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There’s something about The Predator as a name for an online poker tournament that grabs the attention. Of course, the point is to do exactly that, and it’s also an apt choice because we don’t need to be geniuses to work out that this popular fixture at partypoker is a Bounty tournament.

Indeed, the specific bounty format is Progressive Knockout (PKO) which, as we know (unless you’ve never come across real money online poker before), is all the rage nowadays. As well as the usual rollercoaster ride that we experience during a standard multi-table tournament, there’s the added potential bonus that we can boost our bankroll each time we eliminate an opponent, meaning we can make a profit without even reaching the main prizes.

The buy-in for The Predator is just $22, and the guaranteed prize pool is $12,500, so there’s plenty to play for. And if at first you don’t succeed, as they say, you can throw your hat in the virtual ring again and again as this tournament runs as a regular fixture, from Monday to Saturday.

Furthermore, like many others for whom The Predator is a poker session fave, you can take advantage of the $2.20 satellites and $0.22 Feeders to get in on the cheap.

If The Predator gets your poker juices flowing, then The Terminator is another one of partypoker’s Daily Legend offerings that will scratch your itch. With an even smaller buy-in ($11), this tournament has the same PKO format and comes with a guarantee of $7,500 – not to be sniffed at for such a modest investment. And, of course, there are plenty of great value satellites.

This should be enough to whet the appetite of any poker fan with a pulse, so hit the tables during the week and be a legend…

It’s a testament to the popularity – and with it the sheer scale – of real money online poker that, here at PokerListings, our endeavours to keep up with the pace of this constantly evolving world are never-ending. The global motto amongst modern-day poker operators seems to be along the lines of ‘the player comes first’ and, certainly with our partner sites in mind, this ethos makes our quest to provide our poker loving community a very satisfying one.

One such partner is the mighty PokerStars which, for many, is the Big Daddy of online poker. If you’ve yet to join this top notch poker room, you can look forward to the Winter and New Year Tournament Series that, by the time proceedings are wound up on 17 January, will have paid out at least $40,000,000 across the 140 events.

To help our players along the way we have a satellite in store that will have over $3,000 up for grabs in Series tickets, including the $1,050 buy-in for a megabucks Main Event that comes with a $1,250,000 guaranteed prize pool and takes place between 15-17 January.

And how much will it cost to play in this PokerListings satellite? Nothing. Zero. Zilch… it’s a Freeroll! So, make sure to put 11 January (21:00 CET) in your poker diary and don’t miss this 6-max No Limit Texas Hold’em tournament. You’ll need a password to take part, so keep your eyes peeled and don’t forget to tune into PokerListings as the big day approaches…

Here’s what you’ll be battling away for:

1st: $1,050 ticket
2nd-5th: $215 tickets
6th-10th: $109 tickets
11th-15th: $55 tickets
16th-30th: $22 tickets

Note that all tickets can be used to enter the relevant New Year series events.

We’re well aware of so many in our PokerListings community being online poker tournament fans, so it’s nice to play our own part in these impressive series. We wish everyone good luck at the tables!

*Any mention of a bonus or discussion of such terms is not in relation to the province of Ontario.

The upstart new operator surprised the online poker world early in 2022. The new brand seemed to come out of nowhere but gained lots of exposure from big games and big names.

As 2023 begins, there is a new operator on the global online poker market – WPT Global. The new brand which partners with one of the biggest names in live tournament poker, the World Poker Tour (WPT), came online in 2022 with little fanfare leading up to its launch.

WPT Global hit the ground in early 2022 but started its operations with little fanfare. Some of the first industry noticed started in April, and PokerListings announced a partnership with the new entity as it began to grow and make big plans.

Among the biggest plans was a massive introductory tournament, the $1 for $1 Million tournament. With $1 million guaranteed, the game was always going to be a massive giveaway with huge overlay, as the operator didn’t even come close to scheduling enough starting flights to hit the guarantee. Even with massive turnout for all the flights, it was always certain that there would be more than $800k in overlay for the game, because that was how it was designed.

That wasn’t the only big games on WPT Global in 2022. Despite being the first year of operation, the partnership with one of the most recognizable brands in live poker, WPT, gave it a lot of exposure this year, and set up the year-end WPT World Championship. Dozens of tickets to the massive $15 million guaranteed Main Event were awarded on WPT Global leading up to the event, with satellite games running on the client, and ambassadors running giveaways on Twitch and Social media. In the end, that live series nearly doubled the Main Event Guarantee and ended with a very successful run.

$1 for $1 Million

WPT Global hit the poker world with a bang with what was designed, from the get-go, to be a massive giveaway of money to its player pool. While there were many Day 1 flights for the huge $1 for $1 Million game that began during the operator’s Summer Festival and culminated in early October with the final days of action.

Regardless of the number of starting flights, the $1 million guarantee was always a bit of a pipe dream, with a million entries required to hit it. That made it pretty clear from the outset that the point of the game wasn’t to hit the guarantee but rather to hand out some cash to players.

WPT World Championship

The highlight of the year for WPT Global was a huge satellite push to the WPT World Championship at the Wynn in Las Vegas in December. The operator helped many players win their way to the Championship for a fraction of the $10k Main Event buy-in.

