Category Archives: Poker

Gambling operations are illegal in the state of Texasunless youre talking about the Texas Lotterywhich is why the city of Dallas is trying to shut down a poker room that it approved for business. The Texas Card House sits off Harry Hines Boulevard, past the strip clubs, sex shops, and shady theaters that line the citys de facto red-light district, in a strip mall next to the Sam Moon Trading Co. On a gray Monday afternoon in January, I find it brightly lit and packed with players ranging from twentysomething gamer types to gray-haired retirees. It looks more like a La Quinta breakfast room than a den of sin.

Ryan Crow, Texas Card Houses CEO, shows me around. He is clean cut, with neatly parted hair and a puckish grin, more business school bro than Scorsese gambling goon. He tells me business has been brisk since they opened in October 2020. Texas Card House has a full production studio tucked in a back room. Their regular YouTube streams, complete with commentators breaking down the action, reach 41,000 subscribers.

We knew when we opened it was going to be busy, Crow says. But we didnt know how big some of the games would be. When we do a tournament, people fly in internationally.

But in December 2021, Crow received a letter from the city revoking his certificate of occupancy and instructing him to close his doors. He was shocked. Before they opened, Crow had met with elected officials, the Dallas Police Departments vice squad, and the Dallas County District Attorneys Office. He explained how poker rooms could operate legally in Texas and how they can kill underground games, eliminating the robberies, drugs, and prostitution that often accompany them. Dallas is actually late to a boom in poker rooms across the state. Texas Card House opened its first location south of Austin in 2015. There are now more than three dozen poker rooms operating in Texas.

Dallas seemed to be following suit. During a 2019 City Council meeting at which bemused members discussed Texas Card Houses permitting process, City Attorney Chris Caso explained how it all works. Texas penal code offers an exemption to the states gambling ban if operations meet three criteria. Games must take place in a private place, organizers cannot benefit economically from the action, and the players must assume equal risk. The spirit of the law prevents cops from raiding poker night in peoples homes. It also allows for charity events and country club card rooms.

Texas Card House founder Sam Von Kennel wondered if these three criteriain legal jargon, the defense to prosecutionalso suggested a business model. If a private poker club required memberships and didnt take a rake, meaning a cut of each pot, it could meet the letter of the law. In 2015, Von Kennel went all in.

Theres a term for this kind of business: regulatory entrepreneurship, which was coined by two law professors, Elizabeth Pollman and Jordan Barry, in a 2017 Southern California Law Review article. Essentially, regulatory entrepreneurs make business bluffs, building companies that plan to change the lawand, in some instances, to simply break the law in the meantime. Examples include Uber and Airbnb, both of which grew so fast that by the time lawmakers tried to address the way they affected labor markets or housing supply, they were too big to ban, as Pollman and Barry put it.

Crows investment group bought Texas Card House from Von Kennel in 2015. The Dallas room became one of the companys most popular, in part because it drew players away from the citys thriving underground scene, which has a rich history. Texas Hold em is believed to have been popularized in Dallas in the 1920s. In the 30s and 40s, rival gangsters Benny Binion and Herbert Noble ran illegal casinos throughout the city before they moved on to Las Vegas. The city was also home to the AMVETS Club, a poker room that operated on Lower Greenville Avenue, across from where HG Sply Co. now stands, from 1969 to the 1980s. Poker Hall of Famers such as Doyle Brunson and Amarillo Slim Preston played there.

Not that keeping history alive has anything to do with the current state of affairs. After Texas Card House came Shuffle 214 in Northeast Dallas and Poker House Dallas near Brook Hollow Country Club. The city began to shift its stance on poker after a fourth card room, the Champions Club, attempted to open in the former III Forks restaurant off the Dallas North Tollway. Champions made two crucial errors. Their location was a stones throw from the Bent Tree North Homeowners Association, and it was in a part of Dallas that lies in more conservative Collin County, where the district attorney has taken a hard-line stance against poker rooms. North Dallas Councilwoman Cara Mendelsohn initially signaled support for the clubs, but, after constituents spoke out, she reversed course.

Ive been asked by my church to register a protest against them being allowed to open, said Jeffrey Hurt, a member of the Church of the Holy Communion Cathedral, at an October Board of Adjustment meeting. We do not believe a gambling location near our church is at all appropriate.

The board rejected Champions Clubs application for a certificate of occupancy, so club owners sued. When I contacted the City Attorneys Office, the Building Inspection Department, and Mendelsohn, they all cited that lawsuit as the reason they couldnt talk.

But as I dig through the archives of the Board of Adjustment hearings, another architect of the citys war against poker emerges. Senior Assistant Attorney Gary Powell was hired by the city in 2021 after a 36-year career in private practice and was tapped to investigate the poker room kerfuffle. Powell broadly interprets the states gambling prohibition, arguing that the defense of prosecution justifications made by the poker rooms dont hold because gambling is specifically outlawed in the Texas Constitution. Gambling wont be legal in Texas, Powell has argued, until the state amends its constitution.

Ive dug into this probably about as deepIm confident probably deeper than anybody in the room and probably about the top 10 or 15 in the state, Powell immodestly offered during a November meeting. I understand what is allowed here and what is not allowed.

Powell might be right. If the courts agree with him, he could spark a legal chain reaction that could bring down Texas fledgling legal poker scene. Not only that, but his broad interpretation of Texas gambling laws may impact other organizations. If the defense of prosecution arguments apply only to penny pot poker games around the kitchen table, as Powell seems to suggest, what about all those charity casino nights? And will a stricter interpretation of Texas gambling ban force a clampdown in card rooms at country clubs?

