Most American kids spent last week counting their remaining days of summer vacation. Kyle Giersdorf from Pottsgrove, Pennsylvania, spent his in the centre of a media frenzy. It was unfamiliar ground because usually Giersdorf spends every spare hour of his life sitting in his bedroom playing computer games. He is a 16-year-old boy after all.

But as it turns out, it is precisely because he spends so much time in his bedroom that Giersdorf ended up on the front pages of numerous newspapers and websites. In front of around 15,000 people at Arthur Ashe Stadium, New York, Giersdorf became the inaugural world champion of the video game Fortnite, booking a victory that earned him $3 million. It proved to every doubting parent that a teenager can make something of himself even when he does nothing but sit in front of a screen all day.

He’s got game: Giersdorf on ESPN

“A lot of people think it’s just a game, but he is practicing, dedicated, determined,” Giersdorf’s aunt told Agency France Presse (AFP). “I think he’s the definition of a professional.”

While the rest of the mainstream world shook baffled heads, amazed that playing video games could earn such an enormous pay-day, poker followers were similarly bemused by the tone of the media storm—but for very different reasons. Anyone with even a passing knowledge of tournament poker knows that it’s far from unusual for young boys sitting in their bedrooms to be winning seven-figure prizes. The much-documented “poker boom” started in similar circumstances, and there are several thousand people worldwide still making comfortable livings from poker having first played the game on the internet. In other words: poker did it first.

Yet even as commentators described Giersdorf’s win as “the moment” for esports—ie, its Moneymaker moment—subsequent discussions largely ignored the existence of poker. Most visibly, the German market research agency Statista published an infographic in which it compared the prize pool for the Fortnite World Cup with some prominent individual sporting events, such as tennis and golf majors, the Tour de France and surfing’s Pipeline Masters. There was no place on the graph for the World Series of Poker (WSOP) Main Event, which finished less than two weeks earlier and awarded its winner, Hossein Ensan, $10 million. Needless to say, the WSOP would have landed at the top of the chart–as would every Main Event since 2005, its three Big One for One Drop tournaments, and the Triton Million, which began in London this week.

Some poker reporters considered the omission a glaring oversight, even if the chart’s title did make clear that it was comparing Fortnite’s prize only with “selected” events, and specifically from the world of sport. The other significant disqualifying factor, of course, is the fact that poker requires a buy-in, paid by the entrant rather than the organiser. The prize in poker is therefore not a freebie.

It’s probably best not to get hung up on the perceived injustice of poker’s omission from this discussion, but instead to look at the coverage of the Fortnite championship and determine what influence it might have in the world of poker. After a long period in the spotlight, poker is a hard sell in the mainstream these days—a plateau is not as attractive to editors as a boom, while what were once considered dizzying sums of money are now more commonplace. By the same token, poker has been there, done that and may be able to inform the world of Fortnite in how best to make the most of its time in the sun.

PARALLEL UNIVERSES

The more one analysed media coverage of Giersdorf’s success, the more parallels to the world of poker began to emerge. There was the proliferation of online nicknames (Giersdorf goes by the screen-name “Bugha” in the world of Fortnite); there were the mind-boggling player numbers (four million people entered online); and there was the grand live finale, where the last 100 players chopped the $30 million prize pool. There was, of course, also Fortnite’s status as a Twitch streaming sensation. Millions tune in to watch the top Fortnite players slug it out in the same way that Twitch viewers already rail the online poker tables.

When some reporters tried to tackle Fortnite gameplay strategy, the sentences could have been lifted directly from a poker tournament recap. “He’s one of the smartest players,” Giersdorf’s best friend, Colin Bradley, told AFP. “He knows when to attack, when not to attack, to stay high ground. He’s a strategic player.”

Similarly Giersdorf’s own language was that of the online poker player. “I’m just so happy. Everything I’ve done, the grind, it’s all paid off.”

Giersdorf eventually found himself on video link to the ESPN studios, where the presenter Ryan Smith expressed his surprise when the new world champion described a strict daily regimen of exercises and practice sessions, which take six or seven hours to complete. Giersdorf was also asked the old chestnut “What will you do with the money?” but swatted aside the cheeky suggestion that it would be “Sodas for all!” and said: “Definitely I’m just going to save the money and invest it. I’m not going to do anything dumb with it. I definitely want to get a new desk, that’s about it.”

It’s the kind of thing we used to hear from Jeff Williams, Mike McDonald, Jason Mercier, Harrison Gimbel and other fresh-faced young poker phenoms forced blinking into the spotlight following a major breakout victory on the European Poker Tour. The ESPN anchor’s “Damn!” belied the same kind of incredulity that used to greet the news that not all poker players were decadent wasters and that some actually had a solid grasp of finance management.

For all that, arguably the most significant aspects of the media debate surrounding the Fortnite story were the ones that took a more negative tone—and again echoed familiar fears surrounding online poker. Some of the shrieks of “Won’t someone think of the children!” could be quickly dismissed as knee-jerk hysteria, but there were other more balanced responses that considered the subject of possible addiction as well as the apparent dangers to health and education if kids spend too long playing games.

The subject of kids playing video games for all hours has long bothered some watchdogs

An editorial in the Financial Times stated: “While the academic debate around gaming addiction remains unsettled, parents have long worried about the hours children spend on gaming. The World Cup, with millions of views on YouTube alone, seems to glamorise this behaviour…As in other hyper-competitive fields, only a tiny percentage of players make it to the top. For the rest, hours spent online offer little more than myopia and dry eyes.”

None of the debate covered particularly new ground, but it was surprising to learn just how many pastimes had previously drawn similar censure, and for how long. In a spirited Twitter thread in response to the FT piece, the British political journalist Ian Dunt decried the “finger-wagging what’s-to-be-done bullshit which seems mandatory whenever the press covers video games”. He was quickly informed that similar finger-wagging had taken place in the 19th century when people started reading books to themselves and even when people started spending too much time playing chess.

(l) 1859: journalist berates young man’s chess tournament win, a game that ‘robs…valuable time that might be devoted to nobler achievements’.

(r) 2019: journalist berates young man’s Fornite tournament win, a game ‘responsible for so many lost childhoods’.

plus ça change. pic.twitter.com/GGxqLJV2Ah

— Simon Parkin (@SimonParkin) July 30, 2019

Dunt added a blunt conclusion: “Maybe teens spend hours a day in these games because they like them. Maybe they learn things. Maybe there is socialising taking place, in a way you have failed to recognise. Maybe the culture around that game – playing it, talking to friends as you play, discussing it in school, watching others play it, reading news and reviews about it – is like an art form and sport rolled into one.”

WHAT POKER CAN LEARN

“The Cube” did not catch on

There was an obvious temptation when watching footage of the Fortnite World Cup to think: “Wow, imagine if poker could attract an audience like this.” But it’s fair to say that stadium poker is never going to fly. Even sophisticated experiments in allowing spectators to see hole cards in real time, such as in the Global Poker League’s (GPL) “The Cube” experiment, did not catch on. Poker is too slow, too complicated and too low-octane to thrill 15,000 people in stadium seats.

That said, one suspects poker broadcasters will have watched the action from New York with interest, and noted a few areas that could be borrowed for poker broadcasts. In particular, the manner in which viewers were able to click between of any of the Fortnite players, and see the game from that individual’s point of view, feels close to some of the experiments taking place in poker streaming.

This summer, for instance, we were able to drop in on Jason Somerville’s Run It Up Home Game, where poker streaming takes place without a broadcast delay and offers far more interactivity than ever before. It’s a step in the right direction. PokerStars content editor Brad Willis said: “People are always going to want to watch games, and if poker wants to even try to keep pace with egaming, it needs to evolve fast, and it needs to learn from what it saw this summer at the Arthur Ashe stadium.”

WHAT POKER CAN TEACH

When talking about the $30 million Fortnite prize-pool, and Giersdorf’s $3 million victory, it’s also critical to remember another reason why poker is not a perfect overlap. Poker contains a tangible further degree of danger because it involves the real prospect of losing money as well as time. (Fortnite is free to enter. Poker tournaments usually are not.) But online casino operators have long been aware of their commitments to responsible gaming, and have stringent age verification procedures as well as mechanisms to limit game time and deposit amounts. The FT article states that though “Fortnite has an age rating of 12, it lacks a system for verifying this.” These are areas in which the games industry could potentially learn from the online gaming companies.

The good news is that in Giersdorf, Fortnite has a sharp and articulate ambassador, who is evidently aware of the common fears surrounding his chosen pastime and is unafraid to address them. “Addiction is terrible for anyone going through it,” he told ESPN. “You should definitely get some professional help for it. But I see Fortnite as a way of creating friendships and bonds and honestly, this has changed my life forever and I can’t be more thankful for it.”

A well reasoned and thought-provoking article in The Guardian exposed one other troubling element to Fortnite’s success, and one that definitely sounded familiar to people from the poker world. The tech and games journalist Keith Stuart wondered why there wasn’t a single female player among the 100 competitors in the Fortnite World Cup final.

“The easy answer is because no women qualified,” Stuart writes, adding that though the “pro gaming scene likes to present itself as a meritocracy, where pure talent is all that matters…the real issue goes deeper and it’s about why women are under-represented across the esports spectrum.”

There are plenty of female characters in Fortnite, but no women players in the final (Pic: www.flickr.com/photos/whelsko/)

Stuart continues, in words that again could be applied to poker’s continued problem with attracting women to the game: “Partly it’s down to the culture of ‘hardcore’ video game communities, which are overwhelmingly dominated by young men and as a consequence, often unwelcoming to women.” He continues: “Even when they’re simply playing online with a group of strangers, women players are sometimes belittled and objectified, their abilities constantly questioned.”

(Stuart had possibly not even seen a story that dropped on a news wire describing a female player named DanyanCat as a “stunning Mexican gamer with huge breasts”. The article continued to quote a commentator observing: “Wow what big and beautiful headphones.”)

Poker is a lot better than it used to be with respect to the objectification of women. The superlative skills of players such as Kristen Bicknell, Maria Ho, Maria Konnikova and Liv Boeree have forced the poker world to acknowledge that gender is no barrier to success at the tables. However, we still regularly see women hired to do little more than stand around and look pretty at poker events, while some of the game’s top female talents, including Vanessa Selbst and Annette Obrestad, have drifted out of the game. There is not one coverall reason for their departure, but the fact remains that the gender imbalance in poker is still hugely pronounced.

Fortnite has already attempted to address its problem using approaches also tested in poker. But Stuart says the game has encountered drawbacks that will also be wearingly familiar.

“One solution has been to set up female-only leagues and competitions, allowing young women players a less toxic environment in which to hone their skills and compete,” Stuart writes. “However, this has proved controversial, with some seeing sex-based partitioning as a means of sidelining and undervaluing women players: unlike in traditional sports, there are no physical differences at play to justify gender segregation. There is a lingering belief that young men are simply better at games than women.”

Esports, however, are currently riding the crest of a wave, growing ever more popular with men and women alike, and the world of poker would therefore be well advised to pay close attention to what happens in Fortnite, particularly if it manages to untangle this particularly knotty issue.

“If things are to improve, the onus is on the game publishers, event organisers, big-name sponsors and team owners to attract and employ more female gamers, to challenge the sometimes sexist culture of the competitive gaming scene through better moderation and stiffer penalties for abuse (for pros as well as amateurs), and to pay well-known female players the same as their male counterparts,” Stuart writes.

Giersdorf told ESPN: “This is pretty much just the beginning. Honestly, I’m going to keep on improving, going to every tournament I can, and just become a better player.”

One hopes and expects the game he represents to do something similar too.

Have you ever read any old science fiction? I mean really old like The War of the Worlds or A Princess of Mars?

There’s something uncanny about reading books written so long ago that imaginatively reach far into a future that reminds us of our past. Take Jules Verne’s Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea, for example, a book published in 1870 that presents the idea of electrically-powered submarine at a time when experiments with “submersibles” had only just begun — many decades before the real thing.

