Flight B of the second event on the schedule of the ongoing WSOP Circuit Horseshoe Southern Indiana live poker festival was completed last night. The second of two starting flights provided interested players with a final chance to register into the $400 buy-in No-Limit Hold’em tournament.

As registration was closed, organizers were able to confirm the size of the event’s overall field as well as the prize pool and the places paid. As many as 763 entrants registered into the $400 No-Limit Hold’em Re-Entry. They generated a prize pool of $251,790. The top 81 finishers will leave with a cash from the event, with minimum payouts starting from $627. The champion will collect $50,359 and a WSOP Circuit gold ring.

And here is the place to mention that after Flights A and B, there are now as many as 93 players left in contention. Of them, 34 survived from Day 1A and the other 59 from Day 1B. The survivors from the two starting flights will combine together for the first time today when the final day on the tournament’s schedule is slated to be played.

Action resumes at 2 pm local time at Horseshoe Southern Indiana. The remaining hopefuls will have a long day ahead as they will have to first burst the money bubble, then to set the official final table, and finally to determine the champion.

The remaining survivors will be led by Andrew Jacobs who bagged and tagged the largest stack after the end of Flight B. The player collected a total of 393,000 to top last night the Flight B and the overall chip counts chart, ending the reign of Day 1A chip leader Nicholas Pupillo (pictured). Pupillo now ranks second in the temporary leaderboard with a total of 389,500 in chips.

As it can be seen, Jacobs’ advantage is very tiny, and it is rather curious whether he will pull further ahead at the start of Day 2, or it will be Pupillo or another player from the 93 survivors who will assume the chip lead.

As mentioned earlier, action is scheduled to resume at 2 pm local time. It is also interesting to note that Pupillo is playing for his third WSOP Circuit gold ring. The player topped the field of a WSOP Circuit Main Event and of another tournament in previous seasons of the popular poker series to capture his first two pieces of gold.

Horseshoe Southern Indiana is playing host to the fifth WSOP Circuit stop of the 2018/2019 season. The ongoing live poker festival will run through October 8, when Day 3 of the $1,700 Main Event is to be played and the name of the Main Event champ is expected to become clear. The highlight tournament is slated to kick off on Friday, October 5 with the first of two starting flights.

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Horseshoe Southern Indiana is the host casino of the latest WSOP Circuit stop on the series’ 2018/2019 calendar. Poker festivities at the gambling facility kicked off on September 27 with a single-day $400 No-Limit Hold’em, the field of which was topped by Corey Hodgeman for his first-ever WSOP Circuit cash of $15,873 and a gold ring.

The second gold ring tournament on the schedule started on Friday at the host venue. The $400 buy-in event began with the first of two starting flights and drew as many as 278 tournament entrants. The second starting flight is slated to be played today from 11 am. It will provide a last chance for interested players to join the event’s field.

The total amount of $91,740 was generated on Day 1A and it will be added to the money generated during the second starting flight of the tournament to comprise together the overall prize pool. And the prize pool itself as well as the places paid and how much the winner will collect will be announced upon the beginning of Day 2 on Sunday.

Of the 278 participants who registered for the tournament on Day 1A, there were just 34 players left at the time organizers called it a day on Friday at Horseshoe Southern Indiana.

The remaining 34 survivors will have a day off today, while the second starting flight is being played. They will resume play on Sunday when the fields of Day 1A and Day 1B will combine for the very first time to play down to a champion.

Nicholas Pupillo finished off Day 1A as the chip leader. The player bagged and tagged 389,500 in chips last night to top the temporary chip counts chart after a particularly good run throughout the day. Charles Dawson with 245,500 and Kendall Staggs with 229,000 were the other two players to make it top three of the Day 1A leaderboard.

It is interesting to note that Pupillo is eyeing his WSOP Circuit gold ring number three. He won his first piece from the series in 2015 when he bested the field of a $580 No-Limit Hold’em event. He also collected a cash prize of $15,600 for his triumph back then. Gold ring number two arrived last fall when he emerged victorious in the $1,675 Main Event at Thunder Valley Casino. His victory also secured him with a payout of $170,286.

Over the course of his career, Pupillo has cashed in 36 WSOP Circuit tournaments and seven WSOP ones and has collected cash prizes of more than $512,083 from the two major poker series. It is to be seen whether the player will manage to score his third WSOP Circuit victory.

Action at the host casino resumes at 11 am local time and Day 2 action will kick off on Sunday at 2 pm at Horseshoe Southern Indiana.

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The Asia Player of the Year has been awarded each year since 2009. The Asian poker player to excel in the PokerStars Asia Circuit throughout the year is named as Player of the Year to enjoy the accolades accompanying that title. And each Asia Player of the Year has their name engraved on the one and only APOY trophy that is located at the PokerStars LIVE Macau poker room at City of Dreams Macau.

The best Asian player of the year is determined by the APOY Leaderboard, which takes into consideration players’ performance in PokerStars-sponsored tournaments that take place on Asian soil throughout the year. By players’ performance we mean how a given player finishes in one tournament or another, how much entries that event has, and what buy-in fee it features. Players receive points for each of these three factors and the more points they collect, the higher they climb in the APOY Leaderboard.

This year’s leaderboard included PokerStars-branded live tournaments that took place in the period between November 27, 2017 and August 12, 2018. Aside from having their name engraved on the special trophy, this year’s winner will also be awarded the amount of $20,000.

