The Kevmath Report - #5

Hello again, less than ten days until the poker world focuses on the World Series of Poker at the Rio in Las Vegas. That means it’s less than a week until I travel to Las Vegas for the first time in over two years to see many fully vaccinated and masked (when you’re at the table) people enjoying some poker.

Many have wondered if/when I start charging to read the newsletter. I’ve thought about charging $5/month or $50/year for continued access. During the past month, I’ve had some people consider sponsoring the newsletter instead. If you or someone you know wants to be a sponsor, please email me at kevmath.substack@gmail.com and I’ll take your offer under advisement.

RIP Norm Macdonald

The passing of Norm Macdonald at the age of 61 from cancer wasn’t necessarily the biggest poker news story of the past week, but it appeared to have a noticeable effect on those who knew him well within the poker community. The former lead commentator of GSN’s High Stakes Poker, Macdonald had a love of all things gambling, especially poker.

My only personal interaction with Norm was at the first PokerStars Players Championship in the Bahamas in 2019. We had a brief conversation and he decided to follow me on Twitter, as noted in the tweet below. There’s plenty of clips of Norm on Youtube, but a good place to start is by checking out the channel ‘I’m not Norm’ that has tons of videos available.

WSOP Adds 11 Online Bracelets to Schedule

When the 2021 World Series of Poker schedule was released, surprisingly there were no bracelets scheduled on WSOP.com. That oversight was corrected on Friday with the announcement of 11 Online Bracelet events - 10 available for Nevada/New Jersey players plus a single event for those in Pennsylvania. Each event runs on a Sunday from October 3 - November 21. Buy-ins range from $400 to $7,777 with most events starting at 8:30pm ET/5:30pm PT, not the most convenient time for those not heading to Vegas this fall.

Europeans Playing WSOP Main Event?

On Monday the Biden Administration announced the easing of travel restrictions for most of Europe, China, Brazil, and India starting in November to travel to the United States with proof of full vaccination or a negative COVID-19 test within 72 hours of their travel date. Currently, anyone traveling to the US must spend at least 14 days in certain countries like Canada or Mexico first, limiting a large portion of players unwilling to spend that much time and money to visit. The exact date in November is unknown at this time, but it could mean an influx of players participating in the Main Event (late registration closes at 3:40pm November 9) and post-lim events.

‘CrazyLissy’ Goes from Worst to First, Wins WCOOP $5,200 Main Event

Starting the final table 9th out of 9 players, Russia’s ‘CrazyLissy’ likely thought that moving up a couple of places would be the best they could do at the PokerStars World Championship of Online Poker $5,200 Main Event final table. Things turned out a lot better than expected, defeating Lithuania’s ‘necgaidizai’ heads-up to win just under $1,500,000 to close out the series.

A look back at all the facts and figures of the 306 events that made up this year’s WCOOP courtesy of Howard Swains on the PokerStars Blog.

Gostisa a Slovenian Rok Star, wins WPT World Online Championship Main Event

The partypoker World Online Championship series also wrapped up last week, highlighted by their $5,300 Main Event as Rok Gostisa defeated David Peters heads-up to have his name added to the Mike Sexton Cup along with $959,492.

Addamo Awesome at Poker Masters

Michael Addamo played just three of the twelve events of the Poker Masters series in the PokerGO Studio in Las Vegas, but he made quite the statement during his brief stay. Addamo started the weekend with a win in Event 11: $50,000 No-Limit Hold’em for $680,000 and taking the lead in the chase for the Purple Jacket. He then hopped into the final event, featuring a $100,000 buy-in and started the final table as the chip leader. Addamo made quick work of his competition, collecting another $1,160,000 by defeating Nick Petrangelo heads-up to lock up the Purple Jacket and another $50,000 for winning the overall leaderboard. The next event in the PokerGO Studio is the $300,000 Super High Roller Bowl VI September 27-29.

WPT Borgata Poker Open Online Final Table in New Jersey

The $3,500 World Poker Tour Borgata Online Poker Open Main Event drew a field of 305 entries Sunday evening as the $1,000,000 guaranteed prize pool was missed by about 10 players. BorgataPoker.com Ambassador Daniel ‘leinad’ Buzgon leads the final eight players when play resumes at 7pm ET. Matt Savage and Tony Dunst will call the action on a short delay with cards up coverage at twitch.tv/worldpokertour.

Live Borgata Tournaments are BACK

The Borgata poker room in Atlantic City re-opened a couple months ago, but with a limit number of tables and staffing, live tournaments haven’t been on the docket. That changes in October with tournaments held Wednesday and Friday. There are no further details at this time about the return of the popular Borgata Open tournament series.

partypoker MILLIONS visits North Cyprus

Continuing the partypoker theme, their popular live MILLIONS series is back from a long hiatus, visiting the Merit Royal Hotel and Casino in North Cyprus with a $5,300 Main Event with the prize pool guaranteed at $3,000,000 from September 22-27. You can follow the updates on PokerNews here and watch streaming coverage over here.

WPT Returns to Rock ‘N’ Roll SHR Hollywood

The next event on the World Poker Tour live schedule is the Rock ‘N’ Roll Poker Open at Seminole Hard Rock Hollywood, starting on November 17th. The $3,500 Championship runs from November 26th - December 1, guaranteeing $3,000,000 in the prize pool. Visit www.shrpo.com for a link to the full schedule.

RunGood Poker Series Debuts at Thunder Valley

Running from September 22-26, the Thunder Valley Poker Room in Lincoln, California hosts the RunGood Poker Series Comeback Tour. The $575 Main Event has a $200,000 guaranteed prize pool sandwiched between two other ‘ring’ events with the winners in each event awarded a seat to the year-end RGPS All-Stars ProAm event in the PokerGO Studio in Las Vegas.

Win a FREE WPTDeepStacks World Championship Seat

Recently I joined the Rec.Poker community, a friendly group of recreational players with a common goal in mind - to connect with people who also love the game of poker. They have plenty of free resources along with a Premium subscription ($15/month, $150 for 12 months. This Saturday at 4:30pm ET, they’re offering a free tournament on the ClubWPT subscription poker site that will award the winner a seat into the $2,500 WPTDeepStacks World Championship at Thunder Valley this December. You can find out more details by going to www.rec.poker/WPT.

Poker Media Australia Podcast Interview

I haven’t been in Australia for a long time so it was good to talk with Landon Blackhall and Ben Blaschke on the Poker Media Australia podcast talking about this year’s WSOP.

Amicus Brief Filed for PokerStars Appeal Against Kentucky

Earlier this month, an amicus brief was filed by the Washington Legal Foundation on the behalf of PokerStars appeal of the nine-figure judgment awarded to the Commonwealth of Kentucky.

A Correction on Dogs Playing Poker Fashion

Shortly after the release of last week’s newsletter, I was informed by best-selling author James McManus that Cassius Marcellus Coolidge’s ‘Dogs Playing Poker’ painting was just one of several he created over the years featuring dogs playing poker. You can read more about the paintings in Chapter 21 of ‘Cowboys Full’, McManus’s book on the history of poker.

Trivia

Shoutouts to Jerod Smith, Collin Capone, and Alfonso Cisneros who knew (or searched very well) that Edward Gamaitoni won the last United States Poker Championship Main Event in 2010.

This week’s question is likely a lot easier as it’s about the 2019 World Series of Poker. Who was the last person to win a WSOP bracelet where the entire tournament took place inside the Rio?

Comment below or hit me up with your answer, using the #TKRTrivia hashtag.