The big live series had $15 million guaranteed for the Main Event, and in the end the game crushed that promise with more than $29 million in total prizes. Canadian Eliot Hudon capped off an amazing series for Canucks with his title marking the fourth trophy that went north of the border.

Hudon bagged $4.1 million for his win, the biggest score from the series by far. However, he joined three other Canadians taking home Wynn-shaped hardware.

Eliot Hudon – Main Event Winner, $4.1 Million
Sergio Grosso – Seniors Winner, $130,806
Lina Niu – Ladies Winner, $105,136
Constantinos Psallidas – $600 NLH Winner, $27,179

Among the other big winner from the live series was Peter Cross from Los Angeles. He took down the $3000 NLH for a prize of more than $400k in a game that didn’t just break the guarantee, but destroyed it. With $500k, guaranteed, the game ended up with an astonishing $2,494,250 for nearly 5x the promise.

WPT Global Ambassadors Hand Out Tickets

While there were many players who made their way to the Wynn through the satellite tree that WPT Global ran in the lead-up to the big live festival, there were some players who got there through the goodwill and largesse of WPT Global ambassadors.

One example was prominent vlogger Andrew Neeme. With a contest that challenged his Twitter followers to define what poker meant to them in 280 characters or less, US Navy Veteran LoriAnn Persinger got herself a free $10,400 seat from the vlogger, and promptly turned that into a 30^th place finish in the Main worth $119,300.

WPT Winter Festival Closes to Start 2023

As 2023 dawns for the newest major online poker site in the global market, the stellar opening year for WPT Global bodes well for 2023. The WPT Winter Festival runs its final few events as the new year begins. The final game in the series, the $220 WPT Closer with $150,000 guaranteed closes the series out on Jan 3, which is also when Day 2 of the $1 million guaranteed Main Event plays out with $174,505 up top for the winner.

With 2022 now in the books, and the first full year of operations in front of it, WPT Global has very quickly put itself in the top-tier of online poker operators. With great online poker value, combined with lots of chances to play your way into WPT-branded live poker events, it’s easy to see WPT Global taking the online poker world by storm in 2023.

When it comes to real money online poker these days, we’ve simply become accustomed to poker operators putting on promotions that pay out large sums of money. It’s sort of expected by what could be described as a well looked after global community of poker fans that spans the whole range from absolute beginners to seasoned professionals.

An online poker room that deserves great credit as far as big money promotions is concerned is GGPoker which, to kick off 2023, has a great collective promotion, namely the $10M January Giveaway, which features a rafter of individual promos.

For those of you not yet well acquainted with GGPoker (and if not, why not?) and how they do things, what is particularly impressive here is that, while a $10M sum of guaranteed giveaways is clearly commendable, this is in fact nothing out of the ordinary for what is proving to be a player-favourite online poker room, as the Giveaway is a monthly fixture!

The $10M Giveaway Is the Gift That Keeps on Giving…

This promotion consists of 12 different components of the multi-layered offering at GGPoker, so there really is more to enjoy than you can shake a proverbial stick at when it comes to variety and choice.

For example, if you’re a good, old-fashioned Texas Hold’em cash games connoisseur, then you can make the most of the $20,000 Daily Hold’em Leaderboard – that’s not $20K paid out during January, rather you can stake your claim on your share of $20K EVERY day of the month.

GGpoker Short Deck Daily $5000 Leaderboard.

Have you been bitten by the poker sensation that is Short Deck Hold’em and like the idea that flushes beat full houses, three of a kind beats a straight and the lowest straight is in fact A-6-7-8-9…? Thanks to January’s $10M Giveaway there’s a chance to add some extra cash to your bankroll via the Short Deck Leaderboard, which has a juicy $5,000 up for grabs daily throughout the month.

As well as other great Leaderboards and Daily Freebies, you’ll even find $100,000 Flipouts (every day!) for those who’ve suffered bad beats.

Have fun at the tables, and don’t forget to make the most of GGPoker’s Giveaways…

For the first time in 2023 (ahem…) your writer woke up to bright sunshine. It’s still freezing cold, though, so it’s actually a great day to marvel at the wonderful world of real money online poker – of course, every day is such a day.

If you fancy some red hot poker fun in these cold times, then look no further than the big daddy of online poker that is PokerStars which, unsurprisingly, has a plethora of offerings to suit all tastes, skill levels and bankroll sizes.

Today’s recommended selection from the massive menu is the so-called Hot Turbos stable of tournaments that provides you with action (and big money payouts) every day of the week.

These fast-paced turbo format tournaments don’t only guarantee the excitement that make poker sessions so enjoyable, but also juicy prize pools that are well worth battling away for.

And there’s something for everyone – the theme is a constant, but the buy-ins are suitably flexible to provide a range that is all-inclusive, from micro-stakes to higher stakes. Gone are the days when Texas Hold’em cash game purists looked down their noses at online poker tournaments (we all gravitate to tournaments at some point), so it’s all the more important for poker operators to make sure everyone gets maximum opportunity to have the best overall online poker experience.

Note that Hot Turbos are even hotter on Sundays because this is when the already tasty prize pools see their guarantees increased. And for those who treat their poker with a more business-like, bankroll-oriented approach, there are satellites available in the run-up to ALL Hot Turbo tournaments so that you can extract value to the max.