Philippine poker pro Mike Takayama topped this year’s APOY Leaderboard with a total of 10,230 points. The player has had a killer year so far, cashing in 30 different live tournaments. In addition, he cashed in a large number of the official Asia Player of the Year Events throughout the season.

At the age of 29, Takayama has become his homeland’s first Asia Player of the Year since the ranking was first established in 2009. And with 10,230 points collected over the span of the 2017/2018 season, he is well ahead of the player who occupies the leaderboard’s runner-up spot. Alexis Lim is the player to rank second with 5,931 points.

Most prominently, Takayama won the PokerStars LIVE Manila Super Series 5 PHP10,000 Main Event for a cash prize of PHP931,800 (approx. $17,875) and a Platinum Pass for the upcoming 2019 PCA Poker Players Championship. He topped the tournament’s field in February, this year.

In May, he finished third in the PokerStars LIVE Manila Super Series 7 PHP10,000 Main Event to collect the amount of PHP525,000 and more points for his APOY score.

Overall, Takayama is his home country’s third most profitable player in terms of live tournament earnings generated. His winnings currently amount to a little under $1 million. The poker professional scored his career’s largest cash of nearly $198,568 this summer during the 2018 edition of the World Series of Poker. The player bested the $1,000 No-Limit Hold’em Super Turbo Bounty and his triumph also secured him with his first-ever gold bracelet from the series.

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The PokerStars LIVE Manila poker room at City of Dreams Manila is setting up its tables for the upcoming PokerStars Live Manila Super Series 9. This thrilling poker festival will run October 1-7 and will feature 15 different poker tournaments, including a PHP3-million guaranteed Main Event.

It is also important to note that the upcoming poker festival will award several Platinum Passes into the PokerStars Players No-Limit Hold’em Championship, each worth $30,000. The Championship will take place early next year during the 2019 PokerStars Caribbean Adventure in the Bahamas.

Back to the upcoming Manila series, a Warm-Up No-Limit Hold’em with a buy-in fee of PHP5,000 and a guaranteed prize pool of PHP1 million will open the festival. The tournament will take place on October 1-3 and will feature four starting flights, played over two days, and a final Day 2 of action.

In addition to the actual events on the schedule, there will also be satellites to the Warm-Up, to the Main Event, and to the PHP15,000 No-Limit Hold’em Shot Clock and Big Blind Ante, slated for October 6-7. There will thus be between two and three satellites every day within the festival.

The PokerStars Live Manila Super Series 9 will feature PHP4.5 million in guaranteed prize money and will certainly award entries at its events much more in cash prizes. The highlight tournament – the PHP10,000 Main Event is set to start on October 4 with the first of a total of three starting flights. The champion will be determined on Day 2, which will take place on October 7.

Most of the events that will be held within the festival will be variants of No-Limit Hold’em poker. However, there will be an PHP8,000 Pot-Limit Omaha Event for fans of that particular poker game. That tournament is scheduled to kick off on October 4. There will be a PHP1,500 satellite into the Pot-Limit Omaha tournie for those who would like to pay less but still get a shot at the Omaha title.

Organizers from PokerStars also announced that during the festival, the 2018 Asia Player of the Year will be officially announced. This is slated to happen on October 4. Philippine poker pro Mike Takayama has won the most points this year to top the ranking with 10,230 points and is well ahead of his closest competitor in this prestigious race. Alexis Lim ranks second with 5,931 points.

Aged 29, Takayama is the first Philippine player to be named Asia Player of the Year since the ranking was established. It is also important to note that we will see the player fight for the PokerStars Player Championship title. He secured a seat into the tournament by topping the field of the PokerStars LIVE Manila Super Series Season 5 Main Event.

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Traveling around the world is one of the perks of being a professional poker player. Visiting new places, clashing against players with different techniques and at different level of skill and proficiency, and getting oneself exposed to new and different poker games is enriching experience that could help anyone improve their own game and overall worldview, of course.

The poker enthusiasts of Casino News Daily love poker-related lists and writing about poker lists. This is why they have prepared a brand new such list for their readers. This time, it will revolve around those three players who have cashed in the largest number of different countries around the world since the beginning of the year. Here are these three players and where they have cashed in over the past nine months.

The Finnish poker player has cashed in 21 tournaments in 16 different countries since the beginning of the year, including Italy, Bulgaria, Estonia, Ireland, and many more. While Ovaska might have been quite active on the live tournament scene over the past several months, he has not won any major events. He scored his only victory this year during the Irish Poker Open & Norwegian Championships 2018 in Dublin.

He took down a €170 R.O.E. tournament for a cash prize of €2,700. He collected his largest cash of this year in January, when he finished third in the African Series of Poker/Unibet Deepstack Open €550 Main Event for €9,000. The tournament took place in Grand Bay, Mauritius an exciting destination without any doubt.

The Englishman cashed in 30 live events in 11 different countries around the world, mostly the United States. He has taken down three tournaments so far in 2018, none of them were major ones, though.

A victory in a Wynn Summer Classic $1,100 No-Limit Hold’em secured the player with his largest cash this year. He bested a field of 302 entrants, including fellow countryman Stuard Taylor, whom he clashed into in the heads-up match, to collect the total amount of $72,799 from a total prize pool of a little over $300,263.

