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The North American Poker Tour (NAPT) is one of those poker tours that you never knew you missed until it wasn’t there. Poker fans almost took it for granted that the PokerStars showpiece that burst onto the scene in 2010 only to disappear close to a year later. Now, over a decade later, it’s back. Coming to Resorts World in Las Vegas, the 2023 NAPT takes place in November. It’s going to be an event in every sense of the word.
The North American Poker Tout is set to wow poker players and fans alike in 2023 after a 12-year hiatus.
Back in 2011, ‘Black Friday’ shook the poker world. Full Tilt Poker was investigated, online poker was shut down and the poker world went into shock. Of all the blast zones that the crushing decision to close down online poker in the United States left, one of the smallest was a poker tour that had only been around a year. Or was it?
The North American Poker Tour was a popular poker tour. It had big name players winning huge prizes and it took place in Las Vegas, a city – Sin City – which PokerStars, the team behind the NAPT, have rarely visited over the years. The European Poker Tour, as well as derivatives such as the APPT or the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure (PCA) took players around the world, but not to Las Vegas.
The first NAPT took place in the Bahamas, where Harrison Gimbel won $2.2 million, before William Reynolds also mopped up over half a million dollars. At the Venetian in February of 2010, Tom Marchese ($827,000) and Ashton Griffin ($576,000) both won titles. The Mohegan Sun in Conneticut was the next stop on the NAPT, with Vanessa Selbst ($750,000) and Jason Mercier ($475,000) winning as PokerStars Team Pros at the height of poker’s ‘poster player’ era.
In November of 2010, Joe Tehan won $725,000 at the Bicycle Casino in Los Angeles, before Galen Hall ($2.3m) at the PCA and Vanessa Selbst ($450,000) again at the Mohegan Sun won titles. That was April 13th, 2011. Two days later, the poker world in the United States imploded. In 12 years since, the NAPT has never returned.
After such a long time away, excitement will be mixed with nerves for everyone involved, but as the Vice President of PokerStars North America, Steve Preiss, told us, the team are thrilled about the return of a tournament classic which still has its story to tell. We asked Steve how the return of the NAPT came about.
Steve Priess | Photo credit: Las Vegas Review Journal
“As PokerStars is the online market leader in North America, the next logical step was to expand our brand footprint to live events,” Steve says. “The live event market is thriving here. We’ve seen events like our Summer Series at Philly Live absolutely crush it, thanks to the incredible support we received from the players. Managing to triple the guarantees of the series was a huge indication of just how popular PokerStars Live events can be and made the return of the NAPT very easy.”
Back in the 2010/2011 seasons, the NAPT had a really good following and some big winners. There’s one player who Steve loved seeing in action… although whether they’ll be back this time is anyone’s guess. Either way, he expects a whole new feel to the event series.
“I liked seeing the Selbst wins,” Steve admits. “I have a lot of respect for her game and as a person. I’m not looking to necessarily recreate a vibe. The game and how we view and consume it has changed so much in 12 years. What I really want to capture is the world class offering that we provide at all PokerStars Live events. They are such player-focused events. I think the North American market will respond well to that.”
With a new era of poker players to attract, the NAPT will move with the times and as well as offering a unique atmosphere, mix it up a little to make sure that the ‘GTO generation’ are catered for with new innovations.
READ MORE: What the Hell is GTO?
“The innovations are more of a collective offering of many things,” Steve details. “I don’t want to tip our hand too much on this yet, but the focus or innovations with be player driven. What can we do that makes this an event that players love and will want to come back to time and time again? This goes from a series of player-focused events to the general level of service they’ll receive at the tables and tournament.”
Poker has evolved hugely in the past decade and players will be tempted back by a festival that has changed with the times while still appealing to fans who logged the NAPT as one of their favorites ‘back in the day’.
“The game itself has evolved many times over. Live events have to a degree, too. There have been a lot of innovations there, from better integration of online accounts to cages for buy-ins, to fun things like Mystery Bounty tournaments that we’ve introduced. Our focus – how we move with the times – it goes back again to being what we hope sets this tour apart: being truly focused on all players. We know the player experience is good, but it’s a question of how we can expand on that. How can we make it more than just buying into a tournament and playing some poker? That’s where our focus is,” says Steve.
The return of the NAPT symbolizes genuine reinvestment in the live space from PokerStars. Steve is keen to remind us that this is merely an extension of ‘Stars investment in the future of the game.
“The re-investment has already taken place in Europe with the EPT. It’ll now continue to grow and thrive in North America, across Brazil, and at other locations. And as I said, we’ve already begun that process with Summer Series. The appetite for live events has never been greater. You’ll see PokerStars more and more across North American card rooms and casinos.”
While his role is key in putting the show together, Steve is every bit the poker fan he always has been, and on that basis, it’s all about one element to him – those who play the game.
“Personally, I’m looking forward to meeting and talking to our players,” he says. “This is a competitive space – both online and offline – and I’d like to hear what matters the most to them, what they enjoy from us, and where we can improve.”
Resorts World in Las Vegas will host the 2023 NAPT event, and could attract a massive field, coming just weeks before the World Poker Tour (WPT) World Championship.
Resorts World Poker Room
After 12 years, the return of the PokerStars North American Poker Tour is a matter of real significance, not only to Americans but worldwide. If ‘Stars are reinvesting in live poker on American soil, then it’s a natural assumption that to do so means that live poker is closer than ever in returning across the 50 states of America, rather than a little over a handful.
Taking place between November 4th and 12th, the NAPT takes place at Resorts World, just prior to the kickoff of Cardplayer Lifestyle Mixed Game Festival VI. It is one of the most exciting and fun venues in the whole of Las Vegas and the world. The poker, like the neon lights of Sin City, is electric throughout. Sin City will be buzzing when the NAPT returns to the heart of Las Vegas just a week before Formula 1 is welcomed to the world-famous Vegas strip for the first time.
We can’t wait for the games to begin!
Mixed games have become not only part of the poker landscape, but for many high stakes players, something to watch out for when they appear on the horizon. The spring 2023 edition of PokerGO Tour (PGT) Mixed Games Series was such a hit with players that the company decided to run it back and deliver a fall version, too. Indeed, it’s one of poker’s biggest mixed game extravaganzas to take place, and across nine events, there will be buy-ins that range from $5,100 up to $25,300.
A bigger and better second PGT Mixed Games Series is almost upon us!
While the nine events that begin on October 5th will be sure to enthrall poker fans, the satellites to the action also take place inside the world-famous PokerGO Studio at ARIA in Las Vegas and those start today with a $750 buy-in satellite to the 10-Game Event later in the week. Tomorrow, we’ll see players ‘pony up’ $1,450 in the H.O.R.S.E. satellite which, like all the events in this series, kicks off at 12pm local time.
After Wednesday sees players battle it out in the 8-Game satellite that costs $1,450 to play, the games truly begin on October 5 as the race to become PGT Mixed Game Series winner begins. Whoever does end the nine-event series top of the pile will win a $25,000 Championship Bonus to be awarded to the series champion.
Back in February of this year, the inaugural PGT Mixed Games Series was held in the PokerGO Studio and it was a roaring success. Over the course of eight events, there were 538 total entries and almost $6 million awarded in prize money, with $5,975,000 paid out in total. The eventual champion was Dan Zack who took home an incredible $524,700, cashing five times and piling up an unassailable 352 leaderboard points. Zack will not be in attendance to go for back-to-back titles, but for a good reason… he is getting married during the event series.
Dan Zack topped the inaugural PGT Mixed Games Series leaderboard in February… but won’t be defending his title.