Finally, Hot Turbos are perfect for the poker fan on the go, the format being ideally suited to the impressive PokerStars Mobile Poker app.

Meanwhile, remember to get involved in the New Year Series at PokerStars. 2023 could be your year, so have fun at the tables, and good luck!

*Any mention of a bonus or discussion of such terms is not in relation to the province of Ontario.

When we’ve seen poker depicted in movies over the years, the emphasis has almost always been on mind games, outrageous bluffing, the cruel tricks of Lady Luck, nerves of steel… until more recently the skill factor was a minor one, but it’s this latter poker fact that today forms the foundations of any even would-be serious poker fan’s approach.

Even those inexperienced players just starting out in the world of real money online poker soon learn that needing to avail ourselves of whatever information we can is an imperative. It’s the very fact that the game features a certain amount of ‘unknown’ information that makes it so important to use what we have in order to make the best practical decisions. Online poker has been a textbook example of how technology can be harnessed to provide an optimal environment for something that offered less potential in yesteryear. And if you play at Americas Cardroom you’ll find that this popular poker operator is evolving in such a way that players can take full advantage of key stats and info. This is particularly useful if online poker tournaments are your thing.

As well as the standard stats display you might expect to see (or be easily accessible) when playing a multi-player tournament – such as your current position, places paid, add-on chips, rebuy cost and so on – ACR are making more data readily available, too.

ACR Stats: How It Works

The new enhanced stats display will give you access to the average stack size, the number of late registration levels, the Blind structure, add-on cost, prize pool info… You’ll also be able to tailor viewable stats specific to your preferences thanks to a customise facility that features four at-a-glance stats of your choice.

Even without applying your own settings to ACR stats, the default stats window automatically appears on the game screen – on the upper right-hand side – when you first launch a multi-table tournament.

The enhanced stats display is accessed by simply hovering your cursor over the default stats window, and if you wish to keep the display in view, just click on it while it’s active.

With the tournament schedule at Americas Cardroom offering something for everyone, the addition of useful – and customised – stats makes the overall experience too good to miss.

Have fun, and good luck at the tables!

Juicy Stakes Poker is building their way up and 2022 has been a very innovative year in regards of their tournament schedule. Numerous new tournaments have been introduced to meet the player’s requests. With several major tournaments held throughout the whole week, Juicy Stakes Poker also keeps on giving opportunities to players to get one of their massive live packages, WSOPC Caribbean is one of them, The Festival Series was also back on the schedule with its stop in Nottingham, but already has been handed out.

Sunday Myriad (10K GTD)

Bounty tournaments have become standard procedure in the poker community. It is as standard as the poker term No-Limit Hold’em nowadays. Juicy Stakes poker has introduced a new flag-ship Sunday tournament with the Progressive Knock-Out ‘Sunday Mariad’. With 10K starting chips, 12-minute blinds and a late registration for 3 hours, it meets all requirements for a grand Sunday event.

Date: Every Sunday

Time: 2:15 PM eastern time (20:15 CET)

Buy-in: $115 + $10

Star-Themed tournaments

Juicy Stakes Poker loves reaching the stars, and they give their players to join them on their journey to the universe. The Star Tournaments are already part of the schedule for a while, so the frequent returning players known them by heart. As for us human beings, our knowledge about the universe keeps expanding, same as for the Star-Themed tournaments on Juicy Stakes Poker:

Mintaka: Bounty tournament
Centaurus: Bounty tournament
Signus: Bounty tournament
Regulus: Bounty tournament
Lyra: Buy-in of only $1,10
Virgo: SuperStack format
Rigel: Omaha Hi/Lo

WSOPC Caribbean

From March 31^st until April 3^rd, the World Series of Poker Circuit will be held in Sint Maarten, with a Texas Hold’em Main Event with a grand prize pool of $200,000 guaranteed it promises to be big.

Sint Maarten has everything what it takes for meeting expectations of players, as they have it all! Amazing beaches, luxurious hotels, casinos full of class, you can name them all.

You want be part of this epic event in 2023? Don’t miss out your last chance to qualify through Juicy Stakes Poker. They already have started up their satellite tournaments at the last week of 2022, but on January 1^st there is a major event planned which will bring you instantly to its destination!

WSOPC Caribbean 2023 ‘Last Chance satellite’ – 1 seat GTD for the final

Date: January 1^st

Time: 3 pm eastern time (21:00 CET)

Buy-in: $10+$1

WSOPC Caribbean 2023 FINAL – 1 full-package GTD, worth $4,200

Date: January 1^st

Time: 5 pm eastern time (23:00 CET)

Buy-in: $160+$15

$4,200 package includes:

$1,700 buy-in for the Main Event $200K GTD
5-night stay for two in Premier Double Room at the Sonesta Maho Beach Resort
$600 for travel expenses
All meals and beverages included
$100 Cash Game buy-in
Welcome package
Welcome dinner with the Poker team

Do not wait any longer and visit the website of Juicy Stakes Poker now to be able to make use of an inonic matching welcome-bonus of 200% up to $1,000!

Not only has Unibet gone into overdrive as we see out 2022, but this player-friendly online poker room will be kicking off 2023 with the same level of intensity in the shape of two promotions.

