I want to explain an act of deception with which you might not be familiar, but that may help your game. Before I do, let’s quickly review two actions that you almost surely know: the bluff and the semi-bluff.

Adding a new weapon to your arsenal can help take your bluffing game up to the next level. (Image: Outdoor Spike)

A bluff, as even non-poker players know, is a bet or a raise designed to make your hand appear stronger than it really is, with the intention of getting your opponent or opponents to fold.  Betting a board that hits a third suited card on the river, even though you don’t have the flush, is an example of a bluff. You’re representing that you hit the flush, though you did not, in the hope that your opponent will fold a hand that is stronger than yours, awarding you the pot for your deceptive efforts.

A semi-bluff is a variation on that theme.

Sweden’s WhatIfGod is the latest European Poker Tour (EPT) champion and $1 million better off after making history in the $5,200 main event.

Sweden’s WhatIfGod is the new EPT Online main event champion after beating Timothy Adams heads-up. (Image: PokerStars)

Although the Swede joins a list of EPT main event winners that stretches back to 2004, they stand as the first ever online champion.

Not only that, WhatIfGod managed to defeat some tough opponents on Wednesday night, including Jon Van Fleet and Canada’s Timothy Adams.

Never doubt Phil Galfond’s abilities to come from behind in a Galfond Challenge. The Run it Once poker site founder has erased nearly all of a $300,000 deficit to Chance Kornuth. And all the momentum is on his side right now.

Phil Galfond is back in the ballgame after previously trailing by hundreds of thousands. (Image: Twitter)

But the truth about momentum is it can flip the other way at any time. So, while the online poker pro once known as “OMGClayAiken” has the supposed momentum on his side right now, Kornuth very well could bust out to a huge lead once again in a matter of minutes.

Galfond entered the competition nearly two months ago as a heavy favorite (4-1). As such, he laid 4-1 odds on a side bet ($1 million to $250,000) against Kornuth, the Chip Leader Coaching founder. Early on, he showed why he was so heavily favored and jumped out to a $280,000 lead nine sessions into the 35,000-hand pot-limit Omaha match.

Daniel Negreanu is no longer a heavy underdog in his battle against Doug Polk. Certainly not after completely obliterating his opponent on Wednesday for a massive win.

Daniel Negreanu is completely obliterating Doug Polk in heads-up no-limit hold’em. (Image: WSOP.com)

But it’s not just one session in which “DNegs” got lucky. He’s been battling stride for stride with the Upswing Poker founder throughout. Even in sessions that he lost, you can chalk up bad luck as a contributing factor. On Wednesday, luck may have been on his side a bit, but he won that session with superior play.

In the last session (Monday), Polk picked off the GGPoker ambassador for about $93,000. In doing so, he regained the lead overall by $67,000. Luck was on Polk’s side on that day as he won an $80,000 pot early on thanks to a fortunate river card.

The World Poker Tour has enjoyed a successful year by switching things up and going digital but, with 2021 on the horizon, it’s looking to head out on the road again.

Casino Sochi will likely play host to WPT Russia in February as the tour looks to get back on track after a rocky 2020. (Image: WPT/Flickr)

Although the shockwaves of COVID-19 will reverberate for the foreseeable future, the WPT is planning to resume normal service in February.

A year on from the first wave of lockdowns, WPT Russia will take place inside Casino Sochi. The festival, which is still listed as provisional by the WPT, will be run in conjunction with Partypoker Live and feature a $3,300 main event.

PokerStars’ European Poker Tour (EPT) Online main event has breached its $5 million guarantee by more than 25% as play moves into Day 3.

The EPT Online main event has beaten its guarantee by more than $1.5 million after attracted 1,300+ entries. (Image: PokerStars)

When the late registration period ended on November 16, 1,304 entries had been collected in the $5,200 MTT.

Fintan Hand led at the start of play but couldn’t keep up the momentum. When the chips had fallen, the Irishman picked up $11,757 for his 134th place finish while Toby Joyce went on to take the chip lead.

Partypoker’s Caribbean Poker Party is in full swing and, after the first day of action in the $5,300 main event, Michael Addamo is the man on top.

Michael Addamo topped the list of entrants on Day 1A of the Partypoker Caribbean Poker Party main event. (Image: Paul Phua Poker)

Cruising through Day 1A and bagging just over 18.6 million chips, the Australian is in the driving seat heading into Day 2.

However, with Day 1B set take place on November 22 and at least $5 million to play for, Addamo’s position is far from certain.

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.

The 2021 Aussie Millions has been postponed indefinitely due to ongoing uncertainty regarding COVID-19 restrictions in Australia and the world at large.

The Aussie Millions won’t take place in January and, potentially, it might not happen at all in 2021. (Image: Daily Mirror)

Host venue, Melbourne’s Crown Casino, made the new public via an announcement on its website. Citing safety concerns, the organizers haven’t set a date for when the popular tournament will return but they have said they’ll formulate a plan when it’s “safe” to do so.

The postponement comes just days after Crown Casino was given the greenlight to reopen in a limit capacity after being asked to close by the local government in March.

PokerStars inaugural online European Poker Tour (EPT) continues to impress and, after nine days of action, the main event is underway.