The nature of poker’s mixed games is that every player will have a favorite event which effectively is ‘their’ Main Event. With series entry fees ranging from an ‘EPT’ level of $5,100 up to a ‘high roller’ typical $25,300, there is one more event added the schedule this series. The biggest by buy-in is the $25,300 10-Game Championship, which kicks off on Friday, October 13th; unlucky for some, but lucky for others.
Kicking off proceedings is Event #1, the $10,200-entry H.O.R.S.E. tournament. This is sure to give fans a good gauge as to who’ll be taking part throughout the series and the strength of numbers involved. The $5,100 buy-in 10-Game ‘Mini’ Championship this coming Saturday, October 7th, is also sure to be a pointer as to the overall picture in terms of whether this series’ attendance will set a new record.
Beyond the aforementioned tournaments, there will be a $10,200 8-Game Mix, a $10,200 Triple Stud Mix event, a $10,200 buy-in Dealer’s Choice and $10,200 Triple Draw Mix all set to take place on Monday-Thursday of the second week. The $25,300 entry 10-Game Championship will be followed by the final event of the series, a No Limit 2-7 Single Draw single day event costing $5,100 to play.
Cary Katz, PokerGO owner and Mixed Games Series event winner, is sure to be present.
As usual, among the huge perks of playing in the PGT Mixed Games Series is that not only do all events start at noon in Las Vegas, anyone registering on time pays a vastly smaller registration fee. The PokerGO Studio at ARIA Resort & Casino is the place to be and complimentary food and drink at selected ARIA restaurants while players take part is another massive benefit.
Players who take part in the PGT Mixed Games Series will also enjoy a poker hotel room rate at ARIA Resort & Casino and with PGT points on offer very close to the end of the season, it’s all to play for outside of the Mixed Games Series itself. Whoever finishes in the Top 40 ranked players on the PokerGO Tour will win a seat into the 2023 PGT Championship.
The $1,000,000 freeroll PGT Championship will take place in January, with qualifying players now desperately needing to rack up the points to make the cut. As such, the PGT Mixed Games Series provides the ideal opportunity to solidify one’s place in the ‘Big One’ where starting stacks will reflect players’ leaderboard points earned throughout the season. Moreover, whoever ends 2023 at the top of the PGT Leaderboard will win PGT Player of the Year and be awarded the $50,000 top prize.
2023 PGT Mixed Games Series Schedule | ||||
| Date | Event Details | Entry | On-Time Fee | Late/Re-Entry Fee |
| Thu, Oct 5th | H.O.R.S.E. | $10,000 | $200 | $600 |
| Fri, Oct 6th | Big Bet Mix | $10,000 | $200 | $600 |
| Sat, Oct 7th | 10-Game Mini Championship | $5,000 | $100 | $300 |
| Mon, Oct 9th | 8-Game | $10,000 | $200 | $600 |
| Tue, Oct 10th | Triple Stud Mix | $10,000 | $200 | $600 |
| Wed, Oct 11th | Dealer’s Choice | $10,000 | $200 | $600 |
| Thu, Oct 12th | Triple Draw Mix | $10,000 | $200 | $600 |
| Fri, Oct 13th | 10-Game Championship | $25,000 | $300 | $1,000 |
| Sat, Oct 14th | NL 2-7 Single Draw (1 Day) | $5,000 | $100 | $300 |
Times were that a poker vacation took place only in the summer. A short trip to Vegas for a week or two might be all you could hope for. Even as recently as 10 years ago, when Cardplayer Lifestyle founder Robbie Strazynski wrote this article describing three ways to keep your costs down on a poker vacation, the idea of an all-year-round poker trip would have been few and far between.
That was then, this is now. Live poker is undoubtedly enjoying a second boom, and the game’s calendar is packed with tournaments from the start of January to Christmas and each New Year’s celebrations. Poker isn’t just everywhere, it’s everywhen.
In 2013, many players’ priorities would have been to save money, as Robbie advised. Surviving to the next event with more than you started was seen as optional. Then came Game Theory Optimal (GTO) play. There are courses and poker training sites dedicated to this alone and the influence of the rise of GTO has extended beyond the poker felt to the idea of a poker vacation itself.
Now, the thought behind a poker trip isn’t just to save money, but to make money. Lots of it.
To help you, we’ve come up with not three, but five ways to maximize your profits during that poker trip. Money saved might be money earned, but money won is money earned twice as sweet. Let’s push for profit.
Before you go anywhere on a poker trip, its worth putting in the hours to find out exactly where you’re heading if you’ve never been there before. As Robbie said, this might include researching events, getting a casino membership or, if you’re Allen Kessler, checking out the local restaurants with the best deals, but we’d extend it to everything.
Find out the best hotel room you can get for the money you’re prepared to spend, then contact them directly to see if they have any early bird deals you can take advantage. Establish the opening hours and cash games at the cardroom where you’ll be spending time. Even look at the surrounding areas in terms of juicier games if you have time.
Do everything you can to make sure you know your new destination inside out and then rest and prepare well for making a profit. In the past, maybe you looked at a poker vacation as a chance to relax and unwind. Flip that mentality! Start seeing it as a way to make as much money as you can, returning to your home country a poker player who has grown their bankroll.
Once you’ve reached your vacation destination, choosing what you’re going to play is next. Many players who treat their poker vacation as an opportunity to kick back will pick a couple of tournaments, sometimes including the Main Event but other than that, they have plenty of free days. Are you here to relax by the pool and peruse casino apps that pay real money, or are you here to exercise your skill at the felt and play live poker?
Instead of maxing out on the Main Event, why not put your buy-ins to more immediate use, playing the early tournaments and getting in amongst the cash games on days between the events you’ve chosen to play? By packing the volume in at the top of the festival, you give yourself a great chance of winning early, which can have the knock-on effect of paying for your ticket to the Main Event.
Heading to Las Vegas on a poker vacation? Plan your trip and maximize your profits!
As well as playing, you may want to invest your money in other players taking on the tournaments or crushing cash games. Investing in a friend in a cash game is tricky business; you could end up landing at the same table unless you’re playing in a different format. In tournaments, however, making some swaps is a great idea. It reduces variance and does more to guarantee you profit, as long as you invest in strong players you know to be reputable.
When it comes to buying action, there are a number of sites that offer an easy route to putting your money behind some of your poker heroes. Spread your purchases over strong players in different events and you’ll be guaranteed at the very least a good sweat in multiple tournaments, something that should inspire you to deliver if you’re doing the same thing!
No Limit Hold’em is a great way to play poker, but it isn’t the only format of the greatest card game on Earth. As we discovered at the recent Mixed Game Festival at Resorts World in Las Vegas, mixed games are hugely popular right now and a poker vacation can be the perfect time to fall in love with a new version of the card game you love.
If Pot Limit Omaha has escaped you, H.O.R.S.E. has never entered your own stable or you’re more likely to groove to jazz than Razz, then a poker vacation is the place to be. Seek out a mixed game of your choice that fits towards the lower end of your budget, learn the basics online in some tutorials or if you can afford it, a specialized course. We’ve even put together an overview to branching out in our Mixed Games Poker Guide.
An old British comedy sketch went thus: two men sit playing a game of chess, and one man tells the other that rather than thinking moves ahead, he is thinking games ahead. In the case of the joke, it made the man look foolish: chess is virtually impossible to do this in. But in poker, you really do want to be projecting a little further into your trip.
The stunning Paris Casino, home of the WSOP and lively action all summer.
Plotting a written course through a poker vacation might look like the scrawls of a mad person or a family man’s shopping list: nothing makes sense, and everything is in the wrong order. Instead of flunking the test when you get to the venue, ace it by drawing up a plan for the second week dependent on what happens in the first week. If you win big, will you reinvest it? If so, which tournaments will you play? How much will you utilize for buying action and which players are already planning their own trips to the same destination as you?