The answers to those questions will likely come only after a legal battle. After this article went to press in February, the Board of Adjustment was scheduled to hear the Texas Card House appeal of the revocation of its certificate of occupancy. If that fails, Crow told me, he will likely also sue the city. (The Board of Adjustments decided to delay its ruling until March 22.) Thus far, Attorney General Ken Paxton has not weighed in on the issue, despite Arlington state Rep. Chris Turner formally requesting an opinion after a poker house operator began exploring a location in that suburb.

The battle over poker brings to mind some other recent legal fights the city has waged from atop a high horse. The same week I visited Texas Card House, the City Council was deliberating an ordinance that would force the citys sexually oriented businesses to close at 2 a.m. It passed, and, within hours, the affected businesses sued. Back in 2016, billionaire Ray Hunt and former Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison pushed the city to ban the Exxxotica porn convention, only to leave taxpayers with a $650,000 legal settlement when courts ruled the ban was unconstitutional.

The citys aversion to poker rooms seems to be as much about a deep insecurity as it is about gambling law. Dallas is both a Bible Belt city and a frontier town. Civic leaders efforts to project a polished image have long been undermined by the citys reputation as a destination for gambling and sex. Had the Champions Club never tried to open just a few blocks from the churches and schools of Bent Tree, Gary Powell might never had fallen down his legal rabbit hole that may end up leaving taxpayers, once again, paying for the fallout of a moral crusade no other city in Texas has opted to wage.

But if Powell is right, and if the courts decide to close the loopholes that have created Texas poker rooms, then the cityand the stateshould respond by pushing to amend state law or the Texas Constitution to allow operations such as Texas Card House, which have already shown the value of lifting Dallas poker scene out of the shadows.

At Texas Card House, I met a former underground dealer who asked not to be named. She told me that a few months before Texas Card House opened, there was a stabbing at an underground game involving a well-known local player. She was relieved that there was now a safe place to play.

There was a rash of robberies, the dealer told me. Multiple games were hit. Some games called the police. Other games did not call the police because they were afraid.

If the city succeeds in shuttering above-board poker rooms, she said, it will just force players back underground.

If the city shuts them down, they are still going to play, the card dealer told me. They are not going to quit playing.

Dallas most important news stories of the week, delivered to your inbox each Sunday.

Peter Simek was the arts editor with D Magazine where he wrote about a broad range of topics, from visual

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The City of Dallas is Coming for the Poker Rooms It Once Approved - D Magazine

07:3611 Mar

He has been a mainstay for thousands of hungry poker players at the World Series of Poker for over a decade, but this year David All American Dave Swanson has been told he cant operate his healthy food services at the WSOP, and the players arent happy about it.

Swanson and his AAD food truck would normally have been looking forward to another summer parked up outside the Rio, serving customers with high-quality, organically produced food, designed as brain fuel for long, hard sessions at the poker table.

This year, however, the WSOP has upped sticks and moved to the Bally's/Paris casino combo, and those strip venues arent making AAD very welcome.

That news hasnt gone down well with the players who relied on All American Daves healthy meal plans, which they could have delivered to their tables or picked up on breaks.

Three-time WSOP Bracelet winner, Greg Mueller, shared his opinion on Twitter...

Tony Cousineau added:

David McGowan implored the WSOP to step in and find a solution:

Swanson started his now-iconic All American Dave food services back in 2008, after gaining some serious weight following knee surgery.

The lifestyle changes that followed saw him turn his personal food and fitness regime into a brand that mixed poker and healthy food giving them the energy to win! as his website states.

Although there are multiple options for players to eat with the WSOP caravan moving lock, stock and barrel to their new host venues on the Vegas Strip, not everyone was convinced by the offerings.

Jeff Boskis alternatives for a 7-week stay at the Series was a sarcastic and carb-heavy take on whats on offer...

All is not yet lost for Swanson and his All American Dave run on the WSOP, telling Jon Pill:

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All American Dave Food Service Not Permitted To Attend WSOP 2022 - PokerTube

An NFL player is busted for betting on his team, a poker-themed cartoon, and record-breaking crowds in Prague are some of the short stacks CardsChat collected in last weeks orbit of the poker world.

Fans of poker who also love Japanese anime are in luck.A poker-themed franchise called High Card is being developed and the YouTube teaser was released today.

According to animenewsnetwork.com, the show is based on a world order that can be controlled by a set of 52 X-Playing cards with the power to bestow different superhuman powers and abilities to the ones that possess them. With these cards, people can access the hidden power of the buddy that can be found within themselves.

All righty, then.

Regardless, the art looks very cool. High Card is set to debut in 2023 in TV, novel, and manga form.

Atlanta Falcons wide receiver Calvin Ridley was suspended yesterday for at least a year for gambling on the NFL last season through an online client. He can ask for reinstatement Feb. 15, 2023.

Ridley said via Twitter he bet a total of $1,500. Multiple news sources say he placed less than 10 bets through his phonebetween Nov. 23-28, a few weeks after Ridley was placed on the non-football injury list to deal with self-described mental issues.

The bets were three, five, and eight-game parlays in which the Falcons needed to win to hit.

Talk about mental anguish the lost season will cost Ridley $11 million.

The situation revealed how the NFL monitors their players and employees gambling habits. According to the Washington Post, the league contracts with Genius Sports which calls itself a data, technology and commercial partner that powers the global ecosystem connecting sports, betting and media.

Genius Sports contracts with many of the online books including Draftkings, Flutter (FanDuel), and bet365. The leagues that join the NFL using Genius Sports to monitor their employees include the PGA Tour, NCAA, the Premiere League, and EuroLeague Basketball.

Everyone should get suspended from their job for a year if they bet on the Falcons.

Kevin Clark (@bykevinclark) March 7, 2022

Another sign that live tournament poker is experiencing a surge, the 1,100 buy-in Eureka Prague Main Event broke an attendance record that was set in 2018. Four starting flights built a field of 3,155 entries, which breaks the record by 27%.

