November 12, 1993 was the first time the world laid eyes on the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC). What was then a barbaric spectacle, pushed as fights that could end only “by knockout, submission or death,” has become a multi-billion dollar organization featuring brilliant athletes, huge sponsorships, massive broadcast deals and year-round drug testing.

The UFC, its trademark Octagon and many of the fighters within it are now a part of the pop culture lexicon. While boxing has produced global sports icons, stars such as Conor McGregor and Ronda Rousey could only be the product of mixed martial arts and the UFC’s blend of sport and spectacle.

Just as the stars inside the cage are unique products of the sport, it’s difficult to imagine another league or organization having a figurehead like Dana White.

UFC President White is a pitbull when upset and is quick to drop an “f-bomb” in his angriest or happiest moments. This has made him a beloved figure to many in the MMA community and established him as the face of the UFC regardless of what controversy he may stir up.

Let’s take a look at what you need to know if you’re new to the world of the UFC.

The Rules

The UFC follows the Unified Rules of Mixed Martial Arts, a set of rules adopted by the Association of Boxing Commissions. Local athletic commissions oversee events except in locations that do not have an established sanctioning body, in these cases the UFC oversees the event themselves while adhering to the unified rules.

Fights comprise three, five-minute rounds, with the exception of so-called “main events” and title fights, which take place over five, five-minute rounds.

The fights are scored by three judges who utilize a “10-point must system.” Under this scoring system, the winner of each round must be awarded 10 points (unless there is a rule violation) while the loser of the round is awarded nine or fewer points depending on the level of dominance displayed over the course of five minutes. In the event a round has no clear winner, a judge may score a round 10-10.

If neither man is knocked out or submitted, the judges’ scores are totaled and a winner is declared. If all three judges favor one fighter, it’s considered unanimous; a split decision means one of the three judges disagreed with the other two. (A draw is also possible, if the points total is even.)

Rules of the bout tend to focus on what fighters may not do. They cannot:

• Bite
• Headbutt
• Gouge the eyes
• Pull hair
• Fishhook (ie, putting ones fingers in an opponent’s mouth or nose)
• Grab the fence with fingers or toes
• Strike to the groin
• Throw a downward “12-6” elbow strike
• Kick or knee the head of a downed opponent
• Manipulate small joints (fingers or toes)
• Spike an opponent on their head or neck

The full list of possible infractions is slightly longer, and includes a prohibition against pinching, for example. It’s true: You may kick an opponent in the head, you may attempt to extend their limbs so far they break or cut the blood flow off to their brain with various chokes … but you must not pinch.

Fouls may result in warnings, point deductions or disqualifications at the referee’s discretion.

Fights also take place in designated weight classes. Fighters weigh in the day before the fights, often putting themselves through a grueling process of dehydration before stepping on the scales to make weight. Once their weight is official, they begin rehydrating and often step in the cage much heavier than they were a little over 24 hours prior.

In non-title fights, there is a one pound weight allowance. So, for example, a fighter may weigh in at 171 pounds for a welterweight (170 pound) bout. That one pound allowance does not exist in title fights.

When a fighter fails to make weight their opponent may choose to not go ahead with the fight. However, the standard procedure is 20 percent of the offending fighter’s pay (30 percent in egregious cases) is forfeited to their opponent and the fight goes ahead as planned.

Knockouts and Submissions

Knockouts and submissions aren’t only emphatic ways to achieve victory, they’re an opportunity to take home a $50,000 “Performance of the Night” bonus from the UFC.

A knockout is arguably the most visceral moment in sports. A punch, elbow, knee or kick dropping a man or woman to the canvas is not hard to figure out and we understand it on some sort of instinctual level.

A technical knockout (TKO) occurs when a fighter cannot intelligently defend against incoming attacks, resulting in the referee calling a halt to the action in the interest of safety. These finishes can feel unsatisfying at times — especially when the losing fighter appears to want to continue fighting — but are necessary to prevent long-term injury.

Whether you’re looking to qualify for a big tournament like the Sunday Million or tackling small-stakes cash games, there’s no better place to refine your poker strategies than PokerStars School. Have a look at what’s in store for you at PS School this week.

Barry Carter wants to help you win a seat in the Sunday Million 13th Anniversary

Poker Satellite Strategy

With the Sunday Million 13th Anniversary coming up this weekend, EPT Monte Carlo coming up later this month, and SCOOP lurking right around the corner, mid-April is a great time to focus on winning your way into a tournament with major money up for grabs. Good thing that Barry Carter is on the scene to help you brush up on your satellite strategy!

This week Carter offers some tips on the nightly $15 buy-in, 100-seat Mega Satellites to the Sunday Million. Given that this tournament sports a $10 million guaranteed prize pool, this could be some of the most profitable advice you’ll read this month:

The closer these mega satellites are to the day of the tournament, the softer they will be. You can safely assume that the last chance satellite on April 14 will be way softer than the satellite on April 4. Not only do the last chance satellites attract more “weekend warriors” but the better players in these $15 satellites will have already qualified so won’t be in the field when you play the last chance.

Read the whole thing here.

Winners Wall: Working in the poker gold mine

After being introduced to poker a year ago, Chris “Mr.Balzter” Baltzer transitioned from play money to real money last September, rushing through the PokerStars School Beginners Bankroll Challenge to earn freeroll tickets.

This week on the Winners Wall, Chris “Mr.Baltzer” Baltzer shares how he used PokerStars School to become a winning player

“At the end of December after three months and 100,000 hands I had blown through my 50 buy-in bankroll at $2 NL,” he says. “This is when I decided to create (or copy) a more focused study plan.”

Enter PokerStars School. Between hundreds of hours of free content in the video archives and Pete Clarke’s Twitch streams, Baltzer says he’d found a “gold mine.”

“It’s been three months and 150,000 hands,” says Baltzer, “and I’m happy to say I’ve recouped my initial bankroll twice over and I’m winning at 6bb/100.”

Get the full story, including links to the resources Baltzer used to streamline his game, right here.

Win a $0.25 ticket to a new UFC Spin & Go in this week’s PokerStars School Question of the Week

Question of the Week: Poker players in the UFC Octagon?

This week’s Question of the Week in the PokerStars School forum ties into the new partnership between PokerStars and UFC. To win one of 100 $0.25 UFC Spin & Go tickets, just answer this question in at least 25 words:

If you could see two poker players battling it out in the UFC Octagon, who would they be and why?

The best answers as chosen by the PokerStars School moderation team will win. Go here to submit your answer for a chance at winning as much as $2,500 in a matter of minutes.

Other new PokerStars School content you might enjoy

• Video: Playing a final table
• Twitch: ZOOM Poker with Pete
• Strategy: Tips for winning a seat to the Sunday Million
• Winners Wall: Finding the Time to Master Poker

Open a PokerStars account today and start learning from PokerStars School. Click here to get started, and then click here to register for PokerStars School.

For the last 13 years, the Sunday Million on PokerStars has been a permanent fixture on online poker players’ schedules, the frequent focus of the Sunday “grind.”  This Sunday will be no different, with tens of thousands of players taking part in the 13th Anniversary Sunday Million.

There’s a $10 million guarantee for the $215 buy-in event, with the first prize also guaranteed to be at least $1 million. Play begins at Sunday, April 14 at 13:00 ET, with late registration (and the option to re-enter up to three times) available for just over five hours until 18:05 ET.