The German poker pro has cashed more than $2.3 million since the beginning of the year in 25 events that have taken place in 10 different countries. The player has appeared and cashed in events in the United States, Russia, and Montenegro, among others.

It is also important to note that Loeser has long been particularly active on the international high roller scene. Over the past nine months, the player has participated in some of the major high rollers on the live tournament poker calendar. Most prominently, Loeser finished runner-up to Michael Lim in Aussie Millions Poker Championship A$100,000 Challenge for a cash prize of A$558,600 (approximately $445,334).

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PokerStars is previewing a virtual reality version of its online poker software in expectation of a commercial release in the future.

Vietnam is one of Asia’s most popular tourism destinations and the next two weeks will see the country become a major draw for poker players from all around the continent and the rest of the world as there will be two major poker festivals to take place there.

The World Poker Tour has already arrived at Pro Poker Club in Ho Chi Minh City for a thrilling poker festival that will culminate in a VND22-Million Main Event. The tournament is slated to kick off tomorrow, October 28 and will crown its victor on October 2. It will begin with a guaranteed prize pool of VND8 billion, but hopes are high that a big number of players will flow to the host venue and will crush the initial guarantee.

The WPT Vietnam festival actually kicked off on Wednesday, September 26 with a two-day VND7.7-million Welcome WPT Vietnam tournament with two re-entries. Aside from the Main Event, which will certainly grab the most attention, the upcoming WPT Vietnam High Roller is, too, expected to draw quite some interest, particularly from fans of high roller tournament action.

The High Roller event will kick off on October 1 with the first of two starting flights. Aside from the two starting days, the event will also feature a second day of play during which the winner will be determined. This exciting tournament will feature a buy-in fee of VND44 million.

The coastal city of Da Nang will, too, host a major poker series in the coming days. The Asian Poker Tour’s Vietnam stop will take place from October 5 through October 11 and will feature 11 events within the series, multiple satellites to the Main Event, and the very special VND107.5-million CoinPoker Super High Roller.

The CoinPoker high roller tournament will be one of the opening events of the festival. It will be a two-day one and will kick off on October 5. It is also important to note that CoinPoker will sponsor two more tournaments, with those being marked as part of the official schedule of the APT festival. The first one will be a two-day VND54-million No-Limit Hold’em CoinPoker High Roller, starting October 10, and the second one will be a single-day VND43-million CoinPoker High Roller that will take place on the final day of the festival – October 11.

The Main Event will begin on the second day of the festival and will run all the way through October 11. It will feature a VND22-million buy-in fee and a guaranteed prize pool of VND6 billion. Players will be able to enter the tournament through one of three starting flights played over three separate days. In addition, there will be three satellites to the Main Event with buy-ins of VND4.8 million.

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Slots provider Wazdan has strengthened its market leading position by winning the award for Online Casino Innovator 2018 at the 2018 Central and Eastern Europe Gaming Conference (CEEG) held in Budapest. The CEEGC award for Online Casino Innovator 2018 is a confirmation that Wazdan’s meteoric growth this year is underwritten by the company’s laser focus on technology innovation that allows ...

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Poker has deep roots in the United States and there should not be surprise that some of the world’s winningest players hail namely from there. Not to mention the fact some of the longest running poker series such as the World Series of Poker originate from the US.

A look at the US all-time money list shows impressive tournament bankrolls and seven- and even eight-figure payouts scored by great poker players. Here are the three of them to have accumulated the largest bankrolls and highlights from their poker careers.

Not only is Bonomo the leader in the US all-time money list, but he is also topping the overall all-time money list. The player dethroned the long-standing number one, Canada’s Daniel Negreanu, earlier this year.

Bonomo has indisputably had his best year in poker in 2018, and it has not even ended yet. The player collected more than $20 million in live tournament earnings over the past nine months, besting Fedor Holz’s accomplishment from a few years ago, when the young German collected $16 million over the course of a single year.

Bonomo pretty much won every major high roller tournament to have taken place this year. In February, he bested the field of the Super High Roller Bowl China HK$2 million No-Limit Hold’em for a cash prize of $4,823,077. In May, he took down the elite $300,000 Aria Super High Roller Bowl in Las Vegas for $5 million.

Then in July, he emerged the victor in this year’s edition of the WSOP Big One for ONE DROP, a $1 million buy-in tournament that takes place biannually as part of the WSOP series. His cash prize from the event totaled $10 million.

Bonomo took down a number of other tournaments over the past several months to cement his position as the world’s winningest tournament player.

With eight WSOP gold bracelets, a WPT title, and an EPT title, Erik Seidel is one of the world’s most popular and most widely recognized poker pros. And being the holder of titles from the three biggest and longest-running poker series means that he has accomplished what few have done – he has won the Triple Crown in live tournament poker.

It is thus no surprise that Seidel is one of his homeland’s (and one of the world’s) highest grossing players. He won his largest cash of A$2.5 million (approx. $2,472,555) back in 2011 when he bested the field of the Aussie Millions Championship A$250,000 Super High Roller.

In 2015, the player triumphed in the EPT Grand Final €100,000 Super High Roller for €2,015,000 in prize money. This year, Seidel has not won any major events, but he still managed to score several six-figure cashes. His best one came from a third-place finish in the partypoker MILLIONS Grand Final Barcelona €25K Super High Roller in April. His performance in the tournament was rewarded with €300,000 from the overall prize pool.

