Are you ready to lock horns with snowmen this weekend?! The action has been rolling since December 4^th on BetOnline, TigerGaming, and Sportbetting on the $700 000 Winter Knockout Series, and there’s a lot to play for during the final weekend of the series!

A PKO Christmas Miracle

The holy trinity that Is BetOnline, TigerGaming and Sportsbetting has a whole bunch of Christmas presents in the form of bounties to give to all poker players that behaved good this year. The $700 000 Winter Knockout Series kicked off December 4^th, but fear not: there is still a lot of action to come with the weekend, before the series concludes on the 10^th.

With Buy-Ins ranging from $11 all the way up to $215, there is something for all players during the weekend action. Considering players can participate in the series through any of the three online poker sites, It’s safe to say that a lot of people will try to claim what they can from Santa’s gift bag.

One of the online poker tournaments in particular that players definitely do not want to miss is the $15 000 GTD Mini Main Event. The $22 tournament has one of the lowest Buy-Ins during the entire series but the biggest guaranteed prize pool (in relation to its Buy-In, that is).

In the table beneath, we’ll go through the series schedule for the weekend, but don’t forget that there’s tournaments going on today (Friday the 8^th) as well!

Winter Knockout Series – Weekend Schedule

Don’t Miss the Welcome Bonus!

If you have not yet played on any of the three sites, there’s no better time than now. The welcome bonus that’s available is hard to match. Not only will you get a 100 % deposit bonus up to $1 000, but you can also claim free Sit N’ Go tickets during the first eight days of your poker adventure. Through these SNG-tournaments, you can satellite your way into the weekly $100 000 Sunday Showdown. This prestigious tournament makes it appearance every Sunday at 7:00 PM (ET) and there’s a slice of the cake waiting for you! Claim the tickets by fulfilling the daily rake requirements during the first eight days starting the day you’re registering.

BetOnline, TigerGaming and Sportsbetting are surely bringing the heat to the poker tables, not only through the Winter Knockout Series, but also with their amazing welcome bonuses. Shuffle up and deal!

Last week was a good week in terms of live poker. Alongside the Festival Bratislava, the Unibet Open made its long-awaited comeback. Together with PokerFest Romania, Unibet Open created yet another fantastic live poker event, as they have been doing ever since the tournament was founded back in 2007. The Unibet Open was played between November 29^th and December 3^rd and it was the JW Marriott Bucharest Grand Hotel who rolled out the carpet for this legendary event, and all participators were in for some serious poker Marriott action. Thanks to poker reporter legend Juhani Tyrisevä, poker enthusiasts from all over the world could follow the Unibet Open through the PokerListings poker blog and easily stay up to date. Worth mentioning though is that the blog is in finnish.

Sluis, our Main Event Champion

Of course, many eyes were on the €1 100 Main Event. A total 360 entries were made in the tournament that converted to a €338 400 prize pool. The tournament offered three start flights for players to choose from, and there was the opportunity for one re-entry per player.

After the three initial flights and the day 2-stage of the tournament, the remaining nine players would return on the last day of the event, Sunday 3^rd, to battle it out on the final table for the first place payout of €65 830. Play had been going on for more than seven hours on the final table, before Dutchman Dwayne Sluis 4-bet shoved with K Q and got called by Bucharest poker player Ivan Alin Constantin’s A K . The board ran out 7 J Q 6 7 which meant that chipleader Sluis had eliminated Constantin in second place, and such, Sluis could lift the trophy!

With the win, Sluis – who earned his seat for the Main Event through a satellite – recorded his biggest career cash. The win felt special to Sluis:

I can’t really describe my feelings. It’s special because poker wasn’t going that well for me during the last two years. So, to win the tournament, it’s absolutely amazing.”

Unibet Open Bucharest 2023 – Main Event Final Table Payouts

Ranking	Player Name	Payout
1.	Dwayne Sluis	€65 830
2.	Ivar Alin Constantin	€41 890
3.	Robert Burlacu	€31 400
4.	Dragos Anton	€25 420
5.	Eduard Norel	€20 030
6.	Bart Van Dijk	€15 300
7.	Max Broens	€11 230
8.	Björn Samuelsson	€8 260
9.	Sorin Flutur	€6 770

Virlanuta Won the High Roller

The Unibet Open schedule did not disappoint and it included a decent amount of tournament with various Buy-Ins, guaranteeing that there were something for every kind of poker player no matter their respective bankroll. Of course, it’s always thrilling to see some High Roller action, and such, we were treated with a €2 200 Texas NLH tournament. A total 24 players took their shot, and it would be Bucharest native Marian Virlanuta who eventually claimed the title after eliminating Unibet Ambassador Monica Vaka Heads Up. For his win, Virlanuta took home €18 970.