Making the best of a poker vacation is all about making the most of your time at the felt. IF you’re a winner there, planning in day trips and time to relax looks a whole lot better when you’re doing it with profit.
The European Poker Tour has visited some of the biggest and best cities on the great continent over the past two decades. From London to Loutraki, Barcelona to Berlin, the EPT has brought European poker players together — and an influx of other players from around the world — to some incredibly glamorous locations. You could be forgiven for thinking that there is nowhere “new” yet to visit, but you’d be wrong. This Autumn, EPT Cyprus debuts as the festival travels to Northern Cyprus for the first time, with the five-star Merit Royal Diamond Hotel Casino & Spa set to welcome players to their gleaming venue.
A brand-new stop on the European Poker Tour… EPT Cyprus!
Taking place between October 11th and 22nd, this season’s inaugural visit to the stunning Mediterranean island of Cyprus is a long time coming for poker players and fans. A setting that will appeal to poker vacationers looking for the traditional aspects of a holiday such as sun, sea and sand is complimented by a venue that could have been built with poker in mind.
Truly, this is a five-star poker event that is taking place in a five-star resort… and then some!
The opening events on the stop form part of the Eureka Poker Tour and a little like the Estrellas Poker Tour does in Spain, will build the player base ahead of the European Poker Tour events starting. The Eureka Main Event starts on October 12th and costs just $1,100 to play, just 20% of the EPT Main Event buy-in. Running until the 16th of the month, it’s sure to provide a big winner.
Also taking place are the Eureka Cup on October 14th and 15th, which is $550 to play, and the Eureka High Roller, which plays out on October 15th and 16th. That’s a little steeper to participate in at $2,200, but if you’ve got the bankroll, it could be an extremely lucrative way to kick off your stay on the sun-kissed isle of plenty.
The ruins of Bellapais Abbey near Kyrenia.
PokerStars’ 2023 European Poker Tour stops have already proven to be some of the best-attended in the glorious 20-year history of the festival. Things kicked off in January with the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure (PCA), which saw Portuguese player Michel Dattani win the $1.3m top prize. His victory was followed less than a month later by that of the Romanian Razvan Belea, who claimed $1.25m by taking down the EPT Paris Main Event.
After a short break, May saw the EPT return to its spiritual high-roller home as Monte Carlo opened its doors to a poker-obsessed public. This time, it was a very famous face who took the title, as Canadian Mike ‘Sir Watts’ Watson won his second EPT Main Event, making history and bagging a score of over $825,000 into the bargain. The most recent EPT Main Event took place just last month as French player Simon Wiciak won $1.21m in Barcelona. Now it’s the turn of EPT Cyprus to bring the heat.
EPT Cyprus will be the penultimate destination on the six-stop tour in 2023. After visiting the sun-kissed paradise in October, the EPT takes around six weeks to put on their thermals before travelling to Prague in the Czech Republic for their final stop of the year, a winter warmer between 4th and 15th of December.
For the biggest names in the game, early arrival at the EPT Cyprus stop is highly recommended, with the $50,000 buy-in Super High Roller taking place between October 15th and 17th. Just a day after that event begins, so too does the Main Event on the 16th, which as per usual costs $5,300 to play, and concludes on the 22nd of the month. With Mystery Bounty (Oct. 18th – 20th/$3,000) and High Roller (Oct. 20th – 22nd/$10,300) events also on the schedule, EPT Cyprus is the place to be in October.
Saint Hilarion Castle, which welcomes thousands of visitors every month in Northern Cyprus.
The territory of Northern Cyprus is geographically close to Turkey. Just a short trip North across the Mediterranean would see travellers pitch up in ports such as Anamur or Bozyazi, and many Turkish players will make the trip if the glamorous recent history of other live poker events in Northern Cyprus act as a guide.
There is a plethora of things to do, and many tourists make a beeline for Saint Hilarion Castle, with its breathtaking mountaintop location providing stunning views across the coast. If it looks picturesque, its worth remembering to wrap up warmer than it might look, and the wind can really pick up as you walk between the three separate locations that form the castle itself.
Another historic location that offers stunning views across the province can be found at the ruins of Bellapais Abbey near Kyrenia. Not-so-hidden treasure can be found in the Shipwreck Museum, which contains a lost Greek cargo ship from the 4th century. With the 13th Century monastery full of quaint places to eat and drink, the rooftop offers some rare air – it is situated 220 meters above sea level.
If you’re feeling guilty about your carbon footprint, then a swift visit to Northern Cyprus’ first eco village in Buyukkonuk/Kobi Kebir is recommended. Established in 2016, the project is looking to bring back traditional methods and sells locally made produce and souvenirs. With fresh foods of almost every variety, along with Cypriot dancing and music all leading to a fantastic atmosphere, any bad beat will be forgotten once you’ve succumbed to the charms of this eco-friendly experience, which even contains a pair of guesthouses for an overnight stay.
Northern Cyprus is the location for EPT Cyprus, a brand-new stop on the European Poker Tour!
Notably, this site’s founder Robbie Strazynski will also be on-site to report on the proceedings from October 15-19, so be sure to say hi and grab yourself a free Cardplayer Lifestyle patch! Perhaps your on-felt success may earn you a shout-out in his coverage.
Eureka Main Event: October 12th – 16th – $1,100 buy-in
Eureka Cup: October 14th and 15th – $550 buy-in
Eureka High Roller: October 15th and 16th – $2,200 buy-in
EPT Cyprus Super High Roller: October 15th – 17th – $50,000 buy-in
EPT Cyprus Main Event: October 16th – 22nd – $5,300 buy-in
EPT Cyprus Mystery Bounty: October 18th – 20th – $3,000 buy-in
EPT Cyprus High Roller: October 20th – 22nd – $10,300 buy-in
The Poker Masters is always a special festival. Originating in 2017, the series of poker tournaments set out to find the master of the high rollers in Las Vegas, Nevada. Six years on, with seven different previous winners and millions of dollars awarded in prize money, PokerGO viewers can enjoy 10 events that form the 2023 Poker Masters schedule. Former champions and new names will battle for supremacy and the prestigious ‘Purple Jacket’ that is awarded to each new winner.
In that first season of the Poker Masters in 2017, just five events took place. Incredibly, Steffen Sontheimer made the final table of each of them, winning two events. The German earned over $2.7 million in winnings from his amazing run of form across a magical week in Sin City and rightly wore the original Purple Jacket with pride.
A year on, it was the notorious Ali Imsirovic who took the title of Poker Masters leaderboard winner, as he won two events just like Sontheimer. Winning $1.28 million, the Bosnian was the toast of the poker world. Five years on from that landmark victory that is not the case, with the young poker phenom barred from competing in the events due to allegations of cheating, some of which have not been refuted by the under-pressure Bosnian.
It’s hard to think of a more popular winner than Sam Soverel. The American reached an astonishing seven final tables of the 10 that took place in 2019. In early 2020, the number of events trebled to 30, where Alexandros Kolonias from Greece became champion, cashing 11 times, still a Poker Masters record. Reduced to 16, 12 and 10 events in the years including then following the COVID-19 outbreak, there have been three winners from different countries. Finnish player Eelis Parssinen won a close battle in 2020 before Australian Michael Addamo conquered the 2021 series.
Last year, Sean Winter won the series after taking down just one event and cashing twice for a total of $777,000. Given the bolstered attendances in 2023 across live poker events around the world, we’d expect any winner to top a million in winnings on their way to putting on that Purple Jacket.