When researching old poker strategy books for Poker & Pop Culture, I experienced something similar when coming across a tiny, pocket-sized publication published by Dick & Fitzgerald, the popular 19th-century house that produced a number of books about various games, including poker. One of the partners, William Brisbane Dick, compiled the first American edition of Hoyle’s Games, published as The American Hoyle in 1864, one of several books about card games for which he was responsible.

A little later in 1887, Dick put together another little book, the one I want to tell you about. It’s called Dick’s Progressive Poker. Tell me if you think it might be predicting something about the future, kind of like those old sci-fi stories.

Introducing “progressive poker”

To give a little context, by the 1880s both five-card draw and five-card stud were being played, with there even being some seven-card stud popping up here and there although the five-card version appears to have been more popular.

“Progressive poker” as described by Dick presents players a different way to play five-card draw — not just at one table, but several of them at once.

Dick begins by explaining “the game may be played by any number of persons sufficient to fill at least four or five tables, it not being necessary that there should be the same number at each table.” Playing four-handed sounds ideal, from the way Dick describes it, although that’s not required.

Dick also recommends that “the numbers of the tables… may be indicated by cards hung over or near them.” Imagining  such a scene might make us think of what we’re used to seeing at a poker tournament, where we’ll often see such numbers hanging aloft above the tables.

“The numbers of the tables… may be indicated by cards hung over or near them”

In progressive poker, those table numbers have significance. The “head table” should be No. 1, with the lowest-numbered table — also called the “booby” table — being the one where late arrivers can sit down to play. There’s also a suggestion that the betting limits can be different at different tables, with the stakes also noted on the hanging card.

Dick additionally recommends a bell be provided at the head table that when rung will let everyone know it is time to stop playing and change tables. The prompt for ringing the bell is someone winning a “jack-pot” at the head table, the only table at which jack-pots are part of the game.

He goes on to describe how one player at each table should play the role of “banker” who furnishes each player the same amount of chips with which to start. There’s also a recommendation for the seating of players to be arranged in such a way that an equal number of men and women are seated at each table, if possible.

Reading about the past, thinking about the future

The game then begins — “played under the ordinary rules of Draw Poker, as laid down in the ‘American Hoyle’ — with the games going on at each table until the bell is rung and play stops. If a player happens to lose all of his or her chips before the bell rings, the banker gives the player a new “starting stack” (so to speak) while “keeping a memorandum of the amount.”

After the bell rings, all the chips are counted. Going around the room, “the two ladies who have won the highest and next highest amount in chips… should receive a first and second prize respectively, and a first and second prize should likewise be awarded to the two gentlemen who have the highest and next highest amounts among the gentlemen.”

Now it’s time for the “progressive” part of the poker game, a kind of “redraw” that requires all the players to get up and be seated elsewhere to play against different opponents.

Players at the head table cut cards in turn, “and the two lowest one shall ‘progress’ downward to the ‘booby’ table.” Meanwhile at all the other tables, the two players who won the last two hands played “progress” upward (i.e., from No. 4 to No. 3, from No. 3 to No. 2, etc.). If the same player won the last two hands, the others cut cards to see who moves up.

Once seated at a new table, everyone starts over with a new stack of chips and the game begins anew. Dick includes a few other details about the order of play, but you get the general idea.

Any of this sound familiar?

A kind of proto-tournament poker?

When I first read through the rules of “progressive poker,” I couldn’t help but think about so-called “fast-fold” games like Zoom Poker that only began to appear less than a decade ago. (Rush Poker first launched on Full Tilt Poker in 2010.)

Zoom poker, a modern-day “progressive” variant

Such games where players at multiple tables formed a larger “pool” of players who were reseated at different tables in order to play different opponents seemed as though they could only be played online.

But here’s a version of poker from more than a century before that seems to demonstrate a similar idea! An example of “live poker” in which players also “zoom” around or “progress” from table to table to play different opponents.

You could say that “progressive poker” is kind of a primitive precursor to tournament poker, too, though. Indeed, all you’d have to do would be to change the way the schedule of prizes was handled and tinker with the format in a couple of other ways, and you’d almost be there.

Okay, everybody… when you hear the bell ring, finish the hand you’re on…

In truth, progressive poker was not itself an entirely new innovation when Dick wrote about it in 1887, but rather was based on similar variations already used in other games like bridge and whist. In fact Dick brings up “progressive euchre” when describing his game in order to refer the reader to an analogous game to the one he’s describing.

“Progressive poker” as Dick describes it never really caught on, and indeed there would later be other poker variants called “progressive” (including video poker games with progressive jackpots) that are unrelated to the version he describes.

Even so, like an old H.G. Wells or Jules Verne novel, the game described in Dick’s Progressive Poker seems ahead of its time. It certainly could provide some evidence for anyone wanting to argue that elements of tournament poker were around well before the early 1970s when poker tournaments started to appear in earnest.

And not just in fantastic fiction, either!

WSOP photography by pokerphotoarchive.com

When PokerStars Ambassador Liv Boeree grabbed Bryn Kenney for an interview moments before the £1 million Triton final table last week, she couldn’t have predicted she was about to conduct what many top poker professionals are now calling the “best poker interview of all time”.

What was likely intended as a five-minute, light-hearted chat became a battle cry (“I feel that once I hit No 1 nobody is going to touch it again”), a confessional (“I’ve swung from millionaire to negative a million…spending and doing stupid things”), and a motivational speech (“You’re going to have to show every single day that you want it more than everyone else, and put in all the work and effort”), thanks to Kenney’s candidness and Boeree’s brilliant questions.

The interview provided a fascinating insight into the mind of one of poker’s all time greats (and indeed, it’s new all-time money winner). Sensei Kenney dropped some wisdom on us, so if you haven’t seen it yet, check it out below.

It got us thinking, though. What other poker interviews stick in our minds, be it for their emotion, humour, controversy, or acumen?

Here are some of our favourites (in no particular order), and if you think there’s a great one we’ve missed, let us know on Twitter at @PokerStarsBlog.

PHIL IVEY – OFF THE FELT

Despite launching a training site and a Masterclass in recent years, Phil Ivey remains an enigma. He rarely does interviews, so on the rare occasions he allows cameras into his life, you better believe the poker world is watching.

In the “Off the Felt” two-part interview, Ivey discusses everything from Andy Beal and the Larry Flynt games to gambling huge on craps. If you like this one, you should also check out this short Phil Ivey interview/documentary, and Ivey’s interview on 60 Minutes.

LUKE SCHWARTZ – MEET THE REAL FULLFLUSH

It has now been a decade since Luke “FullFlush” Schwartz stomped his way into poker’s consciousness, primarily through his strong performances in the nosebleed online cash games. However, interviews like this one (with former PokerNews host Gloria Balding) certainly helped put Schwartz on the map, and not always for the right reasons.

We’re happy to report that Schwartz and Durrr have since made up.

An old foe . A legend of the game #durrrrr #tritonseries 25k turbo Gogogo pic.twitter.com/WD456wdcrL

— luke schwartz (@__fullflush1__) July 31, 2019

BILL PERKINS – POKER LIFE PODCAST

On his popular Poker Life Podcast, Joey Ingram has spoke to just about everyone in the poker world. His interviews are always in-depth and personal, making them music to the ears of poker geeks like us (it’s no surprise he has two interviews featured on this list).

When successful businessman and amateur poker player Bill Perkins dropped in for a chat, he also dropped some great life advice, including his top five “must dos” for people aged 20-35. When you’re listening to someone as successful, thoughtful and downright happy as Perkins, it’s worth getting the notepad out.

STEPHEN CHIDWICK – FOOD VOUCHERS

$31.1 million in career earnings. A new father. A WSOP bracelet winner. A man considered by many to be one of the greatest tournament players of all time.

That’s the Stephen Chidwick of 2019.

That is the best call in history. Chidwick so far ahead of the rim, the goat.

— Patrick Leonard (@plenopads) August 3, 2019

But back in 2010, Chidwick was a spiky-haired, fresh-faced youngster, already considered a legend for winning more than a hundred World Series of Poker Main Event seats online. In this PokerStars interview, he details why he’s hunting food vouchers rather than bracelets, and why his accent means he no longer fits in.

DANIEL NEGREANU – POOL PUSHING

You don’t want to make Daniel Negreanu mad during an interview. Here’s the proof.

GARRY GATES – WE WON

After entering the WSOP Main Event final table second in chips, then busting out in fourth place for $3 million, PokerStars’ own Garry Gates was asked what went wrong.

His response (recorded here in Johnny Vibes’ Vlog) provided what might be our favourite bust-out interview ever. Grab a tissue.

GARRETT ADELSTEIN – POKER LIFE PODCAST

Joey Ingram himself describes this one as a legendary episode of the Poker Life Podcast, as high stakes cash game player Garrett Adelstein opens up about his battles with depression, what it’s like to swing in huge cash games, and more.

Relatable, honest, and entertaining, this interview is a must listen.

DAVID PETERS – RAP BATTLES

On the lighter side of things, David Peters’ coffee catch up with Triton Poker host Pete Latham is pretty darn funny, while also touching on interesting poker nuggets like the percentages of himself that Peters plays for, his study regime, and the celebrity he’d most like to play poker against.

Oh, and then there are the rap battles (if he’s drunk enough) and his upcoming autobiography: D Peets from the streets.

OTHER INTERVIEWS WE’D LIKE TO SEE…

PokerStars Blog contributor Martin Harris reminds us of a few other poker interviews we can’t watch but would like to:

The above list is of course skewed toward more recent poker interviews, all accessible online and easily shared. For the sake of completeness, it’s worth adding as well some earlier poker interviews we can’t watch but which also were important for their historical value.

I won’t go all of the way back to James Butler “Wild Bill” Hickok’s interview for Harper’s New Monthly Magazine in early 1867 that turned the card-playing gunslinger into a national figure. But I will point back to Thomas “Amarillo Slim” Preston being interviewed on The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson following his victory in the 1972 World Series of Poker Main Event.

Preston’s first appearance on The Tonight Show was on June 16, 1972, and he was invited back multiple times thereafter to share stories that introduced mainstream America to the world of high-stakes poker. In the spring of 1974, Preston also appeared with Benny Binion for an hour-long interview on Tom Snyder’s late night talk show, The Tomorrow Show, another important moment that helped lessen prejudices against poker dating back to the Old West and even before.

Of that appearance, Preston would later write “I knew it’d be good for Benny and the World Series of Poker, and, as it turned out, it was even better for old Slim.”

Amarilo Slim at the 1974 WSOP–(Image courtesy David Schwartz, coordinator of the Gaming Studies Research Center)

In January 1976, The Merv Griffin Show devoted an entire 90-minute show one afternoon to high-stakes poker, with Griffin interviewing a panel including Binion, Johnny Moss, Jack Straus, John Scarne, and Jack Klugman.

All of those interviews would no doubt be interesting to watch. So, too, would it be interesting to see Chris Moneymaker’s appearance on the June 10, 2003 episode of Late Night with David Letterman to talk about his victory in that year’s WSOP Main Event — a show that appeared about a month before the ESPN episodes began, and about three months before many found out he had won.

That one also isn’t available online. I asked Moneymaker about it once, and he said he thinks he might have an old VHS tape copy of it somewhere. But he’s not that anxious to find it.

An executive chef. A science writer. A two-time COOP champ with $5.8 million in PokerStars earnings. A Swedish high stakes player at his third major final table of the summer.

These players outlasted more than 8,200 of their peers to advance to the final of this week’s Sunday Million. After close to two and a half hours of battle, it was “losero88” — an executive chef from Italy currently living in the United Kingdom — who served up a win.

Here’s how it all went down.

This week’s Milly was another big one with 8,269 entries and 3,276 re-entries, building a prize pool of $1.1545 million. The top 2,042 finishers split that up, with $117K scheduled for first place.

The best return on investment this week went to German player “Poker_Art777,” who finished 924^th for $258.14 after qualifying for only $0.50. The highest-placing player to qualify from a satellite was Bulgarian player “stilchuka”, who finished 17^th for $4,756.42, after qualifying for $11.

