Phil Hellmuth melted down big time when he lost with pocket aces to Tom Dwan in the 2008 NBC National Heads-Up Championship. “Durrrr” sent the “Poker Brat” packing in one of the most memorable televised poker hands ever.

Tom Dwan reacts to sucking out against Phil Hellmuth. (Image: YouTube)

This past week, High Stakes Poker returned for the first time since 2011, on PokerGo. Also on PokerGo, new episodes of Poker After Dark, another popular show during the poker boom era, aired.

But we’re still missing the reboot of one show that the poker community loved a decade ago — the National Heads-Up Poker Championship on NBC. The show aired from 2005-2013, and pitted 64 of the most famous poker players in the world in a $25,000 buy-in eight-round tournament.

Casinos in the Czech Republic have been forced to close again, just three days after the WSOP Main Event took place inside King’s Resort.

King’s Resort has been forced to close again just three days after hosting the international WSOP Main Event final. (Image: King’s Resort)

Another spike in COVID-19 cases has prompted Czech prime minister Andrej Babiš to close all non-essential businesses over the festive period.

The new lockdown rules came into effect today, which means King’s Resort has closed again barely two weeks after reopening.

Patrik Antonius, Antonio Esfandiari, and Chris Ferguson are among the biggest names released as finalists for the 2020 Poker Hall of Fame class.

Is Patrik Antonius a lock to make the Poker Hall of Fame? (Image: Reddit)

Antonius turned 40 years old just in the nick of time. Candidates must be 40 or above at the time of enshrinement to be eligible for the Poker Hall of Fame. The Finnish poker legend hit that age requirement just four days ago.

Fan voting for the Poker Hall of Fame class of 2020 began earlier this month. Nominations were made on the WSOP.com website, and a finalist list was made from those votes. It is now up to the 32 living members of the exclusive club to vote on a winner based on the finalist list.

The Venetian poker room earned the honor of being selected as the best poker room in Las Vegas according to a local publication. Silver and bronze medals went to The Orleans and Wynn, respectively.

Shout out to the Venetian poker room for being one of the best places in town to play. (Image: Twitter)

“Best of Las Vegas” has been handing out awards to local businesses each year since 2001. Among the categories voted on include casinos, restaurants, banks, entertainment, health and beauty, and also schools.

In the casino category, “best poker room” is the one that matters most to us here at CardsChat, for obvious reasons. That award went to Sheldon Adelson’s property. The Venetian poker room is one of the largest in town with over 30 card tables. Many poker pros refuse to play at this Las Vegas Strip casino due to its affiliation with Adelson, a proponent of banning online poker in the US.

Running the World Series of Poker (WSOP) Main Event during a pandemic was never going to be easy. However, some railbirds are less than impressed with how things have played out so far.

Some players have criticized the way this year’s WSOP Main Event has played out online and in Europe. (Image: Twitter/WSOP)

The poker community’s reaction was largely positive when the WSOP announced it was going to trial a hybrid version of the Main Event.

Although it called into question the status of September’s $5,000 Main Event winner, no one was mad at getting another chance to win a bracelet. However, for certain critics, the end product hasn’t matched expectations of what a Main Event should be.

Doyle Brunson sung the praises of Phil Hellmuth on Twitter, touting the “Poker Brat” as the greatest no-limit hold’em player in the world.

Is Phil Hellmuth the best NLH player ever? Doyle Brunson sure seems to think so. (Image: YouTube)

It’s tough to find a more credible source when it comes to poker skills than “Texas Dolly.” After all, he’s a Poker Hall of Famer and 10-time World Series of Poker Main bracelet winner, one of just four players in history to reach that plateau. So, when he makes such a bold claim, the poker community listens.

I just saw Phil Helmuth has cashed 154times at the WSOP so he has probably entered 200 tournaments. He is the best NLH tournament player in the world, in my opinion. https://t.co/CJkPlO0y6I

Doyle Brunson sung the praises of Phil Hellmuth on Twitter, touting the “Poker Brat” as the greatest no-limit hold’em player in the world.

Is Phil Hellmuth the best NLH player ever? Doyle Brunson sure seems to think so. (Image: YouTube)

It’s tough to find a more credible source when it comes to poker skills than “Texas Dolly.” After all, he’s a Poker Hall of Famer and 10-time World Series of Poker Main bracelet winner, one of just four players in history to reach that plateau. So, when he makes such a bold claim, the poker community listens.

