Poker in the News — Weekly Round-up for March 1, 2019

By Brian Cullingworth, Last updated Mar 1, 2019

Moolhuizen Takes MPN’S UCOP Passport Title

For the second time

Dutchman Mateusz Moolhuizen (29) has taken down MPN’s Universal Championship of Poker (UCOP) for the second time.

Moolhuizen amassed 1202.294 points taking him to first place on the UCOP Passport leaderboard.  He will receive three MPN Poker Tour (MPNPT) packages worth Euro 4,500, plus a Euro 550 Online Tournament tickets package offering the opportunity to travel to all of the remaining MPNPT live poker events in 2019.

On the first day of the series, Moolhuizen won the UCOP Passport Event #2, which secured his place within the top five positions of the leaderboard, and on Sunday 3 February, he won the €110 UCOP Passport Event #26, catapulting him to the top.

Featuring 112 events, the series guaranteed over Euro 500,000 and awarded Euro 10,000 worth of prizes through the UCOP Passport leaderboard. Winners of any UCOP Passport event also qualified for the Tournament of Champions on 17 February 2019, which was won by RedStar player ‘Mipha’, who was awarded an MPNPT package worth Euro 1,500.

This year’s inaugural UCOP Passport Main Event comprised a field of 503 entries, with 93 of those awarded through satellites.

The MPN brings back the UCOP tournament series with the introduction of UCOP Vegas, which runs from 14-28 April 2019, and will guarantee Euro 500,000. The series will also include the UCOP Vegas leaderboard, awarding Euro 20,000 worth of prizes across all UCOP Vegas events. The player claiming the top spot will take home an exclusive Las Vegas experience for two worth Euro 7,500, plus a Euro 2,500 Online Tournament tickets package.

Qualification for the UCOP Vegas series is scheduled to start on 8 April 2019 and will run 24 hours a day on all participating MPN poker rooms.

Alex Scott, Managing Director of Poker at Microgaming:

“Congratulations to Mateusz on taking the top spot in the UCOP Passport series leaderboard. Thank you to everyone who participated in this year’s UCOP Passport series, it’s great to see how well received it was. With a range of buy-ins from €0.55 to €320, the UCOP series catered for players of all levels and has been successful with our operators’ players, and we look forward to bringing back the popular series in April with UCOP Vegas.”

Lucrative 2019 U.S. Poker Open Events

Sean Winter heads the leaderboard

The 2019 U.S. Poker Open (USPO) is proving to be lucrative for some.

Event 9, the $50,000 No Limit Hold’em, paid out a $738,000 first prize to victor Koray Aldemir after he beat Ryan Riess heads up. Riess pocketed a $492,000 second prize.

Other final table results were:

3. Sean Winter – R328,000
4. Alex Foxen – $204,000
5. David Peters – $164,000
6. Seth Davies – $123,000

Nick Schulman won Event 8, the $25,000 8-game mix for a first prize of $270,000. Schulman outplayed Brandon Adams heads up who took home the $150,000 second prize and Chris Vitch, a third prize of $80,000.

Bryn Kenney outlasted a field of 60 entries in Event 7, the $25,000 NLH, to take a first prize of $450,000 in a little over an hour of play when he bust Jake Schindler heads up. Schindler earned $300,000 for the second place finish.

Other results were:

3. Ben Yu – $210,000
4. Keith Tilston – $150,000
5. Nick Schulman – $120,000
6. Nick Petrangelo – $90,000
7. Dan Shak – $75,000
8. Martin Zamani – $60,000
9. Lauren Roberts – $45,000

Peters Takes Final USPO Event

For $1.32 million first prize

31-year-old American poker pro David Peters outplayed 33 entrants to win the final event of the U.S. Poker Open (USPO), Event #10 – $100,000 No Limit Hold’em Main Event.

Peters defeated Chris Hunichen heads up to win $1,320,000, tacking on another $100,000 as U.S. Poker Open Champion.

The unassuming Peters’ lifetime tournament earnings amount to almost $32 million and he carries titles from most major poker tours including WSOP, WSOP Circuit, ACOP, EPT, and others.

“This is my favorite trophy and one of my favorite all-time wins for sure,” Peters said.

Event #10 final table results were:

1) David Peters – $1,320,000
2) Chris Hunichen – $858,000
3) Keith Tilston – $528,000
4) Martin Zamani – $330,000
5) Ryan Riess – $264,000

Partypoker Launch Online In Czech Republic

In partnership with King’s Resort

partypoker has become the second licensed online poker operator to launch in the Czech Republic, in partnership with King’s Resort.

The initial launch covers PC and Mac clients, with mobile expected to follow in the near future.

Czech players are required to present themselves for physical identify verification at various Post Offices in the country before they are permitted to play. The verification service will also become available at King’s Casino in Rozvadov in due course.

Tom Waters, managing director of partypoker:

“We are delighted to be working with King’s Resort to offer online poker in the Czech Republic. We have some ambitious and exciting plans for 2019 in partnership with King’s and there will be plenty on offer for Czech players at partypoker.

“We look forward to announcing a host of launch promotions and events, alongside details of our product offering in the coming weeks.”

King’s Resort owner, Leon Tsoukernik:

“This renewed partnership with partypoker further consolidates our position as a major player in the global poker industry and represents another step forward in our commitment to players.”

MPN Begins Roll Out Of Major Client Upgrade

Includes two top customer-requested features

The Microgaming Poker Network (MPN) will roll out v40 of its poker client up until 7th March, a major upgrade featuring cloud-based opponent notes, a customisable bet slider, tournament break advertisements, quick access to Fish Party and casino games, achievements improvements, along with other bug fixes and minor improvements.

In addition to adding a colour code to opponents, players can now add a note which will appear when the mouse cursor is moved over the player, or tapped on the player on mobile.

Players will be able click on their opponent’s position at the table to make a note, see information about their achievements, and set a colour code.

On upgrading to v40, notes (and colours) from the classic client are now stored in the cloud and sync across all devices, so notes that players make on desktop will be visible on mobile.

The customisable bet slider now allows custom increments, the configuration of which is stored in the cloud and syncs across all devices.

Players will be offered opportunity to jump into a quick Fish Party Sit & Go, the MPN’s unique Progressive Jackpot SNG, during Tournament breaks.

Quick Access to Fish Party and Casino Games is achieved through the introduction of a slide out panel.

The poker clients Achievements area has been updated with new filter options and progress bars as well as a fresh look with better optimisation for mobile and tablet devices.

Read the full text of the release notes here:

mpn.poker/release-notes-software-v40/

Viet Vo Wins WSOPC Main Event In Rio

And his second circuit ring

Viet Vo has topped a field of 952 entries to win the World Series of Poker Circuit Rio Main Event title, a $274,030 first prize, and his second circuit ring.

A tough final table saw five previous ring winners take their seats, but ultimately Vo defeated Sohale Khalili heads up for the win.

Final table results were:

1: Viet Vo – $274,030 + 2019 GCC Seat
2: Sohale Khalili – $169,497
3: Peter Lockwood – $125,103
4: Nicholas Pupillo – $93,604
5: Cylus Watson – $70,917
6: Kent Lundmark – $54,403
7: Jared Jaffee – $42,244
8: Terry Fleischer – $33,216
9: Barbara Sargent – $26,423

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