Monthly Archives: January 2021

Alexandros Kolonias wins Super MILLION$ title for $438,733

The latest Super MILLION$ title has been won by Greek player Alexandros Kolonias, who hoovered up the $438,733 top prize after beating Carlos Villamarin heads-up to claim the victory.

Before the final table kicked off, plenty of money was wagered on the nine players assembled around the table, with some of the superstars in action backed to the tune of thousands of dollars despite going into play short-handed.

Here are the chipcounts heading into play: 

Place Player Country Chips 1st Alex Kolonias Greece4,179,268 2ndKevin Rabichow U.S.A. 3,987,317 3rd Carlos Villamarin U.S.A. 3,861,580 4thGleb Tremzin Russia 2,553,738 5th‘Pluto The Doggo’ Ireland 2,523,679 6thJuan Pardo Dominguez Spain 1,705,548 7thSamuel Vousden Finland 1,128,648 8th‘imjuniar’ Canada 982,200 9thMichael Addamo Australia 778,022 

Winning Poker Strategy: When Luck Doesn’t Even Out Over Time

I was reading a post in a poker forum the other day. In it, a newbie wrote about a bad beat he suffered, and asked for advice on dealing with the funk he was in because of it. One of the more experienced and intelligent members of the forum, trying to be helpful, wrote back “Just remember that luck evens out over time.”

When it comes to luck, it’s as much about how you look as it is how you feel. (Image: Gaby Stein/Pixabay)

It’s a comforting salve to be sure, this oft-repeated phrase. And, surely, it can help players avoid going on tilt after a bad beat — I don’t fault anyone for saying it. Yet even as I admit the comforting effects of such an utterance, I know that “Luck will even out in the long run” is also one of the greatest fallacies in poker.

Luck Rarely Evens Out

Doug Polk Punts Big Lead, Then Regroups for Huge Win on Day 27

Doug Polk blew a $175,000 lead on Day 27 before regrouping to book his first winning session in quite some time against Daniel Negreanu. He ended a five session losing streak and turned the match back in his favor.

Doug Polk stopped the momentum that was heading in Daniel Negreanu’s direction. (Image: YouTube)

The previously long-time feuding poker pros have now completed 27 sessions of $200/$400 no-limit hold’em on WSOP.com. Over that span, they’ve played 15,850 hands and have 9,150 remaining before the epic grudge match concludes.

Through Day 19, Negreanu trailed by $950,000 and appeared to be on track to lose potentially more than $2 million. But he turned the tides and went on quite an impressive winning streak, eliminating half the deficit in just seven sessions.

Harden looms over Thursday night NBA betting slate

Odds courtesy of OddsShark.com

The NBA on TNT doubleheader Thursday this week was to open with two of the best teams in the Eastern Conference facing off when the Miami Heat visit the Philadelphia 76ers in a rematch. The two played the first of their “baseball” series Tuesday in Philly and the Sixers won 137-134 in overtime.

The Heat and Sixers are both good enough as is to reach the NBA Finals, and what else do they have in common? Both are on the short list of teams where Houston Rockets star James Harden would like to be traded, and a deal could be imminent.

There was no early line for Thursday’s game – Philly will be favored – because the Heat were down eight players in COVID protocols Tuesday, including their two best in Jimmy Butler and Bam Adebayo, and the 76ers were down a handful as well. Welcome to the NBA in a pandemic. The Heat have covered six of the past 10 in the series including Tuesday.

Atlantic City casinos end three-year revenue growth streak in 2020

Atlantic City casinos snapped their three-year gaming revenue winning streak in 2020, with an uncertain future ahead in 2021.

On Wednesday, the New Jersey Division of Gaming Enforcement announced that Atlantic City’s nine casinos generated combined brick-and-mortar slots and table game revenue of $147.1m in December, a 29.5% decline from the same month last year but effectively unchanged from November 2020’s $146.6m.

December’s slots revenue was off 34.4% year-on-year to $98.4m while table games slid a relatively modest 16.8% to $48.7m. All but one casino reported year-on-year declines in December except the Hard Rock Atlantic City, which somehow managed a 1.7% improvement to $26.3m.

December’s biggest decline was at Caesars Entertainment’s Harrah’s property, which slid 52.7% to just $12.1m. Other notable decliners included the Golden Nugget ($8.2m, -42.9%), the Tropicana ($13.6m, -42.2%) and Resorts Casino Hotel ($7.2m, -41.9%). The market-leading Borgata fell 27.9% to $39.6m.

Australian woman sues lottery after losing a seven-year-old ticket she claims is a winner

An Australian woman is suing The Lott for $2 million (US$1.55 million) after she supposedly lost a winning lottery ticket for a drawing that took place seven years ago, proving just why it is so important that players hang onto and keep track of their physical tickets.Legal, International, Unusual, Australia, Lawsuit

New Jersey smashes iGaming, sports betting records in December, FY20

New Jersey’s online gambling and sports betting markets closed out 2020 in style, setting all-time revenue records.

Figures released Wednesday by the New Jersey Division of Gaming Enforcement show the state’s licensed online casino and poker operators generated combined revenue of $99.45m in December, more than doubling its December 2019 total and $7.65m better than November 2020’s result.

December’s online casino operators drove the record-setting performance with revenue up 102.6% to $96.43m while online poker was up nearly three-quarters year-on-year to just over $3m, a 25% improvement from November.

For the year-to-date, total iGaming revenue came within $30m of the ONE BILLION DOLLAR mark, up 101% from 2019. Online casino did the heavy lifting, rising 101.7% to $931.5m while poker improved 85.3% to $38.8m.