It took 23 fights in the hallowed Octagon, but Dustin Poirier ended UFC 236 as a UFC champion.

UFC 236 took place at State Farm Arena in Atlanta, Ga. with a pair of interim titles on the line. The featured bouts included Poirier (25-5 MMA, 17-4 UFC) taking on UFC featherweight champion Max Holloway (20-5 MMA, 16-5 UFC) for the interim lightweight title. The bout was a rematch of a February 2012 bout in which Poirier beat Holloway in the Hawaii native’s UFC debut.

Poirier opened the frame with big leg kicks that opened up strikes to the head before Holloway started to land his own big shots in return, appearing to hurt the lightweight regular.

Poirier began landing heavy bombs to the head of Holloway repeatedly, briefly stealing control of his legs on multiple occasions. The fighting spirit and instincts of Holloway allowed him to survive the first round and the shock of the power he was tasting at 155 pounds.

Another big night in the world of UFC

Despite having just survived one of the worst rounds of his professional career, Holloway opened Round 2 with a smile for Poirier. The smile may have been born of the decision to begin working to Poirier’s body.

As Round 2 wore on, Holloway landed strikes at a higher rate, but Poirier’s power shots were still able to find the increasingly bloody and swollen face of the featherweight champ. With a minute left in the second, Poirier again appeared to hurt Holloway and force him to retreat to add some question to the winner of a round in which Holloway was gaining traction.

Holloway continued to have moments in Round 3. But every time he appeared to gain momentum he was stung by the heavier counters of Poirier. He ended the round with his face showing a large amount of damage and time slipping away for him to do enough work to win a decision.

Poirier wanted the takedown early in Round 4 but when he couldn’t secure it Holloway tried again to turn up the pressure with flurries of punches. With Holloway’s increased focus on attacking to the body, Poirier appeared to start running low on energy. However, a massive Poirier knee caused Holloway to begin gushing blood from a deep gash over his left eye.

In the final five minutes of the fight, the story of Holloway’s volume vs. Poirier’s power continued to play out. With a face covered in blood and a clear power disadvantage, Holloway continued slinging punches and eating counters down the stretch but Poirier smothered with a takedown attempt in the final minutes to run out the clock.

All three judges scored the fight 49-46 for Poirier, awarding him the interim lightweight championship.

Next up for Poirier could be a bout with “full champion” of the lightweight division, Khabib Nurmagomedov.

Israel Adesanya vs. Kelvin Gastelum

With the interim UFC middleweight championship on the line, Kelvin Gastelum (16-4 MMA, 10-4 UFC) and Israel Adesanya (16-0 MMA, 6-0 UFC) appeared as relaxed as could be expected coming out of their corners for the opening round.

Adesanya scored a few strikes in the early stages of Round 1, but a Gastelum right hand briefly buckled the legs of the younger challenger. After feeling the early power of Gastelum, Adesanya seemingly took his foot off the gas a bit and attempted to figure out a plan of attack.

Round 2 proved to be Adesanya’s first showcase of his own power as he scored with a right hand for his own knockdown. After Adesanya had to make the adjustments in Round 1, Gastelum found himself eating heavy strike after heavy strike in Round 2. He seemed one or two strikes away from being finished before making it to the horn, which signified the end of the five-minute period.

Adesanya drops Gastelum in round 2! #UFC236 pic.twitter.com/dfkOdR5bDm

— UFC (@ufc) April 14, 2019

Both men would have their moments as the fight pushed into the “championship rounds” (rounds 4 & 5) but Adesanya’s shots were still scoring knockdowns, even in the fifth and final frame.

Gastelum refused to back down, continually trying — and often succeeding — to land his heavy punches but Adesanya was slightly more accurate and his clean shots were able to do more damage.

That was enough for the judges who scored the competitive bout 48-46, 48-46, 48-46, all for Adesanya, who captured

Rountree Jr. dominates after trip to Thailand

Light heavyweight Khalil Rountree Jr. (8-3 MMA, 4-3 UFC) wanted to improve his muay Thai game so badly he traveled to Thailand ahead of his bout with Eryk Anders (11-4 MMA, 3-4 UFC). This proved to be a wonderful career investment as Rountree scored a dominant unanimous decision victory on the strength of his striking game.

Rountree’s leg kicks were coming fast and hard early in Round 1, reddening the lead leg of Anders. As Anders’ attention drifted to defending his leg, it opened up his head for Rountree’s heavy punches.

With leg kick after leg kick landed for Rountree going into Round 2, a left hand briefly dropped an increasingly overwhelmed Anders to his back.

Anders got back to his feet only to eat another flurry ending with a right hand that dropped him again. Minutes later, the double-tough Anders was dropped again. But he refused to quit, and survived to the end of the second frame.

Anders was in survival mode for Round 3 as Rountree stalked him, with any strike he felt like throwing seemed to land to little resistance. But the tale of the final round was little different from the preceding frames as Rountree landed seemingly any strike he felt like throwing.

Anders scored a moral victory by making it to the final bell. But it was the only victory he came anywhere near to as Rountree and his 71-19 advantage in significant strikes landed took the official judge’s decision. Scores of 30-26, 30-26 and 30-26 earned the win.

Alan Jouban vs. Dwight Grant

Alan Jouban (16-7 MMA, 7-5 UFC) entered the Octagon for his welterweight bout against Dwight Grant (10-2 MMA, 2-1 UFC) with a nine-fight experience advantage on the world’s biggest fighting stage. But that mattered little over the course of three rounds. Jouban was unable to produce the offensive output needed to overcome his inexperienced opponent.

Jouban also had a slew of surgeries following his previous bout, a TKO win in February 2018. Despite potentially his best health in years, Jouban often seemed unable to pull the trigger as quickly as Grant over the first two rounds of action.

With Grant seemingly pulling away through over the opening frames, the crowd met the fighters with a chorus of boos to express their dissatisfaction at a slow-paced affair.

The pace picked up a bit down the stretch of Round 3 when Jouban scored a takedown and some impressive punches in the final 10 seconds, but it was too little, too late for the Louisiana native as the judges sided against him.

The official judges scores were 29-28 Grant, 30-27 Jouban and 29-28 Grant. Grant is now on a two-fight winning streak.

Krylov avenges five-year old loss to Saint Preux

UFC 171 feels like a lifetime ago and five years was enough time for Nikita Krylov (25-6 MMA, 7-4 UFC) to catch up to Ovince Saint Preux (23-13 MMA, 11-8 UFC).

Saint Preux defeated Krylov by submission at the March 15, 2014 event, but could not hang in the rematch before tapping out in the second round.

Krylov started the fight looking to attack the neck with choke submissions only to find himself in trouble when Saint Preux’s defense allowed him to survive, score a takedown and end up in dominant position on the ground.

Saint Preux wasn’t able to do much with the advantageous position and looked as though his gas tank was nearing empty as Round 1 came to a close.

Despite Saint Preux’s corner telling their fighter, “You’re not tired, you don’t get tired,” before the second round, it was clear the former college football player was battling his own endurance as well as the Ukrainian standing across the cage.

Krylov was able to work inside on his fatigued foe, score a takedown and force Saint Preux into panic mode where he exposed his neck and was caught in a rear-naked choke before tapping out at the 2:30 mark of Round 2.