All 469 players who made it through to Day 2 today got in the money. The tournament continues at the Hilton Prague tomorrow when 66 players return, and is scheduled to finish Thursday. The winner gets 417,820.

The Asian Poker Tour (APT) and Resorts World Manila agreed to a two-year deal that will bring four series to the casino.

The first pair of series will take place at Resorts World Manila April 27 to May 8 and then September 7 to 18 this year. Another pair will take place in 2023. A detailed schedule of this years events will be soon be announced.

The deal solidifies Resorts World Manila as a major poker stop in Asia, just how the casino wants it.

Before the pandemic, Resorts World Manila had plans in hand to establish the largest poker room in Asia, said Hakan Dagtas, executive vice president and chief gaming and marketing officer for the casino in a press release. With the casino now returning to normal operations, those plans are firmly back on the drawing board. Our goal is to spearhead the initiative to ensure Manila becomes the poker capital of Asia.

The APT returns this year after a two year hiatus, starting with the APT Phu Quoc Vietnam at the Corona Casino on April 8. It has six stops scheduled for 2022 so far. Besides the COVID-induced break, APT held events at Resorts World Manila since 2011.

Written by

Bob Pajich

Bob Pajich is a poker news reporter, creative writer, and poker player who never met suited connectors he didn't like.

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NFL Player Busted for Betting, Japanese Anime Poker Show in Production - CardsChat.com

This week, members of Everygame Poker have access to a brand-new online slot tournament, featuring four top-rated games from Betsoft. Compete for a piece of the $2,000 prize pool by playing Take Olympus, Take the Bank, Take Santas Shop, and Take the Kingdom.

Details of the Competition

The special online slot tournament is live this week, with players able to earn points by playing the four Betsoft titles. Just click on the Betsoft tab to access the games in the casino section of Everygame. By the end of the week, the top 16 points earners will earn a piece of the prize pool with first place taking home $400.

Lets take a look at the games connected to the deal. Everygame Poker chose the most popular Betsoft titles so that players would enjoy the competition. With Take the Bank, a cop and robbers theme is found on the game grid. Bombs explode and become wild while the police car icons will trigger casino spins and sticky wilds!

In Take the Kingdom, players enter a fantasy world where dragons rule the reels. Watch as the dragon breathes firebombs onto the game grid and every seven spins, the bombs turn into wilds! Find treasures chests and unlock extra wilds with casino spins!

Want to enjoy the holidays outside of the season? Everygame is including Take Santas Shop on the list of connected online slot games, complete with a trip to the north pole! Play this exciting game and enjoy a cops and robbers style format but with ornament bombs instead!

The last game on the list is Take Olympus. This game features Greek gods including the mighty Zeus who can fill a reel and provide casino spins! The slot also includes wilds and multipliers!

Blackjack Quest Contest

While you are visiting Everygame Poker, be sure to take part in the Blackjack Quest contest as well. Through March 13, players can compete for special bonus funds via blackjack gaming. Win $50 on top of any hand winnings by earning two Natural Blackjacks, a Colored Blackjack and a Clubs Blackjack. The bonus cash has a 25x wagering requirement.

Along with slots and table games, Everygame Poker is home to busy poker cash tables and tournaments. Access gaming options via the Horizon Poker Network with plenty of options for poker gaming. The site offers tournaments on a regular basis with cash games running 24/7 so players can always find a game to play.

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Everygame Poker hosting special slot tournament this week - World Casino Directory

Online poker options in the US might soon expand with the addition of Run It Once (RIO) brand after it was acquired by Rush Street Interactive (RSI) in a $5.8 million deal last week.

The acquisition of RIO, the popular online poker website owned by Phil Galfond, is suddenly bringing up a fourth player across US online poker regulated markets where currently only PokerStars, World Series of Poker (WSOP) and BetMGM Poker operate.

RIO Poker created a platform that people loved, with features and innovations that the poker world was excited about, but we also heard things like if only they could iterate on their software faster or Id move all my volume to RIO if they were bigger. Well, now we are bigger, much bigger.

The poker pro announced the acquisition deal that includes himself, the poker platform and the team of RIO, after shutting it down by the end of last year in an attempt to facilitate its entry into the US iGaming space.

RSI stated in its full year 2021 financial report it had acquired the platform and on-boarded the RIO Poker team, which means the RSI acquisition deal materialized late in 2021 prior to the website being taken down by Galfond.

When I mentioned that RIO Poker was headed down a path towards the US market, I told you that I would have more details to share with you in the near future. Today is the future, commented Galfond on Twitter.

Galfond noted his poker brand was not shy of offers over the past year-and-a-half but RSI won his trust due to the shared values of honesty, integrity, fairness, and transparency.

Galfonds Challenge, ultra-high stakes games Galfond plays against some of the worlds best poker players, was one of the main aspects of RIO Poker that lured the Chicago-based casino and gaming operator.

RIO Poker suitor RSI currently operates online sports betting and casino gaming in a total of 13 US jurisdictions under its PlaySugarHouse.com and BetRivers.com brands and the acquisition of RIO Poker further strengthens the companys position in the US iGaming space.

The question now is where RSI will launch the online poker brand for which Galfond will serve as brand ambassador and when as a launch date is yet to be announced but many argue it will be in one of the states in which the operator is live with online casino gaming.

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RSIs RIO Acquisition Paves the Way for Fourth US Poker Brand - GamblingNews.com

Mar 4, 2022

Brett Okamoto

Marc Raimondi

COCONUT CREEK, Fla. - Jorge Masvidal walked into the American Top Team (ATT) gym one day in September 2019 and spotted Colby Covington. The two men, formerly best friends and roommates, now barely got along. The tension between them was high.

