gambling bill into law at the end of last tion is going to benefit not only the shut down the state’s gambling market year, the state tax rate on internet gam- state and tax revenue, but the tribes in response to the COVID-19 pan- bling ranged between 20-28 percent, took a real hit, too. ey got beat up demic. compared to the 8.4 percent rate put really bad when they closed their casi- Now that brick-and-mortar opera- on the brick-and-mortar books. no, and same for the city of Detroit. tions have reopened at 15 percent With the start of the NFL season, So everybody wants to get those done capacity and revenues are struggling, there will almost certainly be a rush sooner than later. ere’s been a real state regulators are looking to move up to the books by sports bettors. And spirit of cooperation to move these the timeline for the launch of its online online sports betting has proven to be things through the process.” and mobile platforms, according to a the key to any successful sports betting ere is a public hearing scheduled report from MLive. market. for Sept. 23, where the rules will be With Whitmer’s roughly 14-week According to numbers released by laid out and finalized. e regulators shutdown, the state’s three commer- New Jersey gaming regulators, $296 hope to have an economic impact cial casinos in Detroit reported gross million of the $315 million wagered statement finalized and in the hands of gambling revenue of just $487 mil- on sports in July came from an online state legislators by October. lion from April through July. ose sportsbook. at is why Richard Kalm, If all goes smoothly, a mid-Novem- properties reopened Aug. 5 but are executive director of the Michigan ber launch would be a few months still struggling to generate something Gaming Control Board told MLive ahead of the initial January target. m Pair Of Former Sports Stars Accept Positions In Sports Be ing By Steve Schult

For nearly the entire history of American professional media company will sports, it was considered taboo for athletes to gamble, be used to “highlight especially on games. SportsBettingDime’s bet- Now, a couple of retired sports stars have taken posi- ting tools, analysis, and tions at sports betting sites, highlighting the incredible advice with BeastMode’s growth and mainstream acceptance of the activity. signature spin as the site’s DraftKings announced that Chicago Bulls great and oddsmakers and betting arguably the best player in the history of the NBA, experts set the lines for Michael Jordan, was named as a “special advisor” to the Lynch to take on some company. According to a Forbes report, he was given an unorthodox challenges equity stake in the fantasy sports and sports betting giant. in a variety of diﬀerent In a statement, the company said that the Charlotte sports.” Hornets owner will provide “guidance and strategic e pair of moves show advice to the board of directors on key business initiatives the complete 180-degree spin that professional sports has undertaken by the sports technology and entertainment taken with its attitude towards sports betting as more company.” states legalize the activity. Just a few years ago, it would Just a few hours later, former NFL running back have been considered crazy for the current owner of an Marshawn Lynch announced a content partnership with NBA franchise to take a position with an online sports- the sports betting site sportsbettingdime.com. book. Unlike DraftKings, SBD is not an actual book, but There are 18 states with legal and operational sports instead a site that dives into the nitty gritty of the sports betting markets in the U.S. with another three states betting world and gives insight into which picks to make. pending launch. Tennessee will likely be the next In the aftermath of his 12-season NFL career, Lynch state to get up and running as regulators said recently formed a media company called BeastMode Productions that the online-only market should be operational by LLC. In a press release, the company said that Lynch’s November. m

008_News.indd 11 9/15/20 10:07 PM THE INSIDE STRAIGHT - News, reviews, and interviews from around the poker world SUSPECT ARRESTED AFTER ROBBING HIGH-STAKES POKER PRO ANTONIO ESFANDIARI OF $1 MILLION By Julio Rodriguez

Police have arrested Svitlana Silva, a 46-year-old woman scheduled for October. suspected of robbing the Las Vegas condo of high-stakes Esfandiari is one of poker’s most poker pro Antonio Esfandiari in July. popular players, and was at one point Silva, a former poker dealer, is accused of stealing the winningest tournament player of all upwards of $1 million in cash, chips, jewelry, and other valu- time. He is currently no. 16 on the all- ables belonging to Esfandiari and his father Bejan, and using time money list with $27.2 million and the funds to gamble. According to a report from the Las has three WSOP bracelets to go along Vegas Review-Journal, Silva had previously been in a relation- with two World Poker Tour titles. ship with Bejan, and had knowledge of various access codes, Esfandiari isn’t the only poker pro including the combination to a safe. who has been the victim of a home e stolen haul amounted to $150,000 in cash, about burglary. Doyle Brunson was beaten by robbers in a home $500,000 in casino chips, designer watches, and even invasion in 1998. In 2008, Hoyt Corkins had his house Esfandiari’s custom Big One For One Drop bracelet, which cleaned out of his two WSOP bracelets, and also two cars he won along with $18.3 million at the 2012 World Series and a motorcycle. of Poker. WSOP main event champion Jonathan Duhamel was Silva was spotted gambling at the Bellagio poker room hospitalized in 2011 after he was attacked in his condo by and reportedly played in a high-stakes private game before two men assisted by his ex-girlfriend, forcing their way into she was apprehended at the Aria on Aug. 23. Silva claimed his safe to steal his 2010 main event bracelet and cash. Danish innocence, however, police found several $25,000 casino poker star eo Jorgensen was actually shot by thieves in his chips in her possession during her arrest and even told police Denmark home for ﬁ ve-ﬁ gures of kroner in 2012. she had additional chips in her car. Just last year, four-time WPT champion Darren Elias Silva was booked into the Clark County Detention had his New Jersey home broken into. A man kept Elias’ Center on charges of burglary and possession of stolen prop- babysitter at gunpoint while he ransacked the house looking erty. She has since been bailed out of jail, and a court case is for cash. m

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008_News.indd 12 9/15/20 10:07 PM THE INSIDE STRAIGHT As of 9-8-2020

A Look At Players Making Waves On Place Players Points Final Tables Winnings The Live Tournament Circuit

1 Vincent Wan 2,280 1 $909,420 Mark Collins 88 - 88th Place (840 points) 2 Farid Jattin 2,177 6 $1,205,493 The Mid-States Poker Tour Grand Falls Casino $1,100 buy-in no-limit 3 Anton Suarez 2,100 1 $1,000,000 hold’em main event was the first live ‘mid-major’ poker tournament 4 Cary Katz 2,095 8 $2,420,543 held in the United States since the COVID-19 outbreak caused a shutdown of the circuit in March of 2020. The event was held from Aug. 5 Kahle Burns 1,956 6 $2,923,988 28-30, with players being required to wear masks to enter the tournament, among other safety mea- sures. The event attracted 518 total entries, blowing 6 Ngoc Hoang 1,900 1 $909,420 away the $150,000 guarantee to create a final prize pool of $500,960. 7 Aaron Van Blarcum 1,896 8 $1,854,522 In the end, the lion’s share of that money was awarded to eventual champion Mark Collins, a 47-year-old systems administrator from the St. 8 Sam Greenwood 1,881 6 $1,357,807 Louis area. Collins earned $107,706 and 840 Card Player Player of the Year points for the win. This 9 Tim Adams 1,857 6 $5,904,777 was Collins’ second MSPT title, having won the main event at the Canterbury Park Racetrack & Card Club back in 2018 for $102,076. This was Collins’ first POY- 10 Brian Altman 1,848 3 $542,866 qualified score of 2020, however, and it was enough to move him into a 13-way tie for 88th place in the 11 Michael Addamo 1,806 5 $2,143,310 POY race standings.

12 Pablo Silva 1,800 1 $1,000,000 Ricardo Eyzaguirre 86 - 86th Place (847 points) 13 Christian Rudolph 1,750 1 $620,000 Ricardo Eyzaguirre finished sixth in the MSPT Grand Falls Casino main event for $20,539 and 280 14 James Romero 1,736 2 $745,000 POY points. This was his third POY-qualified score of 2020. He 15 Erik Seidel 1,686 5 $669,649 kicked off the year by finishing as the runner-up in the Borgata Winter Poker Open $600 buy-in no-limit hold’em Deepstacks $2 million 16 Eric Afriat 1,680 1 $394,120 guaranteed event, outlasting all but one opponent from the massive field of 4,375 entries to earn 17 Alex Foxen 1,597 6 $1,603,559 $290,000 and 550 POY points. Eyzaguirre also placed ninth in a $570 buy-in, $400,000 guaranteed event at the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino Hollywood’s 18 Nino Ullmann 1,540 2 $370,609 Escalator IV Series, earning $4,104 and 17 POY points. With 847 points and $314,643 in year-to-date earn- 19 Stephen Chidwick 1,537 6 $1,043,973 ings, Eyzaguirre now sits in 86th place on the POY leaderboard.

20 Gareth Pepper 1,520 1 $690,000

013_POY.indd 13 9/15/20 10:07 PM Card Player Podcast

POKER STORIES PODCAST

With Mark Gregorich

Age: 50 From: Olympia, Washington Live Tournament Earnings: $1.8 Million

Top Live Tournament Scores June 2009 WSOP $10,000 Mixed 4th Place $139,159 World Championship May 2003 WSOP $5,000 Limit 2nd Place $126,340 Hold’em June 2007 WSOP $50,000 11th Place $117,216 Poker Players Championship June 2012 WSOP $2,500 3rd Place $90,829 Omaha/Stud Eight- Or-Better June 2019 WSOP $10,000 Triple 4th Place $81,635 Draw

Mark Gregorich has been making his living in high-limit cash games since the mid-’90s, but before that he followed in his parents’ footsteps, working as a high school teacher. When budget cuts cost him his job, he decided to make the move to Las Vegas, where he has been grinding ever since. Gregorich, considered by his peers to be one of the nicest guys in the game, was also once voted as the best Omaha eight-or-better player. In fact, his skills in the game were so revered, that Doyle Brunson asked him to contribute to his book Super System II. Although he has always preferred cash games to tournaments, the Washington-raised Gregorich does have a solid record at the World Series of Poker, with 11 ﬁnal-table appearances. Highlights from this interview include bear spotting with the kids, the family business, self-deal poker rooms, having a bad bluﬃng face, teaching high school at 22 years old, the only reasons to wear a tie, e Horseshoe and e Mirage, poker in the ‘90s, the who’s who game at Bellagio, seeing Omaha eight-or-better games literally die out, writing for Doyle Brunson, losing a bracelet to Carlos Mortensen, the animal mentality in Bobby’s Room, throwing cards at Sam Grizzle, home game raids, penguin betting, poker cruising, the long route home, and hitting lessons from Orel Hershiser while looking like Greg Maddux.

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014_Podcast_Mark Gregorich.indd 14 9/15/20 10:07 PM THE INSIDE STRAIGHT The Transcript Highlights On His Introduction To The Game Mark Gregorich: I had already discovered [poker]. My best friend growing up, his dad played in these 18-and-over cardrooms in Washington. We had a lot of these public, small, deal yourself rooms. It’s pretty crazy thinking about some of those rooms now, just compared to how poker has come along. Julio Rodriguez: Yes, Washington was notorious for these one- and two-table rooms that were everywhere. MG: ey were absolutely everywhere. Everybody smoked. Everybody deal themselves, so anyone who was halfway adept at being a mechanic could do pretty well in the game. We learned these games from my friend’s dad when we were 15 or 16. He taught us Omaha hi-lo, crazy pineapple, seven card stud hi-lo split. No hold’em yet, but we learned those split games. So we started playing, basically on rainy days in Washington… so probably six days a week. We would get together after school and play for a few hours. Our group started growing, and by the time we hit my junior year, we would have a poker game every weekend, either at my buddy’s house or my house. We often had two tables. It was dealer’s choice and there were a lot of crazy games. JR: How do you become obsessed with a game that you couldn’t access. I had Rounders, I had online poker, and I had hole- card cameras to get me hooked. MG: In our case, it was just the interaction and personal experience. I grew up playing games with my family, and this was just another extension of that. And of course, the action appealed to all of us. We all had jobs for $3.50 an hour, so we had pocket change to play these games. JR: Were you good right away? MG: No, I was terrible. I couldn’t keep a straight face. Everyone knew I was bluﬃ ng when I would turn red.

On His Close Calls At The WSOP JR: You disparaged your tournament record, but I’d bet 99 percent of the poker world would trade resumes with you. You’re right that you’ve focused on cash games, but you’ve also done [well at the WSOP with many fi nal tables]. MG: I’ve done okay, but having a fi rst in there would make me feel a lot better about how I’ve done. I’m actually a little irritated with Daniel Negreanu, because I was his tag-team partner a couple years ago and he was supposed to win me my fi rst bracelet. Instead it was another one of my thirds. JR: Which one of those close calls was the toughest to swallow? MG: It had to be the second-place fi nish. A lot of these fi nal tables blend together, but that one was the toughest. JR: is was the $5,000 limit hold’em in 2003 back at Binion’s. David Chiu fi nished third, and the guy that got you was Carlos Mortensen. MG: is was back when the tournaments were only two days, and we came back with something like 15 people. It was long. We played really late the night before, and really late the day of the fi nal table. Carlos and I came in pretty short, but the structure was really slow and allowed us to pick our spots really well. Carlos and I played a long time. It was kind of topsy turvy. At one point, I had aces, and he had a fl ush draw. He only had half a bet left, but he made the fl ush on the river. After that, I don’t think I won another chip. At the time, I wasn’t super disappointed, but I defi nitely didn’t feel like I had won a bunch of money either. e next day I was back at noon for the main event, which produced my most memorable TV moment. I was two-outed on the river by this Irish cop, about fi ve spots out of the money in a pretty big pot. He just let out this huge, “YEAH!” after hitting, and Norman Chad said on the broadcast “that they were going to have to carry Gregorich out on a gurney!”

On The One Time He Wasn’t So Nice At The Table JR: e consensus on you, is that you are one of the nicest guys in poker. Do you have any poker enemies? Any feuds? MG: Not really. I’ve had very few blow ups at the table, a few arguments here and there, but nothing much. I did throw cards at Sam Grizzle one time, that was probably my biggest moment. JR: And what did Sam do to deserve that? MG: I just snapped. Sam has a way of getting under people’s skin for sure. ere should be a book of Sam Grizzle quotes, he has some great lines. He’s one of the funniest poker players you’ll run into, but it’s usually funny in a mean, biting, sarcastic way. I’ve played with him a ton over the years, and we’ve gotten along for the most part since. In fact, maybe we’ve gotten along better since I threw cards at him. We were just playing in a cash game, and I was running good, and somebody was trying to be funny at the table. I was laughing at the jokes, maybe they weren’t funny, but Sam was calling me a laughing hyena. He just kept doing it, and kept doing it, and ﬁ nally I couldn’t take it anymore. I was folding my hands, and saw he had his cards unprotected, so I just winged my cards right into his hand. It did a one- hop oﬀ his chest. He just gave me this absolutely shocked look, didn’t say anything. He couldn’t believe I was capable of that. After that, we were cool.

