PokerStars Debuts Mystery Bounty Tournaments With $1M Guaranteed New Year Series Event

The PokerStars Sunday Million is one of the longest-running Sunday majors in the online poker world and arguably the most prestigious. PokerStars has hosted dozens of special edition Sunday Millions over the year, but few, if any, have garnered as much excitement and anticipation as the New Year Series Sunday Million special edition, scheduled for 5:30 p.m. GMT on January 7. The 93rd numbered event of the PokerStars New Year Series is the $109 NLHE 8-max, Mystery Bounty Sunday Million SE.

WSOP Circuit Returns to Marrakech This January; Main Event Runs Jan. 18-21

The poker year has well and truly kicked off, and one of the first events of 2024 is at the Casino de Marrakech, which once again plays host to one of the first WSOP International Circuit events of the year. The festival runs from January 12-21 with 13 ring events on the schedule which includes a 2,000 High Roller and 3,000 Super High Roller. There is additionally, of course, the 1,500 WSOP Circuit Main Event, which PokerNews be bringing you live coverage from January 18-21.

Dusk Till Dawn Gears Up For the First APAT Event of 2024: The UK Team Championship

The 2024 Amateur Poker Association & Tour (APAT) explodes into life over the weekend of January 12 when the APAT UK Team Championship take place at the home of British poker, Dusk Till Dawn. Although registration for the Team Event is closed, four side events and a UK Poker Championship (UKPC) satellite are open to all players. The APAT UK Team Championship is one of the most popular events on the APAT calendar.

RGPS Returns to Hard Rock Tulsa for Destination RunGood From Jan. 16-21

The RunGood Poker Series (RGPS) returns in 2024 with its first stop on the Destination RunGood tour in Tulsa, Oklahoma from January 16-21 at Hard Rock Casino. The series will feature all of the popular RGPS tournaments, including the $200 Ambassador Bounty on Tuesday, January 16 and a two-day $300 DeepStack with two opening flights and a $25,000 guarantee on Wednesday, January 17. The tournament will wrap up with the $800 Main Event on Friday, January 19 and Saturday, January 20, with three opening flights and a $100,000 guarantee.

Bin Weng Coasts to Victory in WPT Season XXI Player of the Year Race

World Poker Tours Season XXI wrapped up with the conclusion of the WPT World Championship at Wynn Las Vegas and Bin Weng held off the field with ease to claim WPT Player of the Year after a stellar season on the circuit. The victory was fueled by televised WPT back-to-back final tables in the spring, both of which played out at the Luxor in late May. Weng won the first one and fell short in the second one.

The Muck: Patrick Leonard Blasts Poker Ambassadors And Sites

Should poker ambassadors do more to help communicate to players in the wake of cheating scandals? That’s what Patrick Leonard wants. Leonard, who was a partypoker ambassador from 2016-2023, did not mention any specific sites or any ambassadors by name, nor did he refer to any specific online poker scandal. However, he was incensed during a two-and-a-half-minute video where he took issue with poker ambassadors continuing to take paychecks while, in Leonard’s opinion, the sites they represent cheat players out of money.

OlyBet Showdown Vilnius Ace Breaker Kicks Off Poker in the Baltics in 2024

The Lithuanian capital city, Vilnius, is hosting the first major live poker festival in the Baltics in 2024, the OlyBet Showdown Vilnius Ace Breaker. Held at the Olympic Casino Lietuva in the heart of vibrant Vilnius, the OlyBet Showdown Vilnius Ace Breaker has a schedule of over 25 tournaments and satellites between January 27 and February 4. OlyBet-run events went from strength to strength in 2023, so everything points to the OlyBet Showdown Vilnius Ace breaker being nothing short of huge.

PokerStars Head of Game Integrity says: Trust is Everything

Ensuring that poker remains safe for players to play on and free from cheating is a priority for any online poker site. And when you’re a poker site the size of PokerStars it requires a whole team. PokerNews sat down with PokerStars Head of Game Integrity Francis Lincoln to discuss what his team does, the importance of trust within game integrity and what goes into making sure PokerStars remains one of, if not the safest, poker site around.