Masvidal approached Covington and said they should talk after practice. Covington asked what he wanted to talk about, and Masvidal responded that Covington was "being a b----" and he didn't appreciate some of the things Covington had said about him in interviews. Covington agreed they should chat.

"It's pretty amicable," Masvidal told ESPN of that moment. "It's not that bad."

But as Masvidal turned around to walk away, he said, Covington began to raise his voice.

"I'll f---ing kill you, bro," Masvidal said Covington shouted. "Don't ever talk to me like that."

The outburst got the entire gym's attention. Coaches and other fighters stepped between the two athletes and separated them.

Covington recalls that confrontation in the gym but disagrees with Masvidal's recollection, saying Masvidal was the one who began yelling.

"If he wanted to do something," Covington said, "he would have [gotten] in my face."

Masvidal took a young Covington under his wing more than 10 years ago. They bonded over training and poker, shared an apartment and were so close that American Top Team owner Dan Lambert joked that he thought they were "in a relationship." Covington's escalating, crude rhetoric -- including targeting teammates -- as well as a financial disagreement between Covington and one of Masvidal's coaches caused an acrimonious split. They've spent the past few years publicly trading insults and accusations, and recently told ESPN what really created the rift between them.

Their shared history over nearly a decade has created one of the most personal rivalries the sport has ever seen. On Saturday, nobody will stand between Covington and Masvidal. Locked in the Octagon for the main event of UFC 272 in Las Vegas, the fighters will engage in one of the biggest grudge matches in UFC history -- former roommates turned into the most hated of rivals. Both fighters failed to defeat Kamaru Usman twice to win the title, but this fight has nothing to do with a championship, and it's bigger than the numbers next to their names.

"They're gonna be coming to kill each other," ATT fighter and PFL champion Kayla Harrison said. "This is as real as it gets."

After the near brawl in September 2019, Masvidal said he asked Covington to meet him following practice at Nana-Sushi Thai, a restaurant the two used to frequent together just three minutes from the gym. Dinner would be on him. Covington, Masvidal said, never showed.

For Masvidal, at that point, the time for talking was over.

"[I was] probably gonna break a bottle on his face," Masvidal said.

April 20, 2013: Jorge Masvidal makes his UFC debut.

Aug. 23, 2014: Colby Covington makes his UFC debut.

COVINGTON ARRIVED IN Florida in 2011, just months after being honored as a NCAA Division I All-American wrestler at Oregon State University. The California native joined the gym as part of a new ATT program designed to get more standout amateur wrestlers in the door. Pretty quickly, Masvidal took a liking to Covington and the two began training together. Masvidal, a top-notch striker, wanted help with his wrestling, and he returned the favor by showing Covington new boxing and kickboxing skills.

"It's like the saying goes: Opposites attract," Covington said. "I just feel like we were just drawn to each other naturally."

2 Related

The friendship blossomed outside the gym. After training together during the day, Masvidal and Covington would run into each other at local casinos. Both were avid poker players and soon they started making plans to play together after training at Seminole Casino Coconut Creek or Isle Casino Pompano Park.

"I mean, they were just always together, always talking about each other, but propping each other up," Lambert said to ESPN. "It was always, 'Oh, this guy's gonna do this and this guy's gonna do this. We're gonna take over the world together.'"

Covington was pretty quiet when he first arrived at the gym, those at ATT recalled to ESPN. Masvidal was one of the people who got him to open up a bit.

"I'm not gonna say [Covington was] anti-social, but certainly not a sociable guy," ATT general manager Richie Guerriero said. "Not super well-liked among the team. But then again, I don't think he ingratiated himself to be friends with a ton of people on the team."

And yet some, like Masvidal, held Covington in high esteem. Harrison, who started training at ATT in 2018, said she considered Covington a friend at one point. Both shared a head coach in Mike Brown and a strength and conditioning coach in Jeremy Fedoruk.

"He was always really kind to me," Harrison said. "He was funny, would joke around, laugh with me. ... We would go up there and train together, work hard, push each other. I have nothing but nice things to say about him."

Masvidal asked Covington to be his roommate in 2016 when he saw his teammate was down on his luck. Covington had broken up with his girlfriend and was rehabbing a broken hand. So, Masvidal let him stay at his two-bedroom apartment in Coconut Creek, near the gym. The duo were roommates for about nine months.

The two got along well, even training together in the apartment. Masvidal said the deal would be that Covington paid him $300 per month in rent, but Masvidal says he never received the money.

"I'm feeding him. I'm the hand that provides everything," Masvidal said. "He was a much different person. Wouldn't dare say a bad thing to me or about me, ever. But once the money got involved? Piece of s---."

2:09

Jorge Masvidal looks back on how his relationship with Colby Covington has changed since they first met.

Covington does not deny that he lived with Masvidal. But he wants to clarify that it was not Masvidal's place -- the apartment was paid for by Masvidal's wife, Maritza, per Covington.

"She did so much for us coming up," Covington said. "This wasn't his couch. He was a broke fighter - he was a loser. He didn't have no sponsors. He didn't have big-money fights at this time. ... She gave us this roof over our head, she put food on our table, she cleaned the house for us all the time."

Covington and Masvidal had a friendly ritual before fights to test one another. When Masvidal was nearing competition, Covington would buy junk food he knew Masvidal liked and he'd keep it in their common area.

"Just to f--- with me," Masvidal said in a 2016 interview on "The MMA Hour." "Just so I had to pass by it every day and see if I break. Then, I'd do the same thing to him."

Jan. 28, 2017: Masvidal wins his third straight match with a TKO of Donald Cerrone, setting up a title eliminator fight with Demian Maia.

May 13, 2017: Masvidal loses a tight split decision to Maia.

Oct. 28, 2017: Maia takes a fight against Covington at home in Brazil, with Covington winning to put himself on the precipice of a title shot.