Historic Poker Masters Results: | |||||||
| Year | Events | Winner | Country | Wins | Final Tables | Cashes | Earnings |
| 2017 | 5 | Steffen Sontheimer | Germany | 2 | 5 | 4 | $2,733,000 |
| 2018 | 7 | Ali Imsirovic | Bosnia | 2 | 3 | 3 | $1,288,600 |
| 2019 | 10 | Sam Soverel | United States | 2 | 7 | 7 | $1,396,800 |
| 2020 | 30 | Alexandros Kolonias | Greece | 2 | 5 | 11 | $1,266,296 |
| 2020* | 16 | Eelis Pärssinen | Finland | 1 | 6 | 6 | $735,359 |
| 2021 | 12 | Michael Addamo | Australia | 2 | 2 | 2 | $1,840,000 |
| 2022 | 10 | Sean Winter | United States | 1 | 2 | 2 | $777,000 |
There are 10 events that take place as part of the Poker Masters this month, from September 14-26. They ramp up from a buy-in of $10,000 in the first six events, with Events #7 to #9 costing $25,000 to play. The final event features a buy-in of $50,000 and will surely become the biggest event of the schedule. Who’s there to win the title and possibly take the overall leaderboard victory is anyone’s guess.
Each event on this year’s Poker Masters schedule takes place in Texas No Limit Hold’em, and in the past, there have been seven Main Event winners. Of those seven, four have been from the United States, with David Peters, Sam Soverel, Isaac Haxton and Jason Koon respectively taking titles in 2018,2019, 2020 and 2022. The only non-American winners have been Steffen Sontheimer of Germany, Linus Loeliger of Switzerland and Australia’s Michael Addamo.
The overall winner is likely to be the player who make the most final tables and puts themselves in the position to win the title more often than not. As such, early favorites will doubtless include the four previous American champions if they play and others who have won Poker Masters events in the past who are based in Las Vegas. These would include players such as Sean Winter, Jeremy Ausmus, Adam Hendrix and Chris Brewer from the United States, with adopted Sin City residents such as Canadian six-time WSOP bracelet winner Daniel Negreanu and British poker hero Stephen Chidwick.
2023 Poker Masters Schedule in association with PokerGO | |||||
| Event # | Start Date | Entry Fee | Starting Stack | Blind Length | |
| 1 | Sep-14 | $10,000 | 125,000 | 40 minutes | |
| 2 | Sep-15 | $10,000 | 125,000 | 40 minutes | |
| 3 | Sep-16 | $10,000 | 125,000 | 40 minutes | |
| 4 | Sep-18 | $10,000 | 125,000 | 40 minutes | |
| 5 | Sep-19 | $10,000 | 125,000 | 40 minutes | |
| 6 | Sep-20 | $10,000 | 125,000 | 40 minutes | |
| 7 | Sep-21 | $25,000 | 150,000 | 40 minutes | |
| 8 | Sep-22 | $25,000 | 150,000 | 40 minutes | |
| 9 | Sep-23 | $25,000 | 150,000 | 40 minutes | |
| 10 | Sep-25 | $50,000 | 200,000 | 45/60 minutes | |
The now legendary Purple Jacket that the winner of each year’s Poker Masters receives.
You can watch all of the 2023 Poker Masters play to an overall winner as it happens by subscribing to PokerGO. Accessing PokerGO once you’re a subscriber couldn’t be simpler. You can stream on multiple devices and in an age where poker players are sharing their action on sites such as PokerStake, YouStake and Stake Kings, you can even get in on the action without the pressure of having to compete for the Purple Jacket yourself.
The current PokerGO Tour (PGT) Leaderboard sees the WSOP Main Event winner Daniel Weinman atop the leaderboard with just under four months of action until the finalists are locked in and players battle for the title of PGT Champion 2023. Weinman’s total of 2,300 points is some way clear of Chris Brewer (1,917) and Isaac Haxton (1,709) in the other current podium places, but behind them, several big names await the scent of blood in the deep water of high-stakes poker.
Main Event near-misses Steven Jones (1,700) and Adam Walton (1,500) are unlikely to play the entire series if the performances of past World Championship finalists is to act as a guide but Cary Katz is guaranteed to take part. ‘El Jefe’ as he is affectionately known by the commentary team at PokerGO is sitting on 1,441 points and the founder of PokerGO is still in the hunt for glory.
Behind him, the upper limits of the PGT leaderboard include Sam Soverel (7th – 1,425 points), Jeremy Ausmus (10th – 1,331 points) and Phil Hellmuth (11th – 1,304 points) in close attendance of the leaders. Others such as Chance Kornuth (14th – 1,243 points), Sean Winter (19th – 1,183 points) and Josh Arieh (22nd – 1,084 points) will surely want to put themselves in the running for the biggest prize of all.
No-one does drama in high-stakes poker tournaments quite like PokerGO. Who will win the Purple Jacket in 2023? We can’t wait to find out. You read more about the PokerGO Poker Masters right here. This is what imagining the infamous jacket meant to legendary fashion designer Waraire Boswell.
Modern poker is built on the legend of Chris Moneymaker. In 2003, he was “just an accountant” who had qualified for the World Series of Poker Main Event via an $86 online satellite. A week later, the Tennessee native was world champion and $2.5 million richer, his life transformed forever. Now, in 2023, two decades since his world famous success, Moneymaker is looking to find the next big breakthrough star.
After such a long time in the game, Chris Moneymaker’s poker legend is such that merch with his name on it typically sells out and every tournament he plays has an atmosphere that is impossible to replicate. The Poker Hall of Famer is a unique player and poker personality and it’s for that reason among others that he commands such a dedicated fanbase. The average poker player still aspires to replicate Moneymaker’s achievements and standing in the game.
The Moneymaker Tour, then, seems the simplest and most effective idea since someone clever decided that the humble loaf of bread would be improved by slicing it. The inaugural stop of the all-new Moneymaker Tour will take place at Florida’s Palm Beach Kennel Club between May 10-24. With $1 million guaranteed across tournaments, excitement is already at fever pitch for fans of the man himself and aspiring poker stars of the future – a large percentage of the poker world.
With the Moneymaker Tour lasting 14 days, a fortnight of fun will see buy-ins ranging from $86 – that original satellite buy-in amount for Moneymaker way back in 2003 before ‘The Moneymaker Effect’ was even a thing — to $2,500 for the high rollers who want to play in the Main Event.
The Moneymaker Poker Tour is coming to Florida… and you can win a seat for FREE!
“We’ve put together a very exciting poker tour that will appeal to every type of tournament player.”
The Palm Beach Kennel Club cannot wait to welcome players to its popular poker room as it plays its own part of poker history by playing host to the first-ever Moneymaker Tour event.
“We are very excited to be hosting the inaugural Moneymaker Tour to the Poker Room at PBKC,” said Palm Beach Kennel Club Poker Room Director & Assistant General Manager, Noah Carbone. “It’s going to be an amazing event featuring our largest buy-in event ever as well as a full line-up of great tournaments. This event will bring people to us from all over the country who haven’t experienced this facility before, and many are first-time visitors to beautiful Palm Beach County.”
Calling Florida the ‘epicenter for exciting and competitive poker ‘, Carbone believes that the Poker Room at PBKC is a perfect fit for the Moneymaker Tour.
“Collectively, we have put together a very exciting poker tour that will appeal to every type of tournament player,” Moneymaker Executive Manager Tony Burns said. “We are very excited that many amazing poker players will now include Palm Beach Kennel Club on their schedule for tournament stops.”