The virtual ink will have barely dried on the end-of-the-year €35,000 Poker Winter Bootcamp promo when poker fans will be able to continue with more thrills and spills, while also having the opportunity to boost their bankrolls.

Whether Texas Hold’em or Omaha cash games are your thing, or you’re an online poker tournament wizard, you’ll find all you need at Unibet to see in the New Year…

First up is XP races, which runs from 2 January until 5 February and features five weeks of Leaderboard action, with €13,000 added every week! (Note that players in the Netherlands, Belgium, Sweden and Denmark cannot take part in this promotion).

That’s five opportunities to get amongst the prizes by finishing in the top 100 places. Just have fun at the tables, and any run of good form during those five weeks will see your efforts duly rewarded… real money online poker keeps on giving way after Christmas is over!

The Slobberknocker Series

With online poker promotions of all types nowadays, the imaginative souls tasked with coming up with names for promotions tend to have their work cut out. Introducing the brilliantly named Slobberknocker Series – how could we say no to that?

Proceedings start on 8 January and the fun will run and run until 15 February. To butcher the famous Star Trek quotation: “It’s a Bounty tournament series, but not as we know it, Jim”

How It Works

As well as the actual prize money up for grabs – over €150,000 guaranteed over the course of the series – the Slobberknocker Series promo will also feature Leaderboards. Your mission is quite simple – climb the Leaderboard by accumulating bounties from tournament to tournament, with a point being awarded for each opponent you send to the virtual rail.

There will be two Leaderboards: Low tier and High tier, with €1,900 and €5,900 paid out in prizes respectively.

Good luck at the Unibet tables, and start 2023 as you mean to go on by bringing your A-game.

‘Different strokes for different folks’ is particularly applicable to the global phenomenon that is real money online poker in that, just as not all players are the same, nor are all online poker operators. Depending on where you are on your personal poker journey, some poker rooms will be more suitable than others because they might have a focus that is specifically aimed at welcoming and subsequently cultivating less experienced players.

One such is Juicy Stakes (Poker and Casino) which, if recent endeavours to provide a varied poker offering are anything to go by, is going places… Not only are recreational players encouraged to follow their passion by availing themselves of a plethora of games and formats, but the general set-up is geared towards creating an essentially safety-in-numbers environment.

Budding online poker tournament afficionados can make the most of a comprehensive schedule that is both player and bankroll-friendly, thanks to the combination of modest buy-ins and decent prize pools. A part of this offering is a collection of tournaments with a catchy star-related theme. You might have heard of the likes of Sirius, Antares, Canopus and others, and you’ll grow more familiar as you join the thrills and spills of what is an ever-increasing selection of tournaments that you can dive into every day of the week.

From classic Texas Hold’em tournaments like the LYRA (with a buy-in of just $1.10) to standard and progressive Bounty offerings and the RIGEL (Omaha HiLo), there’s an exciting universe out there at Juicy Stakes Poker.

Add to all of this a roster of affordable cash games stakes, Sit & Go tournaments, daily Freerolls and an all-round poker experience you can expect from an up-and-coming poker room, as well as a very generous welcome bonus, and Juicy Stakes is well worth adding to your stable of go-to places to play.

Given that real money online poker encompasses a mass of players from around the world, from all walks of life, and each at varying stages of their poker quest, we can appreciate that finding a balance is a continual, ever-evolving problem for online poker operators.

It’s imperative that poker rooms are seen to do their utmost for players in order to cultivate and maintain a practicable environment and poker eco-structure that, inasmuch as it’s possible, creates a level playing field.

A welcoming place to go to for your poker fun is partypoker which, true to form, continues to make certain assurances so that poker fans can sit down to play with confidence.

The Daily Legends Daily Legends collection of regular tournaments represents a good example of this in practice. Buy-ins start very low (a dollar or two!) and there’s a varied selection of tournaments (with a number of games and formats) from which to choose.

But where partypoker stands out is in a selection of specific rules/conditions designed with the typical poker enthusiast in mind.

Join a Daily Legends tournament, for instance, and you’ll find the following user-friendly features:

No HUDs or bots: the playing field is level
Limited re-entries: Everyone is allowed the same number of re-entries, thus preventing players from continuously increasing their chances of winning by constant re-buying.
No Inter Account Transfers and limited late registration: There’s no need to worry about so-called ‘value hunters’ – instead, you and your opponents are simply looking to compete in a fair tournament.

It’s also worth noting, incidentally, that Daily Legends finish at a reasonable time, giving players the welcome opportunity to get some well-earned rest after a (hopefully!) deep run into a tournament!

An admirable feature of the recent WPT World Championship at Wynn Las Vegas was a promo that saw WPT Global Ambassadors who won tournament seats via satellites at this player-friendly online poker room give away their seats to poker fans. It’s great that the world of real money online poker can have such a generous interpretation of the season of goodwill.

WPT Global Ambassador and YouTube Vlogger Andrew Neeme was one such pro to award someone an early Christmas present, the aim of his promo being to invite would-be recipients to explain in a 280-character Tweet what the game of poker means to them, and why they are passionate about poker.