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014_Podcast_Mark Gregorich.indd 15 9/15/20 10:07 PM THE INSIDE STRAIGHT - table talk

TABLE TALK: INTERVIEWS WITH POKER'S TOP TALENT Card Player sits down with the game’s well-known, up-and-coming, and most notorious players for insight into what it takes to make it in the poker world.

POKER JOKER MAKES A SERIOUS BREAKTHROUGH DURING THE 2020 WORLD SERIES OF POKER ONLINE Ian Steinman Discusses Winning His First Bracelet From The Couch

By Erik Fast

Ian Steinman has accrued seven figures in tournament earnings over the last eight years, with a number of titles won along the way, including four World Series of Poker Circuit gold rings. Coming into 2020, however, the Mountain View, California native was still looking for his first major tournament title. Steinman had come as close as one can get in the past, with two runner-up finishes in major events for the largest scores of his career to date. In March of 2018 he placed second in the World Poker Tour Rolling under main event for $201,428, and a few months later he lost heads-up in a $1,500 no-limit hold’em event at the WSOP, earning $197,461. On July 27, Steinman finally broke through with the major title on the line, defeating a field of 1,940 entries to win the WSOP Online $400 buy-in no-limit hold’em freezeout event for $110,557 and his first gold bracelet. Steinman made a total of 15 cashes throughout the it was mostly joy and a tiny bit of relief. US-facing portion of the WSOPO, which meant that he CP: You’ve won several smaller tournament titles before cashed in just shy of half of the 31 bracelet events offered in this, but your two largest scores have both come in runner-up that segment of the series. He made three total final tables, finishes. You’ve been heads-up for a bracelet and heads-up for cashing for $187,812 along the way. As a result, he finished on a WPT title before this. Did you feel any extra pressure for you top of the leaderboard hosted on WSOP.com. to close it out this time? Card Player recently caught up with Steinman to learn IS: Definitely. at kind of started to creep in because more about that leaderboard win, his breakthrough victory, when I started heads-up, I had a decent chip lead on the guy the origin of his screen name, and more. and then I doubled him up and we switched positions. I just Card Player: Can you tell me about how it felt when the tried to reset. I remember thinking about it and just telling my final card was dealt and you realized that you had just won a brother, who was sweating me, ‘It doesn’t matter. Don’t worry WSOP bracelet? about it. I’m going to beat this guy.’ I tried to reassure myself Ian Steinman: I had a lot of emotion. I mean, it was the and say, ‘Don’t let your mind go to that place, because there’s culmination of a lot of playing and a lot of work. It was a com- a lot you can’t control. Just do what you can do, and don’t let bination of excitement, and a little bit of relief in a way, kind the emotions get to you.’ at feeling was definitely there a bit, of like getting a monkey off your back. It was definitely weird but I tried to move past it and just play cards, which is really because any other big runs I’ve had in tournaments have been all you can do. in a casino with a lot of people around, not just sitting on my CP: A bracelet would normally be won at the featured table couch. So that was kind of strange… but as far as the feeling, with all the lights and on a live stream, with friends and fam-

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016_Q&A_Ian Steinman.indd 16 9/15/20 10:08 PM THE INSIDE STRAIGHT I’m of the belief that, if they call it a bracelet event, it’s going to draw out a lot of people, the competition is going to be really tough. If it ends up being a small field, that’s probably because the buy-in is really big. Each bracelet event is just a little bit unique, but it’s still a bracelet event and is going to attract some really good players, no matter what.

ily on your rail and watching from home. is one was won CP: How did this tournament play out for you? Did you get from your couch. off to a hot start and build a stack right away or was it more of IS: It was interesting, because it definitely felt different. But an up-and-down affair early on? then as soon as I won, I think I had the same kind of feel- IS: I started out just crushing. I think we started with ing I would have had if it was at the Rio. I mean, I’ve never 20,000 in chips and I had run it up to 200,000 within a couple experienced it at the Rio, so I can’t know for sure, but that was hours. I felt like I was just going to cruise, but then I actually kind of the moment that it changed from different to the same took a few beats and got down low and it turned into a grind kind of feeling. I immediately got a bunch of text messages until we got down to the final few tables. With two tables left, and phone calls and it did feel like everyone was kind of there I built it up again and managed to head into the final table watching, even though they were all at their respective houses with a chip lead. But then again, some pots didn’t go my way following a live stream or whatnot. It was weird, and then as and I think I was in seventh or eighth chip position when we soon as it was over, it didn’t feel much different to me. I didn’t were eight-handed. mind. Sure, I would have liked to go out and celebrate or have It was a little weird because at least one of the other final some beers with my friends. But as far as the actual tourna- tables I made this series, I had the chip lead early on and didn’t ment, it felt the same to me. end up winning and I kind of got that feeling of like, ‘Oh, no, CP: So your brother was sweating you. What was it like not again.’ Because things just really weren’t going my way at having family support right there? first at the final table, which had happened before and I ended IS: I live in Nevada, he’s in California. He came here for up busting in fifth or sixth. But this time, I won my flips when the weekend just to play a few events himself. So he was at I needed to and I got the chip lead back. e one other big my house playing and he was actually going to leave the day stack let me take over. I don’t know if he was just really card before, but he had a deep run and it got late and I told him to dead or playing sort of passive, but it worked out that I basi- just stay one more night and play another event. So he stayed cally was able to play as the chip leader, even though I wasn’t and played, I think he might have cashed in it, too. But once yet. And that helped me get back into the actual chip lead. he got knocked out, he was going to go home, but he said, From then on it was pretty smooth sailing. ‘Actually, I’m not going to leave. I’m going to watch you win CP: You cashed 15 times during the US-facing part of the a bracelet.’ WSOP Online, with three final-tables. As a result, you ended So he was there, but we didn’t really talk at all. He just sat up on top of the points leaderboard for that segment of the there watching me play. I was pretty zoned in. I don’t even series. Can you tell me about the overall experience of grinding think I said one thing to him except on the break when I told this series everyday online throughout July, and what it meant him, ‘I’m still going to win this thing.’ to you to ultimately end up on top of that hotly-contested He was probably pretty nervous, actually, because he was leaderboard? there the first time I lost heads-up for a bracelet. I got heads- IS: It was definitely quite a grind. I’m prepared for it when up with Eric Baldwin and he had a 3:1 chip lead on me to I get to the Rio during the summer, ready to be exhausted by start, but I won every pot when we started, maybe 15 or 20 in halfway through the summer. At first, it didn’t seem like it was a row. And I had him 10:1 in chips or nine to one in chips. I going to be as much work or take as much mental energy, but it had him all in with the best hand and right then, my brother turned out to be a lot. I had quite a few cashes, so I frequently ran into the Rio. He had just got off a plane and showed up. ended up playing for eight to ten hours a day. Also, it is pretty I lost that all-in. hard to sleep when you’re done playing poker, especially after We ended up playing a few more hours, then bagged up for you have a decent run. I was running a sleep deficit and playing the night. I went on to lose the next day, so I was always jok- a ton, so I was really drained by the end. ing with my brother about how he was bad luck and he should But the fact that I saw myself near the top 10 or top 15 on have never showed up. at wasn’t really serious, but I know the series leaderboard, and I kept thinking that if I got a win, he felt a little nervous and he probably felt some relief this time I could [finish on top]. And I really did want to win, because when I won with him there. it is going to be the closest thing to the WSOP Player of the

016_Q&A_Ian Steinman.indd 17 9/15/20 10:08 PM THE INSIDE STRAIGHT - table talk

Year that I could get this year. I know year. It has just kind of become another it’s not really the player of the year, but I variant of poker, I guess: online no-limit still have a lot of pride for winning that hold’em versus live no-limit hold’em. One leaderboard. could argue that online is not the same or e last couple events I was sweating not as skillful, but you can argue in both it pretty hard. I got a min-cash in the last directions I think. event and busted. en all I could do I’m kind of with the people who are was sit and wait for the other guys near saying that the guy who won a seven- the top to see if they busted. I think with player field seven-card stud tournament three tables left, there were four guys that in the ‘80s, his bracelet’s worth just as could still pass me. So I was sweating much as someone who wins the $10,000 it a little bit. But also, it was just kind six-max event today, because that’s what of fun. When it’s out of your control, was there at the time. A couple thousand there’s nothing you can do but just kind bucks was a lot heftier of a buy-in back of enjoy the sweat. then, so not everyone could play those, CP: How did you first get into poker? and people didn’t have the same access Was playing online a big part of your to tools to improve their game that are rise through the ranks in this game, or is available now. your background more in the live scene? I’m of the belief that, if they call it a IS: I was more infatuated with live bracelet event, it’s going to draw out a lot poker than online, because when I first of people, the competition is going to be started playing poker for fun as a teenag- really tough. If it ends up being a small er, I remember going to my friend’s house and he was watching field, that’s probably because the buy-in is really big. Each the Moneymaker WSOP main event. My friends and I were bracelet event is just a little bit unique, but it’s still a bracelet watching and immediately were like, ‘Oh, let’s play poker.’ event and is going to attract some really good players, no mat- When we started, no one had a clue what they were doing. ter what. It was just basically, ‘Can I outsmart my friends?’ I played CP: Getting back to your journey to becoming a poker pro, completely off feel for a while, just with the same guys, and you said you were playing while attending college. At what I realized, ‘Oh, I think I’m smarter than this guy, and that is point did you transition to taking poker more seriously, or start why I’m beating him.’ And that was what really got me into playing for a living? the idea of poker and playing a lot. In live poker you see your IS: In college I was grinding hard to make eight bucks an opponent and you try and get in their head, and that’s always hour. I remember having all my notes and my logs of my ses- been really interesting to me. sions. I was playing a lot in a small game, and the rake was I started playing a little bit online around then, just a few high. But I was pretty proud of that at the time, especially bucks here and there, but I always wanted to play live poker. because that was decent money for a kid in college, to make a I went to college in Santa Barbara, they had an 18 and over couple hundred bucks a week. Despite playing a lot, I wouldn’t casino so I was playing a lot of low-stakes cash games there. As say I was playing professionally then. I ended up dropping soon as I turned 21, I started playing the daily tournaments. out of college and playing a bit of low-stakes between when I I grew up near San Jose, so it was Garden City and Bay 101. was 19 and 21 when I could still play online. And then Black I did a lot of live playing before I started grinding online in Friday happened in 2011 and I couldn’t play as much online college, but I’ve always loved live poker and preferred it over anymore. playing online. I like talking to people and trying to get in I went back to college around then, but I found some cash their heads. Being around people is a lot more entertaining to games and some local tournaments and ended up dropping me than sitting in front of a screen. out again. I found myself sitting in class and asking myself, CP: How did you pick your screen name, ‘APokerJoker2’? ‘Why am I even here?’ I was thinking about what game is IS: at was something I made on PokerStars. I think the good right now. So I ended up dropping out because I thought day I turned 18, I made that account. I didn’t put that much I could do better with poker, especially back then because the thought into it. I was like, ‘Poker, Joker... that rhymes’ and I games were really good. I grinded a decent living for a while, put an ace and a deuce on either side of it, because I feel like but when I was 22 or 23, I ended up waiting tables for six I won some big hand with A-2, or something. I can’t even months to save up a $10,000 bankroll. At that point I moved remember exactly why I did it, but when I made my screen to Nevada and basically haven’t looked back since. name on this site, I just used the same name. It’s not clever. CP: What are your goals as a poker pro moving forward? I wish I had some really clever screen name, because there’s IS: For a while, my goal was trying to win titles, which was some really good ones and I’ve thought of some good ones probably a bad goal. In the last couple of years, I’ve gotten since then. some coaching, and I started to realize those kinds of goals are CP: Where do you fall on the debate that was being held pretty silly. Winning any one tournament outright is some- after the 85-bracelet WSOP Online was announced, with thing that’s really hard to control. So now, my goal is just to some saying that this would negatively impact the prestige of keep improving and to try to not get complacent even though a bracelet? How did you feel about winning your first bracelet I’m doing well right now. I just want to play as much live poker online instead of live? as I can when it comes back and put myself in the position to IS: When I first heard it, I didn’t really think it was that get good scores. I would love to win a WPT title. I was close big a deal because I think they were already planning to have to winning one, when I finished second, but it’s not really a an increased amount of online bracelet events this year. ere goal. I’ll definitely play some more WPT events and try to put were going to be 14 this year, which was up a handful from last myself in a position to win one, though, and see how it goes. m

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CP_PokerSchool_1_FP.indd 1 9/1/20 1:07 PM STOYAN MADANZHIEV WINS 2020 WORLD SERIES OF POKER ONLINE MAIN EVENT FOR $3.9 MILLION Bulgarian Pro Tops Field Of 5,802 To Win Largest Payout In Online Poker History

