The first month of 2024 has come to an end and it’s safe to say the live poker year kicked off in style. January saw many interesting poker tournament series online, but there’s also been a couple of interesting live events.
One of these was the first 888poker LIVE stop of the year. 888poker LIVE held its first event of the year in Madrid during the end of January, and many eyes were at the $888 Main Event. Let’s take a look who emerged the winner!
Manuel Ledesma Wins Big
A total of 435 entries were made in the $888 Main Event, and this generated a prize pool of £333.905. This meant that there were $58.000 for the winner, a hefty sum all players wanted to get their hands on.
When play in day two commenced, action was hot in Madrid and more than half of the remaining players busted out before the first break. Amongst these were Alexandre Mantovani and Ian Simpson, two 888poker ambassadors and very successful poker players. Presumably, a lot of the competition were thrilled to see these two players hitting the rail.
Players kept busting out and eventually only eight survivors found themselves at the final table. Spaniard Manuel Ledesma was one of these eight and when he entered the final table, he was dead last in chips. In fact, he started final table play with only 10 big blinds. Things were not looking too bright for Ledesma, but he was ready to put up a fight!
During the first two hours of Day 3 play (i.e. the final table), both George Chiriac and Carlos Perez-Dosio busted quickly, within two hours. Ledesma bid his time and doubled up his small stack time after time. Eventually, Greg Cambell busted out in 7th place and Mateo Calzoni as sixth.
Ledesma had made it into the top five, and he now found himself all in with A J against Guillermo Sanchez’s K K . Presumably, he wasn’t too happy when Sanchez turned over his kings, but maybe his mood changed when he flopped both a pair of aces and a flush draw. He hit the flush on the turn and doubled up. Now, Ledesma was cooking.
The Three Spaniards
After the pocket kings loss, Sanchez was bleeding and he eventually hit the rail in 5th. It didn’t take long before Borja Diaz joined him and there were now three players left, coincidentally all Spaniards: Ledesma, Juan Lyons and Ramon Fernandez.
Lyons eliminated Fernandez and it was now time for Heads Up between Lyons and Ledesma. At this point, the two made a deal: Lyons would get €52.000, Ledesma €47.000 and they would play for the remaining €11.000 and the trophy. Heads Up play didn’t last too long and eventually Ledesma won with a set of tens. Such, he had achieved an incredible comeback!
888poker LIVE Madrid 2024 – Final Table Results
Position
Name
Prize
1.
Manuel Ledesma
€58.000
2.
Juan Lyons
€52.000
3.
Ramon Fernandez
€32.500
4.
Borja Diaz
€24.300
5.
Guillermo Sánchez
€18.205
6.
Mateo Calzoni
€13.700
7.
Greg Campbell
€10.000
8.
Carlos Pere’zDosio
€8.000
Overall, 888poker LIVE Madrid seems to have been a solid live poker event. Later this year, 888poker LIVE will be played in Bucharest and prior to that, the 888poker-powered UK Poker League will bring the action to Great Britain.
If there’s one thing we know by now, it’s that GGPoker never fails to disappoint. They have an ability to always come up with new things, keeping the poker community on their toes.
Today, we will take a look at GGPoker’s newest innovation, as well as go over the online poker tournament schedule for the upcoming weekend. There’s a lot to cover, so let’s get down to business!
Battle Royale – A New Star Is Born!
GGPoker’s latest innovation, Battle Royale, combines all your favorite elements from the most popular tournaments. The concept is as simple as it is exciting.
Battle Royale is a three-stage process. All in all, it’s a Progressive Bounty Sit N’ Go poker tournament that starts with 30 players. Stage 1 will be played until only 15 players are remaining; however, there is also a time limit that’s set to 15 minutes. When time’s up, all players that are outside of the top 15 will be eliminated from the tournament. The bounties of the eliminated players will not go to waste; they are added in bulk into the prize pool. When 15 players remains, stage 1 is concluded.
We’re then entering Stage 2 – the Shootout Zone! Now, play will be three-handed and won’t stop until there is only one player remaining at the table. Just as in Stage 1, there is a time limit: after five minutes, all players are forced All In pre-flop and chance will decide the outcome.
After Stage 2, it’s time for the final stage. Stage 3 will be a final table and it is played as a normal bounty tournament. All players who made it to Stage 3 will be in the money, but there can only be one winner!
As if this already isn’t sounding exciting enough, Battle Royale players can also win the Bounty Jackpot. Any bounty could see you winning jackpots as big as $1 000 000!
It’s an educated prediction that the Battle Royale will be highly appreciated. The Battle Royale tournaments are available at four different Buy-In levels ranging $0,25-10.
$525 Bounty Hunters HR Main Event
One of the most exciting tournaments coming up this weekend is part of the Bounty Hunter Series. This is maybe GGPoker’s most appreciated online poker tournament series and February 4th it’s time for the $525 Bounty Hunters HR Main Event. This progressive tournament holds a $1 000 000 GTD and people have already registered to the tournament in order to make sure they won’t miss out on ay high roller action.
While we’re on the subject of the Bounty Hunter Series: there are many flights for the $210 Mystery MILLION$ Main Event running the weekend throughout. With a $10 000 000 GTD and a $1 000 000 top Mystery Bounty, this is maybe the most exciting online poker tournament to be held during the first quarter of 2024. Day 2 will be played at February 5th and 2 322 players have already secured their second day seat. Why not join them?
One thing that’s so good about GGPoker is that players can qualify to live events through satellites. On February 4th, there’s an EAPT Madrid Main Event running on GGPoker. 20 seats are guaranteed and this is a great opportunity that could see you experiencing a live poker adventure you’ve only been dreaming about!
Last but certainly not least, the $54 Omaholic Bounty MILLION$ Final Stage is played on Sunday 4th. All the way up until then, players can play start flights for this PLO-NL tournament. It’s a progressive bounty tournament with $250 000 GTD, and we can only imagine the heavy action the final stage will bring.
Just as always, the action on GGPoker is immense. Good luck to all players participating in this weekend’s tournaments, and make sure to try out the new Battle Royale!
This year the best online poker rooms are battling from the players’ attention with better than ever promotions and how much extra value can they deliver. Big online poker giants like PokerStars, GGPoker, 888poker and partypoker have new upcoming challengers which more or less shows flux in the number of active players.
Players always try out new poker rooms and the reason for this might be a longer bad beat but sometimes the reason is the promotions – and we dare to say with JackPoker it’s the latter.
It’s fun to follow JackPoker in action. New promotions are released all the time and these are designed to work together with their other services. Example, all Instacash tournaments and promotions give cash game players huge benefits for their grind. So, it’s no wonder that most new JackPoker promotions are welcomed by their community with open arms – and this shows in the number of participants.
I was personally semi sceptical about the Instacash that you can only use in cash games. One reason for this was me playing mostly poker tournaments but now as I have been following JackPoker promotions, like the tournament based Freeroll Festival and Jack Bonus Bonanza, I can only say they are both very popular.
And since last week their latest Instacash promo Flop Race Leaderboards is breaking the bank yet again!
Flop Race Leaderboard Latest Results
The Flop Race Leaderboard promotion that encourages players to see as many Flops as possible kicked off last week on Monday at JackPoker. This morning the second “lap”/round was concluded and another battle for the big Instacash prizes came to an end. But don’t you worry! New round has just started and it’s anybody’s game at this point.
If you did not already know, the idea of the Flop Race Leaderboard is very simple: See as many Flops as possible in selected cash game tables during each round (lasts 5 days) and climb up the leaderboards until you reach the TOP 5! Flop Race is no joke because all players at the top position win amazing Instacash prizes.
The rewards in this one are so high that many cash game grinders let it loose and for sure the action stay the same during the next five days.
To give you an idea what goes down. Here’s a short summary of some of the action:
In the Low Limit leaderboard ($0.10 – $0.50) yesterday morning two players “SilverStone” and “MRPOKER” were almost neck to neck with 804 and 857 points but this morning when the final results came in it was MRPOKER with 1 718 points taking home the first prize of $150.