We are excited to be the first stop on the Moneymaker Tour, May 10-24, 2023! Tournaments for Everyone! Over $1 Million in Guarantees! 20 Trophy Events! Buys in from $86 to $2500! $500k Main Event! @PokerNews @PokerAtlas @MoneymakerTour pic.twitter.com/XyNzg51ZSk
— PBKC Poker Room (@PBKCPokerRoom) April 6, 2023
With Burns and Moneymaker creating the tour together, there is a familiar feel around the 2003 world champion’s project. The Americas Cardroom [ACR] Team Pro will be hoping that The Moneymaker Tour Main Event, which has the $2,500 entry fee, fills up like that famous WSOP Main Event 20 years ago. It alone has a $500,000 guaranteed prize pool and is scheduled to begin on Thursday, May 18th and conclude six days later on Wednesday, May 24th. With three starting flights on May 18-20, the live-streamed final table takes place on May 24th at 12pm noon local time.
The series’ Main Event certainly isn’t the only tournament worth travelling out to Florida for. In fact, the very first event, The Moneymaker Opening Event costs just $500 to play and has an incredible $250,000 guaranteed prize pool. Running from Wednesday, May 10th until Saturday, May 13th, there are six starting flights to take part in order to battle your way towards the money places and beyond.
To celebrate the grand kickoff, the Moneymaker Tour team are giving four lucky players the chance to win a $500 entry to the opening event with that amazing $250,000 guarantee at the Palm Beach Kennel Club in Florida. All you have to do to put your name in the hat is sign up via the Moneymaker Poker Tour website and you could be lifting this trophy, as Chris Moneymaker and Tony Burns recently shared.
We aren’t kidding around with these trophies! 20 of them will be awarded @PBKennelClub @PBKCPokerRoom on May 10th thru 24th during the Inaugural @MoneymakerTour stop! Visit https://t.co/A2urM3gCAV for more details! pic.twitter.com/lS4yMy8UlR
— Tony Burns (@MMTonyB) April 1, 2023
Time is running out, as you must enter between April 10-30, but it couldn’t be simpler to do; just click on ‘FREE SEAT GIVEAWAY: PALM BEACH KENNEL CLUB’ at the top of the page.
The four winners will be chosen on May 1st and notified by direct message on social media or email.
Want to become the next Moneymaker and emulate a poker hero by winning big money in the process? We’re checking hotel deals in the area already!
Next week, the World Poker Tour heads to one of Europe’s most popular tourist destinations. Whether you’re visiting a new European city or heading to Amsterdam for the first time next week, the 2023 WPT Prime Amsterdam stop in the beautiful Dutch capital is a chance not only to win big money but drink in the sights and sounds of a stunning city. There’s plenty else to do away from the felt, including a few choice picks below.
The Amstel Canal is one of the most popular attractions in Amsterdam, and you can enjoy it in many ways.
It would be criminal not to visit the Amstel Canal as you travel through Amsterdam, which for the last half a millennia has been host to arguably Europe’s most beautiful canal route. By day, a stroll up and down the Amstel will provide you with a magical mystery tour of sights, such as bookshops filled with rare treasures (I once found a Roald Dahl first edition on sale a quick hop from the canal’s edge).
When evening descends, taking a planned canal cruise is a really popular activity. A few drinks and the well-lit waterways are transformed into the perfect way to get around his historic city. Food is not something that the Dutch are famed for, but this is perhaps an outdated opinion, with some excellent places to eat dotted along the route of the canal.
One of the most popular ways to see the canal is the All-Inclusive Canal Tour which is presented by ‘Captain Jack’ – a tribute to Johnny Depp from the Pirates of the Caribbean movies. You’d be ‘Arrrd pushed to find a better way to spend the day.
Amsterdam, like the Netherlands in general – is well known for its flowers. From the humble tulip to less recognised botanical wonders, there’s no better place to take it all in than the Keukenhof Gardens. You can get a superb, guided tour for less than €100 that lasts a full nine hours with cheese tasting at the windmill village in the Zaanse Schans and a wooden shoe demonstration in the wooden shoe factory.
It’s not only the Dutch national flower that is evident around the grounds, which are visited by 800,000 people every year. Around the 15 kilometers of footpaths and 32 hectares of gardens, millions of bulbs are planted every 12 months. From the tulip to the daffodil and everything in between, the gardens feature regular themed displays and have an English landscape garden and a Japanese country garden along with the historical garden that provides the centerpiece of the attraction.
If you’ve ever been to Amsterdam before, then you’ll know that bicycles are the dominant vehicle for travel in the city. So much so in fact, that the phrase if you can’t beat them, join them springs to mind. Driving through Amsterdam is — like chasing a runner runner straight — akin to insanity, but biking around the city is something to cherish and it’s much easier to go with the flow.
Booking yourself onto a bike tour of the city is cheap at around €40 for a great one lasting three hours. This will take you around the ring of canals that have been in place since the 17th Century in the capital of the Netherlands, with areas of interest dotted around the route. There are a number of parks and attractions along the route, with a stop near the Royal Dutch Concert Hall digging deeper into the fascinating past of one of Europe’s most historic locations.
Masters of many artistic genres are present in the city, such as Rembrandt, and our favorite place to drink in artwork is the Van Gogh Museum. With the largest collection of Van Gogh’s artwork in the world, there are over 200 paintings in place, as well as exclusive drawings and letters from the irrepressible Dutch master’s life.
Van Gogh’s inspiring story will delight any art lovers and this is the second most visited museum in Amsterdam every year. His most popular creation, Sunflowers, is by far the most popular of his paintings on display, but the whole exhibition is exquisite and will provide you with a very different pace to a day off between WPT Prime events.
Anne Frank House is the home of the Anne Frank Museum, which hails the life of the prodigious journalist to be who died aged just 15.
If there’s one thing you should do when you take time away from the poker felt to explore Amsterdam, it’s visit Anne Frank’s house. Now converted into a museum, it is a poignant and tragic location which continues to inspire and comfort millions of visitors every year.
Anne Frank’s diary, which was written in the house before she was taken and killed in a concentration camp at the age of just 15, is one of the world’s most important books and the museum honors that tome with a stunning collection of her life that has been converted into a museum.
Having lived in hiding for over two years during the Second World War before her capture, Anne Frank’s plight is bound to the area and it is a touching tribute that the aspiring journalist’s words have since made her famous as a writer posthumously.
If you’re playing in the 2023 WPT Prime Amsterdam events, then you can read all about what’s happening in on the World Poker Tour next week in Amsterdam here. Split your efforts at the felt with some adventures in Amsterdam and the perfect European poker trip will be yours. Good luck!
Poker training courses differ not only from site to site these days, but within the same poker training specialist a number of different ways to improve your game will exist, too. One of the most popular sites for anyone looking to improve their poker game is Red Chip Poker. Over recent years, they’ve tailored their poker training to reflect the changes in the game.
We’ve already broken down the recently updated Core 2.0 A-Z poker course and to get to the heart of the matter, we spoke to James “Splitsuit” Sweeney, the man behind its creation. The CORE course on Red Chip Poker has an incredible 200 poker training lessons, each of which is tailored to players’ needs.
“The original goal with CORE was to deliver on a request we’d gotten for years: a clear syllabus for learning poker,” says James. The team spent weeks crafting a syllabus and meticulously creating a linear structure for teaching poker knowledge. We essentially threw every concept we could think of at a board, ranked them by difficulty and importance, and got to work building out each lesson.”
The result is that players who benefit the most from CORE are new to intermediate players, because the material is designed to both build and backfill poker strategy.
“Advanced players will get the most from PRO – which does include full access to CORE – but if a player is newer to the game or looking to fix leaks, we highly suggest CORE.”
