Monthly Archives: February 2021

UFC Fight Night: Overeem vs Volkov Odds

Odds courtesy of OddsShark.com

After taking last weekend off, the UFC returns to action and to the United States on Saturday for a Fight Night card headlined by a non-title heavyweight bout between Alistair Overeem and Alexander Volkov, both former champions, from the organization’s APEX facility in Las Vegas. The main card starts at 8 p.m. ET and will be available on ESPN+.

The current heavyweight champion is Stipe Miocic, with the 40-year-old Overeem ranked No. 5 in the division. The Dutchman is 47-18 in his legendary career, which includes heavyweight belts in DREAM and Strikeforce as well as being a former K-1 World Grand Prix champion.

“The Demolition Man” has beaten former UFC champions Andrei Arlovski, Junior dos Santos, Frank Mir and Brock Lesnar in his career. He got his lone UFC heavyweight title bout against Miocic in September 2016 at UFC 203 and lost by first-round knockout (punches).

National Lacrosse League Will Focus On Next Season

NLL

The National Lacrosse League (@NLL), the largest and most successful professional lacrosse property in the world, today announced that plans for an abbreviated season this spring have been cancelled due to uncertainties arising from the ongoing Pandemic. The league, with the full support of the NLL Board of Governors, will now move to start a traditional season in the fall of this year.

“We have gone through many scenarios, including playing a bubble season in Canada in April, but the logistical challenges, including the recently announced tighter travel and quarantine restrictions across the Canadian border have required us to pivot. We have decided to focus on playing a full season in our markets, starting in the fall of this year,” said NLL Commissioner Nick Sakiewicz. “While many of the factors we can control were moving along well, those outside of our control, especially pertaining to obtaining government approval as far in advance as we would have needed, are no longer feasible. All the efforts and innovations we were planning will now go towards a full season starting this fall and into next year. We thank our players, teams and Board of Governors, whose thoughts in this process were invaluable, and we now set our sights on getting lined up for a full NLL season starting in the fall. We also thank our fans for sticking with us – we will be back, and it will be even more exciting than ever before.”

“We appreciate the League’s extensive efforts to provide us the opportunity to play an abbreviated 2021 season in a safe and controlled environment throughout the changing landscape during this Pandemic.  While we are disappointed that it will not be possible to play this spring, we are even more excited and passionate about having a full 2021-22 season and are eager to get back on the floor this fall,” said Zach Currier, PLPA President.

While the exact start date of a full season will be announced at a later date, which will include the debut of Panther City Lacrosse Club in Fort Worth, the NLL is planning to start in the fall playing a complete season into the spring of 2022. Additionally, exciting franchise announcements are coming very soon, as well as other initiatives that were being planned for the shortened 2021 season.

Details will be coming as they are finalized. For additional information, please visit @NLL YouTube to watch an interview with Commissioner Sakiewicz.

For the most up to date information and breaking news, sign up for the NLL newsletter at NLL.com. Also follow Deputy Commissioner Jessica Berman and Commissioner Sakiewicz on Twitter @JessicaBerman1 and @NLLcommish, respectively.

WPT Targets Asia’s 1.2 Billion Mobile Gamers with Unique Spring Festival

The World Poker Tour (WPT) is breaking new ground in more ways than one thanks to a new partnership with Poker King.

Tom Dwan and Phil Ivey will be among the celebrities playing the mobile-only WPT Spring Festival on Poker King. (Image: Kakuchopurei)

Poker King made headlines last year when it recruited Tom Dwan and Phil Ivey to peddle its wares. Now, with its mobile poker app gaining momentum in Asia, it’s linked up with the WPT for a unique tournament series.

The WPT Spring Festival will run between February 11 and 22. Ivey and Dwan will taking part, but the real USP is the fact it’s a mobile-only series.

Benjamin Rolle Goes from Zero to Hero to Win Super MILLION$ Title for $424,581

He went into the final near the bottom of the chipcounts, saw the second-least money invested in him (at odds of 14.87), yet Benjamin Rolle took down the latest and 34th edition of the GGPoker weekly $10,300 buy-in event, the Super MILLION$.  

Winning $424,581, Rolle didn’t just come from a tough position, but he did it live on Twitch and as he described, with the best poker fans in the world.  

Took it down!

So incredibly grateful to have such a massive score live on twitch with the best community in the world!

Clarion respond to industry requests to move ICE London and iGB Affiliate London into 2022

Autumn ’21 edition of iGB Live! set to kick-start recovery

Following an ongoing customer consultation programme, Clarion Gaming has responded to requests from its international community of stakeholders and taken the extremely difficult decision to postpone the co-located 2021 editions of ICE London and iGB Affiliate London which were scheduled to open at the end of June. Based on requests from its customer base the next edition of ICE London will take place at ExCeL London (1-3 February 2022) alongside iGB Affiliate London (3-5 February). An expanded and enhanced edition of the flagship iGB Live! will retain its traditional dates (28 September-1 October, RAI, Amsterdam) and in the process help kick-start the recovery for gaming communities in Europe.

Stuart Hunter, Managing Director, Clarion Gaming, said: “Both the ICE London and iGB Affiliate London brands have been successful because they have consistently worked with, and listened to, the needs of their respective customers.

“The soundings we’ve taken and the ongoing conversations we are having with exhibitors of all sizes across both events have shown continued and significant uncertainty about the year ahead. Exhibitors have expressed a desire to put the experiences of the last 12 months behind them and instead focus their collective energy and creativity into making the 2022 editions into memorable in-person celebrations.”

Daniel Dvoress Wins WPT Mike Sexton Classic for $294,346

The Mike Sexton Classic featured 125 players, each of whom contributed to charity along with buying into the million-dollar guaranteed event, raising a massive $39,900 for the Nevada Partnership Homeless Youth Charity.  

As part of the WPT Montreal Online Series, the tournament, which was rake-free, had some proper superstars at the felt and produced a final table of real quality.  

Day 1 saw just 20 players survive, with 105 players heading to the virtual rail courtesy of a friendly but fairly rapid structure. With Day 2 being the final day, everyone was guaranteed a return of at least $21,887 and the bust-outs flowed from the first card.  

Superstars of the game such as Welsh Triple Crown winner Roberto Romanello, French poker legend Pascal Lefrancois, Swedish EPT Budapest winner Christian Jeppsson, recent ARIA High Roller success Ali Imsirovic, Swedish Super MILLION$ boss Niklas Astedt, Spanish WSOP bracelet winner Adrian Mateos, and Canadian Ami Barer all departed before the final table would get under way.