By Erik Fast

e fi rst-ever World Series of Poker Online i s o ffi c i a l l y ever, it appeared that the event might end up with an in the books. e series will go down as a huge suc- overlay. But huge turnouts down the stretch resulted in cess, given that it was planned on short notice after the the event beating the guarantee by nearly $2.6 million. COVID-19 pandemic resulted in the indefi nite post- e fi nal record-breaking prize pool of $27,559,500 ponement of the live WSOP in Las Vegas. was set to be awarded to the top 728 fi nishers, with 1,171 e WSOPO saw 85 gold bracelets awarded from players having survived the myriad starting fl ights to July 1 to Sept. 6, with events spread across two separate make day 2. at meant that roughly 400 players were online poker platforms. A total of 283,983 entries were eliminated outside of the money during early action, made in bracelet events during the series, resulting in including all-time WSOP bracelet leader Phil Hellmuth, more than $174.5 million in prize money paid out to bracelet winners Fedor Holz, João Vieira, and Danny players around the globe. Tang, World Poker Tour main event winner Pavel Plesuv, e largest chunk of that impressive prize money Super High Roller Bowl champion Christoph Vogelsang, total was awarded in the marquee event of the sum- and many more. mer: the WSOP Online $5,000 buy-in no-limit hold’em e money bubble burst thanks to a prefl op cooler main event. e tournament drew 5,802 entries to and a post-fl op bad beat. Vitaliy Pankov got all-in pre- blow away its $25 million guarantee, creating the larg- fl op with pocket aces and was called by the pocket kings est tournament prize pool in online poker history with of Diogo Veiga. e fl op brought the Ko and Veiga made $27,559,500. e previous record for the biggest prize kings full of tens to knock Pankov out on the stone pool in an online tournament belonged to the 2018 par- bubble of the richest online poker tournament ever held. typoker MILLIONS Online, a $5,300 buy-in event that With his elimination, the remaining players all locked generated a $21,780,000 prize pool. up at least $11,834. In the end, Stoyan Madanzhiev emerged victorious Plenty of notables cashed in this event, including as the inaugural WSOPO main event champion. e bracelet winners Igor Kurganov (705th - $11,834), Bulgarian poker pro was awarded his fi rst gold bracelet Ryan Laplante (697th - $11,834) and Chris Moorman as the champion, as well as the largest payout ever in (662nd - $11,834), high roller star Manig Loeser (659th online poker history: $3,904,686. - $11,834), WSOP $50,000 Poker Players Championship is was by far the largest victory in Madanzhiev’s winner Elior Sion (520th - $13,160), 2013 WSOP main career. Prior to this win, his biggest recorded live tour- event champion Ryan Riess (495th - $14,634), two-time nament cash was a 14th-place fi nish in the 2019 Merit bracelet winner Anson Tsang (378th - $16,274), three- Poker Western Tournament $2,200 buy-in event for time bracelet winner Adrian Mateos (369th - $16,274), $10,800. Now, he has multiple millions in earnings to two-time bracelet winners David Peters (353rd - $16,274) his name. and Mark Radoja (342nd - $18,098), fi ve-time bracelet Breaking The Online Prize Pool Record winner Daniel Alaei (184th - $22,378), 2019 WSOP is event featured a staggering 23 starting fl ights Europe main event winner Alexandros Kolonias (155th - that ran from Aug. 16-30, with players able to enter up $24,886), bracelet winner Mike Leah (128th – $24,886), to a maximum of three times in the tournament, with no and high-stakes crusher Isaac Haxton (121st – $24,886). re-entry during the same fl ight. e event’s $25 million Among the big names to make it down inside guarantee meant that the record for the largest online the top 100 fi nishers were two-time bracelet winner tournament prize pool ever would be broken regardless Shankar Pillai (99th - $27,675), Conor Beresford (85th of the turnout. Heading into the fi nal few fl ights, how- – $27,675), high-stakes pro Sam Greenwood (75th –

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020_CoverStory.indd 20 9/16/20 1:52 PM Wenling Gao Stefan Schillhabel © PokerStars.com©

$30,776), and two-time bracelet winner Kahle Burns 2m from the big blind, only to have initial raiser Rueger (52nd – $39,214). call with Ao Kn. Neither player improved and Santos Play was ultimately halted with 38 players remaining was awarded $666,636 as the sixth-place finisher. in the early morning hours of Aug. 31, with those left e next key pot began with Japan’s Satoshi Isomae given a six-day break before play resumed. three-betting Madanzhiev’s cutoff open with Ap Qo From 38 To A Champion out of the small blind. Madanzhiev called with Jo 9o When cards got back in the air on Saturday, Sept. and flopped top two pair when the first three cards 5, it was bracelet winner and 2017 WSOP main event came down Jm 9m 5p. Isomae bet 11,605,800 and seventh-place finisher Bryan Piccioli with the chip Madanzhiev called. e turn brought the 7n and both lead. Piccioli ultimately finished in 23rd place. Plenty players checked. e 6m river saw Isomaeo move all-in for of other big names also hit the rail as the field was 23,411,295, only for Madanzhiev to quickly call with his narrowed down to the final table, including bracelet winning two pair. Isomae’s failed bluff saw him knocked winners Arkadiy Tsinis (37th – $39,214), Jonas Lauck out in fifth place for $949,937, while Madanzhiev took a (34th – $55,880), and Michael Lech (31st – $55,880). sizable chip lead into four-handed action. High-stakes online tournament stars Samuel ‘€urop€an’ e remaining players had all locked up a seven- Vousden (12th – $161,686) and Benjamin ‘bencb789’ figure payday at this point, but there were still additional Rolle (11th – $161,686) also saw their runs end just shy millions and a championship bracelet to play for. New of the final table. Zealand’s omas Ward found himself all-in and at risk With the elimination of Mariano Martiradonna in just a handful of minutes later. He picked up pocket sixes 10th place ($161,686), the final table was officially set. on the button and moved all-in for around 9.5 million, American Tyler Rueger sat in the lead, with Stoyan Gao had him pipped with pocket sevens and made the Madanzhiev hot on his heels. Samuel Taylor was the call. e larger pair held up through the river and Ward first to fall when his set of nines ran into a turned set was eliminated in fourth place for $1,353,634. of aces for Chinese tournament regular Wenling Gao. ree-handed play was a brief affair. Gao min-raised Taylor got the last of his chips in on the river, only to to 1,400,000 on the button with pocket kings. Rueger see that he had been coolered out of the event in ninth picked up An Qm in the big blind and three-bet to place ($230,395). 4,395,000. Gao four-bet to 9,800,000. Rueger five-bet American online pro Tyler Cornell was the next to shoved for 48,697,202, only to be snap-called by Gao. go. He got the last of his short stack in with Ao Jm and e board ran out with no aces and Rueger was elimi- was well ahead of Rueger’s dominated Qo Jp. A queen nated in third place. He took home $1,928,887 for his on the flop gave Rueger the lead, though, which he was strong showing in this event. able to maintain through the river. Cornell settled for With that, heads-up play began with the final two $328,305 as the eighth-place finisher. contestants essentially tied, with Gao having just less High-stakes tournament regular Stefan Schillhabel than a single big blind lead over Madanzhiev when cards had come into the final table as the most accomplished got back in the air. Madanzhiev was able to extend his player remaining. e German poker pro had cashed lead during the early going, building his chip advantage for nearly $9.4 million in prior tournament earnings, to more than 2:1 by the time the final hand of the tour- including a win in the 2016 World Poker Tour Bay 101 nament was dealt. Shooting Star main event for just shy of $1.3 million. Gao picked up pocket aces on the button and min- Schillhabel’s run in this event came to an end as raised to 1,600,000. Madanzhiev defended his big the result of a lost coinflip, with his pocket tens failing blind with 7o 6n and flopped huge, as the 5p 4n to hold up against the A-K of Gao. e board brought 3m gave him the nut straight. He bet 1,700,000 and four clubs which gave Gao the nut flush on the turn. Gao responded with a raise to 3,944,000. Madanzhiev Schillhabel earned $467,825 for his seventh-place show- called and the 8n hit the turn. He checked and Gao bet ing. 5,644,000. Madanzhiev check-raised to 15,040,000 and e eliminations came fast and furious during short- Gao thought it over before deciding to move all-in with handed action. Joao Santos three-bet jammed with An her pocket aces. Madanzhiev instantly called and it was

020_CoverStory.indd 21 9/16/20 1:52 PM all over, as Gao was drawing dead. a singular occurrence, this record-breaking event is one Gao earned $2,748,605 as the runner-up, falling one that won’t soon be forgotten. spot short of winning her first bracelet. She now has just shy of $3.3 million in recorded tournament earnings. Here is a look at the payouts awarded at the final table: is huge score supplanted her fifth-place finish in the Place Name Earnings 2018 Asia Pacific Poker Tour Macau high roller event for $157,950 to become the largest of her career. Gao’s 1 Stoyan Madanzhiev $3,904,686 prize is the largest tournament cash in poker history for 2 Wenling Gao $2,748,605 any woman, surpassing the $2,013,733 won by Annette 3 Tyler Rueger $1,928,887 Obrestad for taking down the 2007 WSOP Europe main event. 4 Thomas Ward $1,353,634 With this victory, Madanzhiev wrote his name in 5 Satoshi Isomae $949,937 the poker history books. e WSOP Online was born out of necessity during the live tournament poker shut- 6 Joao Santos $666,637 down that resulted from the COVID-19 outbreak, and 7 Stefan Schillhabel $467,825 it remains to be seen if an official WSOP bracelet series 8 Tyler Cornell $328,305 will ever be held exclusively online again in the future. Whether this is the start of a new era for the WSOP or 9 Samuel Taylor $230,395 CHRISTIAN RUDOLPH AND FEDOR HOLZ WIN MILLIONS AS WSOP ONLINE HIGH ROLLER CHAMPIONS The German Poker Pros Won A Pair of $25,000 Buy-In Events During The Series’ Final Stretch By Erik Fast

In addition to the massive $25 million guaranteed main Christian Rudolph event, the final weeks of the WSOP Online also played host to the conclusion of two $25,000 buy-in high roller bracelet events. e first to crown a winner was the WSOPO $25,000 buy-in NLH Poker Players Championship. e tournament featured a $10 million guarantee, which was the second- largest of the series. e event fell just short of surpassing the guarantee, with 407 total entries made by the time that registration officially came to a close. In the end, it was Christian Rudolph who came away with the bracelet and the top prize of $1,800,290. e 32-year-old German poker pro’s previous best finish in a bracelet event came when he finished as the runner-up in the €25,500 buy-in high roller at the 2018 WSOP Europe for $603,212. is time around he was able to come out on Scott Seiver (15th - $104,078). top heads-up to secure the massive prize and his first piece e final table of this event was set back on Aug. 23, of WSOP hardware. but play didn’t resume until nearly a week later. American e first day of this event saw the field narrowed from tournament superstar Jason Koon came into the final table hundreds down to just nine left with a shot at the title and of nine as the chip leader with 39 big blinds, looking to add the seven-figure top prize. e top 55 finishers made the to his nearly $31 million in recorded tournament earnings. money in this event, with two-time bracelet winner Michael Two-time bracelet winner Shankar Pillai sat in second chip Addamo being the last player eliminated outside of the position, while Rudolph began final table action with the money. third-largest stack. As one would expect, the list of players who cashed in this Pillai increased his stack by eliminating Aliaksei Boika in event includes many of the top players in the world. Among ninth place ($154,416), but Koon went the opposite direction those to make the money were three-time bracelet winner during eight-handed play. High-stakes regular Christopher Davidi Kitai (54th - $57,592), 2019 Super High Roller Bowl Hunichen doubled through Koon, with pocket queens hold- Bahamas winner Timothy Adams (39th - $70,150), two- ing against A-J, to see him overtake the lead. Koon fell to time bracelet winner David Peters (32nd - $70,150), six-time the middle of the pack. He outlasted Paulius Plausinaitis bracelet winner Chris Ferguson (21st - $85,446), reign- (8th - $210,079), but was unable to regain momentum at ing Card Player Player of the Year award winner Stephen the final table. His run in this event came to an end when he Chidwick (19th - $85,446), and three-time bracelet winner lost a key preflop race with pocket tens against the An Qm

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020_CoverStory.indd 22 9/16/20 1:52 PM Chris Hunichen Fedor Holz

of Rudolph. e board ran out ace high and Koon earned share of that money was awarded to none-other than Fedor $285,808 as the seventh-place finisher, falling several spots Holz. e 27-year-old German high-roller earned his sec- short of securing his first WSOP bracelet. ond WSOP gold bracelet and the top prize of $1,070,250. Rudolph then reeled off three more consecutive elimi- With more than $34.1 million in career tournament nations, busting Brunno Botteon (6th - $388,837), Aram earnings, Holz currently sits in eighth place on poker’s all- Zobian (5th - $529,005) and Aleksejs Ponakovs (4th - time money list. His two largest scores were both recorded $719,700) to take a sizable lead into three-handed action. in WSOP events. In 2016 he won his first bracelet by tak- Pillai was the shortest stack left, and he got his last 16 big ing down the $111,111 WSOP One Drop High Roller for blinds in from the button with An 9p and received a call $4,981,775. Two years later he finished runner-up in the $1 from Hunichen, who had been dealt a dominating Ap Ko million buy-in Big One For One Drop for another $6 mil- in the big blind. Both players made a pair of aces on the flop, lion. is latest victory marked his third seven-figure score but Hunichen’s superior kicker was enough to send Pillai in WSOP events alone and was the eighth tournament score home in third place ($979,138). of a million dollars or more that he has already secured in With that Hunichen entered heads-up play with 10.5 his young career. million to Rudolph’s 21.2 million. Rudolph built an early Holz defeated a number of tough players on his way lead, only to have Hunichen mount a small comeback. By to the final four. In order, from the round of 128 through the time the final hand was dealt, though, Rudolph had the round of eight, he beat out: Luc Greenwood, Anton stretched his lead to more than a 9:1 advantage. Morgenstern, Robert Flink, George Wolff, and three-time Hunichen ultimately got his last five or so big blinds bracelet winner and current all-time money leader Justin in with Kn Qm from the button and Rudolph called with Bonomo. Qn10p out of the big blind. e flop brought a ten, and e semifinal matchups were determined on Sept. 1, but Rudolph secured the pot and the title. Hunichen earned play didn’t resume until a few days later on Sept. 6. Holz $1,332,097 as the runner-up finisher, the largest score of was matched up against Spanish poker pro Sergi Reixach on his career. He now has more than $10 million in recorded one half of the bracket, while Brazilian poker pro Brunno tournament scores. Botteon battled against Oktay Kahyaoglu on the other side. Holz took an early lead and then sealed the deal by making Place Name Earnings a flush to best Reixach’s aces and kings. e Spanish pro earned $311,150 for making it down to the final four play- 1 Christian Rudolph $1,800,290 ers. Kahyaoglu was awarded the same amount when he ran 2 Chris Hunichen $1,332,097 two pairs, tens and fours, into the aces and tens of Botteon. With that, the final heads-up match of the event was set. 3 Shankar Pillai $979,138 Holz managed to jump out to an early lead, taking down a 4 Aleksejs Ponakovs $719,700 sizable pot without showdown in the opening minutes of the 5 Aram Zobian $529,005 battle. He maintained nearly a 3:1 chip lead when the final hand was dealt. 6 Brunno Botteon $388,837 With blinds of 300-600, Botteon raised to 1,500 on the 7 Jason Koon $285,808 button with pocket tens and Holz called holding pocket n o n 8 Paulis Plausinaitis $210,079 fives. e flop came down 8 5 4 and Holz checked. Botteon bet 2,011 and Holz check-raised to 8,100. Botteon 9 Aliaksei Boika $154,416 three-bet to 19,680 and Holz shoved with his middle set. Botteon called for 25,865 more with his overpair of tens and Fedor Holz Wins WSOP Online $25,000 Heads-Up Event received the bad news. e turn and river kept Holz ahead For His Second Bracelet to secure the pot and the title. A $25,000 buy-in heads-up no-limit hold’em shootout Botteon earned $622,300 as the runner-up finisher. is tournament was selected as one of the multiple ’People’s was his 13th cash of the WSOP Online series, including a Choice’ events held in the final days of the WSOP Online second-place showing in the $500 limit hold’em event for series. e tournament drew a stacked field of 127 players $41,855 and a sixth-place finish in the $25,000 no-limit to create a $3,110,500 prize pool, and in the end, the lion’s hold’em high roller for $388,837. m