Unibet Open Bucharest 2023 – Side Events Winners

Event	Player Name	Payout
€2 200 High Roller	Marian Virlanuta	€18 970
€110 Ladies Event	Cristina Alina Ciuca	€780
€330 Unibet Open-er	Ivan Ciursin	€6 450
€110 Hyper Turbo	Charles Sutton	€2 230
€165 Mini Main Event	Pekka Samuli	€3 435

It’s safe to say that the Unibet Open is back in full action. There are no dates revealed for the tournament to come back in 2024 yet, but the feeling is that Unibet Open only will grow bigger and bigger with the years to come!

For over two decades, the Aussie Millions held at Crown Melbourne Casino in Australia was one of the largest and most prestigious live poker events in the Southern Hemisphere. However, the tournament series has faced uncertainty in recent years due to regulatory issues affecting Crown Resorts, the casino operator.

In January 2023, Crown Resorts confirmed that the Aussie Millions had been “postponed for the time being.”

While the company acknowledged the tournament’s importance to poker history, it provided no clear timeline for its return. This followed months of silence about the Aussie Millions’ future after a Crown Poker representative stated on Facebook that poker tournaments would no longer be running at the casino, inclining players to seek action online at GameRules and the like instead.

The regulatory issues stem from a damning royal commission into Crown Melbourne’s affairs that found it unfit to hold its casino license. As a result, the Victorian state government enacted stricter gambling laws in August 2022.

New restrictions include loss limits and a ban on using cash at gaming tables, aimed at curbing problem gambling. These reforms were intended to force changes at Crown Resorts before it could regain its license to operate in Melbourne.

Analysts believe the new regulations make it very difficult to hold the Aussie Millions in its usual format. The tournament’s massive prize pools and ability to buy in using cash clashed with the new rules. While Crown Resorts said it would explore options to bring Aussie Millions back, restarting the event under the reformed regulatory environment was deemed unlikely for the foreseeable future.

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Leaving a Deep Void in Poker Hearts

The Aussie Millions first ran in 1998 and grew to be one of the richest poker tournaments worldwide, with prize pools topping 20 million Australian dollars in some years. It attracted thousands of entries from professionals and recreational players globally. Notable past champions included Joe Hachem, Eli Elezra and Jason Koon.

The tournament’s disappearance leaves a void for Australia’s poker community and the international live poker circuit. Crown Resorts vowed to continue supporting poker but provided no concrete plans or timeline. Unless the regulatory situation changes, it seems the Aussie Millions will remain on indefinite hiatus.

For regulars and the poker community worldwide, the potential permanent closure of the Aussie Millions would be a major loss. The festival grew to become an iconic stop on the international poker calendar for many, along with the WSOP and WPT Series. The main event, with a buy-in of $10,600, will be truly missed by pros like former final table attendees Patrik Antonius, Fedor Holz, Bryn Kenney etc.

Uncertain Future Ahead

Some analysts believe the reforms make it impossible for Crown to comply with its existing business model centered around VIP high-roller customers. The loss limits and cash ban directly undermine the way many wealthy gamblers prefer to play. This raises questions about whether Crown can fundamentally change its operations enough to satisfy regulators, or if a new operator may need to step in to host the Aussie Millions going forward.

If unable to resume at Crown, it’s unclear if another casino property in Australia could or would want to take over hosting the event. The financial and logistical challenges would be immense. For the moment, poker fans can only hope the regulatory issues are resolved, new ownership makes the needed changes, and the Aussie Millions is given a chance to rebuild after the pandemic and continue its storied history. But the road ahead remains uncertain as the clock ticks towards 2024.

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The snowflakes have started to fall down from the sky and a couple of houses might even have candlesticks in their windows. Christmas is approaching at rapid speed, as we slowly are getting closer and closer to 2024.

If there’s one conclusion we can draw from the year that soon is to be concluded, it’s that poker never sleeps. Whether it’s a great live poker event or online poker promotions, there has been something for all poker players to suck their teeth into during 2023. The best part is that the year is not quite over yet!

Sometimes, certain promotions and online poker series tickles a little extra and just feels like something that players do not want to miss. Entering December, this is exactly what players will be treated to, seeing as TigerGaming and BetOnline are throwing a curve ball to us with not one, not two, not three, but four amazing winter times features on their sites. Let’s get ready for some amazing December poker!

