The crickets started at around 11.45am.

That’s the point at which the doors opened to the Amazon Room at the Rio All Suites Hotel & Casino and the first players flooded to the tables for the start of the 2019 World Series of Poker (WSOP) Main Event. They exchanged a glance at their ID and a registration ticket for a stack of 60,000 chips.

And then the crickets started, the sound of those chips riffled in anxiety and anticipation ahead of the biggest poker tournament in the world. It will be our soundtrack for the next two weeks: an unceasing, dull clicking that lets everyone in the vicinity know that poker is being played.

As is customary, the start of proceedings featured an appearance by the one man everyone in this field wants to be: the reigning Main Event champion. “This player is special,” said Jack Effel, WSOP tournament director, as John Cynn stood beside him on the stage, in front of a packed rail of spectators. Cynn took down $8.8 million for his victory last year, outlasting a field of 7,874 hopefuls, and earning him that “special” tag. But Effel explained that this time last year, Cynn was just the same as everyone else sitting down now. That’s why players from more than 100 countries make the annual pilgrimage to Las Vegas to play this event. “This year, it could be you!” Effel said.

Railbirds gather to watch Jack Effel and John Cynn start the 2019 WSOP Main Event

Cynn, taking the mic, concurred. “When I first started playing, I never dreamed of winning the Main Event,” he said. “I just want to say how absolutely crazy and insane this is.”

Soon after, Cynn set the ball rolling, instructing dealers to “Shuffle up and deal!” Eventually, we’ll have our champion. But there will be two weeks of heartbreak first.

The Main Event is the very definition of a marathon rather than a sprint, with the winner not due to be named until July 16. On Day 1, of which there are three, our focus tends to be on the size of the field and assessing whether the uptick in player numbers from the past three years can continue.

In 2016, Qui Nguyen beat a field of 6,737. A year later, 7,221 looked up to Scott Blumstein, before Cynn outlasted 7,874 in an epic. Kevin Mathers, the World Series’ stats authority, predicts 8,000 can be broached this time — and we’ll be given our first indication of size today.

Last year’s Day 1A brought 925 players to the Rio and if a similar number — or maybe even 1,000 — come through the door today we’ll know for sure that we’re in for another big one.

Our PokerStars contingent is small but beautifully formed. All of Aditya Agarwal, Andre Akkari, Arlie Shaban, Liv Boeree, Igor Kurganov, Jason Somerville, Jen Shahade, Kalidou Sow, Ramon Colillas, Maria Konnikova, Muskan Sethi and Chris Moneymaker are confirmed playing the Main Event. We will catch up with all of them this week.

In the meantime, it’s time for everyone to take a breath, sit back and relax. We have a long, long way to go.

WSOP photography by PokerPhotoArchive

It’s been quite a week for Kainalu McCue-Unciano. Last Thursday, the man from Hawaii won his first World Series of Poker (WSOP) title, when he took down the $1,500 Monster Stack event earning more than $1 million. Then today, as he collected his bracelet from Jack Effel in the Amazon Room, his mind was actually focused on another piece of jewellery: an engagement ring he intended to offer to his girlfriend Nicole.

With around 1,100 pairs of eyes focused on him, as well as at least 20 friends and relatives he had flown out to Vegas on the back of his huge win, McCue-Unciano offered his thanks to the World Series for making him a millionaire, but then dropped down from the stage and on to one knee to turn the attention to Nicole.

“She said yes!” a relieved McCue-Unciano said afterwards, admitting that he was more nervous about popping the question than he was when watching the final flop during his tournament win. “My legs were shaky,” he said. “I tried rehearsing it, but it’s not the same. I was outside, pacing back and forth, thinking, ‘How do I do this?'”

McCue-Unciano said that proposing to his girlfriend was more nerve-wracking than playing for a bracelet

Thankfully, Nicole didn’t keep him waiting too long, and accepted his proposal quickly. It brought whoops from across the Amazon Room, where the Day 1A field was as surprised as Nicole by the turn of events. Only McCue-Unciano’s nearest and dearest were in on the plan, including his grandmother who was the guardian of the ring.

“I planned it after I won,” McCue-Unciano said. “I was thinking about it, and a few days ago I bought the ring. My grandma was holding it — she was in on it too — I grabbed it and I got on a knee.”

The couple have been dating for around two years but will now take some time to plan their big day. With an additional million dollars in the bank ($1,008,850 to be precise) the wedding, likely back in Hawaii, should be an extravagant, jubilant affair. Congratulations to Kainalu and Nicole!

WSOP photography by PokerPhotoArchive

A selection of photos from the World Series of Poker (WSOP) Main Event. All images by PokerPhotoArchive. 

RETURN TO WSOP COVERAGE HUB

DAY 1A
Click and swipe left/right to view images

PokerStars Blog has been at the Main Event of the World Series of Poker (WSOP) for the past 15 years — and we’re back again for the 2019 renewal too. Here’s where you’ll find all the key info for what’s happening here in Las Vegas.

TODAY’S SCHEDULE – JULY 4

Main Event Day 1B
Start: 12pm
Levels: 5 x 120-minute levels
Dinner (90 mins): 8pm (60 minutes into Level 4)
Finish: 12:30am (approx)

CHECK OUT OUR WSOP IMAGE GALLERY

Starting stack: 60,000
Blinds:
Level 1: 100/200 (ante 200)
Level 2: 200/300 (ante 300)
Level 3: 200/400 (ante 400)
Level 4: 300/500 (ante 500)
Level 6: 300/600 (ante 600)

DAY 1A RECAP

A remarkable 1,336 players entered the $10,000 buy-in Main Event on Day 1A, up from 925 for the same day last year, and suggesting that this year’s tournament could be the largest ever. (The 2006 record of 8,773 still stands.) Bryan Campanello, of Texas, bagged the most at the end of the day, with 417,500 chips. There were 960 survivors.

Top 10 Day 1A stacks:

Bryan Campanello: Day 1A chip leader

Click for full Day 1A survivors list

POKERSTARS AMBASSADORS’ PROGRESS

Igor Kurganov 129,100 (from Day 1A)
Arlie Shaban 113,600 (from Day 1A)
Kalidou Sow 110,000 (from Day 1A)
Chris Moneymaker 95,000 (from Day 1A)
Jennifer Shahade 72,400 (from Day 1A)

Yet to play:
Andre Akkari
Jason Somerville
Maria Konnikova
Ramon Colillas

Liv Boeree eliminated on Day 1A
Muskan Sethi eliminated on Day 1A

RECENT FEATURE COVERAGE

‘Special’ John Cynn sets the ball rolling
The reigning champion joined tournament director Jack Effel to do the “Shuffle up and deal!”

50 Years, 50 WSOP nuggets
Poker historian Martin Harris tells you all the things you didn’t know about the world’s most prestigious tournament

A bracelet, $1m and now a wife
Kainalu McCue-Unciano hijacked his own bracelet ceremony to propose to his girlfriend

RECENT WSOP CHAMPIONS

Jeremy Saderne – Event #69: $1,000 Mini Main Event – $628,654

Rick Alvarado – Event #64: $888 Crazy Eights No-Limit Hold’em – $888,888

2019 WSOP Main Event Schedule:
July 3-5 – Days 1A-1C
July 6 – Day 2AB (survivors from Days 1A&1B)
July 7 – Day 2C (survivors from Day 1C)
July 8 – Day 3
July 9 – Day 4
July 10 – Day 5
July 11 – Day 6
July 12 – Day 7 (play to last 9)
July 13 – rest day
July 14 – Day 8 (play to last 6)
July 15 – Day 9 (play to last 3)
July 16 – Day 10 (play to a champion)

All days begin at 12 noon except Day 2 (11am) and Days 8-10 (6.30pm)

Also at the WSOP today:
Event #70: $5,000 No-Limit Hold’em 6-Handed – final table
Event #72: $10,000 Limit Hold’em Championship – final table

Tournament table are spread across the Rio Convention Center

Previous Main Event winners/coverage

WSOP photos by Poker Photo Archive

MicroMillions is back for 2019. Like before, this year’s schedule promises to turn low stakes players into high stakes winners. About 146 of them.

Here’s what’s coming up this month.

• The two-week series starts Sunday 14 July
• 146 tournaments on the schedule
• Variety of formats, including new games like Showtime and Fusion
• Buy ins as low as $1.10. Prize pools as high as $1 million
• Highlight is the $22 Main Event on Sunday 28 July

This is the 15th year of MicroMillions. and to get things off to a flyer the first event is a headliner: The Half Price Sunday Storm.

The buy-in will be a micro-sized $5.50. The prize pool meanwhile remains super-sized. When it starts at 13:00 ET (6pm UK) they’ll be at least $200,000 guaranteed.

