Cryptocurrency is all the rage nowadays, with more people looking into its utility as an alternative to fiat currency. The poker community in particular seems to have a vested interest in the success of cryptocurrency, which begs the question of whether we’ll eventually see it being accepted in mainstream large-scale tournament series, such as the World Series of Poker.

Before we get ahead of ourselves, however, it’s worth examining the pros and cons of what beginning to accept cryptocurrencies might entail for the WSOP.

Just a few weeks remain until the 2018 WSOP gets underway. With the clock ticking down, poker players around the world are starting to feel their collective excitement build and grow until it will hit a crescendo when the Rio’s hallways once again start bustling with their annual summer activity.

With that in mind, I decided to put together a list of the five top reasons I’m excited for the 2018 World Series of Poker.

In many ways, 2017 was “the year of Doug Polk” as far as poker was concerned. Nonetheless, that story didn’t necessary play itself out at the American Poker Awards, where Polk ended the night emptyhanded.

This appeared to serve as some sort of wake-up call, however, with Doug releasing a video heralding a “face turn” and that it’s time for him to change his tone. What follows is our analysis, and some speculation on what to expect from Doug in the future.

As poker’s all-time career earnings leader, Daniel Negreanu continues to pad his resume year after year. Thus far in 2018, he’s off to a blazing start, having won over $1 million. Could he perhaps eclipse his 2014 total earnings? Only time will tell, but with all the work he’s putting in studying off the felt, we wouldn’t bet against him.

Considering dipping your toes in the crypto waters for the first time? Well, online poker rooms and casinos are happy to oblige, accepting cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin and even allowing you to play for crypto stakes.

Before you dive in, it’s worth knowing some important facts about cryptocurrency and how online poker rooms and casinos deal with them. As always, caveat emptor.

Chris “Fox” Wallace has just started running his own poker tour, Next Level Poker, after being a successful tournament poker pro for many years. In this post, he shares some of the interesting lessons he learned from having staged his tour’s first event.

Definitely a worthwhile read for people who want to have a deeper understanding of the effort and resources it takes to pull off what we all take for granted as players.