Monthly Archives: November 2020

Polk, Negreanu Sixth Session a Back and Forth Battle, Overall Match Close

Six sessions are now in the books in the heads-up grudge match between Doug Polk and Daniel Negreanu. And it’s abundantly clear at this point that there isn’t much gap in skill level between these players.

Daniel Negreanu hit his daily quads early on Day 6 against Doug Polk. (Image: WSOP.com)

Entering the match two weeks ago, Polk was a 4-1 favorite and few gave his opponent any shot at winning. After all, the Upswing Poker founder is considered to be one of the top heads-up hold’em players ever. So, certainly he should have no problem crushing a live multi-table tournament specialist, right? Not exactly.

The fact of the matter is Negreanu has been more competitive than most anticipated. That doesn’t mean the match will go down to the wire. We’re still in the early-ish stages of the 25,00-hand online poker competition. For all we know, Polk will end up running hot and dominating the remainder of the match. But though the first six sessions (five online), it’s difficult to proclaim either player as superior in terms of skill.

MMA global superstar Fabricio Werdum joins the Professional Fighters League for upcoming 2021 season

One of the sports all-time great heavyweights will make his PFL

debut in April.

NEW YORK (November 16, 2020) – Today, the Professional Fighters League announced the signing of Fabricio Werdum, one of the greatest heavyweight fighters MMA has ever seen. The charismatic Brazilian is a former UFC heavyweight champion who holds notable wins over fellow heavyweight all-time greats Fedor Emelianenko, Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira, Alistair Overeem and Cain Velasquez, who he defeated to win the UFC heavyweight title.

Werdum, a consensus top-3 and arguably the greatest heavyweight fighter in the history of MMA, entered free agency after a Performance of the Night showing on UFC’s Fight Island which saw him submit Alexander Gustafsson by armbar in the first round. Werdum and the PFL came to terms on an exclusive deal that will have the Brazilian competing for the 2021 PFL Heavyweight Championship beginning in the Spring.

Which Premier League teams are favourites to be relegated?

The Premier League is almost a quarter of the way through this truncated season which began in September and will end next May with a side crowned as champions. Last year, Liverpool had the title all but sealed by Boxing Day, when their 4-0 defeat of Leicester City separated them from the chasing pack.

A lot of the focus, both in terms of interest and sportsbetting, moved to which teams would be relegated from the Premier League and this season is no different. There are half a dozen teams who could easily drop. Where is the betting value and who should you be betting on to lose their top flight status by season end? Let’s take a look.

Favourites for the Drop

Just two sides are odds-on to go down, but both came up from the Championship last season and are already struggling. With just one win, Fulham (4/9) currently sit just outside the relegation zone, but blew a late, late chance for another point at West Ham last time out. With seconds remaining, The Cottagers won a penalty, but the West London side’s summer signing from RB Leipzig, Ademola Lookman, chipped the tamest Panenka in history into the grateful grasp of Hammers ‘keeper Lucasz Fabianski and Fulham lost again.

Illinois sports betting’s September surge as online options expand

Illinois sports betting handle more than doubled from August to September although wagering revenue failed to match this torrid pace.

Figures released Friday by the Illinois Gaming Board (IGB) show the state’s sports betting licensees handled wagers worth $305m in September, more than twice August’s $139.8m as the NFL’s return brought bettors out of pandemic hibernation.  

Nearly 93% of handle was wagered digitally, up from 88.4% in August thanks to full month contributions from both DraftKings and FanDuel. The state also welcomed PointsBet and William Hill in mid-September, further adding to bettors’ digital options.

Rush Street Gaming’s BetRivers brand maintained its spot atop the betting handle rankings with $112.6m in combined retail and digital wagers, good for a 36.9% share of the overall. However, this was a serious step down from the over 84% share BetRivers enjoyed in August as DraftKings reported handle of $98.2m in September while FanDuel wasn’t far back with $82.5m.

2020 NBA Draft betting preview

Odds courtesy of OddsShark.com

Just like essentially every other sporting event on the planet this year, the 2020 NBA Draft did not go off as scheduled (late June) due to the coronavirus pandemic. Also because of COVID-19, there will be no in-person draft at Wednesday’s event but held virtually from ESPN’s headquarters in Bristol, Connecticut.

The late date isn’t the only reason this draft will be unusual – NBA teams didn’t get to see any top prospects play in postseason games in the 2019-20 college basketball season. More than a few players have jumped up draft boards after a huge NCAA Tournament, for example. In addition, there is no clear-cut top prospect this year like there was in 2019 with Zion Williamson.

Thus, it’s truly up in the air whom the Minnesota Timberwolves might pick at No. 1 – although they reportedly would like to trade back and get a win-now asset as they are eager to return to the playoffs and make superstar Karl-Anthony Towns happy.

Fintan Hand leads EPT online main event as 351 make the cut

The opening day of a European Poker Tour Main Event always sends a trickle of excitement down the spines of any player taking part. For many years, of course, that excitement would come in a far-flung European City, be it in Barcelona, London or… that famous European outpost of The Bahamas. At this time of year, it feels like EPT Prague should be happening and the entire cardroom should smell of Trdelník.

That isn’t happening, of course, but what is going on in its place is very special in its own way. The EPT Online Series has reached the Main Event stage and it’s still the bumper price of $5,200 to enter. Taking place in an 8-Max format, it was ‘Stars own Fintan Hand who led the way at the conclusion of the 15th and final level of the night.

With seven and a half hours of action taking place – each blind level lasting 30 minutes – there were 1,182 entries, with just 351 surviving so far. The prizepool has almost made its guarantee and then some, currently sitting at $5.9 million, and it may well tip past $6 million, with registration open until five minutes before the start of play on Day 2. 

The Day 1 field comprised just 870 unique players and it was Hand who stacked up the biggest pile, with the Irish PokerStars ambassador coming back for Day 2 with 2,899,772 chips.

Russian bookmakers protest new ‘unified’ gambling regulator, tax hikes

Russian sports betting operators may soon find themselves under the watchful eye of a new gambling regulator, whose chief responsibility appears to be ensuring collection of controversial new taxes.

Last Friday, two deputies of the ruling United Russia party submitted new draft legislation to the Duma that aims to amend gambling laws to create a ‘Unified Gambling Regulator’ under the control of the Ministry of Finance. On Monday, Bill No. 1055657-7 was forwarded to the Committee on Economic, Policy, Industry, Innovative Development and Entrepreneurship for further discussion.  

The new regulator will be tasked with getting even tougher with unauthorized gambling operators, particularly internationally licensed sites that offer products currently prohibited in Russia, including online casino and poker games. But the regulator will also be responsible for ensuring Russian-licensed bookmakers pay increased contributions to local sports bodies.

In October, Russian President Vladimir Putin expressed support for a proposal to increase bookmakers’ sports funding by “at least twice” from its current 5% of revenue, with each bookie responsible for a minimum payment of RUB30m (US$394k) per quarter. The Ministry of Finance has introduced legislation to achieve this result but the 1055657-7 bill proposes a tax rate of 1% of betting turnover, with each bookie responsible for a minimum payment of RUB5m per sports league.