The final table of the August 4th Sunday Million

After 10 hours and 20 minutes of play the final nine took their seats at the table, led by Germany’s “DoePopoe” with 22.7 million chips — good for 91 big blinds. But the incoming chip leader nearly became the first to bite the dust after opening with 10♦10♠ and then jamming when “DanielLUCKY” re-raised with A♠A♥. The latter snap-called and stacked up to a dominant 35.7 million when the aces held, dropping “DoePopoe” to just 2.2 million (7 big blinds).

Within a few minutes the German player was back in business, though. After opening to 675,000 in early position with A♦10♦, “DoePopoe” called a shove for 2.7 million by “colladito,” whose Q♠J♠ was a slight dog but never caught up on the 4♠2♣7♦7♠3♥ board.

It was the end of a wild ride for “colladito”, real name Armando. A 33-year-old poker pro, originally from Nicaragua but now living with his wife and two children in Paraguay, he normally focuses on four- and five-card Omaha cash games but has taken several shots at the Sunday Million in the past. This one took him further than ever before.

“The first stage was up and down, but I was always in the middle,” he told PokerStars Blog by email this week. “I got up to 80 big blinds in the middle stage of the tournament, but I came to the final table very short after I lost a pot of 70bb with A-A against K-K and K-Q in a triple all-in [with about 30 players left].”

Armando took that beat and his short stay at the Milly final in comfortable stride. “I always thank God for all my successes, he is an inexhaustible source of strength,” he said. “And it’s always nice to have a deep run in a tournament like the Sunday Million. It helps you to analyze your game and improve it.”

“The Sunday Million, it’s for everybody, isn’t it?”

With “DoePopoe” coming back from the brink and then taking out the table’s shortest stack, three players — “Hartige,” “nlfreddie,” and “Leatherlane” — were now constrained by their short stacks. Compounding the problem for “Leatherlane” (real name Alex) was her seating assignment between two bigger stacks.

A mother and a science writer, Alex picked up the game a few years back and mostly plays live. Driven to be “not just good but great” at anything she takes up, Alex watches lots of PokerGO and EPT webcasts. She soaks up commentary and analysis, especially from the women in the game she admires like Vicky Coren-Mitchell, Maria Ho, and Kara Scott. She has even begun working with a coach once a week over the past year. (“We’ve seen improvements,” she said.)

Freshly back from a two-week trip to the U.S., unable to sleep, and already working on her latest book on an old laptop that had the PokerStars software installed, Alex decided to have a go at the Sunday Million.

“I’d done it maybe twice in the years I’ve been playing online. It’s a fiction, nobody ever wins, right? You’ll cash, maybe, but there’s 12,000 people — it’s stupid! But the Sunday Million, it’s for everybody, isn’t it? It’s for someone like me who isn’t a pro, who by day is a science writer, writing a book on critical thinking, who also genuinely loves poker.”

When Grayson met Alex

With the jet lag wearing on her and a table full of tenacious opponents sticking to their strategies with big pay jumps on the line — not to mention a daughter who’d need taking care of when she woke up soon — Alex found herself in the big blind with Q♦J♠ and only 10 big blinds left in her stack. Possibly the most experienced player at the table, Grayson “gray31” Ramage — a past TCOOP and WCOOP champ with $5.8 million in career PokerStars earnings — min-raised to 800,000 in early position and got folds all around. Alex moved all-in for 4.1 million total and Ramage snap-called, taking the pot when the board ran out 3♠8♣4♣3♥8♠ to eliminate Alex in eighth.

“I knew ICM was in play,” she told the PokerStars Blog this week. “They were all folding and waiting for me to bust. I thought, ‘You buggers!’ The pay jumps are so high at that point.

“I think what happened was I had a brain outage. It had been 12 hours of play for me by the time I busted. I thought, ‘Finally, a hand!’ But then there was a raise from one of the chip leaders. And then I shoved because I thought, “Maybe if I shove he’ll think I have ace-high or a pair and he’ll fold his king-whatever. But of course he didn’t. I don’t know why I thought he would do that, but after you fold so many times and you’re so short-stacked, you look at Q-J and you see aces, you know?”

Still, with this result she has a big positive to show for the effort she’s been putting in. From here the next goal is to satellite into EPT Barcelona — and maybe to take a shot at next year’s WSOP.

Ramage damage

With the table now seven-handed “DanielLUCKY” still held the lead at 36.9 million. “losero88” was in second at 19.7 million, Ramage in third at 15.5 million, and the four others ranged from 9.5 million to 11.6 million.

Anyone with that many chips would be a problem for the rest of the table, but “DanielLUCKY” was especially troublesome because he’s come close to a few big titles lately. He finished seventh in the $1,050 Thursday Thrill on May 9th before taking eighth in the Sunday Million on June 9th, giving him plenty of motivation to improve on those finishes this time around.

The next action came from elsewhere, though. Within minutes “mae$tro220” min-raised to 800,000 in the hijack with K♥K♣ and snap-called when “DoePopoe” jammed for 10.6 million in the big blind with A♥Q♣. “mae$tro220” made a set of kings on the flop and then dodged “DoePopoe”‘s inside straight draw as the board fell 10♣K♦6♥Q♥9♠, taking the field down to six players.

After they returned from the table’s first hourly break, “Hartige” dropped to about 14 big blinds before picking up A♦8♣ in the big blind 55 minutes in. “DanielLUCKY” tried to steal with A♠6♠ from the small blind and “Hartige” called with the best of it, only to watch as the 3♦6♦6♣10♥Q♣ board gave “DanielLUCKY” trip sixes and the 14.5-million-chip pot. With that “Hartige” left in sixth place.

Grayson “gray31” Ramage

Holding twice as many chips as anyone else at the table, “DanielLUCKY” used his advantage effectively over the next few minutes to grab another few million chips. Then he picked up A♣A♥ and min-raised to 1 million under the gun. Ramage called with K♦J♦ in the big blind and promptly made top two pair on the 5♣J♥K♣ flop.

Ramage check-raised from 825,000 to 2.78 million on the flop and then, when “DanielLUCKY” called, led for about a third of the pot on the 5♦ turn. “DanielLUCKY” called again, the river was the 10♠, and gray31 dipped into his time bank for about 15 seconds before checking. “DanielLUCKY” used about the same amount of time himself before jamming. After about 30 seconds Ramage finally called only to find out that his kings and jacks had been bested when “DanielLUCKY” turned aces and fives.

A tough spot, to be sure, but Ramage acquitted himself well in this tournament: the $32,565 he collected for fifth represents the 18th-best cash of a 12-year, $5.8 million career at PokerStars.

“I decided to play tighter…but maybe this was a good thing.”

Knocking out Ramage gave “DanielLUCKY” almost 60 percent of the chips in play and a stranglehold on the game as long as the other three players remained short-stacked. Meanwhile “losero88” picked up two pocket pairs in a row — first nines, then tens — and couldn’t get any action. The same went for “nlfreddie” with pocket kings a few hands later.

Finally “mae$tro220” picked up Q♥Q♦, shoved under the gun, and got “DanielLUCKY” to come along from the small blind with A♣10♦. Things were looking good for “mae$tro220” when the flop came 7♦4♦9♦. Then the A♠ turn gave “DanielLUCKY” a pair of aces and the 10♣ river made it aces and tens, ending “mae$tro220″‘s tournament in fourth.

“Having DanielLUCKY and gray21 on the table to my left blocked a bit my way of play because I know they are very good regs,” “losero88” — real name Matteo — told us by email this week. He had been the chip leader with around 200 players left and held onto a big stack most of the rest of the way before finding himself to the right of those two players. “After he won that pot [with A-A against T-T] I decided to play tighter to avoid aggression from him. But maybe this was a good thing. I was lucky that he knocked players out until we only had three left, so from there I started to play more.”

Early on in three-handed play during the August 5th Sunday Million

A deal didn’t appear to be in the offing at this point. “DanielLUCKY” had nearly three times as many chips as the other two players combined. But Matteo soon doubled up with pocket nines against “DanielLUCKY”‘s A♦9♣, and after another 10 minutes of poker the three decided to cut a deal. With all but the last $20,000 divided up, they got back to the game — but it would still be another hour and 10 minutes before they determined the champion.

Both of the shorter stacks chipped away at “DanielLUCKY”‘s lead for about 10 minutes, picking up around 10 million apiece before Matteo scored two key wins — not just for his own stack, which would fluctuate further, but for its effect of breaking “DanielLUCKY”‘s grip on the lead.

First “nlfreddie” folded on the button and left Matteo with the action in the small blind. Holding Q♦J♣, he moved all-in for about 18 big blinds — and “DanielLUCKY” called almost instantly with K♣Q♥. Matteo went from being up against the wall to locking down the 25.3-million-chip pot when the 2♣Q♠J♠J♥7♠ board gave him jacks full of queens.

“Something that I would dream about, but never expect”

“After the deal I was really happy with a mix of tiredness,” Matteo said. “That made me go all-in QJ and with some luck I won against Daniel. I knew that I had to stay focused if I wanted to bring home the last $20,000.”

The second hand between those two players opened with Matteo min-raising to 1.4 million on the button. “DanielLUCKY” three-bet to 5.14 million from the small blind and Matteo called, making top pair on the 6♣3♠5♣ flop. “DanielLUCKY” fired 3.69 million there and Matteo called before the 2♣ turn shut down the action. Both players checked there and on the Q♠ river, giving Matteo the pot and a boost into second place at 37.7 million chips.

The end of the line for DanielLUCKY — for this tournament, anyway

By the time of the second break “DanielLUCKY” and “nlfreddie” were within a few big blinds of each other and Matteo trailed them by around 20 big blinds. The next 30 minutes saw “DanielLUCKY” slip behind the others, eventually holding 20 big blinds in third place on the 450,000/900,000 blind level. In the end he defended his small blind with 2♦2♠ against a button steal from Matteo, who called the shove with A♥10♦ and caught an ace on the flop to take the tournament down to two.

Matteo had the edge with 78.1 million chips to “nlfreddie”‘s 37.2 million. They battled for the next 25 minutes. “nlfreddie” struck for a key 33.6 million-chip pot with 9♣7♣ a few minutes in, giving him 54.9 million to Matteo’s 60.5 million, but never got closer than that.

In the end it took a cooler to bring things to a close. Matteo min-raised to 2.4 million with K♦K♣, “nlfreddie” re-raised to 8.4 million with A♦Q♠, and Matteo called to see the J♦Q♣7♠ flop. He called “nlfreddie”‘s bet of 8.2 million there, and then did the same when “nlfreddie” jammed for 29.2 million on the 3♠ turn. The 7♣ river changed nothing and “nlfreddie” finished in second place.

This week’s payouts

It was a most unexpected spot for Matteo, whose previous biggest win came in a Hot $215 with a $7,500 guaranteed prize pool.

“Winning the Sunday Million is something that I would dream about, but never expect to win it,” he said.

“I have played poker for about eight years, playing a reasonable amount but nothing serious. Poker is not my profession as I’m an executive chef, plus I have a little daughter to take care, so I would say it is a hobby much like football. I try to get on holidays when the big series are running, and sometimes on a day off from work I will play the Sunday Million if I can.”

“The prize will definitely change life for my family. As for poker, I know myself and I will continue to play as I do now, probably with more facility [without as much concern about the money]. And maybe with part of the money I can do something that I have wanted for a long time: playing a good live tournament.”

Ready to sign up for PokerStars and conquer the Sunday Million yourself? Click here to get an account.

Whether you’re playing the hottest new game online or sticking to the tried-and-true, PokerStars School has all the winning strategies you need to boost your bankroll.

This week:

• 6+ Hold’em Spin & Go’s
• Playing bad aces in cash games

Getting into 6+ Hold’em Spin & Go’s

PokerStars introduced 6+ Hold’em Spin & Go’s just last week, mashing together an action format with an action game to create an all-new poker experience. New poker experiences mean the chance to learn new poker strategies, and that’s just what PokerStars School has been diving into this week.

