Poker in the News — Weekly Round-up for February 2, 2018

By Brian Cullingworth, Last updated Feb 2, 2018

Aussie Millions Announces 2019 Dates

With the current season in full swing, Aussie Millions looks ahead

The current season of the prestigious Aussie Millions live poker festival is currently in full swing, but the organisers are clearly looking well ahead, this week publishing details on the 2019 iteration of the event.

Next year’s Aussie Millions will kick off on Tuesday 15 January 2019 and will again be hosted in the Crown Poker Room, Melbourne, Australia.

The action-packed schedule will include the official gold bracelet event, satellites and cash games, along with daily tournaments running for 21 consecutive days.

The tournament is Australias largest and longest-running, and includes the coveted Aussie Millions Main Event, slated to run over eight days from Sunday 27 January Sunday 3 February 2019 with over 700 entrants and an estimated total prize pool of A$7 million. Due to the large number of entrants the Aussie Millions Main Event will feature three starting flights; Sunday 27 January, Monday 28 January and Tuesday 29 January.

The 2018 Aussie Millions is proving to be our biggest and best to date and we cant wait to see what the 2019 tournament will bring as the poker stage has never been brighter, and the team are already hard at work to make the next event the biggest and best yet, says Aussie Millions Tournament Director, Joel Williams.

Nearly 100 poker tables will be set up across the complex to accommodate the thousands of players from over 35 countries who visit Crown during January to compete for a share of a total estimated prize pool of over A$24 million.

The current slate of individual events offered during the 2019 Aussie Millions are being finalised, with 26 official gold ring events expected and a broad range of other poker variations at both entry level and championship level.

The full event-by-event schedule is expected to be released soon and will be uploaded to https://aussiemillions.com/ with full details.

Ben Lamb Tops In Aussie Millions $25,000 Challenge

Heads up chop agreed with German poker ace Jan-Eric Schwippert

Top US professional poker player Ben Lamb has claimed the main A$647,114 prize and an Anton Jewellery ring in the $25,000 buy-in Aussie Millions Challenge after agreeing a heads up chop with German rival Jan-Eric Schwippert, who took home A$597,765.

A field of 114 entered for the event, generating a A$2,736,000 prize pool.

Kitty Kuo led the field going into the final day; she made the final table but was eliminated at fourth as dominant players Lamb and Schwippert bulldozed their way through to face each other in the heads up.

What could have been a thriller failed to materialise when the two paused for a discussion on a deal, agreed, and wrapped the game up.

The win brings Lamb’s live tourney career earnings to $8.5 million, and his German opponent’s live career earnings to $4.2 million.

Other final table cashes included:

Wayne Yap A$328,320
Kitty Kuo A$246,240
Jack Salter A$177,840
Roger Teska A$123,120

Pokerstars Launch ‘Fresh’ Series

With Euro 5 Million guarantee for shared liquidity pools in France and Spain

In celebration of the shared player pool with France and Spain, PokerStars has launch a new series dubbed FRESH (France Espania Hold’em).

FRESH will become the richest ever PokerStars online series in France and Spain with Euro 5 million guaranteed across 50 scheduled events, including a Euro 1 million guaranteed Main Event prize pool and a Platinum Pass package to the PokerStars Players No Limit Hold’em Championship (PSPC) for the Main Event winner, the company revealed.

The series kicks-off January 28 and runs to February 11, with depositor freerolls, Spin & Go FRESH Main Event qualifiers, Second Chance Freerolls and opportunities to qualify for free available currently at the PokerStars lobby.

The poker giant is the first operator approved to offer shared liquidity between the two locally licensed online poker markets offering players larger guarantees, more games and reduced waiting times.

Severin Rasset, Director of Poker Innovation and Operations at PokerStars, said: “After so many years of closed liquidity, it is a major milestone to offer the first online series that combines French and Spanish players.

“We created this series by learning from both countries and we hope that players will enjoy the bigger prize pool and tournaments on offer.”

Kalidou Sow Victorious In London Poker Festival Main Event

French pro wins GBP 121,603 and a $30,000 Platinum Pass after a heads up chop

French poker pro Kalidou Sow has emerged the winner of the GBP 990 buy-in PokerStars Festival London Main Event, besting a field of 852 that included respected names like Chris Moorman1 Moorman, Jake Cody, Dragos Trofimov, Michael Kane and Adrien Allain.

When David Mander headed for the exit and a third place score of GBP 60,000 (not a bad return on investment for his $11 satellite entrance seat) Sow faced UK pro Paul Dando across the felt in the heads up, with the British player holding a better than 2 to 1 advantage in chips.

Nevertheless, the two paused to negotiate and agree a chop that left the $30,000 Platinum Pass on the table for the winner. Sow was to take home GBP 121,6003, and Dando GBP 103,197.

That settled, the duo got down to business, which turned out to be decisive and brief, lasting over just more than a half-hour as Sow surged ahead and eliminated his last opponent.

Sow will be pleased with his latest win, which adds to the Euro 675,000 he took home last month after winning the Euro 5,300 buy-in PokerStars Championship Prague Main Event.

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