The eventual winner was US Navy Veteran LoriAnn Persinger, who thus found herself in possession of the $10,400 ticket that enabled her to sit down to do battle in the prestigious mega bucks tournament in Sin City.

It doesn’t take Sherlock Holmes to guess what’s coming next, of course. After a marathon run that saw the Las Vegas resident survive ups and downs in a field just short of 3,000 entries, LoriAnn managed to finish in a very impressive 30th place, with her share of the more than $29 million prize pool being a cool $119,300… Poker really is the ultimate pastime!

Meanwhile, there’s still plenty of action to take advantage of in the $1,800,000 guaranteed WPT Winter Festival at WPT Global, which will continue until 3 January. This is a series of great value events that’s simply too good to miss…

While it’s true that, once we’ve been involved in real money online poker for long enough, we all have our collection of so-called badbeat stories to tell anyone who wants to listen (and, of course, even those who don’t), there are certain special circumstances in which being on the losing side of this dreaded scenario could be the best thing that’s happened to us.

Today we’re going to look at the potentially life-changing rewards that can be gained via the ongoing Bad Beat Jackpot at GGPoker which, as always, continues to present poker fans with opportunities to win big – even, as in this case, when they lose so badly.

Bad Beat Jackpot at GGPoker: How It Works

A bad beat occurs when a player with a very strong, almost unbeatable hand finds the poker Gods conspiring against them so that they do indeed get beaten. This could be, for example, flopping KKKK, only for our opponent to then fill AAAA – we have experienced a bad beat.

In the case of GGPoker’s Bad Beat Jackpot, however (which is valid via both the PC and mobile client), your initial poor fortune is transformed to leave your bankroll significantly boosted…

For a Bad Beat Jackpot to hit, the following criteria must be met:

The hand must go to showdown.
Both the winner and the loser must use both hole cards (two hole cards for PLO/PLO-5) to make up the best 5-card hand
Pocket pairs are required for the winner/loser to make four of a kind.

Note that in the case of RIMT (Running it multiple times), only the first run will count towards the jackpot. Meanwhile, satisfying the jackpot conditions takes priority, so even if a player subsequently leaves the table or is disconnected, the prize(s) will be awarded.

GGPoker. Hold'em and PLO bad beat jackpot.

GGPoker. PLO5 and Short Deck bad beat jackpot.

Jackpot Payout

Although the jackpot is allocated differently for each blind, all blinds nonetheless share the same jackpot payout percentage, as shown in the table below:

Recipient	Prize
Bad Beat Winner (Pot Loser) – 2nd best hand	10%
Bad Beat Opponent (Pot Winner)	3%
Rest of Players (Other Pot Losers)	0.8%

You’ll notice that it’s not just the Bad Beat winner (i.e. the pot loser) who benefits from the jackpot, as the other protagonist as well as those others taking part in the hand also receive a share.

Regardless of whether your favourite cash game is Texas Hold’em or Omaha you’re always in contention, with Hold’em, PLO, PLO-5, Short Deck and Rush & Cash players at eligible tables all contributing to the special Jackpot Fund, which serves as the prize pool for Bad Beat Jackpot payouts.

Have fun – and remember that a Bad Beat can be a huge win at the GGPoker tables!

There are all sorts of ways to wind down (or recover!) from any overindulgence during the festive season, and one such is to sit back and enjoy an exciting and entertaining ‘ride-along’ with a PokerStars Twitch streamer. That in itself, of course, is a pleasurable experience, but until Monday 16 January there’s the added incentive to join the likes of Lex Veldhuis, Spraggy and other PokerStars pros in the form of tournament tickets given out to viewers via random Chest Drops… There’s more to real money online poker than ‘just’ playing, remember!

The tickets can be used to take part in the PokerStars New Year Tournament Series which, across a host of events, boasts an overall guaranteed prize pool of $40 million. Budding champions should note that there are actually three Main Events, with buy-in levels, taking place between 15-17 January.

So, to be in with a chance of picking up tickets, simply join one of the PokerStars pros whose Twitch streams are eligible for this Chest Drops promo, then sit back and enjoy the ride. Chest Drops appear at random, with ticket values up to $55 – prizes worth winning for any online poker tournament fan. Note that tickets won from Chests can be used only for the New Year Series, and expire if unused before 16 January.

Just remember to link your PokerStars and Twitch accounts and you’re good to go. Here are the eligible streams:

Have fun, and watch out for those Chest Drops!

*Any mention of a bonus or discussion of such terms is not in relation to the province of Ontario.

PokerStars USA made a huge announcement this week with the first expansion of inter-state gaming in years. The operator will be combining the player pools of New Jersey and Michigan into a single pool starting at the beginning of 2023.

While the year-end holiday season is a time to hang out with family and friends, it is also a time to reflect on the past year and make new plans for the coming one. The most recent announcement from PokerStars USA falls into the latter category with massive news about the 2023 online poker landscape in the US – players on PokerStars in NJ and MI will be able to play against each other starting on the first of the year.

For years now, the online poker landscape in the US has been mired in legal limbo. After Black Friday, legal online poker slowly came back to the US in the form of state-segregated poker rooms with geographically limited liquidity. That began to change in 2014 with the original Multi-State Internet Gaming Agreement (MSIGA) which saw Nevada and Delaware join into a single pool and then expanded to include New Jersey in 2017.