146 tournaments on the schedule

Each of the 146 tournaments offer something for everyone. Especially those who like to turn a dollar or two into thousands more in prize money.

Opening day has six events. They come in regular hold’em, Omaha, and 6+ Hold’em, which is making its first appearance in MicroMillions.

Later they’ll be tournaments in Showtime and Fusion poker, with 11 events on the schedule for those who like their poker a little less ordinary.

The series concludes with the Main Event on Sunday 28 July.

It will have the biggest buy-in of the series at $22, which is in keeping for an event that has a $1 million guarantee.

Turning low stakes buy-ins into high stakes prize pools

All of these will be played at different buys-ins. And different speeds too.

• 41 tournaments have buy-ins of just $1.10 and prize pools worth thousands
• That includes two $1.10 events alone with prize pools topping $40,000
• Other events will have buy-ins of $3.30 or $5.50
• Except the $22 Main Event ($1m guaranteed on Sunday 28 July) and the $11 Sunday Storm PKO (Sunday 21 July)

Every tournament delivers on what MicroMillions promises from the start = Low stakes buy-ins and high stakes payouts.

As for tournament length, there are the regular ones that give you plenty of time to play. But Turbo events too, which suit anyone who likes to get their poker done early, or who live in a time zone that requires you to be somewhere like work later on.

What to do next?

You can keep track of the latest MicroMillions news and results with daily updates on the PokerStars Blog. You can also follow us on Twitter @PokerStarsBlog so you don’t miss anything.

The full schedule will appear on the MicroMillions homepage soon, along with details about tournament structures, schedules, start times and guarantees.

In meantime, in the lead up to the start on Sunday 14 July,  you can browse the entire MicroMillions schedule below.

MicroMillions 2019 schedule

MicroMillions: Big things can happen

Next month one of the most popular stops in the history of poker returns: EPT Barcelona.

The ultimate summer vacation for poker players is just around the corner, so we recommend you either get planning or get qualifying! Satellites for both the €1,100 National event and the €5,300 EPT Barcelona Main Event are running right now on PokerStars.

But once you’ve decided to go, you now need to know what to do once you get there. Look no further.

Here we answer some of the most common EPT Barcelona questions, from where you should stay, to where you can sample some of the city’s best beers.

You can win your seat to EPT Barcelona. Click here to open an account and get started.

Casino Barcelona

How do I get to EPT Barcelona?

First off, you need to get yourself to Barcelona. The city’s El-Prat airport is roughly 12km from the city centre, and a taxi to either Casino Barcelona or one of its nearby hotels will cost somewhere in the €30-€40 range. However, a dedicated airport transfer service from Barcelona El-Prat airport to city centre hotels is available for all players. Contact the PokerStars Travel team or call (0034) 93 325 6777 for details on that.

If you’d rather keep travel costs down to a minimum, there is also the Metro Underground, as well as the Aerobus connecting from the Airport to Barcelona City Centre.

Once you’ve checked into your hotel, it’s time to play some poker. You’ll find info for Casino Barcelona below:

Casino Barcelona (annexe at Hotel Arts)
Marina, 19-21 (Port Olímpic) 08005

Contact Telephone: (0034) 900 354 354

Dress code: Casual, but no sportswear/shorts

Minimum age: 18 years+

NB: Must bring a valid government-issued passport or ID to participate.

Where should I stay during EPT Barcelona?

As Casino Barcelona is just a stone’s throw away from the beach, there’s no shortage of high-end hotels nearby.

The five-star Hotel Arts is the official tournament hotel as it’s annexed with the Casino, and upon leaving your room you can be at the Casino in a matter of seconds (presuming you can skip the entry queues). Prices start from €370 a night though, so it’s on the more expensive side.

Just two minutes down the road is the Pullman Barcelona Skipper, which offers five-star rooms from a (slightly) more affordable €270 a night.

For a cheaper option, both the Hotel SB Icaria and H10 Marina are roughly a five to ten-minute walk away, and at four stars seem good value with rooms starting from €168 a night.

Head to PokerStars Travel for a full list of nearby hotels, or why not group together with some friends and rent a nearby apartment on Airbnb?

What should I do whilst in Barcelona?

Good question, but tough to answer. It really depends on what you like doing!

Want to check out some incredible, Instagrammable architecture? Check out Gaudí’s Sagrada Familia or La Pedrera.

Want to take a walk back in history? Head to the Park Güell (also by Gaudí) for lunch before taking a stroll to The Cathedral of Barcelona.

To make sure you see everything — and get the most out of it — we recommend taking a walking tour of Barcelona, many of which are free (with guests ‘tipping’ their tour guides at the end).

To really get in the hustle and bustle of the city, you’re going to want to check out Las Ramblas.

However, if you’re more of a ‘lay on the beach’ kind of person, then wherever you end up staying you won’t be far from Barcelona’s beautiful sandy bays (where you can play some poker on your mobile).

But let’s be honest: you want to play some live poker tournaments, right?

There are 51 different events running throughout EPT Barcelona, plus a large cash game area with varying stakes, so it won’t be hard for you to find a game.

CHECK OUT THE A-Z OF EPT BARCELONA HERE

Where should I eat and drink whilst at EPT Barcelona?

There are plenty of food options just outside the casino for when you’re on dinner break and want some fresh air.

There’s amazing nightlife in Barcelona

Arenal restaurant is right on the beach and offers fresh Spanish seafood just an eight-minute walk from the Casino. For some quick and delicious pasta that won’t break the bank, Gino’s will take you less than two minutes to reach. These are just a couple of options, but trust us, there are lots.

There’s also a McDonald’s in the port right next door, plus there’s a great ice cream parlour right across the street from the Casino if you need some dessert.

When you’ve finished at the tables, the city is your oyster. For craft beer fans, we highly recommend a visit to the Garage Beer Co brewery (about 15 minutes away in a cab) which serves some of the best IPAs we’ve ever tasted. Want to hit a club? Pacha is right next door to the Casino.

If you just want a few quiet drinks near the casino there are plenty of bars with outdoor seating right on the beach, or you could do what the locals do: buy a couple of ice-cold cans and sit yourself down on the sand.

DON’T FORGET! The Player’s Party will take place on August 25 at Bestial, just two minutes from the Casino. From 9pm until midnight you’ll be able to enjoy an open bar, mojito station, Iberian ham carving station, churros station, a DJ all night long, entertainment and prizes up for grabs.

What else do I need to know about EPT Barcelona?

Here are a few more important tips for your EPT Barcelona trip:

• You’ll need your passport in order to enter the casino.

• The Casino Barcelona dress code is casual, but sportswear and shorts are not allowed. Make sure you have a pair of trousers with you!

• You can dodge queues and secure a spot in your chosen tournaments by pre-registering using your credit card via the Casino Barcelona Online shop. This option will become available nearer the event. If you pre-register you will skip the registrations line and will be able to get your ticket at PSLive Ticket Collection desks.

• Are you a qualifier? Collect your gold wristband and merchandise and check-out what activities we have in store for you at the Welcome Desk.

It started at around 10.45am, right about the time a poker tournament reporter thinks about ending the browsing of garbage and smut on his phone and getting up and making something of his morning. An orange started trembling on the counter.

The sight of static fruit in a tournament reporter’s room is strange enough, but good intentions had not yet faded to dust (it’s Day 1B) and the cracks-papering vitamin C shot still sat there. But now it was moving, gently quivering from side to side. That was not normal.

It’s difficult to remember why this early warning sign was dismissed, but it didn’t cause unnecessary shock. However, when the bed starting shuddering too, and more vigorously than if the neighbours had just decided they liked each other, something was clearly amiss. Was it the wind? Surely not. Was it a sudden onset disease? Possibly, but remember the orange.

No, it was eventually obvious. This was an earthquake. But now a question: what on earth does one do in an earthquake?

I still don’t know the answer to that, but I can tell you what I did. I put on some swimming shorts and a T-shirt and went to stand in the corridor.

It sounds dumb, but I was not the only one. One neighbour, a bemused Frenchman, peeked his head around the door and said: “Did you feel that?” I told him I did, and he said: “Do they have earthquakes in Vegas?” I did not know. Then another door opened and a character from a movie stepped out: a woman in a robe carrying a tiny dog beneath her arm. Regrettably, she did not have curlers in her hair nor face-cream on her cheeks, but it otherwise it was perfectly cliched. The dog yapped in acknowledgment of the fact.

A housekeeper stood behind her cart and fended some questions. “Was that normal?” She did not think so. “Were there often earthquakes in Vegas?” She did not think so. I thought about asking for a second bar of soap, but feared she would not think so. I left it, and headed to the elevator.