The second best player “SilverStone” managed to see Flops worth 1 230 points and win $125 Instacash. Third best and the winner of $100 Instacash was player called “Carlosf” who came close to the second with 1 189 points.
Two other players “Pandawoow” and “FrankyCast” clearly had their target in the best prizes but fell behind with 1 151 and 1 120 points winning $75 and $50 Instacash. As you can see, the situation can change fast in Flop Races.
Medium Limit ($1 – $4) and High Limit ($10 – $20) had their own Flop Races and more about these you can find out by comparing the Leaderboards from yesterday and this morning.
Flop Race Leaderboard Round 2 Final Results 31 January
Flop Race Leaderboard Results 30 January
If you look up the word “action” in your dictionary, chances are big you will see a picture of the GGPoker logotype. There’s no question about it: there’s always something exciting going on at GGPoker, and each weekend seems to be even more action-filled than the previous one. One can understand GGPoker has emerged throughout the years to become maybe the biggest online poker site.
We’ve just entered the 5th week of the year and yet another GGPoker weekend has passed. Let’s take a look at what interesting online poker tournaments were played this year, and which winners deserves to gloat in the poker spotlight.
High Roller Action
Few poker tournaments are more exciting to follow from the sideline than high rollers. Just knowing there’s a lot of cash at stakes seems to tickle the bone for the online poker crowd and it’s always interesting to see which players manages to win a big high roller tournament.
January 28th the $5 250 Bounty Hunters Super High Roller was played on GGPoker. This progressive bounty tournament ensures that every player is guaranteed at least $1 250 when knocking out someone else from the competition. This is also a reoccurring GGPoker tournament so if you fancy participating in some high stakes action, be sure to browse the GGPoker tournament lobby on Sundays!
Last Sunday’s edition of the tournament saw 25 players battling it out for a share of the $125 000 prize pool. The tournament lasted for roughly five hours before Barak Wisbrod could be crowned the bounty king. Including bounties he took home roughly $60 000, quite the Sunday paycheck! Totally three players cashed in the tournament.
$5 250 Bounty Hunters Super High Roller January 28th – Results
Position
Player
Payout (inclusive bounties)
1.
Barak Wisbrod
$58 604,95
2.
Artur Martirosian
$31 092,44
3.
Adrian Mateos
$17 177,61
Let’s stay at the high stakes section of GGPoker a little longer. The highly appreciated and very popular Bounty Hunter Series is running hot right now and the $100 000 000 GTD in the series naturally attracts many players. No less than 12 028 players decided to display their poker skills in the $105 Sunday Showdown which also held a $100 000 top Mystery Bounty.
Out of all the 1 800 players who made it in the money, GGPoker user “EATtheWholeCake” became the winner after the 12 hour long tournament. For this feat, he cashed an impressive $63 000! “Silden4filho” cannot be too disappointed with his 232nd place finish, considering the claimed the $100 000 bounty.
Position
Player
Payout (inclusive bounties)
1
EATtheWholeCake
$63 078,99
2
Aiwana
$46 923,86
3
Barrani100
$36 830,62
4
AnimalRaro
$26 754,33
5
2024Newyear
$19 453,04
6
SmashinPumpkins
$16 582,74
7
OlafMori
$11 373,03
8
Mikhail Lukyanov
$9 033,61
9
trioamargura
$7 169,36
12 000 Players Are Many, Buy…
…let’s double it! Listen to this: 21 122 players participated in the $15 Sunday Secret KO. This is yet another GGPoker Myster Bounty Tournament and players really seem to enjoy them. With a $300 000 prize pool, there were a lot to play for. The tournament lasted for roughly 10 hours and even though German player “FabiG97” only collected 52 dollars in bounties, he received an additional $11 802,85 for winning the tournament.
As you can see, there’s intriguing stuff going on at GGPoker every weekend! If you haven’t already, we highly recommend you check out some of their interesting online tournament series. Who knows, maybe you will become the next big winner?
Good luck to all players taking their shot over at GGPoker!
The winter season is at on its last legs and it’s soon time for the bears to end their hibernation. Thank the lucky stars that we have online poker, an excellent source of entertainment during the dull, cold months of winter.
It’s about time we transition into the spring and Global Poker is helping us leave the winter behind in style. That’s right, folks: it’s finally time for the Grizzly Games VII – the first Global PokerChampionship of 2024!
Grizzlies Don’t Mess Around
The 7th edition of Global Poker’s Grizzly Games starts today, January 29th, and will run until February 18th. This equals 21 days of guaranteed poker goodness during this online poker tournament series, which is a much-appreciated reoccurring online poker event by Global Poker.
This series screams action, and there are a total 216 trophy events: 108 Gold Coins– and 108 Sweeps Coins events. The Grizzly Games VII holds an overall GC 953 500 000 and SC 2 130 000 GTD, and there’s no doubt many Global Poker players will get at the chance to claim their part of these enormous guaranteed prize pools.
The Grizzly Games VII Main Events
The tournament schedule for the Grizzly Games VII will not disappoint. With so many tournaments and a very generous buy-in range, there’s no doubt there is an online poker tournament for every online poker player to enjoy.
Global Poker will make sure to go out with a bang on the last day of the series, February 18th. This is when both the SC 200 000 GTD Main Event and the GC 40 000 000 GTD Main Event will be played. In both tournaments, participators can do one re-buy and one Add-On. The Buy-In for the SC edition is SC 99, whilst the GC Main Event has a GC 99 000 Buy-In.
Apart from the Main Events, there are certain key events that when participating in, players get access to exclusive Grizzly Games VII merchandise. Events such as Groundhog Day (February 2nd), Super Grizzly Sunday (February 11th) and Valentine’s Day (February 14th) are all special key events that players don’t want to miss out on.
There’s also two dedicated Heads-Up events in the tournament schedule! Heads-Up tournaments is not too common to see during ab online poker tournament series; it’s very much appreciated that Global Poker has arranged this.
Global Poker Grizzly Games VII – Selected Tournament Highlights*
Date and Time
Tournament
Buy-In
February 2nd, 21:30
SC Groundhog Day (SC 33 000 GTD)
99
February 2nd, 21:30
GC Groundhog Day (GC 22 500 000 GTD)
99 000
February 11th, 17:30
SC Super Grizzly Sunday (SC 110 000 GTD)
99
February 11th, 17:30
GC Super Grizzly Sunday (GC 30 000 000 GTD)
99 000
February 14th, 21:30
SC Valentine’s Day (SC 30 000 GTD)
99
February 14th, 21:30
GC Valentine’s Day (GC 25 000 000 GTD)
99 000
February 17th, 18:30
SC Heads Up (SC 8 000 GTD)
33
February 17th, 18:30
GC Heads Up (GC 3 000 000 GTD)
33 000
February 18th, 17:30
SC Main Event (SC 200 000 GTD)
99
February 18th, 17:30
GC Main Event (GC 40 000 000 GTD)
99 000
*Note that this is our selected tournaments highlights. There are many more gems in the Grizzly Games VII tournament schedule!
Except for all the interesting tournaments in the Grizzly Games VII tournament schedule, there’s also a leaderboard running throughout the series. Players ought to fight hard for good tournament finishes and chase as many leaderboard points as possible. Very nice prizes are up for grabs for the top finishers, for example, $2 500 that will enable the winner to represent Global Poker at a live poker event.
Good luck to all players participating in the Grizzly Games VII over at Global Poker!
The live poker industry nowadays is full of events, organised in a huge amount of countries all across the world. Before 2010, such events could be counted on the fingers on just one hand, but now players have the opportunity to play poker in the low- and mid-stakes in countries such as the USA, Australia, the UK, and Brazil. For European poker, one of the main brands causing the real poker boom for such events has been Deepstack Open (DSO). We spoke with Alex Henry, General Manager and Owner of the brand.
