Poker King took a leaf out of PokerStars’ marketing playbook by pitting Phil Ivey against basketball legend Allen Iverson in a series of one-on-one challenges.

Phil Ivey and Allen Iverson can be seen going head-to-head in a new video produced by Poker King. (Image: YouTube/Poker King)

The online poker site has been using its partnerships with Ivey and Tom Dwan to good effect in recent weeks. Candid interviews with the often elusive high-stakes stars have generated more than 1 million views on YouTube.

The latest video offering introduces what appears to be a new mini-series called Double or Nothing featuring Ivey and Iverson.

After taking a break for Thanksgiving, the Galfond Challenge is back in action. On Wednesday, Phil Galfond closed out yet another session with a win. But, once again, it was only by a small amount.

Phil Galfond and Chance Kornuth are locked in a close battle. (Image: Twitch)

Galfond left for the break on quite a heater. He had gone from down $340,000 to trailing by just $92,000, less than five buy-ins. Doing so took him just over a week, quite an impressive run.

Galfond’s opponent, Chance Kornuth, has been quite a surprise during this, the third installment of the Galfond Challenge. But, perhaps, the poker community shouldn’t be all that surprised he’s been so competitive against one of the top pot-limit Omaha players of all-time. Kornuth himself is an accomplished PLO player, and one of the best overall poker players in the game today.

A wild, intense session ensued between Doug Polk and Daniel Negreanu on Day 14, with the GGPoker ambassador getting out of there with a win. But he needed a bout of run good to finish up the four-hour match to pull it off. And the win was only a nominal amount.

Daniel Negreanu continues to battle against Doug Polk. (Image: YouTube)

Polk entered the session with a massive lead — over $570,000. He lost the previous session by a small amount, ending a string of four straight six-figure winning days.

Day 14, as per usual, began at 2:30 pm PT, and ended around 6:30. The four-hour session featured an array of massive pots going both ways, some failed bluffs, and more twists and turns than a roller coaster at Six Flags. In the end, the overall scoreboard is pretty close to where it was before the session began.

The first, or second depending on your perspective, WSOP Main Event of 2020 got underway on GGPoker last Sunday.

Julian Menhardt topped the chip counts on Day 1A of the hybrid WSOP Main Event. (Image: Concord Card Casino)

Day 1A of the international bracket attracted 246 players on November 29, each of which contributed $10,000 to the prizepool.

When the betting stopped and the debris was cleared away, 62 players had made it through to Day 2 of the WSOP’s hybrid Main Event.

The 2020 Poker Hall of Fame inductee — just one this year — will be announced Dec. 30 in Las Vegas. We don’t know who that lucky winner will be. But we do have a list of five individuals who all have a unique case for joining the prestigious club.

Mike Matusow is an interesting candidate for the 2020 Poker Hall of Fame class. (Image: worldpokertour.com)

As of today, fans can nominate their own candidate on the WSOP.com website. On Dec. 16, Caesars will announce a finalist list based on the fan nominations. And then on Dec. 30, during the WSOP Main Event final table, the winner will be revealed.

We aren’t here to tell you who you should nominate or who the 32-member panel should choose. Instead, the purpose of this article is to inform the voters — including the random poker fans — of some candidates who may otherwise be overlooked.

At long last, the 2020 Poker Hall of Fame class will soon be inducted. But first, there’s a bit of business to take care of, namely selecting the two most deserving candidates, which you can take part in.

Is Antonio Esfandiari worthy of Poker Hall of Fame consideration? (Image: CNBC)

In most years, the HOF selections are announced during the summer World Series of Poker. This year, however, that wasn’t possible given there was no live WSOP in Las Vegas. So, the committee has held off on the selection process until the upcoming WSOP Main Event, scheduled for later this month.

Each year since 2005 (one per year in most years prior), two individuals have been selected for the Poker Hall of Fame. This year, however, only one person will be inducted. Induction into the prestigious club is certainly subjective. But the inductees are required to meet a certain criteria:

England’s national lockdown ends tomorrow and betting stores in parts of the country will reopen, albeit with some unusual restrictions in place.

Betting stores in England will reopen on December 2 but some will have to limit customers to 15-minute visits. (Image: William Hill)

The new tier system comes into force on December 2 and, although venues will be open in all regions, those in “high-risk” areas have to follow additional safety measures.