PokerStars Ambassador Fintan Hand leads the EPT Online main event after an opening day of action. (Image: PokerStars/YouTube)

Don Johan, Mysters_Y, Ssick_OnE, and Fish2013 have all emerged victorious in recent days. However, with the promise of a $5 million guarantee, all eyes are now fixed on the $5,200 EPT Online main event.

Day 1 took place on Sunday. Registration remains open until the start of Day 2 and players can re-enter twice before the proverbial doors close. However, even before that happens, more than 1,100 buy-ins have been collected.

Stoyan Madanzhiev has a bracelet and a letter stating that he is the 2020 WSOP Main Event winner. But it’s certainly up for debate if he’s the current poker world champion. Clearly, however, the World Series of Poker organizers don’t consider him to be of that distinction.

Is Stoyan Madanzhiev the 2020 WSOP Main Event winner or not? (Image: Cardplayerlifestyle.com)

Last week, the WSOP announced it will host a Main Event next month beginning online at GGPoker and WSOP.com. Play will conclude with two final tables — one in Las Vegas and the other in Europe — days after Christmas.

Each year, the $10,000 buy-in WSOP Main Event in Las Vegas determines a world champion. This year, however, the regular freezeout tournament was canceled, along with the entire summer series, due to COVID-19. The annual live poker extravaganza was replaced with an 85-bracelet event online series between GGPoker and WSOP.com.

Following a run-good session, Daniel Negreanu has now fully erased a massive deficit in a short period of time against his grudge match opponent, Doug Polk.

Daniel Negreanu is back in the match after trailing big. (Image: YouTube)

Negreanu entered Wednesday’s session trailing by $260,000 in the early stages of the high-stakes competition. He bounced back nicely and ended that day with an $87,000 profit, although if not for a cruel bad beat on the final hand, he would have left with $100,000 more.

Then, on Friday, he returned to action on WSOP.com and completely dominated for two hours. Granted, much of that domination was due to some fortunate cards. However, the GGPoker ambassador is now back out in front for the first time since the opening session, the only live poker session of the match.

Chance Kornuth entered the Galfond Challenge as a massive underdog. One-third of the way through the contest and he’s now the heavy favorite.

Chance Kornuth is shocking the poker world. (Image: Twitter)

The third Galfond Challenge isn’t receiving the attention from the poker community as the Polk-Negreanu match. Part of that is likely due to the competitors not being drama queens like Daniel Negreanu and Doug Polk. But this high-stakes pot-limit Omaha competition features two exciting and talented pros.

Phil Galfond won his first two heads-up challenges against online pros “VeniVidi1993” and “ActionFreak.” He then took on Chance Kornuth in his third match and entered as a 4-1 favorite. As such, he gave away 4-1 odds to Kornuth ($1 million to $250,000) on a side bet.

At long last, the 2020 WSOP Main Event has been finalized, but the world championship of poker is going to look significantly different this year. Despite COVID-19, players from all around the world will have an opportunity to compete.

The 2020 WSOP Main Event is going to have a different feel to it. (Image: WSOP.com)

The annual summer bracelet series in Las Vegas was canceled due to the global health pandemic. Instead, organizers for the event ran an online bracelet series mixed between WSOP.com and GGPoker. They even hosted a Main Event which set an online poker record with over $27 million in the prize pool.

But few considered Stoyan Madanzhiev, the winner of that event on GGPoker, the true world champion. Ty Stewart, the WSOP’s executive director, said in a press release Friday that, “there must be a world champion in 2020.” So, on Nov. 29, the quest for the 2020 WSOP Main Event champion begins on the GGPoker poker site. And it will end Dec. 30 at the Rio, in front of a live television audience.

Partypoker’s Caribbean Poker Party Online is underway and, while there might not be much sunshine for those stuck indoors, the festival is bringing the heat in terms of value.

The Partypoker Caribbean Poker Party Online starts this week with a $500,000 guaranteed opening event. (Image: Partypoker)

In lieu of returning to The Bahamas in 2021 (hopefully), Partypoker recently announced a digital alternative. Picking up where the WPT and other online events left off, the Caribbean Poker Party was given a $10 million guarantee.

The final list of events was confirmed earlier this week and kicking things off today is the opening flight of the $500,000 Progressive Knockout (PKO) showdown.

Juste Puharic, a businessman from Croatia, is suing the Park Lane Club in London’s Mayfair after gambling £27million/$35 million over the course of five days.

Croatian businessman Juste Puharic is suing the Park Lane Club in Mayfair for not paying him rakeback he believes he’s owed. (Image: TripAdvisor)

Puharic claims the high-end casino offered him a form of rakeback in return for his action. In a case heard by a judge this week, the gambler says he was approached by an employee and offered 0.9% commission on anything he wagered.

Between May 26 and 30, 2015, Puharic wagered £27,057,621/$35,322,923 on roulette. He claims that entitles him to £243,518/$317,993 in rakeback.

Pacific Poker – $0.10 NL (6 max) – Holdem – 5 players

SB: 163.1 BB

BB: 51.9 BB

UTG: 216.1 BB

Pacific Poker – $0.10 NL (6 max) – Holdem – 6 players

UTG: 75.6 BB

MP: 116.4 BB

CO: 106.7 BB

Pacific Poker – $0.10 NL (6 max) – Holdem – 6 players

SB: 110.7 BB

BB: 103.4 BB

UTG: 105.5 BB