Category Archives: Poker

PokerNews is known throughout the world for our industry-leading live updates for both live and online events. In fact, right now we're offering various updates right here.

Over the years, weve captured memorable hands, many of which have become a part of poker history. In this column, we will bring you some of the biggest hands of the week as reported in the PokerNews Live Updates. Last week, the Mid-States Poker Tour (MSPT) was at Sycuan Casino in San Diego. It was there that Gianluca Pace topped a 460-entry field to win the title and $74,562 top prize. Below are five of the biggest and most interesting hands captured by the PokerNews Team.

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On Day 1a of the tournament it was Level 6 (300/600/600) when Dantram Huynh limped in from middle position Jason Hickey raised from the cutoff to 1,700. Robert Fortuno called from the next seat over while Matt Paten came along from the button and Huynh called.

The flop was and Huynh bet 6,000. Hickey folded and Fortuno shoved with Huynh covered. Fortuno got out of the way and Huynh put the rest of her 22,000 chips in the middle.

Dantram Huynh: Robert Fortuno:

The turn was and the river brought no help for Fortuno and Huynh secured the big pot with a pair of nines.

On Day 1a in Level 7 (400/800/800), Tai Purpero raised to 2,000 from the cutoff and Luke Nguyen three-bet to 10,000 from the button. Action folded around and Purpero shoved his last 18,700. Nguyen called.

Tai Purpero: Luke Nguyen:

The board ran out and Nguyen made a set of nines on the turn to send Purpero to the rail on Day 1a.

On Day 1c in Level 13 (2,000/3,000/3,000), Minnesota's Tom Hammers shoved his last 15,000 from early position and Paul Zgheib called from the next seat over. Action folded to Lena Evans for a call from the big blind.

Tom Hammers:Paul Zgheib: Lena Evans:

The board ran out , with both remaining players checking down the action, and Hammers held on with a pair of aces to score the triple.

Unfortunately for him, his luck would run out the next level with the blinds at 2,000/4,000/4,000. Hammers limped from early position and Huy Nguyen raised to 10,000. Hammers shoved for nearly 200,000 and Nguyen called quickly.

Tom Hammers: Huy Nguyen:

The board ran out and Nguyen made a set of aces to send Hammers to the rail in the last level of the evening.

Earlier on Day 1c in Level 9 (600/1,200/1,200), Tai Purpero was seen getting the rest of his chips in the middle on the river for a grand total of around 35,000 and Matt Kirby was the lone caller.

The board had run out , and Kirby turned over for the wheel and the flush. However, Purpero turned over to score a big double with a higher straight flush after hitting the runner-runner.

On Day 2 deep in the tournament at the final table, it was Level 25 (30,000/50,000/50,000), Lena Evans got it all in from under the gun and action folded around to DJ Buckley in the big blind for the lone call.

Lena Evans: DJ Buckley:

The board ran out and the set of tens were good enough for Buckley to eliminate Evans in fifth place for $21,346.

Read About Lena Evans' lawsuit against PayPal here!

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Hands of the Week: Straight Flush Over Straight Flush at MSPT Sycuan Casino - PokerNews.com

Major live poker tournaments in Europe remain on hiatus as the latest wave of the COVID-19 pandemic still has a firm grip on the industry. Most major operators are apprehensive about their potential return to live action, but a few are cautiously moving in that direction and the latest one to take the first big steps was 888poker. From January 6 to 17, 2022, the popular 888poker LIVE series returned to London and was a smashing success.

The operator returned to The Poker Room formerly known as The Vic in the heart of London for 12 days of live poker. Once the final river card was dealt, the series concluded with 1,032,168 in prize pools awarded across nine tournaments. These events attracted a total of 1,398 entries and kicked off the brands 20th anniversary year in style.

888pokers first stops on the live poker circuit date all the way back to 2015 and all events until 2020 took place at the Aspers Casino Westfield in Stratford. In October 2021, the 888poker LIVE London Weekend moved over to the Vic and returned to the same location only a few months later.

During the recent London series, the operator unveiled British boxer Chris Eubank Jr. as its new cultural ambassador, kickstarting its big anniversary year with a landmark partnership. The global middleweight champion has been a fan of the game for several years and previously participated in high-stakes cash game competitions. Putting pen to paper and signing big-name celebrities and sports stars has certainly become a trend in the poker industry and 888 followed suit.