All operators in Tier 3 zones must follow a new set of rules that that include limits on how long customers can spend inside their stores.

GGPoker has added another stitch to its ever-expanding tapestry of features thanks to a partnership with PokerShares.

GGPoker has partnered with PokerShares to allow betting on its final table line-ups. (Image: Twitter/GGPoker)

Off the back of hosting WSOP Online events and introducing novel products like SnapCam, it now has final table betting markets.

By linking up with PokerShares, GGPoker is able to offer odds on its final table line-ups. The first market open to bettors is the final table of the SuperMILLION$.

Daniel Negreanu was so close to chipping away a big chunk of Doug Polk’s $600,000 lead on Day 13. He was cruising along up big for the session. And then he lost most of that profit on the final hand of the day thanks in part to a questionable river call.

Daniel Negreanu played well on Monday, but only won a small amount. (Image: YouTube)

Monday’s session lasted just over 2 hours and 15 minutes, perhaps shorter than it would have if not for the last hand. The poker pros have agreed to play for at least two hours per day. After that point, either player can call it quits at any time.

Entering the session, Polk had won four straight sessions by at least $117,000, including his most recent $332,178 win on Saturday. That brought his total profit for the challenge up to $596,197 through 5,751 hands out of 25,000 (potentially only 12,500, however).

A private poker game has cost a 37-year-old Canadian more than he bargained for following a late-night police raid.

A 37-year-old from British Columbia, Canada, has been fined CA$3,000 for hosting a private poker game. (Image: Lake Country Calendar)

Officers stormed the unnamed man’s home at 1am after receiving an anonymous tipoff. Upon entering the property in Kamloops, British Columbia, they found a group of people playing poker.

Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) Superintendent Syd Lecky said the man was fined CA$3,000 for breaching COVID-19 guidelines.

We’re feeling Christmassy already here at CardsChat. It’s the season to be jolly, make eggnog and eat gingerbread — what’s not to like? But it’s also time to turn on the radio, and bet on the most popular holiday jams.

Nothing is more divisive in December than Christmas music. Love it or loathe it, you’ll have to listen. So, we decided to get festive and find out what the nation’s favorite Christmas songs are in the UK and the US, state-by-state.

Does Colorado prefer the classics? Do New Yorkers dig carols? Is there a clear winner across the board? Or a truly hated tune? Yule never guess …

Top Twen-tree Spotify Christmas Songs

The schedule for this year’s Irish Poker Masters has been announced ahead of two opening events set to take place on Friday.

The Irish Poker Masters Online gets underway on December 4 and will feature 21 tournaments. (Image: Partypoker)

As has been the case for almost all of 2020, the action will take place online. With COVID-19 restrictions making any sort of live event impossible, the Irish Poker Masters team is leaning on its long-time partner, Partypoker.

The online series will feature 21 events and run from Dec. 4 to 16. An €1,100 main event tops the bill, but side events and satellites mean there should be something for everyone.

If you’re planning on visiting your favorite Las Vegas poker rooms the next few weeks, you may notice some changes due to the Nevada governor’s new COVID-19 restrictions. But, on a positive note, despite capacity limitations, the live poker scene is still thriving.

South Point, one of the top Las Vegas poker rooms. (Image: CardsChat News)

And, even better, the poker room changes won’t impact your ability to find a seat in a juicy game, much. Governor Steve Sisolak imposed new coronavirus restrictions due to increased COVID-19 cases last week. They include limiting capacity in casinos to 25%.

That means poker rooms in Southern Nevada must decrease capacity for the time being. But some card rooms have found ways around the capacity limits to continue spreading tournaments and keeping the cash games running.

Doug Polk is catching everything in sight in every big pot it seems, and he now leads Daniel Negreanu by a country mile in the heads-up grudge match.

Doug Polk can’t possibly run any better than he has so far against Daniel Negreanu. (Image: WSOP.com)

Polk. one of the top heads-up no-limit hold’em players ever, doesn’t need much help. But the deck has repeatedly smacked him in the face throughout the challenge. His run of good luck was more existent during Saturday’s session than any other.

