It’s been a very busy week at the poker felt, with tournament galore, controversy on and off the felt and a very special celebration for two poker podcasters. Let’s take a seat, enjoy and orbit and scoop up the glory as we take a trip around the tables.
The Chip Race Closes in on 100 Episodes
It’s fair to say that The Chip Race, the award-winning poker podcast hosted by Irish poker legends Dara O’Kearney and David Lappin has been a touchstone for changing times in poker. It’s been a constant for five years’ worth of highs, lows and controversies in poker, and with our own Paul Seaton featuring in both this recent episode and an upcoming one about poker in film and television, we’ve seen just how great these guys are making the best podcast in poker.
To celebrate their centenary episode, The Chip Race are putting on an exciting event on Unibet Poker. The Progressive Knockout (PKO tournament has a €30,000 guaranteed prizepool and will also award €250 tournament tickets as bounties for busting either Dara O’Kearney, Dave Lappin or fellow Unibet Poker pro Ian Simpson. Anyone who finishes in the money places will win a free copy of Dara O’Kearney and Barry Carter’s book, PKO Poker Strategy: How to adapt to Bounty and Progressive Knockout online poker tournaments, too!
With a value buy-in of €100, our own Paul Seaton will be at the felt, so you can register now to take him on. You can also shoot for a €250 poker tournament ticket to the SuperMoon tournament if you knock out Dara, David or Ian. There are lots more details here on the official The Chip Race page.
It’s 10 Years Since Black Friday
It’s been a decade since Black Friday, the day christened by the FBI closing online poker in America, and the game has only returned in six states in the ten years that have followed.
There have been a number of different looks back at the time in question and the ramifications on the industry as a whole. The writer Barry Carter spoke on Twitter about how he was in the United Kingdom when the announcement gave everyone pause for thought.
My only really profound takeaway is people were way more scared about the industry during Black Friday than they seem to be about COVID. If the industry can survive Black Friday, it can survive these lockdowns IMO. Obviously online is crushing atm, I mean live poker of course
— Barry Carter (@Barry_Carter) April 15, 2021
The Unibet pro David Lappin wrote a searing retrospective about ‘The Day That Shook the Poker World’ for Vegas Slots Online. American professional Jon Aguiar took a different perspective when he declared it to be ‘possibly the best thing that ever happened to me’, while over on Cardplayer Lifestyle, Robbie Strazynski spoke to four poker insiders who each had their own tales to tell. Mike Matusow in particular claims to have lost countless millions due the fallout from Black Friday.
The Online Cream Rises to the Top
The SCOOP drama on PokerStars was huge this week, as was the GGPoker Spring Festival. In fact, between winners such as Teun Mulder in the SCOOP High Roller, Sami Kelopuro in the GGPoker Super High Roller and Niklas Astedt crushing the field in the Sunday Five Million, it’s been a crazy week for the online elite.
In fact, one crusher took to Twitter to explain just how stacked the final tables have been, with the latest pronounced the ‘Ultimate Final Table of Death’!
☠️☠️☠️ PLAYING THE ULTIMATE FINAL TABLE OF DEATH TOMORROW ☠️☠️☠️
Also took down the 5k Super Tuesday for 236k#stillhungry 🦁🦁🦁 pic.twitter.com/aJEkin13YR— bencb (@bencb789) April 14, 2021
The Ultimate Casino Bonus?
As we told you just a fortnight ago, the World Series of Poker is making a sensational return to the felt this coming September as Las Vegas re-opens to poker masses for almost two months until the 23rd of November.
It has emerged this week that The Cosmopolitan has taken an interesting perspective on the COVID-19 vaccine in Sin City. The casino will pay a bonus of $1 million to employees who take the vaccine, with a sliding scale amount down to how many people get the jabs.
Ignoring any puns about poker players being stuck, it could be the Cosmo casino staff are on the best deal in Vegas this summer. If just 60% of the staff are given the vaccine, the bonus will be just $50, but if all of them get the double dose jabs to protect against COVID-19, then that amount would be $500.
Just last week, The Wynn announced that their workers will need a vaccine or an up-to-date negative COVID-19 test to continue their employment, plans are ramping up as workers prepare for an Autumn to remember in Nevada.
If you’re at the tables this weekend or not, we hope you are all in and enjoy every hand!