June 9, 2018: With Masvidal in his corner, Covington wins the UFC interim welterweight championship by defeating Rafael dos Anjos.

IN 2018, AS the friendship between Covington and Masvidal grew a bit colder, their respective careers began to heat up.

Masvidal was selected to be on the popular Latin American reality show "Exatln Estados Unidos," where contestants compete in a series of physical and mental tests. Participating in the series helped grow his profile and allowed him to refocus after a 15-year journey as a pro fighter.

In a grudge match years in the making, former friends Colby Covington and Jorge Masvidal square off in a high-stakes welterweight main event.

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UFC 272: Covington vs. Masvidal Saturday, T-Mobile Arena, Las Vegas Main card: 10 p.m. ET on ESPN+ PPV Prelims: 8 p.m. ET on ESPN/ESPN+ Early prelims: 6 p.m. ET on ESPN+

Subscribe to ESPN+ to get exclusive live UFC events, weigh-ins and more; Dana White's Contender Series; and more exclusive MMA content.

"It sounds as corny as it may be, but being out away from everybody, just by myself, I got to find me," Masvidal told ESPN in 2019. "I got to just listen to my voice, not a million different opinions or some stupid song on the radio or anything."

Masvidal did not fight at all in 2018. Covington, meanwhile, earned his first title shot, a bout for the interim belt against Rafael dos Anjos at UFC 225 in June of that year. He became the No.1 contender eight months earlier by beating Demian Maia via a dominant unanimous decision in Maia's home country of Brazil. In his postfight speech, Covington blasted Brazilians, calling them "filthy animals."

The seeds for that scene in Brazil were planted after Covington's victory over Dong Hyun Kim in June 2017. The win made Covington 7-1 in the UFC, but Lambert said matchmaker Sean Shelby told him Covington's contract likely would not be renewed because his wrestling-heavy style was not great for business. So Lambert went to Covington, and the two came up with a pro wrestling-esque persona for Covington that featured a thick layer of trash talk.

"The leadup to the dos Anjos fight with Colby was all about Brazil," Lambert said. "And that was the angle Colby took. That is what got him to that promised land of getting a title shot, [what] saved his job."

Covington beat dos Anjos with Masvidal in his corner, and the two celebrated the victory heartily afterward. That fight week ended up being at the center of the combustible issues between the two, but at the time, things were good for both of them.

As Covington was waiting for the undisputed title shot owed to him as interim champ, Masvidal returned to the Octagon in March 2019 with a huge second-round knockout of Darren Till. After that bout, welterweight contender Leon Edwards exchanged words with Masvidal while Masvidal was being interviewed backstage. Still on camera, Masvidal confronted Edwards and landed a few punches.

Masvidal would say minutes later to ESPN that he hit Edwards with a "three-piece with the soda," which quickly became a viral clip and oft-repeated catchphrase. Masvidal's moment in the spotlight continued in July 2019 with a running knee that knocked out Ben Askren in just five seconds. It was the fastest knockout in UFC history.

In four months, Masvidal went from seasoned veteran with a hardcore fan following to one of the biggest stars in the UFC.

Covington couldn't come to terms with the UFC for a title shot and was stripped of the interim title in July 2018. He didn't fight again until August 2019, when he scored a dominant unanimous decision win over former teammate and former champ Robbie Lawler. That victory made Covington's case for a title opportunity airtight.

Masvidal and Covington, now two of the best and most talked about fighters on the UFC roster, ended up headlining the final two events of 2019. Masvidal beat Nate Diaz to win the mythical Baddest Motherf---er title at UFC 244 in November at Madison Square Garden. In December, Covington fell via fifth-round TKO to champion Kamaru Usman in an epic, back-and-forth welterweight title fight at UFC 245.

July 6, 2019: Masvidal KOs Ben Askren out in 5 seconds, the fastest fight in UFC history.

Aug. 3, 2019: Covington wins his seventh straight fight with a decision victory over Robbie Lawler.

Aug. 17, 2019: Covington and Masvidal exchange words while seated in the crowd at UFC 241.

Nov. 2, 2019: Masvidal defeats Nate Diaz at UFC 244, winning the "BMF" title at Madison Square Garden.

Dec. 14, 2019: Covington gets his title shot against Kamaru Usman, and is knocked out by the champion in Round 5. Covington earns Fight of the Night honors for the first time in his career.

March 2020: Covington and Masvidal are kicked out of the American Top Team gym. Masvidal eventually returns, but Covington leaves for good.

MASVIDAL'S HEAD COACH at ATT is Brown, but Paulino Hernandez, his boxing coach, is the one he credits for taking a chance on him when he was still a kid fighting in the streets in the Westchester neighborhood of Miami.

"Paulino is like my father," Masvidal said. "He's not just a coach to me. He's a dude that took me out from a very bad, hostile environment and really guided my whole career. He said, 'You have the talent, just your life outside of here is a f---ing mess. But if you can cut all that out and just come stick with us and do this, I'm with you on this whole journey.'"

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Masvidal said he and Hernandez had a handshake deal from then on that Masvidal would give Hernandez a small percentage, up to 5%, of his fight earnings. At that early stage of Masvidal's career, that added up to only about $50 per fight. When Masvidal started training with Covington in 2011, he set Covington up with Hernandez. The two shook on the same deal, Masvidal said.

Covington's first big payday came in the dos Anjos fight. Based on Masvidal's understanding of the original deal with Hernandez, Covington owed the coach $12,500. Masvidal said Covington didn't pay Hernandez at all. He said he asked Covington on several occasions why Hernandez didn't get his money, and Covington either avoided the conversation or didn't give a straight answer. Masvidal ended up paying Hernandez the $12,500 out of his pocket, feeling obligated because he was the one who introduced Covington and Hernandez.