Alex Henry has been involved in the poker industry for decades, mostly by being one of the main faces of the Deepstack Open brand, nowadays known as Unibet Deepstack Open. Guided by his passion for poker, and his experience of being the live events manager of the online poker room Chillipoker, the Deepstack Open appeared in the poker world. Mainly due to that last experience at Chilipoker, the CEO – Alex Dreyfus – connected with him to collaborate on other projects.
As a passionate poker player myself, I know that from 2006 till 2010, there weren’t many offers available for players with a rather smaller budget across Europe. Of course, you had local events such as the daily tournaments, but a real live poker event which lasted for several days or even a full week? Not as per my understanding at least, besides perhaps a couple of random singular events here and there.
In the name of PokerListings, I spoke to Alex Henry and asked him several questions to firstly, get to know him better as a person. And above all, to try and figure out what one of Europe’s most recognized live poker events has got in store for us in 2024!
Melvin, PokerListings: Hi Henry! It is a pleasure speaking to you, how have you been?
Alex Henry:‘’Hello Melvin, good day to you. It is alright, thank you very much. It has been busy as usual for us, with Season 15 of the Unibet Deepstack Open Cup (Jan 25-28) kicking off at Portomaso Casino in St. Julians, Malta.’’
Melvin, PokerListings: I have been following your event a lot throughout the years and by being involved in the industry of live events myself, I can imagine all the work that goes into it. Now, it’s the 15th season already for you, what can you tell us about the Unibet Deepstack Open in the past?
Alex Henry: ‘’As you know, I started working with Alex Dreyfus on this while being at Chilipoker.com. There were not many events available around the 500 euro mark, unlike the 1,000 euro events. For such events, my observation was that there were no proper tournament structures. And from there the idea started to grow for the Deepstack Open. We bought the brand, connected with other online partners, and mainly focused on the French market in the beginning.’’
Melvin, PokerListings: You’ve outgrown the French market quite swiftly, with events going on in different markets as well. Can you tell us a bit about what’s in store for us poker players in 2024?
Alex Henry: ‘’Yes, we are focusing more on other markets as well now. And for the upcoming period we have for example now the event in Malta, and then next week we have an event in Lichtenstein together with The HendonMob. UDSO Aix-en-Provence is also on the calendar again of course, and after that, we have events planned in locations such as Barcelona, San Remo, and Marrakech. Followed by big events such as in Annecy, and Paris in November.’’
Melvin, PokerListings: What interests me in such events is what makes one event unique compared to another. There are so many available nowadays, that it’s becoming impossible to try and take all the stops in your agenda as a player.
Alex Henry: ‘’I think every live event is trying to be innovative in their own way. We at DSO, have got a solid reputation to rely on, being one of the older tours of the calendar. For example, back in the day, we came with the ‘day 1c turbo’ opening flight, to try and gather more entries for a tournament.
One of our main focus points is the payouts. At all times, we aim to pay out 13 to 15 per cent of the players, whereas before it was like 10 per cent. Besides that, the balance of the payouts is very important which results in our event winner never getting an extraordinary huge piece of the cake.
I want to reward the players for the event, that they have shown appreciation by attending the event. There does not need to be a huge first prize, as it results in for example a 5-way deal anyhow. It’s less motivating in my perspective to play such an event.
One of the key points for us is as well that the bare minimum cash in an event is always double the initial buy-in, which doesn’t let most players go home unsatisfied, even when they have a min cash.’’
Melvin, PokerListings: You have a collaboration with the Malta Poker Festival as well. Which comes to mind, as an event organiser, what is the goal of the UDSO and for you as a person within the poker industry?
Alex Henry: ‘’I would like to develop the brand more globally, to increase the brand recognition in new territories. The Malta Poker Festival, was a great thing because I live in Malta, and I have known Ivonne Monteleagre already for a long time, as well as the Portomaso Casino. It was a no-brainer, and partnering up with some other stand-alone tours makes it less complicated to offer such big Guarantees.
Just before COVID-19, we had an Asian tour where we had five events in locations such as Vietnam, Taipei, and the Philippines. It’s a whole different ballgame as the market is very different and way bigger. They are very passionate about such events and would love to go back to Asia again, as well as South America.
We also had an event in Johannesburg recently. The place is just amazing, and the turnout is unique and everything. The laws and regulations are very different compared to what we are used to, and the infrastructure, staffing, and all that.. It’s a challenge to run a poker tournament sometimes in the way like we know it.’’
Melvin, PokerListings: Speaking of running a poker tournament- What are key aspects for you before you get everything together?
Alex Henry:‘’The location and its reachability for example, are there airports nearby? The infrastructure in the city itself, and everything related to the casino. How will it go with staffing? Are there hotels nearby which we can make use of?
It is also important to know what we need to bring ourselves to the location in terms of logistics, and what is the availability of online qualifiers. And there Unibet plays a big part in the name of a sponsor.
There are also certain situations which are deciding. Look for example Barcelona, where we will have a stop this year. It was not clear in terms of taxes and so on, how it would turn out for the players. We didn’t want to bring an event until we were sure about the casino and everything around it. And surely our stop in Barcelona, we hope to see many poker players from across the world attend the event, as well as all the other events of course!’’
The Unibet Deepstack Open (UDSO) is, without a doubt, one of the most comfortable live poker events in Europe. We strongly recommend to whoever has not visited one of their stops yet, to have a look at the 2024 schedule of the UDSO. The locations are well chosen, so even if you want to go for some sightseeing, there are plenty of things to do! If you happen to meet Alex Henry, originally from France, at one of the stops, you know who is responsible for the fine poker structures you can enjoy!
Canada and poker go together as well as pancakes and maple syrup. When you think about Canadian poker players, legend Daniel Negreanu may cross your mind. Of course there are a lot more talented poker players waving the Canadian flag; Sam Greenwood, Mike McDonald and Jonathan Duhamel, just to name a few.
However, there can only be one king/queen, and it’s now up to KKPoker to crown him/her. We may be early into the New Year, but the race for becoming Canada’s best poker player 2024 starts now. Who will emerge the undisputed winner?
Canada’s Best Player 2024
It is on KKPoker where all Canadian poker players will have the opportunity to partake in the battle to become the best Canadian poker player of 2024. To be named the best player of one’s country surely is something every poker player wants on his or her resume, and we predict that the contest will be a spicy one.
The concept for KKPoker’s “Canada’s Best Player 2024” is simple. During the year, there will be online poker tournaments running on the client through which Canadian players can earn important leaderboard points. After each quarter, the top 10 players on the leaderboards will receive cash prizes corresponding to their leaderboard finish. Then, the leaderboard will reset and the next quarter will begin.
Canada’s Best Player 2024 – Quarterly Prizes
Place
Prize
1st
$5 000
2nd
$2 000
3rd
$1 000
4th-5th
$500
6th-10th
$200
The aforementioned tournaments comes in two forms: one with a $20 Buy-In, and one with a $100 Buy-In. See the table below to get an overview of how the points will be distributed for the $20 tournaments (the $100 tournaments simply doubles the points).
Canada’s Best Player 2024 – Leaderboard Points Distribution
Place
Points
1st
10
2nd
8
3rd
7
4th
6
5th
5
6th
4
7th
3
8th
2
All Other Places
1
It should also be mentioned there will be some freerolls on KKPoker during the race for Canada’s Best Player 2024. These will however not be eligible for leaderboard points.
Canada’s Best Player 2024 – Quarter 1 Tournament Schedule:
Date and Time
Tournament
Buy-In
January 4th, 20:00
$1K Freeroll
Free
January 11th, 20:00
Q1 Canada’s Best
$20
January 18th, 20:00
$1K Freeroll
Free
January 25th, 20:00
Q1 Canada’s Best
$20
February 1st, 20:00
$1K Freeroll
Free
February 8th, 20:00
Q1 Canada’s Best
$20
February 15th, 20:00
$1K Freeroll
Free
February 22nd, 20:00
Q1 Canada’s Best
$20
February 29th, 20:00
$1K Freeroll
Free
March 7th, 19:00
Q1 Canada’s Best
$20
March 14th, 19:00
$1K Freeroll
Free
March 31st, 19:00
$5K Canada’s Best
$100
$10 000 Up Top!