Poker fans certainly remember Colman’s terrific run in the 2014 WSOP $1 Million Big One for ONE DROP. The player emerged as the victor after a heads-up battle against poker celeb Daniel Negreanu. Winning the tournament, Colman added more than $15.3 million to his poker bankroll.

It should also be noted that 2014 was the young player’s best year in poker. Prior to his Big One for ONE DROP triumph, he won the EPT Grand Final €100,000 Super High Roller for a cash prize of €1,539,300. A few month later, he also topped the field of the Seminole Hard Rock Poker Open $5,300 Main Event for a top prize of $1,446,710.

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SA Gaming has launched a new game: Shanghai Godfather slot! The slot game features Shanghai in the 1930s. Those were the days when the bold gets the gold. With a 3×5-reel 30-line slot, “Shanghai Godfather” comes with a Free Game Feature, where free spins are awarded when a certain amount of Scatters appear on screen. Players have more chances to ...

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Days after Dmitrii Perfilev captured his first-ever WSOP Circuit gold ring at Seminole Casino Coconut Creek by topping a field of 735 entrants, the popular poker series is now heading to Southern Indiana area for an exciting festival at Horseshoe Southern Indiana in Elizabeth, Indiana.

The event will take place from Thursday, September 27 through Monday, October 8. It will feature as many as 13 tournaments, 12 of which will have a gold ring up for grabs. The thirteenth event will be for players aged 50 and over and will be a single-day $250 buy-in one without re-entries. That tournament will, too, award a ring to the winner. However, it will not count toward Circuit points.

Here it is important to note that the player that collects the most points throughout the Horseshoe Southern Indiana festival will win an automatic entry into the season-ending Global Casino Championship.

All but one of the events at the host venue will be No-Limit Hold’em ones and almost all will feature a buy-in fee of $400. There will be a two-day Pot-Limit Omaha event with a $400 buy-in fee. The tournament will feature $100 rebuys that will allow players to improve their situation at their respective tables anytime they fall below 3,000 in chips. Rebuys would be available for the duration of the first six levels of play.

The Horseshoe Southern Indiana festival will kick off with a $400 buy-in single-day No-Limit Hold’em tournament that will feature 20-minute levels. The Pot-Limit Omaha tournament is set to kick off on October 4. A two-day $600 buy-in No-Limit Hold’em 6-Handed (BB Ante) is set for October 1. That event will be a two-day one.

The $1,700 Main Event will, of course, be the one that everyone venturing to Horseshoe Southern Indiana will look to win. The tournament will take place from October 5 to October 8. It will kick off with two starting flights, played over two separate days, and will feature two more days of play.

Not only is the event expected to attract a massive field, but will also award great prestige to its champion along with a gold ring and a seat into the Global Casino Championship that will take place next summer to celebrate the end of the current WSOP Circuit season and the beginning of the series’ 2019/2020 season.

Justin Boggs won last year’s edition of the WSOP Circuit Horseshoe Southern Indiana Main Event. The tournament drew as many as 424 entries this time last year who generated a prize pool of $635,978. Aside from his first-ever piece of WSOP Circuit gold jewelry, the player also collected a first-place prize of $139,920 to celebrate his big accomplishment. It is to be seen whether the player will try to scoop a back-to-back victory or the title at this year’s edition of the major tournament will go to someone else.

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Amid growing competition and massive regulatory pressure in a number of jurisdictions, several major gambling companies have decided since the beginning of the year to undertake merger and acquisition moves. M&A deals have often proved a successful way to blunt competition and to offset the ill effects of regulations that might aim to improve the quality of service but sometimes produce the exact opposite effect.

The past nine months have seen some of the major players of the online gambling field look for and find partners to reduce the negative impact from changes of different nature in the global market. Here are several of the biggest deals that have been undertaken since the beginning of the year and how they are expected to change those involved in them as well as the global online gambling landscape.

Playtech announced in April that it had agreed to buy around 70.6% of the total issued share capital of Italian gambling company Snaitech S.p.A. in an initial acquisition deal. Under the terms of the agreement, the gambling tech giant agreed to make a mandatory takeover offer for the remaining shares in Snaitech after the completion of the initial acquisition.

The total purchase price was estimated at €846 million, which Playtech funded with existing cash resources and new debt facilities.

Snaitech generated revenue of €890 million and EBITDA of €136 million last year. The deal is expected to result in annual cost synergies of €10 million for the combined entity. The Italian company operates more than 1,600 betting points around the country. In addition, it also provides sports and horse race betting, online sports betting, and online casino games. Aside from its domestic market, Snaitech also operates in a number of other jurisdictions where it is fully regulated.

Playtech pointed out that the move was part of its newly implemented strategy to focus its business on regulated markets and reduce its reliance on unregulated markets. The company suffered a heavy blow following a massive gambling crackdown in Malaysia, which had previously been one of its key Asian markets. As a result, its share price has dropped more than 50% over the past year and it was forced to issue two profit warnings over that period.

The gambling tech giant, founded by Israeli businessman Teddy Sagi in the late 1990s, now hopes that the addition of Snaitech would help it diversify its geographical revenue and improve the quality of its earnings with a particular focus on regulated markets. It is to be seen whether that strategy will prove successful and will help Playtech leave the financial issues behind.

