The 2024 WPT World Championship Festival at Wynn Las Vegas is just a few weeks away (schedule here), and ClubWPT is the place to be to win your way into the $5,000,000 Club WPT Gold Invitational Freeroll.
On Saturday, November 16th (for Diamond tier members) and Sunday, November 17th for VIP and Diamond members), ClubWPT is offering a pair of qualifiers for this unprecedented event.
15 players from each tournament will win their seat to the freeroll along with official ClubWPT Gold merchandise and private access to the exclusive ClubWPT Gold lounge at Wynn Las Vegas.
Complete details are available here on how you can win your way into this epic tournament that will award $1,000,000 to the winner along with 100 seats into the $10,400 WPT World Championship, and over a dozen $25,000 – $200,000 cash mystery bounties.
Plus, you could win your way into the tournament by simply registering for ClubWPT Gold.
The ClubWPT Gold $5,000,000 Invitational Freeroll is THE event of the season, and you don’t want to miss it!
Super SATurdays on ClubWPT offering seats to 2025 WPT World Championship events
The calendar will soon be changing over to 2025 and Super SATurdays on ClubWPT are where you can win your way to 2025’s premier World Poker Tour events.
Across each Saturday this month, a total of 24 seats to the 2025 WPT Prime Championship will be up for grabs, and on Saturday, November 9th ClubWPT will award the first 2025 WPT World Championship Passport to the winner of the Super SATurday tournament.
Complete details of November’s Super SATurday offerings are available here.
Plenty of cash up for grabs in November as well!
Along with all those seats into premier World Poker Tour events, plenty of cold, hard cash will be awarded in November as well, highlighted by the $10,000 Diamond Double Stack tournament on Sunday, November 10th.
ClubWPT Diamond members will have their shot at this event that will award $2,000 to the winner.
The Diamond Double Stack tournament is one of ClubWPT’s marquee online events each month with, just like it says, double the stack offered to players with 10,000 chips to start instead of the standard 5,000.
If you’re looking to boost your bankroll, the Diamond Double Stack is a tournament you don’t want to miss.
All the details of this month’s event are available here.
And also, for VIP members on November 10th, it’s the $4,000 Funday Cash Giveaway tournament.
This one will see the winner earn $600, and each of the top 80 finishers receive at least $20.
There will be a second Funday Cash Giveaway tournament on November 24th as well!
Check out all the details of these tournaments here.
And now for the World Championship Festival!
As we mentioned, it’s almost time for the 2024 WPT World Championship Festival. ClubWPT would like to wish good luck to the more than 300 players who qualified for this year’s festival!
WATCH: Adam Pliska on the WPT World Championship schedule release
Plus, stay tuned to the World Poker Tour and ClubWPT for more information about the upcoming launch of ClubWPT Gold.
The year is wrapping up with a ton of excitement and you can be a part of it at ClubWPT!
The WPT World Championship Festival at Wynn Las Vegas is just a couple more months away and at ClubWPT it’s crunch time to win your way to the World Poker Tour’s massive year-end spectacle.
Plus, with the recent announcement of the ClubWPT Gold $5 Million Invitational Freeroll, ClubWPT is offering nine chances this month to earn a ticket into the largest Freeroll in poker history.
ClubWPT Gold $5M Invitational Freeroll Passport Qualifiers
VIP and Diamond members will have seven opportunities throughout the month to earn a WPT Passport to this incredible event.
The top prize includes entry into the ClubWPT Gold $5M Invitational Freeroll along with $1,000 for travel and hotel, a VIP experience, Official ClubWPT and ClubWPT Gold merchandise, plus private access to the exclusive ClubWPT Gold lounge, and a meet and greet with WPT talent.
ClubWPT Gold $5M Invitational Freeroll Passports and more on Super SATurdays
October will see a ton of variety in the prizes to be awarded in our Super SATurday tier, including more chances to get into the ClubWPT Gold $5M Invitational Freeroll.
A pair of entries into the ClubWPT Gold $5,000,000 Freeroll will be awarded to the winners of tournaments on SATurday October 5th and October 26th while the October 12th grand prize is a $12,000 WPT World Championship Passport, and the October 19th winner gets a $5,500 WPT Seminole Rock ‘n Roll Poker Open Championship Passport.
The 2nd through 5th place finishers in each of those tournaments will win a $1,100 seat into the WPT Prime Championship, which will be held during the WPT World Championship Festival at Wynn Las Vegas.
The remaining players that final table those tournaments will earn a share of $500.
Last Chances for the $125,000 WPT World Championship Challenge
Your final two chances to qualify for the $125,000 WPT World Championship Challenge are on Sunday, October 13th for Diamond tier members and Sunday, October 27th for VIP and Diamond tier members.
The top 25 players in each of these tournaments win a seat into the $125,000 WPT Championship Challenge Final on November 3rd.
The top ten finishers from the 400 players in the final will win a $12,000 WPT World Championship Passport. Additionally, $5,000 will be shared between the 11th-50th place finishers in the final.
$12,000 WPT World Championship Passport Diamond Challenge
Qualifiers for Diamond tier members will be running multiple times each week leading into the $12,000 WPT World Championship Diamond Challenge final on Sunday, October 27th.
The winner of the final earns a WPT World Championship Passport that includes a $10,400 seat in the WPT World Championship at Wynn Las Vegas, $1,500 for travel and hotel accommodations, a dedicated ClubWPT VIP host, Official ClubWPT merchandise, and a meet and greet with WPT talent.
What a month it’s going to be!
The excitement is building as the WPT World Championship Festival is just a few more weeks away.
If you haven’t already, sign up for ClubWPT and win your way to the World Poker Tour’s biggest and best festival of the year on the world’s premier subscription-based online poker site and the only one where you can win your way to official World Poker Tour Festivals around the world.
Having played poker for over 20 years and worked in the industry now for over four, I’ve seen some things, man!
As a live reporter fortunate enough to travel the globe for a profession, I know there are ways things are done inside poker rooms in different parts of the world. The European overhand slide pitch, round-for-round play on a tournament bubble instead of hand-for-hand, counterclockwise action in cash games, no redraw at the final three tables, or the brand new ‘Savage Average’ tournaments.
Basically, there’s stuff and things you’re going to see in different parts of the world, and I’ve seen a lot of unique formats and rulings in my travels over the years. But something I experienced recently in a London cash session was a completely new one that got me thinking that this was something worthy of a bit of discussion and this article.
Ah, beautiful and historic London, England
We’re not going to mention the specific casino, but in addition to poker the venue offers plenty of real money casino games, and those who’ve played here may recognize its traits and sleuth out its location.
I sat in a £1/£2 game (which is basically the equivalent of a $10/$20 CAD game (okay, maybe not that much, but that exchange rate, yikes! Big thanks to my employers for covering my food expenses while working in England!)
The seat I was assigned in this very busy and cramped room was the 1 seat, against a wall where the 2/3 and 6/7 seats at this 8-handed table were smushed back-to-back with players at the adjacent tables. Those players actually had to stand up from their seats to push them in to allow for any players doomed to the 1 or 8 seats to access their playing location.
My initial thought of ‘boy I hope I don’t have to use the bathroom while I’m trapped back here’, was immediately followed by, “Dealer, can I please have a seat change button” which fortunately was accommodated. Even more fortunate was being able to use that seat change button within about a half hour or so as a player in the 4 seat left, allowing me to move into that spot.
READ MORE: Top 10 Reasons for Cash Game Players to Request a Seat Change
At the same time, players in the 5 and 7 seats picked up as well, and that’s when things got interesting.
With my move to the 4 seat, seats 5,7, and that awful virtual cage of a 1 seat were all open as the dealer called for players to fill the seats. A young man approached the table with those seats as his options. For some momentarily baffling reason, he chose to wedge his way past myself and the player in the 2 seat who stood, up, shoved in his chair, and allowed this new player to take his spot in arguably the worst seat in the entire room.
His reason for doing so though quickly became very apparent.
Hello, Poker Noob!
The next hand was dealt and as action came to our new player in the 1 seat, he checked, preflop. The dealer gave him a peculiar look and told him to bet or fold, to which he replied, “how much?”
Yup, the 1 seat was brand-spanking new to playing poker.
After being told “two to call or you can raise or fold” by the player in the 2 seat (not the dealer) the player limped in for two then checked his cards again in a manner apparent that holding physical cards in in his hands was something brand new to him.
Now, while the rest of the table salivated at the prospects of business picking up at what had been a pretty uneventful table to this point, my equal excitement for picking off the funds of our inexperienced new friend (come on, don’t pretend that you don’t see $$$ signs — or £££ signs, as it were — flashing in your head when this happens), soon turned more to concern for the rookie.