The host venue in London itself is one of the most well-known casinos in the city, and in England altogether. The festival came right out of the gate with promising numbers as the 444 Opening Event attracted a field of 581 entries and created a prize pool of 232,400.

It was the third-most-expensive event on the schedule and the next highlights followed soon after. In the 2,200 High Roller, Jamie OConnor topped a field of 93 entries and took home the biggest slice of the 186,000 prize pool.

However, all eyes were set on the 888 Main Event, which reeled in an incredible 642 entries across five starting days. Only 122 runners made it to Day 2 and the top 68 finishers locked up a portion of 513,600 in cash prizes. As usual, the conclusion of the tournament was also streamed on the 888poker Twitch channel,

Unibet Poker ambassador and former Irish Open champion, Ian Simpson, reached the final tables in both the 2,200 High Roller and 888 Main Event but fell short of taking home the trophy. Simpson had to settle for 5th place and 19,520, while London regular Bhavin Khatri went on to secure the victory for a payday worth 126,340.

It was certainly a successful live poker series for the global operator, which has also been affected by the ongoing pandemic. Typically, four 888poker LIVE stops would take place every year, but that has not been the case in the past two years. In 2020, full stops in Madrid and Tallinn were accompanied by two Weekend series in London and Sochi.

With live poker still on hold for the first half of 2021, 888poker hosted the WPTDeepStacks festival on its global platform. At the same time, it ran the Iberia edition on the Spanish and Portuguese network as well as the Italy edition on its own ring-fenced platform.

The operator went to Russia once more in July 2021 for another 888poker LIVE stop in Sochi. In cooperation with Pokerfest, they also returned to Bucharest in August 2021 to conclude the previous year with two of the usual four headline festivals.

Apart from their own major tournament series, 888 has also been co-sponsoring regional live poker events in Italy and Spain as well. One of them, the Circuito Nacional de Poker (CNP888), is slated to host the final stop of the current season from January 21 to 30 at the Casino Gran Madrid.

As far as the global 888poker LIVE series is concerned, no further events have been announced yet for the remainder of 2022. For now, the primary focus of the operator in its anniversary year belongs to its online poker platform. The Ace the Slopes Freeroll promotion launched January 12 and will run all the way until April, while the XL Winter Series started on January 16 and concludes at the end of the month.

Link:

Major Strides in the Return to Live Poker as 888poker Celebrates Successful Conclusion of its London Series - Pokerfuse

In Washington Square Park, they dont agree to draws. The first time I sat down at a black marble table to play one of Manhattans celebrated chess hustlers, I weathered the attack and simplified into a theoretically drawn endgame, at which point both players would usually shake hands. But the time left on my clock was low, and there was $5 riding on the result, so the guy made me prove it: We played until only bare kings remained on the board. Chess might be an art for some, a science for others; most of all, though, it is a fight.

Which is why computers havent destroyed chess, any more than the theoretical existence of a robot that could out-punch Mike Tyson has made hand-to-hand combat irrelevant. People once feared that technology would push the human element aside, after an out-of-form Garry Kasparov lost his second match (he had won the first) against the IBM supercomputer Deep Blue in 1997. But the professional game is flourishing, and the popularity of chess as a spectator sport surged during the Covid-19 pandemic, with stars such as United State grandmaster Hikaru Nakamura playing online to huge audiences. He has a following of 1.4 million on the streaming service Twitch.

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Seven Games Review: Chess Knights, Poker Cowboys and the Rise of the Computer Opponent - The Wall Street Journal

DALLAS (CBSDFW.COM) Its among hottest and most profitable small businesses in Dallas right now, but it could soon be shut down by the city despite backing from the city council member who welcomed it to his district.

The Texas Card House is a poker room whose owners thought they were operating legally, until the city decided to revoke their permit.

Only months after the city said yes to poker rooms like this, its mysteriously revoking permits.

Steven Gribin is among the 400 to 500 people a day who buy chips and play hold em at Texas Card House.

Im retired and I like playing cards, said Gribin. It keeps my head going, it keeps me aware.

The Westlake resident and others at the poker room no longer have to find underground and often illegal places to play poker.

