This week’s poker news kicks off with a big win by one of the biggest names in the game as Phil Ivey is back on the scene collecting checks. Here’s what he was up to this past week:
Phil Ivey Wins Event At Triton Super High Roller Series
There aren’t many players in the world of poker who are better known than Phil Ivey. He has been out of the limelight of late, dealing with some legal issues followed by a move to Hong Kong last year. However, he came back with a vengeance as he won the first-ever Short Deck event at the 2018 Triton Super High Roller Series event in Montenegro. It was Ivey’s first cash win since January 2016 as he collected $604,992 for his efforts.
Americans took the first four spots as Daniel Cates came in second with $407,515, Gabe Patgorski was next with $246,751 and then Jason Koon with $169,936. Russia’s Furkat Rakhimov rounded out the top five with $116,942.
There was a buy-in of $31,850 for this event, which is what led to the sizable payouts. Ivey was down by a four-to-one count in chips going into his heads-up battle with Cates but he can never be counted out. The “Tiger Woods of Poker” has now won over $24 million in live earnings for his career.
Andras Nemeth Wins SCOOP High Roller Event
Hungary’s Andras Nemeth has made a career in live-cash tournaments and online poker, collecting $984,751 in person and $8.3 million in online games. He added to his earnings by claiming the SCOOP High Roller event at the 2018 Spring Championship of Online Poker.
Nemeth won $576,087 to take first place at the event, ahead of Roman “RomeOpro” Romanovsky of Ukraine, who took home $442,299. Next was “huang33” from China with $339,582, Rui “RuiNF” Ferreira of the Netherlands with $260,719, and Ole “wizowizo” Schemion of Austria with $200,171.
It was the third SCOOP win for Nemeth and it was also the biggest tournament win to date. He had a 4-to-1 chip lead over Romanovsky as they went into heads-up battle. After almost an hour of action, Nemeth put his adversary away.
UMG ESports Stage Added To 2018 WSOP
The 2018 World Series of Poker will take place at the Rio All Suite Hotel and Casino from May 29 to July 17, but it won’t just be a place to play and watch poker. The UMG Esports Stage, a new addition to the event, will be located at the Pavilion Room at the Rio, which will allow poker players to compete in games like “Madden” and “Call Of Duty.” It’ll be open every day of the World Series of Poker.
The Pavilion Room has long been used for various things at the World Series of Poker such as seating overflow. However, with esports and poker becoming more entwined with Luxor’s esports arena, this seems like a logical move. It gives players a chance to reset and get a bit of a break from poker.