The Stars Group, owner of PokerStars, and Sky Betting & Gaming announced in April that they had agreed to complete a landmark transaction that would create a $4.7-billion online gambling behemoth with presence across multiple jurisdictions, massive customer base, and strong positions in key online gambling sectors, including sports betting in which The Stars Group has taken great interest over the past year.

The two companies said that the deal would produce $70 million of annual cost synergies, among other financial benefits.

The transaction was closed on July 11. However, a day later, the UK Competition and Markets Authority announced that it had opened a probe into the deal, without giving much detail about the nature of said probe. The ongoing investigation blocked the beginning of the integration of the two businesses and the transfer of ownership that needed to take place as part of the deal. They will have to wait until the completion of the CMA probe in order to be able to move forward.

Although the watchdog has provided limited details on the matter, it is believed that the investigation was launched due to concerns over the effects a deal of this scope would have on competition in the UK gambling market, which is currently SkyBet’s main market of focus.

The CMA published earlier this month the two sides of its initial enforcement order, which means that The Stars Group and SkyBet can start the planning process for their eventual integration. It is believed that the competition watchdog will release the full results of its investigation in October.

Once the deal is finally closed and the two businesses are successfully merged, The Stars Group will be able to use SkyBet’s experience in the online sports betting vertical to improve its own sports betting business. It is also important to note that the company is among the gambling giants looking to expand their geographical presence in the United States in as many states where sports betting is legal as possible.

The Stars Group currently operates a mobile betting app in the New Jersey regulated market, which it rolled out earlier this month. But it has long been clear that the company is looking to return to the US after it was shamefully banished from the nation after the Black Friday of US online poker back in 2011.

As for SkyBet, it will be able to extend its footprint in a number of jurisdictions after joining The Stars Group. The company currently operates in the United Kingdom, Italy, and Germany.

Australian online bookmaker CrownBet emerged in February as the winning bidder for William Hill’s struggling Australian business. The company, which was controlled by local casino operator Crown Resorts at the time, competed with the likes of bet365, Ladbrokes, and Paddy Power for William Hill Australia.

The final round of bids placed CrownBet against Paddy Power’s local business Sportsbet, but it was the former to win the bidding war. CrownBet agreed to buy William Hill’s ailing Australian operation for A$300 million.

It was announced at around the same time that The Stars Group had reached an agreement with CrownBet’s owners to acquire a 61% stake in the company. It then became clear that the Canadian gambling giant would actually acquire an 80% stake in a move that would allow it enter Australia’s regulated betting market.

The two deals resulted in the creation of the third largest licensed bookmaker in Australia. To mark the beginning of a new era, CrownBet announced in May that it would rebrand. It first picked Sportingbet as its new name, but Paddy Power’s Sportsbet contested its choice in court, arguing that the two brands were too similar and could confuse customers. The court sided with Sportsbet and CrownBet decided that it would eventually rebrand as BetEasy.

It is quite clear that The Stars Group is looking to cement its positions in the global sports betting market by entering as many regulated jurisdictions as possible. In Australia, in particular, the company might face certain difficulties as a result of the massive competition in the local sports betting industry and growing regulatory pressure, including the introduction of a point of consumption tax in almost all Australian states and territories.

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The WSOP Europe festival is two weeks away and every self-respecting fan of live tournament poker has already braced for quality poker action and immense thrill. The 2018 edition of the major series is set to take place at King’s Casino in Rozvadov, Czech Republic, one of Europe’s best and most popular poker destinations.

The WSOP Europe has 10 gold bracelets up for grabs and it is to be seen who the lucky ten players to capture the pieces of jewelry will be. Of course, the €10,350 Main Event is the most highly anticipated tournament. The event is slated to kick off on October 27 and to run through November 2. Aside from the Main Event gold bracelet for the winner it will also feature a guaranteed prize pool of €5 million. Hopes are that the guarantee will be crushed and that the tournament will see great interest among players from all around Europe and all other corners of the world.

Looking back to previous editions of the tournament, the team of Casino News Daily presents to its readers the players that have scooped the largest cash prizes for winning the WSOP Europe Main Event. Here they are.

In 2011, US poker player Elio Fox emerged as the winner of the largest ever WSOP Europe Main Event. He topped a field of 593 entries to be awarded the amount of €1.4 million. The tournament took place in Cannes. England’s Chris Moorman was Fox’s heads-up opponent. The moment of victory came for the latter after his [Ad][10s] bested his final opponent’s [Ah][7s].

It is also important to note that Fox has remained quite consistent in his pursuit of poker prestige in the years after his WSOPE Main Event victory. Most recently, the poker professional finished runner-up in this year’s WSOP $100,000 High Roller event for a cash prize of $1,798,658 and took down the Seminole Hard Rock Poker Open $50,000 buy-in Super High Roller for $500,000.

Spain’s Torres came as the winner of the 2017 WSOP Europe Main Event. That was the first edition of the tournament after a two-year hiatus of the European series. The player was the last man standing from a field of 529 entrants. He collected the amount of €1,115,207. Torres faced heads-up one of Italy’s most promising poker players – Gianluca Speranza. On what turned out to be the final hand in the Main Event, Torres beat his opponent with [Qh][5d].

Torres has cashed in several tournaments since last fall when he became the WSOP Europe Main Event, but has not taken down any major event since then.

The 2017 edition of the WSOP Europe took place at King’s Casino in Rozvadov, the venue that has now turned into a permanent home of the major tournament series.

