Poker in the News — Weekly Round-up for January 25, 2019

By Brian Cullingworth, Last updated Jan 25, 2019

WSOP Promises Bigger Starting Stacks And Big Blind Ante In 2019 Tournament

As it celebrates 50th Anniversary

The World Series of Poker (WSOP) has revealed more details on its 2019 tournament saying changes have been made for the 50th running of the tournament to improve the overall experience for participants.

The 50th Annual WSOP will provide players, in the majority of events, significant increases in their starting chip stack compared to 2018 and prior.

To coincide with the new starting chips all No-Limit Hold’em events at the 2019 WSOP will utilise the Big Blind Ante format, including gold bracelet events, Daily Deepstacks and Mega Satellites.

The WSOP introduced Big Blind Ante events into last year’s series on a limited basis, deciding to move forward using this format in all events where antes exist.

Another 34 events have been confirmed in addition to the previously publicised forty individual events (see previous InfoPowa report) with a couple of new events added.

In celebration of the 50th WSOP, a special “Bracelet Winners Only” No-Limit Hold’em event has been scheduled towards the end of the series, a $1,500 buy-in event open only to the previous 1,078 WSOP bracelet winners starting in 1970.

“It is important the modern day World Series of Poker continues to evolve,” WSOP Vice President Jack Effel said. “People certainly like bigger starting stacks, and we’re happy to oblige while simultaneously adding more value.”

More information here:

http://www.wsop.com/news/2019/Jan/10853/BIGGER-STARTING-STACKS-AND-BIG-BLIND-ANTE-COMING-TO-2019-WSOP.html

Pokerstars Hails Success Of PCA And PSPC

Awarded a combined $63 million in prizes over 11 days

The Stars Group has hailed the success of its annual PokerStars Caribbean Adventure (PCA), followed immediately by its inaugural PokerStars Players No-limit Hold’em Championship (PSPC).

The group said the combined prize pool of the two live poker tournaments, held at the Atlantis Resort & Casino in the Bahamas, awarded $63 million over eleven days.

“Together, the PCA and PSPC have set a new standard for live events of this kind,” Rafi Ashkenazi, Chief Executive Officer of The Stars Group, said.

“These tournaments created many winning moments and exciting stories for our players and staff, particularly for Ramon Colillas, who won over $5 million from a free entry. It’s a great start to the year.”

Young Wins Lucky Hearts Poker Open

For $260,205 and the title

Florida poker pro Jason Young (37) has won the Lucky Hearts Poker Open WPTDeep Stacks Main Event at the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel and Casino Hollywood for the title and $260,205.

Young emerged tops from a field of 1,634 entries when he outplayed fellow Floridian Leif Force who took home the second prize of $183,540.

Young’s career earnings exceed $1 million and he’s a WSOP gold bracelet holder for his win in a $1,500 buy-in shootout in Las Vegas in 2008.

“This was fun. It was like a picnic,” Young said of the event. “It’s been a long time since I’ve been in a spot like this, and I wasn’t going to get rattled by anything – not today.”

Final Table Results were:

1 Jason Young – $260,205 + $3,000 WPTDeepStacks Championship Package
2 Leif Force – $183,540
3 Paul James Hizer – $119,820
4 Kevin Chan – $89,000
5 David Inselberg – $66,760
6 Pedro Aldave – $53,785
7 Quinn Bruno – $43,930
8 Eddy Sabat – $34,125
9 Stephen Ibrahim – $26,025