The one who wins the quarterly rankings can be very happy with their achievement, but it doesn’t stop there! Even though the quarterly leaderboard resets, all points will be added up together after the last quarter. This is when the final winner can be crowned and titled the best Canadian player of 2024. Not only will this person get an epithet worthy of royals, but he or she will also be awarded a $10 000 for an amazing feat.
It will sure be a thrill to follow along on KKPoker during the year and watch in suspense. Canada has many great poker players, but only one can be the best. Good luck to all players participating!
Happy new year – or should we say Xīnnián Kuàilè? Chinese New Year is one of the most important holidays for those who celebrates it, and the history about the event is vast.
2024 is the Year of the Dragon, and dragons are known for being dangerous mythical beasts that you do not want to step in the way of. Sounds familiar? It should! The qualities of the dragon is the same as of a good poker player. The dragon hunts down its prey and won’t rest until it have conquered, just like the grinder at the poker tables.
Chinese New Year is here and the best way to celebrate it is of course by participating in the JackPoker Chinese New Year Quests!
$20 000 in Rewards
It’s no secret JackPoker enjoys keeping their players on the edge. Uncle Jack always has something interesting up his sleeve, and it’s no exception this time. We’ve seen different kind of quests on JackPoker before, most recently the Skiing Quests. It’s for sure an appreciated feature on the site and now it’s time for the Chinese New Year Quests!
The quests will run for a whole month between January 29th-February 29th and not to partake in these quests would be rather silly. With a $20 000 to be claimed in form of rewards while having tons of fun at the same time, it’s time to channel your inner dragon and claim what’s yours.
The Chinese New Year Quests consists of 29 quests and like previous similar poker promotions, these quests are divided into three categories. These are cash games, poker tournaments and casino. Each category is divided into three different tiers: easy, medium and hard. The harder the quest is to accomplish, the bigger the reward.
Players can head over to the JackPoker lobby and look at the “quests” bar in order to see all quests that are awaiting its hunters. By completing cash game challenges players will be rewarded for dollars, while tournament quests will see the player earning tickets. For the casino tournaments, there are free spins on the line. Players should aim to complete all tiers, seeing as they then will receive extra rewards. Fly like a dragon and dominate the quests!
Upcoming JackPoker Tournaments
While the Chinese New Year Quests are an interesting feature to JackPoker, there’s always intriguing tournaments running and this upcoming weekend is no exception. The JackPoker FreerollFestival is maybe the best opportunity in all of online poker for players to build up a solid bankroll without any risk at all. On Saturday 27th, people can participate in the $2 500 GTD Freeroll, truly something one does not want to miss. There are, of course, many other Jack Freeroll Festival tournaments running during the weekend.
Also, why not take your chance in the $77 Sunday BigJack Special? This tournament is played on Sunday (duh) 28th and with a $12 000, we’re predicting many players to take their shot.
Another interesting tournament Saturday 27th is the $5 Mini Hunter 5. This tournament is a given for all low-stakes players who wants to snag a piece out of the $1 500 GTD. Bounty tournaments are always an appreciated format by online poker players.
Good luck to all players participating in JackPoker’s Chinese New Year Quests, and the awesome tournaments this weekend!
There can’t be a successful live poker event without a good venue. Throughout the years, Bratislava’s Banco Casino has hosted many live poker events and it’s rarely, if ever, been anything less than flawless experiences. In 2023, for example, they hosted the Swedish Poker Championship, the Polish Championship, Winamax Poker Open and many more prestigious events.
The reason we’re bringing up Banco Casino today is because they will host another thrilling event in about a month, when it’s time for the Polish Winter Cup 2024! This year’s edition feels very exciting, considering the event has partnered up with KKPoker, which means more opportunities for players to win packages to the event through online satellites!
Satellite FREEROLL Today (January 25th)!
Yes, all KKPoker players are indeed in for a treat. They are offering their players the perfect opportunity in order to secure a seat to the Polish Winter Cup (PWC) 2024. We simply must start with the best part: the PWC Online Freeroll. Today, January 25th, there will be a freeroll with one package up for grabs. The poker tournament starts 19:00 GMT and there really is no reason not to take your lucky shot at winning the package. It’s very, very rare to see these kind of freeroll satellites to live poker events.
If you don’t manage to snag the package in the freeroll, fear not! There will be many chances to secure your PWC package (or in “worst” case, a Buy-In for the €130 Main Event). Satellites are running daily on KKPoker January 26th-February 21st and with Buy-Ins starting from $10, the opportunities are endless. Just like the freeroll, all satellites will kick off 19:00 GMT.
KKPoker Satellites to Polish Winter Cup 2024 – Full Online Satellite Schedule
Date & Time (GMT)
Tournament
Buy-In
January 25th, 19:00
PWC 444k Freeroll (1x PWC Package)
$0
January 27th-February 21st, 19:00*
PWC Main Event Satellite (1x €130 PWC Main Event Ticket GTD)
$10
January 28th-February 18th, 19:00**
PWC 444k (2x PWC Packages GTD)
$30
February 22nd, 19:00
PWC 444k Prime (4x PWC Packages GTD)
$30
*The PWC Main Event Satellites will run between January 27th-February 21st, but not on January 28th, February 1st, 4th, 11th, 15th and 18th.
**The PWC 444k Satellites will run on January 28th, February 1st, 4th, 8th, 15th and 18th.
As you can tell from the schedule above, the opportunities to qualify are many. The packages in the 444k satellites contains a €130 PWC Main Event ticket, a €60 Side Event ticket, and accommodations for three nights.
Polish Winter Cup 2024
Players should be grateful for KKPoker, considering they’re providing satellites to such a promising live poker event. The Polish Winter Cup will be played at Banco CasinoFebruary 26th-March 4th and the series has an overall guarantee of €444 000, which explains how the KKPoker satellites got their names.
€250 000 of the guaranteed amount is dedicated to the €130 Main Event. In last year’s edition, the Main Event recorded a staggering 5 061 entries which generated a €537 000 prize pool. There are no less than 12Dday 1 flights for the Main Event running February 26th-March 2rd, before Day 2 and Day 3 follows during the last two days of the festival. There’s a lot of interesting side events as well, so the Polish Winter Cup 2024 is nothing you want to miss. Be sure to partake in the KKPoker Freeroll today, February 25th, at 19:00 GMT.
The train that is GGPoker just keeps on rollin’, and it’s not showing any signs of slowing down! GGPoker just keeps on improving and it seems like whatever they decide to do, they do with nothing less than the highest of standards.
You better believe there’s always action on the GGPoker tables! Right now, the Bounty Hunter Series is running on the well-renowned poker site, an exciting addition to an already intriguing poker tournament schedule.
Let’s start up the GGPoker client, take a look around the tournament lobby, and see what exciting events are taking place this upcoming weekend!
Wanted Dead or Alive!
The previously mentioned Bounty Hunter Series is running hot over at GGPoker. The series was also played during the last months of 2023. Compared to then, the guarantee has now doubled. A $100 000 000 GTD attracts a lot of players, that’s for sure.
The main attraction of the weekend when it comes to the Bounty Hunter Series is the many starting flights for the $210 Mystery MILLON$ Main Event. We’ve talked about this tournament before but considering all players have a shot at claiming the $1 000 000 top bounty, there’s no reason not to partake in this tournament if it’s within your limits. At the time this article is being written, 1 490 players have already advanced to Day 2.
Let’s stay at the topic of the Bounty Hunter Series a little longer. We also have multiple flights for the $25 Mystery MILLION$ Mini Main Event running alongside its “big brother”. The Mini Main Event follows a similar concept that of the Main Event, and the top bounty is set to $250 000. A staggering 5 414 players have already secured their Day 2 seat, and let’s be honest: why shouldn’t you join them?