"That's when our relationship went sour," Masvidal said of Covington. "That's when I wanted to get the bat and take it to his neck."

Covington said Hernandez and Masvidal thought he made $380,000 for the dos Anjos fight because websites erroneously reported it. The actual total he earned for that bout, Covington said, was $200,000. Hernandez, according to Covington, wanted a share of the fake amount.

"It was never over money," Covington said. "Jorge is grasping at straws. He has nothing else to say."

From Covington's perspective, the tension has been due to Masvidal being jealous of his former roommate outperforming him in the octagon.

When Covington returned from the Maia fight in Brazil, he said, he felt a coldness coming from Masvidal. Covington speculates that it's because Masvidal had come up short in his fight with Maia five months earlier. At one point, Covington said Masvidal told him if they had to fight each other, it was OK. For Covington, the thought of fighting his friend had never entered his mind.

"It hurt," Covington said, addressing the genuineness of their relationship. "I gave a lot to him. I put my career on the back burner at first. I was just his training partner. It wasn't about my career. I didn't even think about fights. All I thought about was preparing Jorge for his next fight."

By the time of the dos Anjos fight Covington had already rubbed people at ATT the wrong way -- especially his Brazilian teammates. Lambert called a meeting with coaches and fighters to try and keep things civil.

"Colby might say Brazil is a dump, and you guys might think Colby's an a--hole - and you might both be right," Lambert said he told everyone in the gym. "But the fact of the matter is when you're in the gym, you're in the gym and we're here to do a job."

Brazilians were the target of Covington's trash talk to promote the dos Anjos fight. Covington, the ardent card player, went all-in with no opponent set, and his relationships at the gym were rocky at best. From UFC president Dana White to his own ATT teammates to eventually Masvidal, Covington verbally tore down "literally everybody in the business," Lambert said.

"I just see him as like a wounded little boy, like the kid on the playground who no one would play with," Harrison said. "So now, he's turned into a f---ing monster."

July 12, 2020: Masvidal takes a last-minute title fight against Usman in Abu Dhabi. It's his first UFC title shot, and Masvidal loses by unanimous decision.

Sept. 19, 2020: Covington returns to the Octagon and records a victory over longtime rival and former champ Tyron Woodley.

April 24, 2021: In his rematch against Usman, Masvidal loses by second-round KO.

Nov. 6, 2021, Covington gets his title rematch against Usman, losing via unanimous decision.

COVINGTON STILL REFERRED to Masvidal as his "best friend" in interviews up to the summer of 2019, before Covington's fight against Lawler. The tone of his words had changed though, with both men now contenders for the welterweight title following Masvidal's historic knockout of Askren.

In an interview with MMA Junkie in July 2019, Covington said he and Masvidal were like Batman and Robin. Specifically, Covington said he was Batman and Masvidal was his sidekick. It was the first time Covington publicly said something that Masvidal could perceive as negative toward his former friend.

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The two were both in the crowd at UFC 241 in Anaheim, California, in August 2019. Masvidal was seated behind Covington and tapped Covington on the shoulder.

"What's all that s--- talking, bro?" Masvidal said he asked Covington. "We're both men. You've got my phone number. Why don't we go outside and just talk like men?"

Covington told him he was "unprofessional" for trying to fight him at a UFC event. White got involved, and security changed Masvidal's seat. Masvidal said three security guards flanked him for the rest of the card.

"Act like a professional," Covington later said. "We're at a UFC event, man. When have I ever laid hands on someone? I can beat up anybody in the crowd, any of the fighters. None of them can touch me, I'm the best fighter in the world. But I handle my business in the cage. That's where I do my business: in the UFC Octagon."

A few weeks later, they saw each other at the gym, which spurred the confrontation that ultimately ended with Masvidal saying he invited Covington to the sushi dinner. Covington said that story is "the biggest lie" he's ever heard but recalls that Masvidal said they could settle things in the parking lot of a nearby Publix, a Florida supermarket chain.

Masvidal was not the only ATT fighter to clash with Covington during that period.

Joanna Jedrzejczyk, the former UFC strawweight champion, said she went into the women's locker room at the gym one day in the fall of 2019 and found women in bikinis preparing to be in a video shoot for Covington's social media page. Jedrzejczyk was upset that non-fighters were at the gym -- ATT is not open to the public -- taking up space in places she felt they shouldn't be. She was already annoyed that Covington was showing up to the gym in a rented limousine and having people hold doors for him, all for Instagram videos. This was the final straw.

"We train here," Jedrzejczyk said she told him. "You can't act like you're the superhero millionaire -- you are a zero. You are a great athlete, so keep it humble and work hard. That's it."

Covington also had a run-in with then-teammate Dustin Poirier, the former UFC interim lightweight champion, who took issue with callous things Covington was saying about him in interviews. Poirier approached Covington while he was training with the intent to fight him, but teammates separated the two. Covington said these incidents both happened only after Jedrzejczyk and Poirier started talking negatively about him in the media, not the other way around.

"If I'm fighting Colby, we're both going to jail," Poirier said last month at UFC 271. "I'm going to jail. I'm not going to fight him in an Octagon. He's not making money off of my career and what I've done."

To avoid a confrontation with other fighters -- especially Masvidal -- coaches changed Covington's training times and where he worked out in the gym.

"If they were in the same building, Jorge was gonna go after him," Brown said. "We'd have to stop everything, put all hands on deck, separate these guys. This is a major problem. If people aren't there, they're fighting 100%."

Things finally came to a head in March 2020 when Lambert instituted a rule that no ATT members can trash talk each other. Masvidal broke the rule within days, tweeting that Covington was "the most fragile" and "most sensitive guy" in UFC history. Masvidal was upset that Lambert made the rule only after Covington had spent nearly a year blasting teammates in the press.