That’s where things stalled however, and only one operator, WSOP.com, was able to take advantage of the window to create a multi-state shared player pool between New Jersey, Nevada, and Delaware. This latest announcement marks the first real move in shared liquidity since the creation of the WSOP.com network and follows Michigan’s signing of the MSIGA in 2022.

First Multi-State Pool Since 2017

With the Wire Act decision that prompted Black Friday still looming large in 2018, the US administration at the time reinterpreted the decision to send inter-state poker into legal limbo again. After the combination of player pools in NV, NJ, and DE on WSOP.com in 2017, the legal questions surrounding online poker stalled more states from joining the MSIGA.

With recent legal activity clarifying the situation however, Michigan became the first state since 2017 to join into the compact. That paved the way for PokerStars USA to announce that it would be creating the first multi-state player pool in almost six years.

Starting on Jan 1, 2023, players in New Jersey and Michigan will be able to sit down together at the same tables for poker. To celebrate the ground-breaking event, PokerStars USA is putting up $150,000 guaranteed in two tournaments on New Year’s Day to celebrate the combined player pool.

New Years Special: NJ & MI Combined
- Jan 1, 2023: 18:00 ET
- $100 Buy-In, $100,000 Gtd
New Years Mini Special: NJ & MI Combined
- Jan 1, 2023: 18:30 ET
- $10 Buy-In, $50,000 Gtd

Those two games will be just the beginning of the shared poker action in 2023 however. The two states will be playing against each other in the shared pool on PokerStars USA going forward, but it seems certain there will be further moves in inter-state poker in 2023.

While PA has yet to sign on to the MSIGA, that signing is anticipated and would add another large market to the possible shared pool. Equally, even without the addition of Pennsylvania, the shared pool on PokerStars between MI & NJ is almost certain to spur other operators to make similar moves, with WSOP.com being an obvious candidate to expand to a four-state network.

It’s been a long time in the dark since Black Friday, with only a little light on the shared liquidity front for online poker in the USA. With this latest announcement from PokerStars it looks like 2023 could be quite a bit brighter.

All poker players, regardless of their level of experience and skill, should at some point on their poker journey endeavour to try out as many game and formats as possible in order to broaden their horizons and see which aspect of real money online poker best suits them.

Inevitably, we all turn to Cash games, usually beginning with the more traditional, standard Texas Hold’em and perhaps venturing into the four hole card version that is Omaha poker. It’s all good, in fact, and we don’t even have to stick with one or another. Indeed, the modern approach seems to be to focus on more than one game or variant in order to develop a more well-rounded understanding of the game.

A perfect place to either dip your toe into Cash games or simply seek out great software and a route to profitability and bankroll expansion is partypoker which, not surprisingly – given that this online poker room has been among the world’s leading operators for a long, long time – provides a great, user-friendly Cash games offering.

Cash Games on the Go at partypoker

And the great news for those of you who don’t want to be confined to the living room to enjoy action at the virtual tables is that partypoker’s Mobile poker experience is as good as it gets.

Here are some highlights from our mobile app:

The enriched Main Lobby now shows game tiles (inmstead of the old list view).
The Cash Lobby has the facility to view game tiles or carrousel view.
Enhanced filtering options afford players more freedom of choice re game types.
Portrait table allows you to play heads-up or 6-handed.
Tile up to FOUR games simultaneously.
Play Cash, SPINS and Fastforward all at the same time!

So, there you go (literally…). Have fun at the tables wherever you are!

Typically, the various hobbies and pastimes that people enjoy tend to have a geographical base, such as being a member of the golf club down the road or playing 5-a-side football for the local Sunday team alongside your friends.

Fortunately, the world can be your proverbial oyster if you’re a real money online poker fan, as the potential to win your way to fantastic events at exotic locations is ever-present.

Americas Cardroom is certainly playing its part in helping players find their way around the globe, with the dream destination for budding poker geniuses being Uruguay!

Make your way to Punta del Este

Indeed, ACR will be awarding FIVE $5,000 prize packages to the wonderfully named Enjoy Poker Series Main Event (7-10 February 2023) in Uruguay.

The package consists of the following:

$1,000+$100 ticket to the Enjoy Poker Series Main Event
7-nights’ hotel for two, with breakfast (6 February 6th – February 13th)
$1,500 for travel/expenses
$500 spending money
Airport Transportation

As for the location, the Enjoy Punta del Este Resort and Casino lies on Uruguay’s Atlantic Coast, with breath taking ocean views, nine restaurants and bars, a spa and so much more. That in itself is incentive enough, yet there’s the prospect of fame and fortune in a big money poker event, too! It’s certainly a great time to be an online poker tournament player!

Qualify for peanuts (or nothing at all)

Thanks to a comprehensive qualifying set-up you can start your quest to Uruguay by joining the process at any point, the satellites culminating in the $100+9 buy-in final qualifier on 8 January that will see five $5,000 packages guaranteed. Not only are the satellites bankroll-friendly, but you can even qualify for free!