$250 000 GTD December Tournament

TigerGaming and BetOnline are kicking off their extraordinary December campaign with a $250 000 GTD Poker Tournament! Whether you prefer to play on BetOnline or “the Tiger”, you’ll find this online poker tournament in the lobby December 3^rd. With a mere $109 Buy-In, it should be a given choice for all poker players to take their shot in this high-valued tournament. What’s better, you can qualify through satellites from a mere $15.

$250 000 GTD Tournament Info

25 Days of Poker Goodness

Between 1^st-25^th, the sites are running weekly and daily campaigns.

For the weekly portion of the promotion, all players will be divided into seven tiers, depending on the amount they rake. The following Monday after each week, rewards will be rewarded to all the players (the biggest ones obviously going to the ones in the top tier).

The daily campaigns will be mission-based. Every day. A new poker challenge will face the players, and different rewards will be rewarded the players who can complete the various challenges.

Considering the prizes can range from cash, poker bonuses, tournaments tickets and more – not mentioning the whole campaign will have over $100 000 worth of prizes – this is not a promotion you want to miss out on.

Enhanced Welcome Bonuses During December

TigerGaming and BetOnline has had their generous deposit bonus (100 % up to $1 000) for a long time, but from December 1^st, this will become even better. Except the deposit bonus, new players will also receive tournament tickets during the first eight days after their registration.

In order to unlock the tickets, players must rake $0,01 each day. The first five days, you will receive three daily satellites tickets worth $0,25 through which you could qualify for the $100 000 GTD Sunday Showdown. On the final three days, you can claim two $1,10 satellite tickets to the Sunday tournament.

Everyone Loves Mystery Bounty

Last but not least, the twin sites are also expanding their Mystery Bounty supply from December 4^th. From then on, Mystery Bounty MTT’s will be offered on the site. Not only are we being treated with one of the most interesting poker formats, but tournaments on the sites will also have boosted GTDs during the winter season. Be sure to collect many bounties: there are weekly leaderboards with special rewards for the top headhunters.

With temperature decreasing, there is no better time then now to enter the heat on TigerGaming and BetOnline. You can read more about all their December promotions on their respective sites during this week.

Good luck to all players in your December poker grinds!

Deerfoot Inn & Casino in Calgary, Alberta plays host to two big WSOP-C festivals every year in January and May, with total prizes in the most recent series capping $5 million. The series is back in 2024 with the first series running from Jan 10 – 22.

It’s official – Calgary is the new home of WSOP Circuit (WSOP-C) events in Canada. The city is the home of Deerfoot Inn & Casino, a multi-use facility in the southeast portion of the city that includes casino, hotel, banquet, and convention facilities and will be bustling with activity starting Jan 10, 2024 when WSOP-C comes to town.

For a couple of weeks, two times a year, the World Series of Poker (WSOP) brings their regional tour, the WSOP Circuit (WSOP-C), to the southern Alberta casino and while the Calgary stops have only been on the schedule for two years, they are quickly becoming crowd favorites. The host facility generally takes over one of the hotel’s massive banquet spaces for the series, but even with the extra space, WSOP-C continually fills Deerfoot Casino to the rafters every time.

There have been four trips to Cowtown for WSOP-C since the live poker world reopened after the COVID-19 pandemic with the very first edition in Jan 2022 setting the stage for what was to come. That series crushed local records for attendance and prize pools with more than $3.3 million in total prizes and nearly $1.8 million in the Main Event pool alone, a clear record for the province of Alberta and establishing Deerfoot Casinos as one of Calgary’s best casino’s and poker destinations.

Since then, things have only gotten bigger. Despite some obvious growing pains during that first series, with lines for some events getting truly absurd, the facility has been able to beef up their presence for the huge poker tournament series, which continue to grow year to year.

The WSOP-C is back again for 2024 in the Stampede City with its usual two stops in Jan and May. The January dates are already on the books, with the series running from Jan 10 – 22, 2024. Interested players can use room code WSOP0124 when booking rooms for a reduced rate at Deerfoot Inn.

WSOP-C Calgary 2024

After two successful years in the city, the WSOP Circuit event is returning for two more stops in 2024. While the May details are still to be decided, the Deerfoot WSOP schedule for January 2023 is now out with 15 events over 13 days of poker action.

The games kick off for WSOP-C Calgary on Jan 10 with the ever-popular Big 30 Stack game for $400, as well as the first live satellite shot of the series.

