Monthly Archives: March 2020

Tony Tran makes it a double at WPT Rolling Thunder

It takes a very good player to win a World Poker Tour Main Event, so it must take a great one to win it twice. That is exactly what Tony Tran achieved at the WPT Rolling Thunder, winning $264,270 as well as a $15,000 entry into the season-ending Tournament of Champions. He’ll be one of the multiple champions that others fear if they look at how he won this final table.

The irony behind Tran’s victory at Rolling Thunder was that the last time he faced Jake Schwartz heads-up for a WPT title was just over a year ago, 506 days to be precise, at the Bounty Scramble in Jacksonville, Florida.

This time, Tran made arguably an even better comeback as he defeated Schwartz heads-up again and denied Erkut Yilmaz the chance to win back-to-back WPT Rolling Thunder titles.

With 250 players the total field and a massive $1.1 million in the prize-pool, only 32 places were paid, with players such as WPT Champions Club member Matas Cimbolas, former PCA Main Event winner Harrison Gimbel and in-form Farid Jattin among the players missing out on a final table berth but making profit all the same.

Tennis World reacts to Coronavirus suspension

Last week, while other sports were deliberating over the possibility of delaying their games, establishing a different set of rules for separate leagues, stalling between elite and grass roots suspensions of activity, tennis acted as a whole, with the sport suspended in its entirety for six weeks at a minimum.

As of today, that projection looks optimistic. Indeed, such is the potential for a longer enforced sabbatical from the sport we all love – indeed, all sports – that such a period is seen as a dream for many, a solution to coronavirus currently not looking imminent. In such moments, hope is a fleeting thing, but tennis players are often those to whom aspiration is not just a way of life, but a mantra that keeps them returning to the court and those white lines which can dictate happiness, monetary reward and spiritual achievement.

How did tennis react to the news that we would not see any action on court for a month and a half? The official announcement on Twitter must have been a difficult moment for all of the ATP Tour, but it came and it was reacted to as you might expect:

The ATP has announced a six-week suspension of the men’s professional tennis tour due to public health & safety concerns over COVID-19.

Phil Ivey wins $850,000 as MILLIONS Super High Roller Sochi Crowns more winners

After much drama in the former Russian Olympic city of Sochi, it was poker legend Phil Ivey who took down Event #7 as he bagged $850,000 after coming out on top in the $50,000-entry Short Deck event.

With 55 players taking to the felt, Ivey claimed a massive win, one of the biggest of his illustrious poker career. In reaching the $30 million mark in live tournament earnings, Ivey has brought players like Jason Koon, Steve O’Dwyer and even Fedor Holz within range as he looks set to burst in on the Top 10 players of all-time once again despite having previously taken some years out of playing live events.

With just six players reaching the final table, Ivey, who has played Short Deck longer than most – at times at high stakes at 30,000 feet on private planes – Ivey was trailing overnight chip leader Michael Soyza and it was the man with the chip lead who got off to the better start.

Soyza reduced the field to five players very early on, eliminating the experienced high roller Sam Greenwood in 6th place for $160,510. Greenwood, who has played so many Poker Central over the past year that he is fast gaining on Ivey himself, with his live tournament winnings now at $22 million, came 3rd in the other Short Deck event of the series, Event #3.