We spent about 2-and-a-half years trying to find a location that we could open that the city approved of, said Texas Card House CEO Ryan Crow.

Crow is one of the owners who says he endured long meetings with the city in 2020 before it ultimately approved his permit to operate in this strip mall off Harry Hines in an industrial part of Northwest Dallas.

But the owners recently received a letter revoking their permit for keeping a gambling place.

Thats despite the fact the house doesnt take a cut from each hand, which would be illegal gambling.

Instead, players pay $13 an hour to sit at a table, some of the games are even live-streamed.

District 6 City Councilman Omar Narvaez, who represents the neighborhood supports Texas Card House.

I think its unfair that all of the sudden all of these COs (certificates of occupancy) for all these card rooms have suddenly been revoked, he said. Unfortunately our city attorney has decided to change the idea of what he believes constitutes card rules according to the law.

Owners of the business plan to appeal the decision and say about 215 people will lose their jobs if Texas Card House shuts down.

While the players, they say, will lose a safe place to find a game.

There are a few other poker rooms operating in the city of Dallas.

CBS 11 is trying to find out if their certificates of occupancy have also been revoked. There has been no response yet from the City Attorneys Office.

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Cashing Out? City Of Dallas Revokes Poker Room Permits Months After Approving Them - CBS Dallas / Fort Worth

GPFans Staff Friday 21 January 2022 15:01

Red Bull has entered into the world of gambling and sports betting by signing a multi-year contract with one of the leading brands in that field in PokerStars.

The deal will see the brand feature on the RB18 and the race suits of drivers Sergio Perez and new world champion Max Verstappen.

PokerStars has become one of the worlds most popular online poker sites since it launched in 2001, proudly boasting to have dealt more than 200 billion hands over the last 20 years. It also offers online casino and sports betting.

Commenting on the deal, Red Bull team principal Christian Horner said: Following last years blockbuster Formula 1 season, I am delighted to kick off 2022 by announcing PokerStars as a new partner.

"In our sport, we see constant evolution, not only applied to the cars but also to new technologies that are focused on reaching the sports global fanbase to provide new and interactive experiences for them to enjoy.

"We are pleased to welcome PokerStars to the team as F1 enjoys a period of growth in new and existing territories and look forward to getting the 2022 season underway together.

With PokerStars serving as part of Flutter International's portfolio, its CEO Dan Taylor said: Red Bull Racing is an ideal fit for PokerStars because its not just about what you offer fans and players but the ethos and vision behind how you offer it.

"Part of our vision for PokerStars is to create the worlds most epic casino, built on player experiences, giving our community moments theyll never forget.

"Red Bull Racings phenomenal success is built on their bold, innovative, and passionate ethos, which has led to incredible success both on the track and in becoming one of the worlds most popular sports brands.

"Were looking forward to working with the team and sharing further developments as the 2022 season approaches. We wish the Red Bull Racing team all the best for their new campaign.

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Red Bull take multi-year gamble with new online poker partner - GPfans

This week, Russian President Vladimir Putin sent forces into Kazakhstan to provide support to President Kassym-Jomart Tokayevs autocratic government amid violent protests that erupted over energy prices.

At the same time, thousands of Russian troops are currently massed on the border with Ukraine an escalation that raises serious concerns about a military invasion on par with Russias annexation of Crimea in 2014.

The Biden administration met with Russian officials this week in an attempt to defuse the Ukraine standoff, but their efforts were to no avail. Moscow is unrelentingly seeking an agreement from NATO to not expand its reach eastward into Ukraine and to end security cooperation with Ukraine proposals that the lead U.S. diplomat called non-starters.

To be sure, Russias actions individually and collectively with regard to Kazakhstan and Ukraine are part of a wider effort by Putin to reassert Russias dominance over former Soviet states, and to undermine both the actual and perceived strength of NATO.

And make no mistake, Putin is gaining ground in his quest.

Putins advances have been made possible by the fact that the United States and NATO lack a uniform strategy for dealing with non-NATO states that were part of the former Soviet Republic including Ukraine and Kazakhstan which former national security adviser John Bolton aptly noted in a recent piece for the Wall Street Journal.