The first big multi-day event kicks off on Jan 11, and it promises to be huge. In Jan 2023, the 4-Flight game drew more than 1,500 runners and packed both the Chrome Showroom and the banquet hall reserved for WSOP events.

Main Event action gets going on Jan 18 with the $1,700 ($1,515 + $185) game running three starting days before Day 2 plays out on Sunday Jan 21. Players who go deep in the Main should expect the final table to be played on Monday, Jan 22.

That Main Event final table will play out alongside Day 2 of the $2,200 High Roller game that begins the day before. And there is a lot more to choose from on the schedule with popular WSOP-C tournaments like the Black Chip Bounty, Mystery Bounty, and Monster Stack poker games with both two-card and four-card options to choose from.

Almost $15 Million in Circuit Fun in Calgary so Far

There have been a total of four WSOP Circuit series held in Calgary so far, beginning in Jan 2022 immediately after the pandemic. In fact, that original series was heavily impacted by pandemic restrictions still, with masking rules in effect and, at one point, a ban on all food and drink at the tables or in the poker area at all.

Even through all the difficulties presented by unprecedented crowds and external pressures, that first series was a resounding success, setting regional records for attendance and prize pools in the Alberta poker scene. In total, more than 6,500 entries were recorded for the 13-event series with total prizes of $3,324,335.

That set the stage for a solid return in May. While the numbers in May 2022 were down from the record-breaking January series, nearly 4,500 entries and more than $2.5 million in prizes was still a huge event by local standards with a Main Event prize pool of almost $1.4 million.

When the series returned to Canada’s gateway to the Rockies in Jan of 2023, the pattern of big January numbers and smaller May numbers started to present itself. The Jan 23 series blew past both the previous editions with nearly 7,500 entries and more than $5.3 million in total prizes, even after one of the 15 scheduled events had to be canceled due to the overwhelming numbers in other events.

The Main Event in Jan 23 set another huge record for the region, blowing past $2 million with almost 1,500 runners. The series also saw an early event, the classic 4-Flight game so popular at Circuit stops, draw a crowd of more than 1,500 entries for a prize pool of more than $500k in a $400 buy-in game.

The most recent series, in May of 2023, proved the trend of smaller turnouts in May compared to January. It was up over the previous May by nearly $1 million in prizes from almost 1,000 extra entries, but it was still well below the Jan 23 numbers. It’s worth mentioning, however, that May 23 beat the Jan 22 prize pool total by a hair despite seeing fewer entries.

Historic Totals for WSOP-C in Calgary

Main Event Money Stays in Alberta

One of the more interesting trends to emerge in the four series held so far is that the winner of every Main Event to date has been a native of Alberta. In most series, there are cashing players from nearly every jurisdiction in Canada and a healthy dose of international players, so it’s not like this is just a local game.

Yet, four series in, the Main Event winners have all hailed from the host province of Alberta. Perhaps even more interestingly, and in a testament to how well spread out the Alberta poker talent is, all four have also hailed from smaller towns and cities in the province as opposed to the population powerhouses of Calgary and Edmonton.

It remains to be seen if that trend continues into 2024, but incoming players looking to unseat the locals from the Main Event title should be prepared for some solid homegrown talent standing in their way.

Deerfoot Inn & Casino – at the Intersection of Ecosystems

Calgary sits at the intersection of two very different ecosystems. To the east, the vast Canadian prairies stretch out for almost 2 million square kilometers. Prairie dwellers joke it’s so flat, when your dog runs away, you can watch them run for days.

But to the west, the terrain changes vastly as the foothills begin to rise into the Rocky Mountains. An hour’s drive puts you at the foot of the Rockies with world-class mountain destinations like Banff, Radium, and Jasper well within grasp.

Deerfoot Inn & Casino takes advantage of Calgary’s sweet spot as the gateway to the Rocky Mountains. The full-service hotel and casino offers rooms with 188 guest rooms featuring stunning views of the mountains or city, directly attached to a casino that offers nearly every form of gaming imaginable.

Whether you play high or low stakes, like the table games or the slots, Deerfoot Casino has plenty of choice. A 24-hour poker room caps off the casino experience with cash games running all the time, as well as regular tournaments even while there are no series in town.

When the WSOP comes to town, the poker room is always bursting at the seams, but it’s not with tournament action. The cash games are very hot and generally plays in the official poker room with tournament action taking place in the casino’s Chrome events room, as well as one of the hotel banquet spaces. During the WSOP-C events in Alberta, Deerfoot’s poker room sees some of Calgary’s best cash poker action.