Counting the most recent Sunday Million won by ”Matze 90451,” the “Milly” has run 614 times on PokerStars over the last 13 years, with more than 4.8 million entries (no shinola)!

MORE ON THE ANNIVERSARY SUNDAY MILLION:
WHO’LL WIN: PART 1, PART 2 | STRATEGY ADVICE | QUALIFY FOR FREE
ANNOUNCEMENT | SAVE THE DATE: APRIL 14, 1pm (ET)

For many online poker players, a big score or victory in the Sunday Million has provided a career highlight. The tournament has given us a lot of memorable moments as well, as shown by the following look back through the Sunday Million timeline.

March 5, 2006 – “aaaaaaaa” is the first SM winner

PokerStars had been up and running about four-and-a-half years when the first Sunday Million took place, with 5,893 players joining the $215 buy-in event to build a prize pool of $1,178,600. The first player to win a Sunday Million had a username that also comes first in an alphabetically-arranged list of winners — “aaaaaaaa”, who after just over eight hours of play won the last hand to claim a $173,843.50 first prize.

June 25, 2006 – the SM gets its name

The first few big Sunday tournaments weren’t technically called the “Sunday Million.” That label didn’t appear in the PokerStars lobby until late June 2006 for a $1,050 buy-in version of the event, won by ”FlopSpanker” who took away a $262,151.50 first prize. Occasionally during the first couple of years of the SM, the buy-in was boosted either $530 or $1,050, the last time being late 2008.

March 11, 2007 – 1st anniversary, 1st 10,000-plus field

PokerStars marked the first year of Sunday Millions with an anniversary event, upping the guarantee to $1.5 million. The field for the first SM anniversary event was 10,508 strong, pushing the prize pool up over $2.1 millIon — another first for the SM to crack $2M. Of the more than 1,300 cashers, winner ”Zeddor” seized the largest prize of $271,106.40.

May 24, 2009 – Jesper “KipsterDK” Hougaard becomes first two-time Sunday Million winner

Jesper “KipsterDK” Hougaard

In 2008, Danish pro Jesper Hougaard became the first poker player to win bracelets at both the World Series of Poker and at the World Series of Poker Europe, accomplishing the feat by winning no-limit hold’em events in Vegas and then again in London that same year.

Soon after that Hougaard earned another landmark double when while playing as ”KipsterDK” on PokerStars he became the first player to win the Sunday Million twice — initially in late April 2008, then again in May 2009. “I had experience being in the situation,” Hougaard told PokerStars Blog afterwards while describing reaching the Sunday Million final table a second time. And that experience paid off in a big way.

Since then the “two-timer” club has swelled to 16 players — with one other player having since exceeded that feat (see below).

July 2008-April 2011 – The Sunday More-Than-a-Million

Throughout its history the SM has always featured at least a seven-figure guarantee, though for a time the guarantee was upped to $1.5 million, and was even $2M and $2.5M on occasion. Those increased guarantees helped create record-breaking fields for the Sunday Million, such as on January 10, 2010 when 19,377 played to create a $3,875,400 prize pool, with ”OX45AL” winning a then-record first prize of $550,011.29.

February 21, 2010 – 36,000-plus play, $7.2M prize pool

The first really big SM anniversary event was to mark four years’ worth of Millys. For the 4th Anniversary the tournament sported a $4M guarantee, but when 36,169 participated the prize pool rose to a whopping $7,233,800. The appropriately-named ”RichieRichZH” won that one, earning a first-ever seven-figure SM first prize of $1,141,510.31.

March 6, 2011 – 5th Anniversary draws 59,128

Those records lasted a year, then came the Sunday Million 5th Anniversary event that drew 59,128 players (!) to create a $11,825,600 prize pool (!!). A big nine-way chop in the end meant the biggest cash prize of $844,209.87 went to third-place finisher ”wrzr123”. Meanwhile winner Luke “Bdbeatslayer” Vrabel earned both a $671K payday and a Lamborghini Gallardo for his effort.

December 18, 2011 – The largest online poker tournament ever

To mark the 10th anniversary of PokerStars going online, a special edition of the Sunday Million arrived with an eye-popping $10 million guarantee. All-time marks were established not just for the Sunday Million, but for all of online poker, with 62,116 players participating to build a $12,432,200 prize pool. That made it the largest online poker tournament in history, establishing records that wouldn’t be broken for nearly seven years.

Of that field, 7,682 players cashed (a figure closer to the total entrants for a typical SM), and ”First-Eagle” soared to victory to claim a $1,146,574.65 first prize following a three-way chop at the final table.

From 62,116 to 9: The final table of the Sunday Million 10th Anniversary event

March 20, 2016 – “a.urli” tops 55K to win SM 10th Anniversary

Subsequent Sunday Million anniversaries were marked by gradually increasing guarantees matching the year being celebrated — e.g., the 6th anniversary had a $6M guarantee, the 7th a $7M one, and so on. Thus when the 10th anniversary arrived in 2016, a $10 million guarantee helped attract a 55,059-player field that actually built an $11M prize pool. From that big crowd ”a.urli” emerged as the champion to take home $970K after a four-way chop.

February 2 & April 22, 2018 – the SM Anniversary runs it twice

A year ago for the 12th anniversary PokerStars decided to “run it twice” after an initial staging of the event featured another record in the form of a big $1.2 million overlay. After Luis ”Hulk9950” Felipe topped a 43,795-entry field to win the first one, ”Daenarys T” was the best out of 56,310 to win “Take 2” for which the prize pool was more than $11.26M.

December 16, 2018 – Artem “veeea” Vezhenkov wins the Sunday Million for a 3rd time

Artem “veeea” Vezhenkov

Russian player Artem Vezhenkov, better known as “veeea” online, first won the Sunday Million in November 2015, then won it again to join the two-timer club in July 2017.

Then near the end of 2018 he made himself a club all of his own by winning the SM a third time, a feat that he alone has accomplished. In those three tournaments, Vezhenhov bested fields totaling 16,715 players to earn three first-prizes adding up to $491,700.

January 27, 2019 – SM buy-in change

After nearly 13 years, the buy-in for the Sunday Million was changed from $215 to $109, a move made in order to make the tournament more accessible for players. The famous $1 million guaranteed remained, of course, and in the weeks since the fields have averaged around 12,000 entries (about twice the typical field sizes of the SM).

That said, those playing the big event this Sunday should take note — the buy-in for this Sunday’s 13th Anniversary event is $215, a nod to the SM’s long tradition.

Here’s hoping anniversary #13 for the Sunday Million million proves a lucky one for you!

PokerStars today unveiled Kalidou Sow as the newest recruit to the most prestigious poker team on the planet. It is the latest step on a long journey for the 38-year-old, starting from humble upbringings in Paris, France. Here we look back on how Sow got here, and how he managed to wow the poker world during his rise to the top.