Indeed, the U.S. said earlier this week that it would not intervene in the crisis in Kazakhstan, and the State Department went no further than to call for restraint by both the authorities and protestors. At the same time, the true extent of militaristic and economic support that the U.S. and NATO are willing to provide to Ukraine either in the event of a full-on Russian invasion, or absent one is unclear.

President Joe Biden reportedly warned Putin last month that an invasion of Ukraine would result in harsh economic sanctions, the disruption of the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline and Ukraine receiving defensive capabilities from the West.

Despite Biden ostensibly drawing a red line, Putin has held his ground and continues to demand a guarantee that NATO will not expand eastward into Ukraine perhaps because Putin is testing the president, or because he has little reason to believe that Biden would follow through fully on his threats.

The U.S. has not drastically increased military aid to Ukraine since Biden took office, and in May, the administration waived sanctions against Nord Stream 2. And up until this point, Moscow has clearly not been deterred by any economic sanctions imposed against them.

Furthermore, the chaotic withdrawal of American troops from Afghanistan in August which weakened Americas standing on the world stage, and also signals that the Biden administration is reluctant to engaging in future foreign wars has clearly emboldened Putin to behave more aggressively.

Whether or not Putin will actually engage in Ukraine has yet to be determined. Some have argued that because Kazakhstan a neighboring autocracy was thrown into chaos, Putin may be more likely to take aggressive actions to weaken Ukraine, which has been striving for democracy and working on integrating itself with the West.

To that end, I mostly agree with the argument made by those like former national security official Fiona Hill, who have said that the situation in Kazakhstan could very well accelerate Putins desire to do something in Ukraine.

However, I do not see Russian involvement in Kazakhstan as a sign that Putins influence is waning. While the uprising in Kazakhstan against the Russian-allied government there was not an ideal scenario for Russia, Putin can as I anticipate he will use the situation in Kazakhstan to his advantage with Ukraine and with other non-NATO former Soviet states.

Specifically, Putin can point to Moscows decisive intervention in Kazakhstan as evidence that Russia is a more reliable militaristic partner than NATO and the United States.

Putin is clearly already working to achieve this end. On Thursday, the Russian president effectively declared success in Russias mission to stabilize Kazakhstan, announcing that Russian troops had accomplished their task, and were preparing to return home. Earlier in the week, he had promised other pro-Russia ex-Soviet states that they would receive decisive Russian support in similar circumstances.

Following the withdrawal of troops from Kazakhstan, we can reasonably expect that Putin will ramp up efforts to undermine and pressure the democratically elected government of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky which has received lukewarm support from NATO especially given the lack of success of Russias talks with the U.S. and NATO this week.

To be sure, NATO could effectively stop Putin in his tracks or at the very least, anticipate his next moves if they had a concrete plan outlining the extent of support that they would provide to non-NATO former-Soviet states like Ukraine.

If Putin does invade Ukraine, the U.S. and NATO need to be prepared to take two concrete steps. First, to seriously consider suspending Russia from SWIFT, the global interbank payment system; and second, to begin providing lethal aid to the Ukrainian military.

Absent these two steps and a broader strategy, NATO would be effectively ceding Putin ground in his quest to re-gain control of former Soviet states and weaken the Western alliance.

Douglas Schoen is a longtime Democratic political consultant.

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Schoen: Playing high-stakes poker with Putin - Boston Herald

You can improve your poker skills and game in many ways. Playing casual or real money games at your favourite online casino can help you get a feel for the game and understand the structure. Once you understand the basics, many apps and websites analyse your games and help you make better decisions. Read on for reviews on a few of the best poker training apps available on Android devices.

As mentioned above, the structure of poker games and calculators can be very confusing, especially for beginners. SnapShove gets rid of all the clutter and only shows you the important stats from your games. The app also helps you make the right decision during a game and trains you on the best ways to react to certain plays.

You can get a free or paid version. The free version analyses six and nine-handed games and offers some training. SnapShove pro offers games for any number of players and access to all their training resources.

PokerGo is an online streaming service that shows almost every televised poker game all in one place. You can watch shows, tournaments, commentary, and even the World Series of Poker. Apart from watching games played by international champions, you can access hand histories and analyses on each game you watch.

