This week’s poker news begins with a big win for a player in the land of Down Under. Meanwhile, in online poker, two major brands have announced their plans for 2018.
Mitchell Wins WSOP Sydney Monster Stack
Tim Mitchell outlasted a field of 403 players to win the 2017 World Series of Poker Sydney Monster Stack. The huge event took place over two days at the Star Poker Room but only 139 players lasted more than a day. Aggressive play was the theme early on and that helped narrow the field quickly. Only 45 players ended up in the money with Mitchell claiming the first-place prize of $88,684. Rafe Aman was second with $54,787, while Antonio “Toothpick Tony” Kambouroglou was next with $40,034. Phil Georgiou finished in fourth place with $29,725 and Nelson Maccini rounded out the top five with $22,414.
Mitchell really took control of proceedings during the final table when it looked like Kambouroglou was the hot player. That was his third final table of the series. However, Mitchell rode the momentum to a big win.
World Series of Poker Reveals 2018 Schedule
The schedule for the 49th season of the World Series of Poker has been revealed in what figures to be an action-packed calendar year. There are going to be a total of 78 bracelet events, including the $1,000,000 Big One for One Drop, which returns to the World Series of Poker slate. The series itself will run from May 29 to July 17 at the Rio All-Suite Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas. There are also a few new events on the slate, such as a $10,000 No-Limit Hold’em Super Turbo Bounty and a $100,000 No-Limit High Roller event, and The Closer, which has a guarantee of $1 million. Old favorites such as the Colossus and the Marathon are back, along with No-Limit events for women and seniors.
European Poker Tour Returns In 2018
In 2016, PokerStars decided to nix the European Poker Tour and move those tournaments under a different brand. As it turns out, that move was highly unpopular and now PokerStars is bringing the EPT back. Fans were missing EPT overall as well as the regional brands, like the Asia Pacific Poker Tour and the Latin American Poker Tour. That led to PokerStars making an announcement at the 2017 PokerStars Championship in Prague that the EPT would be back in 2018.
The EPT started back in 2004 and grew to be one of the most popular brands on the poker circuit. It lasted for 13 seasons, making 115 stops along the way. Its reach grew worldwide, hosting events in 18 different countries and handing out more than 430 million euros in prizes.
In a separate announcement, PokerStars revealed that it’s set to launch a $9 million-added Players No-Limit Hold’em Championship in 2019. They’ll be adding the $9 million on top of the prize pool, making it one of the biggest online events.