Let’s round this Bounty Hunter Series promotion off with the $50 Global MILLION$ Bounty Edition. Online poker players are no strangers to the Global MILLION$ concept on GGPoker and it’s running in a bounty rendition during the series. You know the drill: choose between any of the starting flights available and advance to Day 2. One thing’s for sure: there’s a ton of bounty action during this weekend at GGPoker! Be sure to browse the GGPoker client and see all tournaments running in the Bounty Hunter Series.
Two More Cards, Please!
We’ll leave the Bounty Hunter Series for now since we need to highlight another bounty tournament, and this one is for all Omaha lovers! On the evening of Saturday 27th, the final stage of the $54Omaholic Bounty MILLION$ will commence. There’s a swarm of stage 1 flights running up until then and with a $250 000 GTD, we’re not surprised the tournament already has received so much attention. A PLO-NL Bounty tournament screams action and with 1 534 players already securing their ticket to the final stage, you better believe heads will roll.
There are so many interesting tournaments constantly running over at GGPoker, and it’s really hard to keep track of all the intriguing action going on. This is of course only a good thing: players know that whenever they feel like playing some online poker, they can simply head over to GGPoker and jump straight into the action.
Good luck to all players taking their shot at GGPoker during the weekend!
When you think of poker back in the days when whiskey-drinking cowboys in the saloons played it, you probably don’t think of it as a gentleman’s game. However, this is far from true. Being caught cheating red-handed back in the days was not looked upon lightly , and presumably there were a couple of chairs flying when someone was caught with a couple of aces up their sleeve.
Unfortunately, cheating has always been around in almost all kinds of games/sports, and poker is no exception. Even though safety precautions are getting better and better, there are still people that manages to cheat the game, both in live and online poker.
That’s why we’re delighted to hear that 888poker were able to identify cheaters on their site and block them from the 888poker tables in 2023. Not only that, but they are also refunding a hefty amount to the players who have been victimized by this disgusting behavior!
RTA Users Banned
Even though online poker security measures have evolved a lot during the last couple of years, there are still some players that manages to cheat at the poker tables through the use of various tools. RTA is short for Real-Time Assistance and comes in the form of a software that players can use to get answers on how to play a certain hand in real time. Of course, this is not acceptable considering it gives those players quite the unfair opportunity.
888poker are really showing how much they care for their players, and that they strive for a safe, enjoyable online poker experience. They recently went on a mission trying to identify as many players (or should we say cheaters?) using the AI RTA tool in 2023 as possible. The purpose of the mission was to bring justice to not only the 888poker players, but to the online poker community in general.
The result is astounding. 888poker managed to identify and block161 accounts using RTA or similar AI bots during 2023. Not only will the site never have to deal with these players again, but 888poker also managed to retrieve over $100 000 from the cheaters. 888poker then took around $250 000 out of their own pockets and refunded a total amount of $362 893 to the 4 068 players who had been scammed last year.
Never Surrender!
Quite the amazing feat from 888poker, but they won’t stop there. Head of Poker Offering at 888poker, Matan Krakow, and his team will never give up the battle trying to make online poker as secure as possible:
”Our continued progress in tackling bots stems from the understanding that it is crucial in order to ensure that 888poker continues to provide an enjoyable, safe, and level playing field for all our players.
This has been driven not only by our increased investment in our detection capabilities but also through the continued support and cooperation of our players, who have an important role to play in helping provide us with vital information about players they think are using AI and RTA.
It is not only important for us to detect and block accounts using AI, but also to make sure that players who lost to accounts using illegal software, get properly compensated. This year we paid approximately $250 000 to players out of our own pockets when it was not possible to retain the funds from blocked accounts.
It’s an ongoing effort, and we will continue to do all in our power to ensure we keep poker fun and fair, and listening to our players will continue to be a key factor to progress on this front.”
In 2024, 888poker continues the work with implementing new technology on their site in order to disable bots and make the poker experience at 888poker more safe, fair and enjoyable.
The winter might have felt long for some people. It’s no surprise that everyone’s not fond of the colder and somewhat darker season. Some may feel joy considering we’re slowly but steady approaching brighter times.
However, there is nothing but sunshine at the partypoker tables all year around! If you want to have a good time during the last part of the winter season, you should check out the partypoker Grand Prix Winter Edition!
“Big Guarantees and Not So Big Buy-Ins!”
Online poker tournaments series are hot, and partypoker are surely offering some intriguing action to all players. January 18th-February 5th, the Grand Prix Winter Series is running on the partypoker tables and we couldn’t be more excited. As partypoker states themselves, the series promises “big guarantees and not so big buy-ins” and it doesn’t look like we’ll be disappointed.
The Grand Prix Winter Series is available to all players on the global .com partypoker network. The series hold an overall guarantee of $1,5M, which is an insane amount compared to the average Buy-In during the series. The Buy-Ins are ranging between $1,10-$109, so all partypoker players can get in on the fun no matter their bankroll.
Two of partypoker’s flagship poker tournaments, the $11 Sunday Carnival and the $109 Sunday Party, will see boosted guarantees during the Grand Prix Winter Series. Considering the amount of players these two tournaments attracts on the average Sunday, the value during the series should be nothing less than enormous.
The series consists of 12 featured events (see schedule below), alongside 342 side events. This gives you an idea of how big this series is and there’s no doubt that it’s one of the most interesting online poker tournament series during the first half of 2024.
There are some interesting poker tournaments amongst ahead. Not only will there be a lot of good ol’ Texas No Limit Hold’Em tournaments, but there will also be Pot Limit Omaha – and PLO8 events running across the whole series. Players would be very wise browsing the tournament lobby and take a gander at the partypoker Grand Prix Winter Series schedule.
Grand Prix Winter Edition Main Event
A king/queen must have his/her crown, are we right? It simply would not be a tournament series without a Main Event. The $55 Grand Prix Winter Series Main Event holds a whopping $150 000GTD and if there’s one tournament you should play during the rest of the poker winter season, it’s this one.
There will be no less than three Main Event flights each day between January 18th-February 5th and each Day 1 flight will end when 15 % of the players are remaining. Day 2 will be played February 5th, 20:05 GMT. Players can also qualify to the Main Event for a mere $0,11.
partypoker Grand Prix Winter Edition 2024 – Featured Events
Date
Tournament
Buy-In
January 18th-22nd
Opener PKO $50 000 GTD
$33
January 18th-22nd
Mini Opener PKO $10 000 GTD
$5,50
January 18th-22nd
Micro Opener PKO $1 500 GTD
$1,10
January 18th-February 5th
Main Event $150 000 GTD
$55
January 18th-February 5th
Mini Main Event $40 000 GTD
$11
January 18th-February 5th
Micro Main Event $5 000 GTD
$2,20
January 22nd-February 5th
PLO8 PKO Championship $15 000 GTD
$33
January 22nd-February 5th
Mini PLO8 PKO Championship $5 000 GTD
$5,50
January 22nd-February 5th
Micro PLO8 PKO Championship $1 000 GTD
$1,10
January 29th-February 5th
PLO PKO Championship $15 000 GTD
$33
January 29th-February 5th
Mini PLO PKO Championship $5 000 GTD
$5,50
January 29th-February 5th
Micro PLO PKO Championship $1 000 GTD
$1,10
The Grand Prix Winter Edition guarantees some serious online poker action! The series has already been running for a couple of days, so make sure not to miss any of the upcoming action. Good luck at the tables!
WPT Global end the previous year with great satellites, and promotions, for the WPT World Championship in Las Vegas. This year, they are kicking it off massively! With a live cash game where you can compete against top pros, including an exclusive WPTG Bomb Pot promotion. On top of this, the WPT Global Winter Series will host events guaranteeing a total of more than $1,000,000!