On this night, I’d have been better seeing a concert at Royal Albert Hall
Remember how he had chosen to take that incredibly uncomfortable seat at the table to start instead of one of the two far more comfortable options available? Well, it was because he was hoping for some help from the dealer in his obviously maiden journey to a casino poker table.
And he wasn’t getting that help.
The dealer, who was well experienced in his profession, unfortunately didn’t show any interest in helping this player. He proceeded to pitch cards, take bets, gather pots, and spread boards without any concern for the 1 seat.
Action would come to him and repeatedly he would act hesitantly, ask what he could bet, ask what his options were, and act in a manner that repeatedly echoed his inexperience. He would look to the dealer for help, but aside from standard commands that he didn’t fully understand such as “check or bet”, or a mention of what the previous bet on a street was, he was lost and confused until either the player in the 2 seat or myself would explain to him more precisely what his options were.
After a couple of orbits of this, I decided that something needed to be said to a floorman about this dealer.
Action’s on… Me?
I left the table and walked across the room to a floorman out of sight of the table to explain the situation. I discretely suggested that, once the dealer’s down was completed, he ought to be spoken to about his demeanor and that whoever the next dealer to occupy the box at this table should be alerted to the rookie player’s needs.
I requested these things with the idea of not making it apparent to the dealer, player, and the rest of the table, so as not to embarrass the player, call out the dealer, and I’ll admit, not make it obvious that I was the one who had said something. My thought was that after a few more hands, the new dealer would come in knowing what to expect, help the player, and keep things happy at our table (yes, while we still salivated over the prospect of the dead money).
Something very different happened though. The floorman suggested that he would go to the table immediately and “address the situation”.
Welp; so much for discretion.
My thoughts at that moment were that I didn’t want this addressed immediately because besides this obviously calling attention to the player, it would also call attention to the dealer that I had complained about him. It wasn’t as if he was going to spit on my cards before he pitched them to me, but if you’ve complained about any form of service and that person still has to serve you, it’s not exactly a comfortable situation.
My request went unheeded as the floorman insisted that he’d “address it immediately.” I decided that an extended trip to the restroom to ponder my options upon return to the table was the GTO move.
While away from the table for another 5-10 minutes, I thought that while I may be shot a sneer or two by the dealer during the time remaining in his down, it wouldn’t be that long before he moved on and ultimately, my goal of the rookie player hopefully being treated better both immediately and for the remainder of his session would be accomplished.
Boy did that totally not happen.
This session is about to go straight down the… Tube!
Floored by the Response
As I returned to the table, the floorman was there and at the tail end of a vague discussion with the dealer that resulted in quite a baffling and undesired result.
Turns out that the floorman’s “addressing of the situation” was to remove the player in the 1 seat from the table and move him to another table!
A player from an adjacent table was subsequently moved into our 1 seat with the dealer seemingly unaware of why this had happened. He began his next pitch shaking his head saying “I don’t know what just happened. I’ve never seen that,” suggesting that without any specific explanation to him, the rookie had been swapped out for the new player by the floorman.
Remember that table of players salivating at the prospect of dead money in the 1 seat? Well, it wasn’t the dealer that was shooting me evil looks, it was now the other seven players at the table. As I had feared… yeah, they knew what was up.
As I sat there uncomfortably debating whether to ask for a table change of my own or to just pick up and call it an early night as I was distracted by thoughts of the situation and the strange turn it had taken, I picked up a playable hand in middle position and raised. The rest of the table folded very quickly and I picked up the blinds. Hmm.
A couple of hands later at this now very quiet table as the discussion of the ruling had subsided, I raised again. The player to my left shot me a very deliberate glance and mucked his hand, still staring at me. The rest of the table quickly folded again.
I was shocked that such a deliberate, collective show of dissent against me was taking place. I seriously couldn’t believe that these players had silently decided that I would get no action while I was at the table. The hint was taken. I racked up immediately and said, “okay then, you guys have fun.”
Sadly, this was not a place I’d be going to on this night (either figuratively or literally)
Am… Am I the @$$hole???
I left the casino and headed into the Tube (London Underground) with thoughts of what had happened still running through my head. Why couldn’t the floorman have taken my suggestion of discretion to keep things collectively happy while still aiding the recreational player? How hard would that have been? Instead, what happened happened, and I was made the bad guy while trying to do the right thing.
Okay, let’s discuss.
So, besides the floorman’s decision to move the player, the other question is “should I have just kept my mouth shut and let this player lose his money while likely having an unpleasant time doing so?”
Oh, and one more thing: have you ever seen seven poker players form an angry mob so quickly as to effectively banish a player from the table?! I mean, we’re talking a £1/£2 game here! No one is changing their life by getting this dude’s money!
A couple of brief chats I’ve had with poker folks since the incident resulted in responses of head-shaking at the floor’s decision, a couple saying that “yeah, I should have just let things play out and felt no guilt about the player’s imminent financial demise,” and a solid “Da Fuq?!” at the table’s collective revolt against me.
It was indeed a solid ‘Da Fuq?!’ kind of moment all around.
The PokerStars NAPT Las Vegas is fast approaching and we and our friends at PokerNews want you to be there with a $10,300 NAPT Gold Pass! The festival takes place from November 1-10 at Resorts World Las Vegas and is headlined by a $5,300 buy-in Main Event from November 5-10. If you win this Gold Pass, you’ll be in that Main Event, with seven nights paid accommodation for you and a guest, plus $1,800 in cash for expenses to boot!
If that aforementioned date range looks familiar, it’s because you’re probably thinking “Mixed Game Festival IX is from November 3-7, with three mixed game tournaments on the NAPT schedule from November 7-9″… and you’d be correct! 🙂 So, winning an NAPT Gold Pass from PokerNews would be an optimal way to ensure you could partake in ALL the festivities on offer!
I want that NAPT Gold Pass! How do I win it?!
You can win that NAPT Gold Pass by simply enjoying a pair of outstanding podcasts from PokerNews!
Between now and October 14, four episodes of the PokerNews Podcast with Chad Holloway, Mike Holtz, and Kyna England and two episodes of Life Outside Poker with Connor Richards will be providing an easily identifiable code word at some point during those shows.
Once you’ve listened to each episode and have found the six code words, you’ll put them together to form a six-word phrase. Just be sure to email the phrase to Ch**@*******ws.com before 11:59 pm PT on October 14 and you’ll be entered in the drawing to win the $10,000 NAPT Gold Pass.
Here’s the schedule of the episodes, with two of them available already.
- Tuesday, September 17: Life Outside Poker with guest Niall Farrell (out now!)
- Friday, September 20: PokerNews Podcast (out now!)
- Friday, September 27: PokerNews Podcast
- Tuesday, October 1: Life Outside Poker with guest Maria Konnikova
- Friday, October 4: PokerNews Podcast
- Friday, October 11: PokerNews Podcast
But wait, there are more chances to win!
So that’s your first entry, but how about a few more?!
Submitting the code word phrase qualifies you with that first entry, but by supporting the PokerNews Podcast and Life Outside Poker, you can earn up to three more entries in the drawing!
Just leave a review for both on Spotify or Apple Podcasts, and send in a screenshot showing that you’ve done so. Reviews on each platform are worth an entry, and if you do it on both, that’s your second bonus entry.
For a third bonus entry, just follow both the PokerNews Podcast and Life Outside Poker on SoundCloud.
Here’s where you can earn those bonus entries:
- Leave reviews for both podcasts on Spotify: PokerNews Podcast / Life Outside Poker
- Leave reviews for both podcasts on Apple Podcasts: PokerNews Podcast / Life Outside Poker
- Follow both podcasts on SoundCloud: PokerNews Podcast / Life Outside Poker
The other stuff you need to know…
Terms and conditions do apply, so you should probably give them a look, but the most important things to note include:
- Entrants must be at least 21 years of age and be legal residents of the United States of America (excluding residents of the states of Washington, New York, and Florida).
- Submit the Code Phrase, along with your first name, last name, and email address to Ch**@*******ws.com. The subject line of the email must state “Code Phrase”. Submitting the Code Phrase in accordance with the above criteria will provide the Entrant with one (1) entry and any entries submitted by an Entrant in accordance with the above criteria subsequent to their first entry will be disqualified.
- The granting of the Bonus Entry/Entries is contingent upon the Entrant submitting the correct Code Phrase in accordance with the above entry requirements.
- To claim their prize, the winner must respond to the Notification within 48 hours confirming they wish to accept their prize. If the Promoter does not receive a response to the Notification from the winner within this timeframe, the relevant winner may forfeit their prize. The Promoter may then select an alternative winner.
- The cash credit can be collected by the winner in person at Resorts World.
- All elements of the prizes are strictly non-transferable, non-exchangeable, and may not be re-sold. No cash or any other alternative is available for any element of the prizes. No alternative dates are available.