020_CoverStory.indd 23 9/16/20 1:52 PM Strategies, ANALYSIS & Commentary THE WORST CELEBRITY POKER PLAYERS IN HOLLYWOOD

By Houston Curtis

In my last article I gave you a detailed rundown of the rep to becoming chairman. Oseary top five celebrity poker players I have played with over the became a legend in Hollywood years in high-stakes, private poker games. is issue I’m by developing a roster of artists going to flip the script to talk about the top five worst celeb- that included e Prodigy, Alanis rity poker players I’ve ever played with! Morissette, Deftones, The As I mentioned in my previous article, a celebrity doesn’t Wreckers, Paul Oakenfold, Michelle have to be an actor, rock star, or sporting idol, as Tinseltown Branch, Summercamp, and also celebrates the movie mogul producers, tabloid headline soundtracks on such film makers, run-amok trust fund types, billionaires, captains series as Austin Powers, The of industry, and frankly, anyone who spends time dodging Matrix, and Kill Bill. Oseary guid- paparazzi, posting viral selfies from their private jet or is ed Maverick to sell over 100 million escorted straight up the elevator to Soho House shirtless albums worldwide and secured its and barefoot. spot as one of the industry’s leading boutique record labels. My primary criteria for this list are that I have had to I first met Guy back when our game was still happening have played with these players in a private, VIP invite-only, in Tobey Maguire’s kitchen in the Hollywood Hills. I’ve cash game setting. While I’ve played in tournaments with never felt one way or another about meeting your run of the many celebs who have gone broke before Phil Hellmuth mill A-list actor, but I have to admit, I was really excited even showed up to play his first hand, it would be unfair about meeting Guy. By the age of 19 he had a career most to make such a judgement call without having spent some people would sell their soul for and by 25 he had more serious hours together at the table in an environment where money than he could ever possibly spend. If you would have the celebs feel they are amongst their peers. bet me on whether or not Guy Oseary would know his way No. 5 -- Kevin Hart around a poker table, I would have bet big money that the Let me preface this choice kid could play… and I would have lost! by saying that despite being Out of the gate, Guy had a very nervous energy about on my list, Kevin Hart already himself. I figured it was just his personality. I mean, what had a couple decent tourna- does this kid have to be nervous about? But it barely took ment cashes under his belt one orbit before I realized that aside from knowing the basic before he ever began playing in rank of hands, Guy had absolutely no understanding of the serious high-stakes, LA-based game. He had no “card sense,” which really surprised me. cash games, and even before he I wrote about a hand I had with him in my book, Billion became the highest paid stand Dollar Hollywood Heist, where the cards are dealt, a few up comedian in the world. In guys limp in, and then Guy looks at his hand, and literally 2008 he managed a second- jumped out of his seat, with his eyes as wide and excited as place finish at the Bicycle Club possible, yelling, “I’m all-in!” I started cracking up as every- during Mo’s Deep Stack no-limit hold’em event with an one around the table began to fold. en I looked down at impressive $16,330 win. And he even came in first at Larry the one hand I did NOT want to see, one of two hands that Flynt’s Challenge Cup in 2010 (probably near the time I refuse to lay down preflop no matter how much money I started playing with him) where he won a respectable is on the line. Pocket kings! After seeing the kings, I said $20,265. something to the extent of, “Guy, it’s your lucky day.” So, then why is Kevin on this list? I played with him on I then called with K-K and of course, Guy turned over more than one occasion in a particularly shady, private LA A-A. ere was a king right in the window, however, and home game that reminded me of the sketchy games I had I out-flopped him, busting him for everything he had. I rounded back in the late 90’s. He was funny as hell, but at honestly don’t think he realized he had lost the hand until that point was still playing cash game poker like a tourna- the money was being pushed ment player. Pushing all in preflop off a three-bet with A-K my way and I was apologizing to of course wake up to pocket aces drawing damn near to him for the bad beat. To stone dead. To be fair, I’ve heard Kevin’s game has improved this day, I’ve never seen anyone over the years. For me, it was just fun to listen to him crack telegraph aces that blatantly! jokes at the table while donking off 30 or 40 grand. It was How cool would I have looked a two-for-one special whenever Kevin played… we got paid if I just laid down the kings? and entertained in the same night! No. 3 -- David Schwimmer No. 4 -- Guy Oseary David Schwimmer played At the age of 19, Guy Oseary joined Madonna’s record the lovable, but always anxiety- label and immediately became known as her golden boy, ridden Ross from the hit TV rising through the ranks all the way from being an A&R show Friends. He had played

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024_S&A.indd 24 9/16/20 1:54 PM Strategies, ANALYSIS & Commentary

poker regularly in a game that I went to occasionally held mercial spots at the same time he was selling Girls Gone Wild. by Oscar-winning producer Jon Landau, who was famous Always an over the top character, when I first met Joe, he for huge projects like Titanic and Avatar. literally threatened to sue me while simultaneously trying to It was hard to tell if Schwimmer was just a bad player, or do a contract with me, all within the same half hour meeting. if he was really sweating a thousand-dollar call after making Needless to say, Joe’s “luck” in business did not translate a million dollars per episode and having more money than at all to poker. You got to love playing for hundreds of thou- he’ll ever be able to spend. But sure enough, every time I sands of dollars with a guy who doesn’t even know the rank played with the guy he would agonize over every decision of hands. (Damn that was a good game!) as if he was about to call with his rent money. Annie Duke I remember one night, Joe had flopped a set of aces against told me he got so rattled playing one night when she was Bob Safi. But Joe just kept checking and Bobby would check a guest of the game that he had to leave early because the after him to peel off a free card. By the river the board was anxiety was just too much. showing the nuts with Q-J-10-K-A rainbow (meaning the You know, good old Ross from Friends is funny to watch nuts were on board) and Bobby moved all in. Joe looked at on reruns, but he’s just like that in real life! And in real life, the board confused and went into the tank forever until he it’s not funny, it’s annoying. finally raised his hand like a schoolboy and said, “I have a No. 2 -- Joe Francis question about the rules.” In the early 2000’s, Girls To which Bobby shouted, “You can’t ask a fucking ques- Gone Wild creator Joe Francis tion about the rules of poker while you’re in the middle of was probably more famous the fucking hand you damn idiot!” To which Joe replied, amongs young Hollywood “Idiot? I bought my first jet when I was 23 and my second jet celebrities than anyone else. when I was 24!” which was met with an uproar of laughter During his hey-day he ran with and embarrassment all rolled into one. He literally didn’t the likes of Paris Hilton, Kim know that he could play the board and was calling into a Kardashian, Lindsay Lohan, chopped pot. and others in the Hollywood No. 1 -- Matt Damon party crowd. Joe would love At this point, many of you are probably heartbroken just spinning tales about his private reading Matt’s name in the top slot. Well, let me ease the jets, and mansions, and all the money he had made. pain at least a little bit. Do I really think Matt is worse than I had known Joe long before we ever started playing high- all of the other players mentioned on this list? Nah. In fact, stakes poker together due to the fact that I was the creator of he probably deserves to go in the no. 5 spot instead of no. 1, © www.meetjoefrancis.com © e Best of Backyard Wrestling, which sold via late night info- but who wants a top five countdown that ends on the Girls

024_S&A.indd 25 9/16/20 1:54 PM Strategies, ANALYSIS & Commentary

Gone Wild guy? the chance to read my book, I actually share stories in more I’m afraid we have to hand detail about each and every one of these players in Billion this honor to Matt Damon sim- Dollar Hollywood Heist. If you would like an autographed ply because he is not only a huge copy, I am NOW SHIPPING them! Just go to my website A-list celebrity, but because he’s kardsharp.com to purchase the limited-edition copy before Mike McDermont! He’s Mikey they’re all gone. D from Rounders, arguably the And remember, Stay Sharp! Stay Kardsharp! m greatest poker movie ever made! Plus, Matt is a highly skilled Houston Curtis, founder of KardSharp.com and actor. One of the best in the author of Billion Dollar Hollywood Heist has lived a business today. And aren’t actors successful double life as both a producer and card supposed to make great poker mechanic for nearly 30 years. His credits include players? Well… not always! executive producing gambling related TV shows such e night Matt Damon played in our game we had as The Ultimate Blackjack Tour on CBS, The Aruba a ton of laughs, shared some fun stories and at the end Poker Classic on GSN, and pioneering the poker instructional DVD genre with of the night, Matt’s buddy Ben Aﬄ eck was cutting me a titles featuring poker champion Phil Hellmuth. Barred for life from Las Vegas check for $45,000 to cover Matt’s loss because Matt didn’t Golden Nugget for “excessive winning” at blackjack, Houston is one of the bring his check book. Unfortunately, Matt Damon’s acting world’s most successful card mechanics and sleight-of-hand artists of the skills as a great poker player are just that. Acting! Because modern era. Curtis, who rarely plays in tournaments, won a 2004 Legends of Matt doesn’t really have a feel for the game, and certainly Poker no-limit hold’em championship event besting Scotty Nguyen heads-up doesn’t take it seriously like Ben. My guess is, if Matt really at the final table before going on to co-found the elite Hollywood poker ring wanted to play, he could learn the game. But until I have that inspired Aaron Sorkin’s Academy Award-nominated film Molly’s Game. the chance to play with him again, I’m guessing that the Curtis resides in Phoenix, Arizona where in addition to running a production Mike McDermott character he so brilliantly portrayed in company and independent record label, he is also a private gaming/casino Rounders will never show back again. at is, unless we get protection consultant to clients across the globe seeking insight into master lucky enough for him to reprise his role in Rounders 2! level card cheating tactics via advanced sleight-of-hand technique. To reach So there you have it. e top ﬁ ve worst celebrity poker Houston for a speaking engagement, consulting or production services send players I’ve played with over the years. If you haven’t had email to [email protected] GAMBLE 102: REMOVE YOUR BIASES TO BECOME A STRONG POKER PLAYER By Nathan Gamble

ere were six, heavy set guys sitting around a table. It their bodies while they kept their minds sharp. Dave would was a round, glass table that barely contained the drinks, always show up with a cold pack of Fosters; it was a four leftover pizzas, stacks of chips, and bowls of stale pretzels. pack of 25 oz. cans that was as much a part of the game ere were two packs of cards, one red, one blue – both as the cards and chips. Dave was chugging his beers and warped from time, heavy shuffl ing, and countless beers bemoaning his boss, poker was played to kickback with the spilled on them. e chairs everyone sat on varied, some group and complain about life. from the kitchen table – muted, brown wood paired with is was pre-Moneymaker, pre-solvers, right before green, patterned fabric that was popular in the ‘90s – some online poker really started taking the poker world by storm. dingey grey and buckled at the seams as they were decades is was poker for poker’s sake, for the fun of giving each old. other a hard time. It was raw, it was gritty, and I got to wit- e TV glowed faintly in the background, but none of ness every moment of it. the guys really cared. ey were there to bluster back and e games rotated based off of who was dealing but the forth as they pretended to be poker players. ey dropped most popular was always Guts. Everyone was dealt three phrases like, “I’ll see your $5 and raise you $5 more!” and cards face down and players had to decide if they were in “Nice hand man, if it weren’t for bad luck, I’d have no luck or out; you could always cut the tension in the air with a at all.” A big winner on the night would take home $200 knife as everyone held out two fi sts, a coin in the left hand and a buzz. signifying they had a hand to play, the right hand signifying After my initial introduction into poker at seven, it was a fold. If two players continued forward then the winner this scene that drew me into poker and never let me go. I would receive the pot and the loser would have to seed the was 10 years old when I fi rst remember them coming over pot for the next hand. If no one went for it then everyone to our house to play cards. ey were loud, boisterous, had to match the pot – $1 antes sounded small but pots carefree, and irreverent. I was instantly interested and once would swell to hundreds of dollars as players kept chasing again talked my way into a seat behind my dad, not to play, their losses. just to watch. None of the hands stick out in my memory – they all ey were mainly a group of guys from my dad’s work, collide together into a montage of fast-moving cards and computer engineers who had allowed time to grind down piles of chips being thrown back and forth. I wasn’t playing

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024_S&A.indd 26 9/16/20 1:54 PM Strategies, ANALYSIS & Commentary “IN POKER THERE ARE MULTIPLE WAYS OF APPROACHING HANDS, BUT THEY GENERALLY BOIL DOWN TO TWO AGREED UPON AVENUES: A PASSIVE ROUTE AND AN AGGRESSIVE ROUTE.”