Run It Once Approaches US Launch As Poker Goes Offline in Delaware

Online poker players in multiple US states may soon have another site they can play on as Phil Galfond’sRun It Once (RIO) is believed to be approaching a US launch. Pokerfusereported this week that Rush Street Interactive (RSI), which bought RIO in 2022, has “been recruiting poker executives for over a year” and referenced previous job postings on LinkedIn and “two key job openings show that the launch of Run It Once Poker USA might not be far away.

The Lodge in Texas Awards $100k to Lucky Poker Player

There was no need to hit a bad beat jackpot to win a massive prize for one lucky poker player at The Lodge Card Club in Texas. All it took was a random drawing. The poker club co-owned by Andrew Neeme, Brad Owen, and Doug Polk hosted one of the best promotions you’ll ever see in a local card room last month. Each day in December, the poker room held an hourly random seat drawing.

He's a F*****g Nit: Nik Airball Rips Opponent After Six-Figure Bluff

Nikhil “Nik Airball” Arcot pulled off an epic bluff during Friday night’s Hustler Casino Live stream before proceeding to crack on his opponent’s “nitty” style of play. The double live-stream began in the afternoon from inside Hustler Casino in Los Angeles. Late in the first HCL stream of the day, the high-stakes regular made a bold move that paid off in a big way against Pepe, another frequent player on the show.

Global Poker Monsterstack Series III Taking Place Jan. 8-21

Global Poker just wrapped up its 25 Days of Poker holiday promotion and is wasting no time getting into another big series. The Global Poker Monsterstack Series III will run Jan. 8-21 and features guaranteed prizes of Gold Coins (GC) 400,000,000 and Sweeps Coins (SC) 1,000,000. The Monsterstack Series will offer the deepest structured tournaments Global Poker has offered, giving players plenty of time to inch their way towards a piece of the guaranteed prize pools.

Poker TV Show Un$uited Hopes to Go From Pilot to Series

New Jersey film producer Tom Baldinger wants to make pokers next (first?) great TV show, and hes been working hard to take his latest project, Un$uited, from its first two pilot episodes to a full series. Its not an easy task, especially in todays competitive content environment, but Baldinger sees an opportunity to make a heartfelt show that finds an audience of poker fans and casual audiences alike. The story is straightforward in its opening episodes.

The Wait Is Almost Over: 888poker LIVE Kicks Off 2024 Season in Madrid on Jan. 22

Fans of the 888poker LIVE tour only have two weeks to wait before the first stop of the 2024 season shuffles up and deals. 888poker LIVE Madrid runs from January 22-29 at the Gran Via casino in beautiful Madrid and if last year is anything to go by, 888poker players are in for a real treat in the Spanish capital. The 888poker LIVE Madrid festival gets underway on January 22 with the first of three flights in the 220 buy-in Opening Event.

Derek Baker Crowned Champion in Irish Poker Tour's Galway Poker Festival Main Event (83,500)

The Irish Poker Tour has just crowned its newest 600 Galway Poker Festival Main Event champion, Derek Baker, who takes home the sum of 83,500, which amounted to the lion’s share of the 434,075 prize pool, a trophy, and a beautiful custom made bracelet. After a marathon 15 hour Day 2, Baker defeated Denis Brosnahan after a short heads up battle, Baker coming into it with a huge chip advantage. Brosnahan can at least be consoled by a payday of 53,000 for his runner-up finish, more than tripling his total live earnings of $16,176 in one tournament.

Jordan Sleen Wins 2024 FPN Vegas $100k World Championship for $25,000

For the third year in a row, a patron of Billy’s Corner Bar & Grill in Minnesota has won the Free Poker Network (FPN) Championship. Early Monday morning, Jordan Sleen took down the 2024 FPN Vegas $100k World Championship at the Golden Nugget in downtown Las Vegas to win the trophy and $25,000. The event had 388 qualifiers and a prize pool of $100,000 to make it the biggest FPN championship in history.