- If you have any questions about the Competition, please contact via email either Ch**@*******ws.com or su*****@*******ws.com.
Best of luck winning that Gold Pass and enjoy the PokerNews Podcast and Life Outside Poker!
Time is running out to win your way to Wynn Las Vegas at the end of the year, so it’s going to be a huge month of exciting events at ClubWPT with over 25 opportunities to earn a seat into either the WPT World Championship or WPT Prime Championship.
ClubWPT will also be offering two chances to get into the exclusive $125,000 WPT World Championship Challenge where the top 10 finishers win a WPT World Championship Passport.
Finally, this month there’s also an opportunity to win your way to the WPT Playground Championship with a $5,000 Passport up for grabs, and plenty of chances to win some bankroll-boosting cash, so let’s get into all the details of what’s happening at ClubWPT in September 2024!
Super SATurdays are loaded again!
As with each month, the Super SATurday tier at ClubWPT is where it’s at to win the bulk of the entries to World Poker Tour festival events.
Each Saturday in September will award five seats into a WPT event, starting September 7th where the top five finishers will each win an $1,100 seat into the WPT Prime Championship at Wynn Las Vegas this December.
Saturday, September 14th sees the first WPT World Championship seat up for grabs as the winner of that tournament receives a $12,000 Passport to the event that includes a seat plus a $1,500 cash stipend for travel and accommodation. The four runners-up in this tournament get an $1,100 seat into the WPT Prime Championship.
That $5,000 WPT Playground Championship Passport is the grand prize of Saturday, September 21st’s event with 2nd through 5th place winning an $1,100 WPT Prime Championship seat, and the final Super SATurday of the month on September 28th will award five $1,100 WPT Prime Championship seats.
Along with all those seats and Passports, players finishing in 6th through 9th places at the final table will win a share of $500 in cash.
After a an incredible festival earlier this Season, the @WPT returns to Montreal for #WPTPlayground @PlaygroundPoker! 🇨🇦♠️
Festival Dates: Oct 14 – 30
$590 CAD WPT500: October 14 – 21
$1,150 CAD @WPTPrime Championship: Oct 20 – 25
$3,500 CAD @WPT Championship: Oct 24 – 30More… pic.twitter.com/kExG0Leflj
— World Poker Tour (@WPT) August 21, 2024
$2,500 WPT Prime Championship Passports up for grabs
Super SATurdays aren’t the only way to win your way to the WPT Prime Championship, as each Saturday in September there’s also an exclusive Diamond tier tournament that will award a complete $2,500 WPT Prime Championship Passport that includes the seat, $1,100 toward travel and accommodations, plus cool ClubWPT merchandise and a meet-and-greet with WPT talent!
Everyone making the final table of one of these events will also share $500 in cash for their efforts.
Earn Your Way to the Wynn with the $125,000 WPT World Championship Challenge
Another 50 seats into the $125,000 WPT World Championship Challenge will be available this month between the exclusive September 8th (Diamond tier eligible) and September 15th (VIP and Diamond tier eligible) qualifier tournaments.
The top 25 finishers in each of those tournaments will join the final 400-entry field for the $125,000 WPT World Championship Challenge final on November 3rd.
The top 10 finishers in that tournament will win the grand prize of a $12,000 WPT World Championship Passport!
Additionally, players finishing between 11th and 50th in the final will win a share of $5,000 in cash prizes starting with a minimum $50 prize all the way up to $1,200.
$12,000 WPT World Championship Passport Diamond Challenge
There’s still another opportunity for Diamond tier members to win their way to a WPT World Championship Passport in September, too!
Every Tuesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, qualifier tournaments will run, with the top 20 from each advancing to the month-end Diamond Challenge final on Sunday, September 29th.
The winner of the final will earn a $12,000 WPT World Championship Passport.
Players making the final table will share $500 in cash.
What a September to win your way to the Wynn!
It’s going to be an incredible September on ClubWPT with so many chances to win your way to the WPT World Championship and WPT Prime Championship this December at Wynn Las Vegas.
Join ClubWPT now and take your shot at winning a trip to a World Poker Tour Festival through the world’s premier membership-based online poker site and the only one to send players to WPT events around the world!
We’re entering the dog days of summer, but ClubWPT is barking up some huge value in August, including three packages to the WPT World Championship this December, and another three for the upcoming WPT bestbet Scramble Championship in Jacksonville this November!
Seats Galore via SuperSATurday
The first of those packages is available during another amazing month of opportunity in the ClubWPT Super SATurday tier.
Along with 23 more $1,100 WPT Prime Championship seats up for grabs this month, August 17th and 24th are a pair of headline events. First up, to the winner of the SATurday August 17th tournament is a $6,600 passport to the WPT Scramble Championship at bestbet Jacksonville from November 15th to 19th.
Then the following weekend on SATurday the 24th, the winner of that event gets a $12,000 WPT World Championship passport, which includes a $10,400 buy-in to the WPT World Championship this December at Wynn Las Vegas, plus $1,500 for travel and accommodations, and some sweet ClubWPT swag.
All the details of August’s Super SATurday events are available here.
WPT Prime Championship Passports for Diamond members
Super SATurday isn’t the only way to earn a seat into the WPT Prime Championship at Wynn Las Vegas as Diamond tier members will have five shots at a full $2,500 WPT Prime Championship Passport each Saturday in August.
The winner of each of these tournaments will earn an $1,000 seat, along with $1,100 for travel and accommodations, plus ClubWPT merch, a meet and greet with WPT talent and more.
Diamond members also kick off the month with the ever-popular $10,000 Diamond Double Stack tournament on August 4th.
The winner will receive a cool $2,000 in cash and as always, this tournament starts each player with double the starting stack with 10,000 chips!
WPT World Championship Challenge Continues
The WPT World Championship is fast approaching, and there will be two more chances to earn a shot at a $12,000 Passport to the festival.
On August 4th, VIP and Diamond tier members can hop into ClubWPT’s latest World Championship Challenge tournament, where the top 25 players earn their way into this fall’s World Championship Challenge final on November 3rd. The final will see the top 10 of that event win one of those exclusive Passports, along with $5,000 in cash prizes to 11th through 50th place finishers.
A second Diamond-exclusive World Championship Challenge qualifier will run the following weekend on August 11th.
ClubWPT Player of the Year Race heats up
The ClubWPT Player of the Year race is also coming down to the home stretch with a trio of POY-eligible events in August.
On August 11th and 25th, the $4,000 VIP Funday Cash Giveaway tournaments will have those precious POY points up for grabs, and the August 18th edition will have a bonus of a $6,500 WPT bestbet Scramble Championship Passport for the winner.
If you’re in the ClubWPT Player of the year hunt, you can’t miss these events!
It’s going to be an awesome August!
Another month of exciting poker is here at the premier subscription-based online poker site, and the only place where you can win your way to World Poker Tour and WPT Prime Championship festivals.
Check out ClubWPT.com for all the action!
Nine Months in the Making, ‘Galfond’ is the Future Poker Hall of Famer’s Latest Pride and Joy
When Phil Galfond put out notice promoting the debut episode of his four-part docuseries simply titled ‘Galfond’, the poker legend called it “The best content we’ve ever made.”
You’ll find no arguments here. This is a must-watch for any poker fan.
The best content we’ve ever made starts airing on my YouTube channel this Friday 👀 pic.twitter.com/vb0Hp3nrUl
— Phil Galfond (@PhilGalfond) June 25, 2024
Galfond was originally hesitant to undertake the nine-month project, but with the encouragement of his wife Farah, Galfond’s co-star in the series and life, the idea became a reality.
“I’ve been asked many times to share some behind-the-scenes, day-in-the-life type content, and I’ve always resisted – not because I’m uncomfortable, but because I didn’t think it would be interesting,” said Galfond in the series’ press release.
“This time, it was my wife pushing me, so I said yes! As it turns out, I was wrong. Farah, (director and producer) John Irwin, and (producer) Miikka Anttonen showed me how much story I had to tell, and I was blown away by the four episodes John put together.”
While the series was released in four parts on YouTube, make no mistake; this is a high-end docuseries, not a vlog.
“If you’ve followed my career closely, about half of the show will be an enjoyable inside perspective on things you know about me, while the other half will cover stories I’ve never shared publicly.”
So, with that said, Let’s get into what each episode brings to the table.
Episode 1: Who Is This Guy?
For the few out there who may not be familiar with the poker legend and shoo-in Hall of Famer, the 39-year-old founder of Run It Once Training spends part of the 14-minute debut episode entitled “Who is This Guy?” introducing himself with the help of his friends and peers like Andrew Robl, Brian Rast, and Jason Koon, along of course with his wife Farah, Galfond’s co-star in the series and life.