PRO is definitely the product of choice if you are serious about upgrading your poker game, and to that point you can read our Top 10 Reasons Why Red Chip Poker PRO Membership is worth it.
The CORE Course is highly interactive and encourages players to put the lessons they learn into immediate practice. Making the course hands-on was an inspiration throughout the design process.
“This was something we were adamant on adding to CORE from the beginning,” James tells us. “One of the most complex aspects of poker is that playing one or two sessions doesn’t offer a great feedback mechanism for specific spots/knowledge. Quizzes acted as a great way to offer players a chance to prove their knowledge of a concept without risking money.”
Red Chip Poker can call on some big hitters to back up their training, with Ed Miller and WSOP bracelet winner Chris ‘Fox’ Wallace both guiding players through lessons in both cash and MTTs. Does James think players will end up choosing one or the other or does the course help players balance both?
“Given that CORE is meant more for new to intermediate players, we tend to suggest they focus on one: either cash games or tournaments. Both formats are quite different, and trying to learn both at the same time isn’t a great idea. That said, quite a few skills and concepts will transfer between the two formats flawlessly, especially the underlying math.”
Overall, it’s best to pick one format and really dive deep on that, instead of bouncing back and forth between the two, James explains, having himself always adored cash games.
“I prefer the additional stack depth that cash games offer as I think the dynamics are far more interesting,” he says. “I also love the flexibility that cash games offer. With a tournament, you might play 20 minutes before busting, or multiple days if you run deep. My schedule between work and family just doesn’t allow for that, so cash games just check all of my boxes.”
The Red Chip Poker CORE training package isn’t just great value with so much included for the price, but the user interface is really clean. With 95% of poker players being male. We wondered whether Red Chip Poker catered for the adage that men prefer visual stimuli when putting CORE together.
“That’s interesting, as I’ve never thought about the visual component from a male vs. female point of view,” James admits. I just think clear and clean graphics are important for helping someone be able to follow content more easily. We spent a lot of time working on the art style and UI/UX and we are still making tweaks to flatten as many barriers to access for students.”
Hand analysis is easy to do once anyone actually starts, but many players leave this until last. The CORE course specifically helps those who struggle to dive into this area of self-improvement.
“Most players struggle with hand analysis for a variety of reasons. Just a few of them are:
With CORE, we put the HH deep dives later in the structure to ensure the student had enough prerequisite knowledge to analyze a hand well. And the HH lessons also have links to related concepts for additional study or review.”
CORE also caters to anyone who wants to improve how they write down the poker lessons they learn, how they save them for later analysis, and this is especially important for any player not having tracking software to do this work for them. They also have a very busy group where students can interact with each other.
“Our Discord is quite active with over 4,000 members and players analyzing hands regularly. So even if you get stuck while reviewing a hand, or just want a wider range of opinions on a spot, the Discord group is the perfect place to do that.”
Adapting to each new poker era, such as GTO play, is vital to any poker training business. Push/fold and range charts are nothing new, but with the recent changes to poker, has this meant a full overview change or just weeks to this side of the CORE content of the course?
“Over the last few years, we’ve spent a lot of effort making updates to CORE, especially as it relates to both ranges and also GTO content.” Describes James. “For instance, we added a totally new level to the beginning of CORE to help players develop solid preflop ranges. And we’ve also created our GTO Ranges App as a by-product of this work.”
READ MORE: Red Chip Poker GTO Ranges App Review
Red Chip Poker are currently conducting their own annual review, which will allow them to revamp, update, and upgrade content focused on GTO findings. CORE was built from the beginning in such a way that they could continuously update the material to ensure it doesn’t become outdated. It’s a plan that is helping so many players improve, which James tells us is still the biggest plus of all.
“I’m most proud of the team for launching CORE as it was a huge undertaking, in both time and money. But I’m also quite proud of the students that we consistently hear from that have directly leveraged things they learned in CORE into actual success at the tables. Hearing that players who have struggled for so long have quickly turned the corner and are now more confident in their good decision making – that always puts a smile on my face!”
You can purchase CORE now, or if you’ve completed the CORE Course via Red Chip Poker, then maybe it’s time to go PRO.
The city of Phnom Penh is not only the capital and largest city in Cambodia, but it is the venue for this month’s upcoming WPT Prime Cambodia festival, for which we have a detailed preview here. While the players taking on the World Poker Tour’s stunning poker festival will be hoping to end up as King or Queen of the Hill, when they’re away from the felt, they may want to explore the city also nicknamed ‘Penh’s Hill’.
What can they find in this far-flung location? It would be easier to describe what delights aren’t on offer.
If you’re after action and adventure, Phnom Penh is the city for you. The heart of Cambodia, the city has been the capital of the country ever since 1434 and was re-established as the capital once more in 1865; since then it has been Cambodia’s thriving heartbeat.
Sitting neatly between the Mekong and Tonlé Sap rivers, it is worth exploring Phnom Penh or its stunning river walks, and the city is packed with parks, restaurants and bars that all offer something different.
Indeed, a whole tour guide could be written on each of these aspects alone, but we would point you in the direction of the city’s globally renowned art deco Central Market above any other attractions. If Cambodia is known as the ‘Pearl of Asia’, then the market is the glittering centerpoint of such beauty, with over 2 million people in Phnom Penh alone regularly flooding from their homes to buy anything from food to furniture amid the thousands of stalls.
Such is the vibrancy of the market center, that several offshoots of the main hub are worth dedicating serious time to on their own. The Central Market is where most tourists gravitate towards, but the Night Market (or Phsar Reatrey) is very popular with younger revellers, while there is a thriving Russian Market that has a permanent residency, too.
The Royal Palace is a stunning piece of architecture with pavilions of huge importance to the country surrounding the royal seat.
Cambodia has 14 million citizens, and it is often said that if someone hasn’t been to the Royal Palace, then they have not really been to Cambodia at all. The complex of royal buildings is the palatial home of the King of Cambodia, and monarchs have taken their seat at the Royal Palace between the 1860s and the present day, with the structure built on top of an ancient citadel.
Having been demolished and rebuilt by previous monarchs, the palace is now a source of peace and tranquillity, with a stunning gilt-edge throne room that makes the grandest castle seat in Game of Thrones look like it was constructed from Play Doh. The statue of His Majesty King Sisowath holding the Royal Sword sits at the south end of the throne room, with the nine-level classical Khmer-style throne itself one of the most ornate pieces of furniture in the known world.
As well as the Royal Palace itself, there is a Napoleon Pavilion, Moonlight Pavilion, Phochani (Banquet) Pavilion and a stunning Silver Pagoda, which holds many of the complex’s sacred Buddhas. The best of these might be the Maitreya Buddha, which is encrusted with a total of 9,584 diamonds and is dressed in royal regalia just to complete the effect. Warning: It might make that side event trophy you win seem slightly inferior after your visit. 🙂
Cambodia’s National Museum houses the country’s largest collection of historical and archaeological artefacts, with Khmer art, sculptures, bronzes and ethnographic objects packed throughout its dense corridors. Over 100 years old, the National Museum of Cambodia is no dusty hall of relics, however, with clean, open interiors that feel more modern than you might expect from the outside of the building.
The National Museum of Cambodia is one of everyone’s must-see places while heading to the country on the World Poker Tour.
Many religious artefacts are inside, with Vishnu and Ganesha models among them. Some of the objects are immaculately kept and date back well into the 17th century, so this is a fascinating place to glimpse Cambodia’s rich and complex history in the form of beauty that was left behind for the generations to come.
