Poker Guru Blog

Not long ago, we reported that PokerStars has cut ties with several of it's Team Pros, including Angel Guillen, Humberto Brenes and Jose "Nacho" Barbero. Now they have parted ways with WSOP Main Event winner Joe Cada, Russian pro Alex Kravchenko and Marcel Luske.

Daniel "mrGR33N13" Colman has decided to unblock his Sharkscope results, and now the whole world can see his staggering online results (starting from 2012) More than 40,000 Sit & Goes played at an average stake of almost $1,200, for a total profit of almost $1.8 million! It's not hard to see where Colman gathered the required experience to win more than $21 million this year in live tournaments. (Click on picture to enlarge!)

Bren "YaAaRnY" Lenton has started a prop bet last month, where he bet that he can win 100 buy-ins and play at least 70,000 hands at the $5/$10 or higher Pot Limit Omaha tables in 31 days. In the end, he didn't manage to win the bet, but even people who bet against him agreed that his performance was impressive, and he also managed to score a runner-up finish in one of the WCOOP events for $55,000.

A couple of days ago we reported about the Ted Forrest vs. Mike "The Mouth" Matusow weight loss bet and how Mike refuses to pay Forrest the money he owes him for the bet. Forrest first told Mike that he would become a better man if he paid his debt, but this Sunday, someone on Twitter wrote that Ted should fight Matusow for the cash, and Forrest loved the idea. Could this weight loss bet transform into a heavyweight fistfight? Check out the Tweets below and decide for yourself!

As we have previously reported, 14-times Grand Slam winner Rafael Nadal is going to play a Zoom Poker 6-max session at the PokerStars play money tables today (in preparation for his heads-up match against Brazilian football legend Ronaldo.) Rafa is going to get 2 points for each hand won after the flop, while the rest of the player pool receives 1 point everytime they win a pot against Rafa after the flop. The winner's points are then multiplied by a hundred, and the USD equivalent is donated to Care International. You can watch the live stream below, or on PokerStars.tv from 19.00 CET. 

As we have previously reported, the last Full Tilt Poker Sit & Go promotion was a disappointment, many people now refer to it as the "Epic Fail Showdown", after Gus Hansen didn't show up to play his scheduled Heads Up Sit & Go tournaments against Viktor "Isildur1" Blom. This time around, it's players who have the chance to play a $5,000 Heads-up S&G against the Swedish Full Tilt professional, and all you need to do is to play three S&G tournaments in 24 hours.

Doug "WCGRider" Polk is the self-proclaimed best online heads-up No Limit Hold'em player in the world, and he is never afraid to prove his superiority when a new challenger steps up to the plate. Last week, Polk has battled with Swedish Denoking (wilhasha on PokerStars), and after losing in the first couple sessions, he turned it around with a $736,000 win. After Denoking sat out, Polk demanded that the buttons be distributed evenly, a move which many thought was not good business.

Steven Minty is an artist from Los Angeles, who was fascinated with the Dia De Los Muertos, which is a Mexican holiday which honors the dead. Minty wanted to show the message of the Dia De Los Muertos and the end result was a stunning deck of cards with great colors and beautiful design. If you want to buy a pack or just check out some of the other designs, visit Minty's Kickstarter page!

Ted Forrest and Mike "The Mouth" Matusow made a weight loss propbet in 2010 for $2 million, which Forrest eventually won. Forrest has now called out Matusow for only paying $70,500 of his debt in the past 4 years, and Matusow told him that he is not willing to change his lifestyle just to pay his debt.

In PokerStars' new promotion tennis star Rafa Nadal is going to play heads-up against retired football legend Ronaldo. The battle is going to take place in London on November 6, and will be live streamed on YouTube and PokerStars.tv

 A couple of days ago Jimmy Fricke posted this photo on Twitter, which depicts the new limit holdem machine in the Venetian Casino. According to Fricke, the machine has a 2% rake and the virtual Hellmuth is delivering his signature quotes about poker and (supposedly) his opponent's playing abilities. 

Breakout Gaming plans to launch it services soon, with their very own cryptocurrency like Bitcoin, called Breakout Coin (BRO). An impressive list of players headlines the site, including Johnny Chan, Huck Seed, Jennifer Harman, Ted Forrest, David Benyamine, Layne Flack, Jeffrey Lisandro, Vladimir Schemelev and Toto Leonidas. 

Last week PokerStars hosted two meet and greets with the New Jersey online poker players and shared their plans for PokerStars New Jersey's tournament schedule and the VIP system. According to a player's trip report, PokerStars' management was eager to know what games and structures the players are looking for when PokerStars re-enters the market.

One of the most prestigious and highest-paying tournaments in the WCOOP schedule, Event #23, the $10,300 No Limit Holdem 8-max High Roller tournament, has attracted the finest players in poker, and produced an extremely tough final table, with players like Ankush "pistons87" Mandavia, Mustapha "lasagnaaammm" Kanit, Ben "Sauce123" Sulsky and Doug "WCGRider" Polk. In the end, Vicente "vicenfish" Delgado Zamorano (pictured below) won the title and the huge first place prize.

The Cincinatti Kid is one of the most famous poker movies of all time, and it was around this time 50 years ago that the production crew started shooting the film. It is considered to be one of legendary actor Steve McQueen's best movies. The visual quality of the film is not the best after all this time, but the atmosphere and the characters are great, so if you watch it to celebrate a little bit of poker/movie history, you will definitely not be disappointed.