Krylov is now 5-1 in his six most recent bouts while Saint Preux, who entered the fight as the UFC’s #12 ranked light heavyweight, has now lost three of four.

With one day of poker in the books, more than 60,000 players have been eliminated from the Sunday Million 13th Anniversary. Today the 980 competitors who outlasted their rivals will return and play until only one new millionaire remains.

One day down, one to go in the Sunday Million 13th Anniversary

Five hours of late registration built a truly enormous field for this anniversary Milly on the strength of 45,929 unique entries and another 15,413 re-entries. That total of 61,342 gave us a prize pool worth $12,268,400, more than 22 percent above the guarantee. And the scheduled prizes are befitting a tournament of this scale. First place will receive just over $1 million, with $700K+ for second and $500K+ for third.

Standing alone ahead of the rest of the field after 35 blind levels of poker was Brazil’s Deputado1414. After finishing in 58,097th place on the first bullet, the Brazilian player re-entered and rode a stack worth well above the average for the rest of the day. About half an hour before the end of play Deputado1414 seized the chip lead, ending with 8,064,114 chips — good for about 165 big blinds when Day 2 begins.

Blinds and antes will be at 25,000/50,000/6,000 when play resumes. Here’s a glance at the top 10 overnight chip counts:

As for other notables, there are a few. Last week our own Howard Swains had a look at some players who had already proven they had the ability to win a massive tournament like this one. (Check out Part 1 and Part 2 for the full rundown.)

Two-time Milly champ Rob Tinnion is still in it after Day 1 of the Sunday Million 13th Anniversary.

Of those profiled in the first piece, only Anatoly “NL_Profit” Filatov remains in the hunt after the conclusion of Day 1, holding a stack worth 1,217,020 chips. From the second piece, two players remain. Two-time Sunday Million champ Rob “robtinnion” Tinnion is still in with 1,252,124 chips. And Poland’s T3G3S, who has averaged a profit of $1,331 over the course of more than 300 large-field $215 tournaments, is in great shape with 1,366,779 chips.

As of now there’s still no way to know where the eventual champion hails from. The top of the leaderboard features players from Brazil, Bulgaria, Romania, Greece, Ukraine, and the Czech Republic. Other powerhouse poker nations like the United Kingdom, Germany, Russia, Denmark, Hungary, and Canada are well-represented as well. The only thing sure is that the final table is going to produce some very happy players: everyone who lasts that long is guaranteed at least $62,745.

The Sunday Million 13th Anniversary resumes play at 1 p.m. ET today.

A recap of the major results from this weekend on PokerStars…

• Sunday Million plays from 60,000 down to 980; $1M up top
• Niklas “lena900” Åstedt wins Sunday Cooldown ($57K)
• Ben “jenbizzle” Jones defeats Steve O’Dwyer to win Sunday HR ($64K)
• All the big High Roller Club results
• All the big results from the weekend majors

980 MAKE SUNDAY MILLION DAY 2

With one day of poker in the books, more than 60,000 players have been eliminated from the Sunday Million 13th Anniversary. Today the 980 competitors who outlasted their rivals will return and play until only one new millionaire remains.

Yep; there’s a massive $1,000,061 up top for the eventual champ, after 61,342 entries created a $12.26 million prize pool. Former Milly champs including Anatoly “NL_Profit” Filatov and Rob “robtinnion” Tinnion are still in, as is PokerStars Ambassador Lex Veldhuis (albeit with two big blinds).

Streamed till 5 AM, deep in the $215 Anniversary. 1000 out of 61.000 people left. Lost most my stack in the last 2 orbits. Made day 2 with 2 bb's. Don't even … Restarting tomorrow at 7 PM CEST. #!$%@$#!~

— LexVeldhuis (@RaSZi) April 15, 2019

Click here for the biggest stacks and a full recap of yesterday’s Day 1 action.

Niklas “Lena900” Åstedt

NIKLAS “LENA900” ÅSTEDT WINS SUNDAY COOLDOWN ($57K)

Another weekend, another huge score for one of online poker’s all-time greats.

Sweden’s Niklas “Lena900” Åstedt emerged victorious in the High Roller Club’s $2,100 Sunday Cooldown PKO for $31,485 plus an additional $25,531 in bounties.

The tournament received 150 entries and was wrapped up in three hours and 47 minutes when Åstedt defeated Bulgaria’s “Kraskata85” heads-up. For his runner-up finish “Kraskata85” banked just over $40K (including bounties).

Steve “Mr. Tim Caum” O’Dwyer

BEN “jenbizzle” JONES DEFEATS STEVE O’DWYER TO WIN SUNDAY HR ($64K)

Any railbirds out there? If so, here’s hoping you were tuning in to last night’s High Roller Club $2,100 Sunday High Roller. This prestigious tournament is always stacked, but yesterday’s final table was something else.

The UK’s Ben “jenbizzle” Jones would come out on top, banking $64,110 and taking his lifetime online earnings up to $2.82 million.

Linus “LLinusLLove” Loeliger

To get the win though, Jones had to overcome a final table which included runner-up finisher Steve “Mr. Tim Caum” O’Dwyer ($49,360), Patrick “pads1161” Leonard (3rd – $38,004), Connor “blanconegro” Drinan (6th – $17,345), Kristen “krissyb24” Bicknell (7th – $13,354), and a man many consider to be the greatest No Limit Hold’em Player in the world right now: Linus “LLinusLLove” Loeliger (8th – $10,282).

The tournament got 159 total entries, creating a $318K prize pool that was split between the top 20. Others who made the money but busted prior to the final table include Lucas “Bit2Easy” Reeves, Niklas “Lena900” Åstedt, and “bencb789”.

ALL THE BIG HIGH ROLLER CLUB RESULTS

ALL THE BIG RESULTS FROM THE WEEKEND MAJORS

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

In less than two decades you, and millions of other poker players, have helped us reach milestone after milestone on PokerStars.

Now the PokerStars odometer is about to tick over to another milestone: 200 billion hands.

The stories intertwined with those are impossible to tell.

Whether it was picking up the blinds and antes, or winning a major tournament, each hand meant something to someone. And over the years that story has been our privilege to tell.

So, while we watch that 200 billionth hand approach, we want to reward as many players as possible who got us there.

Here’s how you can be a part of that.

Coming up over the next two weeks

To mark the occasion, we’ll be having two weeks of festivities ahead of this milestone hand.

Every day you can earn a free spin simply by playing one hand on PokerStars. Those spins could earn you a variety of prizes, including up to $2,000 cash.

Play one hand on PokerStars to earn a free ticket to the $200K mega freeroll

We’re also giving away tickets to what we’re calling a Mega Freeroll, with a prize pool of $200,000.

All you need to do is play a single hand of poker over the next two weeks. Do that, and you’ll receive your freeroll ticket in a rewards chest.

When the 200 Billionth hand hits

And then there’s the 200 billionth hand itself.

If you’re one of the players dealt into that hand, you’ll automatically win $10,000. Regardless of the outcome of the hand.

We’ll also be delivering surprise chest drops during tournaments and cash games. For instance, you could suddenly find the blinds in your cash game multiplied by 20.

Biggest ever Spin & Go’s

And if you’re familiar with Spin & Go’s, we have those too.

They’ll be the biggest we’ve ever held.