ShareMyPair is a revolutionary app that allows players to share their hand histories, get analysis, and replay the hand easily. One of the biggest challenges with sharing hand histories is writing out the whole game to describe a hand accurately. This app allows you to convert this wall of text into a game that players worldwide can replay and analyse. This app aims to change how players share and analyse past hands and helps players get many differing opinions on how they could have done better.

PokerCruncher claims to be The App Stores Top Texas Hold em Odds/Equity Calculator, and it seems there might be some truth to that. The app costs $12.99 to install, but it seems worth it. Its more than a simple calculator app. PokerCruncher gives you information on key points of your game, such as flop texture analysis as well as calculations of your odds. The app is very well known, and even poker coaches and vloggers use and promote it.

One of the easiest and cheapest ways to improve your poker skills is to use training apps and calculators like the ones we recommended in this article. Watching games and analysing hand histories are also extremely useful. Apps like those above give an in-depth analysis of your hand, your odds of winning, and other stats and analyses that help you make a good decision.

Once youve spent some time training and watching other poker games, youre ready to try casual and real money games at a casino. These are very different from the training, and you might need to go back to analyse your games and why they turned out a certain way.

EDITOR NOTE: This is a promoted post and should not be considered an editorial endorsement. AndroidGuys received compensation for the aforementioned content.

Please exercise caution when using a gambling or betting service which employs real money.

If you reside in a location where gambling, sports betting or betting over the internet or through an is illegal, please do not click on anything related to these activities within this post. You must be of proper legal age to click on any betting or gambling related items even if it is legal to do so in your country.

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Android apps to improve your poker skills (Promoted) - AndroidGuys

January 21, 2022Poker Strategy

Ive recently been playing in a $2/$5 game in a nearby poker room. Its a very profitable game for me, even though the players are, on average, better than those in the $1/$2 games I typically play. I plan to continue to play in the $2/$5 game since my hourly win rate is considerably higher than in the smaller game.

Ive written extensively about taking advantage of the poor play of others; thats chiefly how I win money in $1/$2 games. Those players tend to be too loose, undisciplined, not very observant, and too mechanical. There are bad players in the $2/$5 game as well and, while their weaknesses may be different than those of the $1/$2 players, the same skills useful in winning money in the lower-stakes game are useful in winning money against the poor $2/$5 players.

And, because of the higher stakes, there is also additional profit to be made by exploiting some of the observable behavior of the better $2/$5 players.

Good players are good for many reasons and, oftentimes, one of their skills is their ability to play consistently. They avoid emotional play; they play rationally all, or nearly all of the time. And they vary their play, typically increasing their aggressiveness based on their read of their opponents and the situations theyre in.

Typical advice for playing against good players like this, who add aggressive moves based on their position, their opponents, and the different situations they encounter, is to avoid them, if possible, or to tighten up your play to account for their unpredictability. Rather than engage in a battle of wits, my standard advice is to avoid battles with good players entirely by either avoiding pots they are in or to leave the game entirely if its populated by too many of these good players.

There is, however, another route Ive found that can allow one to profit from these good players.

Many good players, while mixing up their games, tend to vary their play predictably. While they may vary their play with identical hands they are not so unpredictable as to vary their play in the same situation. Identify the situation they are in, and their variations become predictable and thus exploitable. Here are four situations where good players tend to make predictable plays you can exploit.

Some good players are very position-oriented. They vary their play positionally, but they tend to play similarly from similar positions. They are good enough to recognize the relative value of being in late position, and they play more aggressively and with a broader range when they are. Accordingly, one can often assume they are playing a much wider range when they are aggressive in these positions than when they follow the same action in early or middle position.

As such, you can exploit these good players by being more aggressive against them when they are aggressive in those positions.

Lets say youre under the gun with 4-4. You call the blinds and everyone else folds to the hijack, who raises to 3BB. The cutoff, button, and the SB fold. The BB calls. Typically, you would either call with this hand, looking to set mine, or you would fold as the raiser and the BB are both very tight and aggressive players.

If you call, youll see the flop and, if you dont hit your set, youll likely check fold to any aggression from either player. But against these two good players, you might recognize the preflop raise as a positional one made with a very broad range, and take a different line, 3-betting to nine or 10BB here, representing your own unusual strength.