At this point, the odds of Negreanu coming from behind to win are getting slimmer by the day. Strange things have happened in poker. Earlier this year, Phil Galfond rallied from a $900,000 deficit against “VeniVidi1993” to win the first Galfond Challenge.

Casinos in England are preparing to reopen their doors after another national lockdown, but their Scottish counterparts aren’t so lucky.

Genting, Grosvenor, and Caesars Entertainment have joined forces in an effort to save casinos in Scotland. (Image: The Chips Are Down)

Under the UK’s devolved power structure, national governments have a certain amount of control over their own affairs. As such, Scotland has the power to order its own COVID-19 restrictions.

The current measures mean casinos in Scotland will remain closed while many in parts of neighboring England get back to business from December 2.

Looking for some interesting holiday gift ideas for the poker player in your life during these strange times? Perhaps, we can make your holiday shopping a bit easier.

You’ll need some creative holiday gift ideas this year for poker players. (Image: sookenewsmirror.com)

The coronavirus has changed the way we all live in 2020. Due to COVID-19, many families won’t spend time together during the holiday season. Some will most certainly ignore the CDC’s request to avoid those who are outside your own home. But the vast majority of people will likely refrain from private gatherings even during the Christmas season.

You’ll need to get a bit creative this year to keep your poker-playing friends and family members happy. Think outside the box. Or, just steal our holiday gift ideas.

Partypoker’s Caribbean Poker Party main event is over and, after leading from the start, Diego Ventura has clinched the title and more than $800,000.

Diego Ventura capped off a dominant performance in the Partypoker Caribbean Poker Party main event to win $879,894. (Image: Partypoker Live)

Play began last night with nine players in the mix and all eyes on Isaac Haxton. The Partypoker Ambassador had the fourth largest stack and the best résumé of anyone at the final table.

However, when the final chips had fallen, not even Haxton could dislodge Ventura and stop him from taking down the $5,300 event.

Doug Polk is starting to run away from his opponent, Daniel Negreanu, after yet another dominating performance on Day 11 of the heads-up poker grudge match.

Doug Polk keeps catching old man speeding in his match against Daniel Negreanu. (Image: YouTube)

Negreanu had surprised many poker fans with his competitive performance through eight sessions. But over the past three days — more than 1,500 hands — the GGPoker ambassador has been completely dominated. Part of that Polk dominance in recent days is due to luck. Some, however, has been the result of outplaying his opponent and getting maximum value with his monster hands.

With Wednesday’s two-hour session included, Polk has now turned a six-figure profit three straight sessions. Negreanu remains confident in his play and said in his post-game interview on the GGPoker YouTube channel that he feels he’s run terrible throughout the match. And he might be right, but Polk has also effectively taken advantage of Negreanu’s loose river calling strategy. So, luck hasn’t been the only factor in the current results.

Isaac Haxton is among those lined up and ready to engage in some final table festivities in the Caribbean Poker Party main event.

Partypoker Ambassador Isaac Haxton is among the biggest stacks at the final table of the Caribbean Poker Party main event. (Image: WPT)

The $5,300 fiesta played down to a final table of nine earlier this week and Partypoker Ambassador Haxton is among the top stacks.

The American, playing out of Canada, bagged just over 115 million chips on Day 3 and will start the November 25 finale in fourth place. Leading the charge with over 307 million chips is Peru’s Diego Ventura.

Despite Daniel Negreanu being more competitive than most expected, Doug Polk is now a heavier favorite than he was before the match started, according to PokerShares.

Doug Polk is starting to pull away from Daniel Negreanu again. (Image: Poker Central)

On Monday, Polk booked a six-figure win over four hours, bringing his lead up to around $143,000. The rival poker pros have now played 4,651 hands at $200/$400 stakes on the WSOP.com poker site, so we’re starting to get a fairly good idea for how the match will play out.

We can’t predict which talented poker player will win at this point. Right now, Polk has a lead of just 3.5 buy-ins, which can be erased in just a few unlucky hands or failed bluff attempts. The apparently no-longer-feuding pros still have at least 7,849 hands remaining, and potentially another 12,500 in addition to those. So, it’s really anyone’s game at this point. But Mike McDonald’s gambling website still considers Polk to be a massive favorite.