And there’s more… ACR are also putting up five $1,100 buy-ins for the same Enjoy Poker Series Main Event via a separate satellite. The aim is to give additional opportunities to local players in the region, as well as those happy to make their own arrangements. This satellite will be held on Sunday, 15 January and has a buy-in of just $33.

Meanwhile, don’t forget to check out the latest online poker bonuses and offers at our dedicated info page.

Live poker is coming back in droves and one of the more well-known series on the circuit is returning to Europe for 2023! 888poker has announced 5 festivals for 2023 that will feature some of the most recognizable casinos and countries on the European poker circuit. The festivals promise to bring players the most accessible live poker experiences found anywhere. All festivals will feature the €888 Main Event, and all will have at least one of the popular mystery bounty tournament for PKO fans to get excited about!

888poker LIVE Madrid – January 2023

888poker Live Poker Festival Madrid 2023 — Casino Gran Madrid

The winter blues can be turned upside down as poker players will flock to the Casino Gran Via Madrid for 10 days of non-stop action. Cash games, satellites, a full tournament series and surprises will await players from January 13^th through January 23^rd. The schedule highlights include:

€220 NLH Opening Event with 4 opening flights – January 13^th to January 16^th
€330 NLH Mystery Bounty – January 15^th and 16^th
€2,200 NLH High Roller – January 17^th and 18^th
€888 NLH Main Event w/ €300,000 Guaranteed – January 19^th to January 23^rd
€100 NLH Last Chance – January 23^rd
€55 NLH Ladies
PLO Tournament

Players will have online satellites available to them in the 888poker global client for the main event from as little as 1 cent. $109 qualifiers will also be available for a €1600 tournament package which includes buy-in to the main event and expenses to get you to Madrid and for a hotel room over the poker tournament.

888poker LIVE London – April 2023

888poker Live Poker Festival London 2023 — Grosvenor Victora Casino

England will get their turn to host the 888poker LIVE festival a few months later, starting on April 13^th through April 24^th at the beautiful Grosvenor Victoria Casino. The full schedule won’t be released for some time, but players should expect many of the same types of tournaments that were found in the Madrid stop, including the mystery bounty, the €2,200 High Roller, and the €888 Main Event, that is sure to have a lofty guarantee attached to it

888poker LIVE Barcelona – May 2023

888poker Live Poker Festival 2023 Barcelona — Casino Barcelona

888poker returns to Spain for a stop in May for the 888poker LIVE Barcelona, happening from May 10^th to May 22^nd, just before the start of the 2023 WSOP series in Las Vegas. While the venue has not been confirmed, one should expect that the Casino Barcelona will be the site of the late Spring festival. As with the stops in Madrid and London, the usual list of tournaments is expected to be held, including what promises to be a massive €888 NLH Main Event over the last days of the festival!

888poker LIVE Bucharest – August 2023

888poker Live Poker Festival Bucharest 2023 — Marriott Sheraton Bucharest

As the WSOP wraps up in Las Vegas, poker players will head across the pond and settle into Bucharest for the 4^th festival stop of 2023 – 888poker LIVE Bucharest! Scheduled to be held August 8^th through the 14^th at a venue to be announced – although it’s worth noting that the Marriott Sheraton Bucharest held the 2022 stop (pictured above). A full week of poker awaits those that make the trek to the “Little Paris of the East”!

888poker LIVE London – October 2023

To end 2023, 888poker LIVE is returning to the Grosvenor Victoria Casino in the heart of London for the 5^th and last stop of the festival circuit. Scheduled for October 18^th through October 29^th, the stop promises to be full of treats for poker players looking to boost their bankrolls at the end of the year! Again, no schedule has been published yet, but players should expect a similar schedule to what the venue held in April, and players should be ready to grind the satellites found online starting soon after the Bucharest stop concludes.

888poker continues to cement itself as a leader in the European Poker community and their 5 festival stops in 2023 will only add to that! 2023 is going to be a great year for poker and 888poker is going to play a big part in that!

Our 2022 Pokerlistings Operator Awards have proved an interesting venture, highlighting so many aspects of the industry that need to be taken into account by poker firms as they build and continually cultivate their product. The latest award under scrutiny is Best Beginner Software which, perhaps not surprisingly, is a crucial one.

The massive global poker community is made up of all sorts of players who not only have different approaches to the game and varying commitments (e.g. financial, time allotted) but, critically, are at various stages in terms of their development.

Finding a balance is – as in life – an imperative for poker operators, and if ever there were a group of players who absolutely need maximum help and support as they make their initial tentative steps on their real money poker adventure, it’s beginners. Amongst numerous considerations, poker rooms need to protect and nurture beginners so that they can survive the ups and downs of their progress long enough to have tried out the likes of tournaments as well as Texas Hold’em and Omaha cash games etc.

Every poker player was a beginner at one point, and it is this fundamental truth that operators must address fully if they are to collectively maintain a healthy poker eco-system.

If you’re looking to spread your poker wings, then check out the latest online poker bonuses and offers at our dedicated info section.

Have fun at the tables!

» Check out our nominees page

Anyone who enjoys the excitement of real money online poker – however much they might claim that it’s not the money but the ‘taking part’ that counts – can’t help but have their interest piqued by the prospect of winning big chunks of cash.