Poker is booming all across the world, the online- and the live poker scene has seen new heights lately and operators are throwing out one poker promotion after the other to show their appreciation to all their members. WPT Global had an amazing last year, and with 2024 going sky-high from the get-go, we have not seen it all yet for the upcoming time! Playing with known pros such as Jon ‘Apestyles’ Van Fleet, Xuan Liu, and Matt Berkey, often is just possible during high-roller events around the US and Canada mostly, but become a reality now that WPT Global has introduced a collaboration with Playground Poker.
Meet Up Game
Global and Playground Poker Club are excited to present a one-of-a-kind poker experience scheduled for January 31, running from 12:00 PM to 4:00 PM. Poker-passionate from all across are invited to join an epic $2/5 cash game at the Playground Poker Club, featuring none other than WPT Global ambassador Jon “Apestyles” Van Fleet, alongside the renowned Xuan Liu and Matt Berkey.
Not only will WPT Global offer a great way of playing with big names as such, but the Exclusive WPTG Bomb Pot Promotion during the MUGs (Meet Up Games) will bring its cash games to another dimension! Every hour, an additional $50 will be detonated into the pot at each cash table, swiftly credited to the triumphant player’s online WPT Global account*. To partake, participants must possess a WPT Global account.
Participation Guidelines:
WPT Global account holders can register their names on the waiting list directly at Playground.
For players hailing from regions where the WPT Global app is inaccessible, kindly substitute WPT Global details with your province/state when registering at Playground.
Get ready for an electrifying poker experience with the stars at Playground Poker Club on January 31.
Jon ‘Apestyles’ Von Fleet: With nearly $900,000 in total live winnings in his almost 20-year live poker career, Jon has made quite the name for himself, and has his origins in Portland, Oregon. But live poker is not the place where he racketeered himself into the higher ranks of the game. Since 2006, he has gathered over $22M in cashes overall, including various SCOOP/WCOOP, titles, and has been the ambassador for WPT Global since November 2023. Besides his poker career, he has coached over a thousand poker players all around the world, has written several poker books, and is part of the BBZ Poker coaching community.
Ambassador of WPT Global – Jon ‘Apestyles’ Von Fleet
Liu Xuan: Originally from Tianjin, China, has won nearly $2 million in live tournaments, ranking among the top 20 women. She’s the only woman to reach the final table at the PCA main event. Her poker career took off in 2011, with a notable third-place finish at the European Poker Tour San Remo. Although quieter after 2015, Xuan’s impact on poker is significant, with several notable finishes such as her win during the WPT Fallsview in Niagara Falls, and recently covered many news pages when with her Road Trip Challenge in Canada. She is an ambassador for WPT Global.
Ambassador of WPT Global – Liu Xuan
Matthew Berkey: Matthew Berkey, born January 29, 1982, is an American professional poker player from Leechburg, Pennsylvania. He transitioned from a baseball aspiration to poker, earning over $4.3 million in live tournaments. Berkey founded the “Solve For Why” Poker Academy and co-established “Above The Felt Entertainment,” a poker marketing agency. In 2023, he won a $1,029,700 heads-up match against NikAirball at Resorts World Las Vegas.
Matt Berkey
WPT Global Winter Series
WPT Global continues its winning streak and offers poker players from around the world an epic poker showdown at The WPT Global Winter Classic in collaboration with Pokerground Poker Club, where there’s a massive $1,000,000 in guaranteed prizes up for grabs! The lineup includes a mind-blowing $500,000 guaranteed Main Event, a $200,000 guaranteed PG350 Mystery Bounty, and a thrilling $100,000 guaranteed High Roller, plus 15 more Championship Ring events.
Here are the highlights:
PG350 Mystery Bounty (January 24-28) with a guaranteed $200,000.
The Main Event kicks off on February 1 with an incredible $500,000 guarantee.
If that’s not enough, there’s more! Two online Winter Classic ring events on January 22nd and 23rd exclusively on WPT Global to kick things off.
To join the action, register online on the WPT Global client 24 hours before each event. If you’re feeling spontaneous, in-person registrations will be accepted too.
Don’t miss your chance to play with poker pros and experience the excitement of the WPT Global Winter Classic at Playground. Sign up for a WPT Global account and get ready for a poker adventure that forever will be in your memories!
Banco Casino in Bratislava just completed another successful live event in the name of the Scandinavian Open Poker Championship, and another massive event is already around the corner. The EA Poker Tour (Eurasian Poker Tour) covers a wide range of tournaments, with over €350,000 in guaranteed prize pools. The staff of Banco Casino enjoyed the Christmas holidays in full galore, followed by a challenging schedule in the first month of 2024, which fits right in their ballpark of experience.
The Scandinavian Open Poker Championship consisted of thirteen unique events, covering several disciplines of the poker game. Alongside all the side events, plenty of qualifier tournaments were organized throughout the week. And a live poker series wouldn’t be a live poker series if there wasn’t a grand Main Event. With a very affordable buy-in of €185, the guaranteed prize pool of €250,000 shined bright like a diamond for players from all across Scandinavia and the rest of Europe.
Scandinavian Poker Open Championship – Results
The Main Event gathered a total of 1,653 entries, good for a prize pool of over €300,000. When the usual 10% of fees, and 5% of administrative costs were reduced, a total of €259,930 would be shared across 207 players. After numerous starting flights and a long and nerve-wracking second day, the final day was streamed live through the official channels of Banco Casino. The eventual victor of the event, wouldn’t be a player born in Scandinavia, but Kosovo! Kastriot Delija defeated the whole field and took home a whopping first prize, together with the trophy and all the fame that comes with it.
Position
Country
Player
Winnings
1st
Kosovo
Kastriot Delija
€40,955
2nd
Slovakia
Michal Zimani
€25,155
3rd
Denmark
Thomas Thorsen
€17,605
4th
Poland
Sebastian Kotowicz
€13,540
5th
England
Robert Wilson
€10,350
6th
Iceland
Matte Karjalainen
€7,590
7th
Denmark
Henrik Mortensen
€5,095
8th
Norway
Morten Bremseth
€3,430
9th
Serbia
Vladimir Dumic
€2,610
EA Poker Tour Kicks off 2024 Season in Bratislava
The EA Poker Tour, who launched their first events in 2023, really bombarded the entire European poker scene with massive advertisements and several iconic poker stops highlighting their schedule for 2024. The first of many, at the Banco Casino in Bratislava, officially has kicked off on Sunday 21st of January, and will last until January 28th. With over 20 events, and plenty of qualifiers throughout the series, it’s the Main Event covers a guaranteed prize pool of €200,000, of which ten per cent will be handed out in ticket values for their next events.
With that being said, the buy-in of €560 might be somewhat on the higher end for most of the regular players at Banco Casino, it has the potential of becoming yet another successful event in Bratislava. Looking at the schedule, you just spontaneously would want to book your flights instantly and make use of one of the great starting flights of the Main Event, or crush it at one of the side events. Here is some key information about the EA Poker Tour Bratislava 2024:
Four starting flights in the€560 Main Event, and €200,000 GTD.
Two-day High-roller with €1,100 buy-in and €30,000 GTD.
JackPoker is turning up the heat in cash games with the FlopRace Leaderboard promotion. Between January 22nd and 5th of February, FlopRaces Leaderboard rewards players even without the winning hand. Taking part is worth it because every 5 days of this promotion, you can win extra prizes from the total prize pool of $10,000. It’s a very interesting concept to boost your cash games grind, especially if you have Instacash in your account.
If you haven’t claimed your JackPoker Welcome LootBoxyet, now might be the best time to do so and maximize your winning potential with up to 1000% Instacash and FlopRaces.
How FlopRace Leaderboards Work?
The idea is very simple: Play cash games in selected NLHE and Omaha tables, and you only need to see the flop (FlopRace, get it?) to get points. By collecting points you climb higher on the FlopRace Leaderboard and win better prizes.
The FlopRace promo consists of a total of five races each lasting 3 days. During this time (each lap), players try to race to the top 5 in three levels – low, medium and high – and win the best prizes from the $10,000 Instacash prize pool. This means that during FlopRaces JackPoker shares a total of $50,000 extra I with the best 5 players in each tier.