The Norwegian poker pro became the winner of the first-ever WSOP Europe Main Event and has so far been the only female player to take it down. She outwitted a 362-strong field to collect £1 million in prize money. It is also important to note that at the age of 18, she was the youngest player to ever win a gold bracelet from the WSOP.

John Tabatabai from Wales was Obrestad’s final opponent on her road to victory. The two players’ final clash saw the Norwegian player’s pocket sevens hold up against Tabatabai’s [5s][6d].

The inaugural WSOP Europe Main Event took place in London. In fact, the first four editions of the series were all hosted by the capital of the United Kingdom.

Hellmuth has long held the record for the most WSOP gold bracelets ever won. He captured his 13th ever piece of WSOP jewelry in 2012 when he topped the 420-person field of the WSOP Europe Main Event. His share of the prize pool totaled €1,058,403.

The tournament took place in Cannes where Hellmuth remained one of the two players to participate in the heads-up match. Ukraine’s Sergii Baranov was the other one. However, it was not meant to be for the Ukrainian as his [As][4c] sent him to the rail in second place after clashing against Hellmuth’s [Ah][10d]. The US player thus further cemented his reputation of a tournament poker legend. It should also be noted that Hellmuth is one of the few players to have won the WSOP Main Event in Las Vegas and the WSOP Europe Main Event.

Mateos is one of the most popular poker pros of the younger generation of players. At the age of 24, the Spaniard boasts three WSOP gold bracelets and an EPT Grand Final title. Mateos won one of his pieces of WSOP gold for taking down the WSOP Europe Main Event.

He became a WSOPE Main Event champion in 2013, when the tournament was held in France. The player beat a field of 375. Local player Fabrice Soulier was his heads-up opponent. The final hand of the tournament saw Mateos collect all his opponent’s chips with [Ad][Kc] to Soulier’s [9d][8d].

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Popular software privider, Play’n GO have pulled another ace from up their sleeve with their newest game release, Street Magic slot. The new Street Magic slot game is based around a mysterious trickster known only as “The Magician”. The Magician will use his array of magical performance features to help players conjure up a win, in this 5-reel, 20 payline ...

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Virtual games specialist Kiron Interactive deals with 138.com to provide its full portfolio of products to the UK & Isle of Man licensed Gaming Operator, 138.com. As Kiron Interactive deals with 138.com, the Asian Casino & Sportsbook operator, which is now also focused on the UK & Global Emerging markets, will benefit from Kiron’s fully hosted and managed turnkey virtual ...

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Fall is officially upon us and a new batch of extremely exciting poker events is set to arrive in its wake. This week’s live tournament poker overview includes events across Europe, Asia, and North America. All four promise unparalleled thrill and massive monetary prizes and all four are great for challenging one’s level of poker mastery.

Here are four of the major tournaments set to begin over the next few days and information about what one might expect from them.

The city of Namur in Belgium will be host to the next PokerStars-branded poker festival. The PokerStars Megastack is set to kick off today at Casino de Namur and to run through the end of the month. The tournament will feature multiple exciting opportunities for players to test their skills and challenge opponents who have mastered the game at different levels.

The festival will include four tournaments and several satellites to the Main Event. And action at the host casino will kick off namely with the PokerStars Megastack Main Event. The tournament will run from today all the way through September 30 and will feature six starting flights and two more days of action. It will be a €170 buy-in event and will start off with a guaranteed prize pool of €100,000.

Another thrilling tournament on the Megastack festival’s schedule will be the €550 High Roller. That one will run on September 29-30.

The WPT DeepStacks is next heading to Vietnam for another exciting festival that will bring together some of Asia’s best grinders as well as guests from around the world. The festival will take place from September 26 to October 4 at Pro Poker Club in Ho Chi Minh and will feature a plethora of events, with those varying in buy-in fees.

One of Asia’s most thrilling destinations will welcome the WPT DeepStacks series with a 2-day Welcome WPT Vietnam VND7,700,000 tournament. As for the highlight tournament, the VND22,000,000 Main Event with a guaranteed prize pool of VND8 billion it is scheduled to take place on September 28 through October 2.

The VND44,000,000 High Roller is another event worth being mentioned in our overview. The tournament will take place over three days – October 1-3 – and will feature two starting flights and one more day of play. It will allow a maximum of 2 re-entries per starting flight and will certainly offer tons of quality poker action.

For those looking for thrill and excitement on the Las Vegas Strip, Wynn Las Vegas is the right place. This year’s edition of the highly popular Wynn Fall Classic is kicking off September 26 and will take place all the way through October 15.

Its schedule includes 16 different tournaments, 15 of which will be No-Limit Hold’em ones. There will also be one Pot-Limit Omaha tournament within this classy festival for fans of that poker game.

The Wynn Fall Classic will start with the $550 No-Limit Hold’em Seniors tournament. The event will be a single-day one and will feature a guaranteed prize pool of $50,000. It is important to note that most of the events within the festival will be single-day ones. There will also be one two-day event, two three-day ones, and two four-day ones.

The Main Event will be one of the four-day tournaments. It will start on October 12 and will be completed on October 15. Interested players will be able to take part in it by paying a buy-in fee of $1,600. The tournament will feature a guaranteed prize pool of $500,000 that will hopefully be crushed.

partypoker’s MILLIONS live tournament brand is next landing in Nottingham for more than a week of unequaled poker action. The Dusk Till Dawn festival will begin on September 29 and will end on October 7. As one can tell by the name, the Dusk Till Dawn casino, a popular poker meeting hub, in Nottingham will play host to this major event.