For $5 you can win up to $2 million in new Spin & Go’s

A $2 million jackpot for a $5 buy in – with countless spin ups in between.

Those are the details, but they’ll be more promotions and giveaways announced between now and that 200 billionth hand.

Thanks to our players

We’re the first poker site to get that far, something we find incredibly humbling given that it is all thanks to PokerStars players like you.

Whether you play high stakes, micro stakes, or just for play money. It’s as much your achievement, as ours.

That’s thanks to you, our players.

So, check back on the blog for more over the next two weeks. And be sure to follow us @PokerStarsBlog on twitter.

APPT Korea Main Event
Dates: April 11-14, 2019
Buy-in: KRW 1.8 million ($1,580 approx)
Entries: 581
Prize pool: KRW 912,983,400 ($805,250 approx)

In just about every conceivable way, the Sunday Million 13th Anniversary was enormous.

Two days of online poker. More than 61,000 players from around the world. Twelve million dollars distributed among the top 10,000 finishers. And for five players from Europe and Asia who outlasted the field to strike a deal among themselves, a six-figure score that will forever associate them with this historic anniversary.

Day 1 wrapped up after 35 levels of play, giving the 980 remaining players the night off before returning at 1 p.m. ET today to play down to a champion. That task would take a total of eight hours and 19 minutes, and at the end of it all a player from China by the name “wangli0402” would take top honors.

From the very beginning the Day 2 action was brisk, and past performance was not an indicator of future results. Lex Veldhuis came back with a few big blinds and stretched them as far they would go, finishing in 741st place for $1,345. Two-time Milly champ RobTinnion made a little further to 685th place and earned the same payout as Veldhuis. Even overnight chip leader Deputado1414 of Brazil was only able to last until 141st place ($3,920).

As the day’s sixth break approached, the bubble burst. The U.K.’s patpef open-jammed for 49.8 million chips with K♦Q♣ and ended up heads-up with kacer148’s A♠J♠. patpef was drawing dead after the flop came A♥A♦9♠ and finished in 10th place for $44,367.

That gave us this final table lineup with blinds and antes set to rise to 3,000,000/6,000,000/750,000 after the break:

The final table of the Sunday Million 13th Anniversary

Seat 1: t4rz4n_21 (250,012,046 in chips)
Seat 2: RMarland (104,076,802 in chips)
Seat 3: sega1989 (48,183,574 in chips)
Seat 4: idzake (287,972,826 in chips)
Seat 5: xbambi (366,875,807 in chips)
Seat 6: wangli0402 (141,211,309 in chips)
Seat 7: pantherwang2019 (57,307,975 in chips)
Seat 8: ZoMbiE2808 (78,106,863 in chips)
Seat 9: kacer148 (199,802,798 in chips)

The first knockout came early on in a standard race. Georgia’s ZoMbiE2808 jammed for 62.3 million over the top of xbambi’s 12 million opener, only to see RMarland successfully isolate from the big blind. The latter’s J♣J♥ held up against the former’s A♠K♥ and ZoMbiE2808 was gone in ninth.

RMarland finished in 8th for $88K

That win turned out only to be a stay of execution for RMarland. Two orbits later the player from the U.K. opened in the hijack seat with 8♦8♠ for 84 million chips, leaving 5.2 million behind, and picked up a call from idzake on the button. idzake called and showed J♥J♦ when RMarland moved in on the 4♣2♣Q♦ flop. RMarland needed a two-outer but didn’t find it on the turn or river and left the tournament in eighth.

idzake and t4rz4n_21 tangled a couple of times over the next 10 minutes and shipped a few hundred million chips back and forth in the process, but it was sega1989 whose tournament would next come to its conclusion. The Russian player opened for 48 million chips under the gun with A♠J♠, leaving 28.7 million behind, and then called those off when wangli0402 re-shoved for 97 million in the cutoff seat. wangli0402’s A♣K♦ had the pre-flop edge and nothing changed when the board fell 10♥7♦3♦3♠8♦, sending sega1989 to the rail in seventh.

pantherwang2019 lost a race to finish in 6th

A second final table KO for idzake would shrink the lineup again after another trips around the table. All the chips went in before the flop, with idzake min-raising 3♥3♠ to 20 million, pantherwang2019 jamming for 74 million with K♠Q♠, and idzake calling. idzake jumped out front with bottom set on the K♦Q♥3♣ flop and dodged the remaining kings and queens in the deck on the turn and river, showing pantherwang2019 the door in sixth.

The five remaining players were all guaranteed $250,991 at this point. After t4rz4n_21 doubled through idzake with K♠K♣ against J♣J♥ to take over the lead and even out the stacks a bit, they decided to forgo the shot at a million dollars and strike a deal to lock up major money for everyone. As soon as the moderator presented the numbers, everybody typed the magic words — “I agree” — and the new minimum payout at the table was $509,000.

With two days of poker in the rear-view and just $50,000 left to play for, the action moved quickly. t4rz4n_21, who as chip leader had already locked up the largest share of the deal, pushed the action. But it was wangli0402 who ended up taking charge of the proceedings.

With the deal locked in, wangli0402 took charge of the proceeedings

wangli0402 min-raised to 20 million under the gun and t4rz4n_21 flat-called on the button to bring the 8♣6♣K♦ flop. wangli0402 check-called 30 million there and another half-pot bet of 60 million on the 2♦ turn, before leading out for 120 million — more than half his remaining stack — on the 8♥ river. t4rz4n_21 raised to put wangli0402 all-in and showed J♥Q♦ for kings and eights when the Chinese player called. But wangli0402’s trip eights with A♠8♠ took down the 662-million-chip pot to claim a significant chip lead.

Five hands later t4rz4n_21 open-shoved for 78.9 million (just under seven big blinds) with K♥2♥ on the button. idzake isolated in the small blind with A♥9♥, but t4rz4n doubled up with a pair of deuces on the Q♥2♦7♦Q♠6♥ board.

t4rz4n_21 finished in fifth but still earned the largest share of the deal

t4rz4n_21 open-shoved again on the next hand, this time for 175 million with K♠10♦, and wangli0402 called with 7♥6♥. That went from slight pre-flop underdog to a pair of sixes with a flush draw on the 4♥6♣Q♥ flop, to two pair on the 7♠ turn, to a flush on the J♥ river. King-high didn’t cut it and t4rz4n_21 swung free in fifth.

wangli0402 struck again three hands later. After limping in for 12 million under the gun with K♠9♠, the Chinese player called when kacer148 shoved for 177 million on the button with A♦3♣. The board ran out 8♣7♦K♥3♠K♦, giving wangli0402 trip kings and ending kacer148’s tournament in fourth.

wangli0402 took another swing on the next hand and jammed with 9♣8♦ in the big blind after xbambi limped in from the small blind. It was a trap, though, and xbambi’s A♠K♥ made top pair on the flop to double to 541 million chips. But wangli0402 got it all back five hands later after raising with A♥A♠ on the button. idzake jammed with K♦Q♥ and got no help from the board, exiting in third.

