Poker in the News — Weekly Round-up for February 16, 2018

By Brian Cullingworth, Last updated Feb 16, 2018

Antonius Wins Partypoker Millions Germany Super High Roller

For Euro 425,000 payday

Poker pro Patrik Antonius took down the partypoker MILLIONS Germany €25,000 Super High Roller at King’s Casino in Rozvadov, outlasting 50 other entries – of which 14 were reentries.

Antonius defeated party poker ambassador Joao Simao in heads-up play to win the first trophy of the partypoker Millions festival and a first prize of Euro 425,000.

This win marks Antonius’ sixth biggest tournament cash of his career.

Final table results were:

1. Patrik Antonius €425,000
2. Joao Simao €251,250
3. Renato Nowak €175,000
4. Stefan Schillhabel €125,000
5. Steve O’Dwyer €100,000
6. Dietrich Fast €75,000
7. Dominik Nitsche €60,000

Winamax To Leverage Shared Poker Liquidity

Operator receives approval from ARJEL

Online gambling operator Winamax has been approved by the French gambling regulator ARJEL to participate in online poker shared liquidity pools, currently with Portugal and Spain.

Winamax became the second licensee to receive the approval following closely in PokerStars’ footsteps (see previous InfoPowa report).

WPT500 Coming To London With 888Poker and Aspers

Accessible buy-in with a guaranteed $1 Million prize pool

World Poker Tour’s (WPT) WPT500 event will play out in London on March 23 to April 2, 2018 following a partnership agreement with 888poker and Aspers Westfield Stratford City.

Adam Pliska, CEO of the World Poker Tour, said: “Home to an extremely dedicated community of enthusiasts and some of the world’s greatest poker players, the incredible city of London is a perfect location for a WPT500 event. To date, WPT500 events have attracted more than 25,000 entries and awarded nearly $14 million in total prize money. Backed by the support of our partners, Aspers and 888poker, we look forward to building off this success.”

The tournament feature a $565 buy-in with a $1 million guaranteed prize pool.

Chidwick Dominates U.S. Poker Open

Ranked series champion before last event plays out

British high roller Stephen Chidwick has dominated the inaugural U.S. Poker Open making five final tables of the eight events and being crowned US Poker Open Champion as the player with the highest cashes in the series despite the $50,000 Main Event still left to play out.

Chidwick cashed $1,256,600 million having won two events and cashing on five.

Badziakouski Takes Down MPC28 HK$80,000 High Roller

For HK$2.3 million pay check and a US$30K Platimun Pass

Belarusian poker pro Mikita Badziakouski emerged victorious in the HK$80,000 High Roller event of the 28th PokerStars Macau Poker Cup (MPC28) tournament for a pay day of HK$2,324,000 and a US$30k Platinum Pass.

Badziakouski outplayed 123 other entrants in it for a shot at the HK$9,235,520 prize pool ultimately defeating Spaniard Raul Martinez in heads-up play.

Final table results were:

1 Mikita Badziakouski Belarus $2,324,000

2 Raul Martinez Spain $1,570,000

3 Elliot Smith Canada $1,021,000

4 Raghav Bansal India $845,500

5 Matthew Moss UK $682,000

6 Dasheng Chen China $538,000

7 Ben Lai Hong Kong $411,020

8 Masaki Nakano Japan $309,000

9 Martin Kozlov Australia $231,000

Partypoker’s Barcelona Poker Festival Could Be a European Record

Euro 23 million invested in prize pool guarantees

PartyPoker has continued to present a serious challenge to the top poker operators, this week announcing that it is to invest Euro 23 million in prize pool guarantees for its Millions Grand Finale event scheduled for Casino Barcelona in Spain between Aprl 7 and 15.

The company claims that the live competition, supported by online satellites, will be the biggest yet for Europe. Nine events are envisaged kicking off with a Euro 1,100 buy-in Millions Open with a Euro 1 million guarantee, followed by fibe High Roller contests with buy-ins ranging from Euro 25,000 to Euro 100,000, each with Euro 2 million guarantees.

There is also a Euro 2,500 buy-in, Euro 1m guaranteed Grand Final Warm-up featuring a single re-entry, and a Euro 10,300 buy-in, Euro 10 million guaranteed Main Event, with the festival concluding with a Euro 1,100 buy-in unlimited re-entry finale and cash game action.

Casino Barcelona poker manager Raúl Horta said this week that the PartyPoker guarantees represent the highest yet in European live poker tournaments, with the victor in the Grand Final taking home Euro 1.4 million, and the second and third placing prizes also in six-figure territory.

Partypoker Gearing Up For European Poker Player Sharing

Pact between France, Italy, Portugal and Spain presents a new opportunity for online poker provider

A forum representative for PartyPoker has revealed that the online poker provider plans to compete with PokerStars in the rapidly developing European shared player pool project and is gearing up with that goal in mind.

InfoPowa readers will recall that France, Italy, Spain and Portugal regulators have committed to the project, although thus far only France and Spain are active.

PartyPoker appears to be working on that basis, bringing in its French and Spanish websites “in the coming months” and ensuring it is prepared when Italy and Portugal join the party.

PokerStars is leading the charge into the French-Spanish shared market at present, with French operator Winamax reportedly well advanvced in its intention to join the market.

Major Win In Partypoker Live Millions Germany Super High Roller

Chi Zhang scores Euro 800,000 in Euro 50,000 buy-in event

UK poker pro and mainly cash games player Chi Zhang (22) scored the biggest reward in his career so far this week when he collected the Euro 800,000 main prize in the Euro 50,000 buy-in PartyPoker Live Millions Germany competition after besting a field of 47 entries that generated a prize pool of Euro 2,232,500.

Hosted by Kings Casino in Rozvadov, Czech Republic, the field included formidable players like Patrik Antonius, Mustapha Kanit, Dietrich Fast, Felipe Ramos and Timothy Adams.

In the heads up Zhang, holding a 2 to 1 chip advantage, faced Mustapha Kanit and wasted little time in extending his lead with some aggressive and skiful moves.

Kanit was no pushover, however, and fought his way back into the game to even the chip counts. Zhang responded by again securing the lead, and this time Kanit was unable to match the young Brit’s cards and aggression, leaving with the runner up prize of Euro 500,000.

Other final table pay-outs included:

Timothy Adams Euro 362,500
Tobias Ziegler Euro 260,000
Felipe Ramos Euro 180,000
Dietrich Fast Euro 130,000

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