Kalidou Sow timeline:

• December 2, 1980: Born Paris, France.
• Early life: Takes up basketball at age 5 and dreams of becoming a professional, but an injury sustained during a game reduces mobility and rules out chances of becoming an elite athlete. Instead works a number of jobs, including as the owner of a VIP car rental business, before transitioning into the renewable energy sector. During this period, suffers life-threatening injuries and third-degree burns in a car accident while driving home from a nightclub.
• 2011-12: Learns poker in home games with friends and begins to play cash games in Paris casinos. Eventually transitions to tournaments.
• March 2013: Records first major tournament cash, finishing eighth in €1,800 High Roller tournament at Marrakech Open, Morocco.
• June 2013: Visits Las Vegas during World Series of Poker time, cashes once in Wynn Classic $500 event.
• January 2014: Records first cash on PokerStars France Poker Series (FPS) in Deauville.
• February 2015: Records first five-figure tournament score, finishing second in €800 FPS Deepstack event in Deauville for €14,590.
• December 2015: Wins €72,000 for third place in FPS Main Event at Enghien-les-Bains, Paris.
• June 2016: First outright tournament win, in €500 event at Barierre Poker Tour, Toulouse.
• December 2016: Wins Belgian Poker Challenge High Roller in Namur for €41,460.
• December 2017: Wins PokerStars Championship Prague Main Event, beating Jason Wheeler heads up and taking €675,000 after two-way deal.
• January 2018: Wins PokerStars Festival London Main Event for £121,803 and Platinum Pass to PokerStars Players Championship (PSPC).
• February 2018: Wins Winamax Poker Tour High Roller in Paris, for €100,000, his third consecutive major tournament title.
• January 2019: Leads Team France to the PSPC €25,000 Main Event in the Bahamas, won by fellow PokerStars ambassador Ramon Collilas.
• April 2019: Joins Team PokerStars Pro.

Kalidou Sow in his own words

On his upbringing: “I didn’t grow up in very easy conditions. My competitive spirit, plus the environment where I grew up, that mix has made me who I am. I knew from a young age that if I wanted something, I had to get it myself.”

On his car accident: “My life was different then. It was a time when I was a bit crazy. I was coming back from a club, I fell asleep at the wheel and ended up rolling. I was very lucky. I got third degree burns. It could have been much worse.”

On fatherhood: “I think that it has changed my life more than my accident. I think that’s what makes me the man I am today.”

On cash vs. tournament poker: “Cash games suit me less because I don’t see the point. I’m a competitor. I prefer tournaments.”

Sow rises to the top in Prague

On PokerStars Championship Prague success: “It’s very prestigious so it’s a dream to win it. When you see so many great players who haven’t won it, I realise how fortunate I am to be in this position.”

On the PokerStars Festival London Main Event: “I like this tournament a lot. There are a lot of crazy recreational players. I’ve played slowly, and the hands kept coming like boom, boom boom. I’ve been keeping risk down to a minimum because I think I have an edge on these players.”

On winning a Platinum Pass: “I am walking on water, I am floating on air.”

On his wife: “She always wants to come with me to events and I say ‘No, no, no.’ But OK! You can come with me to the PCA, my dear.”

Of joining Team PokerStars: “I am living the dream. My competitiveness has always pushed me to look for opportunities. 2018 was a great year and I am looking forward to what 2019 brings wearing the PokerStars patch.”

Kalidou Sow in pictures:

(Swipe left/right to see gallery)

Every now and then, a poker player emerges on the tournament scene with star quality so clearly apparent that it becomes only a matter of time before they find a PokerStars patch on their sleeve. Such was the case in December 2017, when Kalidou Sow led, and then won, the PokerStars Championship Prague Main Event, earning €675,000 for his efforts. But that was only the start.

Today, Sow’s journey took another significant — and somehow inevitable — step as he was unveiled as the latest member of Team PokerStars. Between then and now, he’s won another major title on the PokerStars circuit, he’s led Team France to the PokerStars Players Championship (the biggest €25,000 buy-in tournament ever played), and he’s become a fixture on the international circuit while rubbing shoulders with the best in the world.

Sow will wear the patch for the first time in Monte Carlo

“To become an ambassador for PokerStars, it’s a dream for me,” the 38-year-old from Paris, France, said. “Amazing, amazing.”

As he joined a roster that includes the all-time great Daniel Negreanu, as well as the champion of the PSPC, Ramon Colillas, Sow added: “My competitiveness has always pushed me to look for opportunities. 2018 was a great year and I am looking forward to what 2019 brings wearing the PokerStars patch.”

Sow will continue to play online at PokerStars (he’s “KalidouSow” on PokerStars.com and “Kalsow1” on PokerStars.fr) as well as at live events across the world, including a new series of PokerStars-sponsored live events throughout France where he will compete and socialise with fans and players.

MORE ABOUT KALIDOU SOW:
CAREER TIMELINE AND QUOTES | PRAGUE CHAMPION | PSF LONDON WINNER

Despite only taking up poker recreationally in his early 30s, Sow offered further proof that the game can offer a hasty route to wish fulfillment. He won a Platinum Pass to the PSPC after taking down the PokerStars Festival London in January 2018, his second major title in consecutive months, and sat down to play in the Bahamas for a $26 million prize pool.

“Absolutely love the addition of Kalidou Sow to the team,” said Negreanu, Sow’s new teammate. “His backstory captivated me when he won his Platinum Pass after winning back-to-back events. His life story is very inspiring and he is easy to root for. I’m a fan!”

Eric Hollreiser, PokerStars Director of Poker Marketing, followed up saying: “Kalidou embodies what the game is all about with his friendly, approachable demeanour, his thoughtful interaction with his opponents at the poker table, and a level of cool you don’t see every day. The buzz around him continued long after his initial Platinum Pass win and we’re excited to see where his journey will take him as we welcome him as an ambassador for PokerStars.”

Sow will wear a PokerStars patch for the first time at EPT Monte Carlo at the end of this month.

On February 4, 2012, Max Holloway made his UFC debut as a 20-year-old prospect with a 4-0 record from fighting in other, less prestigious organizations. Less than four minutes after his fight started at UFC 143, the man from Hawaii had tasted defeat for the first time as a professional.

The man who handed Holloway (20-4 MMA, 16-4 UFC) that submission defeat was Dustin Poirier (24-5 MMA, 16-4 UFC), a bigger, older, stronger fighter who had already fought in a trio of UFC bouts and entered the bout with an 11-1 record.

The two are scheduled to meet again on April 13 at UFC 236 from State Farm Arena in Atlanta, Ga. Much has changed since they first faced one another more than seven years ago — not least their relative standings within the sport. Although it was Poirier who declared “I’m here to be a champion,” after defeating Holloway in their first go-round, it’s Holloway who made it first. He is the current UFC featherweight champion and this month’s bout will decide the interim lightweight championship.

Bouncing back and falling again

Following the loss to Poirier, Holloway — the then-youngest fighter on the UFC roster — spent 2012 figuring out life in the Octagon, rattling off three straight wins. The culmination of his first UFC year was a hard-fought split decision victory over 25-fight veteran Leonard Garcia.

In less than a year, Holloway stepped into the Octagon four times, proving he belonged on the biggest stage. He put himself in position to fight bigger names and to continue climbing the featherweight ladder.

The next 12 months were more difficult, however. First, Holloway faced Dennis Bermudez at UFC 160 and lost a split decision. While the decision was controversial — every media outlet tracked by MMADecisions.com awarded the fight to Holloway — the defeated fighter revealed a pragmatic side to his character.

“I’ve got no excuses,” Holloway said following the loss. “I’m going to come back stronger than ever. I’m not going to cry about it. It is what it is.”

Things did not improve in his next fight. At UFC Fight Night 26, Holloway faced off with Conor McGregor. Now an international superstar, McGregor was only stepping into the Octagon for the second time in his career.