6+ Hold’em Spin & Go’s have arrived at PokerStars

For players who have heard about 6+ Hold’em but don’t know much about the differences from standard Texas hold’em, the best place to start is the first look at 6+ Spin & Go’s by James Mackenzie from OP Poker. In this 10-minute video James runs through the game’s “button blind” structure and plays a 6+ Spin & Go so you can see the game in action for yourself. He also covers some spots that will feel familiar to regular hold’em players but actually work out quite differently when you calculate equities.

Another great resource is fellow OP Poker educator extraordinaire Nick Walsh’s recent 6+ Hold’em Spin & Go Twitch stream. Over the course of four hours he plays a big batch of 6+ Spins, giving you a chance to see not just the nuts and bolts of how the game works but also how some fo the players out there are approaching the game.

When to play bad aces in cash games

There’s still lots of money to be made playing no-limit hold’em cash games, especially if you’re a regular reader of Pete “Carroters” Clarke’s strategy articles. No fan of conventional wisdom, he’s an expert at shining a light into the places where you’ll find those profits.

Bad off-suit aces can still win you chips — if you play them right

“This week’s star of the show is one of the worst starting hands that avoids the category of ‘total trash,'” he writes this week. “While no one really has a story about a time they played 83o and won a big pot, off-suit aces do sometimes feature in eventful hands. Since the standard advice is: ‘don’t play bad off-suit aces,’ we shall focus on the rare exceptions where these hands should be played.”

When you’re stealing from the button and small blind, defending in the big blind against a small-blind raiser, completing from the small blind, or even playing in the cutoff seat at a tight table, bad off-suit aces can figure into a winning strategy — as long as you play them right.

Other PokerStars School content you might enjoy

• Promotion: Spin & Go 10
• Question of the Week: What would be your EPT Open Sochi final table strategy advice?
• Trip Report: My WSOP Event 32 Three Day Run, Part 2

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.

Here’s a quick catch up from the week on PokerStarsBlog… 

From $100 to $1M in 11 minutes

Best poker interviews of all time

Poker’s future (found in the past)

Opinion: Fortnite’s Moneymaker effect? It’s complicated

How the Sunday Million was won (August 4)

FROM $100 TO $1M IN 11 MINUTES

There are lots of ways to make a million dollars.

If you’re old-fashioned you can inherit hundreds of millions and collect a day’s worth of interest.

You could go new-school and become a superstar athlete, earning it as part of your first pro contract.

Or you could be like Hungary’s “sejdeamiota.” On Sunday sejdeamiota put up $100, played 33 hands of poker in a Spin & Go, and came out ahead of two other players to earn $1 million.

Check out how the Spin was won here.

BEST POKER INTERVIEWS OF ALL TIME

When PokerStars Ambassador Liv Boeree grabbed Bryn Kenney for an interview moments before the £1 million Triton final table last week, she couldn’t have predicted she was about to conduct what many top poker professionals are now calling the “best poker interview of all time”.

If you haven’t watched it yet, make sure you give it a listen.

It got us thinking, though. What other poker interviews stick in our minds, be it for their emotion, humour, controversy, or acumen?

Here are some of our favourites.

POKER’S FUTURE (FOUND IN THE PAST)

Poker & Pop Culture, PokerStars Blog’s Martin Harris came across a tiny, pocket-sized publication published by Dick & Fitzgerald in 1887 called Dick’s Progressive Poker.

What Harris found seems to have predicted the exact way poker is played today, 132 years later.

It’s a fascinating find. Check it out here.

OPINION: FORTNITE’S MONEYMAKER EFFECT? IT’S COMPLICATED

He’s got game: Kyle Giersdorf on ESPN

In front of around 15,000 people at Arthur Ashe Stadium, New York, 16-year-old Kyle Giersdorf became the inaugural world champion of the video game Fortnite, booking a victory that earned him $3 million.

While the rest of the mainstream world shook baffled heads, amazed that playing video games could earn such an enormous pay-day, poker followers were similarly bemused by the tone of the media storm—but for very different reasons.

This week, PokerStars Blog’s Howard Swains explored Fortnite’s ‘Moneymaker effect’, and asked the questions; what can poker learn from Fortnite’s mainstream success, and what can it teach?

Read the excellent piece here.

HOW THE SUNDAY MILLION WAS WON (AUGUST 4)

An executive chef. A science writer. A two-time COOP champ with $5.8 million in PokerStars earnings. A Swedish high stakes player at his third major final table of the summer.

These players outlasted more than 8,200 of their peers to advance to the final of this week’s Sunday Million. After close to two and a half hours of battle, it was “losero88” — an executive chef from Italy currently living in the United Kingdom — who served up a win.

Here’s how it all went down.

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

One of the most highly anticipated strategy titles of the summer is now available for purchase from D&B Publishing — Modern Poker Theory: Building an Unbeatable Strategy Based on GTO Principles by Michael Acevedo.

Acevedo is a game theory expert who is renowned for creating cutting-edge content for the world’s leading players. Modern Poker Theory is the culmination of many thousands of hours of research with the most advanced poker software tools available. It is poker theory for the 21st century.

The book provides a comprehensive, rigorous guide to the most important aspects of no-limit hold’em. In particular, Modern Poker Theory presents an in-depth examination of what is meant by game theory optimal play (GTO) and how it can be applied at the table.

Understanding GTO is fundamental to being able to make accurate poker decisions and being able to exploit players who don’t. Modern Poker Theory uses modern poker tools to develop a systematic approach to the analysis of GTO. It organizes the ideas and concepts in an intuitive manner that is totally focused to practical applications.

The book is divided into three parts. The first, “The Elements of Poker Theory,” explains basic poker concepts and game theory’s relevance while also showing how to use various modern poker software. The other two parts — “Pre-Flop: Theory and Practice” and “Post-Flop: Theory and Practice” — comprehensively cover in-game situations while demonstrating how a knowledge of game theory optimal play can apply in each.

The following excerpt comes from near the beginning of the third part, “Post-Flop: Theory and Practice,” and finds Acevedo offering some initial thoughts about why we bet in the first place.

Theory of Betting

Why do we bet in poker? If you ask around, most players do not really know how to answer this question. Some people bet because they feel like it. Others might bet because they really like their hand or because they sense weakness in their opponents and think they can get away with it. Perhaps there are many possible draws on the flop and so they want to bet for protection. While all these reasons may be somewhat valid, they are still far too subjective.

Some professionals and people who watch training videos who are a bit more advanced will tell you something like “a bet has to be either for value (to get called by a worse hand) or a bluff (to make a better hand than ours fold).”

This definition sure sounds a lot more accurate than the previous ones, but is still incomplete because there are many situations where betting is the correct play even if you will only get called by better hands and will never make a better hand than yours fold.

It is important to try to stop thinking about poker by categorizing bets as only bluffs or value-bets because that only makes sense on the river if you have a perfectly polar range and are betting against bluff-catchers. In all other situations, betting is more complex than that.

Betting as a “bluff”, “for value”, etc. are results of betting, not the reasons to bet. If you bet and your opponent calls with worse, you made a value-bet. If they fold a better hand than yours, you made a successful bluff.

Those are just possible outcomes of betting your hands against a range distribution, and they depend on the actual holding your opponent had at the time you made the bet, which is something you don’t control. Thus, many times when you bet, you don’t know exactly if you are value-betting or bluffing. If you think about betting in a more scientific and methodical way by applying game theory concepts, you can reduce the reasons for betting to two primary concepts:

• Leveraging the advantage of knowing your own cards.
• Realizing equity or prevent your opponent’s equity realization.

Leverage the Advantage of Knowing Your Own Cards

In a GTO poker model it is assumed that your opponents know your full strategy. So, you are never going to surprise a GTO opponent by holding something like 72o on the flop after you open from UTG because if you did open 72o, it would be part of your UTG RFI [under the gun, raise first in] range and your GTO opponents will have full knowledge of that range. In that case, you should play only solid ranges that won’t be easy to exploit even if the Villains have full knowledge of them.

However, even in this GTO model you still have an informational advantage over your opponents. You know what exact cards you have whereas they only know your range. The informational advantage you have is the difference between your actual holdings and your range, and this informational advantage is valuable when the decision your opponent should make varies greatly depending on your exact holding.

For example, imagine three different types of hands you could have in a given poker situation:

Hand type A, Hand type B and Hand type C.

Now imagine your opponent’s correct play is to:

• Fold when you hold a hand type A
• Call when you hold a hand type B
• Raise when you hold a hand type C

If your betting range consists only of hands type A, your opponent’s play will be trivial. All they have to do is always fold when you bet. Similar principles apply for the other types of hands.

By incorporating different types of hands in your ranges, you make it more difficult for your opponents to consistently make the correct play against you. So, diversity of range increases your informational advantage and makes it so that you can force your opponents into making mistakes.

A mistake is defined as a decision they would not have made if they could see your hole cards, not a decision that is bad against your range.

This is a different type of mistake that does not happen when you play against a GTO opponent who has perfect knowledge about your strategy.

An example of a mistake a non-GTO player could make against your range would be when you have a perfectly polarized range (hands with either 100% or 0% equity) and your opponent goes all-in with a bluff catcher, making your play trivial. You simply call when you have the winning hand and fold the losing hand every time. Giving your range composition, the Villain’s correct play against your range should be to always check, then when you bet, he has to call with some frequency depending on your bet-sizing. Sometimes Villain will call and lose when you are value-betting and sometimes, Villain will fold when you are bluffing. This is the type of mistake you can force a GTO player to make even when they have perfect information about your range composition.

Strong ranges are ranges where the informational advantage is very valuable and that is when the Villain’s correct play varies drastically depending on what part of your range you are holding at that specific time.

Michael Acevedo in action at the 2017 PokerStars Championship in Panama

Modern Poker Theory is available to order in paperback and as an e-book at D&B Poker.

D&B Publishing (using the imprint D&B Poker) was created by Dan Addelman and Byron Jacobs 15 years ago. Since then it has become one of the leading publishers of poker books with titles by Phil Hellmuth, Jonathan Little, Mike Sexton, Chris Moorman, Lance Bradley, Martin Harris and more, all of which are available at D&B Poker.

Cash game players can now cash out of all-in pots, reducing risk and securing some financial value for their equity.

We’ve all had those moments where you’re all-in and ahead in a big cash game pot, but you’ve got a bad feeling your hand won’t hold up. Up until now you’ve had to cross your fingers and hope for the best, but with PokerStars’ new All-in Cash Out feature, you can get out while the getting’s good. 

When all-in with no action pending, players will be offered a choice to cash out or let the hand run as normal. So, in those spots where you’re ahead but have a bad feeling, or those hands you’re dominated and want to cut your potential losses instead of hoping to suck out, you can lock up an amount which is added directly to your stack.

The feature will only be available at the micro-stakes ($0.01/$0.02, $0.02/$0.05, $0.05/$0.10) of No Limit Hold’em, Pot Limit Omaha and 6+ Hold’em cash games (ring games only).

Here’s a look at how things can play out:

All-in Cash Out amounts will be offered to eligible players in all-in situations, on any street, who have a winning probability of over 0% and under 100%, with additional cards to come.

If a player declines the Cash Out, the hand will play out as normal for them, with the whole pot being shipped their way if they win.

If an opponent opts to Cash Out, however, the pot remains the same and the hand plays out as normal but the player who Cashed Out is no longer eligible to win the pot. If the Cashed Out hand goes on to win, the pot goes to PokerStars rather than the Cashed Out player.

If both players choose to Cash Out, their stacks with be credited with their Cash Out amounts, then the rest of the hand is dealt with the pot going to PokerStars.

If neither player chooses to Cash Out, the pot runs out in the normal way.

Don’t like the sound of this new feature? No problem. Players can opt-out of All-in Cash Outs entirely by visiting the ‘Settings’ menu in the PokerStars client. You will then no longer be presented with the option to Cash Out (although other players may still utilise the feature).

How is the All-in Cash Out amount calculated?

Opting to Cash Out does not affect the probabilities of either yourself or your opponents winning the hand outright in any way.

