- Commissioner’s statement on Ventura, Marte
- Ronnie O’Sullivan: Masters champion ‘felt so vulnerable’ in final
- Arron Fletcher Wins 2017 WSOP International Circuit Marrakech Main Event ($140,224)
- Smith challenges Warner to go big in India
- Moncada No. 1 on MLB Pipeline’s Top 10 2B Prospects list
- Braves land 2 on MLB Pipeline’s Top 10 2B Prospects list
- Kingery makes MLB Pipeline’s Top 10 2B Prospects list
- New Zealand wrap up 2-0 after Bangladesh implosion
- Mathews, Pradeep, Gunathilaka to return to Sri Lanka
- Elliott hopes for rain for Poli
Five Thoughts: Fair Warning, Hall of Fame Hilarity, and Super High Roller Disappointment
- Updated: September 19, 2016
Much of the poker world spent the last week debating who should be in the Poker Hall of Fame Class of 2016. Some of the nominees got into the argument on social media, while at least one went to the felt to prove he’s worthy.
In the meantime, the biggest buy-in event in online history ended up being rather small, PokerStars finally gave fair warning that changes are afoot and Vanessa Selbst began gearing up for her latest charitable effort.
More on all of that in this week’s Five Thoughts:
Whale Hunt Halted The Hilarious Hall of Fame Campaign A Hall of Fame Heater Fair Warning #JusticeIsBlinds
1. Whale Hunt Halted
The PokerStars World Championship of Online Poker $102,000 Super High Roller ended up being a bit of a disappointment last week. Most had expected the field to include up to 45 entries, but even a flurry of last minute registrants and a couple of reentries only brought the total up to 28. From the look of things, there seemed to be a distinct lack of recreational players willing to pony up the six-figure buy in, and without the dead money, a few high-roller regulars took a pass as well.
Perhaps members of the affluent recreational poker playing community didn’t feel confident playing for such a large sum online, despite a number of assurances from PokerStars’ public relations and security teams that their money would be safe and the event’s integrity kept in tact. Maybe Guy Laliberte is right, and they’ve become tired of being the fish to the percentage-swapping pro sharks, or perhaps they simply didn’t feel like making another donation to the Fedor “CrownUpGuy” Holz retirement fund.
One high-roller trend certainly continued, as Holz moved farther along the path of poker’s greatest heater, becoming one of two players to book seven-figure scores in the event, after a chop with eventual winner “bencb789.”
Only time, and registration numbers in any upcoming high roller events on the live circuit, will tell if there’s any new trend developing here, but Holz may want to be a little careful going forward. In fact, it might be time he consider giving a little back, because if he keeps winning high rollers at this pace, the whales won’t be the only ones who decide to quit him.
PokerStars’ Lee Jones, Bryan Slick Talk WCOOP $102,000 Super High RollerSix Remain in the WCOOP $102,000 Super High Roller, Salman “salfshb” Behbehani Leads”bencb789″ Wins WCOOP Super High Roller for $1,172,461 After a Deal With Fedor “CrownUpGuy” HolzGuy Laliberté Announces €1 Million Big One for One Drop as Invitational for Rec Players Only 2. The Hilarious Hall of Fame Campaign
Poker Twitter heated up this week with some serious debate …