Shaken stacks after the Vegas earthquake

There were three people in the first one that came along, a Midwestern family from a Duane Hanson sculpture. The mother was nervy, talking about a swaying on the 30th floor. The father was apprehensive too. He looked like a man waiting for a stall in an airport bathroom. Meanwhile their son peered at both of them, finally understanding an overheard argument from a couple of years back when mom shouted at pop about the banging in Vegas.

The three of them looked to me for reassurance. But my bed-head and swimming shorts offered them none, so we travelled to the lobby and started harassing the bellman.

“Sure we have them,” he said, like we were asking for extra bars of soap. “But not often,” he said, like we were asking for extra bars of soap. A colleague got on the phone and talked to someone in California. “They had one there,” the colleague said. “Aftershock,” the bellman said. We all nodded but were not convinced.

Two young couples came through the door and one of them said something that sounded like “earthquake”. I said: “Did you feel the earthquake?” seeking solace in company, but the guy said: “EARTHQUAKE!?!” and seized his girlfriend with both hands, his face stricken in fear. “Sorry, I thought you said ‘earthquake’,” I said. “EARTHQUAKE!?!” he said again, bloodshot eyes and rumpled clothes belying a man on his way home from a night out, wracked in a stoned paranoia. I quickly shuffled away.

It was only when in the line for a coffee that it struck me. So far I’d encountered only people with no obvious access to Twitter. Twitter would know! I reached for my phone and typed in “earthquake” “Vegas”. And soon I saw the reassuring memes and quips, the fallen chair and the sports bettor anxious to get his wager on before the line changes. Meanwhile the Irish pair David Lappin and Dara O’Kearney wondered if they should open their safe.

With the danger apparently passed (it lasted 20 seconds) it was apparently safe to return to the room. The dog had stopped yapping. The Frenchman had returned to bed. The orange still sat on its counter. There was still only one bar of soap.

Quickly the poker world returned to normal, with upwards of 1,000 players heading to the Rio for Day 1B of the World Series of Poker (WSOP) Main Event. Daniel Negreanu was on “shuffle up and deal” duties and said, “Players! Don’t do anything stupid.” Further tremors are expected today, but we’ll hope to get through it. We’ve survived torrential rain at the WSOP before, and now we can add an earthquake.

WSOP photography by PokerPhotoArchive

There’s good news and bad news for the many, many fans of Liv Boeree.

To deal with the disappointment first: she will not be winning the 2019 World Series of Poker Main Event. The PokerStars Ambassador became one of the early Day 1 casualties when she was knocked out of the tournament by her boyfriend Igor Kurganov. (At least the chips stayed close to home and Kurganov finished the day with 129,100.)

However, the good news is this: you’ll be seeing a lot more of Boeree over the coming months as some long-in-the-making plans come to fruition. In particular, Boeree has been spending a lot of time working on content for her YouTube channel, which has been given a complete overhaul. Ever the polymath, Boeree’s principal focus in recent months has reverted back to the world of science and philosophy, an early passion that led her to the University of Manchester and a first-class degree in physics and astrophysics.

All that was before she became a champion on the European Poker Tour and one of the most popular poker players in the world, endeavours that led her away from the lab and into the casino. But the fascination with the scientific world has never diminished, and the level of content on Boeree’s channel is a notch higher than you might expect to find when casually browsing YouTube. In previous years, she has examined the physics of snooker and waterslides, as well as the extraordinary engineering of the Panama Canal. And her most recent video, published last week, offers a taste of what’s to come.

In the first of a series titled Live Curiously, Boeree interviews an Oxford-based Swedish transhumanist named Anders Sandberg about a recent paper he wrote titled Blueberry Earth. The abstract reads: “This paper explores the physics of the what-if question ‘what if the entire Earth was instantaneously replaced with an equal volume of closely packed but uncompressed blueberries?'”

As Sandberg admits, “It’s slightly tricky to find journals that take papers about the astrophysics of berries,” but goes on to describe a serious hypothetical experiment. (Without spoiling the denouement too much, suffice to say it doesn’t end well. “You basically have a boiling ocean of blueberry jam.”)

PokerStars Blog caught up with Boeree in Las Vegas to hear how her new plans are taking shape.

PokerStars Blog: By your standards, you’ve not been putting the poker volume in recently. Why is that?
Liv Boeree: I’m working on some other stuff, basically. I’m launching my YouTube channel properly, which I’m excited about. It’s going to be mostly science and philosophy stuff, but with some poker thinking thrown into it. I’ve been working on scripting that. It’s a good learning curve. The content is me. I’m writing it, I’m hosting it.

Is it fair to say science writing is not as lucrative as poker can be?
That’s probably true, but I’m finding it more intellectually stimulating, and that’s kind of what I want to focus on. That’s my main goal. There’s still a lot of things I’d like to achieve [in poker], including this event, obviously, but I just needed to find more of a balance. I’m still playing, I’m just playing smaller volume.

Is it hard to find motivation for poker after so many years?
That’s the thing, that’s why I’m looking for other things that pique my curiosity. And it’s nice as well because when I go away and I do that, then when I come back to poker it’s new and exciting. Also the game is still evolving, and every time I come back it’s like: ‘Oh, so our three bet sizes are this now.’

Liv Boeree: The only member of Team Pro to give a Ted Talk

What are the changes in poker?
The game is obviously moving towards this more GTO style. It’s a different way of playing, it’s a little bit less intuitive and more rote learning. Some people like that, some people like it less. Definitely some parts of it appeal to me, but I also like trying to outthink someone in a more intuitive way. Some tournaments there’s still some of that. It’s only the high roller tournaments where it really happens. The poker is so good, I have a little bit less of a desire to play it. I’m not willing to sit down and do the legwork and study for hours and hours and hours.

Is the WSOP a bit of an old school tournament in that respect?
Exactly. That’s why I love it. That’s why I still love the big main events. That’s why the PSPC [the PokerStars Players Championship, in the Bahamas in January] was so great. It had that old school feel about it. I think we’re going to see less and less of those, but when we do have them, I think they’re going to be really appreciated.

You’ve often said you would be a science researcher if poker hadn’t intervened. Are you slightly envious of your alter ego?
Yes and no. I’m very, very, very happy about how my life has turned out. I’m certainly in the upper percentiles of expectation. And, OK, I’m not doing science research in a lab or whatever, but what I’m working on right now, I’m trying to parse together different bits, the fringes of certain scientific and philosophical topics. Things we don’t know the answer to. I’m thinking about them. It’s not that I’m going to solve them, but I’m thinking about them at least. So it’s a form of research in a way. Igor and I have a really good working dynamic on that stuff. I’m pretty smart, but he’s even smarter. He’s a f—ing genius. He’s always having these great ideas but he’s not quite so good at communicating them. That’s more my skill set. Between us we’re hoping we’ve found a good team for communicating these ideas which I think are quite important for the world.

Igor Kurganov: A genius now living with chickens (Liv’s words, not ours)

What are your goals, both short term and long?
I certainly have some goals that I would like to achieve. I have this YouTube channel, and it’s not that I want a million followers or anything like that. If that happens, that’s nice, but more my purpose for it is to attract people that should be interested in effective altruism type topics, but aren’t yet. [Boeree is a co-founder and ambassador for REG charity.] The type of people who would naturally find them interesting, and gravitate towards them, and therefore also be helpful. That’s one of the main problems that we’re facing in the world. There’s the issue of getting funds to fund the right project, but more than that, actually there’s a brain gap. If there’s some super-smart person out there who’s 21 and trying to decide what to do, they’ve got multiple directions they could go in. Maybe they could be a programmer. Maybe they could go and work in finance. Or actually maybe they could go and do fundamental research, solving problems across the globe. I know what they should be doing, but sometimes they haven’t been given the right inspiration to go and do that. That’s kind of my goal, to put a beacon out there to these really smart minds, who maybe could have gone and done something less efficient with their time, and instead do something that is more likely to help the world.

There’s some really irrational things happening in the world at the moment. How do you, as a rational person, deal with that?
It’s hard. I oscillate between hope and nihilism and frustration and understanding. I think it would be unreasonable to expect everybody to get everything. Also there’s a chance that our way of thinking is not right. We should remain epistemically humble about that. I think it’s most likely that having these trainings in rational thinking methods is just a generally good thing. There’s a chance that it’s completely wrong, and actually we should just be going with whatever our first emotion is. Doesn’t seem likely, just through looking at results. But I think it’s unreasonable to expect 100 percent of the world to suddenly be on the same page and be like, “You’re right!” But at the same time we need to find a way to increase, as quickly as possible, upgrade human thinking, on average.