That win gave wangli0402 the edge with 973 million chips to xbambi’s 559 million as heads-up play began. The duel would only last three hands.

xbambi opened the betting with a min-raise to 24 million on the button. wangli0402 called and checked the 5♥10♣4♦ flop, then raised xbambi’s 16.8-million-chip bet to 45.6 million. xbambi three-bet to 108 million and then snap-called when wangli0402 moved all-in. xbambi had the edge with A♣A♥, while wangli0402 had an open-ended straight draw with 7♣6♠. That draw came home on the 3♦ turn and brought this truly massive tournament to a close.

The European Poker Tour (EPT) is once again stopping in Monte Carlo this month. Here’s all you need to know, and more, about this most celebrated gambling destination.

OVERVIEW

Europe’s historical gambling capital plays annual host to one of the continent’s most celebrated poker events when the European Poker Tour (EPT) swings into Monte Carlo every springtime. Ten of the first 11 EPT Grand Finals took place here, awarding some of the era’s richest prizes. They include the €2.3 million won by Pieter de Korver in 2009, which is still the biggest single score at an EPT event in mainland Europe, and the legendary Season 9 tournament which produced the best ever final table for a Main Event in poker’s history. The tournaments are invariably well attended — including a €100,000 entry Super High Roller event — and the limits rise high in the bustling cash game area too. Meanwhile the Salle des Etoiles at the Sporting Club, part of the Monte Carlo Bay Resort & Hotel, is the most spectacular tournament room in all of world poker, and it is just one captivating location in Europe’s glitziest city.

The Salle des Etoiles at the Sporting Club, Monte Carlo

LOCATION

Everything you have heard about the tiny principality of Monaco is true: it is lavish, ostentatious and eye-wateringly expensive. But it is also exceptionally beautiful with a fine beach and stunning views across the Mediterranean. It is full of high quality restaurants, galleries and museums, not to mention the world’s most famous casino and grand prix racetrack. Monte Carlo is the only place in the world where the low-priced practice of “watching the world go by” feels like attending the most illustrious international boat show, car show and fashion show at the same time.

The most spectacular tournament room in world poker

The main tournament room for the EPT — the Salle des Etoiles, or Room of the Stars — is perched on a promontory jutting into the Mediterranean Sea. It offers floor-to-ceiling views over Monte Carlo Bay and has a retractable roof to allow the sun to sweep across the room. (Don’t worry, it closes again before play begins.)

Address: Sporting Monte-Carlo, 26 Avenue Princess Grace, Monte-Carlo 98000, Monaco. The license holder and operator of this event is Société des Bains de Mer.

2019 TOURNAMENT INFO

Festival dates: April 25 – May 4, 2019

April 26-29 – French National Championship
Buy-in: €1,000; Three starting flights
Re-entry permitted into following flight

April 27-29 – EPT Super High Roller
Buy-in: €100,000
Unlimited re-entry

April 29-May 4 EPT Main Event
Buy-in: €5,300; Two starting flights
Single re-entry permitted

May 2-4 – EPT High Roller
Buy-in: €25,000
Single re-entry

Full tournament schedule

GETTING THERE

The closest airport to Monaco is Nice (NCE), which is about a 45-minute taxi ride away. However, it’s also possible to get to Monte Carlo via bus, train or helicopter. As you might expect, the latter is the quickest, but also the most expensive.

BUS: The 110 Express between Nice Airport and Monaco runs every hour, seven days a week. It leaves Terminal 1 at 15 minutes past the hour, then makes an additional stop at Terminal 2, before travelling on to Monte Carlo. The journey takes approximately 55 minutes and there are nine stops in Monaco, including outside the Monte Carlo Bay Resort, the Meridien Hotel and the Fairmont. The first bus is at 9.15am and the last at 8.15pm. Full details: https://www.niceairportxpress.com/en/home

TRAIN: A direct train runs from Nice’s central station to Monte Carlo four or five times per hour and costs less than $5 for a single ticket. The first train is around 5:30 a.m. and the last at 11 p.m. Trains run in the opposite direction at between similar times and with similar frequency. Local buses 98 and 99 link the airport to Nice’s central railway station. English language websites, including TheTrainLine.com have full timetable and reservation details.

TAXI: PokerStars Travel can arrange a taxi service from Nice Airport to your hotel in Monaco, as well as a return trip. There are several taxi companies that will also fulfil your booking for around €70 (if arranged in advance). Uber also operates in Nice and quotes around €50 for a ride to addresses in Monaco. However, the service is not licenced in Monaco itself so cannot pick up from addresses in the principality.

HELICOPTER: If you want to arrive to Monaco in real style, then the seven-minute helicopter ride from Nice Airport is the answer. Prices are between €130 and €170 each way (a return trip is slightly cheaper.) You can book directly through PokerStars Travel or Monacair, whose desk is located in Nice Airport. Price includes a transfer from the heliport in Monaco to your hotel.

ACCOMMODATION

The closest hotel to the EPT Main Event is the five-star Monte Carlo Bay Resort. The Salle des Etoiles tournament room is in the Sporting Club towards the back of the resort property.

The Monte Carlo Bay resort

Monaco is small and numerous other hotels are within walking distance or a short taxi ride away. They include the four-star Méridien Beach Plaza (22 Avenue Princesse Grace, Monte Carlo 98000 Monaco), only a few minutes from the tournament venue and with its own beach, and Fairmont Monte Carlo, which sits on the iconic hairpin of the Monte Carlo grand prix and has an exceptional view across the bay.

Cheaper options are also available, including the four-star Riviera Marriott Hotel La Porte de Monaco and the three-star Novotel Monte Carlo. The former is around 10 minutes by car through the centre of Monaco, but PokerStars provides a free shuttle service between the hotel and the tournament room. The Novotel is closer to the centre of the town.

You can book rooms for many Monte Carlo hotels through PokerStars Travel.

Several AirBnB properties are also within walking distance of the tournament.

INSIDER TIPS

There’s more to Monte Carlo than meets the eye. Specifically: not everything is as expensive as it might seem. PokerStars Blog has been travelling to the principality with the EPT every year and we are only too happy to share a few insider tips.

DINNER IN FRANCE?

Cross the line into France for cheaper eats

If you want to spend a few satellite buy-ins on your dinner, Monte Carlo is truly the place to be. Food options are spectacular here, but there’s no denying that they’re pretty pricey too. That said, there are options that won’t break the bank.

The Monte Carlo Bay Resort is at the northern end of Monaco and is only a few hundred metres from France. You can therefore take a walk across the border and find yourself in the French commune of Roquebrune Cap Martin, in which there are at least three options for food. Le Vietnam is a perfectly serviceable Asian restaurant (Chinese as well as Vietnamese food); Zamane Couscous, across the street, is a Moroccan restaurant serving delicious tagine (which also delivers); and Pizza Di Famiglia is a takeaway pizza outfit.

The quickest, though lung-busting, route to the area is via a staircase up to the hillside directly over the roundabout outside the Monte Carlo Bay Resort. Alternatively, walk down to the Meridien and take the elevator up, or wend your way on the street past the Monte Carlo Tennis Club.

Other reasonable options close (or close-ish) to the tournament include:

Miami Plage — Decent pizza and salad on the beach level, just beyond the Meridien. La Note Blue is also next door, which is pretty good too.

Meridien — There’s a daily dinner buffet open to anyone in the Meridien restaurant. The price isn’t exactly a giveaway, but you can go back as many times as you want.

Il Giardino — A small family-run Italian restaurant with a neighbourly feel, which is not to be underestimated in an often standoffish place like Monte Carlo.