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UFC 272 - Poker, sushi and betrayal - How Colby Covington and Jorge Masvidal went from roommates to rivals - ESPN

Popular poker vlogger Andrew Neeme made his way down to the Wynn today to participate in the $1,600 PLO/NLH event.

In October 2016, Neeme got to work by releasing his first poker vlog. Just over five years later, the vlogger pioneer has emerged as one of the most influential players in the industry, which was evidenced by recent news that he invested in a Texas cardroom alongside Doug Polk and Brad Owen.

Brad and I were on the meet-up game trail for a bunch of years, Neeme told PokerNews on a recent episode of the PokerNews Podcast. Sort of came up with this concept that I guess a lot of people in poker are familiar with now, but just getting a bunch of people together in their local town, in their local cardroom, for just a fun social night of poker and maybe they can help contribute to help make a poker vlog theyve come to enjoy over the years as well.

Later this month from March 20-27, Neeme will join Darren Elias and Matt Berkey as emcees to BetMGM's March Poker Mania, an online series with tournaments in New Jersey, Michigan, and Pennsylvania that will offer a total of $1.3 million in guarantees among the three states.

Michigan's Neeme will host the MetMGM Poker Cash Game Meetup at MGM Grand Detroit on March 23 and a college basketball hangout at the BetMGM Sports Lounge on March 24 before streaming several events on his YouTube channel throughout the week. Learn more about that series by clicking here.

For more on Neeme, follow him on Twitter at @andrewneeme.

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Poker Vlogger Andrew Neeme in the Mix | 2022 Wynn Millions - PokerNews.com

NICOSIA, Cyprus, March 04, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The Poker Faces Club has announced the Launch of Its metaverse project, which will bring fair poker games to the Blockchain. In 2021, the metaverse has been revealed to the world. Now, in early 2022, a myriad of Metaverse-related crypto projects are fighting for the spotlight. But this project may as well be the future gem users were waiting for. By bringing together poker, passive income and a metaverse gaming platform, The Poker Faces Club aims to revolutionize the world of online poker.

What people should know so far about The Poker Faces Club

The Poker Faces Club is a Blockchain-based project that aims to bring the best poker and gaming platform experience to the metaverse. According to the founding team: "Existing centralized online poker platforms lack fairness and they are failing to produce feelings, like the excitement of being in a real-world gaming platform. With the Poker Faces Club project, people want to change all that."

The Poker Faces Club aims to create a Blockchain-based online poker platform and anew genre of metaverse experience. The Poker Faces Club will provide real-life services, as well as an arcade room, a merchandizing store and will even host conferences and parties!

The first step of the project is the release of the genesis collection: 4444 2D NFTs featuring poker players, which will grant the holders with interesting utilities:

Become an owner of the metaverse platform:

With the Poker Faces NFTs, users will be able to become the proud owner of a metaverse platform and generate passive income. By owning one of the 4444 2D NFTs, users will be become a shareholder in the gaming platform and share 80% of the profits with the other holders. "The total number of 4444 NFTs has been thoroughly chosen to provide a good balance between great passive income and enough capital to fund the project roadmap. People want everyone to benefit from this project!" explains Tom, one of the co-founders.

Every month, a fair lottery will pick a random playing card, and all the holders that have corresponding traits on their NFT will share the vault rewards! "People wanted to find an exciting way of distributing the rewards to the community. With our Monthly Lottery, users can make some truly impressive profits. That's the gambler's version of passive income!"

Making online poker fair again:

According to the founders, existing online poker platforms have three main issues: First, it's hard to prove that the dealer is fair and not biased. Second, rewards take days, even weeks to be distributed. Third, insiders cheating from the company is possible and has happened several times in the past.

The Poker Faces Club wants to solve these issues by creating a web 3.0 poker platform. Thanks to open-source code and the Blockchain technology, the game will be 100% fair and reliable. Also, the rewards will be instantly distributed, in crypto. Additionally, no KYC will be required. Poker players will be able to challenge themselves to cash games and tournaments, in total anonymity.

Be part of an exclusive new poker community

The Poker Faces Club aims to bring together people from the NFTs and the poker communities. The Club members will enjoy many experiences like poker tournaments, cash games, live events, conferences, community games and contests.

"People want that every holder feels like a VIP. Access to exclusive rooms of the gaming platform, meeting with pro poker players and more special services will be part of your journey!" explains Nick, co-founder of the project.

Additionally, a free poker tournament with real cryptoprizes will be accessible every week for the holders.

A promising Roadmap

About The Poker Faces Club

The founding team is composed of three entrepreneurs with prior experience in Blockchain development, crypto-sphere, and poker and gaming platform field.

George is a computer scientist with seven years of experience in Blockchain. He developed successful crypto-related companies. He is responsible for the all the development aspects of the project.

Nick is a pro poker-player since 2006. He is deeply involved in the poker community and has great experience with crypto and NFT projects. His role is to ensure the Metaverse gaming platform offers the best user-experience. He will also help in building the community around poker and the gaming platform(both in Metaverse and in real life).

Tom has been working in marketing and business development for over five years. He has extensive knowledge both in finance and crypto. He will oversee the project management, partnerships and financials.

The team will navigate the project according to the following values: transparency, user-experience comes first, community-centred.

So, how can users get white-listed? Everyone will have their chance to get a spot on the whitelist. The Poker Faces Club will organise online weekly poker tournaments where the participants may be rewarded with a spot. In addition, several giveaways and contests will be held on their Twitter and Discord. Make sure to follow their socials!