The fight took place in Boston, where a wild Irish-American crowd was fully supportive of the brash Dublin native McGregor. Fueled by that support, McGregor dominated Holloway almost every minute of the bout despite suffering a torn ACL in the second round.

The unanimous decision loss brought Holloway’s 2013 to a close with an 0-2 record and his standing in the UFC uncertain.

The streak

The waters of the UFC are rough and fighters who can’t win consistently have a tendency to find themselves back fighting on the regional circuit. Entering 2014, Holloway was acutely aware of this.

“I’m going through a tough time right now, but that was last year, and this is the first card of 2014,” Holloway told MMAjunkie Radio ahead of a UFC Fight Night 34 bout with Will Chope. “I’m trying to start the year off with a bang.”

He added: “I’m here to win. I want to win. I don’t want to be a .500 fighter in the UFC. I want to be known as one of the greatest when my career is up. I was trying to rush things. I keep forgetting that I’m only 22-years-old. I just need to slow things down and take little baby steps.”

Holloway rattled off four wins in 2014.

And another four in 2015.

In addition to an eight-fight winning streak over those two years, Holloway was beginning to add some big scalps to his resume, including Jeremy Stephens, Cub Swanson and Charles Oliveira — all fighters who had proven their skills time and again in the UFC.

Holloway was growing not only in confidence but growing into his body and adding new skills. Defensive deficiencies on display against McGregor seemed to be gone and he was physically stronger, more accurate with his strikes and more diverse in his attack.

The belt and the legend

In 2016, Holloway fought Ricardo Lamas at UFC 199 and won easily, taking his winning streak to nine consecutive bouts. The fight also featured one of the iconic moments of Holloway’s career as he and Lamas agreed to stand and trade wild shots for 10 seconds as the crowd erupted.

McGregor had won the featherweight championship and moved up in weight to capture the lightweight title as well. During that time, legendary Brazilian Jose Aldo won the interim featherweight title.

When UFC 206’s main event of Daniel Cormier vs. Anthony Johnson fell through due to an injury to Cormier, a bout between Holloway and former UFC lightweight champion Anthony Pettis was bumped to the main event. And to make it a little more attractive, the UFC stripped McGregor of his championship due to his pursuits at higher weights, made Aldo the “full champion” of the division and put the interim belt on the line between Holloway and Pettis.

Holloway’s chance at gold finally arrived on December 10, 2016 and he did not disappoint.

Despite Pettis missing weight and thus being ineligible himself to win the vacant interim title, Holloway scored a third round TKO to capture the championship.

“We’re trying to fight Aldo, so I thought I’d call him Waldo – Jose Waldo,” Holloway said in the cage after his win. “Hashtag Jose Waldo, and tell him meet me in Brooklyn in February. Let’s get the real one!

“This is my ticket to Jose Waldo. Let me know when you guys find him. I’ll be waiting.”

Aldo was no stranger to streaks of his own, having won 18 straight fights over the best featherweights in the world before running into a McGregor punch only 12 seconds into their wildly anticipated fight in 2015.

In UFC 212 in June 2017, Holloway finally got his chance against Aldo. In the post-McGregor era, the fight represented a chance for the featherweight division to have one true champion and a new identity.

Fighting in front of Aldo’s Brazilian fans in Rio de Janeiro, Holloway slowly turned up the heat. Combination after combination began to land and in the third round the referee was forced to stop the fight. Holloway was now the undisputed king of the featherweights.

OHHHHHHHHHHH @BlessedMMA DROPS ALDO IN ROUND 3!!!!! #UFC212 pic.twitter.com/jCRYvEuHSo

— UFC (@ufc) June 4, 2017

Aldo and Holloway met for a rematch in December but the result was the same: Holloway won by a third round TKO, making him one of only three men to beat Aldo in his career and the only man to defeat him twice.

Holloway attempted to follow McGregor’s path of jumping to a lightweight title fight at UFC 223, filling in on less than a week’s notice with no training camp when Tony Ferguson was injured and withdrew from a bout with Khabib Nurmagomedov. The day of the weigh-ins the New York State Athletic Commission pulled Holloway from the bout due to the short notice weight cut being too much.

Next up was a UFC 226 bout with Brian Ortega, but Holloway was forced to pull out when he began exhibiting “concussion-like symptoms” days ahead of the fight.

The bout with Ortega eventually took place at UFC 231, more than a year since Holloway’s previous bout. No “ring rust” was apparent, though, as Holloway battered Ortega, landing a record 290 strikes in the fight and running his win streak to 13.

Moving up

While the attempt to jump to lightweight didn’t work out at UFC 223, Holloway will now make the jump at UFC 236 and attempt to gain revenge over the man who spoiled his Octagon debut while collecting yet another championship.

Poirier is no easy out, but Holloway’s sights have been set on bigger game or, at least, bigger paydays. He and McGregor have spent plenty of time trash-talking one another on Twitter, and might one day settle it in the Octagon.

McGregor’s Garden!
Now where the fuck are them sunglasses? pic.twitter.com/HxWceONYhv

— Conor McGregor (@TheNotoriousMMA) March 17, 2019

lol there you are my bratha. glad you got to relive your best years today in Boston

— Max Holloway (@BlessedMMA) March 17, 2019

but if we talking about the past remember this. I was 21. You were 25.

— Max Holloway (@BlessedMMA) March 17, 2019

This is me at 25 pic.twitter.com/FYjF5DoSXA

— Max Holloway (@BlessedMMA) March 17, 2019

And while Holloway knows McGregor is where the big money is, he has also poked at the possibility of a future lightweight unification bout with full champ Khabib Nurmagomedov, the unbeaten fighter from Dagestan, Russia. Nurmagomedov stopped McGregor in his last bout before both camps engaged in a wild post-fight brawl.

“Khabib said he wanted to fight me, but he wanted me to prove myself,” Holloway said at a recent press conference ahead of UFC 236. “I got Dustin. April 13, I decided to prove myself. I’m going to go out there and prove myself, and when he’s ready to come back, I’ll be ready.”

If he gets past Poirier to become a two-division champion, Holloway will have decisions to make. Will he return to featherweight to defend his crown or vacate and remain at 155 and await a showdown with division king Nurmagomedov?

“At the end of the day, first things first, I got Dustin Poirier, and we’ll talk to the UFC after that,” Holloway said. “I don’t think Frankie [Edgar] or Jose [Aldo] deserve a champ that’s not willing to defend for a year. After this one I could go back down in the summer. That would be fun. But first things first, April 13.”

Whether you are playing online poker or a live poker tournament, you will encounter players using a wide range of styles, drawing on whatever strategy suits them best. But wherever you go, players tend to fall into types. It doesn’t matter if you are playing in Las Vegas, London, Brazil or cyberspace, you’re sure to come across the table captain, an action junkie, a silent assassin, or the bad beat magnet.

Here we take a look at some of these individuals, united by their love of poker.

The Table Captain

Table captains ensure a smooth-running game. They are sticklers for poker rules and etiquette. The table captain is often the elder at the table, who moderates the discussion and will try to change the subject if things get a little too boisterous. It’s their decades of wisdom that puts them in a universal position of respect and power. The best table captains are encouraging like a coach, but many run a tight ship, so don’t get on their bad side. The captain can be as traditionally powerful as a high-end attorney or as unlikely as a listless lunch lady in primary school. Captains are often amateur jurists who will enthusiastically adjudicate low-level disagreements, especially about sports trivia.