And you’re dedicated to that?
I still feel a little scattershot. I’m confident that the videos I’m doing on YouTube is getting me in the right direction at least. It still might not be the best thing I can do. I’m working on a book project with friends, and that’s kind of been on the back burner with the YouTube channel. And maybe I should be working on that as a priority. Or maybe I should be putting that completely away. My problem has always been that I’m way too excited about too many things, trying to be master of all trades. That’s something I’m wrestling with a little bit, and at the same time keeping up appearances at poker as well. I’ve just been finding it all a little exhausting, which is why I’m actually, for the first time, now feeling comfortable stepping back and being like, ‘You know what, it isn’t my No 1 priority any more. And that’s OK. I don’t have to be No 1 in this, or whatever, playing the biggest games.’ At some point it’s reasonable to step back and focus on things that I personally find more of a priority to me.

How are things on the domestic front?
Now we’ve moved to Oxford, and I love it there so much. We’re having a great time. Igor is living in the country, which he’s never done before. We have some chickens! It’s very wholesome, and again it’s good for introspection and so on. I’ve realised that I don’t like living in a city anymore.

Is this maturity creeping in?
Maybe, maybe. Finally. At 35. My family is very pleased. They’re very happy to see I’m happy. They love Igor to bits. I put up the first video a couple of days ago, and there’s going to be a big hour-long interview with this brilliant, brilliant guy coming out hopefully in the next week or so. So stay tuned.

WSOP photography by PokerPhotoArchive

What are you up to this weekend? Sunday at 8pm BST, to be precise?

Nothing important? Good. You might want to add this in your diary if you’re able to get to London the following weekend.

The good folks over at PokerStars Live at the Hippodrome are hosting one of our hugely popular MegaStack events next week in the heart of London. For just a £170 buy-in you’re guaranteed some big bucks should you go the distance, and plenty of play with a 50,000 starting stack.

But here’s the really good news.

PokerStars is running an online qualifier this Sunday (7th July, 8pm BST) that offers five seats into the MegaStack. The buy-in is £16.50 and with five £170 seats guaranteed it’s a great chance for you to get in on the cheap.

To find the satellite, click on the ‘EVENTS’ tab in the PokerStars lobby, then click on the ‘LIVE’ tab. You’ll find the PokerStars MegaStack satellite in the UK events tab.

The Hippodrome is hosting the event at Le Meridien

The live event kicks off with Day 1A and Day 1B on Thursday 11th July (12pm and 8pm flights) and Day 1C on Friday 12th (12pm). Day 2 then takes place on Saturday 13th (11am), with the whole thing wrapping up on Sunday 14th (11am).

With a big turnout expected, the tournament takes place at the Le Meridien Hotel in Piccadilly Circus, rather than the Hippodrome Casino.

Should you play and bust, there’s also a £440 NLHE event which runs Friday 12th to Sunday 14th, and a single-day £110 PLO Double Chance event at 5pm on Sunday 14th.

For all the info, head to the PokerStars Live event page.

Good luck!

Ready to sign up for PokerStars and qualify for the London MegaStack? Click here to get an account.

Here’s a round-up from the week on PokerStars Blog…

• 2019 WSOP Main Event coverage
• 50 golden WSOP “nuggets” to mark the 50th WSOP
• MicroMillions 2019 schedule announced
• Lex beats Fintan & Spraggy to win UFC KO belt
• PokerStars Live at the Hippodrome (online qualifier this Sunday!)
• EPT Barcelona travel guide
• Awards for Chris Moneymaker, plus why #Moneymaker4HoF is our pick

The 2019 WSOP Main Event is here!

And by “here” we mean (1) the time has arrived for the World Series of Poker Main Event to begin, and (2) PokerStars Blog is on the scene to provide stories, photos, results and more right through until the final pot is won.

Our intrepid representative Howard Swains is at the Rio All-Suite Hotel and Casino delivering dispatches on the regular. Among the stories he’s filed so far are ones about 2018 WSOP Main Event champion John Cynn setting the ball rolling, an update on poker polymath Liv Boeree’s current pursuits (besides playing the Main, from which her boyfriend unceremoniously busted her on Day 1!), and how he and others survived the Great Vegas Earthquake of 2019 (no shinola!).

Thousands are vying once more for poker’s most prestigious prize

As the Main Event marches forward, be sure to bookmark the handy PokerStars Blog all-purpose WSOP 2019 coverage hub in order to stay on top of it all.

50 Years of the WSOP, 50 “Nuggets”

It’s a special year for the WSOP. Having started as a modest gathering of gamblers back in 1970, this year marks the 50th edition of the WSOP. To mark the occasion, the PokerStars Blog presents a list of stories, trivia, anecdotes, and out-of-way “nuggets” of information from the history of the series — one for each year.

Check out “50 Years, 50 WSOP Nuggets” — we promise there are several there even the most ardent poker enthusiast will not have known about before.

For the 50th time, WSOP players are going for the gold

MicroMillions 2019 begins July 14

The schedule for the newest installment of the MicroMillions has been announced. Starting July 14 and over the following two weeks, PokerStars players will have no less than 146 chances to turn a little into a lot in the popular, low buy-in series.

Click here for all the details regarding MicroMillions 2019 including a full schedule of all the events.

Lex KOs Fintan & Spraggy

It was a knock down, drag out affair, but after many rounds gamely fought Lex Veldhuis emerged triumphant in his battle with fellow Team Online pros Fintan Hand and Ben Spragg to win a real UFC belt plus a $1,000 freeroll for his Twitch community.

Read all of the details of the trio’s battle, and watch the final hand (featuring a twist ending) in “Lex beats Fintan and Spraggy for UFC KO belt.”

Moments before the final knockout blow was delivered

PokerStars Live in London (qualify this Sunday!)

PokerStars Live at the Hippodrome will be hosting another of the hugely popular MegaStack events next week — a £170 buy-in, 50,000 starting chips, and tons of fun are all guaranteed.

Even better, you can qualify online this Sunday at 8pm BST for just £16.50! Read all about the qualifier and details of the live event here.

EPT Barcelona travel guide

Speaking of live events — and looking just a little bit further down the tourney journey path — EPT Barcelona will be here sooner than you think. The popular series returns August -September , which means you can start planning for it today.

To help you with the planning, check out our EPT Barcelona travel guide to learn how to get there, where to stay, what to do, eat, and drink where there, and everything else you might need to know.

Awards for Moneymaker, and a PHoF push

Chris Moneymaker won some trophies this week at the “First 50 Honors” hosted by the WSOP — three of them, in fact.

More trophies than hands with which to carry them

Of course, we here at PokerStars Blog are hoping the 2003 WSOP Main Event champion and namesake of the poker-boom causing “Moneymaker Effect” earns another award — namely an induction into the Poker Hall of Fame. Moneymaker is one of 10 finalists for this year’s vote (which closes on Monday), and we’ve made our pitch on his behalf: “Our pick? #Moneymaker4HoF.”

It is a Hall of Fame name — on that we call can agree

WSOP Photography by pokerphotoarchive.com

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

This weekend south west London will buzz with the noise of balls on rackets, the odd backhand grunt, and plenty of well-mannered applause.

It’s the third round of the world’s most famous tennis tournament. And the forecast is good. At least for those watching.

Few players who enter the Wimbledon singles make it into week two.

To get there they must first toil in muggy British sunshine, risking sunburn, fatigue, and injury.

The defeated will collect £111,000. Not bad. But from that they’ll pay coaches, trainers, agents, bag carriers, and of course the tax man.

All while catching their breath.

We say, why not make the same money, tax free, but without all the running around?

The Sunday Million has $1 million guaranteed and a six-figure payout for the winner.

The injury risk is minimal, and most players are content to avoid the sun. Any fatigue you can sleep off on Monday.

Then wake up just in time for Round 4.

Learn more about event itself by visiting the Sunday Million homepage.

Upsets may be the greatest thing in sports. Those moments when an underdog shocks a favorite are all the better the bigger the underdog and more seemingly unbeatable the favorite.

The best of these upsets can become defining moments in the story of a sport. Take, for example, Buster Douglas’ shocking upset of Mike Tyson. It’s a moment when the story of Tyson, and ultimately of heavyweight boxing, changed course.

Something similar happened in the November 2015 clash between former champion boxer Holly Holm and “the most dominant athlete alive,” former Olympic silver medalist in Judo and UFC bantamweight champion Ronda Rousey.

Rousey had a perfect 12-0 record when entering the UFC 193 fight with Holm. Only one woman (Miesha Tate) had even survived the first round against Rousey.

In fact, Tyson had become the perfect comparison for Rousey. People were spending $60 on pay-per-view broadcasts to see Rousey dispatch of foes in brutal, embarrassingly quick fashion.

In the four fights prior to facing Holm, Rousey’s record looked like this:

• UFC 170 – Knocked out Sarah McMann in 66 seconds
• UFC 175 – Knocked out Alexis Davis in 16 seconds
• UFC 184 – Submitted Cat Zingano in 14 seconds
• UFC 190 – Knocked out Bethe Correia in 34 seconds

Those four fights combined to last 2 minutes 10 seconds, or less than half of one round. And to be clear, these opponents were not cannon fodder — they were legitimate, high-end opposition.