A CHEAP NIGHT OUT? LOOK NI FURTHER
The Ni Box in Monte Carlo has one of the most recognisable locations in the city: just at the end of the tunnel, by the hairpin on the Grand Prix racetrack. But this is also your best option for an affordable night out — and one that will bring back memories of being 16.

There’s a bowling alley in the basement, whose bar sells the cheapest beer we’ve found in Monte Carlo. There are pinball and air-hockey machines too, just to continue the teenage date-night vibe. Oh, and McDonalds is upstairs (which also sells beer).

NEED TO KNOW

They do their best to disguise it, but Monégasque need groceries too. Arguably the world’s most hidden Spar can be found in the Metropole shopping mall close to Casino Square. Look for the bakery counter on Avenue des Spelugues and the door to the supermarket is beside it, leading downstairs. There’s everything you’d expect in there — including wine, beers, and bathroom essentials — at relatively normal prices.

A DAY AWAY FROM THE TABLES

Although it’s easy to miss if your focus is on either the poker tables or the boutiques and bars, Monaco also has a historical old town. It’s located on high, on a hill surrounded on three sides by the Mediterranean, and with dramatic views over both major ports, the winding streets that comprise the grand prix racetrack and the football stadium, among other sights.

More to see in Monaco than just the inside of a tournament room

This is also where you’ll find the royal palace, replete with attendant guards, the Cathedral of Saint Nicholas, which is the final resting place of a succession of royals (including Grace Kelly), and the Oceanographic Museum of Monaco. The latter is part aquarium part national history museum and offers the most charming respite from the high pressure environs of the gambling halls. (Who wouldn’t prefer to live under the sea?) You can while away several hours up here in Monaco-Ville, where the restaurants tend to be more basic and affordable, and your major battle is only with the hundreds of jutting elbows of fellow tourists, rather than pinchers of your big blind.

EPT MONTE CARLO TV EPISODES

There’s been a TV show from Monaco on every season of the EPT, and you can watch pretty much all of them on the PokerStars YouTube channel. It doesn’t take much more searching around to find footage dating from the very first year, when Rob Hollink prevailed and production values and commentary were, well, let’s say developing.

However, if you only have time to watch one episode, make it the one where all of Daniel Negreanu, Steve O’Dwyer, Jake Cody, Johnny Lodden, Jason Mercier, Noah Schwarz, Andrew Pantling and Grant Levy made the final table. It’s never been matched.

Only three EPT tournaments in Europe have ever awarded winners’ prizes of more than €2 million, and all were in Monte Carlo. In addition to Pieter de Korver’s €2.3 million Main Event triumph in 2009, Glen Chorny won €2.02 million at the 2008 Main Event and Erik Seidel won €2.015 million in the 2015 Super High Roller.

A FULL RECAP

Here’s the full list of results from former visits to Monte Carlo. Click the winner’s name for the tournament reports.

HIGH ROLLER

SUPER HIGH ROLLER

Monte Carlo winner’s gallery (swipe left to right)

UFC and poker fans should take note of a new contest running this week.

It’s called Tap Out or Bluff. And for one winner, it will mean a trip of a lifetime to UFC237 in Rio next month.

That includes flights, accommodation, plus two tickets to the weigh in and the fight itself.

So, if you like the idea of being ringside for one of the fights of the year, here’s how to take part.

Guess your way to Rio and UFC 237

This week we’ll be posting three competition videos on Social Media. One today, tomorrow, and on Thursday.

Each video will feature part of a live poker hand. All you have to do is guess what happens next.

Will the players involved tap out (give up)? Or will they bluff?

When you think you know the answer let us know on social media before 23:59 ET, being sure to use the hashtag #UFCPokerStars and your [Stars ID].

You’ll get the answer the next day.

If you guess right, you’ll win a ticket to the UFC 237 Social Media Freeroll this Sunday. The winner of that will be Rio bound for UFC 237 on May 12.

Be ringside for a night to remember

And if UFC isn’t yet your thing, this is the kind of trip that will make it one.

After you fly to Rio we’ll transfer you to a four-star hotel for three nights in one of the world’s most vibrant cities.

You’ll get two tickets to the weigh in (an event in itself) and to the fight itself. That’s where the likes of local UFC superstars Anderson Silva, Thiago Alves, and Jessica Andrade will enter the Octagon.

No bluffing. It’ll be an unforgettable night.

Get your hands on more prizes

And if you tap out, and don’t make it to Rio, you could still win any of the other prizes we’re giving away.

We’ll be dishing out some UFC Spin & Go tickets to randomly-selected correct entries made on Twitter.

Plus, the freeroll itself will give away thousands of dollars in prize money.

So if you’re ready to get started, the first video is below:

Will Shak attack? 🦈
For a chance of a freeroll seat for a UFC 237 package to Rio, tweet ‘Tap Out’ or ‘Bluff’ with [Stars ID] and #UFCPokerStars by 23:59 ET.
Plus, 10 correct entries win a $7 UFC Spin & Go ticket.
T&Cs: https://t.co/baPqchC1sH pic.twitter.com/lOfkCN4JfH

— PokerStars (@PokerStars) April 16, 2019

A recap on how to enter

To enter, remember to Tweet Tap Out or Bluff to @PokerStars, using the hashtag #UFCPokerStars and including your [Stars ID]. Or do the same on the PokerStars Facebook page.

You can only enter once, but there will be another video, and another chance to win a freeroll ticket, tomorrow, and again on Thursday.

Then it’s all to play for in the UFC 237 Social Media Freeroll.

You can enter on Twitter or on Facebook. But as always there are some Terms and Conditions.

The contest is only open to global equity players. And you’ll need to be free to travel and have valid documents to allow entry into Brazil.

But you can get the full T&Cs by clicking here.

So watch the video above and then make your guess. Will they tap out or bluff?

You want to hone your poker skills. PokerStars School wants to help you. Here’s a look at what’s in store for you at PS School this week.

Winners Wall: Turning 75 cents into $32,000

Four Spin & Go’s and one Sunday Million later, Smart747 had $32,000 in his account

It’s a situation almost everyone has been in before. PokerStars School member “Smart747” was down to the last 75 cents in his PokerStars account, so he decided to try to spin it up to something more substantial.

“I fired up 3 Spin & Go’s and to my surprise, and amusement, I won all 3 of them,” he told PokerStars School in this week’s Winners Wall piece. “I then had a total of $3.50. There was a special Spin promo running at the time where you could win a ticket to the Sunday Million, I played, and you guessed it, I won the ticket…”

If things ended there we’d be in “cool story, bro” territory. But as it turns out, Smart747 went on to finish in fifth place for $32,000 in that Sunday Million. Read Part 1 and Part 2 of this week’s Winners Wall interview for the full story straight from Smart747, complete with hand analysis from another famous satellite winner: Chris Moneymaker.

Hand Of The Week: 200 Billionth Hand Edition

Celebrate with PokerStars School as the 200 Billionth Hand approaches

The 200 Billionth Hand in PokerStars history is set to be played very soon and PokerStars School is in on the action. The upshot of that is lots of chances for you to pick up prizes as we celebrate this historic occasion.

