As you probably already heard, Mikhal Shalamov left the pokerstars team. He worked with PokerStars for 10 years, but now he decided to change his comfort zone.

Do you think he will become an ambassador for another poker room like GGPokeroK or some other?

Good players sometimes run bad. It’s the nature of this mercurial game. You can be crushing it for months and then go on a long losing streak for no apparent reason. I know. I’ve been there.

Big money on the table. (Image: Reddit)

Just about everyone agrees that if extended downswings put a significant dent in your bankroll, you should consider playing in a smaller game so that you can recover your losses and then move back up to your regular game. That’s the plan. Unfortunately, it doesn’t always work out that way.

I’ve noticed that otherwise good players sometimes have a problem realizing that goal. For many reasons, players dropping down in stakes sometimes make one of five key errors when they do so. These errors would be bad under any circumstances, but when they’re made on a depleted bankroll after a long period of running badly, they can spell doom. So, let me first identify the five problems, and then show you five ways to fix them.

Daniel Negreanu expressed frustration with the distribution of cards on the WSOP.com poker site following Monday’s losing session against Doug Polk.

Daniel Negreanu melted down after yet another losing session against Doug Polk. (Image: YouTube)

Day 29 was arguably the wildest session of them all. And that says something considering the intense back and forth nature of Day 28 on Friday. For quite some time, both players had over $120,000 on each of the two tables, the first time that has occurred.

Given the stack sizes that had accumulated throughout the session, Negreanu had perhaps his best opportunity to put a serious dent in Polk’s grudge match lead. But he squandered that chance, and he believes luck was a major contributing factor.

Parts of the British media have taken a momentary break from sensationalizing COVID-19 to take aim at the gambling industry.

Gamblers in the UK are concerned that media scare stories may negatively impact the industry ahead of legislative changes. (Image: The Times)

As the UK government prepares to update its national Gambling Act, voices from both sides are starting to have their say. However, one side of the debate is currently drowning out the other, according to some members of the community.

The Times newspaper recently led with the headline “We lost £11.8 Million: It’s time to make the betting industry pay.” Horse racing enthusiast Jason Brautigam believes this article could harm the UK gambling industry.

Paulius Plausinaitis took down a $10 million guaranteed WSOP Circuit Main Event on the GGPoker poker site — a $1,700 buy-in tournament — for $1,236,361. He beat a tough final table table that included tournament crusher Joseph Cheong.

Paulius Plausinaitis won one of the biggest WSOP Circuit events in history. (Image: WSOP.com)

Plausinaitis hails from Lithuania, home of the legendary Tony G, one of the most colorful and loud poker players ever. The recent Circuit ring winner outlasted a field of 6,395 players, making it the largest Circuit event in history.

Cheong is no stranger to crushing massive field tournaments. In 2010, he finished third for $4,130,000 in the WSOP Main Event, a tournament with 7,319 unique players. And at the 2019 WSOP, he won his first and only bracelet in a 6,214-player field ($1,000 Double Stack No-Limit Hold’em for $687,782).

Annie Duke is as much a part of the poker community these days as her brother Howard Lederer. Yet mainstream media outlets continue to interview her as if she is. Forbes recently spoke with the former poker pro to discuss cryptocurrency trading tips. As per usual, the interviewer refrained from addressing the elephant in the room — her Epic Poker League and Ultimate Bet scandals.

The mainstream media loves to coddle Annie Duke. (Image: slate.com)

Prior to 2012, Duke was a mostly respected poker pro, much like her brother. She certainly had her detractors in poker back then, most notably Daniel Negreanu. But she built up a reputation as one of the top female poker players in the world.

In 2004. she won a WSOP bracelet in the $2,000 Omaha Hi-Lo 8-or-Better event for $137,860. Six years later, she won the NBC National Heads-Up Poker Championship, beating her friend Erik Seidel in the finals. She also won the 2004 WSOP Tournament of Champions for $2 million, her biggest score ever.

Daniel Negreanu lost some more money to Doug Polk on Friday afternoon during one of the most up and down sessions played to date. Day 28 was full of big pots, but neither player could pull very far ahead.

Daniel Negreanu is now down more than $600,000 to Doug Polk. (Image: YouTube)

Polk came into the day fresh off a commanding $119,000 win two days earlier. That winning session was his first out of the past six. On Day 27, he not only won big, but also killed his opponent’s momentum and made it difficult for Negreanu to eventually mount a comeback.