The festival is set to feature more than £7 million in guaranteed prize money. This speaks volumes about the quality of poker that players and spectators will be able to witness at the host venue.

The £1,100 No-Limit Hold’em MILLIONS UK Open will put the beginning of action within the festival. The event will feature a guaranteed prize pool of £1 million. There will be five starting flights and three more days of play.

The £5,300 Main Event will be the next big tournament to kick off. It will take place on September 30-October 6. There will be at least £5 million up for grabs for those who run deep enough into this prestigious tournament.

The £550 MILLIONS UK Finale with five starting flights and the £10,300 High Roller are two other exciting events that should be mentioned. The former will take place October 4-7 and will feature a guaranteed prize pool of £500,000, while the latter will run from October 5 through October 7 and will feature a guaranteed prize pool of £1 million.

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Poker action at the Seminole Casino Coconut Creek in Florida is heating up as the WSOP Circuit stop currently taking place there is approaching its final stages and last events on the schedule are being played.

The $2,200 High Roller certainly was one of the most exciting tournaments to take place within the poker festival. The event was completed a few days ago and was taken down by quite a poker celebrity. Jerry Wong, a player from the area, defeated a field that was comprised of some seasoned poker pros to grab the title and the first-place prize of $48,300.

Wong’s triumph was also accompanied by his first-ever piece of WSOP jewelry. Despite being very active on the live poker scene, a gold bracelet from the WSOP and a gold ring from its sister brand, the WSOP Circuit, had long eluded the popular poker pro.

However, it should be pointed out that his hefty poker resume includes an eighth-place finish in the 2016 WSOP Main Event, among other things. This summer, the player cashed in five WSOP tournaments and made three final table appearances.

As for his performance in the $2,200 High Roller at the Coconut Creek casino, Wong successfully navigated through a field of 69 entries over two days of action. The player’s road to victory included a star-studded final table that featured another November Niner – Josh Beckley – three-time gold ring winner Peter Vitantonio, and poker veteran Chad Eveslage, among others.

Wong hopped into the final table holding the chip lead with 560,000 in chips. Beckley was his nearest competitor with 360,000. Wong never really lost his advantage over the rest of the final tablists. The player said that the table draw helped him a lot as he had tougher players to his right, and weaker ones to his left. That created nice opportunities for the player to further amass chips and he took great advantage of those.

By the time there were just five players left in contention, Wong had control over more than a half of all chips in play. And when the field was reduced to just him and his heads-up opponent Mack Ham, the eventual champion had 1.7 million of all 2 million chips in play.

While Wong never let go of the chip lead during the two-handed match, Ham fought fiercely and posed quite some challenge to his opponent. However, the High Roller gold ring was Wong’s to win. Ham walked out in second place for a cash prize of $29,848.

As mentioned earlier, the $2,200 buy-in High Roller drew 69 entries who generated a prize pool of $138,000. The top seven finishers received a share of the money, with min-cashes starting from $7,090. The WSOP Circuit stop at the Seminole Casino Coconut Creek will run through September 24 when the $1,700 is set to be completed.

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Australian casino operator The Star Entertainment Group has recently presented the design for the planned expansion of its Sydney-based property. While the project is expected to create multiple jobs and generate significant revenues, it has faced quite some criticism mainly due to the fact that it involves the construction of a 237-meter tower, local news outlet the Brisbane Times reports.

The new building that has been put a A$500-million price tag will be located at the site of the company’s Pyrmont, Sydney casino complex. Among other things, it will feature a luxury 220-room Ritz Carlton hotel, bringing back the popular hospitality brand for the first time in several decades. In addition, the tower will house 204 residential apartments and multiple food and beverage facilities.

It will aim to compete Crown Resorts’ A$2-billion Barangaroo casino resort, currently under construction and slated to open doors in the early 2020s. The Star’s property will also look to attract Chinese customers, a valued group of customers due to their spending habits. In addition, the company has promised to secure public transport upgrades and renovation of its existing facilities at the site as part of the A$500-million project.

However, the scheme has seen mixed reactions from residents of the area and New South Wales politicians.

Patricia Forsythe, the Executive Director of the Sydney Business Chamber, was quoted saying that Sydney needed “iconic” buildings and that The Star’s proposed project was hitting the mark. She also added that the service industry was something that Sydney’s economy was anchored in and they cannot be half-hearted about The Star’s development.

Despite the anticipated benefits from the plan, state politicians and residents of the area where the proposed tower would be built have voiced multiple concerns over the impact a high-rise building will have on the local community.

Some of the concerns revolved around the fact that the 200-plus-meter tower would overshadow surrounding buildings, would cause reflective glare, and would obscure views. According to Alex Greenwich, a Sydney independent member, the proposed building was an “aesthetic disgrace” that would have serious impacts on local communities.

The development plan needs approval from the Independent Planning Commission as more than 25 submissions that oppose the tower have been submitted to the NSW Department of Planning and Environment. Submissions can be presented to the department until October 9.

The Brisbane Times writes that the City of Sydney has not commented on the project yet, but a spokesperson for city Lord Mayor Clover Moore has said that he was concerned about the plan and has called an urgent briefing to discuss it.

