This week’s poker news starts us off with a poker professional who is good at surviving the poker tables but not reality shows. Poker pro Ronnie Bardah has already been booted from Survivor in another disappointing effort by poker pros on the show.
Poker Pro Bardah Kicked Out On First Survivor Episode
Poker professional Ronnie Bardah is known for his instincts and ability to read his opponents. However, those skills apparently didn’t translate in his first stint on a reality television show Survivor. Bardah was booted off the show in the very first episode of the latest season when the tribe made their decision.
According to Bardah, he knew what was coming before it even happened after picking up tells from his opponents that he was in trouble. Apparently, Bardah didn’t pick up those clues quickly enough to do anything about it or to try to change their minds before they casted their deciding votes. The 36-year-old World Series of Poker bracelet winner and the record holder for the most consecutive cashes in the WSOP main event was kicked out of his tribe on a 7-2 vote.
Bardah was the fourth poker pro to appear on the show over the years. He followed in the footsteps of Jean-Robert Ballande, Garrett Adelstein, and Anna Khait. Adelstein and Khait in particular both suffered early exits from the show as well.
Warriors All-Star Forward Green Struggles In Poker After Dark Appearance
As the NBA preseason gets underway, it’s fairly clear that Golden State Warriors All-Star forward Draymond Green should focus on basketball rather than poker. He recently participated on the show Poker After Dark when he got the invite from Warriors fan and poker professional Phil Hellmuth, who has spent the past couple of years teaching Green everything that he knows about the game. Green joined Hellmuth, fellow poker pro Maria Ho, businessman Chamath Palihaptiya, David Sacks, Jason Calacanis and Rick Thompson. However, things didn’t go well for him.
It took Green only an hour to lose his first three buy-ins. After sitting down at the table with $5,000, Green ended up losing $15,000 in the first hour of play. However, after buying in for a fourth time, Green was able to rally and scoop up a $23,700 pot that had him feeling good again. That was one of the few highlights of the night for him as he would end up struggling after winning that hand to the tune of $25,000 in losses on the evening.
After dropping the $25K, Green decided to cut his losses and go check out a WNBA game between the Washington Mystics and Los Angeles Aces.
Bai Is The Big Winner Of 2019 WSOP Circuit Potawatomi Main Event
Chicago-native Richard Bai is the winner of this year’s WSOP Circuit Potawatomi main event. Bai emerged from a field of 447 entries to cash out a total of $138,317 for the first-place prize. He also picked up his second gold ring in the process. With more than $677,205 up for grabs in the prize pool, it easily exceeded the guarantees of $500,00.
In addition to the prize money, Bai scored 720 Card Player Player of the Year points for the victory. Each of the top three finishers took home upwards of $50,000, with runner-up Matthew Levine pocketing $85,488 while third place finisher Henry Zou took home $62,298 in prize money.