at this point, just getting my education in the game and poker comes much later in life; traditionally in university coming to realize that I wanted to play cards. I wanted to around 20-21 years old. Two different parts of the world, be a poker player. two completely different ways of being introduced to the For the longest time I believed that everyone was intro- game. We had two separate backgrounds, two viewpoints duced to poker in a similar fashion, board games with par- of what cards and chips meant and how they become a part ents and watching the adults play poker every few months. of life. Neither one of us was right, neither one of us was I felt this was just the norm, the traditional upbringing of wrong. In our area of the world our introduction was fairly anyone that you met at the poker tables in any casino across common and more ‘conventional’ than the other route. the nation. You may ask yourself, where am I going with this? Let’s Ironically it was brought to my attention that this was bring this full circle back to poker, the crux of this interest- not the norm by a man that believed the direct opposite ing duality. In poker there are multiple ways of approaching to be true. On Aug. 10, 2020 Matt Hunt posted on his hands, but they generally boil down to two agreed upon Twitter, @MntalHlthGaming: avenues: a passive route and an aggressive route. ink of Why the poker community is so fractured: Literally none them as two branches of a tree as they are often referred to of us grew up wanting to be a pro poker player. Nobody Does. as the aggressive game tree or the passive game tree. We’re all using poker as a surrogate for something else, which Many people will argue their side is better. e aggres- is why it so rarely leads to real happiness and fulfillment for sive side will say it makes more sense to be aggressive, to any of us. raise and bet the majority of the time in order to maximize Clearly, this went against my entire beliefs about poker, value and steal more pots. e passive side is content to sit and against how I was introduced to poker. So, I started back and wait, to check more often, to call more often. ey a conversation with Matt and something readily became allow the aggressive opponents to do the betting for them apparent – he is British and had a very different viewpoint. and realize their equity – they like to make their hands As it turns out, in England the conventional path to before putting money in the pot. Both sides are adamant

ANALYSISAnalysis TOURNAMENT HAND MATCHUP e 2020 WSOP Online featured a number of huge events down the stretch, including the 2020 World Series of Poker Online $10 million guaranteed $25,000 buy-in NLH $25,000 buy-in No-Limit Hold’em Event Poker Players Championship. is hand happened on the fi nal-table bubble, with ten players Christopher Christian Rudolph remaining. High roller regular Chris Hunichen Hunichen opened from late position with A-9 off suit and 3,637,188 Chips 6,507,274 Chips Christian Rudolph defended his big blind with a suited connector. Rudolph fl opped a diamond A 9 8 6 Winning Percentage fl ush draw and checked. Hunichen opted not to Winning Percentage continuation bet and the turn brought another Before Flop: 60.0% Before Flop: 39.0%

After Flop: 50.0% diamond, completing Rudolph’s fl ush. He seized A 9 6 After Flop: 50.0% 8 After Turn: 14.0% After Turn: 86.0% the betting lead on the turn and Hunichen, with the lone Ao in his hand, elected to raise in position with his nut fl ush draw and gutshot straight PREFLOP draw. e river paired the board and Rudolph checked his fl ush, perhaps fi guring that his low With ten players remaining and blinds of 60,000-120,000 and an ante fl ush was no longer quite strong enough to bet of 15,000, Chris Hunichen raised to 240,000 from the cutoff . Christian and then call a raise given the action and the board texture. Hunichen had arrived at the river Rudolph defended his big blind. with just ace high in a raised prefl op pot that saw multiple bets go in on the turn. Likely fi guring that his hand lacked enough showdown value to K Q 7 10 7 check behind, Hunichen opted to fi re a bluff of just under two-thirds the size of the pot, likely

FLOP

TURN looking to draw folds from hands worse than trip RIVER

10 7 Q 7 K sevens. With the board now paired, it probably seemed unlikely that Rudolph could be called by worse if he were to raise, so he made the call Rudolph checked. Hunichen Rudolph bet 202,950. Rudolph checked. with his low ﬂ ush to take down the sizable pot checked. Hunichen raised to Hunichen bet 1,224,000. and climb into third chip position heading into 648,000. Rudolph called. Rudolph called. the ﬁ nal table.

NOTE: WINNING PERCENTAGES DO NOT INCLUDE TIES. ODDS PROVIDED BY CARDPLAYER.COM/POKER-TOOLS/ODDS-CALCULATOR/TEXAS-HOLDEM

024_S&A.indd 27 9/16/20 1:54 PM Strategies, ANALYSIS & Commentary

that their way is right. beliefs then you will also learn how to be a better poker What if the answer was more in the middle than you player. think? What if you were willing to have a conversation I highly recommend checking out Matt Hunt’s work instead of a debate or a merit contest? People get adamant, on strengthening your mental health as it pertains to they get worked up, they become blinded to facts and poker as well as life. He can be found on Twitter at new ways of thinking because of cognitive biases’ holding MntalHlthGaming and on his twitch channel Mental them back. When you allow emotions to take control in Health Gaming. m poker then you may miss a play that is more profi table; just because things should happen when you make the right Nathan Gamble is a native of Texas where play, doesn’t mean they always will. at doesn’t mean you he learned to play the game of hold’em from should stop making the right play or continuing to search his father. He is a two-time World Series of for a better one. Poker bracelet winner, the first coming in the Poker is a mental game, you must remove your biases 2017 WSOP $1,500 PLO8/b Event, the second in and be willing to listen to people that you disagree with in the 2020 Online WSOP $600 PLO8/b event. A order to learn and grow. If you aren’t willing to continue fixture of the mid-stakes mixed game community since moving to advancing your gameplay, I guarantee you four of the nine Las Vegas in 2019, he can often be found playing $80-$160 games at people at your next table are actively putting in the work. the Wynn. He is active on Twitter under the username Surfbum4life ey will be the winners of the future while you still com- and streams mixed game content weekly on twitch under the same plain about luck. If you talk with people and challenge your moniker. PLAYING TOP PAIR BY PREDICTING OPPONENT REACTIONS By Jonathan Little "You never want your It is important to realize that all top pairs do not have the same amount of value. For example, A-K on a K-7-2 opponent to fold when board is much stronger than 8-5 on a 5-4-3 board. If you think both of these hands have around the same amount of he is drawing thin." value, you will make signifi cant errors that cost you a huge amount of money in the long run. calls, you again have to fi gure out if you should fold, call, or Suppose someone raises to three big blinds out of his check-raise. You should usually call unless you have specifi c 100-big blind stack from middle position, someone calls reads about your opponents’ tendencies. If you are confi - from the button, and you call with Jm 10m from the big dent that at least one of your two opponents has a strong blind. e fl op comes 10n 7p 5o. hand, you should fold. Your fi rst decision should be whether you should check For example, if one or both of your opponents happen or bet. While you may think that you should either always to be overly tight and cautious, you should certainly fold check or always bet in this situation, your play should because you are probably already crushed, and if you aren’t, depend entirely on how you expect your opponents to react. both of your opponents have a large number of outs to If you think they will play in an extremely straightforward improve to a hand better than yours. If both of your oppo- manner against a lead, raise with better hands, and call or nents are overly active, meaning they could have anything, fold with worse hands, leading is an excellent option. If it is probably best to check-raise to an amount that worse you think your opponents will make your future decisions made hands can realistically call. tricky by not playing in a straightforward manner, you Notice that check-raising to a huge amount is not a good should check. idea because it allows your opponents to easily play perfect- If you check, the initial raiser bets, and the other player ly, continuing when they have you beat and folding when folds, you should either call or check-raise, again depend- you have them beat. If you are unsure where you stand, calling on how you expect your opponent to react. If you think ing to see what develops on the turn is ideal, although you he will fold most worse hands to a check-raise (which will will often fi nd yourself in dicey turn and river situations. usually be the case against most players) calling is vastly As you can see, the way you play your hand depends superior to check-raising because check-raising will result entirely on what you expect your opponents to do. If you are in your opponent playing well. only thinking about how your two cards connect with the You never want your opponent to fold when he is draw- board, you will not succeed in the long run. m ing thin. By calling, you give him the opportunity to make additional mistakes on the future betting rounds. If you Jonathan Little is a two-time WPT champion think your opponent will assume that you must be semi- with more than $6 million in tournament win- bluffi ng with a draw when you check-raise, perhaps because nings. Each week, he posts an educational blog he thinks you like to call with your marginal and strong and podcast at JonathanLittlePoker.com, where hands, check-raising becomes an excellent option because you can get a FREE poker training video that de- it will extract a huge amount of value from worse made tails five things you must master if you want to hands. win at tournament poker. You can also sign up for his FREE Excelling If you check, the initial raiser bets and the other player at No Limit Hold’em webinars at HoldemBook.com/signup

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024_S&A.indd 28 9/16/20 1:54 PM Strategies, ANALYSIS & Commentary

Re-Entry And Rebuy Tournaments Part 2 – A itudes By Greg Raymer

In my last article, I described what defines a re-entry advantage. tournament, a rebuy tournament, and I also talked about Some players also dislike how the ability to re-enter causes add-ons. If you’re new to these formats, please go start with some of their opponents to play very loose and aggressive dur- that article for more details. It can be found, along with all ing the re-entry period. And it is true, there are many players my previous articles, at CardPlayer.com. who do this, who take huge, almost suicidal, risks during the In the long-ago, olden days of the last century, almost all re-entry period. ey often have the goal of getting lucky tournaments were freezeouts, meaning you could enter one and building a giant stack, or busting out to re-enter and time only. If you lost all your chips, you were done. ere try again. were also a handful of rebuy tournaments, usually lower As for the first concern, I must disagree. It has often buy-in events that happened weekly at your local poker been said that poker is just one long game. is is more room. at way, the players with smaller bankrolls could obvious in a cash game setting. If I visit my local poker enter once and take a shot, and those with bigger bankrolls room several days per week and always play $1-$2 no-limit could splash around and rebuy and add-on as much as possi- holdem, the result of each individual session isn’t of much ble to increase their odds of building a stack and going deep. importance. What matters is how well I do in the aggregate, In today’s environment, most live tournaments offer that is, in the long run. re-entry, and many online tournaments offer rebuys and However, much the same can be said about tourna- add-ons. ments. Let’s say your poker room runs a tournament every Despite the almost ubiquitous nature of these formats, Tuesday night that permits re-entry. Every week it is the same there are many players who very much dislike them. ey feel buy-in, same structure, and approximately the same field. the ability to re-enter gives an advantage to the players with When you think about it, what does it matter if you re- deep pockets who can afford to re-enter frequently. Which enter the tournament tonight, or come back next Tuesday means they think those without deep pockets are at a dis- to play then? How is a player at a disadvantage because they

ANALYSISAnalysis TOURNAMENT HAND MATCHUP is hand features a clash between chip leader Jason Koon and 2018 WSOP main event sixth-place 2020 World Series of Poker Online fi nisher Aram Zobian, who sat with just over 24 big $25,000 buy-in No-Limit Hold’em Event blinds when the cards were dealt. Zobian opened off of his somewhat precarious stack with A-5 suit- Jason Koon ed, which likely appeared fairly strong given that Aram Zobian Bruno Botteon currently sat with less than nine big 4,855,440 Chips 7,488,055 Chips blinds. Koon called with Q-J suited in position and the fl op came down A-7-4 rainbow. Zobian fl opped A 5 Q J top pair with a weak kicker and some backdoor Winning Percentage Winning Percentage draws. He started out post-fl op play with a pot-

Before Flop: 55.0% Before Flop: 44.0% control approach. He checked and Koon decided to

A 5 J After Flop: 93.0% Q After Flop: 7.0% take a stab with his lowly queen high and possible After Turn: 27.0% After Turn: 73.0% backdoor draws, likely hoping to leverage the stack dynamic pressure Zobian might be feeling. Zobian called and the turn gave Koon both a fl ush and PREFLOP gutshot straight draw. Zobian checked again. Koon checked behind, perhaps deciding that a semi- With nine players remaining and blinds of 100,000-200,000 and an ante of bluff bet wasn’t likely enough to draw a fold given 25,000, Aram Zobian raised to 440,000 from middle position. Jason Koon called Zobian’s approach so far. e river brought the from the button. 8m to complete Koon’s fl ush and Zobian checked a third time. Koon went for the overbet sizing on the river, fi ring just shy of 2.7 million into the pot of roughly 2.1 million. Zobian was in a tough spot A 7 4 K 8 with his bluff -catching top pair, as his hand likely felt somewhat face up as a one-pair type hand. FLOP TURN

RIVER Koon was certainly capable of using a diﬀ erent

K 8 7 4 A draw that missed to represent the fl ush with as an overbet on this river, perhaps with a hand like 6-5 Zobian checked. suited. Zobian ultimately made the correct fold and Zobian checked. Koon bet Zobian checked. preserved his remaining 20 big blinds. He went on 351,250. Zobian called. Koon checked. Koon bet 2,696,750. to fi nish fi fth in this tournament for $529,005, the Zobian folded. second-largest score of his career.

NOTE: WINNING PERCENTAGES DO NOT INCLUDE TIES. ODDS PROVIDED BY CARDPLAYER.COM/POKER-TOOLS/ODDS-CALCULATOR/TEXAS-HOLDEM

024_S&A.indd 29 9/16/20 1:54 PM Strategies, ANALYSIS & Commentary "If your opponent is capable of playing well, but is instead playing poorly, why would you want to stop them??”

don’t have the bankroll to re-enter? e diff erence between ed value (+EV) just because you can re-enter if you bust. If a player who never re-enters, and another who averages one you are getting the same number of chips per dollar for the re-entry per week is not that the player who re-enters has any re-entry, then choosing to re-enter is no diff erent than com- monetary advantage. It just means that one of them will play ing back next week to enter this tournament afresh. 40-50 entries per year, and the other 80-100 entries. As far as your personal long-term EV is concerned, choos- If they have the same skill level, they will achieve the ing to re-enter just saves you time, and lets you get your same return on investment. But the player who re-enters has bankroll back into action sooner. Just like it is your right to no advantage over the player who does not, or cannot, re- play each hand as you see fi t, it is their right to do the same, enter. Yes, the player who re-enters is more likely to make it to both during and after the re-entry period. Let your oppo- the money tonight, and to win the tournament tonight. ey nents, if they choose to do so, play wild-and-crazy. Accept are, in this example, about twice as likely to do so. But they that this will increase your variance, but stick to making the are also spending about twice as much money for that ben- smartest decisions you can. Re-enter, or not, as you wish, efi t. In the end, if these two players have the same skill level, when that becomes an option. they will each win, or lose, about the same amount per dollar If you still just believe that rebuy and re-entry tourna- invested in entries. ments are a bad idea, there is one critical thing you can With respect to the second concern, I also must dis- do. Vote with your feet, don’t play them, and let the poker agree. Yes, in my experience, there is a lot more loose, room know why you’re avoiding these events. If enough peo- aggressive play during the re-entry period. I see this all the ple agree with you, I promise you the poker room will listen. time. Sometimes, there are players who are capable of play- Just like every other part of the game, have fun, and Play ing with great skill, but instead choose to gamble like crazy Smart! m during the re-entry period. If that is what some people are complaining about, I say to them, “Are you crazy, too?” If Greg Raymer is the 2004 WSOP world champion, your opponent is capable of playing well, but is instead play- winner of numerous major titles, and has more ing poorly, why would you want to stop them? than $7 million in earnings. He recently authored I say, let them make their foolish plays. While it adds a lot “FossilMan’s Winning Tournament Strategies,” of variance to the game, it also adds a lot of profi t to my bot- available from D&B Publishing, Amazon, and other tom line, and to the bottom line of everyone else in the fi eld. retailers. He is sponsored by Blue Shark Optics, e thing is, making a negative expected value (-EV) YouStake, and ShareMyPair. To contact Greg please tweet at him using decision in a hand of poker does not become positive expect- @FossilMan or go to www.FossilManPoker.com. Adjusting To Your Opponents’ Negotiating Styles By Alan Schoonmaker