The Happy Noob

You can spot a beginner from a mile away. They are glowing and proudly wearing poker schwag. They often use recently-learned lingo. Most of all, they absolutely love the game and are not shy about it. No one loves poker more than noobs. Everyone remembers the honeymoon period when they fell in love with poker for the first time and want to play it every waking moment. It’s always fun to play with new players because their excitement is real and infectious. As the saying goes, “Ignorance is bliss.”

The Action Junkie

Every profitable table has someone who induces the action. The action junkie can be a loose-playing whale with deep pockets who enjoys splashing around chips or an adrenaline junkie who craves intensity. Instead of jumping out of airplanes, they’re raising your big blind. Once in a while you encounter an opponent who is outright crazy, thriving on chaos.

The Know-It-All Chatterbox

The American TV sitcom Cheers had Cliff Clavin, a know-it-all mail carrier who often irked the fellow bar patrons with obscure history lessons and long-winded stories about nothing. Sure, sometimes the person who knows random trivia (e.g. who scored the most goals in the 1978 World Cup) can be mildly entertaining during a boring session. However, it can become utter torture to sit next to an insufferable know-it-all who will not shut up. When the table discussion delves into genealogy and the names of every direwolf from Game of Thrones, it’s the ideal time to put on those headphones or mute the chatbox.

The Wannabe Pro

It’s important to have goals and aspirations, especially in poker. The wannabe pro isn’t quite there yet. Maybe they will never fully realize their dreams, or simply don’t have all the proper off-the-felt skills to get there. They are not hard to miss. They know every line of dialogue from Rounders.

Maybe one day they’ll be good enough to join this game…

They talk a good game, stream all their online sessions, favorite Daniel Negreanu’s tweets, and dress like the pros you see on TV. Style only takes you so far, especially at the poker table. Substance pays the bills.

The Silent Assassin

The opposite of a wannabe or poseur is an actual pro. These are the professional snipers who knock you out of a tournament before you ever see it coming. Like special forces, they are highly skilled and often operate in the shadows. They swiftly move in and out of danger zones with precision. They are the opposite of James Bond. You won’t find them in a tuxedo, but most likely in a hoodie. They seek to blend in without drawing attention to themselves.

Beware the shark that hides in plain sight

They never waste energy in the chatbox and thrive on anonymity because nothing is more dangerous than a shark that hides in plain sight.

The Bad Beat Bens and Beckys

Bad beats are a part of poker. They happen all the time. If you cannot handle a bad beat, then you should not be playing poker. The best players in the world have a Zen-like attitude and try to forget bad beats as soon as they happen. Pros can take a wicked beat in their stride and remain focused on the task at hand. When you live in the present and focus on the moment, you will not be terrorized by that nasty one-outer you took five hands earlier thanks to the super-loose Swede in seat 1. It’s tough enough to maintain your own mental stability at the tables, but it can be torture sitting next to a bad beat magnet. Unfortunately, no one likes to sit next to a constant complainer. Poker rooms all over the world have their share of Bad Beat Bens and Beckys. They have a long list of bad beats and past grievances that they will be happy to share with you. Don’t be a Bad Beat Becky!

The Jaded Vet

The jaded vet is often the jokester at the table, but their jokes are drenched in sarcasm and deeply-rooted poker trauma. They have a constant dreary disposition about the world and always get their pocket aces cracked. The vets have been around the block enough times that they’ve seen everything. They played cards back in the outlaw days and knew Devilfish on a first-name basis. They experienced multiple poker booms and could regale you with tales about going busto to robusto and back again. Nothing impresses a jaded vet, especially the young kid from Germany who binked another high roller for millions. There’s a fine line between a jaded vet and a hater. At some point you ask the lifers, “If you hate poker so much, why are you still playing?” They will respond, “I ask myself that same question every day!”

Paranoid Android

Like the Nirvana song says, “Just because you’re not paranoid, don’t mean they’re not after you.” There’s always one person in the poker room who has watched one too many online conspiracy videos. They’re constantly talking about reptilian shapeshifters and the Illuminati. So, it’s not uncommon for those tin-foil-hat wearing players to spout absurd theories at the tables about why online poker is rigged and how many motherships are hiding behind the dark side of the moon.

The 13th anniversary of the Sunday Million takes place this weekend (14th April, ), and trust us, it’s going to be a big one.

There’s a massive $10M guaranteed in the prize pool, and whoever takes it down is guaranteed a minimum first-place prize of $1M.

Sounds good, right? We can only imagine what it’s like to win such a big tournament.

Luckily for us, we spoke with a few people who don’t have to imagine.

Here, some previous winners of the Milly share their thoughts on what it takes to take it down, how you can prepare, and how to put yourself in the best position to do well.

Heed their advice!

Paul Vas Nunes

PAUL VAS NUNES (“pvas2”)

Paul Vas Nunes is a two-time Sunday Million champ, taking it down in both 2010 ($233,944) and again seven years later in 2017 ($152,804).

Vas Nunes: ”Treat [the Sunday Million] like a normal tournament in the early stages. There will be a lot of less experienced players at every table, so you shouldn’t shy away from playing your usual hands just because this is a bigger tournament than you usually play.

“A lot of other players will also be scared of busting early, so take advantage of this to chip up at every profitable opportunity. You can always re enter if it goes wrong!

“If you make it in to the money then stop looking at the pay jumps because they will be quite small for a long time. It’s very tough to get to the last few tables of a tournament with thousands or tens of thousands of players, and that is where the money starts to be good or life changing. Nobody will care when you tell them you came 412th and lost with kings to queen-nine off suit for your last five big blinds, so once you’ve made the money really try to run up a big stack and make it deep. You will fail a large amount of the time but so will thousands of other players. There’s always next year!”

MORE ABOUT VAS NUNES: SUNDAY MILLION WIN RECAP | MILLY INTERVIEW | WSOP INTERVIEW

MORE ON THE ANNIVERSARY SUNDAY MILLION: TIMELINE
WHO’LL WIN: PART 1, PART 2 | STRATEGY ADVICE | QUALIFY FOR FREE
ANNOUNCEMENT | SAVE THE DATE: APRIL 14, 1pm (ET)

Paul “behindme93” Jurcuta

PAUL JURCUTA (“behindme93”)

Romania’s Paul Jurcuta won the Sunday Million in October 2018 for $131,018, and his biggest career score. Jurcuta overcame a tough final table which included the only three-time Milly winner, Artem “veeea” Vezhenkov, plus Luke “LFMagic” Fields.

Jurcuta: “First off, I think that every person who registers in the anniversary Sunday Million should enjoy playing it. It is a great celebration that PokerStars offers to us.

“Do not think about the money when you play it. Just observe your opponents’ moves at your table, try to adjust to them, stay calm and focus.

“Play every hand to your best ability and never forget your love for the game. Have fun and good luck!”

Read about Jurcuta’s Milly win here.

Anton Wigg

ANTON WIGG (“AnteSvante”)

Anton Wigg’s poker career has gone from strength to strength since he won the Sunday Million back in 2009 for $213,459 and his largest online cash. Since then the Swede has won an EPT Main Event (Copenhagen in 2010 for $672K), a bunch of other PokerStars majors, and become a fixture in the live high roller world.

Wigg: “I’d say coming prepared for a long grind is key. Make sure you are comfortable and with as few distractions as possible. Focus on trying to figure out what your opponents are doing and how you can use that information to your advantage.