If the hijack is on the weaker end of his range, he might well fold rather than risk being up against a superior hand. Similarly, the BB might conclude that his wide calling range is insufficient to call your 3-betting range when hed be out of position for the rest of the hand.

By three-betting preflop here, you might pick up the pot or set up a steal on the flop with the chance to improve your hand to a set along the way.

Good players often seek to exploit players they see as overly tight by playing more hands aggressively against them. You can exploit this by showing uncharacteristic aggression of your own, demonstrating to your perceptive opponent that you are, in fact, in possession of one of those few hands that are strong enough for you to play aggressively. Considering your relative tightness, they may choose to fight another day and concede the pot to you.

Good players, who have been successful and are ahead, sometimes become bolder about their willingness to call raises in position, convinced of their superiority after the flop. You can exploit this observable tendency by inserting a timely bit of aggression when they make these in-position calls. Being good disciplined players, they are apt to rectify their atypical looseness and fold to your aggression.

Not all of your exploitation requires aggressiveness on your part. Sometimes, you can profit by saving money when you notice behavior that indicates true strength.

Good players often try to avoid playing marginal hands against other good, aggressive players. This is sometimes referred to as passive collusion. As such, you can sometimes save money by being even more cautious than usual when a strong regular calls another strong players hand. When two good, aggressive players are willing to mix things up, it often indicates that at least one of them must be holding a strong hand.

Heres a quick example. Youre on the button with K J when a strong regular raises in early position. Everyone folds to another strong regular in the cutoff to your immediate right. Though he seldom plays against the other regular, he calls. Youre tempted to call as well with your semi-strong hand and with the pot somewhat engorged by having two opponents.

Fold instead.

Youre likely dominated. Your strong opponents playing in the hand together should indicate that at least one of them is very strong (most likely the latter player). If you hit your hand in any way other than perfectly, you stand to lose a lot of money against a stronger hand.

Most of your profit in poker, especially in the lower-limit No-Limit games like $1/$2 and $2/$5 will come from the poor or mediocre players. Seek out games with lots of them, but realize you can also profit from the good players who may underestimate your ability to exploit their predictable play.

Written by

Ashley Adams

Venerable grinder, 7-stud enthusiast, host of "House of Cards Radio" and author of Winning Poker in 30 Minutes a Day (D&B Publishing, 2020).

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Winning Poker: 4 Predictable Moves Good Players Make and How to Exploit Them - CardsChat.com

One of the leading international online poker sites, GGPoker has partnered with GIPHY, a leader in the field of short animated videos (GIFs) to provide players with some of the most interactive content available at any online poker site today.

GIPHY is a massive library of GIFs one that reportedly contains over a billion GIFs, all of which can be searched by keyword and used in a number of social media and other apps around the world.

Last verified: January 2022

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Now, poker players at GGPoker will have the unique opportunity to use GIPHY while playing poker, by browsing the library in real-time and sharing GIFs that best portray their emotions and reactions to the other competitors.

This integration comes as part of the operators push to make the game more interactive, an objective which also led to the addition of SnapCam videos and dance emojis which have been around for a while.

While other sites have seen various improvements in recent months and years as well, few can boast the kind of interactive approach, combined with high traffic and a quality poker platform that GGPoker currently offers.

Regarding the integration, GGPoker posted the following Tweet, with a fitting reply coming right back from the team at GIPHY:

GIPHY is a GIF database that is used in a variety of apps that you may have used in the past, including the likes of Facebook, Instagram, and Viber.

The platform was founded in 2013 and in 2020, it was acquired in full by Facebook for a reported $400 million. Facebook was later ordered to divest the ownership of GIPHY due to concerns regarding monopoly practices, and the platform remained available through a massive variety of apps.

The integration into the GGPoker platform makes for an exciting addition for poker players who will now have yet another way to express their emotions and communicate with other players at their table.

Since the GIPHY library is so massive, there is nearly no end to the kind of GIFs one can find and display at the table in just seconds.

To use GIPHY, you will simply need to type in a keyword into the chatbox and pick one of the many GIFs from the options that appear below. Once selected, the GIF will appear on top of your name box for everyone at the table to see. It will also remain in the chatbox for future reference.

While this feature may not actually improve the gameplay itself, it gives players a chance to enjoy the overall experience even more and adds a fun spark to the competitive nature of the game.