Your hand value is calculated according to the probability of your cards winning the pot. When offering the Cash Out amount, a 1% fee is applied to your hand value (not the entire pot). When that 1% equals less than $0.01, no fee will be applied.

Can players still Run It Twice (RIT)?

Absolutely.

If both players do not Cash Out and have RIT enabled, they will get to Run It Twice.

If one player Cashes Out, the other player will run it once against PokerStars. This decision was made in order to speed up the game and simplify the flow.

With RIT there’s no guarantee for any player that their opponent will also have RIT enabled, so the impact should be minimal.

Are dead cards taken into consideration?

Dead cards are those which have already been folded by non-all-in players during the hand.

These cards are not taken into consideration when an All-in Cash Out amount is determined. Only the cards known to the players at the time of the potential Cash Out (your own cards, your opponent’s cards, and the board cards) are considered when calculating equity and the Cash Out amounts.

Isn’t there a conflict of interest between PokerStars and the players?

This is a very serious subject, so let’s break it down.

With this new All-in Cash Out feature, players are going up against the house (PokerStars) and not other players. This leads to the question of vested interest.

Would PokerStars manipulate the cards in order to get the result that is most beneficial to us?

Absolutely not.

In no way whatsoever will PokerStars manipulate the dealing of any cards. The only way that PokerStars will make any direct revenue from this feature is through the 1% surcharge. While PokerStars will take the pot in hands where a player has Cashed Out but then goes on to win the hand, overall the number of pots won and lost will balance out according to Expected Value (EV).

Therefore, PokerStars will only break even in this regard, and subsequently the only revenue we will receive will come from the 1% surcharge.

It’s worth noting again that the All-In Cash Out feature in entirely optional. If you don’t like the sound of it, you can opt-out of All-in Cash Outs entirely by visiting the ‘Settings’ menu in the PokerStars client.

What are the pros and cons of All-in Cash Out?

Positives

• Players are offered more control
• It reduces variance
• It can help players avoid downswings in poker

Negatives (from player’s point-of-view)

In effect this is very similar to playing in an online casino. There has to be an element of trust from players that the game is fair.

PokerStars has developed a reputation over almost 20 years. There is absolutely no way we would risk this by attempting to influence any results. The potential downside is far greater than any potential upside. It simply does not make business sense, and when coupled with the fact that PokerStars is highly regulated, be assured that the dealing of cards will remain as random as it has always been.

We’re sure that some players will love the All-in Cash Out feature, and others will hate it. The good news is it’s entirely optional for each player (you can opt-out entirely in the ‘Settings’ menu).

Players who choose to opt-out will still have to adapt to playing against players who elect to be offered Cash Out amounts though. The skill element comes from navigating these situations. For example, if you know an opponent has All-in Cash Out enabled, would you be more likely to call with a wider range of hands? It’s situations like this which could become very interesting.

This is one of the reasons we feel it is important to have a fee. In order for it to remain poker, and that there is skill in the decision, each player must decide for themselves whether it is worth it.

Why has this feature been introduced?

We’re always looking for ways to enhance our offering, in this case by responding to something that we know has happened in live cash games for years. In many ways, All-in Cash Out is a more advanced version of Run It Twice, but without the requirement for both players to agree.

It simply gives players the option to lower their variance and lock-up a share of the pot in certain situations.

Doesn’t it take the fun out of poker and add incentive for players to collude?

It’s probably best to answer this in two parts.

Run it Twice has been in play for some time now. All-In Cash Out is simply the equivalent of running it infinite times. In fact, because All-In Cash Out is optional, it enhances the RIT feature. It only requires one player to opt-in, with more opportunity for players to weigh up the value and decide that the benefits of reducing variance outweigh the 1% on their EV.

Collusion is, of course, something we continuously consider and prepare for. It’s against our terms of service, and we have detection systems in place that we’ve designed specifically to address and prevent it.

Will PokerStars introduce this feature to tournaments?

There are no current plans to have a similar feature for tournaments.

Here’s everything you need to know from the weekend on PokerStars…

• Ole “wizowizo” Schemion wins Sunday Supersonic ($35K)
• Conor “1_conor_b_1” Beresford takes down Sunday Cooldown ($56K)
• Brazil’s Sander “S.totuli” Totuli victorious in the Milly ($107K)
• Top 5 results from the High Roller Club
• Top 5 results from the weekend majors

OLE SCHEMION WINS SUNDAY SUPERSONIC

Fresh from his fifth-place final table finish in the Sunday Million two weeks ago, Ole “wizowizo” Schemion was back on the grind yesterday, with great results.

Schemion–who won just under $32K for that Sunday Million result–added an extra $35,208 to his bankroll by taking down the High Roller Club’s $1,050 Sunday Supersonic.

Ole “wizowizo” Schemion

The hyper turbo attracted 171 total entries, and ended with a stacked final table which included Bartlomiej “bartek901” Machon (2nd – $26,798), Dominik “Bounatirou” Nitsche (5th – $11,816), and Simon “C. Darwin2” Mattsson (8th – $5,915).

CONOR BERESFORD TAKES DOWN COOLDOWN

Like Schemion, another player who has enjoyed recent success in the Sunday Million followed by a High Roller Club victory is the UK’s Conor “1_conor_b_1” Beresford.

Three weeks ago Beresford actually took down the Sunday Million for a $112K score. Yesterday it was the $2,100 Sunday Cooldown he’d emerge victorious from, banking $23,418 plus $32,968 in bounties.

Conor “1_conor_b_1” Beresford

The turbo got 98 total entries, and as you’d expect from any High Roller Club tournament, there were big names going deep. Beresford ultimately defeated world no.1-ranked online player Andras “probirs” Nemeth heads-up for the title, with Nemeth winning $18,082 plus $15,843.

The final table also included Thomas “WushuTM” Muehloecker (4th – $10,780 + $3,250) and Kristen “krissyb24” Bicknell (6th – $6,427 + $1,375).

“S.totuli” CLAIMS SUNDAY MILLION VICTORY

A massive field of 11,881 entries assembled for this week’s Milly, creating a $119,671 first-place prize. When it got down to a final three, a chop was made leaving $20K remaining to play for.

Brazil’s Sander “S.totuli” Totuli would ultimately come out on top, banking $107,200 for his efforts, whilst runner-up “Benfica10” won $81,929 and third-place finisher “volldemar88” collected $80,391.

TOP 5 RESULTS FROM THE HIGH ROLLER CLUB

TOP 5 RESULTS FROM THE WEEKEND MAJORS

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

Around a month ago we launched an exciting competition that would send four people on a VIP trip to Spain for EPT Barcelona. Now, after hundreds of video applications were seen by judges, the finalists can be revealed.

The prize not only offered an all-expenses paid trip to EPT Barcelona, but would give all finalists the chance to take their moment in the limelight and play to win €10,000 against PokerStars Ambassadors and celebrity guests in PokerStars ‘Chase Your Dream – Play Against Your Heroes’ live-streamed tournament.

We can now reveal that–as the candidates were so good–we couldn’t settle on just four. That means five finalists are on their way to Barcelona. Let’s meet them.

THE WINNERS

Adrian Garcia

Adrian Garcia
Salamanca, Spain

Adrian is a 23-year-old currently studying for a degree in chemical engineering, who moonlights as a DJ playing small nightclubs. He has two dreams in life: to become a professional poker player, or to become a pro DJ.

He told us that if he wins the €10,000 prize he’d love to book a trip to Amsterdam and take in the city’s electro music scene. He would also like to invest in a master’s degree and look to play more poker tournaments.

Clement Eloy

Clement Eloy
Lille, France

Clement is a 36-year-old freelance product designer who creates items like watches and chairs. He’s married with two daughters, and in his spare time he enjoys running, cooking, and growing his own vegetables.

Poker is Clement’s passion, and he loves watching streamers (particularly Lex Veldhuis) on YouTube and Twitch. His only live poker experience is playing with friends, so this EPT trip will be his first major poker stop.

Not bad for a first poker stop…

Danielle Summer

Danielle Summer
Tenerife, Spain

Danielle is as a 36-year-old carer originally from Yorkshire in the UK, who has lived in Tenerife for the last 15 years.

She has been playing online poker for 12 years and plays live poker occasionally with friends and at local casinos. Danielle enjoys the adrenaline-rush of the game, and as her largest poker win to date is $250, the €10,000 up for grabs in Barcelona will certainly provide a rush.

Christoph Walkenhorst

Christoph Walkenhorst
Bielefeld, Germany

Christoph is a 35-year-old social worker who helped young refugees from war-torn countries during the European migrant crisis. He is currently on parental leave looking after his two young children.

He started playing poker during the boom and plays online, as well as with his friends every Friday for fun. When he has time to himself, he likes to go on his cross trainer, watch Netflix or read his comic collection.

Daryl Inglis

Daryl Inglis
Ontario, Canada

Daryl is a 43-year-old military veteran who served in the Canadian Army for 20 years, including tours in Bosnia and Afghanistan. He also trained to be a nurse, but is now interested in becoming a ski instructor.

With an interest in live reads, Daryl prefers to play live poker and mainly plays home games with friends. He only plays poker in a casino twice a year, and will now be able to tick Casino Barcelona off his list.

Casino Barcelona

OFF TO BARCELONA

Those five have scooped prize packages which include return flights for two, three nights’ stay at a five-star hotel, and €500 spending money.

When they get to EPT Barcelona they will be partnered with a PokerStars Ambassador who will act as their coach. At the table they will be joined by Chris Moneymaker, Lex Veldhuis, and the legendary Voice of the UFC, Bruce Buffer.

The winners will take it in turns to play against pros and celebs, but they’ll have just 25 hands each to build the largest stack before the next qualifier steps up to the plate.

The two best performing qualifiers will advance to the final, where they will play heads up for the €10,000 top prize. The best performing pro or celebrity will also win €10,000 for the charity of their choice.

You will be able to watch all the action on PokerStars YouTube and Twitch channels.

Looking forward to EPT Barcelona? Us too.

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The European Poker Tour (EPT) swings into Barcelona this month as it has for the past 15 years. Here’s your complete guide to the city and the event, which kicks off August 20.

EVENT OVERVIEW

The only ever-present destination on the PokerStars annual tournament calendar, EPT Barcelona is also almost always the most popular. The record number of Main Event entries came here (1,931 in 2018), the record number of Main Event unique players came here (1,785 in 2016) and there have been six Main Event millionaires. The same kind of record-breaking applies to both the Super High Roller and High Roller events, as well as to a packed calendar of side events. When you add a perfect beach-side location, a number of well-appointed and well-positioned hotels, and one of the world’s highest-ranked holiday cities, the appeal of EPT Barcelona is plain to see.

LOCATION

The popularity of EPT Barcelona owes much to its host city. The Catalan capital, and Spain’s second largest city, is regularly listed among the most visited tourist destinations in the world. In fact, the only bad things you tend to hear about Barcelona concern just how popular it has become.

The tournament is held at Casino Barcelona, in Port Olimpic, as far east in the city as you can go without falling into the Mediterranean. It’s an excellent location for relaxing on the beach or sand-based activities and well as for heading out into the ocean. It’s right by a marina, where you can take boat trips, hire jet-skis, or go fly-boarding, wake-boarding or ride an inflatable donut.

The Casino is on the edge of the Barceloneta district, and only a short walk along the beach from the main tourist areas, including the Gothic Quarter, which is flanked by La Rambla, and Placa de Cataluyna.

Perhaps more importantly, it’s also only a couple of blocks from the Ciutadella Vila Olimpica metro station, which opens up the rest of the city. Barcelona’s Metro is efficient, clean and cheap, with easy unlimited use travel passes available for two, three, four or five days. (Single tickets are also available.) Sagrada Familia has its own metro stop, and you can get to Camp Nou from Les Corts, Badal, Collblanc or Palau Reial. There should be no problem in getting pretty much anywhere from close to the casino.