This explains why, despite Holm’s status as a legitimate boxing champion who had made a successful transition to MMA and was 9-0 entering the fight, Rousey was a more than -700 favorite (with some sites having her as high as -1650) when the fight started.

The world’s most dominant athlete

Before her fight with Correia, Sports Illustrated had declared Rousey the “World’s Most Dominant Athlete.”

Along with that came discussions of how she’d fare against equally sized men in MMA — and also how a potential fight with boxing superstar Floyd Mayweather would go down. Mayweather and Rousey were seemingly happy to keep their names in headlines while a subset of combat sports fans engaged in the latest meaningless debate.

It was Rousey, in fact, who got women into the UFC Octagon. UFC President Dana White famously responded flatly “no” when asked if women would ever fight in the UFC, but Rousey’s dominant performances in Strikeforce and her clear marketability got him to change his tune and promote Rousey vs. Liz Carmouche at UFC 157 as the first fight featuring women in UFC history.

White also stated in no uncertain terms Rousey was the reason women were in the cage and his decision to embrace the fact could change at any time because this was “the Ronda Rousey Show.”

Instead, Rousey’s dominance and starpower led the UFC to add on new weight classes and build up the divisions.

While Rousey became a breakout star, she was also the force behind changing the sport as a whole.

The preacher’s daughter

Holm’s nickname “The Preacher’s Daughter” is, of course, based on her background. She’d competed in kickboxing before eventually becoming one of the biggest stars in women’s boxing. But women in boxing, even the ultra-elite, are never afforded the kind of celebrity someone like Rousey was able to achieve.

Moving to MMA, she’d found plenty of success early in her career, scoring knockout finishes in all but one of her pro bouts before entering the Octagon, but she was a more methodical worker than the intense and flashy Rousey.

In fact, while Rousey’s record was littered with quick, first-round finishes, the earliest one of Holm’s fights has ever ended was almost one minute into the second round.

Perhaps that’s the reason a $100 bet on Holm to beat Rousey would pay off $700.

The fight

At the weigh-in for the fight, Rousey charged at Holm for the stare-down and things briefly turned physical.

The confrontation led Rousey to tell Holm she’d “get it” at the fight and that she “saw through” Holm’s “sweet” persona.

The striking early on was relatively even and Rousey did manage to take the fight to the ground, leading the crowd to think an armbar ending was imminent, but Holm escaped before starting to take over in the striking.

Holm effectively used angles and footwork to confound Rousey, busting her up, drawing blood from her mouth and seemingly exhausting her before shockingly scoring her own takedown before getting back up — almost as though she wanted to prove to the champ she could do whatever she wanted.

“I’m trying to take it in, but it’s crazy,” Holm said following her win. “Getting in here, I had so much love and support. I felt like, how can I not do this with all that love. I had the best coaching, from standup to grappling to wrestling.”

“Everything that we worked on presented itself in the fight. I haven’t spent this much time in the gym in my life,” she continued. “Everything we worked on happened tonight.”

Holm rode the celebrity wave for a bit, but lost the title to Miesha Tate in her next fight. Rousey would fight one more time, suffering a knockout loss to Amanda Nunes before retiring from competition.

Despite a 2-4 record since defeating Rousey, Holm is now set to face Nunes in an effort to recapture the bantamweight championship at UFC 239 on July 6.

The oddsmakers think it’ll be a long night for Holm against the champ.

But that’s not the first time those words have been written.

Among all the things we know and love about poker, its perfect inclusivity is among the very best. So long as you have the money for the buy-in, and are over 21 years old, absolutely anyone can play the game. Not only that, but sometimes the seeming underdog can come out on top. Just ask North Carolina’s Susan Faber.

Faber, who is a 71-year-old tax accountant by day and recreational poker player by night, has just snagged a World Series of Poker (WSOP) bracelet, worth $121,161. She prevailed in the $500 Salute To Warriors No Limit Hold’em event and became the first woman to win an “open” event this series. There were 1,723 players sitting down at the start, but Faber beat them all.

“I am so excited and so thrilled to be a bracelet winner,” Faber told reporters. “That’s on my bucket list!”

The Salute To Warriors event was a special addition to the schedule this year and offered $40 from each entry to the United Services Organization and other veterans charities. It paused yesterday and took a day off for US Independence Day. It was only fitting.

Shortly before the tournament went heads-up this afternoon, leaving Faber to face off against Rob Stark, she walked over to the rail to meet a group of supporters who had attached themselves to Faber just today. “I didn’t think I’d get this far,” she said. She then also playfully slapped the leg of a man in a plaid shirt in the front row of the bleachers — a clear indication that this was Mr Faber, sitting and watching his wife make history.

Sure enough, I soon found myself in conversation with Gary Faber, also a CPA, who has been married to the new bracelet winner for 44 years. “Way too long,” he said with a chuckle.

MORE FROM THE 2019 WSOP
COVERAGE HUB | PHOTO GALLERY

Gary told me that Susan only got into poker five or six years ago, playing sometimes at Harrah’s Cherokee Casino in Charlotte, NC, but also spending two or three nights a week playing for play money only in restaurants in their hometown. “She got into this, now you can’t get her out of it,” Gary said of his wife, going on to detail someone well and truly gripped by the poker bug. “She loves to play,” he said.

Gary said that Susan’s father was a gambler, but that the couple only used to play a little blackjack and other casino games before poker entered their life. Gary doesn’t play at all, explaining that he’s a “walker” and doesn’t have the patience to sit still long enough for poker. Even being on the sidelines for the final table was tough for him. “I can’t watch, I’m too nervous,” he said. “It’s exciting, but nerve-wracking.”

The couple were due to fly home today, but had to postpone owing to Susan’s remarkable run. They used the day off to visit the Strip and play a little blackjack. “I wouldn’t let her play poker,” Gary said, hinting that she would have if he could have.

Susan Faber plays for play money two or three times a week

They then returned to the Rio today and Susan began what amounts to a steam-rollering of the final table. She was second in chips overnight, but knocked out Kulwant Singh in eighth, with jacks beating tens and soon took over the chip lead from Taylor Carroll. That then allowed her to knock Carroll out. This time aces held against sevens.

Faber rivered a straight to send Chris Canan to the rail in fourth, cracking Canan’s kings, and she then got 6♦2♦ to beat Dean Yoon’s K♠8♥ (it was a short-stack shove) to take them to heads up. Faber had a five-to-one lead over Stark and after only a few hands he shipped for 12 big blinds with 7♣3♦ and Faber called with 5♥5♣. The pair held up.

“How does it feel?” one of her cheering section shouted from alongside the table.
“Woooonderful!” Faber shouted back.

Gary lent on the railings as his wife had her winners photos taken, but then was able to sit still long enough for the celebratory group shot. And will Susan now play the Main Event?

“We’re going home,” Gary said. But Susan said she’ll be back next year.

It’s not easy to surprise people at the World Series of Poker, but many players and media members alike were taken aback today at the news that a new room had been discovered at the Rio. Not only was it a new room, it was a new room with poker tables in it. For the first time at the WSOP Main Event, they’re playing poker in the bowling alley.

The bowling alley? Yes, the bowling alley. Even some people who have been coming to the Rio for as long as the WSOP has been here didn’t know that this property had a bowling alley. But it’s true: the Lucky Strike Lanes opened in March 2007–and it closed two years later.

Over the next decade, it became part of a Chinese restaurant and then a storeroom, but this year, for the first time, it’s been playing host to the WSOP. Many of us only arrived to Las Vegas for the Main Event, so saw it in action for the first time today, even though organisers said it’s been in use for much of the summer.

The World Series has some fairly strict rules about shooting video footage, but this short clip should give you an idea of where this “new” room is located:

Of course, the reason for it is the ever-swelling size of the tournament fields, including this Main Event. Although nothing will be official for another couple of days, informed persons (read: Kevin Mathers) say we’re at 8,022 now. Last year, there were 7,874 players, so that total is already surpassed. The 8,773 from 2006 is a realistic prospect. Could we really break a 13-year-old record? Quite possibly.

That additional room quickly saw its fair share of excitement. Phil Ivey sat down during level one, immediately to the left of fellow super high roller regular Sam Greenwood. But Ivey was knocked out in less than 30 minutes when his nut flush draw, with A♠4♠ missed against Jeffrey Chang’s 10♦9♦, which had flopped two pair.

That all took place after another player had been unceremoniously escorted from the Brasilia Room after an allegation of cheating. We did not see any of the alleged incident, but staff confirmed a player was ejected and Poker News reported that Georgii Belianin apparently jokingly scooped another player’s chips into his own stack.