I just saw Phil Helmuth has cashed 154times at the WSOP so he has probably entered 200 tournaments. He is the best NLH tournament player in the world, in my opinion. https://t.co/CJkPlO0y6I

High Stakes Poker returned to the poker world on Wednesday on the PokerGo app, and the pots weren’t as monster as you may have expected.

(Note: spoiler alerts forthcoming)

Tom “durrrr” Dwan returned to High Stakes Poker on Wednesday. (Image: PokerGo)

High Stakes Poker was one of the most popular poker shows ever. From 2006 to 2011, the cash game show aired on the Game Show Network. Many of the game’s biggest stars competed regularly. Pros such as Doyle Brunson, Phil Hellmuth, Phil Ivey, and Daniel Negreanu battled for the highest stakes in front of a massive television audience.

High Stakes Poker returned to the poker world on Wednesday on the PokerGo app, and the pots weren’t as monster as you may have expected.

(Note: spoiler alerts forthcoming)

Tom “durrrr” Dwan returned to High Stakes Poker on Wednesday. (Image: PokerGo)

High Stakes Poker was one of the most popular poker shows ever. From 2006 to 2011, the cash game show aired on the Game Show Network. Many of the game’s biggest stars competed regularly. Pros such as Doyle Brunson, Phil Hellmuth, Phil Ivey, and Daniel Negreanu battled for the highest stakes in front of a massive television audience.

The international leg of the World Series of Poker (WSOP) Main Event is over and Argentina’s Damian Salas is the new champion.

Argentinian lawyer Damian Salas is the international WSOP Main Event champion. (Image: GGPoker/Twitter)

As well as picking up $1.5 million and a WSOP title, Salas progressed to a heads-up showdown set to take place in Las Vegas on December 30.

Although the Argentinian’s victory stole the headlines, it’s not the only story from the Main Event’s unique final table. With the event switching from an online affair to a live one, Peiyuan Sun became an unexpected early casualty.

The big name pros are all gone from the WSOP Main Event on WSOP.com, but the ESPN-televised finale should be a sight for sore eyes for the poker community.

At long last, we have a WSOP Main Event final table to cover. (Image: Forbes)

We told you yesterday that the final 71 players included numerous big name pros. Players such as Dan Zack, Ryan Laplante, Nick Schulman and other familiar faces bagged chips and advanced to Day 2. But outside of Upeshka De Silva, the Day 1 chip leader, you likely won’t recognize any other final table competitor’s name.

With that said, we’re talking about the World Series of Poker Main Event here. Stars are born in this tournament, even in an unconventional year like 2020. And given that we’ve all been desperately craving some televised major live poker tournaments, the final table should be an entertaining watch regardless of the star power.

The UK’s disparate tier system continues to hamper casinos and betting stores as London prepares to enter another lockdown.

London casinos, including the Hippodrome, are set to close on Dec. 16 as the English capital moves into Tier-3 restrictions. (Image: The Arcadia Online)

The English capital will go into Tier 3 on Wednesday, following what Secretary of State for Health Matt Hancock has called a “new variant” of COVID-19.

Moving London into the highest tier means all non-essential businesses, including casinos, will shut for the festive period. The move comes as betting stores in Scotland returned to business after another national lockdown.

Anyone awaiting a return to normality in 2021 can find a glimmer of hope at the Star Gold Coast and its “COVID-free” poker room.

The Star Gold Coast gets back to business with COVID-free cash games. (Image: Lynn Gilmartin/Twitter)

With infections at negligible levels in parts of Australia, the Queensland casino got back to business “as usual” last week.

The World Poker Tour’s (WPT) Lynn Gilmartin was one of the first to ante-up without a mask. The Aussie presenter posted highlights of her session on Instagram, saying it was one of the “happiest” tables she’s ever sat at.

Nick Schulman, the popular poker commentator, was among the many familiar faces advancing to Day 2 of the 2020 WSOP Main Event. The world championship event produced a higher-than-expected turnout, with over 700 players in the field.

Nick Schulman is in the hunt for the 2020 WSOP Main Event title. (Image: Poker Central)

The hybrid event (mix of online and live play) kicked off Nov. 29 on GGPoker for international players. That separate but connected tournament has already played down to its final table, which takes place Dec. 15 at King’s Casino, site of the canceled WSOP Europe series, in the Czech Republic.

Over on WSOP.com, the 2020 WSOP Main Event began Sunday, with 705 players registered. Day 2 begins at noon PT on Monday and will play down to a final table of nine. The WSOP.com final table will take place inside the Rio in Las Vegas, home to the traditional summer World Series of Poker, on Dec. 28. Two days later, the winners of the WSOP.com and GGPoker tournaments will meet to determine a world champion. The World Series of Poker will pay the overall winner an extra $1 million.