Following its release, Galfond said on social media that the debut episode is his least favorite because of the time used to scene-set. However, the outstanding production value makes it and all four episodes shine.
Thanks for all the kind words on this episode! Several people put in a lot of hard work.
TBH, the first episode is my least favorite of them all because we had to do some stage-setting for those who don’t know me.
We’ll be going a lot deeper next Friday! https://t.co/hFP2UWcD78
— Phil Galfond (@PhilGalfond) June 29, 2024
Those intricately familiar with Galfond’s early days in poker will appreciate the debut episode’s clips of a young Galfond taking the World Series of Poker by storm, confounding opponents on Poker After Dark, and a couple of peeks at Galfond, Robl, and the rest of their ‘Ship it Holla Ballas’ crew. Galfond’s unintended transformation from online wizard to poker ambassador (or ‘oracle’ as Joe Stapleton refers to him) is also a topic of discussion that’s well covered.
Those looking for those rare glimpses into his and Farah’s home life will see touching moments with each other and their son, Spencer, shots of Phil working away at his kitchen table before 5:30 a.m., and other unique moments such as Phil pacing to break the monotony of sitting at his desk to work. If you’re on a call with Galfond, he’s likely doing laps around the house!
Phil with his son Spencer
This all leads to a staple of any good bite-sized series, the next episode tease.
The episode reaches its pinnacle as Galfond begins discussing the challenges he faced with his Run It Once online poker site, closing with the statement “And then things kind of spiraled out of control.”
Fade to black.
Episode 2: A Bad Day
We’re not going to spoil anything here, but the title of this episode is a massive understatement.
Without giving too much away, we can tell you that the second episode focuses on the struggles of Galfond’s venture into online poker with the Run It Once poker site.
A quote from Galfond inside the episode sums up just how deep the issues went with RIO poker.
“By the end of this, I had essentially lost everything”
Yup, it was that bad and worse.
The episode is primarily shared with his co-founder of the site, Dan Quinn, along with Farah. Her perspective of the time along with a reaction to a part of the story that she’d never heard before are incredibly emotional and revealing.
The amount of effort Galfond and his team put into first launching the site, then keeping it afloat, and then ultimately selling is truly incredible, and to hear the whole story from Galfond and those close to him is genuinely amazing.
Honestly, if you’ve ever thought about springing for YouTube Premium to avoid those annoying ads that pop up at the most inopportune times, getting it for this episode alone might just be worth it. Hearing Pete Davidson welcome me into the ball-bershop while Galfond was discussing how deep in financial trouble he was incredibly intrusive.
A full watch straight through without interruption is worth it for the real-life drama of this episode.
Episode 3: Conquered
After the incredible drama and tension of the second episode, it’s more drama in Episode 3, but with a lot more excitement and the happiest of endings.
It focuses on Galfond’s incredible comeback victory in his Galfond Challenge against ‘Venividi1993’.
As a quick refresher, during the middle of 2020 during the pandemic, Galfond played a series of online heads-up PLO matches on Run It Once Poker, with his match against online legend Venividi, the unquestioned highlight of the series.
After seeing the dejection and strife that he went through in the previous episode, seeing his, Farah’s, and others’ elation at his eventual victory is very satisfying to watch and a helluva palate cleanser after episode 2.
The episode is filled with friends and colleagues discussing the impact of the match, not just for the result, but the Challenge itself during a dark time for the entire world, let alone poker.
It discusses the massive swings of not just the match, but of the perception of Galfond by viewers of the challenge.
READ MORE: Top 10 Takeaways from the Galfond Challenge
Galfond says of his dramatic triumph over Venividi, “I’ve won three WSOP bracelets and this trumped those experiences and the feeling of victory of those by a mile.”
This episode is truly an outstanding way to relive one of the most incredible on-the-felt stories in poker history.
Episode 4: The Next Challenge
So, what’s next for the Galfonds?
That’s what the concluding episode focuses on as Phil and Farah discuss their current lives, much as they did in the first episode.
For now, Farah is the more regular poker player in the family as she’s gone from mid- to high stakes and is now a tournament player, playing them exclusively in 2023.
My 2024 WSOP results:
Unique tournaments: 11
Rebuys: 4
Total buy-in’s:
$29,131Cashes: 4
$22, 612For a loss of a new Chanel bag:
-$6,519I wanted to play more than 11 but so goes it when you’re a MOTHER.
Episode 4 of Galfond out tomorrow.
♥️
— Farah Galfond (@Farah_Galfond) July 18, 2024
Her rise on the felt along with her personal thoughts on why she moved to tournaments is the latest cool insight into their life as poker parents.
As for Phil, he says he wants to come back to playing poker more and he will once he has more time, but for now, his expanded coaching role is the most satisfying poker-related activity in his life.
That guy who crushed every online and live poker event in sight is still there, but his work-life balance has him in a good place in life.
It doesn’t mean that there’s no poker playing for Phil Galfond. He just appreciates the opportunities to play more when he gets them.
Oh, and their son Spencer… Well, you’ll see that poker may well be in his future, too, as he already has some serious math skills to get a head start in that area of the game… and he’s only five years old!
Conclusion: The Galfond Docuseries is a Stellar Must-Watch
To echo my sentiments from the top of this review, this is an absolute must-watch for any poker fan.
Whether you’re well in the know about Phil Galfond’s rich history in the game or if his is a story you’re interested in learning more about, ‘Galfond’ is a brilliant look into one of poker’s most important and well-loved figures.
The access to their lives that Phil and Farah Galfond provided for this series gives viewers an in-depth and private look at them on par with the best of reality-based shows, without any manufactured drama.
The drama is all real and fulfills the promise of a look at Galfond’s life like you’ve never seen before.
Balancing out the dives into those dramatic times is the genuine love shown throughout, which illustrates the happiness surrounding Phil and Farah’s lives with their family and many friends.
The four episodes of ‘Galfond’ make for a combined hour-long watch well worth giving a look.
After a massively successful May series in Barcelona, 888poker LIVE is back this August with its latest UK festival. The excitement is multiplied by the fact that this will also be a completely new tour stop in a new city!
While 888poker’s previous LIVE events in the UK have traditionally been in London, with an added series in Coventry last year, the wonderful city of Manchester takes center stage for this series.
From August 14-25, the Grosvenor Casino at Bury New Road will host 13 tournaments highlighted by a £1,100 buy-in Main Event with four opening days. A £1,650 High Roller, a £440 Mystery Bounty tournament, and a £110 Ladies event are also on this exciting schedule, not to mention a slew of satellites to win your way into these events.
888poker Live Events Manager Joaquin Vidales says that the Manchester debut will be one to remember.
“What excites us most about the Manchester event is that it is the first time we have come to this city, one of the largest in the UK, and where the influx of poker players is massive. It is also our first 888poker LIVE this year on British soil, and we are eager to make it a reality.”
888poker LIVE Manchester Main Event
After a week to warm up, the series cranks up the heat with the £1,100 Main Event beginning on Wednesday, August 21. It will see a quartet of opening days to choose from, including a turbo flight on Friday, August 23.
The tournament culminates with the final table on Sunday, August 25 with the action streamed on the 888pokerTV Twitch channel. There will be giveaways and freerolls to add even more excitement for viewers.
Main Event Schedule
- Day 1A: Wednesday, August 21 – 12 pm
- Day 1B: Thursday, August 22 – 1 pm
- Day 1C: Friday, August 23 – 12 pm
- Day 1D (Turbo): Friday, August 23 – 8 pm
- Day 2: Saturday, August 24 – 12 pm
- Day 3: Sunday, August 25 – 12 pm
Main Event Structure
- Buy-In: €1,100
- Re-entry: Unlimited
- Starting Stack: 30K
- Blind Levels: 40 min. during Day 1 (20 min. for Day 1D Turbo players); 60 min. during Days 2 and 3
- Late Registration: 10 levels
Tournaments Cater to All Bankrolls
Along with the Main Event, 888poker LIVE Manchester will feature a full series of events with affordable buy-ins across the board, and satellites for the bigger buy-in events like the £1,100 Main Event and the £1,650 High Roller.
Players can win their way into the Main Event for as little as £110 and the High Roller for £180.
Turbos, Bounties, PLO; the 888poker LIVE Manchester schedule has a little bit of everything.