“Hey, you might even learn a trick or two to put in your toolbox! Best of luck and don’t forget to have fun!”

MORE ABOUT WIGG: SUNDAY MILLION WIN RECAP | EPT COPENHAGEN VICTORY

Chad “ihaterivers” Walker

CHAD WALKER (“ihaterivers”)

Chad Walker finished eighth in the Sunday Million in the summer of 2015, then returned just over a year later and took it down for $194,371. With WCOOP final tables also under his belt, this guy knows a thing or two about playing big events. For him, it’s all about having fun.

Walker: “My best advice for beginner poker players is to just have fun and enjoy the ride. If you are enjoying yourself, you will play with more confidence and usually play better because of it. If having fun doesn’t help you play better, at least you had fun doing it!”

Read about Walker’s Milly win here.

Ready to sign up for PokerStars? Click here to get an account.

Less than 24 hours before he set to defend his UFC middleweight championship for the first time at UFC 234, Robert Whittaker was in emergency surgery to address an intestinal hernia and a twisted and collapsed bowel.

His scheduled opponent, former Ultimate Fighter reality show winner Kelvin Gastelum (15-3 MMA, 10-3 UFC), decided to keep himself in the spotlight despite his main event opportunity falling apart. Gastelum borrowed flyweight champion Henry Cejudo’s title belt, slung it over his shoulder and told anyone who would listen he was the new middleweight champ.

“This is my belt,” Gastelum told a crowd of reporters at the event in Melbourne. “I earned this. I showed up, traveled thousands and thousands of miles from home, made the weight. In my world, the wrestling world, if the guy shows up and makes the weight, for some reason cancels the bout, the guy forfeits the match. I win. I am the champion.”

The stunt was not warmly received by fans and fellow fighters, even drawing out MMA’s biggest star to comment.

Why is that worm holding the 185lb belt? There are worms crawling on his skin! It was absolutely ludicrous to even consider allowing him to compete. Let alone now walk around the arena shaking our fans hands.
Someone sort this, this instant. And sterilize that belt.
Immediately.

— Conor McGregor (@TheNotoriousMMA) February 10, 2019

“Why is that worm holding the 185lb belt?” former two-division champ Conor McGregor tweeted. “There are worms crawling on his skin! It was absolutely ludicrous to even consider allowing him to compete. Let alone now walk around the arena shaking our fans hands. Someone sort this, this instant. And sterilize that belt. Immediately.”

Israel Adesanya’s (16-0 MMA, 5-0 UFC) middleweight bout with MMA legend Anderson Silva was promoted to the main event of UFC 234 following Whittaker’s surgery. Adesanya defeated the game but overmatched former 2,457-day middleweight champ to score the biggest win of his career.

Moments after the fight, Adesanya turned his attention to Gastelum at cageside. “Kelvin, put that belt down,” he said. “Seriously.”

Adesanya would continue to address the belt situation during the post-fight press conference.

“This ain’t wrestling, this ain’t high school wrestling,” Adesanya said. “This is MMA. This is the UFC. Those rules don’t apply here. But, let me see, he has a point. He does have a point but I think sit it out, fight Rob (Whittaker) and the winner can fight me.”

Adesanya’s proposed plan of a Gastelum/Whittaker championship winner facing him in the next title fight was not to be.

Instead, the Nigerian-born fighter was being pitched a short-turnaround fight against Gastelum for the interim middleweight championship at UFC 236 on April 13 at State Farm Arena in Atlanta.

“Before I left Melbourne, within two days they offered me this fight, and I said, ‘Just let me breathe for a second, let me get out of Melbourne and just chill,’” Adesanya said at a press conference ahead of UFC 236. “I think within the next day I was like, ‘Yup, sign me up. I’ll do the fight.’ Interim or not interim, at the end of the day we had a deal.”

While the UFC 236 fight will be Adesanya’s sixth trip to the Octagon in just 14 months, Gastelum has only fought once since November 2018. The dip in inactivity was a big motivating factor for Gastelum also agreeing to the bout despite an almost ironic disappointment in the fight not being for the “real belt”.

“It’s for a world title but at the same time it is kind of like a number one contender spot with a little prize,” Gastelum said during a media luncheon ahead of this Saturday’s event. “That’s kind of how I think. It’s a little bittersweet that I’m not fighting for the undisputed title against Rob in Australia. At the end of the day, this has been the longest layoff of my career and I just wanted to get in there and fight.”

Gastelum also said he doesn’t feel Adesanya has properly worked his way to a title shot in his brief UFC career despite a #5 spot in the UFC middleweight rankings.

“I don’t think he’s been through the fire that I’ve been through,” Gastelum said. “He hasn’t fought the quality of opponents that I have.

“Obviously, he’s fought some great fighters, but the top five guys, anyone of those top five guys can be the champion, and I don’t think he’s fought those kind of guys.”

Adesanya has won every fight in his professional career, and the name value of each win has increased with each trip to the Octagon, culminating in the decision win over Silva.

Win after win, fight seemingly on top of fight, Adesanya has established a momentum unlike anyone in the UFC. And he seems to believe that’s a force strong enough to lead him to the interim championship.

“Momentum’s a powerful force, and it keeps on rolling,” Adesanya said at the pre-event press conference. “I’m going to roll over Kelvin.”

“I’ve never really been interested in tournament poker,” Guner tells the PokerStars Blog.

That might sound funny for someone who just won a Spin of the Day freeroll, but it’s actually a pretty reasonable stance given his history.

Now 37 years old and living in Gravesend, England, Guner has been playing poker for half of his life. He started playing online in the years before the poker boom, logging on during the couple hours he would shut his kebab shop during the day. And he enjoyed success, too. At a time when he usually aimed to win £300 in a single day, Guner won a £5,000 pot with pocket queens.

Big cash wins made tournaments pale in comparison for Guner.

“There were at least five of us in the hand and the pot was already £400 before the flop,” he says. “The flop came Q-4-Q and through excitement I fell off the chair and pulled the plug from my computer! I managed to switch it back on before I was timed out but I was sweating the whole time it was loading.”

With that much excitement in one hand, how could a tournament ever measure up?

As more players began to join in, Guner eventually found himself gravitating away from higher-stakes poker. “It got to the point where everyone was happy to gamble and it started becoming a coin flip, so I lost enjoyment from that.”

He didn’t stop playing completely, though. He’s mostly played in social games with his friends for the last 10 years (a stretch that included a bout with testicular cancer, from which Guner has been cleared for four years now). He’s also worked in “the odd occasion online.”

Like, say, a Spin of the Day freeroll.

“I played this tournament because I’m planning to enter a tournament in Aspers Casino Stratford and I need the practice,” says Guner. “I know playing tournaments is all about patience and being able to give up hands.”

He got exactly what he was looking for. And he learned a lot from the experience.

The dream.

“Patience is the key,” says Guner. “I found myself laying down big hands because in my mind if someone gets lucky I’m out. For me it wasn’t about the money at the end, it was to learn how people play tournaments, how they bet, what they call with but most importantly they are willing to lay down (if they show). The further on you get in the competition, it becomes by far a better and more sensible game, but you need some luck to get to that point.”

Having acquired the knowledge he sought, Guner’s next task will be to conquer that live tournament. And if he can do that, who knows what’s next?

“When I watch poker on TV,” says Guner, “I always picture myself with a T-shirt that has a big poker sponsor on it. My dream is to be a poker player.”