Thanks to a fun-filled promotion at GGPoker there’s now even more reason to throw your proverbial hat into the ring and play All-in or Fold games at this user-friendly online poker room.

With the introduction of All-In Fortune it’s possible to win huge prizes – and you don’t even have to win a hand!

What Is All-in or Fold Poker?

As the name suggests, with All-in or Fold – available for both Hold’em and Omaha – you must immediately choose between two simple, fundamental options, namely will you shove all-in or fold. It’s straight into the action with no additional decision-making. Note that as well as the maximum initial buy-in being 8 big blinds, you are allowed to remove any chips beyond that amount.

All-in Fortune: How It Works

Now Omaha fans can take advantage of the potential tasty payouts offered up by All-in Fortune, as each time a player goes all-in, a Jackpot shakes and, if Lady Luck is on your side, you could bag the hefty prize even if you don’t win the hand!

Given that each relevant Omaha table features the All-In Fortune Jackpot, everyone shoving all-in gets a chance to win big. Importantly, the jackpot edges closer and closer to being hit the more times players go all-in, so with going all-in representing half of the options available, you’re chances of striking it lucky increase the longer you play… and remember that you don’t have to win the hand.

When the All-In Fortune jackpot stars to crack, coins spill out and you’ll receive your reward instantly. And it could be big!

The size of each All-In Fortune is determined at random and is also related to the buy-in level of the game. The higher the stakes, the higher the potential payout, but regardless of the stakes the prize is well worth winning. Note that each buy-in includes a fixed fee that contributes to the jackpot pool.

Have fun at the AoF tables, and may fortune favour the all-in…

Montreal’s Eliot Hudon was the fourth player from Canada to bag a WPT® title in the recent World Championship from Wynn Las Vegas after a $4.1 million Main Event win.

The epic WPT® World Championship is now complete and there is no other way to describe the inaugural series except as a roaring success. The $15 million Main Event guarantee, which looked optimistic early-on, turned out to be a gross under-estimate of the interest in the big game.

In the end, almost 3,000 entries paid their $10,400 buy-in fee for the game which meant the final prize pool was just shy of doubling the initial promise. In the end, the game collected $29,008,000 in total prizes with 371 players getting at least some share of that massive pool.

The big winner at the end of the day was Canadian Eliot Hudon who pocketed more than $4 million USD in the biggest score of his career by a mile. Before this past Championship, his biggest live score came from the 2021 World Series of Poker (WSOP) when he managed a top 100 finish in the Main Event for $113,800.

The win marked the second of his career, with the first coming just weeks ago. In Nov of this year, he bagged the top spot in the Playground Power Week Main Event at Playground Poker in Kahnawake on the outskirts of Hudon’s hometown of Montreal. That win was just shy of $60k USD though, so his $4.1 million score this week blew that out of the water.

Four Canadians Score Titles

Lina Niu. WPT World Championship Ladies Main Event Winner. — Lina Niu

In addition to Hudon, three other Canadians bagged a trophy in this series including Lina Niu who picked up her second big result in December with a win in the Ladies event.

Niu wasn’t the only player from north of the 49^th parallel to pick up some Wynn-shaped hardware though. Constantinos Psallidas won a small one in the $600 NLH $50K GTD, which saw 310 runners and a guarantee-tripling prize pool of $161,200, while Sergio Grosso bagged the second biggest Canadian prize with $130,806 for winning the $1100 Seniors NLH $200K GTD. In another stellar showing, that game also more than tripled its guarantee with 708 entries for a prize pool of $690,300.

While most of the winners in the series came from the US, Canada’s four titles looks to be in second-place for national wins, which is a pretty strong achievement for a country of just 37 million people. That said, Canada’s proximity to the US, and the burning desire of Canadians to escape the winter weather to the fun and sun of Sin City likely contributed to a bloated field from north of the border.

Strong Results Across the Board

The series as a whole was can only be called a massive success. The Main Event clearly shone at the top of the tree with almost $30 million in total prizes, but most events not only beat their guarantees, but crushed them handily.

One of the earliest games, a $600 No-Limit Hold’em with $500k guaranteed set the standard. The game was one entry shy of 3,000 for $1,559,480 in total prizes, more than triple the original guarantee. Sean Banahan from Twin Falls, ID doubled his career earnings with a win in that one worth more than $135k.

Even mixed games saw massive interest in the series. On Dec 5, a $600 HORSE event ran with 261 entries. Going into the game, the guarantee was $50k, but the classic five-game mix ended up nearly tripling that with $134,415, a very respectable result for a HORSE ride.

Another big game that scored better than triple its guarantee was the multi-day $600 NLH $200K GTD. That game ran from Dec 5 to 7 with 1,243 entries and a total prize pool of $646,360. Gerard Morrell from Castle Rock, CO pocketed his second-biggest score with just over $100k for the win.

The best increase on guarantee came in the $3000 NLH $500K GTD. That game saw an astonishing 907 entries to boost the prize pool to nearly five times the guarantee with $2,494,250. Peter Cross from Los Angeles, CA took $429,406 for his first career win and biggest lifetime score.

It had never been done before, and going into the WPT® World Championship there were some questions about how the series would turn out. In hindsight, it’s clear that any worries were misplaced as a massive turnout made the 2022 World Championship a shining success.