No, not the highly addictive escape game on cell phones. Rather we’re talking about Wat Phnom, which roughly translated means ‘Hill Temple’. The most impressive temple in the city has a fascinating story behind it, with the legend going that a widow named Lady Penh saved a tree from the nearby river and wanted to build a house form its wood. Inside the tree trunk, however, she found four statues of Buddha and therefore ordered a shrine to be built and the statues to be revered by future generations.
The Wat Phnom Temple is one of the capital city’s most popular tourist attractions.
Setting aside the obvious GTO questions any poker player might have for Lady Penh, namely why she didn’t instead order her servants to track down the location of these mysterious buddha-filled trees instead, the wealthy lady’s wish has led to a place of humility and peace being in place since 1373, when the site was confirmed as a holy place.
Quite what Lady Penh would have made of the temple’s gardens being used as a site for rock concerts, street festivals and the yearly centerpiece for the New Year celebrations in Cambodia is debatable, but you’ve got to see this stunning location of beauty before getting back to the poker tables and putting yourself in the ‘Prime’ position to leave Cambodia with a trophy of your own.
The PokerGO Tour isn’t just one of the most popular high roller series of the year but comprises a significant part of the PokerGO Tour (PGT) Leaderboard. In 2023, that means a season-ending PGT Championship that has $1 million up for grabs in a freeroll tournament with a $500,000 top prize.
Only 40 players will earn seats in that final event, with the PGT leaderboard and select PGT Championship ‘Dream Seat’ winners desperate to play for their share of the million dollars. As well as starting the PGT Championship with the most chips, whoever earns the most PGT points during the year will be awarded a $50,000 bonus as the 2023 PGT Player of the Year.
This season, the PokerGO Cup, U.S. Poker Open, and Poker Masters will all feature a $50,000 championship bonus while the just completed PGT Mixed Games Series and forthcoming PGT PLO Series will each give a $25,000 championship bonus to whoever finishes top of the pile in those respective festivals. The 2023 PGT PLO Series will run from March 11-19, and be comprised of nine events with buy-ins ranging from $2,200 to $25,000.
One player who is very excited that the PLO Series is about to start is Dylan Weisman. Having won over $1.2 million at the live felt and made a run at the WSOP Player of the Year leaderboard in 2022, the popular Californian is a previous winner inside the PokerGO Studio at ARIA and believes that a Pot Limit Omaha series has been a long time coming.
“I am stoked that the PokerGO Tour is doing a PLO Series,” he says with a glint in his eye. “I’ve been asking them for more PLO high rollers for a long time they have been incredibly communicative. Tim (Duckworth), Paul (Campbell) and Cary (Katz) all ensure that the players are heard and I think it’s going to be the most fun series that I’ve ever played!”
In the PLO Series, the overall winner gets that $25,000 Championship bonus prize. But while that’s important, is it the same as bragging rights in this most exclusive of poker communities, the mixed game high roller set?
“It’s the cash for the majority of poker players,” says Dylan. “I think that winning PGT events is incredibly prestigious, being able to battle against the best in the world. With that being said you have to put the money up top and think about it from that perspective in my opinion.”
Cash may be king, but tournaments are where it’s at for Dylan and so many others. That cash is clearly important in terms of making the money. As with event series such as the PokerGO Cup, the events start out with a standard $10,000 High Roller event — a WSOP Main level buy-in — before ramping up in the latter events. With more points available in the latter events, is timing that momentum a priority, or is getting off to a fast start more vital to any player’s chances of winning the overall championship?
“It’s important to time yourself during the series but more so to prepare effectively before hands for the PGT PLO Series. I’ve been preparing physically in terms of working out, mentally in terms of meditation and breathwork and in terms of my poker game. Your job is not to pace yourself through the series; your job is to show up ready knowing that you’re going to be playing for 10 straight days.”
That’s an elite mindset to be in and we’re not surprised Weisman is already in it. A former WSOP bracelet winner in 2021, when he took down the $1,000 buy-in PLO 8-Handed event for over $166,000, Weisman, who defeated Craig Chait that day for the gold is a fan of all mixed games.
“I think my favorite mixed game is deuce-to-seven triple draw. I was looking forward to it so much I played a satty and won it yesterday!” he laughs. As well as winning a WSOP bracelet in 2021, he followed that victory up with a PGT trophy lift in 2022, winning Event #10 of the U.S. Poker Open. That too was in Pot Limit Omaha, although it cost a massive $25,000 to enter.
Image credit: PokerGO
Beating Cary Katz heads-up to win that top prize of $416,500 – the largest cash of his career at the live felt – Weisman is proud to be part of the mixed game poker sub-set.
“I definitely think that mixed game players benefit from having a smaller community,” he tells us. “It’s very similar to the PLO community; we’re all part of this smaller eco system and we’ve very incentivized to keep it going. There’s a lot going on in terms of people working together, making sure the games run. When you have a smaller community, everyone knows each other, and you get a lot of diverse personalities – it is really cool.”
Beyond winning, Weisman has done his part to grow the game as well, having created PLO Launchpad for Upswing Poker. Pot Limit Omaha’s growth is recent years is well documented. For many, it’s the far less solvable game of all the poker variants, with the sheer degree of variance meaning it is a lot harder to win in the short or even medium term by employing standard moves and strategies.
“I do still think that mixed games are niche.” Weisman agrees. “I think that there’s a lot more growth to be had in mixed games and the amount of training [for them] is going up all the time, in terms of if its best for the bankroll or not. For poker, its more important to find something that you can continue to do sustainable for a long period of time, no matter what the game or format is; that’s your job.”
Dylan Weisman’s job is winning big at poker and so often has he proved himself capable of doing so in PLO events, it’s almost expected that he’ll do so again in the upcoming PGT PLO Series. Whether the toughest opponents lie in wait for him or not, Weisman’s love of PLO is inspiring and proves that if you’re prepared to work hard at something that you’re passionate about, there are no limits to what you can achieve.
Ask anyone in poker who the most reputable player on the planet is and a straw poll is likely to come up with one name at the top of the leaderboard – Phil Galfond. The Run It Once Training owner and long-time lover of PLO has put together the ultimate course for those wishing to become a great at Pot Limit Omaha, entitled This is PLO. Here, we spoke to him about some of the core factors in how players become successful at the game and where PLO is really at right now.
The Galfond Challenge has, of course, been the greatest advocate of Galfond’s skill in the four-card game. Some of the world’s best players have taken on Galfond, only for luminaries such as Chance Kornuth, VeniVidi1993, Bill Perkins, ActionFreak and Brandon Adams to come up short. Galfond’s current opponent is Daniel ‘Jungleman’ Cates.
“I love any action I can get,” said Galfond “and Jungleman is as fun of an opponent as I can hope for. The perfect combination of toughness and excitement.”
That’s for sure. Cates is not only known for his off-the-felt antics but also his propensity to crush in mixed games, including PLO. He is the back-to-back winner of the $50,000 Poker Players Championship, after all.
It’s time to see if the falcon can survive the jungle 🦅
My #GalfondChallenge vs. @junglemandan finally begins!
We’ll play this Thurs-Sat from (roughly) 8am-Noon PT.
You’ll be able to catch me streaming on: https://t.co/95rCI2yhQt
Sub so you get alerted when we go live! pic.twitter.com/lUGQN6RvSj
— Phil Galfond (@PhilGalfond) January 30, 2023
Welp, I started out down $115,000 to @junglemandan today, feeling good about my play the whole time! (Sorry, @Farah_Galfond 😂)
Managed to turn it around to finish down “only” $35,000.
Totals:
-$77,500
~2,250 hands~5,250 hands left to play in this #GalfondChallenge.