There’s still time to win with our Spin of the Day promotion. Check out all the details here and get in on the action before April 14th!

Joe Stapleton just flew in from Estonia — and boy, are his arms tired!

If you said “strawberry milkshake,” you’ve won this round of “What Do Poker Players Order At McDonald’s?”

Stapes had been in the Baltic republic for the last week working on the Patrik Antonius Poker Challenge alongside the new tour’s namesake. Naturally, he has some great stories to tell, among them the tale of his late-night visit to Estonian McDonald’s with the Finnish legend.

After begging a cab driver to take them across town at 5 a.m., Stapes bounded into the land of the golden arches with three people: Antonius, his wife, and Miss Hungary. (Yes, Miss Hungary!) Antonius wanted a strawberry milkshake, even though everybody knows that you can’t get a milkshake at McDonald’s. The machine is always “broken.”

Check out this week’s episode on SoundCloud, iTunes, or Spotify, and be sure to rate and subscribe to the podcast. The bit about Estonia starts around 12:00, and Maria Ho appears at 20:40.

How to tell the difference between a triangle choke and an armbar…

There’s a learning curve to becoming a fan of any sport. Exploring the world of the UFC is no different.

Before this weekend’s UFC event, let us help you pick up a bit of lingo to enhance your enjoyment of fight night.

The Striking game

Superman Punch – Anyone familiar with boxing may be taken aback by the concept of a fighter leaving their feet to throw a punch. The dynamic nature of mixed martial arts has allowed the superman punch, or a punch where an opponent jumps forward and kicks their leg back to add force to the punch, to gain traction as a premier striking attack.

Showtime Superman Punch?@ShowtimePettis finishes Thompson in round 2! #UFCNashville pic.twitter.com/m5D7PkvyHm

— UFC (@ufc) March 24, 2019

Flying Knee – Another acrobatic strike involving leaving the feet, a flying knee is exactly what it sounds like. One man (or woman) flying at another and cracking them in the head with their knee.

The Ground Game

Takedown – While all fights start on the feet, many fighters do their best work on the ground. Taking your opponent to the mat requires a takedown, which could be from a discipline such as amateur wrestling, judo, jiu jitsu, etc. Here is UFC lightweight champion Khabib Nurmagomedov setting a single fight record for the most takedowns in a fight:

Submission – Lock down a joint to the point of pain or danger of injury or cut off the blood flow to the brain with a choke and you’ve got yourself a submission.

Tap out – If you’re locked in a submission hold and can’t find a way out, your best option is to tap out. This means tapping your hand on the mat or (preferably) your opponent’s body. This indicates you are giving up, but does stop your opponent from wrecking one of your limbs or choking you to the point of unconsciousness. Also, you may submit verbally. The act of screaming out in pain is also considered a “verbal tap.”

A WILD FINISH!

Make it 1️⃣3️⃣ straight victories for Cláudio Silva!

Tune in now ➡️ https://t.co/7gsc6RQiv8 #UFCLondon pic.twitter.com/CkP4kiNidy

— UFC (@ufc) March 16, 2019

Ground and pound – When you have an opponent on the ground and drop heavy punches and elbows to their face, you’re practicing the time honored art of “ground and pound.” Many fighters have made their name in the Octagon on the strength of putting fighters on their back and dropping heavy strikes to score points or score stoppage victories.

VICIOUS ground and pound.@TheBeast_UFC #UFCAustin pic.twitter.com/cwvrvSfdA5

— UFC (@ufc) February 19, 2018

Four basic submissions

Armbar – One of the four submissions you’re most likely to see on any given fight night, the armbar can be applied from a variety of positions. Squeeze your knees around the arm, trap the forearm to your chest, point your opponent’s thumb to the sky and drive your heels down and your hips up. It’s tap or snap time at that point.

Rear-naked choke – Before MMA took its place in the mainstream, the idea of a choke brought to mind hands on a throat preventing another person from breathing. In reality, a “blood choke” stopping the flow of blood to the brain is a more powerful tool. The rear-naked choke is one of the most common in the sport, and is one of the go-to attacks when you take your opponent’s back. Former top featherweight Urijah Faber breaks down the technique here:

Triangle choke – Again, blood chokes are the best chokes. Trapping a fighter’s head and one arm between your two legs, properly positioning the arm and pulling the head down while squeezing your knees together are key to finishing off this submission. Just like Mel Gibson in Lethal Weapon:

Or in UFC action:

Guillotine choke – Chokes are a big deal, ok? The guillotine choke is a favorite attack of many submission aces when an opponent is reckless attempting a takedown. It looks similar to a headlock but involves squeezing arteries to cut off that valuable brain blood supply. UFC featherweight Brian Ortega has been measured as generating 365 pounds of force with his guillotine choke. Oh, and he fights at 145 pounds.

HOW DO WE FOLLOW IT UP???? WITH THIS!!!

Unreal performance from @DannyHenryMMA!! #UFCLondon pic.twitter.com/QQg4DnkKQ5

— UFC (@ufc) March 17, 2018

Fun with rare submissions

Twister – If there’s a more honest name for a submission than “Twister,” I don’t know it. A combination of locking up the far leg, passing an arm behind your head, trapping your opponent’s head and, well, twisting. Exceedingly rare, exceedingly brutal.

Omoplata – The omoplata is notoriously hard to finish and typically used to “sweep” an opponent (or reverse position so the defending fighter on the bottom becomes the top attacker). On occasion, however, this arm attack using the legs leads to a highlight reel finish.

OMOPLATA!!!

Adam Wieczorek gets the omoplata submission against Bhullar in round 2 at #UFCGlendale!! WOW!!!! pic.twitter.com/GvG92SgomE

— UFC (@ufc) April 14, 2018

Heel hook – Heel hooks are one of the submissions with the most immediate risk of injury. Leg locks attack the knees and/or ankles, notoriously injury-prone joints. A heel hook involves capturing an opponent’s leg and isolating the food in a position where slightly too much torque will shred their knee. The speed with which people will tap to a deeply locked heel hook rivals any other submission.

Big time win for @ryanhall5050 defeating the legend @bjpenndotcom! pic.twitter.com/FVqnnG1eyC

— FOX Sports: UFC (@UFCONFOX) December 30, 2018

For further information on what you need to know heading into a UFC event, check out our “Idiot’s guide to the UFC.”

You might dream of entering the Octagon to compete on the UFC’s biggest stage. Or you might just watch and admire one of the most intense sporting spectacles anywhere.

Whichever one you are, you likely realise it’s a pretty tough gig.

Even with the training, the dedication, and hard work, few fighters enjoy the kind of success that gets their face on a poster, or their name on a Pay Per View undercard.

Poker and UFC involve very different attributes. But in a few crucial ways they rely on the same thing

And that’s before considering those other qualities possessed by every successful UFC fighter.

Determination, courage, and resilience.

Not everyone has the time or ability to dedicate themselves to reaching standards like you’d see from Junior do Santos or Amanda Nunes. But there is some consolation to be had.

Those same skills can be used elsewhere.

The surprising similarities between UFC and poker

The same qualities that make successful fighters make for great poker players.

Determination, courage, and resilience work just as well at the poker table. Only in poker there’s no waiting, and those years spent in the gym are, well, let’s say optional.

In poker, you get to compete right away.