“You’re playing the Main Event, you can’t touch other player’s chips,” WSOP tournament direct Jack Effel told Poker News. “He took the chips that were next to him, they didn’t belong to him and you can’t do that when you’re playing the Main Event.”

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COVERAGE HUB | PHOTO GALLERY

That was only the first of two disqualifications today. The second came from the Pavilion Room after another player pulled down his pants after moving all-in blind, showing his naked butt to his table-mates. (I can’t believe I’m writing this either.) He then also pulled off his shoes and tossed one on to the table, nearly hitting the dealer.

Videos circulating social media show the mooning and shoe-tossing incident, and another player shared another video with me in which the actions are clear. I also spoke to the player in question shortly before security staff arrived to the table to disqualify him. He confirmed what had happened, and initially thought he would receive a two-round penalty. But he was told that he had forfeited his tournament and his chips were removed from play.

“I had a moment with the room,” the player said. “I just felt the love of everybody.”

With more than 8,000 players, and the pressure rising, stand by for more crazy incidents at the WSOP.

WSOP photography by PokerPhotoArchive

Aditya Agarwal is back in Las Vegas this summer, fulfilling what has become pretty much the focus of his poker-playing year. This is the 14th occasion he’s been to the World Series and the 14th Main Event. Having cashed seven of them, he’s hoping to keep up a fine record.

“I plan my year around this tournament,” Agarwal said. “I try to be well rested, well prepared. Get everything aligned so I can just focus. You can only prepare yourself to do the best and then whatever happens, happens. You can’t really predict how things will go, but you can prepare yourself, you can be well rested, you can make sure that you have studied enough.”

By his standards, he didn’t play too many other World Series events in the run-up to the Main Event, expressing slight disappointment that the 2019 schedule had fewer medium buy-in events (the $2,000-$5,000 range) and more of less than $1,000. But he still played about 11 tournaments after arriving towards the beginning of the series.

He came to Vegas in good form too, having won a 200,000 rupee buy-in tournament in a Goa casino at the beginning of May, picking up a $45,000 prize. “I have not won too many live tournaments, so honestly that did field pretty good, even though it was a smaller field,” he said. He also managed to late reg at the start of Day 2, so increased his hourly rate considerably by skipping a full day. “As a prep to the world series I thought I’d go and play that. It was fun.”

MORE FROM THE 2019 WSOP
COVERAGE HUB | PHOTO GALLERY

Goa is now Agarwal’s home, having moved there in the past year with his wife. They’ve adopted two puppies, requiring a slight lifestyle adjustment, but it’s closer to most of the poker rooms in India allowing Agarwal to complement his online game with some live poker. PokerStars.in launched in April last year, open only to players based in India, and Agarwal both coaches and plays, putting in the volume on the ever growing site.

Aditya Agarwal: Inspiring a generation of Indian players

“Since .IN launched, the tournaments have been getting bigger,” he said. “Obviously they’re not as big as .com, and the schedule is not that packed, but the market is mostly looking for good stakes, and it’s still a growing market. We just had our first SCOOP, and we had a $150K guaranteed main event, with multiple flights. It’s getting better, it’s getting bigger. We have a $40K guarantee on a Sunday. It’s a smaller field, less variance. I’m still comparing it to .com, but from an Indian perspective it’s really good. It’s definitely the biggest flagship of all the Indian sites.”

Agarwal was the first player from India to sign for Team PokerStars, back in January 2015, but it’s a measure of the increasing popularity of the game that there are now three Indian players under the red spade. Muskan Sethi signed a year ago, and last week Sharad Rao became an official Twitch ambassador.

“I’ve known Sharad for a while,” Agarwal said. “I think it’s great having new young players come, to motivate the new generation. Sharad is going to be taking care of the poker school and Twitching regularly. It’ll be great. A lot of people will be able to follow him every day and learn from it.”

Agarwal himself has occasionally been known to dabble in Twitch, but admits it might not be his scene. “It has a lot to do with personality and I just feel that I’m not the ideal candidate to Twitch long hours. But I do Twitch once in a while.”

The World Series, however, is definitely more to his liking, particularly the Main Event. And, as ever, we’ll check on his progress throughout.

WSOP photography by PokerPhotoArchive

It looks set to be a record breaker in the Main Event over in Las Vegas, which is great for poker.

What’s good for the game there is good for the game everywhere. Especially online this Sunday.

Because while thousands enjoy the thrill of the Main Event there, they won’t be able to play the Sunday Million here.

To be clear, that’s the best players in the game (nearly all of them), unable to play for a $1 million guaranteed prize pool. And a six-figure payout for first.

Which makes you wonder who will be around to play this weekend. And whether you might be able to take advantage of that.

Because someone has to win the title and $100K-plus.

We’ll leave you to ponder that.

In the meantime, best of luck to all Main Event players this weekend.

There has never been a better weekend to play the Sunday Million

Learn more about event itself by visiting the Sunday Million homepage.

There are very few people who can hold down an undefeated record through an entire career in combat sports.

Floyd Mayweather’s 50-0 record defines the modern “undefeated great” in fight sports. It’s a once-in-a-generation accomplishment. Almost all fighters fall eventually.

In the UFC, that includes the best fighters to ever step in the Octagon. Undefeated champions don’t happen often, and when they do, they fall in spectacular fashion. We discussed one case of this exact thing in our article detailing Holly Holm’s shock upset of Ronda Rousey.

Few fighters get to keep their unbeaten record

But there are many interesting cases of when a fighter loses their undefeated record.

Jon Jones

Jones is arguably (probably) the greatest fighter in UFC history. The current light heavyweight champion has only tasted defeat once in his career. That came in a controversial disqualification loss to Matt Hamill in December 2009.

When he faced Hamill — a deaf three-time collegiate wrestling champion — Jones was 9-0. By then he had picked up wins in his first three fights in the UFC and was building a reputation as a can’t miss prospect.

In the process of battering Hamill with some ground and pound, Jones threw and landed multiple “illegal 12-6 elbows” (elbows thrown downward in a straight line). That resulted in the referee awarding Hamill the victory.

“He definitely didn’t lose this fight, and I definitely didn’t win,” Hamill said on his website after the fight. “But I guess the rules are there for a reason. It is what it is. I went into this fight feeling like my record was actually 9-1, so with this so-called win, I will now consider my record 9-2.”

UFC President Dana White has actually suggested he may work with the Nevada State Athletic Commission (the commission which oversaw the fight) to overturn the result a decade later. It’s a move that would bump Jones back to the ranks of the undefeated.

For his part, Jones has said he enjoys not having the stress of the “undefeated champion” tag hanging around his neck.

“Personally, it takes a lot of stress off me to not be this undefeated champion,” Jones said at a UFC 239 media event. “But I do see the good in it. Floyd Mayweather. Boxing has Floyd Mayweather. He means a lot to the sport of boxing. I see how my legacy means a lot to the sport, and if Dana wants me to be undefeated, I don’t think too many people would argue with him.”

Greats with early losses

Not every “first loss” comes in dramatic fashion after a fighter becomes established as a top star or highly touted prospect.

In fact, many fighters suffer defeats very early in their careers.

Conor McGregor lost in just his third professional fight, suffering a kneebar loss just 69 seconds into his fight with Artemij Sitenkov. He lost again three fights later when Joseph Duffy scored a submission win in just 38 seconds.

Of course, then McGregor went on to win 15 straight fights, become UFC featherweight champion and an international megastar before he would taste defeat again.

One of the best female fighters in history, Cris Cyborg, lost her very first professional fight by submission in less than two minutes. She then became the most feared striker in the sport, won 20 consecutive fights and became UFC champion before eventually losing her title to Amanda Nunes.

Nunes, who has a case as the best woman to ever fight in the Octagon, is another who lost her professional debut. In Nunes’ case, it was a 35-second armbar loss — just to keep the trend of great fighters losing early fights by quick submission going.

Lyoto Machida

Lyoto Machida ran his record to 15-0 when he defeated Rashad Evans to become UFC light heavyweight champ.

Machida’s style was unique. In a pool of fighters with wrestling, jiu jitsu or boxing backgrounds, Machida had a legitimate karate background. And he’d figured out how to utilize the martial art effectively in MMA, no easy task.

Some corners of MMA fandom took issue with Machida’s style, accusing him of being a “point fighter” rather than going for the finish. That said, he absolutely destroyed Evans, leaving him crumpled against the cage in one of the most dramatic knockouts in UFC history.

UFC commentator Joe Rogan declared we were all living in the “Machida Era.”

Machida won a controversial decision over “Shogun” Rua in his next fight, leading to an immediate rematch.

Two fights after the “Machida Era” began, it was over. Rua removed the judges from the equation with a first-round knockout. The once-unbeatable karate master found himself relegated to the status of mere mortal.