Previous columns contained a quiz to identify your tiating deals? style and recommended general adjustments you should Absolutely not! make while negotiating. Now we’ll answer four ques- Every human being has many motives and thinking tions about your opponents: patterns, and they affect everything we do. You can’t negotiate well unless you understand what you and 1. Why should you adjust to them? your opponents want and how you and they think. You 2. What are their general characteristics? will see that you should negotiate extremely differently 3. How can you identify their style? versus different types of opponents. 4. How should you negotiate against them? Because players with extreme styles are easiest to identify, we’ll focus on them. More moderate oppo- Why Should You Adjust To Them? nents require smaller adjustments. You, me, and everyone else want people to adjust to Extremely Aggressive Opponents us. We are much more comfortable when we can act We will start with them because poker rewards naturally. But we’ll get much better results if we adjust aggression, and you’ll meet many aggressive players at to them. It’s that same old trade-off between comfort final tables. and results. Losers emphasize comfort; winners go for General Characteristics: They are excessively com- results. petitive and must win at everything. As Donald Trump What Are Their General Characteristics? put it, “My whole life is about winning… I almost never You may wonder why I’m discussing your opponents’ lose.” His best-selling book is called The Art of the Deal. motives and thinking patterns. Don’t all poker players No matter whether you love or hate him, that book want to maximize their profits while playing and nego- can teach you how aggressive people feel, think, and

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024_S&A.indd 30 9/16/20 1:54 PM Strategies, ANALYSIS & Commentary

act. That knowledge will help you to negotiate against so valuable that they resent wasting it, even on essential the aggressive players you will frequently encounter. social rituals, understanding other people, and other Status-consciousness is a natural part of their com- valuable tasks. petitiveness. When they meet a stranger, they want to They are independent and individualistic. Taking know: “Am I better than he is? Do I make more money, orders, accepting advice, following procedures, or own a larger house, play better poker? Is my spouse bet- even obeying the law are kinds of defeats. They insist ter looking? Are my children smarter?” on doing things their way and may deliberately break They are ambitious, tough, aggressive, manipula- rules. For example, they may lie about what the com- tive, overbearing, closed-minded, and anti-intellectual. puter formulas report. They are insensitive and very poor listeners, partly Cornelius Vanderbilt, a nineteenth century Robber because they don’t really care what most other people Baron (ruthless tycoon), once said, “What do I care think. They’ll listen to the few people they respect, but about law? Ain’t I got the power?” ignore most others. They feel superior and believe that Identifying Them: They’re easy to identify. They only successful people have anything worthwhile to say. love attention and work hard to get it. Look for these Since they feel contempt for most people, they often cues. The more you see, the more aggressively someone interrupt them. will probably negotiate: Their insensitivity is mostly about other people’s Men are much more likely to be aggressive than women. feelings. They are often extremely perceptive about It’s politically incorrect to say it, but you can’t afford to the things they really care about: money, power, and be politically correct. your walk away point, or WAP. They may possess an An aggressive playing style. Most players’ negotiating “instinct for the jugular,” an almost uncanny sense of style is similar to their playing style. where you’re weak and how to push your buttons. Loud voice, aggressive words, forceful gestures, and bad Since winning is so important, they often cut cor- manners. For example, they’re often rude to other play- ners. They may dislike lying and cheating, but a few ers, dealers, and waiters. actually prefer to win dishonestly. It shows that the Sloppy stacks and forceful bets. Always study your rules that inhibit lesser people don’t apply to them. opponents’ stacks and the way they bet. The more Because they will do anything to win, they naturally forceful the bets and the sloppier the stack, the more believe that you will cheat. confidence you can have that a player is aggressive. They are often impatient and inattentive to details. Nervous tension. Aggressive players feel more tension They may regard details as beneath them, something than passive ones. Their desire to attack makes adren- for lesser beings to consider. They regard their time as alin flow, and it affects their entire body. They may

ANALYSISAnalysis TOURNAMENT HAND MATCHUP In this hand two-time World Series of Poker gold bracelet winner Shankar Pillai demonstrates just how 2020 World Series of Poker Online cautious top players tend to be when they’re among $25,000 buy-in No-Limit Hold’em Event the larger medium stacks at a fi nal table with a few short stacks. When the hand was dealt there were two players situated as the clear short stacks, with Brazil’s Aleksejs Ponakovs Shankar Pillai Bruno Botteon sitting with 11 big blinds and Paulius Plausinaitis only slightly ahead of that with 11.5 big 3,833,951 Chips 6,000,234 Chips blinds. Aleksejs Ponakovs opened as the fi rst to act prefl op, min-raising off of his stack of 19 big blinds K 10 J J with K-10 suited. Pillai picked up pocket jacks on Winning Percentage Winning Percentage the button and decided to just fl at call. Pillai might

Before Flop: 32.0% Before Flop: 68.0% have been looking to under-represent his big pocket

K 10 J After Flop: 20.0% J After Flop: 80.0% pair with the move or perhaps was hoping to control After Turn: N/A After Turn: N/A the size of the pot by forgoing a three-bet, given that Ponakovs might be opening a tighter range than normal under-the-gun given the stack dynamic. e ﬂ op brought the 10p 5o 5p to give Ponakovs top PREFLOP pair with a king kicker. He checked and Pillai bet 400,000 into the pot of 1,325,000. Ponakovs went With nine players remaining and blinds of 100,000-200,000 and an ante for the check-raise to 1,000,000 with his top pair, likely trying to extract value from medium pocket of 25,000, Aleksejs Ponakovs raised to 400,000 from under the gun. pairs, 10-X with kickers worse than his king and also Shankar Pillai called from the button. to deny equity to live overcards his opponent might hold. Pillai was left in a tough spot with his under- represented overpair. If he were to call the 600,000 more to see the turn the pot would balloon to over 10 5 5 3.3 million while Ponakovs would be left with roughly 2.4 million remaining, which would be very likely

FLOP to get all-in on a lot of turns. As a result, Ponakov’s

check-raise of only 600,000 eﬀ ectively leveraged his

5 5 10 entire stack without having to actually put it all at risk on the ﬂ op. Pillai ultimately folded. While he laid down the best hand, the cautious approach preserved Ponakovs checked. Pillai bet his 25 big blind stack, which was the third largest at 400,000. Ponakovs check-raised to the table at the time. He went on to place third in the 1,000,000. Pillai folded. event for $979,138, the biggest payday of his tournament career.

NOTE: WINNING PERCENTAGES DO NOT INCLUDE TIES. ODDS PROVIDED BY CARDPLAYER.COM/POKER-TOOLS/ODDS-CALCULATOR/TEXAS-HOLDEM

024_S&A.indd 31 9/16/20 1:54 PM Strategies, ANALYSIS & Commentary

express that tension in uncontrolled ways such as jig- them more honest, friendly, flexible, or reasonable. gling their legs, blinking frequently, nervous gestures, They will regard you as a weakling and push harder. and talking too much. You may think it’s immoral to communicate decep- Look at other people’s reactions. Many people dislike tively, but hard bargaining has the same ethics as poker. extremely aggressive players. David Sklansky said it best: “Being devious and Best Approach: Be strong, but not overly confronta- deceitful is precisely what one wants to be in a poker tional. Prove that you’re tough and competent, but don’t game.” (The Theory of Poker, p 129) Poker is based on overdo it. Don’t let them push you around, but don’t try deception. If we played with our cards face up, there to push them too far. Avoid macho contests. Show that wouldn’t be a game of poker. you’re a winner who deserves their respect, but show There’s no ethical difference between deceiving respect for them, even if you have to grit your teeth. people about your hole cards and deceiving them about Relate directly and respectfully to their success and your WAP and other issues. You’re certainly willing to toughness, but show that you’re also tough and success- bluff with weak hands and slow-play monsters. Making ful. Never grovel or beg. Use strong, assertive words unreasonable offers and deceiving people about your and gestures. Don’t smile too much or spend much WAP and situation are essentially the same. In all cases time on small talk. They regard smiles and small talk as you’re deceiving people to increase your profits. signs of weakness. Get right down to business and move Don’t get upset and take their aggression personally. briskly. Talk rapidly in short sentences. It’s just part of the game. Fight them, but do it in a Establish a powerful position before negotiating good humored, sporting way. because they will test you and your position. Create lots What’s Next? of bargaining room by making an ambitious first offer. My next column will show you that you must Then trade small concessions. Don’t move too quickly negotiate extremely differently with or too easily. Never give them anything in the hope friendly and analytic players. m they will appreciate your gift and reciprocate. They’ll probably see it as a sign of weakness and become even Email [email protected] for more demanding. information about negotiating books and Never think that being open and honest will make training.

BADEUCEY: A SURVEY OF STARTING HANDS AND INITIAL DISCARD DECISIONS By Kevin Haney

In Badeucey, multi-way pots are commonplace and in pat this hand our three-card badugi 2-3-7 has little chance heads-up confrontations players will often go to showdown to win that side and our eight low can easily be beaten. Also with any reasonable three-card badugi, deuce-to-seven discarding the fi ve and drawing to the 2m 3o 7n is another (27TD) low, or a combination of the two. Since many option, however, on the 27TD side the 2-3-5-7 start prob- hands will end up going to the end it is imperative to play ably has too much value to break. quality holdings, particularly from the fi rst two positions With pure one-way low holdings that have no badugi at the table. potential we must exercise good judgment. We are going Once we get to the cutoff or later, we can begin to to be playing our seven lows and smooth eights as we may loosen our standards, however, it’s important not to go too win without a showdown and failing that should win the far because while we do have some fold equity many of our 27TD side the majority of the time. However, from under- opponents will pay the tolls and make us show them a bet- the-gun in a six-handed game we should fold lows possibly ter hand both ways. In this issue we will survey the various as good as 3o 4o 5m 6m 8m as we have no idea how many diff erent starting hand types that we can play and from players will contest the pot and these holdings have reverse what positions. implied odds. Pat Hands One-Card Draws e value of pat hands varies considerably; the very best Note: For the remainder of the article we will often hands you can be dealt are the eight-or-better lows that also use parentheses to indicate the portion of the hand that is contain a badugi. Any holding of this type from the 2m 3p of diff erent suits. For example (2-3-4-7) is equivalent to a 4o 5n 7n (two-way nuts) to the 3o 5o 6m 7n 8p (worst hand such as 2m 3p 4o 7n and (2-3-4)7 indicates that the eight-low with a rough eight badugi) is worthy of an open seven shares one of the suits of the other cards e.g. 2m 3p from any position. Having a good three-card badugi along 4o 7m. with a good made low (e.g. 2m 3p 5o 6m 8p) also has a lot For the most part, whenever you get dealt an eight of value as is and we should pat. badugi or better you have a premium or very good holding When we are dealt a holding such as 2m 3o 5o 7n 8o worthy of any open from any position. Starting hands such our best play is usually to break and discard the eight. If we as (2-3-4-6) and (2-3-5-7) are premium because the badu-

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024_S&A.indd 32 9/16/20 1:54 PM Strategies, ANALYSIS & Commentary

gis are low and you also have a very good draw at a 27TD overrides the fact that it is quite a mediocre starting 27TD hand. (3-4-5-6) is also a great hand even though you can- hand. Also when the pot is contested head-up the (3-4-5) not make a seven low because it’s going to be difficult for has decent potential to win the Badugi side unimproved. anyone to beat you in Badugi. One-card eights such as (2-3- e suggested opening hand chart by position for three 7-8) and (3-5-6-8) are also quite good because you have so card badugis is as follows: many outs to also make an eight low. e (4-5-6-7) is more marginal; however, it’s worthy of an open from any position as a seven badugi is relatively UTG (Six-Handed) Hijack Cutoff Button hard to overcome and it’s still possible to make a seven low. Only with very marginal badugis such (4-5-7-8) and (5-6- 7-8) should we possibly exercise some caution and muck 2-3-4 2-5-6 3-5-6 2-6-8 2-7-8 from early position. When you are dealt hands such as (2-3-4)7 and (2-3- 2-3-5 2-6-7 2-5-8 3-4-8 3-6-8 7)6 it is almost certainly best to play them as one-card draws. ese draws have too much value on the 27TD to do anything else regardless of the number of opponents 2-4-5 2-3-8 3-5-7 3-6-7 5-6-7 and how many cards they are drawing. e (2-3-4)7 has a lot more value than (2-3-7)6 due to the lower three-card 2-3-6 3-4-6 4-5-6 3-5-8 4-6-8 badugi, however, both of these holdings should be played the same way. 2-3-7 3-4-7 4-5-7 4-6-7 5-6-8 With other holdings where we have a tri and a possible one-card draw to a low we must consider a number of fac- tors including the potential of our three-card badugi to win 2-4-6 2-4-8 4-5-8 3-7-8 unimproved, the value of the one 27TD draw we may be foregoing, and how many players are contesting the pot. 2-4-7 4-7-8 For example, (2-3-5)8 contains a three-card badugi that can win unimproved and its 27TD draw is quite good so we should probably keep the eight regardless of how many 3-4-5 5-7-8 opponents we face. With a holding like (2-3-5)6 we should usually be drawing two cards. In 27TD the 2-3-5-6 is not a 2-5-7 6-7-8 premium low draw as a four makes a straight thus we have fewer outs to make a seven or eight low. In a four-way pot, it’s almost certainly optimal to draw at the (2-3-5), however, in a heads-up pot we may be best served drawing only one. Premium low draws with only two suits such as 2m 3n 4m 7n are interesting hand types to consider; while it seems like we strictly have a one-way hand that isn’t really the case. Four cards, the five and six of either clubs or diamonds will give us a premium tri along with a nut or second nut low. e other four fives and sixes won’t give us a three- card badugi but they will make what should be a lock low. In addition, there are eight pairing cards (the twos, threes, fours, and sevens of clubs or diamonds) that will give us a legitimate two-way draw e.g. 2o 3n 4m 7n. On the first draw we have around a 34 percent probability to obtain any of the possible improvement described above. erefore the 2m 3n 4m 7n type holding is probably playable from any position; regardless if everyone else plays or if the pot ends up heads-up, the hand has value. We should not take this concept too far as a holding such as 2m 3m 6m 8n has much less value and should only be a late position steal. It is drawing to a less powerful low and since it has three spades it only has six pairing tri cards that will give you a two-way draw. Two-Card Draws ree-card badugis such as (2-3-5), (2-4-7), (3-5-7), (3-4-5), and (2-4-8) are the hands we are most often playing in Badeucey. When analyzing the strength of these holdings we must consider the value they have with regards to both the Badugi and 27TD sides, however, we should give slightly more weight to the starting hands with greater Badugi potential. For example, the (3-4-5) can make a very strong badugi right away and have a freeroll against the field which mostly