It might not involve a flying knee, or Superman Punch, but you could try a check-raise or four-bet in much the same way.

Which is one of the things that makes the new UFC Spin and Go’s a great place to start playing poker.

If you’re familiar with UFC, but not as much on poker, you can follow the same pre-fight routing.

First you can get in shape

This is where your determination comes in.

It means learning a bit more about the game (PokerStars Schools is the place to start), but also about Spin & Go strategy.

For instance, what are the things that make three-handed turbo poker different?

Think of these high-speed games like you would a one-round scrap. Albeit with two opponents not one — each less likely to inflict significant physical punishment.

Then you judge what level you should play

This is where you can use some of that courage.

Buy-ins start at as little as $0.25, and go all the way up to $25. So even beginners have a place to pay.

Then it’s up to you when you try a higher level (or not), and tougher competition.

You could add some faith to this part too. The same faith in yourself than gets you to that next level.

Delivering the winning blow

Then there’s the resilience.

Spin & Go’s move quickly, and that means they can be unpredictable.

The turbo structure means you can’t sit around and wait. If you don’t take action you’re likely to suffer.

And like in UFC, one moment out of sync with everything else, can change the result in an instant.

Then there’s how to finish. Heads-up play is a little different. Strategy comes into play very quickly. Experience and preparation are invaluable.

One more thing fighters and poker players have in common

There’s one more similarity.

How you react to winning or losing can make all the difference.

It takes that resilience to pick yourself up, get back in the gym (or PokerStars Schools) and getting back at it. But it’s something all good players have in common.

Before you know it, you’ll have out-prepared, out witted, and out fought your opponent.

Sounds familiar, doesn’t it?

You can find out more about UFC Spin & Go’s on PokerStars, here. You’ll get all the details on how to play, and about some of the great prizes to be won. Some of them being life changing.

Catch up on all of this week’s PokerStars Blog content…

• Kalidou Sow joins Team PokerStars

• Michael Soyza wins Super High Roller with APPT Korea in full swing

• What does it take to win the Sunday Million? Find out…

Don’t forget!

There’s a €530 five-package guaranteed EPT Monte Carlo Main Event satellite at 20:35 WET on Sunday, April 14th.

KALIDOU SOW JOINS TEAM POKERSTARS

There was some exciting news out of PokerStars head office this week as Frenchman Kalidou Sow was unveiled as the newest member of Team PokerStars.

“To become an ambassador for PokerStars, it’s a dream for me,” the 38-year-old from Paris, France, said. “Amazing, amazing.”

Welcome to the team, Kalidou Sow!

What was really amazing was Sow’s poker playing over the past year and a half. In December 2017 he took down the PokerStars Championship Prague Main Event, earning €675,000 for his efforts. He followed that up just a couple of weeks later with a win in the PokerStars Festival London Main Event for £121K (and a Platinum Pass). Since then he’s won several other major titles, plus he led Team France at the 2019 PokerStars Players Championship in the Bahamas.

Welcome to the team, Kalidou.

MORE ABOUT KALIDOU SOW: ANNOUNCEMENT
CAREER TIMELINE AND QUOTES | PRAGUE CHAMPION | PSF LONDON WINNER

SOYZA WINS SUPER HIGH ROLLER AT APPT KOREA

The action is well underway at APPT Korea, with a champion already being crowned in the Super High Roller.

Michael Soyza was the defending Main Event champion

Michael Soyza, who not only won the Main Event at this stop last year but also ended Day 1A as the second largest stack yesterday, took down the ₩10,000,000 APPT Super High Roller ($8,767) for ₩178,890,000 ($157,423) after defeating China’s Jiang Chen in a brief heads-up encounter.

You can read about Soyza’s victory here.

Meanwhile, the ₩1,800,000 Main Event got going yesterday, with Soyza almost topping the 222-strong field. Ultimately it was Japan’s Takao Shimizu who bagged biggest, with 59 survivors at the end of play.

APPT KOREA MAIN EVENT: DAY 1B LIVE UPDATES | DAY 1A COVERAGE ARCHIVE

WHAT DOES IT TAKE TO WIN THE SUNDAY MILLION?

The 13th anniversary of the Sunday Million takes place this weekend (14th April), and trust us, it’s going to be a big one. There’s a massive $10M guaranteed in the prize pool, and whoever takes it down is guaranteed a minimum first-place prize of $1M.

Take notes from former Sunday Million winners

But what does it take to win a tournament as large and prestigious as the Milly?

We asked several former winners including Anton Wigg and two-time champ Paul Vas Nunes for their tips and advice.

Find out what it takes to win the Sunday Million here.

MORE ON THE ANNIVERSARY SUNDAY MILLION: TIMELINE
WHO’LL WIN: PART 1, PART 2 | STRATEGY ADVICE | QUALIFY FOR FREE
ANNOUNCEMENT | SAVE THE DATE: APRIL 14, 1pm (ET)

MORE CONTENT YOU MIGHT HAVE MISSED:

All the latest from the UFC

You know what they call a Big Mac in Estonia? (Poker in the Ears pod w/ Patrik Antonius)

Spin of the Day: “My dream is to be a poker player”

Poker stereotypes: Have you met them all?

Opening a PokerStars account is easy. Click here to get an account in minutes.

We’re a week closer to SCOOP 2019, which starts on Sunday May 12.

And while we’re still finalizing the schedule for this year’s Series, we can now announce more details of this year’s Series. Including guaranteed prize money, what you can win, and how you can win it.

So if you’re already actively planning your SCOOP campaign, take note of what follows.

The tournament schedule is getting the finishing touches. So stay tuned for that later this month.

For now the key numbers are:

SCOOP 2019: Sunday May 12 to 27

* $75 million guaranteed over 67 events and 15 days – a new record for SCOOP

* 201 tournaments across low, medium and high buy-ins

* $115 million to win on PokerStars during the series

* $5 million guaranteed Main Event

* $1 million plus guaranteed tournaments every day during the Series

There’s also SCOOP’s own “Super Sunday” on 26 May.

On that day they will be $11.5 million guaranteed across three Main Events.

Main Event Low: $109 buy-in. $2.5 million guaranteed

Main Event Medium: $1,050. $4 million guaranteed

Main Event High: $10,300. $5 million guaranteed

They’re the standout tournaments, but they’ll be lots going on before then.

Play for low, medium and high stakes

Once again you’ll find three tiers of buy-in for each SCOOP event. We want this to be a SCOOP series for everyone. That includes new and low stakes players.

So you’ll be able to play low tier SCOOP tournaments for as little as $2.20.

And, you can also take advantage of satellites to win seats in more series events. They start on Monday April 15, and cost just $0.11 to play.

Those are just a couple of ways into SCOOP this year. But there are more.

Other ways to play SCOOP

You can also play SCOOP Spin of the Day.

We’ll have more details of this special promotion soon, but the premise is simple.

Win entry into special freerolls that award SCOOP tickets, everyday. And all by taking a free bonus spin.

You’ll also notice special Spin & Go’s starting on Monday. You can play those right the way through to May 27.

These three-handed turbo tournaments will be awarding SCOOP tickets, and Main Event seats worth $10,300. They cost just $2 to play. Or $22 and $215 depending on your bankroll.

All that and the full schedule still to come.

Still more to come

We’ll have that later this month on the PokerStars Blog.

For now, you can check out more details about how to play SCOOP, including how to win seats for just a few dollars, on the SCOOP homepage.