In this promotion every player who manages to conquer the leaderboards gets a nice chunk from the prize pool.
FlopRace Leaderboards:
Low – Big Blinds: $0-10 – $0.50 = $600 Prize Pool
Med – Big Blinds: $1 – $4 = $2,500 Prize Pool
High – Big Blinds: $10 – $40 = $7,000 Prize Pool
FlopRace Leaderboards are active on the following cash game tables:
Check Out The JackPoker Welcome LootBox And Jack Freeroll Festival For More Instacash!
JackPoker is a master when it comes to combining the potential of their offers and promotions. Currently, new players can claim the Welcome LootBox on their first deposit, play a unique ‘mini game,’ and get up to 1000% Instacash, 50% rakeback (only if registered via our JackPoker links) and up to 300 free spins to play at JackCasino.
Welcome Lootbox is not the only promotion offering extra Instacash. The popular Jack Freeroll Festival –tournaments are now available also during weekdays and there are two extra Freerolls available in every deposit levels.
During weekdays you have now six $150 GTD (Instacash) Freeroll open to everybody and more for depositing players where prize pools go even high as $2,500 GTD (instacash). Whatever you win, you can put to use in the FlopRaces!
Check out our exclusive PokerListings Promotions for more incredible offers and stay tuned for the latest poker news, tournaments, and more by following us on Twitter, Facebook, and other social media platforms.
Good luck and keep on grinding!
PokerStars has been one of the biggest poker sites ever since their launch back in 2001. Throughout the years the site has only improved and they have gotten their fingers in some of the most prestigious cookie jars in the poker bakery; WCOOP, EPT, and the Sunday Million, just to name a few.
Now, PokerStars are taking an extra step in order to ensure players feel like home at their online poker site. The other day, PokerStars adjusted their existing rewards program in order to make it fairer to the site’s players. Let’s take a look at what’s new at PokerStars and how players can benefit from this!
Volume Equals Cash
Up till now, there’ve been weekly poker challenges rolling at PokerStars. By completing these challenges, players can claim certain rewards. However, the weekly poker challenges haven’t been the slam-dunk PokerStars were looking for. In a recent news piece, PokerStars revealed that 75% of the players partaking in the quests did not manage to complete them. A survey was conducted and it became evident that PokerStars players were not too fond of the weekly poker challenges.
PokerStars has since shown great respect for their players and are now taking measures to improve the online poker experience. The weekly poker challenges will be completely removed from PokerStars and a fairer, more transparent and easy-to-understand rewards program will replace it.
The new PokerStars rewards program is a volume-based one. This means that the more time poker players spend on PokerStars, the better rewards they will receive. There’s been a slight increase in minimum time a player must play on PokerStars in order to claim a rewards chest, but the maximum level of rewards on the base program has also been from 25% to 4 %. It gets even better, seeing as all rewards will be given in cash from now on.
What About Casual Players?
From the description above, it may sound like the new PokerStars rewards program benefits the regular grinder more than the casual players. This is true to some degree; those who play more and spend more real money on the site will be greatly rewarded. However, PokerStars did not forget about the recreational players. Players will not only be awarded based on volume, but also on frequency.
For example, for every day you play on PokerStars, you will receive a $0,50 Power Path ticket – no matter how little/much time you spend on the site. The old program required players to rake $3,33 in order to claim the ticket, but new times are ahead. Considering the $0,50 Power Path tickets could take you all the way to an EPT live poker event, this is quite the gift.
Select and Select+ – The VIP Rewards Programs
What about those who play the most and generates the most in rake? These players should have one goal in focus: reach the Select or the Select+ VIP program.
All players who rake $/€50 000 or more within a one-year period will automatically be entered into PokerStars Select. By becoming a member in this very exclusive club, players will receive 50% of their rake from poker games directly back into their account as cash on a daily basis.
The Select+ Club is for those who rake $/€100 000 or more within a one-year period. Just like the Select members, they will get 50% of their rake in poker games back. What’s more, the will get 60% back from Spin & Go and Zoom games.
As PokerStars said themselves:
”Our goal is to offer a transparent and clear program that benefits the vast majority of PokerStars players.”
It really feels like they hit a home run with their new rewards program. We wish all PokerStars players good (and lucky) times ahead!
An online poker grind is without a doubt glorious, but is there anything better than a live poker event at an exotic location? We’ve all been following live poker on TV throughout the years and the dream has always been to sit there at the final table with the big names, pulling off a sick triple-barrel bluff against Phil Hellmuth on the river. Yeah, live poker hits different.
This year’s live poker season just became even better, seeing as the Mediterranean Poker Party announced its return for 2024. In May, live poker enthusiasts can expect thirteen days of poker goodness at the tropical island of Cyprus, and there are some seriously intriguing poker tournaments on the schedule. Let’s take a look at what’s to come!
A Poker Adventure for the Ages
There’s no secret that we felt sad the Mediterranean Poker Party – or the MPP – was missing from the live poker tournament schedule in 2023. The event was a great success in 2022, when German Hanes Jeschka won the Main Event for $542 000. Finally, the MPP is returning to the Merit Royal Diamond and Spa in northern Cyprus between May 2nd-14th!
Songul Bekem is the president of Merit Poker and is honored to once again host the MPP:
Everybody at Merit is really looking forward to the return of the MPP in 2024 and we encourage players to save the dates and plan now. As ever, we always endeavor to give the players the best possible experience in everything we do”.
Boy, is Bekem speaking the truth! Even though the full MPP 2024 tournament schedule hasn’t been released yet, we’ve gotten to know about five of the featured tournaments. The highlight is, of course, the $5 300 MPP Main Event with its $5 000 000 GTD. The Main Event will be played between May 9th-14th and with such a guarantee, there will be a lot of action for sure.
MPP is hopping on the Mystery Bounty train, and the whole event will kick off with the $1 100 Mystery Bounty. Running between May 2nd-5th, the tournament holds a $1 000 000 GTD and as we know, Mystery Bounty tournaments always attracts a lot of players.
Mediterranean Poker Party 2024 – First Five Revealed Tournaments
Date
Tournament
Buy-In
May 2nd-5th
Mystery Bounty $1 000 000 GTD
$1 100
May 5th-9th
EAPT Grand Final $2 000 000 GTD
$2 200
May 9th-14th
MPP Main Event $5 000 000 GTD
$5 300
May 11th-14th
EAPT Cyprus $500 000 GTD
$1 100
May 12th-14th
MPP High Roller $1 000 000 GTD
$10 400
If you’re used to play somewhat cheaper tournaments, fear not! The MPP guarantees there will be many tournaments with different buy-ins, and there will be fitting tournaments for everyone.
Qualify Through GGPoker
It gets even better! Players now have the excellent opportunity to qualify to certain MPP tournaments through GGPoker. The MPP 2024 satellites are running on GGPoker and players can compete for packages containing the $5 300 Main Event Buy-In as well as arranged accommodations.
There are also satellites running during the year on GGPoker for $€5 000 packages that can be used for the EAPT Main Events. These packages includes the $2 200 Buy-In for the EAPT Grand Final and accommodations. Don’t miss out on these awesome GGPoker qualifiers.
We’re so happy that the MPP is returning, and we can’t wait to follow the action!
JackPoker has started the 2024 poker year with quite the bang! Recently, the very popular BombPots format were introduced to the site and JackPoker celebrated this by launching a series of BombPot Quests. When completing the quests, players can earn extra rewards on the site.
Shortly after that, it was time for the Skiing Quests, in which rewards valued up to $20 000 would be distributed to all over-achievers.
To summarize, there are always things going on at JackPoker. Today we’ll look into JackSpins, through which players could spin their way to glory!
Win $1 000 000 Through JackSpins
The JackSpins concept is really simple. Players can buy in for either a $1 or a $20 JackSpins game. When all players are seated at the table, the multiplier will appear and decide the size of the prize. There are some serious cash at stakes on JackSpins! In the $1 spins, players can win $10 000 if they’re lucky.