Check Out All the PGT Last Chance Winners; Two More Qualify for $1M Freeroll

The PokerGO Tour (PGT) Last Chance 2023 series wrapped up on Sunday with a victory from poker commentator Nick Schulman, which means the roster is set for the PGT Championship $1,000,000 Freeroll that kicks off on Jan. 9 and will crown a winner on Jan. 10. Dylan Destefano and Samuel Laskowitz were the final two players to win seats into the $1 million freeroll with victories in the Last Chance series.

Inaugural PokerStars Mystery Bounty Sunday Million Is a Roaring Success

Recent editions of the PokerStars Sunday Million have seen online poker’s most popular weekly tournament play as progressive knockouts (PKO). It is no secret that the Sunday Million has often struggled to meet its $1 million guarantee under its PKO format, but there were no such struggles in the New Year Series edition, which saw PokerStars change the long-running event’s format to a mystery bounty. PokerStars tested the mystery bounty format in early December 2023, and it proved popular, with all 200 available seats snapped up in seconds.

Svarozhits Takes Down Last 888poker Mystery Bounty Main Event Before the XL Winter Series

The 888poker XL Winter Series is only days away, and players are hoping to go into the $2 million guaranteed festival in hot form. Montenegro’s “Svarozhits” is doing precisely that after they came out on top in the final $109 Mystery Bounty Main Event before the XL Winter Series kicks off in earnest this coming weekend. Including re-entries, 1,172 players bought into the latest Mystery Bounty Main Event, ensuring the $100,000 guarantee was beaten by an impressive $117,200.

Mike Holtz Wins WSOP.com NV/NJ Player of the Year; Zach Gruneberg Takes PA Title

Although he knew it would happen by the summer, Mike “BrockLesnar” Holtz officially secured the WSOP.com Player of the Year award in Nevada/New Jersey at the end of December. The same online poker award in Pennsylvania went to Zach “CaptainLevi” Gruneberg. Both players have something in common beyond their online prowess they’re also skilled live poker tournament players. Nevada Online Poker Legend Does it Again Holtz, who won the award in 2021, has been crushing it on WSOP.

Nominees Announced for Next Weeks 2nd Annual Charity Series of Poker (CSOP) Awards

The Charity Series of Poker (CSOP), which was established in 2014 by Matt Stout, is entering its 11th season, and for the second year in a row they are paying tribute to the players, sponsors, staff, and volunteers from throughout the years. They will be honored via the 2023 CSOP Awards, which is comprised of several categories including Event of the Year, Emcee of the Year, Mike Sexton Ambassador Award, Daniel Negreanu Extra Effort Award, and more.

Seemingly Intoxicated Poker Player on PGT Championship Stream Puts Viewers on Tilt

The PokerGO Tour (PGT) Championship $1 million freeroll kicked off Tuesday, and part of the focus from the poker community was on a player whose behavior irritated viewers and even some in the field. Dream Seat qualifier Jeff Lennon didn’t reach the final table, which will take place at the PokerGO Studio in Las Vegas on Wednesday, but he certainly made a name for himself during the live-stream as he appeared to be intoxicated, using vulgar language at times and complimenting a female opponent’s appearance.

Don't Miss the Three Biggest WPT Global Winter Festival Events; Last Day 1s This Weekend

Like all good things, the WPT Global Winter Festival must come to an end. The $4 million guaranteed tournament series concludes on January 14, and three of its biggest events are yet to crown their champions. You must hurry if you want to get involved in that trio of tournaments because their final Day 1s take place on January 13-14. #2: Mini Winter Main Event: $22 buy-in, $40,000 Guaranteed The WPT Global Mini Winter Main Event is the first of the three massive guaranteed tournaments waiting for you to sink your teeth into.

38 Hours of Turmoil as Unregulated Poker Site Backtracks on $100k Bot Challenge

It was a weekend to forget for one unregulated poker site ACR Poker (formerly Americas Cardroom) as it announced, clarified and ultimately reneged on a promise to award $100,000 to a player who could successfully create and operate a bot on the platform. The six-figure challenge stemmed from a 2+2 forum post, which claimed an unbeatable bot had been operating on ACR and consistently winning. Security issues can and have occurred on regulated poker sites.