024_S&A.indd 33 9/16/20 1:54 PM Strategies, ANALYSIS & Commentary

(3-4-5) and (3-4-6) would only be steal raises in call we have a few duplicated cards that villain may need 27TD; however, their badugi potential makes them play- to make a strong hand. With the 2m 4o 9n 10n Jp the able from any position in Badeucey. Other holdings such cards we hold do not reduce the probability of our oppo- as (2-3-8) and (2-4-8) are somewhat weak on the badugi nents having and making hands and while we would side, however, they have the ability to reduce their three- initially discard the 9n 10n Jp they are cards that can card badugis and they build smooth eight lows. e (2- possibly be useful later on in the hand. 7-8) is probably overvalued by many players; getting re- With good blockers we can open (2-3), (2-4), (2-5), raised when we have this hand feels miserable as all of our and (2-7) from the cutoff otherwise we should probably draws are mediocre at best. wait until the button. Weaker holdings such as (2-6), As we move to the cutoff and later hands such as (3-4), and (3-5) can be opened from the button if the rest (2-3)5 and (2-4)7 can be opened and played as two-card of the hand helps our cause. draws. With these types of hands the fi ve and the seven As is the case in most poker games some of the most have enough value on the 27TD side to keep, whereas a important decisions we will make are those on the fi rst six probably does not. It’s also important that the two betting round. In Badeucey, not only must we decide lowest cards are unsuited because we can more easily what hands to play we are also often forced to make some improve to a good three-card badugi. e (2-7)4 has less tough initial discard decisions. e best players handle value and as such is probably only a button open. these situations very well; experience certainly helps as Three-Card Draws does spending considerable time away from the table Here we mostly talking about (2-3), (2-4), (2-5), and thinking through the pros and cons of various courses (2-7); holdings such (2-6), (3-4), and (3-5) are a bit too of action. m weak unless they are accompanied with good blockers. So what do we mean by having good blockers? is con- Kevin Haney is a former actuary of MetLife but cept was introduced in the badugi articles, however, it is left the corporate job to focus on his passions slightly more relevant in Badeucey because you are dealt for poker and fitness. He is co-owner of Elite fi ve cards instead of four. Fitness Club in Oceanport, NJ and is a certified We have good blockers if we hold cards our opponents personal trainer. With regards to poker he got may need while at the same time completely unblock his start way back in 2003 and particularly our potential. For example, there is quite a diff erence enjoys taking new players interested in mixed games under his wing between the value of 2m 4o 2n 4m 9m and 2m 4o 9n and quickly making them proficient in all variants. If interested in 10n Jp. With the fi rst hand we have a greater chance learning more, playing mixed games online, or just saying hello he can of stealing the blinds outright and if one of the blinds be reached at [email protected].

ANALYSISAnalysis TOURNAMENT HAND MATCHUP is hand sees Jason Koon go for a thin value bet on the river, only to have Aleksejs Ponakovs respond by 2020 World Series of Poker Online turning his top pair into a bluff . Koon began the hand $25,000 buy-in No-Limit Hold’em Event as the clear chip leader at the table, with his stack of nearly 50 big blinds being nearly twice as large as any other at the table. It folded to Koon on the button and Jason Koon Aleksejs Ponakovs he raised with 7-5 off suit, likely more on the merits 9,854,305 Chips 5,133,951 Chips of his position and the stack dynamics than on the strength of his holecards. Ponakovs was the fourth- 7 5 A 4 largest stack at the table, and he defended his big blind with his suited A-4. Ponakovs fl opped top pair on a Am Winning Percentage Winning Percentage n m

Before Flop: 60.0% K 9 board and checked, likely hoping to control

Before Flop: 39.0% the size of the pot against the big stack. Koon had no

7 5 4 A After Flop: 92.0% After Flop: 8.0% showdown to speak of and no immediate draws. He After Turn: 27.0% After Turn: 73.0% fi red a continuation bet with the hope of folding out Ponakovs’ hands that missed the fl op. His bet was called though, and the turn brought another spade. PREFLOP Ponakovs checked a second time and Koon checked behind. e river brought a fourth spade, giving Koon With nine players remaining and blinds of 100,000-200,000 and an a seven-high fl ush. Ponakov checked again and Koon decided to make a smallish bet of 675,000 into the pot ante of 25,000, Jason Koon raised to 400,000 from the button. Aleksejs of 1,687,500. Koon was likely hoping to receive calls Ponakovs called from the big blind. from weak top pairs and lower fl ushes. Ponakovs had played all previous streets with the apparent goal of just making it to showdown with his top pair, weak A K 9 8 Q kicker. Given the four-spade board texture, though, he had been presented an opportunity to instead turn his FLOP TURN

RIVER hand into a bluﬀ designed to draw folds from Koon’s

8 Q A 9 K thin value betting range. Koon now found himself as the one who could only beat a bluff . He folded his middling fl ush and Ponakovs took down the pot. Koon Ponakovs checked. Koon bet Ponakovs checked. Ponakovs checked. Koon lost a big pot not long after this to tumble down the 281,250. Ponakovs called. Koon checked. bet 675,000. Ponakovs leaderboard, and ultimately fi nished in seventh place check-raised to 1,687,500. for $285,808. e score brought his lifetime earnings to just shy of $31.3 million. Ponakovs placed fourth for Koon folded. the largest payday of his career: $719,700.

NOTE: WINNING PERCENTAGES DO NOT INCLUDE TIES. ODDS PROVIDED BY CARDPLAYER.COM/POKER-TOOLS/ODDS-CALCULATOR/TEXAS-HOLDEM

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024_S&A.indd 34 9/16/20 1:54 PM Schedules - major tournaments

FOR COMPLETE TOURNAMENT RESULTS AND LISTINGS, VISIT CARDPLAYER.COM

OCTOBER Oct. 5-18 DeepStack Showdown Venetian Hotel & Casino • Las Vegas, NV

Oct. 26-Nov. 29 DeepStack Extravaganza IV Venetian Hotel & Casino • Las Vegas, NV

NOVEMBER Nov. 13-23 Gold Rush Poker Series Lucky Chances • Colma, CA

AO-Add On B-Bonus CP-Crazy Pineapple H.O.R.S.E.-Hold’em, Omaha Eight-or-Better, Razz, Seven-Card Stud, Seven-Card Stud Eight- or-Better R.O.S.E.-Razz, Omaha Eight-or-Better, Seven-Card Stud, Seven-Card Stud Eight-or-Better KO- Knock Out or Bounty LH-Limit Hold’em MP-Mexican Poker NLH-No-Limit Hold’em O H/L-Omaha Eight-or-Better PLO-Pot-Limit Omaha RB-Rebuy SH/L-Seven-Card Stud Eight-or-Better SLH-Spread-Limit Hold’em

SATURDAY ($5K Guarantee) ARIZONA 12:00 p.m. NLH, $65 AO $50 WEDNESDAY ($20K Guarantee) 12:15 p.m. NLH, $75 AO $40 KO $25 TALKING STICK RESORT - SCOTTSDALE 2:00 p.m. NLH, $90 AO $70 ($5K Guarantee) MONDAY-FRIDAY ($20K Guarantee) 6:45 p.m. NLH, $75 AO $40 10:15 a.m. NLH, $125 4:00 p.m. NLH, $115 AO $90 ($5K Guarantee) SATURDAY-SUNDAY ($20K Guarantee) 9:30 p.m. NLH, $70 AO $20 10:15 a.m. NLH, $200 10:00 p.m. NLH, $60 RB $50 AO $40 ($1K Guarantee) KO $10 ($2K Guarantee) THURSDAY SUNDAY 12:15 p.m. NLH, $50 AO $40 CALIFORNIA 12:00 p.m. NLH, $40 AO $30 ($4K Guarantee) ($10K Guarantee) 6:45 p.m. NLH, $75 AO $40 KO $25 1:30 p.m. NLH, $65 AO $50 ($6K Guarantee) BAY 101 - SAN JOSE ($10K Guarantee) 9:30 p.m. NLH, $70 AO $20 MONDAY 3:00 p.m. NLH, $90 AO $70 ($1K Guarantee) 9:30 a.m. NLH, $130 ($10K Guarantee) FRIDAY TUESDAY 12:15 p.m. NLH, $90 ($4K Guarantee) 9:30 a.m. NLH, $130 CHUMASH CASINO - SANTA YNEZ 6:45 p.m. NLH, $115 RB $50 WEDNESDAY MONDAY ($30K Guarantee) 9:30 a.m. NLH, $150 10:15 a.m. NLH, $40 SATURDAY THURSDAY 7:00 p.m. PLO, $0 AO $20 11:00 a.m. NLH, $50 RB $20 9:30 a.m. NLH, $130 TUESDAY ($5K Guarantee) FRIDAY 10:15 a.m. NLH, $40 3:00 p.m. NLH, $100 RB $50 9:30 a.m. NLH, $150 7:00 p.m. NLH, $60 ($5K Guarantee) SATURDAY WEDNESDAY SUNDAY 9:00 a.m. NLH, $250 10:15 a.m. NLH, $40 12:15 p.m. NLH, $75 AO $40 KO $25 SUNDAY 7:00 p.m. NLH, $50 ($5K Guarantee) 9:00 a.m. NLH, $150 THURSDAY 3:00 p.m. NLH, $50 AO $40 10:15 a.m. NLH, $50 KO $10 ($3K Guarantee) BICYCLE CASINO - BELL GARDENS 7:00 p.m. NLH, $40 MONDAY FRIDAY 12:00 p.m. NLH, $70 AO $20 KO $20 10:15 a.m. NLH, $40 HUSTLER CASINO - GARDENA ($2K Guarantee) 7:15 p.m. NLH, $150 MONDAY 5:00 p.m. NLH, $75 ($2.5K Guarantee) SATURDAY 7:00 p.m. NLH, $100 AO $40 KO $25 TUESDAY 1:15 p.m. NLH, $120 ($5K Guarantee) ($2K Guarantee) 12:00 p.m. NLH, $50 AO $20 SUNDAY TUESDAY ($2K Guarantee) 1:15 p.m. NLH, $100 KO $25 7:00 p.m. NLH, $80 RB $40 5:00 p.m. NLH, $30 RB $10 AO $10 ($3K Guarantee) ($2K Guarantee) ($2.5K Guarantee) WEDNESDAY WEDNESDAY COMMERCE CASINO - COMMERCE 7:00 p.m. NLH, $100 AO $40 KO $25 12:00 p.m. NLH, $50 AO $20 MONDAY-THURSDAY ($2K Guarantee) ($2K Guarantee) 12:00 p.m. NLH, $65 ($2.5K Guarantee) THURSDAY 5:00 p.m. NLH, $65 AO $20 6:00 p.m. NLH, $65 ($3.5K Guarantee) 7:00 p.m. NLH, $80 RB $40 ($2.5K Guarantee) FRIDAY ($2K Guarantee) THURSDAY 12:00 p.m. NLH, $65 ($2.5K Guarantee) FRIDAY 12:00 p.m. NLH, $50 AO $20 6:00 p.m. NLH, $150 KO $50 7:00 p.m. NLH, $80 RB $40 ($2K Guarantee) ($5K Guarantee) ($2K Guarantee) 5:00 p.m. NLH, $80 AO $20 KO $25 SATURDAY SATURDAY ($2.5K Guarantee) 1:00 p.m. NLH, $150 ($15K Guarantee) 3:00 p.m. NLH, $80 RB $40 8:00 p.m. MP, $30 RB $10 AO $10 SUNDAY ($2K Guarantee) ($1.5K Guarantee) 1:00 p.m. NLH, $65 RB $50 10:00 p.m. NLH, $60 RB $50 AO $40 ($10K Guarantee) LUCKY CHANCES - COLMA KO $10 ($2K Guarantee) MONDAY FRIDAY GARDENS CASINO - HAWAIIAN GARDENS 9:30 a.m. NLH, $120 AO $10 12:00 p.m. NLH, $50 AO $20 ($3K 1st Place Guarantee) ($2K Guarantee) MONDAY TUESDAY 4:00 p.m. NLH, $40 AO $30 12:15 p.m. NLH, $30 RB $10 AO $10 ($8K Guarantee) 9:30 a.m. NLH, $200 AO $10 ($5K Guarantee) ($4K 1st Place Guarantee) 5:30 p.m. NLH, $65 AO $50 6:45 p.m. NLH, $10 RB $10 AO $10 WEDNESDAY ($5K Guarantee) ($3K Guarantee) TUESDAY 9:30 a.m. NLH, $120 AO $10 7:00 p.m. NLH, $90 AO $70 ($3K 1st Place Guarantee) ($5K Guarantee) 12:15 p.m. NLH, $75 AO $40 THURSDAY 10:00 p.m. NLH, $60 RB $50 AO $40 ($5K Guarantee) 6:45 p.m. NLH, $75 AO $40 KO $25 9:30 a.m. NLH, $120 AO $10 KO $10 ($2K Guarantee) ($3K 1st Place Guarantee)