All you have to do to join in the fun is go to the PokerStars School forum Poker Hand Of The Week thread and share a hand you’ve played via the BOOM! hand replayer. The hand you choose should fit one of three categories: Best Bluff, Biggest Pot Won, or Best Fold.

For starters, the first 200 players to post a hand before April 21st will all receive a PokerStars School Community Tournament ticket to the monthly $1,000 freeroll. But there’s more:

On April 21st, our Moderators will then Pick the 5 Best hands which we will add to a Forum Vote Poll. The hand with the most votes by April 26th, will win 100 x $1 Spin & Go Tickets and the title of Best 200 Billionth Poker Hand. 2nd place will receive 75 x $1 Spin & Go Tickets and 3rd place will get 25 x $1 Spin & Go Tickets.

That’s all in addition to the many prizes PokerStars is already giving away to celebrate to the 200 Billionth Hand. Get in on the action now in the Poker Hand Of The Week thread.

Increase your Zoom Poker win rate with these 5 tips

One great way to improve your win rate is to play more hands per hour. And the easiest way to play more hands per hour is to sit down at a Zoom Poker table.

OP Poker’s James Mackenzie wants to help you supercharge your Zoom Poker win rate

But what if you could increase your win rate at the Zoom Poker tables? This week James Mackenzie from OP Poker drops by PokerStars School to share a video with five tips that will turn you into a Zoom Poker superhero.

Check out 5 Tips to Improve Your ZOOM Poker Win Rate and start boosting your bankroll today. And if you’re still trying to become a winning player at the Zoom tables, be sure to check out the PokerStars School Zoom Poker course.

Other new PokerStars School content you might enjoy

• Twitch: Improving Your Poker with OP Poker
• Video: Tournament Format Adaptations
• Strategy: Donk Betting – What It Is and When To Do it
• Article: The Psychology of Folding

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.

Ed. note: Adopting his alternate persona as the card-playing detective Short-Stacked Shamus, Martin Harris seeks to solve poker-related mysteries in this series for the PokerStars Blog.

“When was poker invented?”

A friend asked me that question recently. He was half-kidding with the question, to be honest. Someone else had asked how far back in history he’d need to go before he could find a group of poker players against whom his modern-day skills would give him an edge. His humorous response was to ask when the first hand was dealt.

Even so, I felt compelled to respond and say when approximately the game was invented. It’s happened before, in fact, that I’ve been asked questions about poker’s history asking to pinpoint the first time some event occurred. In a lot of cases it is hard to describe with absolute precision many of the historical firsts in poker, given how so much of the game’s history is, well, a mystery. But it is possible to make some educated guesses.

Here are answers to 10 questions about “poker firsts,” starting with that one about when the game was invented.

1. When was the first hand of poker dealt?

All available evidence points to the first decades of the 19th century — the 1800s or 1810s — although  no specific references to poker games during those years survive (those come a little later; see below). In Cowboys Full, James McManus nominates the day of the Louisiana Purchase (July 4, 1803) as a “symbolic birthdate” for poker, and indeed the acquisition of more than 820,000 square miles extending from the Mississippi River to the Rocky Mountains would greatly help facilitate the spread of the game from New Orleans throughout the “Old West.”

2. When was the first hand of poker dealt for which we have an account?

That would be a hand played in a game aboard the Helen M’Gregor in December 1829. The story appears in Joe Cowell’s 1844 book Thirty Years Passed Among the Players in England and America, the “players” being referred to in the title being actors, not poker players. The only hand Cowell describes in detail involves a player with four kings and an ace beating another with four queens and a third with four jacks. (Yes, there was cheating.)

Andrew Jackson, a.k.a. the Notorious A.J.

3. When was the first account of a U.S. president playing poker?

Most of the early presidents played card games, in some cases for money, though the earliest reference to one playing poker that I’ve found appears in the September 3, 1832 issue of the Washington, D.C. newspaper The Globe sharing an item from another publication. That was an election year, and supporters of the Republican candidate Henry Clay are quoted finding “fault with the moral character” of the incumbent, the Democrats’ Andrew Jackson. After recounting examples of his violent behavior and other faults, Jackson being “notorious for his skill and dexterity at… poker” is also listed as reason not to vote for him. (The complaint was more than a little ironic, as Clay was also known to be an avid poker player.)

4. When was the first reference to poker in a book?

Published in 1836, Dragoon Campaigns to the Rocky Mountains compiles letters written by a scout from a couple of years before, including one recounting a late night poker game witnessed by the writer. Proving that the game still probably wasn’t known to many readers, the writer (or editor) saw fit to put an asterisk next to the word “poker” and add a note at the bottom of the page explaining it was “A favorite game of cards at the south and west.”

5. When was the first time poker rules appeared in a book?

That would be the American edition of Hoyle’s Games that was published in 1845. There one finds a short explanation of how to play “Poker, or ‘Bluff,’” one of the games described as being “entirely new in this country.” Poker’s inclusion the “Hoyle” books thereafter was enough to get Edmond Hoyle inducted into the Poker Hall of Fame in 1979, even though the Londoner died in 1769 — i.e., decades before poker was invented.

6. When was the first time poker appeared in a movie?

In 1899, a 20-second silent film called Poker at Dawson City was produced by Thomas Edison’s studios, one of about 1,200 different films created by those working for the Wizard of Menlo Park. To be honest, there isn’t much poker shown — the entire film shows the aftermath of what must have been a disagreement caused by the cards:

7. When was the first game of Texas hold’em played?

This is a hard one to answer. Some have claimed hold’em was invented as early as the late 19th century. Johnny Moss once told a biographer he first played hold’em “around 1930,” and elsewhere made statements suggesting he might have played it a few years before. Others have claimed the game started in the 1940s, and in his memoir Doyle Brunson mentions how he first learned of hold’em “Round about 1958.” I would say the 1950s is a reasonable answer to the question, though it wouldn’t be until a 1968 article about “hold me” in Life magazine and the World Series of Poker popularizing no-limit hold’em in the 1970s that most poker players found out about it.

8. When was the first poker tournament?

Speaking of the WSOP, a check with the folks at the Hendon Mob reveals their earliest entry is for the inaugural series in 1970 where no tournaments were played, just a series of cash games. That would make the 1971 WSOP “World Championship” won by Moss the first tournament result recorded by the database. Brunson called that event “the first poker tournament ever played as a freezeout,” and while there might have been a poker tournament played somewhere before that, I am inclined to agree with Tex Dolly and make the early 1970s a starting point for tournament poker.

The 1973 WSOP on CBS

9. When was the first instance of actual poker being shown on television?

There was a lot of fictional poker on television shows throughout the 1950s and 1960s, but the first example of actual poker being shown on TV probably didn’t come until 1973. That’s the year CBS filmed a documentary chronicling the 1973 World Series of Poker and aired it as part of its weekend sports anthology show CBS Sports Spectacular. You can watch it on YouTube here.

10. When was the first hand of online poker played for real money?

As the internet first became a significant part of our lives in the 1990s, various sites offering casino-style games and sports betting began to appear, as well as some online poker sites for “play money.” On January 1, 1998, the site Planet Poker began spreading the first real money game online, starting with $3/$6 fixed-limit hold’em.

And in case you’re wondering, PokerStars first began offering real money games on December 12, 2001.