888poker LIVE Manchester Complete Schedule
| Date | Time | Event | Buy-in |
| August 14th | 5:00 PM | Mystery Bounty Opening Event 1A | £ 440 |
| 6:00 PM | Ladies 888 Event Day 1 | £ 100 | |
| 8:00 PM | Main Event Cash Out Satellite | £ 110 | |
| August 15th | 5:00 PM | Mystery Bounty Opening Event 1B | £ 440 |
| 5:00 PM | Ladies 888 Event Day 2 | ||
| 8:00 PM | Main Event Cash Out Satellite | £ 110 | |
| August 16th | 5:00 PM | The Big Shot Day 1A | £ 340 |
| 9:00 PM | Mystery Bounty Opening Event 1C (Turbo) | £ 440 | |
| August 17th | 12:00 PM | Mystery Bounty Opening Event Day 2 | |
| 2:00 PM | The Big Shot Day 1B | £ 340 | |
| 7:00 PM | The Big Shot Day 1C (Turbo) | £ 340 | |
| August 18th | 11:00 AM | The Big Shot Day 1D (Turbo) | £ 340 |
| 5:00 PM | The Big Shot Day 2 | ||
| 7:00 PM | The Voyage Turbo Deepstack | £ 220 | |
| August 19th | 5:00 PM | The Big Shot Day 3 | |
| 5:00 PM | The Mayhem | £ 250 | |
| 7:00 PM | Main Event Cash Out Satellite | £ 110 | |
| August 20th | 2:00 PM | The Mega Knockout | £ 330 |
| 6:00 PM | The Dash | £ 200 | |
| 7:00 PM | High Roller Cash Out Satellite (Turbo) | £ 180 | |
| August 21st | 11:00 AM | High Roller Cash Out Satellite (Turbo) | £ 180 |
| 12:00 PM | 888poker LIVE Manchester Main Event 1A | £ 1,100 | |
| 2:00 PM | High Roller Day 1 | £ 1,650 | |
| 6:00 PM | High Roller Cash Out Satellite (Turbo) | £ 180 | |
| 8:00 PM | Main Event Cash Out Satellite | £ 110 | |
| August 22nd | 12:00 PM | High Roller Day 2 | |
| 1:00 PM | 888poker LIVE Manchester Main Event 1B | £ 1,100 | |
| 9:00 PM | Main Event Cash Out Satellite (Turbo) | £ 110 | |
| August 23rd | 12:00 PM | 888poker LIVE Manchester Main Event 1C | £ 1,100 |
| 8:00 PM | 888poker LIVE Manchester Main Event 1D (Turbo) | £ 1,100 | |
| August 24th | 12:00 PM | 888poker LIVE Manchester Main Event Day 2 | |
| 2:00 PM | The Dragon Day 1 | £ 550 | |
| 6:00 PM | The Dash | £ 200 | |
| August 25th | 12:00 PM | 888poker LIVE Manchester Main Event Day 3 | |
| 12:30 PM | The Dragon Day 2 | ||
| 1:00 PM | Pot-Limit Omaha Bounty | £ 170 | |
| 3:00 PM | The Closer | £ 250 |
888poker Online satellites
Want to win your way to the festival online? How about for just one cent!
Leading up to the series, 888poker will offer satellites for as little as that, leading into their $109 qualifier which will award a $2,200 package that includes a Main Event seat, plus plenty more for expenses.
Buy-in – $109
Prize – $2,200 888poker LIVE Manchester package
- $1,370 (£1,100) buy-in to the 888poker LIVE Manchester Main Event
- $500 for accommodation
- $330 for travel expenses
- 888poker LIVE poker kit
Check out 888poker for all the details on how to win your way to Manchester!
Away from the Felt: What Else To Do in Manchester?
Manchester is an exciting and energetic city in the United Kingdom with an incredible history of culture, music, and sports.
The city features amazing architecture both Victorian and contemporary, a legendary music scene that’s seen bands like The Smiths, Oasis, The Stone Roses, and The Happy Mondays make their names in the city. Plus, two of the most successful and storied clubs in world football (a.k.a, soccer for the Americans), Manchester City and United call the city home.
Manchester offers plenty to see and do away from the felt.
- Old Trafford
- Etihad Stadium
- John Rylands Library
- Chetham’s Library
- Science and Industry Museum
- National Football Museum
- Castlefield Canals
- Manchester Museum
- People’s History Museum
- Manchester Art Gallery
- Manchester Cathedral
- Royal Exchange Theatre
- Chester Zoo
- Heaton Park
The Grosvenor Casino at Manchester Bury New Road
Grosvenor Casinos have a long tradition of hosting some of the best poker the UK has to offer and 888poker is thrilled to be partnered with them to host the inaugural 888poker LIVE Manchester festival.
The Grosvenor Casino at Bury New Road is the epicenter of the Manchester poker scene with the biggest cardroom in the region.
With high-quality food and drink, a variety of non-poker gaming, and plenty of screens to enjoy sporting events, the Grosvenor Casino at Bury Road is ready to show off as a premier location for 888poker LIVE Manchester.
Which 888poker Ambassadors Will Attend?
With this being the debut of 888poker Live in Manchester, the company is bringing out a full team of ambassadors and streamers to join the festivities.
Lucia Navarro, Vivi Saliba, Ian Simpson, Nick Eastwood, and Josh Manley will all be there, along with Dave “Wursthandz” Brady who recently won 888poker’s ‘Stream On’ contest.
Brady, a 34-year old from Ashton, Kent, England, was chosen from a field of 63 hopeful streamers to claim the prize of a one-year streaming contract with 888poker.
“It’s a privilege to be attending as a member of the 888StreamTeam and I’m very grateful for the opportunity. 888poker LIVE events are known for the great structure and players they attract and I’m very thankful for the opportunity to be in the mix with them. I’m really looking forward to attending the event alongside other members of the 888poker team and to represent the brand during this event. I’m also a big fan of the city, so it’s great to have Manchester as my very first 888poker LIVE event as a member of the team.”
888poker Live in the UK in 2023
888poker LIVE has a long history of events in the UK and, as mentioned, not one but two events were held in 2023.
The April series in London saw Dave McConachie defeat a field of 385 entries to win the £1,100 Main Event for an £83,100 payday.
🏆 We have a WINNER!
🎉 Congratulations to Dave McConachie on winning the 888poker LIVE London Main Event!
🤝 Dave made a deal with Francis Obadun during heads-up play and took home £83,000, while Francis took home £75,000.#888poker #poker #livepoker pic.twitter.com/tKJqdblFA4
— 888poker (@888poker) April 23, 2023
October’s £888 Main Event in Coventry saw a huge field of 672 entries topped by Yiannis Liperis for a massive £120,000 first prize.
🥳 Congratulations to our 888poker LIVE Coventry Main Event winner Yiannis Liperis!
🏆 Yiannis took home a whopping £120,000 after there was a five-way ICM deal made at the table! #poker #livepoker pic.twitter.com/KiKLK0UvbX
— 888poker (@888poker) October 29, 2023
Those tournaments saw a combined £867,500 in prizepools between them, and another huge payday is on deck for the winner of the 888poker LIVE Manchester Main Event.
Get Ready, 888poker LIVE Manchester is Almost Here!
It’s going to be a great couple of weeks in Manchester with thrilling poker, huge prizepools, and a ton of fun on tap. 888poker LIVE’s debut in Manchester is a series you don’t want to miss.
As poker continues to grow with record turnouts again this summer at the World Series of Poker and tournament series around the world, the avenues for bringing people into the game also continue to grow. Take for example the always-growing number of streamers following in the footsteps of the Godfather of Twitch Poker, Jason Somerville, and OGs like Jaime Staples, Kevin Martin, and Lex Veldhuis. It’s a tough medium to break into, but one player who has found success — not just in viewership but results on the virtual felt — is 888poker Stream Team member Aaron Barone, who recently hit the $1,000,000 mark in online MTT profit.
After growing his audience over about a year and a half, 888poker came calling to add him to their team of streamers and since then their partnership has seen both parties grow and build on their successes.
Cardplayer Lifestyle recently had a chance to chat at length with Barone about his time with 888poker, his success, the past and present of online poker, and his time at this year’s World Series of Poker, which included a moment he likely won’t forget with Poker Hall of Famer Phil Ivey.
Aaron Barone Interview
A product of the Moneymaker boom, Barone has been a star in the online poker world for many years now, but it’s taken his time as a streamer and an increased audience with 888poker to highlight that there’s more to happiness for him in poker than just results.
“Obviously, I’ve grown since becoming a part of 888poker because they’ve definitely put their efforts behind it, and the thing I think I love most about streaming, which I didn’t realize at the time, is the connection that I’m able to have with viewers. The social aspect of online poker is almost non-existent, other than like message boards, or at least it used to be, and because of streaming I actually get to have that with people who follow, watch, etc.”
“It was something that I was missing from my poker experience that I didn’t really know I was missing because I’d always been an online player… Streaming for me has really helped fill that void. It’s made it feel at times like a live poker thing where you get to interact with people, and an opportunity to be seen and feel heard. I remember when I started streaming, I was like, even if the only thing people take away from this is ‘man, this guy runs really bad,’ that’s enough. People will see the effort I’m putting in.”