Other comments on the proposed high-rise building were more supportive, citing the economic potential a development of this kind has as it would create jobs, generate revenues, and cater to a demand for hotel rooms as Sydney’s and NSW’s tourism industry is hoping for an increased flow of international tourists.

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The WPT champions club has a brand-new member and his name is Erkut Yilmaz, a player from Sacramento, California. Yilmaz topped the field of this year’s WPT Borgata Poker Open $3,500 Main Event for a first-place cash prize of $575,112 after putting up a great show in the final stages of the tournament.

The final day of the Main Event was played on Friday at the host venue, Atlantic City’s Borgata Casino. Six survivors returned to play down to a champion. It was namely Yilmaz who led the pack of six with a massive chip advantage over everyone else left. The player had a total of 21.575 million in chips at the start of final day action, good for 144 big blinds and well ahead of his nearest competitor. Oleg Schnaider was that nearest competitor with 7.75 million/52 big blinds.

A long playdown period on the previous day, when players had to whittle down the field to the final six, provided for quick action on the final day. Players began falling out in the very early stages of that last day of the race. The first elimination occurred on the 11th hand of play and it did not take long before the heads-up phase was reached. It is important to note that Yilmaz was the player to dominate action throughout the whole final table.

While action during the initial stages of final-day play unfolded quickly, the same cannot really be said about the heads-up duel. Yilmaz played against poker pro TK Miles for the title. The match kicked off with the eventual champ holding the chip lead. However, at one point, Miles managed to outmaneuver his opponent and assume the chip leader status for a short while.

Yilmas quickly regained control over the majority of chips in play and from that stage on, the player never looked back. He weakened his opponent’s stack and defense, until Miles did not have much to fight with.

On what turned out to be the final hand in play, Miles limped from the button and Yilmaz checked. The [5h][4s][3s] flop arrived to see Yilmaz check and Miles bet 800,000. Yilmaz raised with an all in. Miles called for his last 15.8 million.

Miles turned over [Kd][5s] to Yilmaz’s [6d][3d]. The [6h] on the turn and the [4h] on the river sealed it for this year’s Borgata Poker Open Main Event. Miles went out as the runner-up. The player received $383,399 for his efforts and for running so deep into one of the most popular tournaments to be taking place annually.

As mentioned above, Yilmaz collected the lion’s share of the prize pool, good for $575,112. His prize also included a $15,000 seat into the season-ending WPT Tournament of Champions.

This year’s edition of the Borgata Poker Open drew a field of 1,075 entries, who generated a prize pool of $3,441,075. The top 136 finishers received a share of the money, with min-cashes starting from $3,049.

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After creating controversy with its decision not to honor a fan’s bet after a glitch in the live odds-making system, FanDuel back-pedaled to avoid the negative publicity. The Newark resident will now receive $82,610 in winnings that should have been paid out according to the 750-1 odds displayed on his ticket.

On Sunday, FanDuel’s Sportsbook at the Meadowlands Racetrack in New Jersey sold a ticket to Anthony Prince, who wagered on the Denver Broncos vs. Oakland Raiders that was being played at the time. The bet he placed on the game was in-play, a term that refers to live bets, so the odds were changing as the game progressed. But an error occurred in the live feed at that specific moment when Prince purchased his betting ticket and as a result, the odds were displayed incorrectly.

Instead of buying into correct odds of -600 on Broncos to win, he received +750,000, or odds of 750-1. This was, of course, a ridiculous betting line caused by a glitch in the odds-making system that lasted 18 seconds, according to FanDuel. Whether knowingly or not, Prince exploited that error. Wagering $110 on the Broncos with the ticket, he should have won $82,610. The sportsbook, however, said that the ticket was actually worth only $18.35 and declined to pay out any additional winnings.

The dispute was almost immediately reported by a local TV channel and a wider coverage followed this week in some of the largest sports media networks. While backed up by the gambling regulations in New Jersey and the company’s own policies, FanDuel’s decision caused huge controversy. On Tuesday, the daily fantasy sports provider and bookmaker issued an official statement, explaining why it would not pay out the erroneous bet. Winning bets were honored at the accurate market price, the company added.

This past week was marked by a negative publicity for FanDuel caused by the rejection of the $80,000 bet. As per current provisions in the state’s gambling legislation, the bookmaker has the right to void winnings generated from a technical error such as in Anthony Prince’s case. While the decision to stiff that bet may have been, indeed, correct and fair, it was certainly not in the best interest of the company.

Many journalists and sports analysts criticized FanDuel for their stance, saying that it was the bookmaker’s fault for allowing such glitches to happen. Bettors, on the other hand, were not to blame for exploiting flaws in the betting systems. Similar opinions were shared by many sports fans on social media, as well. The bookmaker has probably had a change of heart regarding the dispute as it came out with another statement Thursday evening.

In it, FanDuel explains that it is not legally bound to pay out these erroneous bets. It will honor them either way, however, as it is dedicated to providing its customers with a gambling experience that is, most of all, fun. This one is on the house, FanDuel assures bettors.

With this surprising twist, the sportsbook is apparently recognizing the risk of creating a negative image for itself in the media for a handful of bets, even if they are worth tens of thousands of dollars. Some commentators have described the company’s newly changed position as a PR stunt, and rightfully so. Such criticism could damage not only its public image but also its future business opportunities.

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