Have a poker-related mystery you’d like solved? Tweet your questions to @PokerStarsBlog with the hashtag #AskShamus and we’ll put our P.I. (Poker Investigator) on the case.

It’s the second day of Tap Out or Bluff. This is the contest in which you can win a trip to UFC 237 in Rio, Brazil, for the UFC experience of a lifetime.

We introduced how the contest works yesterday, but here’s a quick recap on how to play.

Today and tomorrow, we’ll be posting a Tap Out or Bluff video on social media (Twitter and Facebook in layman’s terms).

Each features a hand of poker with the action paused at the appropriate moment. What you then have to do is guess what happens next.

Will the player involved Tap Out (fold)? Or Bluff?

When you’ve decided, post your answer “Tap Out” or “Bluff” on Twitter or Facebook using the hashtag #UFCPokerStars, and including your [Stars ID].

We’ll reveal the answer tomorrow.

If you get it right, you’ll win a ticket to this Sunday’s UFC Social Media Freeroll.

The winner of that will win flights, accommodation, and tickets to both the weigh in and UFC 237 itself.

That’s not all we’re giving away.

They’ll be plenty of other cash prizes in the freeroll itself, as well as random Spin & Go tickets to those who guessed correctly.

And if you get it wrong this time around you have one more chance to enter tomorrow. So, check back then for another shot.

Here’s today’s Tap Out or Bluff hand. Good luck.

Will he make a move with the worst hand in poker? 😱
Tweet ‘Tap Out’ or ‘Bluff’ with [Stars ID] and #UFCPokerStars to win entry to Sunday’s UFC 237 freeroll, plus 15 correct entries win a $7 UFC Spin and Go ticket.
T&Cs: https://t.co/xuQ59psspd pic.twitter.com/UctyahEV8K

— PokerStars (@PokerStars) April 17, 2019

As always there are Terms and Conditions to remember. You can find those by clicking here.

Lex Veldhuis recently played a hand on PokerStars in the $215 Bounty Builder which got a lot of attention on Twitter. Here, the PokerStars Ambassador explains how it all went down.

First, check out the end of the hand below:

Now, over to Veldhuis.

LEX VELDHUIS: So, I called pre-flop against a really good opponent with J♣10♣. I cover him, which is important for the bounties, even though this is a hand I want to play versus an open anyway.

The big blind comes along as well, which is pretty important info for the dynamic on boards like this. They’re going to have a lot of 6-7, 8-9, T-9 sort of hands. It makes it harder to bluff on this kind of board for the other players here.

The board thus far

The flop is checked around and the Q♥ turn brings a one-card straight, completing the rainbow on board.

He bets half pot. In my mind, this bet could be a set, but it’s more likely he bets that on the flop, and he is going to check the turn a reasonable amount as well with a set. For me, it’s a combination of a straight, a set (small percentage), and a bluff with hands like K-9, A-K.

The moment he bets he looks pretty strong. There is a lot of J-X in my range and the big blind is going to have quite a few hands he can come along with, as I said earlier. The moment I call I look massive. I have the big blind’s range behind me left to act still. I’m most likely not calling here with A-Q or K-Q (I’d probably bet the flop with those). The big blind folds here and we see a brick on the 5♠ river.

Now he checks. I don’t think there is a situation here where a bet makes money. We already gave him a set only a small percentage of the time, and even if he has Q-Q he is not expecting me to value bet with hands weaker than top set. So the moment I bet, I’m pretty much saying I have J-X+ for value or a bluff.

With the board being rainbow (ruling out any missed flush draws) and my calling of the turn bet with the big blind behind me, in combination with betting the river, I’m going to have such an incredibly high percentage of straights that my hand becomes face up. So he can play very easily against this. He is just going to fold some random sets, fold his bluffs.

So, he folds all hands I beat, he is only going to call with some chops, and he is going to pound me with K-J. In fact, he could even do something insane forcing a chop out of the pot when he has J-X as well. That doesn’t happen a lot but calling for a chop is a terrible spot for me. All in all a bet for me makes zero sense and makes me zero money. It’s just going to give me headaches. This guy is a beast as well so I really don’t want to open the door to possible check-raising.

In this case, it really worked out.

Catch Lex Veldhuis on his Twitch channel: https://twitch.tv/lexveldhuis 

You can play poker for free on PokerStars. Simply click here to open an account.

Today is the last chance to take part in Tap Out or Bluff.

If you’ve played along for the past two days you’ll know how things work. But if you’re coming to this late, here’s how things work.

Today we’re posting a Tap Out or Bluff video on social media.

Each features a hand of poker with the action paused at the critical moment. What you then have to do is guess what happens next.

Will the player involved Tap Out (fold)? Or Bluff?

When you’ve decided, post your answer “Tap Out” or “Bluff” on Twitter or Facebook using the hashtag #UFCPokerStars, and including your [Stars ID].

We’ll reveal the answer tomorrow.

If you get it right, you’ll win a ticket to this Sunday’s UFC Social Media Freeroll.

The winner of that will win flights, accommodation, and tickets to both the weigh in and UFC 237 itself.

We’re giving away a few other prizes along the way too.

They’ll be other cash prizes in the freeroll, as well as random Spin & Go tickets to those who guessed correctly.

So, this is your last chance to take part. Here’s today’s Tap Out or Bluff hand. Good luck.

Last chance to win a UFC 237 package to Rio. 👊
Call Chino’s move to win entry to Sunday’s freeroll, plus 20 correct entries win a $7 UFC Spin & Go ticket.
Tweet ‘Tap Out’ or ‘Bluff’ with [Stars ID] and #UFCPokerStars
T&Cs: https://t.co/xuQ59psspd pic.twitter.com/2XJMJE4BaZ

— PokerStars (@PokerStars) April 18, 2019

As always there are Terms and Conditions to remember. You can find those by clicking here.

Tiger is back! Many thought it would never happen, but after a long drought Tiger Woods has won another major.

Fittingly, Woods had to stage a fourth-round comeback to win the Masters last Sunday — the first time in his career he’s won a major without carrying a lead into the final round.

Tiger Woods won his first major championship in 1997, capturing the title in that year’s Masters Tournament at the age of 21. Not only was he the youngest player ever to win the Masters, he set records for the lowest four-day score (an 18-under 270) as well as for margin of victory (12 strokes).

Over the next 11 years he would collect a total of 14 titles in majors (Masters, PGA, British Open, U.S. Open), causing many to speculate that he might break the all-time mark of 18 majors won by Jack Nicklaus. Few expected at the time that it would take another 11 years for Woods to win his 15th major at age 43.

Poker has produced similar stories of players going long stretches between successes, particularly during the tournament era. Here’s a quick look at a few examples a players who like Tiger went a long time between winning “majors.”

World Series of Poker

World Series of Poker bracelets continue to enjoy a special status in the poker world, even if the WSOP will be awarding a record-number of 89 of them this summer (!).

This will mark the 50th time the WSOP has played out, and during nearly a half-century of events there have been many examples of players going many years between bracelet wins.

When in 2006 the late David “Chip” Reese won the inaugural $50,000 mixed game event later renamed the Poker Players Championship, the tournament concluded with Reese and Andy Bloch playing a memorably long heads-up battle lasting more than seven hours.