Courtesy: twitch.tv/abarone68
Viewers of Barone’s stream will notice that while he is an 888poker ambassador, he’s not limited to playing only on their software. His agreement with them allows him to play on other sites from his home in Vancouver, British Columbia. As a successful online MTT grinder, volume is a key part of Barone’s winrate and his deal with 888poker is something he’s very appreciative of.
“They’ve been really cool about letting me just showcase what I do for a living without any sort of ‘hand on the wheel’ sort of thing, but I will say that my volume on 888poker went up after they signed me and part of that was that I’m an ambassador for the site… but what I also noticed was that by doing that, I actually started having better results because I was playing more games that had smaller overall player pools.”
While 888poker is one of the leaders in the worldwide online poker ecosystem, there are other sites that have more traffic. In many ways though, this isn’t a bad thing for players, far from it in fact; and Barone explained why 888poker’s player pool should actually be a draw to many.
“Generally, in smaller field MTTs you’re going to have less variance. A lot of people I think are chasing really big scores because it sounds like a dream, it sounds like a jackpot, a pot of gold at the end of the rainbow sort of thing. I totally understand that, but in MTTs because of that, because the large fields have massive amounts of variance, and if you want to limit that, the best way you can do that is obviously A) get better at the game, but B) play smaller fields because you don’t have to go through so many all in confrontations to get to the final table.
If you’re playing poker, it’s because you love the game and you probably want to make some money. Your better chance of realizing your edge is going to be in smaller field tournaments and 888poker offers amazing options for that.”
Barone made a name and (bankroll) for himself in the sit n’ go and spin ‘n go streets before transitioning into MTTs just a few years ago. Since then, he’s been a consistent, and that’s the key word, consistent, winner.
How I made $1M+ playing MTTs (A thread)
Given the volatility of multi-table tournaments because of their large fields and top heavy payout structures, even successful grinders can have wonky looking graphs. Often looks something like: Bink a big score, lose a bunch back, bink… pic.twitter.com/u1ixo6vFx4
— Aaron Barone (@abarone68) March 26, 2024
While most players’ MTT charts look like a jagged mountain range with sharp peaks and progressive valleys, When he crossed the $1,000,000 profit mark, Barone was proud to display his chart which features a far more steady line, consistently going up in marginal increments. It’s an approach he took from his earlier days that he says has provided a much less stressful grind as an MTT pro.
“It just kind of depends on what your goals are. As a poker player, if you end the year making $200k with consistency, that’s the same amount of money as if you made $200k with one bink. I think the lifestyle, the enjoyment factor is so much higher when you have consistent wins. I know you don’t have that high high of that huge bink, but if you told me I could have 365 days a year of winning, I’d feel a lot better than having one day where I win a million and lose 800k back.”
Along with obvious skill, Barone credits volume and game selection – traits he learned from his sit-n-go background — for his steadily booming bankroll since he first began diving into MTTs.
“Let’s figure out how much I make per game, and let’s put in a bunch of games. I do assume that at some point I’ll hit a bigger score but for me, it’s really comforting knowing that I don’t need to, that I’m not going to have this massive downswing and I need to bink to get out of it or to pay rent, or to pay bills. The people that play under that sort of pressure, props to them. I don’t think I would play nearly as well and I wouldn’t enjoy that quality of life.”
Don’t get Barone wrong though, while his largest score over that stretch was for just under $60,000, he does very much want that life-changing win at some point.
“I’d be lying if I said this is how I wanted to do it. I want that big bink, I want the next million to come in the form of one or two, or three scores. That does sound really fun.”
While Barone’s seven-figure success may look like a goal that he’s achieved, it’s how he got there that was actually the goal. With a volume-based ‘goal’ mentality, Barone believes this is an infinitely more productive way of evaluating success in poker. Essentially, a journey of hard work and dedication with goals in those aspects leads to bankroll success more than any ‘bankroll challenge’ ever could.
“I kind of think it’s like when people say they want to get fitter or healthier, and they’ll say ‘I want to lose ten pounds’ and that’s great, but there’s also fluctuation in that on a day-to-day, week-to-week basis, and it’d be much better to say ‘I’m going to try to eat better and I’m going to try to go to the gym 25 times this month. And so if you ate better and you went there and you lost seven pounds or nine pounds, you put in the work.
So, when it comes to poker, yes, you might have a goal of making 100k in a year, but it doesn’t mean that if you get to 97k that you’re a chump and you should feel bad about yourself, and it doesn’t mean if you make 101k that you’re the greatest of all time. So just being happy with the process of the work that it takes to get there is a healthier way to look at it.”
Barone’s streaming success and popularity amongst his viewers have led him to another great opportunity, becoming a coach at Upswing Poker.
Upswing founder Doug Polk sent a tweet out asking which streamers people would like to see training content from on his site. Along with requests for those that Barone calls the GOATs of the poker streaming world, he was thrilled to see a massive groundswell of support for him as well. Polk reached out with an offer, and since then Barone has created content for Upswing, including a five-part module entitled ‘Five Mistakes MTT Players Make’, along with a ‘play and explain’ session breaking down the final table of one of his online victories.
Barone says working with Upswing Poker is just the latest example of working for a great team that supports him and shares his vision.
“As I talk to more of my friends who have regular jobs, the people who are your boss or work above you don’t always understand what you do and what they need to provide you to have you succeed, and with both Upswing Poker and 888poker my bosses have been just outstanding about that. This is my first and second I guess real jobs, and I know not everybody gets that experience so I’m very thankful for it.”
Barone was one of the many victims of Black Friday when online poker shut down in the United States. His tale of poker upheaval saw him in the process of moving to Northern California where he had grown up and gone to college, but that plan was dramatically altered when that big FBI warning appeared on his computer screen when he tried to play on April 15, 2011.
“I signed the lease (on an apartment), and a day after I woke up and it was Black Friday. I had to break the lease and I ended up paying maybe two or three months of a fee to get out of that… It’s so interesting because I had moved to Sacramento with the intention of basically setting down roots. This was where I planned on being for the rest of my life or at least a big chunk of it.
A week later I had come to terms with the idea that I don’t know when online poker is going to be legal in the U.S. and I have to get out of the country. I remember thinking at the time this is the worst thing that’s ever happened to me… and I look back on it now as one of the best things that’s ever happened to me because it forced me out of my comfort zone and it helped me really grow as a person and as a poker player. Without that experience, I would not be the person I am today, I wouldn’t have met my fiancé, everything would have been different and I’m really happy with where I am right now.”
While the online realm is where Barone has built his name, the allure of the WSOP in Las Vegas is unavoidable for any true poker player or fan. Barone played in just his second-ever WSOP Main Event this summer, and while falling short of the money with a Day 3 elimination was disappointing, he says the whole of the trip was as valuable as any payout ticket.
“The poker side of it, if we remove that entirely, this trip has basically been a 10/10 for me. I got to meet a lot of people that I’ve known either through online screen names or just knowing them from stream-type stuff and there’s nowhere else I’ve ever been where there’s such a large collection of people who love the game of poker.”
“In my regular life, there aren’t as many people who I can talk about poker with who love the game like I do on a daily basis, and even when I do it’s on stream it’s great, but it’s not a one-on-one, face to face sort of thing. At the Main Event, everyone is there because they want to be there. Overall, it’s electric, it’s wonderful, it makes me want to play more live tournaments.
Leaving Vegas this morning after a nearly perfect @WSOP experience. Bricking the Main Event hurts a bit, but as the name implies, it’s more than just a poker tournament — it’s an EVENT.
And despite having a couple of difficult tables, I bonded with (most of) my opponents,… pic.twitter.com/wo2hSsH7rG
— Aaron Barone (@abarone68) July 10, 2024
Along the way, Barone found himself at a table with none other than the legendary Phil Ivey. Knowing he may never get another chance to sit with one of the all-time greats, and with visions of a potential Ivey / Barone collaboration and friendship, Barone light-heartedly struck up an ice-breaking conversation.
“I asked him how many times he gets approached for pictures on a daily basis and he said ‘more during the Main Event.’ And I said, ‘Oh, like 8 or 9?’ and he said ‘Yeah’, and I’m just like ‘Okay, that’s weird, no one’s even asked me for one picture this entire trip’, and he just deadpans it, and I’m just like, oh, OK, here we are. Just a slightly amusing thing to break some ice and tension. Did not work, but shooters shoot.”
Courtesy: @abarone68
Aaron can be seen in his 888poker Stream Team home on Twitch.tv/abarone68 and as a coach on Upswing Poker where he’ll have a pair of new modules coming out over the next few months.
Follow him on X at @abarone68 and on Instagram at @acbarone
As the calendar turns to the second half of the year with the start of July, new opportunities arise for players on ClubWPT!