035_Schedules.indd 35 9/15/20 10:17 PM Schedules - Daily tournaments

FRIDAY 11:00 a.m NLH, $150 7:15 p.m. NLH, $140 ($3.5K Guarantee) 9:30 a.m. NLH, $120 AO $10 5:00 p.m NLH, $120 WEDNESDAY ($3K 1st Place Guarantee) SUNDAY 11:15 a.m. NLH, $140 ($3.5K Guarantee) SATURDAY 11:00 a.m NLH, $200 KO $50 7:15 p.m. NLH, $140 ($3.5K Guarantee) 9:30 a.m. NLH, $120 AO $10 5:00 p.m. NLH, $120 THURSDAY ($3K 1st Place Guarantee) 11:15 a.m. NLH, $240 ($6K Guarantee) SUNDAY 7:15 p.m. NLH, $240 ($6K Guarantee) 9:30 a.m. NLH, $250 AO $10 FLORIDA

($8K 1st Place Guarantee) BESTBET - JACKSONVILLE FRIDAY OAKS CARD CLUB - EMERYVILLE 12:00 p.m. NLH, $160 MONDAY SUNDAY 6:15 p.m. NLH, $150 MICHIGAN 12:00 p.m. NLH, $160 WEDNESDAY 6:15 p.m. NLH, $185 FIREKEEPERS CASINO - BATTLE CREEK SATURDAY PALM BEACH KENNEL CLUB - W. PALM BEACH MONDAY-WEDNESDAY 11:00 a.m. NLH, $185 FRIDAY - SATURDAY 12:00 p.m. NLH, $40 SUNDAY 12:15 p.m. NLH, $120 6:30 p.m. NLH, $40 1:00 p.m. NLH, $235 THURSDAY 12:00 p.m. NLH, $40 ILLINOIS 6:30 p.m. PLO/NLH, $60 OCEAN’S ELEVEN - OCEANSIDE FRIDAY DAILY RGC POKER (for locations see RGCPoker.com) 9:00 a.m. NLH, $55 AO $5 12:00 p.m. NLH, $40 DAILY 6:30 p.m. NLH, $60 AO $20 AO $20 1:00 p.m. NLH, $40 SATURDAY 5:00 p.m. NLH, $80 6:30 p.m. NLH, $125 KO $25 6:30 p.m. NLH, $40 CONNECTICUT SUNDAY

SATURDAY 12:00 p.m. NLH, $140/$240/$500 2:00 p.m NLH, $180 6:30 p.m. NLH, $40 FOXWOODS - MASHANTUCKET MONDAY 10:00 a.m NLH, $100 LOUISIANA NEVADA 6:00 p.m. NLH, $120 TUESDAY COUSHATTA CASINO & RESORT - KINDER 10:00 a.m NLH, $120 SAHARA - LAS VEGAS TUESDAY 2:00 p.m NLH, $100 KO $25 SATURDAY & SUNDAY 7:00 p.m. NLH, $100 6:00 p.m. NLH, $120 ($10K Guarantee) 1:00 p.m. NLH, $120 RB $100 THURSDAY WEDNESDAY 7:00 p.m. NLH, $100 10:00 a.m NLH, $100 FRIDAY 2:00 p.m NLH, $120 KO $50 7:00 p.m. NLH, $120 VENETIAN HOTEL & CASINO - LAS VEGAS 6:00 p.m. NLH, $120 ($15K Guarantee) SATURDAY MONDAY THURSDAY 12:00 p.m. NLH, $200 12:10 p.m. NLH, $150 ($4K Guarantee) 10:00 a.m NLH, $120 KO $25 SUNDAY 6:10 p.m. NLH, $125 KO $25 FRIDAY 12:00 p.m. NLH, $100 ($2K Guarantee) 10:00 a.m NLH, $100 TUESDAY 2:00 p.m NLH, $100 KO $25 12:10 p.m. NLH, $150 ($4K Guarantee) 6:00 p.m. NLH, $160 ($8K Guarantee) 6:10 p.m. NLH, $200 KO $50 8:30 p.m NLH, $100 MARYLAND ($4K Guarantee) SATURDAY WEDNESDAY 9:00 a.m NLH, $60 12:10 p.m. NLH, $150 ($4K Guarantee) 11:00 a.m NLH, $180 ($8K Guarantee) LIVE! CASINO & HOTEL - HANOVER 6:10 p.m. NLH, $125 ($2K Guarantee) 5:00 p.m. NLH, $140 ($5K Guarantee) MONDAY THURSDAY 8:30 p.m NLH, $120 KO $50 12:15 p.m. NLH, $120 KO $25 12:10 p.m. NLH, $150 ($4K Guarantee) SUNDAY 7:15 p.m. NLH, $140 6:10 p.m. NLH, $125 KO $25 9:00 a.m NLH, $60 TUESDAY ($3K Guarantee) 12:00 p.m. NLH, $140 12:15 p.m. NLH, $140 FRIDAY 5:00 p.m. NLH, $230 7:15 p.m. NLH, $120 KO $25 12:10 p.m. NLH, $200 AO $100 WEDNESDAY ($10K Guarantee) MOHEGAN SUN - UNCASVILLE 12:15 p.m. NLH, $130 SATURDAY 7:15 p.m. NLH, $130 MONDAY 12:10 p.m. NLH, $340 ($12K Guarantee) 10:00 a.m NLH, $85 KO $25 THURSDAY 6:10 p.m. NLH, $125 ($2K Guarantee) 2:00 p.m NLH, $75 12:15 p.m. NLH, $150 SUNDAY 6:00 p.m NLH, $100 7:15p.m. NLH, $160 KO $50 12:10 p.m. NLH, $250 ($7K Guarantee) TUESDAY FRIDAY 6:10 p.m. NLH, $125 ($2K Guarantee) 10:00 a.m NLH, $75 12:15 p.m. NLH, $220 2:00 p.m NLH, $85 KO $25 7:15 p.m. NLH, $320 KO $75 6:00 p.m. NLH, $120 ($10K Guarantee) SATURDAY 11:15 a.m. NLH, $300 NEW YORK WEDNESDAY 10:00 a.m NLH, $75 7:15 p.m. NLH, $150 2:00 p.m NLH, $85 KO $25 SUNDAY SENECA NIAGARA - NIAGARA FALLS 6:00 p.m. NLH, $100 11:15 a.m. NLH, $100 MONDAY 6:15 p.m. NLH, $130 THURSDAY 7:00 p.m. NLH, $100 ($2K Guarantee) 10:00 a.m NLH, $75 TUESDAY 2:00 p.m NLH, $85 KO $25 10:00 a.m. NLH, $45 6:00 p.m. NLH, $120 ($5K Guarantee) MGM NATIONAL HARBOR - OXON HILL 7:00 p.m. NLH, $45 MONDAY FRIDAY WEDNESDAY 11:15 a.m. NLH, $140 ($3.5K Guarantee) 11:00 a.m NLH, $75 10:00 a.m. NLH, $80 7:15 p.m. NLH, $240 ($6K Guarantee) 2:00 p.m NLH, $100 7:00 p.m. NLH, $100 ($2K Guarantee) 6:00 p.m NLH, $120 TUESDAY THURSDAY 11:15 a.m. NLH, $140 ($3.5K Guarantee) SATURDAY 10:00 a.m. NLH, $60

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035_Schedules.indd 36 9/15/20 10:17 PM Schedules

7:00 p.m. NLH, $60 AND UPDATES CAN BE VIEWED AT SATURDAY FRIDAY EASTERNPOKERTOUR.COM 1:00 p.m. NLH, $75 10:00 a.m. NLH, $80 SUNDAY SATURDAY 1:00 p.m. NLH, $35 10:00 a.m. NLH, $20 ($1K Guarantee) 11:00 a.m. NLH, $150 SUNDAY NORTH CAROLINA SOUTH DAKOTA 10:00 a.m. NLH, $60 6:00 p.m. NLH, $125 ($2.5K Guarantee) HARRAH’S - CHEROKEE SILVERADO FRANKLIN - DEADWOOD MONDAY THURSDAY 7:00 p.m NLH, $80 TURNING STONE - VERONA 6:30 p.m. NLH, $88 MONDAY 10:00 p.m NLH, $50 SATURDAY 12:00 p.m NLH, $50 TUESDAY 2:00 p.m. NLH, $44 7:00 p.m. NLH, $65 7:00 p.m NLH, $80 TUESDAY 10:00 p.m NLH, $50 SUNDAY 12:00 p.m NLH, $50 WEDNESDAY 3:00 p.m. NLH, $33 7:00 p.m. NLH, $15 ($1K Guarantee) 7:00 p.m NLH, $100 KO $25 WEDNESDAY THURSDAY TEXAS 12:00 p.m NLH, $65 KO $10 7:00 p.m NLH, $80 7:00 p.m. NLH, $65 10:00 p.m NLH, $45 THURSDAY FRIDAY CELEBRITY CARD CLUB - ODESSA 12:00 p.m NLH, $65 KO $10 5:00 p.m NLH, $135 TUESDAY 7:00 p.m. NLH, $15 ($1K Guarantee) SATURDAY 7:00 p.m. PLO, $50 FRIDAY 11:00 a.m NLH, $250 THURSDAY 12:00 p.m NLH, $100 KO $25 SUNDAY 7:00 p.m. NLH, $60 7:00 p.m. NLH, $50 10:00 a.m NLH, $80 SATURDAY 2:00 p.m NLH, $250 12:00 p.m NLH, $65 7:00 p.m NLH, $80 WISCONSIN 4:00 p.m NLH, $100 KO $25 10:00 p.m NLH, $45 7:00 p.m. NLH, $25 SUNDAY OREGON POTAWATOMI - MILWAUKEE 12:00 p.m NLH, $50 TUESDAY 6:00 p.m. NLH, $30 WILDHORSE - PENDLETON 6:15 p.m. NLH, $80 TUESDAY THURSDAY 6:30 p.m. NLH, $35 6:15 p.m. NLH, $125 EASTERN POKER TOUR THURSDAY SUNDAY PUB POKER EVENTS, NEWS, RANKINGS 6:30 p.m. NLH, $55 12:15 p.m NLH, $150

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035_Schedules.indd 37 9/15/20 10:17 PM Poker Leaderboards LARGEST WSOP ‘MAIN EVENTS’ HELD OUTSIDE OF LAS VEGAS BY ENTRIES

Event (Buy-In) Entries Prize Pool (USD) Champion Top Prize (USD) 2020 WSOP Online ($5,000) 5,802 $27,559,500 Stoyan Madanzhiev $3,903,686 2011 WSOP Europe (€10,000) 593 $7,860,618 Elio Fox $1,870,208 2019 WSOP Europe (€10,000) 541 $5,710,087 Alexandros Kolonias $1,258,383 2018 WSOP Europe (€10,000) 534 $5,785,812 Jack Sinclair $1,290,575 2017 WSOP Europe (€10,000) 529 $5,827,143 Marti Roca De Torres $1,301,815 2012 WSOP Europe (€10,000) 420 $5,249,261 Phil Hellmuth $1,333,841 2013 WSOP Asia Pacific ($10,000 AUD) 405 $4,026,519 Daniel Negreanu $1,087,160 2013 WSOP Europe (€10,000) 375 $4,961,520 Adrian Mateos $1,379,300 2007 WSOP Europe (£10,000) 362 $7,167,600 Annette Obrestad $2,000,000 2008 WSOP Europe (£10,000) 362 $6,433,279 John Juanda $1,544,575 2010 WSOP Europe (£10,000) 346 $5,470,592 James Bord $1,313,611 2009 WSOP Europe (£10,000) 334 $4,958,230 Barry Shulman $1,321,534 2014 WSOP Asia Pacific ($10,000 AUD) 329 $2,740,329 Scott Davies $744,781 2015 WSOP Europe (€10,000) 313 $3,379,508 Kevin MacPhee $972,845

When the 2020 World Series of Poker in Las Vegas was officially postponed in late April due to COVID-19,WSOP Executive Director Ty Stewart announced that plans were being made for an online series that would, “allow players to chaseWSOP glory from their homes.” By early June, the first-ever WSOP Online schedule was released, featuring 85 events across two online poker sites. The centerpiece of the whole affair was the $5,000 buy-in main event, which featured a $25 million guaranteed prize pool. The event was sure to be the largest tournament of the summer, but it was unclear if the poker public would ultimately consider the event a true ‘main event,’ or if the tournament would be lumped in with the main events from the 13 other WSOP bracelet series held outside of Las Vegas. The tournament ultimately drew 5,802 entries to blow away the guarantee, creating the largest prize pool and top prize in online poker history. When compared with theWSOP main event held at the Rio since 2005, this event would still fall a bit short, as it would be the first main event to fail to surpass $50 million in prize money since 2004. It would also be the smallest main event in terms of turnout since 2005, as poker’s World Championship has drawn at least 6,300 entries from 2006 through 2019, with an average turnout of 7,079 players. While the inaugural WSOP Online main event might not quite measure up to the big dance at the Rio, it stands out when compared to the other WSOP main events held outside of Las Vegas. The event’s massive prize pool of $27,559,500 was nearly $20 million larger than any other tournament on this list. The field beat out the next-largest turnout in this category by over 5,200 entries. While this tournament might not exist on par with the standard WSOP main event, it was certainly a massively successful poker tournament held during a singular time in a singular period for the game. CAREER EARNINGS IN WSOP BRACELET EVENTS

Rank Player WSOP Earnings Fedor Holz earned his third seven-figure score in a World Series 1 Antonio Esfandiari $21.9 million of Poker bracelet event by taking down the WSOP Online $25,000 buy-in heads-up no-limit hold’em event for $1,070,250 and his sec- 2 Daniel Negreanu $18.6 million ond gold bracelet. The young German poker pro has had incredible 3 Daniel Colman $17.4 million success in high roller events at the series, cashing for $12,993,609 4 Phil Hellmuth $15.0 million across just 16 in-the-money finishes. As a result of his recent victory, he has surpassed WSOP main event champions Jamie Gold and 5 Jonathan Duhamel $14.6 million Martin Jacobson to climb into eighth place on the all-time career 6 Justin Bonomo $14.1 million earnings list for the WSOP. Justin Bonomo also added to his totals 7 Joe Cada $13.6 million in recent weeks. The American three-time bracelet winner made the round of eight in the heads-up shootout that Holz won to earn 8 Fedor Holz $13.0 million $194,469. This was only his second cash of the WSOPO, but it was 8 Jamie Gold $12.2 million enough to see him surpass $14.1 million in career WSOP earnings. 10 Martin Jacobson $12.1 million Bonomo remains in sixth place on this leaderboard, with a lead of roughly half of a million dollars over nearest competitor Joe Cada.

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