Speaking of something taking a long time, Reese’s win came 24 years after he had won his previous WSOP bracelet in 1982. The Poker Hall of Famer was a prominent and successful cash game player throughout that period, so it wasn’t as though he experienced a “drought” as such. Even so, that represents the longest time any player has gone between bracelet wins at the WSOP.

Last year Bill Bennet finished fifth in the Seniors Event. If he had won, he would have broken Reese’s record, since Bennet won his last (and only) bracelet way back in 1984.

There have been some notable Main Event “comebacks” at the WSOP as well. After winning the big one in 1995, Dan Harrington notably outlasted thousands to make final tables in both 2003 (when he finished third) and 2004 (taking fourth).

Joe Cada performed a comparable feat last year, finishing fifth out of 7,874 in the Main Event won by John Cynn. Nine years before Cada topped a field of 6,494 to win the 2009 Main Event, like Tiger at the ’97 Masters doing so at age 21 and also setting a record as the youngest ever to win the Main.

Joe Cada: another comeback kid

Of course, the closest WSOP Main Event analogue has to be Stu Ungar, who after winning back-to-back titles in 1980 and 1981, remarkably returned to win the 1997 WSOP Main Event.

World Poker Tour

The World Poker Tour has been around since 2002, now having reached its 17th season. Over that period there have been a number of players to win multiple Main Events, with Darren Elias currently the all-time leader having won four of them (two in 2014, one in 2017, and one in 2018).

Gus Hansen, Carlos Mortensen, Anthony Zinno, and David “Chino” Rheem have all won three WPT titles, each doing so in fairly short order (i.e., within at least six-year spans).

Among the many other players who have won two WPT Main Event titles, just over seven years passed between J.C. Tran’s titles, the first coming in 2007 and the other in 2014. Antonio Esfandiari took almost that long between his two titles, earning his first in early 2004 and second in late 2010.

JC Tran: Trophy collector

Also worth mentioning is Hoyt Corkins, who won a WPT title in November 2003 and then a second in January 2010. Corkins also has two WSOP bracelets, and also had a significant 15-year gap between capturing them (one in 1992, the other in 2007).

European Poker Tour

Finally, the European Poker Tour has been around nearly as long as the WPT, having staged its first series in Barcelona in 2004.

It was in Barcelona a few years ago that Howard Swains was inspired to investigate this same subject of long stretches between scores when Peter Eichhardt, who made a final table way back in Season 1 (in 2005), was on the precipice of doing so again more than a decade later.

Alas for Eichhardt, he came up just short of that final table, taking 10th and having to watch with the rest of us John Juanda go on to take the EPT12 Barcelona Main Event title. Thus did he fail to join a handful of other players including Luca Pagano, Jan Sjavic, Johnny Lodden, Mike McDonald, and Isaac Baron who had gone more than 2,000 days between EPT final tables.

Last year Patrik Antonius joined that list — and most certainly set a new standard — when he reached the final table of the EPT Monte Carlo Main Event where he finished sixth. It had been 13 years since Antonius had previously made an EPT Main Event final table, making a couple of them in 2005 during Season 2 including winning EPT2 Baden.

Of course, in the history of the EPT only one player has won two Main Event titles, and indeed there was quite a gap between those two wins.

Vicky Coren Mitchell won her first EPT Main Event in London back in 2006 (Season 3), becoming the first woman to win an EPT Main Event. Then eight years later Coren became the first and only double-winner when she won at EPT Sanremo (Season 10). In fact, this weekend marks the fifth anniversary of Coren’s triumph in Sanremo.

Vicky Coren Mitchell: Returned to the top

^{Lead photos: “Tiger Woods at the 2018 US Open,” Peetlesnumber1, CC BY-SA 4.0.}

Poker vlogger Brad Owen is an easy guy to like, and not just because he posts videos with titles like “Phil Hellmuth Check Raises Me And I Have Aces.” Have you seen his acceptance speech for the Peoples Choice Award at this year’s Global Poker Awards?

ICYMI: 🌐🏆 With over 50% of the votes and ten of thousands of unique voters, the 2018 People Choice Award goes to Brad Owen #GlobalPokerAwards – @TheBradOwen pic.twitter.com/IOSSfZ5Gav

— Global Poker Index (@gpi) April 6, 2019

Owen drops by this week’s episode of Poker In The Ears to talk about trying to make it as a poker pro in L.A., losing his entire bankroll, and having to move back in with his parents — what he calls “the lowest point in my life.” After that he studied for his Master’s degree, worked as an accountant for a while (“soul-destroying” work in his words), and eventually made his way back into poker with more success. The interview with Owen starts below at about 26:05.

Check out this week’s episode on SoundCloud, iTunes, or Spotify, and be sure to rate and subscribe to the podcast.

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

• “wangli0402” wins Sunday Million 13th Anniversary
• Win a Trip to UFC237 by playing Tap out or Bluff
• EPT Monte Carlo: All you need to know (and more)
• VIDEO: Veldhuis checks back a straight

Plus:

Ask Shamus: When was the first…?

“wangli0402” WINS SUNDAY MILLION 13TH ANNIVERSARY

Two days of online poker. More than 61,000 players from around the world. Twelve million dollars distributed among the top 10,000 finishers. And for five players from Europe and Asia who outlasted the field to strike a deal among themselves, a six-figure score that will forever associate them with this historic anniversary.

China’s “wangli0402” would ultimately take it down for $611K, and PokerStars Blog’s Jason Kirk was on the rail throughout.

Read a full wrap of the Sunday Million Anniversary here.

WIN A TRIP TO UFC237 IN RIO

UFC and poker fans should take note of a new contest running this week. It’s called Tap Out or Bluff. And for one winner, it will mean a trip of a lifetime to UFC237 in Rio next month.

That includes flights, accommodation, plus two tickets to the weigh-in and the fight itself.

So, if you like the idea of being ringside for one of the fights of the year…

Click here to find out how you can take part 

And here for Round 2

EPT MONTE CARLO: ALL YOU NEED TO KNOW

Europe’s historical gambling capital plays annual host to one of the continent’s most celebrated poker events when the European Poker Tour (EPT) swings into Monte Carlo every springtime.

Kicking off on April 25, PokerStars Blog’s Howard Swains gives you the lowdown on the best places to stay, eat, drink, and bowl. Yes, bowl.

Here’s all you need to know about EPT Monte Carlo.

More to see in Monaco than just the inside of a tournament room

VIDEO: VELDHUIS CHECKS BACK A STRAIGHT

Lex Veldhuis recently played a hand on PokerStars in the $215 Bounty Builder which got a lot of attention on Twitter.

Here, the PokerStars Ambassador explains how it all went down.

Watch the video here, then let Veldhuis ‘Lexplain’ his thought process.

ASK SHAMUS: WHEN WAS THE FIRST…?

PokerStars Blog’s resident poker detective Short-stacked Shamus (aka Martin Harris) returned this week.

Here are answers to 10 questions about “poker firsts,” starting with that one about when the game was invented.

Check it out.

MORE CONTENT YOU MIGHT HAVE MISSED:

Tiger-like comebacks in poker

Brad Owen joins Poker in the Ears podcast

Help us celebrate reaching 200 Billion Hands on PokerStars

PokerStars School: Turning 75 cents into $32K

WEEKEND REVIEW: All the big results

Book Excerpt: “Poker & Pop Culture” by Martin Harris (due out in June)

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