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

2019 KEY DATES

National: August 21-25 – €1,000
Super High Roller: August 24-26 – €100,000
National High Roller: August 25-26 – €2,000
6+ (short deck): August 25-26 – €25,000
High Roller: August 30-September 1 – €10,000
Main Event: August 26-September 1 – €5,000+€300

Single-day High Rollers:
August 26 – €25,000
August 27 – €50,000
August 29 – €25,000

GETTING THERE

AIR: Most overseas visitors will fly to Barcelona, landing at the city’s modern El-Prat airport (BCN). All major European carriers, both low cost and full fare operators, fly direct to Barcelona and the airport is as well appointed as any in the world.

A taxi from the airport to Casino Barcelona or one of its nearby hotels will cost somewhere in the €30-€40 range. PokerStars Travel can also sort out a transfer if you prefer.

METRO: Barcelona Airport is also on the city’s Metro, with both Terminal 1 and Terminal 2 on the orange L9 (south) line. You’ll likely need to change trains a couple of times to get close to the casino.

Suggested routes:
Airport –> Torrassa (L1) –> Urquinaona (L4) –> Vila Olimpica
Airport –> Collblanc (L5) –> Verdaguer (L4) –> Vila Olimpica

CLICK FOR BARCELONA METRO MAP (pdf)

OVERGROUND: There’s also an overground train station, called Aeropurerto, on the city’s RENFE network. You’ll need to catch the R2 Nord train to and from the airport, which stops at Estació Sants, Passeig de Gràcia and El Clot, all in the centre of the city and with Metro stations. A ticket is €4.20. NOTE: Only the R2 Nord train goes to the airport. Confusingly, there’s also an R2 train, which doesn’t. Look for the Nord!

BUS: Many people arrange a bus transfer to and from Barcelona Airport. There are two options: a bus that drops passengers at designated drop-off points in the city, or a door-to-door service, which costs a little more. You can book both on the TouristActive website.

The Barcelona Tourist Guide website has heaps of useful transportation information.

UBER: There is no Uber service in Barcelona.

If you don’t like flying, there are a couple of other options to get to the city:

TRAIN: It’s possible to get to Barcelona by train, with direct services into the city from Madrid, Paris and Lyon, among others.

BUS: If bus travel is your thing, then Barcelona is reachable on direct services from plenty of places, including London and Amsterdam — both of which usually go via Paris. You’re looking at a journey of more than 24 hours, but it’s cheaper, more environmentally friendly and affords some decent views (especially if you enjoy French motorways). All of Eurolines, BlaBlaBus and Flixbus offer services, and a website like Omio is good to compare them all.

ALL BARCELONA INFO | BARCELONA A-Z | POKERSTARS TRAVEL

ACCOMMODATION

The two hotels most regularly used by players and staff at EPT Barcelona — and the ones where PokerStars qualifiers will stay — are both right on the doorstep of the tournament room.

The five-star Hotel Arts is one of Barcelona’s best hotels and, conveniently, the EPT festival takes place in its conference facility meaning it’s just an elevator ride away if you’re staying in the hotel. It’s a high end place, with terrific restaurants, patios, lounges and wellness facilities, and it’s possible to escape the hustle and bustle of the tournament should you need to.

The Pullman Barcelona Skipper is only a stone’s throw from the casino, and is a super convenient base for the EPT. It has a very good restaurant, a gym and two pools, one of which is on the roof and has wonderful views over the city.

The H10 Marina is a 10-15 minute walk away from the casino, and is another well-appointed, comfortable four-star hotel in excellent reach of the rest of the city. (The Bogatell metro stop is a block away.) This one in a tiny bit further from the beach than either the Arts or the Pullman, and that’s reflected in the price. Rooms here are more than €100 cheaper per night.

The entire Sant Marti district of Barcelona has numerous hotels, all of which are slightly better priced than anything further west and into the city centre. There’s a Hotel 4, a Holiday Inn Express, a Four Points by Sheraton, and a couple of Ibis hotels.

PokerStars Travel has you covered for all options, including offering a number of apartments for rental.

FOOD

Food options in the EPT Barcelona tournament area have got a lot better in the past few years. There’s usually at least one hot sandwich and one pasta dish, as well as sushi, salad and other cold food for sale at the counter in the lobby. It’s usually quicker if you buy a few food tickets in advance.

The marina outside Casino Barcelona

Inside the casino, Ode serves a wide menu of Latin American food, while Chili Pepper adds some Asian dishes too. (These places are a lot less busy than you might expect, especially given the player numbers.)

There’s no disguising it, the restaurants immediately surrounding the casino are a mixed bag, particularly the seafood joints down by the marina. You can grab a quick snack at Delicamon, just outside the casino (beach side), which serves toasted sandwiches and salad, and all of Marina Bay, Marina Moncho’s and Touché should be able to deliver a plate of paella and the bill within 60 minutes.

Gino’s is a bog standard Italian (out the main entrance, across the road and up the escalator), and there’s also a Chinese and Mexican restaurant along the elevated walkway. They’re not going to be winning any awards, but the food fills a hole in a hurry. There’s also a Burger King and a McDonalds in the marina. Sometimes it’s better the devil you know.

A little further away, and along the beach towards the city centre, Arenal is a decent place right on the beach, while Barraca is good for seafood.

If, however, you are not pressed for time at all, then head into the centre of Barcelona where there are some of the very best restaurants in the world. Barcelona is a wonderful gastronome’s paradise, it’s just that not many real foodies will be heading to Port Olimpic.

NEED TO KNOW

You can find a few basic sundries at the small shop called La Rotonda Port Olimpic, just up the escalator over the ice cream parlour opposite the main casino entrance. You’ll need to cross over Av. del Litoral and Carrer de Salvador Espriu (the two streets that run parallel with the beach) to find some better supermarkets, though. There’s the Max Supermercat and Condis el teu Super, both on Av. d’Icària, and only a short walk away.

The closest pharmacy is also on Av. d’Icària about two blocks from the Hotel Arts. And if things get worse, Hospital del Mar is literally next door to the Pullman Hotel, a very short walk from the casino. (Just head towards the city down the beach promenade and it’s right there.)

TRAVEL TIPS

Of course, the idea on your trip to Barcelona is to win the Main Event, and maybe the National championship too, meaning you’re going to be inside playing poker all day every day. But in the event that that doesn’t quite come to pass, you’ll maybe want something to do in the downtime.

PokerStars Travel has teamed up with some local tourist providers to offer an absolute ton of activities to try, from yoga on the beach to hot air balloon rides; from flamenco shows to walking tours.

You can also skip the lines at the Sagrada Familia with a Gaudi Pass or take a tour around Camp Nou. In previous years, the EPT Concierge has also been able to get Barcelona football tickets, so check the schedule.

BARCELONA STREAMS

The EPT Live crew will be back in Barcelona this year bringing you all the cards up action from the Main Event from Day 2 onwards. If you can’t wait that long, there’s tons of content available now from previous visits to Catalonia. Search the PokerStars YouTube channel for Barcelona and fill your boots.

If even that is too strenuous, here are a couple of highlights. The first is when Brazilian soccer star Neymar invited a few friends over for a home-game:

DID YOU KNOW?

Phil Ivey recorded his highest ever EPT finish in Barcelona, when he came second to Bjorn-Erik Glenne in 2006.

TRIVIA QUIZ

1. Three Sebastians have won the Barcelona Main Event. Name them.

2. Identify the EPT Barcelona Main Event winners by their professions:
a) dentist
b) doctor
c) warehouse worker

3. After the dinner break of the 2012 final table, won by Mikalai Pobal, what particular item of clothing were two of the three players wearing?

(Answers are at the bottom of this page)

PREVIOUS EPT BARCELONA RESULTS

MAIN EVENTS

HIGH ROLLER

SUPER HIGH ROLLER

TRIVIA ANSWERS

1. Ruthenburg (2008), Malec (2016) and Sorensson (2017).
2. a) Jan Boubli; b) Piotr Nurzynski; c) Sebastian Sorensson
3. Spangly trilby hats

Can we call it the Sunday Brazilian?

Brazil is the largest country in South America, occupying more than half the continent. Meanwhile the country took up a third of the real estate at this week’s Sunday Million final table, with three players making the final nine.

One of those three came away with the win — S.totuli who captured the biggest chunk of the prize pool by winning $107,200.94 following a three-handed deal.

It wasn’t easy, though, with heads-up taking nearly two hours before the final hand was won.

Here’s the story of how S.totuli did it, along with some input from a fellow Brazilian who made the final table as well.

Final table payouts for the Sunday Million (August 11, 2019); *denotes a deal made when three-handed

From 11,881 to 9

By the time late registration ended there were 11,881 entries all told (including 3,439 re-entries), which meant a guarantee-busting prize pool of $1,118,100 would be divided among the top 2,150 finishers.

Three red spade sporters entered this week’s Milly — Leo Fernandez (once), Ben “Spraggy” Spragg (twice), and Lex “L. Veldhuis” Veldhuis (four times) — but alas none among them was able to last into the money.

It would take more than 12 hours for the field to be whittled down to a final nine, at which point Benfica10 of Canada enjoyed the chip lead with just over 25 million (almost 72 big blinds). Meanwhile the chase pack was crowded and not that far behind with several players — including S.totuli — hovering around the 14-17M chip range.

Nice debut for IvanDouglasu

The Brazilian Ivan Douglas Ludwig, a.k.a. IvanDouglasu, was one of those in that group of challengers, though he knew he was in for a tough challenge himself here.

“I play poker for about six years with my friends in my small town where fun is guaranteed,” he told PokerStars Blog. For IvanDouglasu, online poker is just a “spare time” hobby, his attention more often focused on “engineering college and work.”

“I’ve always played less expensive tournaments,” he explained, adding how “this was the most expensive… tournament I’ve ever played.

His Sunday Million experience to that point had already showed him the game was a little tougher than the small-stakes fun he enjoys with friends. And things weren’t going to get any easier now that he’d reached the final table.

Ivan at the SM FT!

“It is a very difficult tournament, where players are of a high level,” he noted. “The difficulty is always great.”

After playing cautiously for the first few orbits, IvanDouglasu lost significant chips to fellow countryman S.totuli in a pot that didn’t go to showdown. “I played a hand badly,” he noted afterwards. “I saw the mistake… which cost me a lot of chips and in the end I ended up folding.”

He’d lose a few more in a subsequent hand versus volldemar88, which meant IvanDouglasu was down to less than 10 big blinds when he opened with Q♦J♣ from middle position, got three-bet all in from the button by Benfica10 who had A♥J♠, and IvanDouglasu called.

The board didn’t help him, and IvanDouglasu was out in ninth. But he wasn’t that disappointed with his $9,204.68 cash.

“It’s the highest prize I’ve ever made in online poker to date,” he said. “I am very happy for the value gained… and for my performance, where I can show myself what I am capable of. Thanks to PokerStars for always having great tournaments and the best online poker platform.”

Quickly down to heads-up

It had taken about 25 minutes for the field to be reduced from nine to eight. And in fact, it would only take about that long for them to get down to two.

First 123jeffrey went out in eighth after ace-six was outdrawn by rodtrader‘s queen-jack. Then Sergio1306 lost a race with pocket tens versus S.totuli’s ace-queen to fall in seventh. Next paila02 ran ace-jack suited into TheZQ‘s pocket queens and when the big pair held the were down to five.

It wasn’t long after that the third Brazilian, rodtrader, fell in fifth after flopping two pair versus Benfica10’s top pair, then getting counterfeited on the turn to bust. Then it was TheZQ getting it in good, having raised the button with A♥K♣ then calling an all-in reraise from S.totuli who was in the small blind with A♦9♥. But not one but two nines came on the board, and TheZQ was out in fourth.

With S.totuli on top with about 51.9 million, Benfica10 next with 35.2 million, and volldemar88 third with a little under 31.7 million, the tournament was paused and players soon agreed to a three-handed “ICM”-based deal leaving $20K aside for the winner.

Once the deal was done and play resumed, it took only a single hand to go from three players to two.