The Session 2 Race for the ClubWPT Player of the Year gets underway this month with the first three events of the session on July 14, 21, and 28. Each tournament comes with $4,000 cash available and is open to both VIP and Diamond tier members.
The winner of the Session 2 Race earns a $2,500 WPT Prime Championship Passport at Wynn Las Vegas this December. Players who finish in 2nd and 3rd place will receive a 3-month ClubWPT Diamond tier upgrade, while 4th and 5th place get a ClubWPT Merchandise Prize Pack.
Players who participated in the Session 1 race throughout the first half of the year will also be in the mix for the overall 2024 Season Race where the winner will receive a $12,000 WPT World Championship Passport to Wynn Las Vegas. A $2,500 WPT Prime Championship Passport goes to the runner-up of the year-long race.
$10,000 and WPT Passports for Diamond Members
Just like last month, Diamond tier members have plenty to look forward to in July as well, starting with a $10,000 Diamond Double Stack tournament on Sunday, July 7th. The winner will earn $2,000 in cold hard cash. The Diamond Double Stack is maybe the best Diamond tier event of the month, not just for the huge prizes, but the added playability of a double-sized 10,000 chip stack instead of the standard 5,000 to start.
This is one tournament Diamond members do not want to miss!
Besides that bundle of cash, there are a plethora of WPT World Championship and WPT Prime Championship passports up for grabs for Diamond tier members in July.
Along with a month-end limited field event with a WPT World Championship Passport up for grabs (keep an eye on ClubWPT for details of that), each Saturday starting on July 6th, Diamond members will have a chance to win a $2,500 WPT Prime Championship Passport.
These tournaments will see the winners earn themselves a trip to Vegas for the big event this December, while each player that makes a final table will share $500 in cash.
20 WPT Seats Available for Super SATurday Members
Speaking of Saturdays, the ClubWPT Super SATurdays membership is where you’ll find another massive bunch of WPT Passports and seats, another 20 in fact!
July 6th and 20th will see the winners receive full $12,000 WPT World Championship Passports with 2nd through 5th earning a $1,100 WPT Prime Championship seat.
July 13th and 27th will see the top five players earn a $1,100 WPT Prime Championship seat.
Players finishing in 6th through 9th place in each of these events will earn a share of $500 in cash.
All the details of another month of Super SATurday action can be found here.
The premier subscription-based online poker site and the only one where you can win your way to a marquee World Poker Tour Event has another big month ahead and you can be a part of it. Just check out ClubWPT.com for details on how you can get a piece of over $100,000 in cash and prizes!
Happiness and enjoyment was the theme of the day as we closed up shop on our first Cardplayer Lifestyle Mixed Game Festival at the fabulous Bellagio Las Vegas.
The final day of our festivals is always bittersweet, because we know it’s coming to an end, but it truly is a case of “don’t be sad that it’s over, be happy that it happened.” For many players who joined us this week, they really enjoyed it with multiple players logging over 40+ hours of play for the week.
We kicked off Day 5 of Mixed Game Festival VIII with two tables of $4/8 dealer’s choice action a couple hours ago.
Table #3 opening right now.
Don’t miss our final day, here at @BellagioPoker. pic.twitter.com/YcAdCnb9YN
— Robbie Strazynski (@cardplayerlife) June 20, 2024
Day 5 kicked off with a pair of $4/8 Dealer’s Choice tables running and it wasn’t long before a third opened up. And then there was the Chicago invasion.
Instant fourth table just walked in to @Bellagio to play in the @PokerLifeMedia Mixed Game Festival!
We’re going out with a smash today!#chicago pic.twitter.com/DHYGTUO4rW
— Robbie Strazynski (@cardplayerlife) June 21, 2024
A whole crew of folks from Chicagoland came in and, fortunately, there was a table and dealer available. Just like that, it was another four-table day at the ol’ Mixed Game Festival.
Turnouts and demand have been awesome all week long and this really threw an exclamation point on what’s been a phenomenally successful debut here at Bellagio.
Along with Mike Daniels rocking the social media coverage all week for Poker.Org, our poker media friends from other outlets have been a big part of the festival (as they always are), coming by to say hi and partake in the mixed game fun. Thursday they came in bulk; I mean look at these wonderful folks!
One of the things I love about my Mixed Game Festivals, is that so many of my awesome friends in poker media always so kindly come out to support the initiative.
Love you guys ❤️
Cc: @NICEANDSUNNY, @CGrantSport , @crichards1995, @Tim__Duckworth pic.twitter.com/UJe2rGJoK8
— Robbie Strazynski (@cardplayerlife) June 21, 2024
One of them truly made the most of his time with us as well, leading us to…
Moneymaker Tour $400 Seat Giveaway
Indeed, after grinding a ton of hours with us on Day 1, when he wasn’t covering the many tournament series around Las Vegas for PokerNews, Calum Grant was the final winner of a $400 side event seat to the upcoming Moneymaker Tour series at MGM Grand Las Vegas.
Our 5th & final @MoneymakerTour $400 seat winner is @CGrantSport.
He correctly guessed @CMONEYMAKER‘s middle name 😁
Thanks to all our players for participating and of course to Chris, @MMTonyB and the Moneymaker Tour for their title sponsorship of Mixed Game Festival VIII 🥳 pic.twitter.com/A7paWa0JWR
— Cardplayer Lifestyle (@PokerLifeMedia) June 21, 2024
Calum will join fellow poker media star Tim Duckworth, along with Thom Roholt, Rick Fuller, and Lawrence Chen in an event at that upcoming series thanks to the great folks at the Moneymaker Tour.
Speaking of which, look who joined us Thursday to splash around at our big ol’ celebration of kitchen table games: Moneymaker Tour Executive Manager, Tony Burns!
This ought to be interesting…Any help is appreciated! 😂 #TeamMoney @MoneymakerTour pic.twitter.com/vAtPYZVpxh
— Tony Burns (@MMTonyB) June 20, 2024
We’ve got @MMTonyB in the house here on our final day of Mixed Game Festival VIII at @BellagioPoker.
Thanks @MoneymakerTour for being our title sponsor!
Final $400 seat being given away later today.
Come join us 🎉🥳 pic.twitter.com/8XJdn6DY1V
— Robbie Strazynski (@cardplayerlife) June 20, 2024
The Moneymaker Tour makes its Las Vegas debut June 28-July 6 with a $1,700 buy-in $1,000,000 guaranteed Main Event along with nearly $300,000 in guarantees among a variety of side events.
This is a series you don’t want to miss if you’re already in or on your way to Las Vegas.
PokerCoaching.com Player of the Day
Our final PokerCoaching.com Player of the Day for Mixed Game Festival VIII certainly qualifies in the category of ‘who loves it more?’ I mean check out this license plate!
That baby is on the car of Christine Minx of Powell, Ohio, who flies out to Las Vegas specifically to play mixed games because they’re hard to find in her area unless you’re at her home game, which she wishes could run even more than it does.
“It’s not a very regular thing, because even among my friends it’s hard to get everybody together to play, so that’s why opportunities like this (the Mixed Game Festival) are great to find kindred spirits.”
Christine has been playing mixed games for over 17 years, dating back to the days of the Stardust, where she got her first taste of Las Vegas poker, playing 7 Card Stud games at that legendary venue.
“I was part of a website called AllVegasPoker and I was introduced to (mixed games) by the people there. It’s very exciting compared to Hold ‘em… and I love all the variations, and there seem to be new ones all the time.”
Not surprisingly, Christine says any variant involving Badugi is her favorite game in a mix, but she’s become a lover of all the games since that first foray into Stud many years ago.
As our final Player of the Day for this edition of the Mixed Game Festival, she echoes the sentiment of many of our players, saying that mixed games are well worth giving a try and explaining why you should come out for our next festival if you missed this one.
“I find it to be much more social, light-hearted, and friendly. It’s kind of fun to feel you’re part of kind of a niche group and community with some specific knowledge, and it’s just fun to try something new.”
Mixed Game Festival: Eight Isn’t Enough!
So yeah, that’s it, that’s all for another edition of the Cardplayer Lifestyle Mixed Game Festival.
There’s no “closing ceremony” at the end of our @PokerLifeMedia Mixed Game Festivals… they just sort of “fade away”.
A player asked “if I’m tired and glad it’s over so I can rest”?
Are you kidding? 🤣
I could do this ad infinitum 😁🔥
Until next time, folks! Thank you ❤️🙏 pic.twitter.com/uw9jZxWKa7
— Robbie Strazynski (@cardplayerlife) June 21, 2024
Huge thanks once again to our incredible partners and sponsors, the Moneymaker Tour, PokerCoaching.com, PokerGO, RunGoodGear, D&B Publishing, BBO Poker Tables, and Faded Spade playing cards, as well as to Bellagio Las Vegas and its wonderful dealers and staff for hosting and providing a top-notch experience.