For a long time now, GGPoker has been one of the leaders in the online poker industry, having become a serious competitor to the likes of PokerStars and partypoker.

The operator not only offers some of the biggest online poker tournaments in the world, but also a variety of valuable promotions and some of the best features found on any online poker platform.

In August 2020, GGPoker introduced its players to SnapCam videos, allowing players to record short 15 second videos of themselves, which could then be used to react to situations happening in the game. The operator soon after introduced dance emojis and animated GIFs as well. That earlier, more limited GIF library has now been upgraded to GIPHY for even more interactivity.

With all these amazing features and the kind of traffic GGPoker currently has, it is not hard to see why the site remains one of the top-rated online poker operators in iGaming today, with licenses in a number of valuable regions and markets.

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GGPoker Integrates the GIPHY GIF Library Into Its Online Poker Platform - Pokerfuse

After two rounds of voting by both a voting panel consisting of poker industry insiders, poker media and fans alike, the nominations for the 3rd Global Poker Awards have been finalized. The ceremony, which takes place at the PokerGO Studio in Las Vegas on Friday, February 18, will hand out 26 awards in a variety of categories, including three Peoples Choice awards determined solely by the fans.

The field of finalist includes plenty of pokers biggest stars including Doug Polk, Michael Addamo, Ali Imsirovic, Daniel Cates, Lex Veldhuis, and Brad Owen. Polk also leads the list of those with multiple nominations, a select group that features Imsirovic, Cates, Jeff Platt, Joe Stapleton, Jamie Kerstetter, and Johan YoH ViraL Guilbert.

Three of the winners have previously been announced with Imsirovic earning the 2021 GPI Player of the Year Awards, Nadya Magnus taking home the 2021 Female Player of the Year Awards, and David Mzareulov claiming the inaugural 2021 Mid-Major Player of the Year awards.

And the 2021 GPA nominees are

As usual, the World Series of Poker had an incredible impact on the poker world this year with some of the most gripping moments coming out of the series. Aldemirs domination of the WSOP Main Event, Cates epic comeback from on big blind in the $50K PPC, and Friedmans back-to-back-to-back $10K Dealers Choice titles are all history-making performances.

Four of the toughest high-roller players on the planet make this an intimidating category. Chidwick won this award at the last awards, Imsirovic is the 2021 GPI Player of the Year and PokerGO Tour 2021 Player of the Year, and David Peters is the 2021 U.S. Poker Open champ and sits fifth on the Hendon Mobs All-Time Money List.

That said, no one really came close to Michael Addamo in 2021 and all eyes will be on him as the favorite.

The poker world is in a golden era of online streaming where not only can someone learn the game quickly and cheaper than ever, but can become a part of a community helmed by one of their favorite poker personalities. The strength of these nominations is only bolstered by a long list of quality streamers who are not included.

The Wynn showing up twice on this list is a nod to how the Las Vegas poker room took a giant leap forward this year in stepping up for the tournament community in the face of the pandemic. But know that the Seminole Hard Rock in Hollywood, Florida has also been making waves when it comes to must-play events. In order to win, one of them will have to usurp the event that many, year-in and year-out, capture the hearts of poker players from all over the world the WSOP Main Event.

Another cant miss category with Kerstetter as the emerging voice on the WSOP broadcast, Jeff Platt shining as the WSOPs sideline reporter, and commentary vets Ali Nejad and Joe Stapleton consistently delivering the goods whenever they are on the air.

Read all of the nominated stories including and especially Lance Bradleys piece on PokerStars founder Isai Scheinberg for PocketFives at the links above. (Except for Rabins piece which is behind a paywall.)

Watch all of the nominated videos at the links above.

There were a number of amazing hands captured live this year and which of the above (which you can view) you enjoy the most depends on if you like pleasure or pain. For those who enjoy being the hero, Polks hero fold and Rigbys bluff are the stuff poker dreams of are made of. On the opposite side, the pain inflicted on Leng and Chang Liu, is some of the most memorable of the year.

Fans have until Wednesday, January 26th to vote for their favorite Poker Personality, even if they voted in the first round.

Read more:

Nominations for 3rd Global Poker Awards Announced - PocketFives