Social Links

Twitter: https://twitter.com/PokerFacesNft

Discord: https://discord.gg/hPe9qvPYhw

Media Contact

Brand: The Poker Faces Club

E-mail: contact@thepokerfaces.club

Website: http://thepokerfaces.club/

SOURCE: The Poker Faces Club

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The Poker Faces Club Announces the Launch of Its Metaverse - GlobeNewswire

Thirteen years ago, the World Series of Poker (WSOP) Main Event went on just its second-ever November Nine hiatus. When they did, Steve Begleiter sat third in chips behind Darvin Moon and Eric Buchman, but ahead of other players like Jeff Shulman, Phil Ivey, and eventual champ Joe Cada.

Begleiter, who was in action today here on Day 3 of the 2022 Wynn Millions, wound up finishing in sixth place for $1,587,160, which was his first-ever documented tournament cash on the Hendon Mob. Since then, hes only added two other scores, one in August 2009 and the other in June 2016 when he finished 428th for $3,862 in the WSOP Event #41: $1,500 Monster Stack.

So, whatever happened to the former head of corporate strategy at Bear Stearns and married father of three?

Im not a professional. I started maybe in 2007. I played the Main Event in 2008, and between 2008-09 I put a lot of time into the game, Begleiter recently told PokerNews. Obviously in 2009, I caught lightning in a bottle. Very little bad stuff had happened to me. I hadnt had that many two outers, or four hours with no cards. I probably played the Main Event the next five or six years, and I busted myself once or twice, but basically, all those bad things I thought only happened to other people happened to me.

He continued: There were no results to show for it. Then life sort of got in the way aging parents, work, stuff like that. I stopped going for a few years and really just limited my poker to friends in the community that I live in. This year I turn 60 and the present my wife is giving me is I can play as many poker tournaments as I can fit into my schedule.

Few players had as big a rail as Begleiter did back in 2009. Not only was his wife, Karen, in attendance, and his three children Joshua, Caroline, and Aaron waiting in the hall (they werent old enough at the time to enter the gaming area), but he also had over a hundred friends and family in the crowd.

It was one of the thrills of a lifetime, he recalled fondly. If you remember, I had won my stake in a local tournament, so I had 20 partners. I had a 100 friends and family out there. It was just a great shared experience and Im still friends with many of those people today. Looking back, it was a really, really fun time.

Unfortunately Begleiter's return to poker did not result in another big final table appearance as he was eliminated from the 2022 Wynn Millions before the money.

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Where Are They Now? 2009 WSOP 6th-Place Finisher Steve Begleiter - PokerNews.com

This week in our Road To St George series, two-time IRONMAN World Champion Patrick Lange joins six-time Kona king Mark Allen to look ahead to the huge showdown in May. The German superstar is currently preparing in the Canary Islands.

The delayed 2021 IRONMAN World Championship will be a game of high-stakes poker when the worlds greatest triathletes line up in Utah on the first Saturday in May.

The eventual winner will not be decided just by athletic prowess, but by strategy as well. Nobody knows this better than German great Patrick Lange who reigned in Kona in both 2017 and 2018.

When asked by Allen whether athletic preparation or a strategic gameplan will be more important on May 7, he answered simply: I think it will be a combination of both.

The biggest elevation gains on the bike there are made on the last section of the bike course. So you have to be experienced and have to read the race and maybe hold back a little bit in the beginning.

Obviously not losing too much time to the front but I think if somebody goes mad in the first 20-30kms I think he is gonna have to pay for it.

So yeah, you have to play your cards in the best way possible and you have to keep something in the tank for the final push. The run is more or less the same game of course if you blow up at 35km its not a good idea.

Lange, like most of the worlds top stars, raced sparingly in 2021 as triathlon attempted to tiptoe out of the COVID-19 pandemic. He notched impressive wins at IRONMAN Tulsa and Challenge Roth, and it is the former which gives him great heart for 2022.

Victory that day came with a winning margin of more than five minutes, over a stacked field which included the likes of Daniel Bkkegrd, Joe Skipper and Sam Long.

Lange explained: First of all Im pretty happy I raced in Tulsa because it turned out THE best race from the whole of the last year. I think it was the best field when it comes down to the professional athletes

I was really happy to take the win there. I think I could prove I made a big step forward back to normal I guess. I ran a 2:36 there which has been a goal performance-wise for me for quite a long time now.

So that gives the confidence to know that I am able to compete with the very best in the world, because obviously there were a lot of really strong athletes.

There are new kids on the Ironman block now particularly the Norwegian prodigies Kristian Blummenfelt and Gustav Iden. Lange though knows he must focus on himself.

Of course you have some unknowns like the Norwegian guys that you have to have on your list. Obviously Jan [Frodeno] didnt race much last year. So yes, its just exciting, and the only thing I can do is prepare my best, look at myself and try to extract the most out of my possibilities and go out and race hard.

Lange was upbeat as he looked ahead to May, believing the course in Utah will suit him.

In St George we will have a hilly run course that will suit guys like me that are maybe on the lighter side, and especially having good running technique, he said.

We worked on our running technique to be efficient for almost 10, 12 years now to be as efficient as possible also in the downhills.

I think that will hopefully make a big difference, running downhill but not carrying so much weight uphill but being really really efficient downhill even after 30km in the run after a really, really hard bike ride.

I think the bike course will be the one with the most metres of climbing in total that I have ever done so its going to be really interesting and exciting.

Lange has previous experience of racing in St George, having finished 21st over 70.3 in 2014 more than 13 minutes behind the winner Frodeno. In triathlon terms though, almost a lifetime ago as Patrick is quick to point out.

2014 is a long of time ago and a lot of things have changed, he said.

I have a really experienced team around me and we will arrive two weeks before the race to check everything, to analyse the course, to be the best prepared.

Also I am in Gran Canaria right now very well known amongst cyclists as probably the hardest island to climb. You can have 25km climbing on your bike that does not stop.

Thats actually why we chose this island to prepare in a really hot, dry climate just to be prepared for Utah in the best way possible.

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High-stakes poker: Patrick Lange on the big showdown in St George - Tri247.com