Benfica10 opened from the button with K♥Q♠, volldemar88 jammed from the big blind with A♦10♦, and Benfica10 called. The 4♦K♠4♥ flop put Benfica10 in front, and while the 6♦ turn gave additional flush outs to the at-risk player the 10♣ river didn’t do the trick, and volldemar88 was done in third.

Totally S.totuli

With that pot Benfica10 enjoyed the chip edge to begin heads-up with almost 67.3 million versus S.totuli’s 51.5 million. Benfica10 would increase the advantage in the early going, too, and was soon approaching the 100 million-chip mark.

Then came a key preflop all-in in which S.totuli survived with king-nine versus ace-ten when two kings came on the board, bringing S.totuli back up to 44 million. Benfica10 built back up again, getting up over 100 million this time as S.totuli dropped to less than 20 million.

That’s when another big hand arose — one which you can watch (along with the entire final table) by going to the “Replay” tab in the PokerStars client.

S.totuli limped from the button with Q♠J♠, Benfica10 checked with 6♥5♣, and the flop came 9♥A♠7♦. Benfica10 check-raised that flop and S.totuli called. Then after the 4♣ turn Benfica10 bet enough to put S.totuli all in, and after some time in the tank S.totuli made a big, difficult call. The river king meant queen-high was good, and S.totuli was back up out of the danger zone.

S.totuli ended up all in again with an open-ended straight draw on the flop versus Benfica10’s top pair and the straight came. They battled onward, with S.totuli chipping up into the lead.

Finally Benfica10 picked up K♥5♥ and jammed an almost 22-BB stack from the button, but S.totuli had A♠K♠ and was quick to call. The board came 8♠Q♦2♥9♥9♣ and it was all over — S.totuli had won!

The final hand

Get Ready for the Knockout Sunday Million

For the next two weeks (August 18 and 25), the Sunday Million will be played as a Progressive Knockout tournament, meaning players can collect cash by eliminating players as well as by surviving into the tournament’s latter stage and into the money.

Stick with PokerStars Blog for blow-by-blow coverage of these KO events in the coming weeks.

Ready to sign up for PokerStars and conquer the Sunday Million yourself? Click here to get an account.

Ever get asked to recommend a strategy book for someone who has just started playing poker and wants to learn how to get better? Ever ask that question for yourself?

Poker pro and coach Jonathan Little’s Mastering Small Stakes No-Limit Hold’em has emerged as a book many knowledgeable players have begun recommending more and more as a great place to start for lower-stakes players looking to improve their games.

In the book Little teaches how to play a solid, competent, decently aggressive style that will be profitable in these games. He provides both a basic strategy to crush small stakes games and identifies adjustments needed when facing more challenging competition.

Little starts with chapters about preflop strategy, including how to play when you are first in as the open-raiser, when facing limpers, when facing a raise, and other situations. After that come chapters focused on postflop strategy covering how to proceed after being the preflop aggressor and after calling before the flop, and other technical skills applicable to postflop play.

Little goes on from there to share advice about game selection, tournaments, bankroll management for a wide variety of formats, and how to avoid tilt yourself while taking advantage of it in others.

The following excerpts come from the long chapter covering “Post-Flop Strategy: As the Pre-Flop Caller” in which Little focuses on situations where you’ve called a preflop raise and thus don’t have the initiative going to the flop.

In the chapter Little looks at several different postflop scenarios, starting with the one where you are heads-up in position after the flop. After covering a number of different situations regarding different hand types and flops, Little then describes “Adjustments” players need to make when facing various player types.

Post-Flop Strategy: As the Pre-Flop Caller — Adjustments

Against a Weak Player

These players typically continuation bet premium made hands and check everything else. When they bet, you should fold unless you also have a premium made hand or are getting the right price to draw. When they check, you should often be willing to fire all three streets, assuming your opponent will fold almost his entire range by the river. It’s that simple. The way you beat these players is by essentially never paying them off for more than a flop bet, and by stealing every pot when it becomes clear they don’t like their hand….

Many weak, tight players continuation bet the flop with a wide range but then play very straightforwardly on the turn and river. Against these players, you should float with a wide range, including all bottom pairs and better made hands, gutshot straight draws, and backdoor flush draws. Since these players only give honest information once they arrive at the turn, you should make a point to get to the turn. When your opponent continues betting, you should then make tight, exploitative folds, and when he checks, you should bet with 100% of your range. If you find that your opponent frequently calls your turn plus river bets, you should rethink your strategy against this opponent because your read is clearly not accurate.

Against a Calling Station

Calling stations are difficult to exploit when they continuation bet unless they are willing to call flop raises with an incredibly wide range, including any draw and Ace-high. If they will call raises with a wide range, you can crush them.

Suppose a calling station raises to 3 big blinds out of his 80 big blind effective stack from middle position and you call on the button. The flop comes J♥10♣7♦. If the calling station bets 4 big blinds, you should use this strategy (Diagram 195).

This is what many amateurs blindly do versus other amateurs. They raise to about 3 times their opponent’s bet with top pair and better, call with their marginal made hands and draws, and fold their junk. While this strategy is quite poor against competent opponents, it is an excellent strategy against someone who will call your flop raises much too wide.

If you raise the flop and your opponent 3-bets, you should proceed with caution, probably only continuing with A-J and better. This is because most calling stations act in a passive manner once they are raised. If your opponent calls your flop raise, you can continue betting for value on the turn with most of your premium made hands (top pair and better).

If you have a marginal made hand and your opponent keeps betting on the turn, you should usually ditch all hands worse than 8-8, and then fold perhaps your entire marginal made hand range on the river to a third barrel. This is because most calling stations only bet all three streets when they are convinced they have the best hand. Again, this is often how amateurs play versus each other (folding their entire range on the river), but if your opponent will rarely bluff or overvalue worse made hands, folding most of your range is an excellent exploitative strategy. If your opponent checks on the turn, tend to value bet middle pair and better, and try to see a cheap showdown with everything else.

Diagram 195

It is important to understand that hands that are normally not strong enough to raise the flop go up in value when facing someone who will call a raise with a wide range. If you only raise with your normally-premium hands versus calling stations, you are leaving money on the table.

If your opponent checks to you on the flop, you should use the same range as above, except you should bet about 65% pot with all premium made hands, marginal made hands, and draws. This will result in you extracting value from marginal made hands, Ace-high, weak pairs, and weak draws. If your opponent calls your flop bet, you should bet about 50% pot on the turn with middle pair and better made hands. You should not bet the turn with draws because at that point, you are putting money in poorly (unless you assume you have some fold equity on the turn or river). If your opponent will call a 50% pot turn bet with a wide range and an 85% pot turn bet with almost no hands, you should bet 50% pot with your made hands and 85% pot with your bluffs. If you bet the turn with middle pair and better made hands and your opponent calls, you should continue betting the river for an amount that you think your opponent can realistically call with worse made hands most of the time.

Against a Maniac

Many amateurs understand they will miss the flop about 65% of the time, but they fail to recognize that their opponent will also miss that often. This means that if your opponent is continuation betting too often, as many players do, you can either raise or float the flop with a wide range, stealing the pot whenever your opponent doesn’t have a strong hand. Maniacs are the prime target for these plays because they often bet whenever they have the opportunity.

Suppose someone who is a bit too aggressive raises from middle position and you call on the button. The flop comes K♠7♣4♦. This is a spot where many players make a 65% pot continuation bet with nearly 100% of their range. Clearly, they will not have a strong hand very often and, even when they do, they may not be able to withstand significant pressure. This is an excellent spot to call the flop with any sort of equity and then bet the turn and river if your opponent checks, or raise if your opponent continues betting. When you raise the flop, you are usually risking about 12 big blinds to win a pot of 12 big blinds, meaning if your bluff works more than 50% of the time, you immediately profit….

Against slightly more maniacal players who will pile their stacks in with an extremely wide range if you call, you should usually call their flop bets with all premium and marginal made hands with the intention of calling down unless the board becomes incredibly scary. If your opponent will fold most of his range if you show aggression, you should play in the manner that leads to the result you want, raising with your junk and draws while calling with your made hands.

Against absolutely crazy players who will blindly pile their stacks in regardless of your action, feel free to raise with your best hands and get the money in immediately. You should call with your draws and marginal made hands, and fold your junk. This strategy ensures you play a large pot with your premium hands and a manageable pot with your marginal hands and draws. In my experience, almost no one is oblivious to the fact that flop raises usually indicate strength. I essentially never assume my opponents will play in this manner, which leads me to call with all my made hands.

Jonathan Little at the 2019 WSOP (WSOP photography by pokerphotoarchive.com)

Mastering Small Stakes No-Limit Hold’em is available in paperback, as an e-book, and as an audio book at D&B Poker.

D&B Publishing (using the imprint D&B Poker) was created by Dan Addelman and Byron Jacobs 15 years ago. Since then it has become one of the leading publishers of poker books with titles by Phil Hellmuth, Jonathan Little, Mike Sexton, Chris Moorman, Dr. Patricia Cardner, Lance Bradley, Martin Harris and more, all of which are available at D&B Poker.

Sports stars come in all shapes and sizes, attitudes and behaviours. But who are some of the most eccentric personalities we’ve seen?

Let’s take a look.

DENNIS RODMAN

One of the first athletes who springs to mind (for anyone who watched sports in the 90s) is former NBA superstar and hall-of-famer Dennis Rodman. While he was a defensive beast and an on-court hustler that no basketball pro wanted to face (he even claims Lebron James would be no problem for him), the five-time NBA champion is perhaps better remembered for his flamboyant style.

In an era where most sports stars wore baggy clothes and big suits, Rodman went for a more androgynous look, frequently dying his hair different colours, bravely wearing make-up and clothes designed for women, and piercing his face in several places.

Rodman is one of a kind, and let’s not get started on his bizarre friendship with North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un…

MARK FIDRYCH

Known as ‘The Bird’, baseball player Mark Fidrych became a legend not only for his excellent abilities as a pitcher, but for his eccentric on-field idiosyncrasies. From talking to the ball and himself, to his famous crouch (which became known as ‘manicuring the mound’), Fidrych was a star for five seasons before injuries cut his career short.

By all accounts, off the field Fidrych was a kind, fun-loving guy who lived a modest life. Despite his financial success and fame, he drove a subcompact car, lived in a small apartment, and often told people if he wasn’t a baseball player he’d be pumping gas.

Fidrych died tragically in an accident in 2009.

GUS HANSEN

They say aggression usually wins in poker, and for a time there weren’t many poker players quite as aggressive as Denmark’s Gus Hansen. From going all-in every hand to making what could be considered some crazy calls, Phil Hellmuth once described Hansen’s style as “The most bizarre poker. I love it.”

When he won the Aussie Millions Main Event back in 2007, players would have seen Hansen talking to himself after every hand of the tournament. It might have looked strange, but in fact he was relaying hands into a tape recorder for what would become his book Every Hand Revealed.

To this day Hansen is a regular in the biggest real money cash games in Las Vegas. In the 2019 social media landscape, Hansen’s Instagram account is one of poker’s best follows. It’s going to be a great summer.

MARIO BALOTELLI

There haven’t been too many weird football players (or soccer players, to those across the pond) quite like Italy’s Mario Balotelli. From failed fancy plays to winking at players, horrific tackles to playing on an iPad on the bench, he’s certainly a divisive figure.

But it’s Balotelli’s off-pitch antics which have become the stuff of legend. When he was stopped by police and asked why he had £25,000 in the front seat of his car, he simply replied: “Because I can.” He was also reported to have driven around the streets of Manchester dressed as Santa Claus and given out money to members of the public.

Check out a long list of Balotelli-isms below.

TIM ROSSOVICH

What makes a sports player eccentric? We’d argue that frequently lighting yourself on fire for fun, eating cigarettes, glass and pages from your playbook, and always sleeping with your head facing north so that the “magnetic waves” could revitalise your body, make you pretty darn eccentric.

All of this was true of NFL linebacker Tim Rossovich. Drafted in 1968, Rossovich had a ten-year American football career before switching to acting. He died in 2018, aged 72.