If you’re feeling confident, take your shot in the $20. The first prize here is – are you sitting down? – $1 000 000! The action in JackSpins is rapid making sure you never experience a dull moment.
JackSpins $1 Buy-In Overview
Multiplier
1st Prize
Frequency of 1M Games
Probability
10 000
$10 000
1
0,000001 %
100
$100
20
0,000020 %
50
$50
3 000
0,003000 %
25
$25
7 000
0,007000 %
10
$10
12 000
0,012000 %
5
$5
24 000
0,024000 %
3
$3
333 000
0,333000 %
2
$2
620 979
0,620979 %
Upcoming JackPoker Tournaments
Alongside the continuously running JackSpins, there are a lot of exciting online poker tournaments running on the JackPoker client. This upcoming weekend, there are a couple of tournaments that players do not want to miss out on.
For instance, on Sunday 21st, the $200 Sunday Big Jack High Roller is scheduled to 00:30 EST (note the time zone). With $20 000 GTD, you better believe the action will be hot in this re-entry poker tournament.
An hour prior to that, it’s time for the $7 Sunday Mini Jack. The $3 000 guarantee should be appealing to all the low stakes players. JackPoker are proving once again that they have a very diversified supply of tournaments making it easy for all players to enjoy the action on their poker site, no matter their respective bankroll.
If you don’t want to wait until Sunday, uncle Jack’s got you covered. The $100 Big Hunter will welcome all participants Saturday 20th 15:30 EST and you better believe heads will roll in this bounty tournament. The $100 Big Hunter has a $10 000 GTD and considering bounty tournaments is such a popular format, the chances that the guarantee will be shattered are high.
One of JackPoker’s signature poker promotions, the JackPoker Freeroll Festival, has a tournament scheduled on the 20th of January at 14:00 EST. The tournament has $2 500 in the prize pool. Yes, you’re understanding it correctly: the tournament is free to play and you’re playing for a slice of the $2 500 prize pool. The JackPoker Freeroll Festival is Jack’s way to say thank you to all of its players.
We love JackPoker, and JackPoker loves us all! Good luck to all players taking part in the JackSpins and the upcoming weekend tournaments at JackPoker!
From what we’ve seen during the first two weeks of 2024, online poker’s popularity doesn’t seem to drop. Whether it be cash games or tournaments, the traffic is going strong and the player pools are humongous.
You better believe there’s always action going on at GGPoker, and this weekend is no different. Considering the site’s first Bounty Hunter Series for 2024 is already up and running, players are swarming to GGPoker likes flies to a Popsicle. Don’t fancy bounty action? No worries seeing as the GGPoker tournament supply is very broad, and there’s always interesting tournaments running that should appeal to all players.
Let’s take a look at what’s happening at GGPoker this weekend. One thing’s for sure: we’re in for a thrill!
Mystery Bounties and High Stakes
Let’s start with the Bounty Hunter Series. There’s a $100 000 000 GTD throughout the whole series which is quite the hefty sum. Friday 19th, players can enjoy day 1 flights for the $210 MysteryMILLION$ Main Event. Not only does this poker tournament hold a $10 000 000 GTD, but there’s also $1 000 000 top mystery bounty that one lucky player will collect.
We remember the success from the last Bounty Hunter Series at GGPoker and our predictions is that this one will be even bigger, considering the guarantee is doubled! Flights for the $210 Mystery MILLION$ Main Event are running continuously the whole weekend.
For the High Stakes players, there is a $1 050 Saturday Secret Knockout High Roller. This tournament has also adapted the mystery bounty format and you better believe it will be some nerve-tickling poker to enjoy. The tournament is scheduled January 20th 19:00 CET and alongside, a $150 Saturday Secret KO Mystery Bounty will also be played.
Global MILLION$ – $1 000 000 GTD
Let’s move down in stakes a little bit. There are many day 1 flights for the $50 Global MILLION$ during the weekend. This very appreciated GGPoker tournament is reoccurring throughout the year and with a $1 000 000 GTD, it naturally attracts many players who fancies a slice out of the cake.
If you’re tired of only playing poker with two cards, be sure not to miss out on the $54 Omaholic Bounty MILLION$. With a $250 000 GTD, there’s no question that this PLO No-Limit bounty tournament will bring a lot of heat to the GGPoker client during the weekend. Day 2 will be played January 21st 21:30 CET and there are many day 1 flights prior to this.
Let’s Go Lower
Last but certainly not least, we have an interesting tournament for the low stakes players. We’re once again talking about mystery bounties and we’re now striking a punch for the $5,25 MysteryMILLION$. Day 2 is scheduled January 22nd 19:30 CET and the weekend is filled with day 1’s. One lucky player will claim the $100 000 top bounty, which should be quite the paycheck for the low stakes grinder. The tournament has a $1 000 000 GTD so the value is immense.
Even though most GGPoker players are expected to play the Bounty Hunter Series, there’s still a lot of “regular” tournaments running on the client. If you’re planning to compete in the Bounty Hunter Series, don’t forget that all knockouts awards you leaderboard points for the daily Bounty King Leaderboard, which can see you win a lot of big prizes!
We wish all GGPoker players a very pleasant weekend!
After Daniel Smiljkovic won the PGT (PokerGo Tour acronym) Championship that concluded the 2023 season, the PGT is now back in 2024! In fitting fashion, the live poker tournament series commenced the year with the PGT Kickoff that featured five events in total. Out of these five, the $10 100 No Limit Hold ‘Em event could be classified as the main event and it attracted 50 players.
When all was said and done, it was Kristen Foxen who was crowned the winner of the first PGT event of 2024, after beating poker legend Daniel Negreanu Heads Up.
The Aggressive Fox
The 50 players naturally converted a $500 000 prize pool which meant that the winner of the event would become $165 000 richer. When Foxen entered the six-handed final table she stood somewhere in the middle of the chip count. She didn’t have to wait long before Masashi Oya bid farewell in sixth, seeing the remaining players climbing the payout ladder.
At this time, Negreanu held the chiplead. Negreanu is by some considered to be the best poker player of all time and even though his 2023 poker season (which saw him losing over $2 000 000) wasn’t his best one, he got off to a good start in 2024 by winning $218 000 earlier in January. A chipleader Negreanu in top form is not anything you want to face on a final table.
Foxen wasn’t scared though and she continued building her stack, partly by eliminating her husband Alex Foxen in fifth. A short while thereafter, Negreanu finished off Aram Zobian in fourth place. Immediately after this, Foxen flopped a set and managed to hold against Samuel Laskowitz flush draw. This led to Laskowitz bidding farewell in third place.
Heads Up-play commenced and Foxen now held a somewhat significant chiplead thanks to her Laskowitz elimination. Her advantage only grew stronger after she displayed great aggression against Negreanu in three consecutive hands. Negreanu, however, isn’t known for giving up and he started to close the gap. Sadly for him, he soon made two losing river calls and Foxen must have felt she was close to the title at that point.
The Final Hand
Chips kept going Foxen’s way and soon, Negreanu decided to go all in with his remaining six big blinds. Foxen wasted little time calling with jack-six and she would have to beat king-nine in order to secure the win. She hit a jack on the flop and even though Negreanu turned a straight draw, he couldn’t get there.
Such, Foxen had beaten an absolute poker legend and collected $165 000 for her great achievement!
PGT Kickoff $10 100 – Final Table Payouts*
Position
Player
Payout
1.
Kristen Foxen
$165 000
2.
Daniel Negreanu
$105 000
3.
Samuel Laskowitz
$70 000
4.
Aram Zobian
$50 000
5.
Alex Foxen
$40 000
6.
Masashi Oya
$30 000
*Even though Eric Baldwin (7th place) and Dylan Linde (8th place) didn’t reach the final table, they were still in the money and collected $20 000 each.
The PGT 2024 season has officially started, fellow poker friends! The PokerGO Cup is what’s waiting next for the PGT. It will be played January 25th-February 3rd.
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