So long for now, @BellagioPoker.
You’ve been an amazing Mixed Game Festival VIII venue throughout my 78 hours of play since noon Sunday. ❤️
New “personal best” 19 hours today and one of the most enjoyable all-nighters in my lifetime pantheon of poker sessions.#wholovesitmore pic.twitter.com/yRTf7QF5Rq
— Robbie Strazynski (@cardplayerlife) June 21, 2024
Above all, thank you to the players! Without you there’s no mixed game community, and there’s no Mixed Game Festival. We’re so grateful for your support through eight incredible series and for helping us grow bigger and better each time.
Next up for us? Stay tuned for details on Mixed Game Festival IX, coming to Las Vegas once again this November!
Here at the Cardplayer Lifestyle Mixed Game Festival, we love our dealers.
While we pride ourselves on making the MGF feel like a big ‘ol home game, we kind of need the host casino’s dealers for the games to run.
With many of the games we play rarely spread, many of them are also completely new to the wonderful card pitchers of said casino — in this case, Bellagio Las Vegas — so while many players are learning new games, so are the dealers.
We always try to take care of the dealers as best we can, and when the opportunity for something extra cool for them arises, we’re extra happy for them.
Enter Squid Game.
Those three rivered queens looked extra sweet to dealer Eli!
No, no we’re not giving them little cookies and making them carve out shapes to keep their jobs, we’re talking about the very cool poker variant inspired by the popular show’s rather morbid premise of heartbreaking er, elimination shall we say.
What Is Squid Game Poker?
Squid Game is a triple board flop game played as either 4 or 5-card Limit Omaha high, ensuring a significant amount of action. It is a split pot game with players claiming victory with the best hand on either of the two remaining boards following the river.
But wait you say, I thought this was a triple board game?
Yup, that’s the keyword here. Was.
Because after the river card is dealt on each of the three boards, the board with the lowest river card is eliminated!
You could be sitting there with a royal flush on the turn on one of the boards with a ton of bets in the pot and then wham, deuce on the river! Your royal gets swept into the muck, potentially leaving you with bupkis on either of the remaining two boards.
What a delightfully painful game. But here’s where our dealer love comes in.
If on the ultra-rare occasion that the three rivers bring three cards of the same rank, like deuce, deuce, deuce, all three boards get eliminated, so guess who wins the pot? The dealer!
In our eight editions of the Cardplayer Lifestyle Mixed Game Festival, this had never happened until Wednesday night when Bellagio dealer Eli dealt a trio of queens on the river with the three ladies laying waste to those boards and sending a $72 pot to Eli!
Playing Squid Game at Mixed Game Festival VIII, and the impossible just happened!
QQQ on the three rivers and dealer, Eli, just won $72 🎉 pic.twitter.com/0bBcaW3PrL
— Robbie Strazynski (@cardplayerlife) June 20, 2024
Congrats to Eli, and condolences to the players in that hand, but really, we don’t think they’re too broken up about it.
PokerCoaching.com Player of the Day
Our penultimate PokerCoaching.com Player of the Day for Mixed Game Festival VIII is Batya Kaufman of Queens, New York.
Batya got her start in poker playing 5-Card Draw with her dad but got a deeper introduction to mixed games via an online league organized by friends during the pandemic.
“A lot of the people that were a part of it liked to play a lot of the more traditional mixed games like Omaha 8, Stud 8, Razz, and then we also added Badugi, 2-7 Triple Draw, and when I went back to playing live poker I realized (mixed games) are just a lot of fun.”
It’s not just the enjoyment of the games that draws Batya to play mix. As we happily hear so often, it’s the people, too.
“It’s just a much more laid-back social environment. People are just super happy to teach you the games if you don’t know them, and if I’m just looking to have a good time and play a little poker, I really find it the most enjoyable.”
The welcoming environment of a mixed game table was immediately presented to Batya from the first time she played, quickly squashing any nerves she may have had dipping her toe into a pool she wasn’t totally familiar with.
“I had already played quite a bit of live No-Limit Hold ‘em, so I wasn’t super uncomfortable at the table. The first time I sat down at a mixed game table… where there were a lot of these games that I’ve never heard of before I was definitely a bit intimidated, but after maybe five to ten minutes and just realizing how welcoming all the players were and how eager they were to teach me the games, I was happy to lose my money to them.”
Batya is just one of many women we’ve seen at our tables this week, and we’re thrilled to hear her equate the positive environment of the Mixed Game Festival to that of ladies’ events.
“Just the social scene, especially the women’s poker scene, it’s just really welcoming and encouraging. I love it.”
Batya plans on playing in the upcoming ladies’ events this summer around Las Vegas and she’ll be able to study up for them with a 3-month Premium membership to PokerCoaching.com for being our Player of the Day.
Mixed Game Festival VIII “Trooper” of the Day
We also want to give a very special honorable mention to a great friend of the Cardplayer Lifestyle Mixed Game Festival, Women in Poker Hall of Famer Jan Fisher.
Jan had shoulder surgery just a few days ago, but while recovering and with her right arm in a sling, there she was Wednesday, sitting with the scumbags, telling jokes, and dragging the occasional pot.
Fisher said there was no way she would miss her Ali-like return to the Mixed Game Festival.
“I wouldn’t miss it for the world. So long as I’m in town here in Las Vegas and you’re having an event, I’m gonna be there!”
Moneymaker Tour $400 Seat Giveaway
Tim Duckworth is our latest winner of a $400 seat into a side event at the upcoming Moneymaker Tour series at MGM Grand from June 28-July 6.
The winner of today’s $400 @MoneymakerTour side event seat is … @Tim__Duckworth!
Tim knew (because of course he did 🤦♂️🤣) that when @CMONEYMAKER won the $25K Triton Poker event last month, that he won LESS (rather than more) than $1 million.
Final seat giveaway is tomorrow. pic.twitter.com/nt5q3oavch
— Robbie Strazynski (@cardplayerlife) June 19, 2024
As with our previous winners, Thom Roholt, Rick Fuller, and Lawrence Chen, Tim was selected by a random draw and then asked a Chris Moneymaker-related trivia question.
Well, as a longtime veteran of the poker media industry, this was even more of a layup than the questions normally are. We really didn’t even need to bother with it, but hey, we went through the motions and then gave Tim his prize.
Congrats to the man with one of the best ‘staches in poker! I mean, Steve Zolotow‘s gotta be the clubhouse leader, right?
Thursday’s final day of Mixed Game Festival VIII will also be the final chance to win your seat into an event in the hottest up-and-coming tournament series in the country.
The Moneymaker Tour’s Las Vegas debut this month features just its second-ever $1,000,000 guaranteed Main Event along with almost $300,000 in side event guarantees. This is one series you don’t want to miss!
Last Chance to Dance at the Mixed Game Festival!
This is it, Thursday is the last day of Mixed Game Festival VIII, and we’re expecting another busy and exciting day here at Bellagio Las Vegas!
To give you an inkling of JUST how much mixed game poker has been played, here are a few key stats:
- Day 1: maximum 4 active tables (for 6 hours), 2 tables still going at 4:30am, final table broke at 6am
- Day 2: maximum 3 active tables (for 10 hours), final table broke at 4am
- Day 3: maximum 3 active tables (for 8 hours), final table broke at 8am
- Day 4: maximum 3 active tables (for 12 hours), final table broke at 7am
- Our founder, Robbie Strazynski, has put in the most hours among all players, with 61 spent at the Bellagio’s $4/8 dealer’s choice tables (15, 13, 17, and 16, respectively)
We’ve still got plenty more swag to give away from RunGoodGear, PokerGO, Faded Spade Playing Cards, BBO Poker Tables, and D & B Publishing. Plus our media partners Poker.org will be there documenting the fun for the socials!
Still need a bit of a nudge? How about one more testimonial from a first-time festival attendee who’d never played mixed games before? Sing it Ryan Gray!
“It was amazing! We played seven games, four or five of them I’d never played before, some great fun games, but the group was what was the best part. A great group of people, everybody was fun, teaching everyone, being very helpful, and I got to play with Hall of Famers Linda Johnson and Jan Fisher, it was a blast. It’s like being in the best home game experience you could be in while playing in a casino.”
Having the great privilege of playing with poker Hall of Famers Linda Johnson and Jan Fisher at @cardplayerlife ‘s amazing Mixed Game Festival, perhaps including something I’m being told is called Scrotum 8. pic.twitter.com/Vp4OzrE6RQ
— RS Gray (@rsgrayllc) June 19, 2024
Another satisfied customer! Thanks Ryan, glad you loved it.
Tables open at noon, we hope to see you at Bellagio for Day 5 of Cardplayer Lifestyle Mixed Game Festival VIII!