Once the mystique was gone, Machida suddenly became very beatable. He has a 10-7 record since suffering the loss to Rua.

Maybe it’s better to suffer your first loss early when you can learn to deal with the adversity of defeat.

Two years ago, Arlie Shaban was sitting behind the desk at a Toronto branch of Enterprise Rent-A-Car, taking bookings, selling upgrades, handing over keys, sometimes heading out into the bitter Ontario mornings to wash the cars. “I absolutely hated it,” Shaban recently recalled. “I was wearing a shirt and tie, it was not what I am about at all.”

No sooner had he started the job than he was plotting an escape. “I’d walk there in the winter, when it’s all slushy and cold, when it was raining on me. I used to make videos on my phone, where I would talk into the camera on the walk in, being like: ‘In two weeks, you’re going to be done. Just have faith. Everything is going to go well. You’re never going to have to do this again in your life.’ I have those videos on my old phone, just pumping me up about it. I’ve never showed them to anybody but I’ve definitely looked at them myself.”

Shaban maybe wants to look at those videos again this week, because his faith has paid off in spades. He is here in Las Vegas, playing the World Series of Poker Main Event for the first time, a PokerStars patch on his sleeve and a million metaphorical miles away from the Enterprise lot.

“It’s been a dream of mine to play the Main Event, ever since I was a little kid,” Shaban said. “I watched Moneymaker win, I thought everything was so unreal and unbelievable, a fantasy. I didn’t really know if it would ever be possible in my life to do it.”

MORE FROM THE 2019 WSOP
COVERAGE HUB | PHOTO GALLERY

Like pretty much everything good that has happened to Shaban over the past two years, he owes his presence here to his extraordinary abilities as a Twitch poker streamer. Now 30-years-old, Shaban is almost certainly the most committed poker streamer in the business, with hordes of loyal followers tuning in daily to watch his exploits. Around 70 percent of his $10,000 buy-in came from his Twitch subscribers (with no mark-up) and Shaban is giving them all a sweat into Day 2 — and hopefully far beyond.

A familiar sight to thousands of fans: Arlie Shaban’s Twitch stream

None of this has come about by chance. Shaban’s rise through the Twitch ranks has been nothing short of sensational, but it owes everything to his exceptional work ethic. PokerStars Blog asked Shaban to describe the key steps that took him from the Enterprise lot to the World Series of Poker, and this biography should stand as a road map to anybody starting out in poker streaming.

Here’s how it happened for Shaban–and how it could happen for you too. These next few paragraphs are stacked with brilliant advice.

STEP 1: A FAMILIAR START IN THE GAME
I’ve loved poker my whole life. My grandfather played a lot of cards with me. He played gin rummy all the time and then in public school me and a group of my buddies fell in love with poker. We would start home games all the time. That translated to high school and university. I was always playing with my friends, not online or casinos. And then I got to the age where I was old enough to actually play in casinos and online. I dabbled a bit. It wasn’t profitable, but I was having a lot of fun.

STEP 2: (BIG) BROTHERLY ADVICE
What really transferred by passion as a recreational player into being full time was meeting one of my best friends now, Kevin Martin. I was on a reality show, Big Brother Canada, five years ago now, and Kevin was on the season right after me. When he got cast they revealed that he was a professional poker player and Twitch streamer, and that was the first time I ever heard what Twitch was. At that point, I was just playing recreationally. I was around break even, I got to that point without any type of studying, just trial and error, but I couldn’t really get past that. I kind of plateaued for years. And after Kevin got out of the Big Brother house and I finally got to meet him, I picked his brain for a little bit and started following his channel, watching what he was doing and I was so intrigued by everything. So I just called him up one day.

Fellow streamer and Shaban’s mentor Kevin Martin

STEP 3: MARTIN SETS SHABAN ON A NEW PATH
Talking to Kevin, I was like: “Alright bro, I don’t get it. I played so many hands of poker. I’ve played probably 5 million hands of poker at this point of my life, and I just levelled off at break even because I don’t know how to get to the next level.” He was like, “Well, how are you playing? What’s your game selection like? What are you doing for study?” He broke down a bunch of different things. I was like, “Oh, I don’t do any of that stuff.” He was like, “Well, that’s your problem. You don’t just play to get better. There are training programs you can go through, and these people have made millions of dollars consistently over years.” That’s what took me to the next level.

You game select, so you take out turbos and hypers and play some really slow-paced games, so you can really get a feel for all the new stuff you’re learning, and you want to lower your buy-in range. You’re playing wild big buy-ins, you should just play the smallest games online until you can beat those profitably with all this stuff you’re learning in these new programs, and then you can work your way up. That’s pretty much the only way you can do it. I was like, “Oh, that’s amazing.”

STEP 4: ENTER THE APE
I took everything Kevin said on board and it completely changed my whole game. I did a training program called Max Value, by Rob Tinion and “apestyles” [Jonathan Van Fleet]. “apestyles” is one of the most winning online players in history of MTTs and he’s a brilliant, brilliant coach. I went through that program, took it very seriously, and it turned me into a full time player. My poker graph and my ROI just sky-rocketed compared to where it was. I started plotting my escape from Enterprise.

Arlie Shaban on Day 1A

STEP 5: RESEARCH, HARD WORK AND CONSISTENCY
I also had my degree in business communications. When I looked at Twitch from a business point of view, I noticed that there was a lot, a lot of room for other people to work their way in. There’s not a lot of Twitch poker streamers at the top of the directory and then there’s some in the middle and a bunch at the bottom. There’s huge gaps between the people in the middle and the people at the top. I did a lot of research into why I thought those gaps were there. I decided that when I was going to start streaming, I was going to do the exact opposite of why I thought there was a gap. So one of the biggest things that I realised as a viewer was that I liked when the streamer streamed really consistently. I like when they have a schedule and they stream five days a week, something like that. You really get into a routine of watching the same guys every day. So when I started streaming, I streamed 125 days in a row, eight hours on average a day. One of the main reasons I did that was for the consistency, and also as a viewer, when I was kind of studying Twitch, I realised the guys at the top would always talk about how hard it is to stream consistently. You’re going to need some days off. But consistency is one of the most important things, so I just took it to the next level and decided not to take any days off.

STEP 6: EMBRACE THE CHALLENGE
Viewers really enjoy watching challenges. Any type of challenge. I remember as a viewer, challenges were always super exciting for me. So that’s why I set out the 125-day streaming streak, which is how I first started out on Twitch, for my first stream ever. And that was one of the biggest momentum builders for my channel. Everyone was like, “No one has ever streamed that long before and this is some brand new streamer saying he’s going to do it, let’s see if he actually can.” Being consistent, doing crazy fun challenges, sticking to what you say you’re going to do — that involves your scheduling, but it also involves completing things. If you say you’re going to do a fun bankroll challenge, start it and complete it. Twitch doesn’t like it when you half-ass things and give up, and they really like it when you give it everything you have, your heart and soul. Shortly after my 125-day streaming streak, I did a 43-hour stream. Til this day, that’s probably still my most successful stream. That was over a year ago. But everybody was going nuts. I really think you just need to find what you can bring to the table that’s different, and really, really hammer that into the Twitch audience. For me, for my very first streams, even before I started, I always said I wasn’t going to be the best poker player on Twitch, I wasn’t going to be the funniest guy on Twitch, I wasn’t going to be the most entertaining person, but what I could do is put in more time and energy than anyone else has. To this day, since I started streaming, there isn’t one Twitch poker streamer who has put in more hours than me. And that’s all part of my game-plan. I didn’t know what else I had to bring to the table. I was brand new into full time poker. But I have a pretty intense work ethic and Twitch loves seeing you work hard. That’s a big reason that my channel grew to where it is. I’ve consistently just put in the hours over and over.

STEP 7: LOVE IT
I’ve always had that capability and work ethic, but I have to want to do it. I can’t be told to do it by someone else. It can’t be anything other than my own willpower. There have been a lot of things in my life that I’ve half-assed. I half-assed university. I just got by. I got a degree, all I wanted was a good social experience and a degree with my name on it. But I could have excelled if I’d wanted to as school. I just didn’t want to. This I wanted so bad, and I was afraid of failure. I don’t mind failure, but I want to do everything in my power not to fail.

STEP 8: ENTER THE RED SPADE
When I first started streaming, I definitely wanted to get noticed by PokerStars. One of my strategies was to tweet them every single day during by 125-day streaming streak, just to let them know it was happening, to let them know it’s still happening, so they would start seeing my name every single day on their Twitter. And eventually they popped into my channel, I think because of that, they finally took notice of it. I think that was a big part of just getting introduced to them. I didn’t know what I was going to do when I first started streaming. I didn’t know what companies were going to reach out to me, but I was reaching out to PokerStars every single day and then one day they reached out to me, they popped into my channel. They started popping in every once in a while.