The WSOP is firing on all cylinders at the moment. As the US leg of the WSOP Main Event got underway on WSOP.com, GGPoker is looking the end the year on a high with the $100 million Online Circuit series.

Players outside of the US can make a final run at WSOP glory in 2020 thanks to the Winter Online Circuit festival. (Image: GGPoker)

Open to players outside of the US, the WSOP Winter Online Circuit features 18 ring events and runs until January 10.

The action started on Sunday with a $1 million guaranteed MTT costing $50. For those with deeper pockets, a $10,300 WSOPC Super Million$ High Roller rounded out the day’s action.

Phil Galfond has officially erased a massive deficit in the Galfond Challenge against Chance Kornuth and now holds a decent-sized lead. But he can’t get too excited because there is still plenty of time for his opponent to win.

Phil Galfond is starting to regain his dominance against Chance Kornuth. (Image: Twitter)

The two skilled poker pros are competing in a 35,000-hand heads-up pot-limit Omaha competition on WSOP.com at $100/$200 stakes. They have also agreed to a separate side bet in which Galfond would pay $1 million extra if he loses. Kornuth, on the other hand, would owe $250,000 should he lose.

Galfond laid those 4-1 odds on the basis that he was so heavily favored. PokerShared handicapped the Run it Once poker site founder as a 4-1 favorite. And he showed why early on in the match as he busted out quickly to a six-figure advantage. But Kornuth, a skilled PLO player as well, proved over the next 10,000-plus hands that he belongs and can compete at the highest level even against one of the best PLO players ever.

A fight inside the Aria poker room in Las Vegas involving a popular dealer nicknamed Leandre “Patches” Wharton led to the dealer’s subsequent firing. According to players who witnessed the incident, an unruly player spouted a racist comment directed at the African American dealer.

Wild fight ensued inside the Aria poker room. (Image: YouTube)

Patches is one of the most well-known dealers in Las Vegas. He’s been at Aria for many years and is known as friendly and fair. But an apparent racist blast triggered the temperamental dealer. The incident was captured on video by a player inside the poker room, and then posted to YouTube.

Daniel Negreanu finally booked a big win against Doug Polk, and he desperately needed one to prevent surpassing the $1 million deficit mark.

Daniel Negreanu finally won some big pots against Doug Polk. (Image: YouTube)

Heading into Friday’s contest, Polk had recorded seven six-figure wins in the previous 10 sessions. He won so much money during the first 18 sessions that Negreanu had to add to his initial $1 million deposit.

Time and time again, the GGPoker ambassador would get off to a slow start either giving away a stack or getting coolered early in the session. That happened yet again on Friday. Polk, with pocket jacks, flopped a set of jacks on a J-4-9 board. Negreanu had pocket fours in the hand and there wasn’t much he could do to avoid giving away around $40,000 chips.

The second coming of Bitcoin (BTC) has put the Winning Poker Network under pressure as players looking to get rich have opt of crypto cashouts.

The latest cryptocurrency bull run has prompted poker players to convert their bankrolls into Bitcoin. (Image: Bitcoinist.com)

With the price of Bitcoin surging to levels not seen since 2017, poker players are using the upswing to boost the value of their bankrolls.

The demand for Bitcoin has been so great that Winning Poker Network CEO Phil Nagy has struggled to keep up. Discussing the recent rush with Bloomberg, Nagy said he’s been forced to buy more BTC to cover withdrawal requests.

Isaac Haxton called for Las Vegas poker players to stop playing due to increased COVID-19 cases in Nevada. Nearly 1% of all Nevadans tested positive for the virus just in the past week. The high-stakes pro also pleaded with operators to call off upcoming live tournament events.

Isaac Haxton pleaded with Las Vegas poker players to stop playing cards for a while. (Image: thescore.com)

Even during a global health pandemic, poker in Las Vegas is still booming. Out of the 31 card rooms in town that were open pre-coronavirus, 19 have since returned to business. And there certainly isn’t a shortage on action despite Governor Steve Sisolak’s recent 25% capacity restrictions.

Even with limits on capacity, the poker tournament scene is ramping up with the upcoming WSOP Main Event final table at the Rio, a series of $10,000 buy-in events at Wynn, and a major-ish series over at Bally’s running until early January. Haxton referred to these events as “irresponsible” on Twitter.