Here’s a Rossovich story, told by Bleacher Report:

“In college, Rossovich and his bros were on a rope swing. They made a bet to see who could land closest to a bank of rocks. Rossovich had that bet in the bag. He launched himself onto the rocks and escaped with cuts and bruises.

The cuts became infected after he jumped into a fish pond at a frat party. The infections sent him to the hospital after he developed a pesky coma.

Once he came back to the world of the conscious, doctors ordered he stay away from football for eight weeks. Rossovich thought that was overkill. To prove to his coaches he was ready, he would repeatedly bang his head into his locker. The coaches sided with the doctors and did not let him play.”

Here’s a quick catch up from the week on PokerStarsBlog… 

• PokerStars launches All-in Cash Out feature
• The Complete Guide to EPT Barcelona
• Chase Your Dream competition winners announced
• How the Sunday Million was won (August 11)
• Book excerpt: Jonathan Little’s “Mastering Small Stakes No-Limit Hold’em”

ALL-IN CASH OUT LAUNCHED

We’ve all had those moments where you’re all-in and ahead in a big cash game pot, but you’ve got a bad feeling your hand won’t hold up. Up until now you’ve had to cross your fingers and hope for the best, but with PokerStars’ new All-in Cash Out feature, you can get out while the getting’s good. 

When all-in with no action pending, players will be offered a choice to cash out or let the hand run as normal. So, in those spots where you’re ahead but have a bad feeling, or those hands you’re dominated and want to cut your potential losses instead of hoping to suck out, you can lock up an amount which is added directly to your stack.

Here’s all you need to know about the new feature.

COMPLETE GUIDE TO EPT BARCELONA

The European Poker Tour (EPT) swings into Barcelona this month as it has for the past 15 years.

This week we took a look at the location, key dates, accommodation, food, and everything else you might find useful.

Here’s your complete guide to the city and the event, which kicks off August 20.

CHASE YOUR DREAM WINNERS ANNOUNCED

Around a month ago we launched an exciting competition that would send four people on a VIP trip to Spain for EPT Barcelona. Now, after hundreds of video applications were seen by judges, the finalists can be revealed.

The prize not only offered an all-expenses paid trip to EPT Barcelona, but would give all finalists the chance to take their moment in the limelight and play to win €10,000 against PokerStars Ambassadors and celebrity guests in PokerStars ‘Chase Your Dream – Play Against Your Heroes’ live-streamed tournament.

Let’s meet the winners.

HOW THE SUNDAY MILLION WAS WON (AUGUST 11)

Brazil is the largest country in South America, occupying more than half the continent. Meanwhile the country took up a third of the real estate at this week’s Sunday Million final table, with three players making the final nine.

One of those three came away with the win — S.totuli who captured the biggest chunk of the prize pool by winning $107,200.94 following a three-handed deal.

It wasn’t easy, though, with heads-up taking nearly two hours before the final hand was won.

Here’s the story of how S.totuli did it, along with some input from a fellow Brazilian who made the final table as well.

BOOK EXCERPT FROM JONATHAN LITTLE

Ever get asked to recommend a strategy book for someone who has just started playing poker and wants to learn how to get better? Ever ask that question for yourself?

Poker pro and coach Jonathan Little’s Mastering Small Stakes No-Limit Hold’em has emerged as a book many knowledgeable players have begun recommending more and more as a great place to start for lower-stakes players looking to improve their games.

Check out an excerpt here.

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

Here’s everything you need to know from the weekend on PokerStars…

• Thomas Muehloecker takes down $2,100 Sunday HR ($40K)
• Kazakhstan’s “Newcomer113” wins huge Sunday Million PKO edition ($106K)
• Top 5 results from the High Roller Club
• Biggest results from the weekend majors

KAZAKHSTAN’S “NEWCOMER113” WINS PKO SUNDAY MILLION

Yesterday’s $109 Sunday Million was a little bit different. Instead of the usual format, the Milly played out as a Progressive Knock-Out, with bounties building on the heads of each player as the tournament went on.

It proved very popular, with a massive 16,281 entries creating a $1.62M prize pool. With half of that designated to bounties, it meant lots of players were able to lock up huge scores without even reaching the final table.

Of those who did, it was Kazakhstan’s “Newcomer113” who went all the way. He defeated Russia’s “Bykladjo” heads-up to take it down with no deal for $70,097 plus $35,971 in bounties.

THOMAS MUEHLOECKER TAKES DOWN SUNDAY HIGH ROLLER

While Canada’s “Krasark” was the High Roller Club’s biggest weekend winner (emerging victorious in the $530 Bounty Builder for a $66K score), Austria’s Thomas “WushuTM” Muehloecker was the most recognisable.

Thomas “WushuTM” Muehloecker’s the champ

Muehloecker took down the $2,100 Sunday High Roller yesterday for $40,146, outlasting an 84-player field comprised of many of online poker’s very best. To capture the title, Muehloecker had to navigate his way through a final table which included Alex “BigFox86” Foxen (2nd – $30,867), Artem “veeea” Vezhenkov (4th – $18,247), and Dominik “Bounatirou” Nitsche (6th – $10,787).

Muehloecker is now ranked sixth in the world online, according to PocketFives.

Runner-up: Alex “bigfox86” Foxen

TOP 5 RESULTS FROM THE HIGH ROLLER CLUB

BIGGEST RESULTS FROM THE WEEKEND MAJORS

No more waiting. The schedule for the World Championship of Online Poker is out today. Not only that, but satellite qualifiers are now running on PokerStars.

WCOOP is the biggest and most prestigious poker series anything. It makes up the three weeks of the year when poker comes first.

The full WCOOP 2019 schedule

The details of every event are below. First, here’s the overview:

• It starts with six events on Thursday 5 September, with the final three events starting on Monday 23 September. That’s nearly three weeks of action
• There is more than $75 million of prize money guaranteed
• That’s across 73 events, each with three tiers of buy in (except the Main Event, which has two)
• That adds up to 219 tournaments
• The smallest buy in is $2.20 (Event 10-L)
• The biggest is $25,000 for E25-H High Roller event
• Your chance to become a World Champion

Throughout the series we’ll have daily news reports, with all the headlines, results, contests, and a few other things along the way. Be sure to follow us on Twitter (@PokerStarsBlog) to ensure you don’t miss anything during the series.

We’ll also have plenty more about the series in the lead up to WCOOP 2019. You’ll find those on the PokerStars Blog in the coming days and weeks.

The WCOOP 2019 schedule

For everything else about the series, check out the WCOOP 2019 homepage.

No matter where you go in the world, you can find a place to play poker. But the best poker casinos offer something the other places don’t: attention to detail.

Here’s a look at some of the best poker rooms in the world.

Wynn/Encore – Las Vegas, Nevada

Sporting 28 poker tables, the Wynn’s poker room offers cash games and tournaments, Texas hold’em and pot-limit Omaha, HDTV sets all around, and even a sports betting window inside the room.

And the Wynn Classic series is among the best in the world for poker tournaments, features dozens of events with enormous prize pools. The $1,600 Main Event, held this summer while the World Series of Poker at the Rio, paid out $3.3 million alone.

Wynn offers great tournament action year-round, but especially during the summer when the WSOP is running across town.

Aria – Las Vegas, Nevada

Aria has pretty much everything you expect from the best live poker rooms. Two daily poker tournaments have natural appeal, but cash poker games are where Aria shines. You can play limit and no-limit hold’em, Omaha hi/lo, pot-limit Omaha, seven-card stud, draw, and mixed games here.

Aria is also the home of the Super High Roller Bowl, which won the American Poker Award for Best Event of the Year.

Casino Barcelona – Barcelona, Spain

The European Poker Tour has made Casino Barcelona a regular stop since its earliest days, and it’s easy to see why.

Whether you’re interested in cash or tournaments, Casino Barcelona has it all. You can play no-limit Texas Hold’em, pot-limit Omaha, and dealer’s choice cash games. Multi-table tournaments with affordable buy-ins run daily, and of course there are major festivals with millions of euros on the line.

Casino Barcelona is the capital of Spanish poker

Dusk Till Dawn – Nottingham, England

In the United Kingdom, Dusk Till Dawn is the place to go if you want to play poker live tournaments.

In business for 12 years now, DTD is poker-only, and it offers some of the best poker tournaments in all of Europe. You can play a wide range of cash games at different limits, plus the small buy-in live tournaments that helped the room make its name.

Wynn Macau – Macau SAR, China

Macau is best known for table gaming, but it also has a reputation for accommodating poker’s high rollers. Wynn Macau is no exception. Tournaments are harder to come by these days than they used to be, but cash games with blinds from HK$25/50 up to HK$500/1,000 run all the time. And larger games run regularly when the high rollers request them — which means there’s usually a high-stakes game going.

Because even the smoothest hosts in the game need a little time off here and there, Poker In The Ears took a hiatus this summer. But after eight weeks lounging in the secluded luxury of Podcast Host Paradise, James Hartigan and Joe Stapleton are back for a new season of the best poker podcast around.

Garry Gates at the final table of the 2019 WSOP Main Event

While the boys were taking it easy, their friend Garry Gates — who works as Senior Manager of Player Relations at PokerStars — went on a crazy run in the 2019 WSOP Main Event. There are easier ways to become a PITE guest, but none of them pay anywhere near the $3 million Gates earned for finishing fourth in the tournament. It was the run of a lifetime and one of the more remarkable stories in the annual tournament’s recent history.

The full interview with Gates begins at the 31:10 mark.

After the Gates interview comes this season’s first installment of “Superfan vs. Stapes” (59:40). This one pits Iowa’s Scott Bonz against Stapes and focuses on the original 1989 film adaptation of Stephen King’s Pet Sematary.

Check out Episode 157 of Poker In The Ears on Soundcloud, iTunes, or Spotify. And if you want to help the boys out, make sure to rate, review, and subscribe to the podcast!

WSOP photography by pokerphotoarchive.com

Maintaining a healthy poker ecosystem and balancing the interests of all our players is at the core of what we do. It is our responsibility as hosts to ensure that every player has a safe and enjoyable poker experience.

Ever since the dawn of online poker, experienced players have experimented with multi-tabling and tested the limits of how many hands per hour they can manage. Of course, there is nothing wrong with this and poker will always be about finding an edge over the competition within the rules of the game and the site hosting the game.

However, most of our players play on one table at a time. Without careful management, we risk ending up with an environment where the majority of players find themselves at tables disproportionately populated by multi-tabling players. This can lead to a difficult playing experience. Action at the tables can be regularly interrupted, and many players can feel outmatched and that their chances of winning are diminished.

Last year we announced our intentions to test a table cap of 6 for cash games in Italy. We have now carefully reviewed the results of this and are ready to announce the next steps.

As of today, August 20, players on PokerStars (.be, .bg, .com, .desh, .dk, .ee, .eu, .uk, .ro, .cz, .se, .fr, .es, .pt, .it) will be limited to playing four regular cash game tables at any one time, at all stakes. Table caps for all other games, including Zoom, will remain unchanged.

When we trialled this change in Italy last year, we chose a six-table cap as a hypothetical optimum number. We wanted to test the impact this had on our players, those who typically played more than six tables and the majority who played only one. After careful review of the results over time, we now believe that a four-table cap is, in fact, the optimum number to achieve our goals.

We want to maintain a sustainable poker ecosystem and a platform that players of all abilities are excited to play on well into the future. Attracting and retaining new poker players is crucial to the future of the game. By reducing the table cap from 24 to 4, we are reducing the number of multi-tabling players and increasing the number of more casual one-table players at each table. This should lead to increased win rates on any individual table for the strongest players, while increasing the likelihood that single-table players will meet others like themselves. As a result, they’ll have more chance of experiencing winning sessions and continue to play in the longer term.

We’re poker players ourselves. We understand that this change will have a very real impact on many players, particularly those of you who rely on multi-tabling as professionals. We haven’t taken this decision lightly, and we are confident this is the right thing to do for the future of the game.

I hope that by focusing more on each table and winning more at those tables, you’ll find a way to adapt and continue as part of our community.