— Phil Galfond (@PhilGalfond) February 4, 2023
Galfond’s knowledge of PLO is so vast, and he’s been playing the game so long. A lot of the mistakes players make can be eradicated by Galfond’s course but the variance is bigger in PLO, so a huge part of how someone moves from profitable to professional is how they can cope with those swings.
“I think it’s extremely important to play within your means,” Galfond says. “People try to do this, but I think they often fail to realize just how small they need to be playing to maximize their EV while minimizing their risk of ruin.”
Part of the This is PLO course teaches players to think like a solver rather than act on the basis of solver answers. But what does that mean in real terms for an intermediate player who is looking to become a crusher in Pot Limit Omaha? Humans aren’t computers.
“It’s impossible to memorize solver strategies. The only way to truly succeed in learning from solvers is to figure out how to transpose the solver outputs into human logic that they can digest and then draw on in any situation they find themselves in at the table.”
READ MORE: Bracelet Winner Nathan Gamble Reviews Galfond’s This is PLO
Heads-up PLO hands vary hugely from multi-way, of course. Some of the easiest lessons to learn about the changes to make between hands boil down to a simple formula that Galfond is happy to crystallise. He goes into it in a lot more detail in his Run It Once Training course.
“In short, multiway pots create more incentives for small betting, including to clear up equity for pretty good hands.” He says. “In heads up pots, it’s more about getting the amount of money into the pot that your hand wants.”
Making a consistent profit in PLO is tough and this course really gets to the heart of this exciting variant of the game of poker – the ‘four card’ game so named because you receive four hole cards rather than two. What makes it so fascinating for Galfond is how a poker variant develops.
Galfond can see that PLO is approaching a kind of event horizon, a place where it cannot be improved further. So, what’s next for PLO?
“I think we’re already close to our final point of understanding in PLO, much like we are with cash game No Limit Hold’em,” says Galfond. “Solvers can tell us so much already, but the most successful people will be the ones who can extrapolate from what the solvers are telling us.”
Galfond has enjoyed a stellar career at the felt, winning three WSOP bracelets to date, two of them in Pot Limit Omaha. The first time he won a WSOP bracelet was in 2008, when he took down the $5,000 PLO event for over $817,000 – still Galfond’s biggest tournament cash. It’s not surprise that this is still his fondest memory playing the game live.
“It has to be the 2008 WSOP $5k PLO rebuy bracelet event that I won,” he agrees. “The table was star-studded, and it was my first big live poker score. And obviously, the bracelet meant a lot to me.”
Galfond is dead right when he says the final table was packed with stars. Players who made the final nine include Brian Rast, Phil Hellmuth, Daniel Negreanu, John Juanda, Johnny Chan and David Benyamine. It’s a huge honor to have put the hard work he’s put into PLO over the years into practice, and is closing in on $3 million at the live felt, let alone the millions he’s won online playing PLO.
This summer, Galfond will be heading back to Las Vegas in effort to put the nuggets of gold he teaches via his This is PLO course back into practice at the felt at the World Series of Poker.
“I’m not sure what this summer has in store for me yet, but I think I’ll likely play quite a bit!”
We can’t wait to see Phil Galfond back at the felt, online battling in the Galfond Challenge, and at the WSOP competing for gold again.
The World Poker Tour’s arrival in Paris for the WPT Prime Main Event was a cause of celebration for the poker world. With French players not having hosted a major poker tournament like it for some time, there was a party atmosphere in the French capital from the first card off the deck to the final river card that confirmed home country hero Fabrice Bigot as the 2023 WPT Prime Paris champion!
Winning over $194,000, the Frenchman defeated his compatriot Sabare Atmani heads-up for a brilliant win on Sunday night.
A massive total of 1,071 entries made the 2023 WPT Prime Paris Main Event formidable from the off, and by the time the final 137 players were reached, play was already in the money, with anyone making Day 2 making profit as well as the penultimate day. With a minimum payout of $1,886 plenty of an uptick on the €1,100 entry fee, by the time the final table was reached, every player was guaranteed to win at least $24,129.
The first player to bust the final eight was Timothee Scotti. He won that prize when moving all-in from the hijack position with queen-ten offsuit. Called by Hakim Chniyat with ace-jack, the board wasn’t kind to the at risk player, a flop of J-3-2 setting Scotti far behind. A nine on the turn offered false hope with the open-ended straight draw a shot back into the game, but a six on the river spelt doom for Scotti.
Five orbits later, Scotti was joined on the rail by his conqueror. Chniyat moved in under-the-gun with ace-king of clubs but was unlucky to have run into the pocket aces of Alexandre Le Vaillant and despite a king on the flop, those ‘pocket rockets’ more than took off, eliminating Chniyat for a score of $30,709 in seventh place.
The €1,100-entry WPT Prime Paris was a huge success at the Circus Club in Paris, and was won by Fabrice Bigot for over $194,000.
With six players remaining, the eventual winner Fabrice Bigot had a sizeable lead, sitting on 76 big blinds, with his nearest challenger Federico Cirillo (48 big blinds) the only other player with more than half of the leader’s stack. Portuguese player Manuel Coimbra only had 21 big blinds and was forced into action after Antoine Labat managed a double-up through Cirillo with ace-king dominating king-queen.
Coimbra, suddenly looking short stacked, knew he couldn’t fade into the background like his pale-yellow hoodie and moved all-in from the small blind. It was right to do so, as well, with Sabare Atmani’s call from the big blind with the inferior king-three giving the Portuguese player hope of a reprieve and a double-up of his own. A three on the flop doomed Coimbra, whose efforts were rewarded with a cash of $39,483.
Labat had laddered to fifth place, but wearing a stunning WPT Prime Paris branded hat and jersey, he could go no further. All-in with ace-nine of hearts, Labat needed a lot of help when he was up against Bigot’s ace-queen. He got no luck at all as a queen leapt out of the gate and no assistance came for Labat across turn and river either, meaning he left with $51,548.
A huge push for glory saw each of the final four hopefuls play their part at the Circus Club Paris. Eventually, however, one of them would miss out on a podium place and that man was the Italian, Cirillo. He added $69,096 to his considerable live winnings of ten times that amount when his pocket aces failed to hold against the 10-7 of Atmani, the flop giving the latter two pair which held through 4th and 5th street to reduce the field to three.
Le Vaillant left in third place, cashing for $92,128 when an ill-timed bluff with queen-nine on a board of J-J-2 ran into Bigot’s jack-nine which made a full house when another deuce landed on the turn. That gave Bigot a healthy lead heading into the final duel with a stack of 22,250,000 chips, the equivalent of 89 big blinds to Atmani’s 9.9 million (40 big blinds).
On a final flop of J-T-9, Atmani check-raised all-in with 10-7 for middle pair with a gutshot straight draw, while Bigot made the call with ace-jack for top pair, top kicker. No help arrived for Atmani on turn or river and while he was left with a handshake and $123,934 – both fine consolations – it was Fabrice Bigot who became the latest WPT Prime champion! He won the $194,390 top prize, which includes his $10,400 entry into the season-ending WPT World Championship which is slated for December in Las Vegas.
You can watch the entire final table replayed right here on the World Poker Tour YouTube channel:
2023 WPT Prime Paris Main Event Final Table Results: | |||
| Place | Player | Country | Prize |
| 1st | Fabrice Bigot | France | $194,390 |
| 2nd | Sabare Atmani | France | $123,934 |
| 3rd | Alexandre Le Vaillant | France | $92,128 |
| 4th | Federico Cirillo | Italy | $69,096 |
| 5th | Antoine Labat | France | $51,548 |
| 6th | Manuel Coimbra | Portugal | $39,483 |
| 7th | Hakim Chniyat | France | $30,709 |
| 8th | Timothee Scotti | France | $24,129 |