They subbed to my Twitch channel, which I thought was super cool, and then they approached me maybe six months after I started streaming, about the 12 Labors of Arlie challenge, where I ended up winning a Platinum Pass. I went to the Bahamas and played the $25K PSPC this January. They reached out to me about that around this time last year.

STEP 9: THE BIGGEST TOURNAMENT IN THE WORLD
It’s been a dream of mine to play the Main Event, ever since I was a little kid. I watched Moneymaker win, I thought everything was so unreal and unbelievable, a fantasy. I didn’t really know if it would ever be possible in my life to do it. But that’s the main reason I’m here right now. When I started streaming, my viewers were asking me if I was going to be playing World Series last year, and I was like, “No, definitely not. It’s totally not in the cards.” And then as the year went on, and people started asking about this year, I started to realise that I could probably play in the main. I was going to put out a feeler with Twitch and see if I could sell some action. I ended up selling 70 percent of my main at no mark-up, put in $3K myself, and that’s how I got in here. I would never have been able to do it without Twitch, and I probably wouldn’t have been able to do it without them egging me on. People were just telling me it was a good opportunity, that this year is the year to do it. A few of my friends who are professional poker players have always gone on about how the Main is the softest $10K you’ll ever find in the world and that they’d never miss it because of how much value there is in it. I think a combination of those things got me out here this year. I don’t remember the exact number, but I believe there’s about 90-95 people who have a sweat in the Main.

WSOP photography by PokerPhotoArchive

Day 2 at the World Series of Poker Main Event started with an administrative oversight. On the printed list of “Notable Players” handed to the media, there was nobody by the name of Chris Moneymaker.

Former champions Greg Raymer, Greg Merson, Joe Hachem, Qui Nguyen, Chris Ferguson and Tom McEvoy were duly included, in bold type no less, yet the man sitting on Table 442, Seat 2 was clearly not notable enough. This is despite the fact that Chris Moneymaker is probably the most influential poker player of the past two decades, and despite the fact that he definitely was here in person. He was un-bagging a stack of around 100,000 chips and looking for another deep run in the event he won to great fanfare in 2003.

Moneymaker chuckled when told the news, and allowed an expletive to slip from his lips in feigned outrage. But the laissez faire attitude to something so trivial as a player list is true to form for someone who has never been all that concerned with the trappings of poker fame. In fact, even as spirited campaigns gather momentum hoping to enshrine Moneymaker’s name on the most prestigious list of all notable players — namely, the Official Poker Hall of Fame — the 43-year-old from Tennessee said of the potential honour: “I don’t care. Truly. I don’t think it gets me anything.”

It must have been some kind of cruel punishment then that they moved Moneymaker to the ESPN feature table only a matter of minutes later, where he’ll headline the Saturday afternoon billing on the biggest sports channel in the world. That’s the kind of appeal Moneymaker actually still does have, and which earned him three awards earlier this week. His 2003 success was voted “Most Impressive WSOP Main Event Win”; his bluff against Sammy Farha was named “Most Memorable TV Hand”; and he was nominated as one of the “Four Most Important Players in WSOP History”. That, Moneymaker said, did mean something.

“It was voted on by the fans, so that makes it cool,” he said. “The fact that 16 years later and I’m still remembered as one of the pioneers of the game I guess. I had zero idea I was going to get it.”

The four most important figures in WSOP history: Moneymaker, right, with Daniel Negreanu, Doyle Brunson and Jack Binion

It didn’t take long to get Moneymaker speaking with true enthusiasm about his annual trip to Las Vegas. “It’s not like any other event,” he said of the WSOP. “It gives you a super buzz, and you want to play as best you can and make as deep a run as you can, and hang on for as long as you can. We’re on Day 2 right now and obviously it’s all about survival. But it’s been a fun buzz. As long as you’re in it’s fun, but when you bust the main, obviously things go downhill.”

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Moneymaker has come pretty close already this summer to adding another notable success to his resume. He was third in chips heading to the final table of a $10,000 buy-in event at the Aria last week, with $1 million on the line for the winner. But Moneymaker ran into the aces of the short-stacked Sergio Aido, and then lost with pocket kings to Tom Marchese’s pocket eights after Marchese, the eventual champion, turned a set. Moneymaker went out in ninth for $40,000, and said it hurt.

“I wanted to do better,” Moneymaker said today. “I’m a little bit upset with myself, coming in third in chips and busting in ninth. But it happens. Unfortunate couple of hands, getting that deep against that field, I’m very proud of that. That was a brutal field.”

He added: “I felt like I played really, really well for three or four days and obviously in poker in comes down to one hand that can change everything. The whole tournament was tough. There wasn’t an easy spot on my tables pretty much at all.”

Whatever happens during the rest of the WSOP, Moneymaker will soon hit the road again to continue his relentless promotion of the game that changed his life. He’s combining a family vacation to Australia with a small tour of card rooms Down Under, then coming back to do the same through the south of the United States, before going to Barcelona for the EPT in August.

He’s continuing to add new strings to his bow as well, including entering the streaming game. During the Spring Championship of Online Poker (SCOOP) in May, some loyal fans got to see Moneymaker, playing from Chile, mixing it on PokerStars. “It’s fun interacting with the fans,” he said. “It’s fun doing that. They had a couple of good clips of me taking some beats, so that’s always fun. A nice reminder of your unfortunate happenings.”

As PokerStars continues to encourage its ambassadors to embrace the new technologies, Moneymaker said he’ll probably look to do more in the world of Virtual Reality than streaming, but will still likely give some of the better known Twitchers a run for their money.

“I don’t want to be Spraggy, Arlie and those guys,” he said. “I don’t want to lower myself to that standard. I’ve got to differentiate myself from them, but I will do some streaming. Someone’s got to keep it fresh and new on there.”

Moneymaker the streamer

No one at the WSOP is asking Moneymaker to do anything fresh and new. That’s maybe why he likes it so much. They may not think he’s a notable player anymore, but he’s still leading the broadcast at time of writing. And long may it continue.

***

The mysterious Chris “Moneymaker” Morgan

Incidentally, it’s not just the WSOP organisers who are a little muddled about Moneymaker at the moment. Even Wikipedia seems more enamoured by someone called Chris “Moneymaker” Morgan. Your guess is as good as mine.

WSOP photography by PokerPhotoArchive

There have been a lot of people in Las Vegas this week getting weird feelings. It’s felt like a tremor deep in their bones. Though the vast majority have subsequently discovered it to be an earthquake, it was something different for Albert Yzaguirre.

“Something told me to play the Main Event,” Yzaguirre said at around 11:05am this morning, clutching his $10,000 buy-in ticket. “I just had this weird feeling about the Main Event.”

So it was that, having touched down in Vegas at 6pm last night, he abandoned plans only to play some PLO today and registered for the biggest tournament on the World Series of Poker (WSOP) schedule. In so doing, he became officially the last player in the late registration line, and the last player to pay the $10,000 to join the party. Though it will take some time for the tournament officials to make player numbers official, Yzaguirre will be the last name on their chronological list of entrants.

“My buddy last year won this, John Cynn,” Yzaguirre said, offering another nice synchronicity. The last player standing last year is a friend of the last player to register this time. It’s not clear what this might portend, but it certainly has the makings of something.

“Let’s make this one happen,” Yzaguirre added as he scurried to his seat. He’s the guy with the Colts cap, T-shirt and tattoo on his calf out on table 108 in the Pavilion Room. That means he is covered in horseshoes too, another good sign.

(Note: at time of writing, the 8am mega satellite is still running, with four seats to the Main Event guaranteed. Whichever four players qualify from that will take their seats after Yzaguirre, but their money is already in the cage.)

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With 60,000 chips, and blinds re-starting today at 400/800, Yzaguirre still has absolutely ample play. In fact, there are a couple of tables in the tournament field today where a stack of about 70,000 represents the table chip lead. Had Yzaguirre been drawn to table 498 in the Amazon Room, for instance, he would have been fourth in chips, with only 9,600 fewer than the table chip leader Brad Tucker.

Phil Hellmuth

One other late arrival today is Phil Hellmuth, who has only just arrived back in Las Vegas after a lavish vacation but quickly hot-footed it to the Main Event stage.

The poker brat missed out on the chance to add to his 16-bracelet haul through much of the rest of the Series this year, but wouldn’t miss the Main.

He wired his money ahead of time and his chips were in play from the start of today, and now he is here on one of the secondary feature tables.

Team PokerStars Pro Leo Fernandez is also on a feature table today, for the second time. He spent all of Day 1C on the main stage, so he’ll be getting a lot of good TV time for his Red Spade patch. Good for Leo.

Leo Fernandez: Team Pro on the TV table again

WSOP photography by PokerPhotoArchive