As the total hands played continues to rack up, Negreanu’s chances of winning become slimmer. He did nothing on Friday to improve his odds of pulling off a miraculous comeback and an improbable upset. But he also didn’t lose much — less than a full buy-in.

The World Poker Tour (WPT) is back and, despite being unable to set up shop inside Montreal’s Playground Casino, the show goes on.

With Canada’s Playground Poker Club closed, Partypoker will host this year’s WPT Montreal main event online. (Image: WPT)

An executive decision was made in the latter part of 2020 to host the series online. With COVID-19 creating an uncertain climate, the team committed to running the series on Partypoker.

That was a wise decision as the Playground Poker Club has been closed since October. Fortunately for players, Partypoker has stepped into the breach and WPT Montreal will get underway online this Sunday.

The World Poker Tour (WPT) is back and, despite being unable to set up shop inside Montreal’s Playground Casino, the show goes on.

With Canada’s Playground Poker Club closed, Partypoker will host this year’s WPT Montreal main event online. (Image: WPT)

An executive decision was made in the latter part of 2020 to host the series online. With COVID-19 creating an uncertain climate, the team committed to running the series on Partypoker.

That was a wise decision as the Playground Poker Club has been closed since October. Fortunately for players, Partypoker has stepped into the breach and WPT Montreal will get underway online this Sunday.

Tom Dwan wound up in the middle of one of the most memorable High Stakes Poker hands ever in the recent episode released on the PokerGo app. Three players were all-in before the flop, vying for all or a share of the $985,000 pot. They opted to run it three times, but one extremely lucky player scooped it all.

Did Tom Dwan win another monster pot on High Stakes Poker? (Image: PokerGo)

PokerGo brought back the popular televised poker show last month. One new episode is released every Wednesday on the poker app (paid subscription required). Gabe Kaplan and AJ Benza, the original hosts, are back together in the broadcast booth.

Through the first five episodes — the fifth released this week — the entertainment value has been high, much like the old High Stakes Poker series on the Game Show Network from 2006-2011. Past HSP players such as Jean-Robert Bellande and Tom Dwan have already appeared, and upcoming episodes will feature Phil Ivey, Phil Hellmuth, Doug Polk, and many other superstars.

I was reading a post in a poker forum the other day. In it, a newbie wrote about a bad beat he suffered, and asked for advice on dealing with the funk he was in because of it. One of the more experienced and intelligent members of the forum, trying to be helpful, wrote back “Just remember that luck evens out over time.”

When it comes to luck, it’s as much about how you look as it is how you feel. (Image: Gaby Stein/Pixabay)

It’s a comforting salve to be sure, this oft-repeated phrase. And, surely, it can help players avoid going on tilt after a bad beat — I don’t fault anyone for saying it. Yet even as I admit the comforting effects of such an utterance, I know that “Luck will even out in the long run” is also one of the greatest fallacies in poker.

Luck Rarely Evens Out

Doug Polk blew a $175,000 lead on Day 27 before regrouping to book his first winning session in quite some time against Daniel Negreanu. He ended a five session losing streak and turned the match back in his favor.

Doug Polk stopped the momentum that was heading in Daniel Negreanu’s direction. (Image: YouTube)

The previously long-time feuding poker pros have now completed 27 sessions of $200/$400 no-limit hold’em on WSOP.com. Over that span, they’ve played 15,850 hands and have 9,150 remaining before the epic grudge match concludes.

Through Day 19, Negreanu trailed by $950,000 and appeared to be on track to lose potentially more than $2 million. But he turned the tides and went on quite an impressive winning streak, eliminating half the deficit in just seven sessions.

There’s been another changing of the guard at PokerStars, with six players moving on to new pastures.

Celina Lin is the latest poker pro to part ways with PokerStars. (Image: PokerStars)

Following the recent parting of ways between PokerStars and Chris Moneymaker, Celina Lin has joined the recent cohort of departees.

Lin was the last remaining member of PokerStars’ Team Asia and her exit marks the end of an 11-year relationship.

As we reported on Tuesday, Sheldon Adelson passed away from cancer at age 87. The casino magnate left quite an impression on poker community, but not a good one.

Sheldon Adelson certainly left his mark on the poker world. (Image: CNN)

Adelson died of non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, a common but often deadly disease that occurs when the lymph-node cells or the lymphocytes begin to multiply uncontrollably, producing cancerous cells that have the abnormal capacity to invade other tissues throughout the body.

He was initially diagnosed with the disease in 2019. Just last week, he took a leave of absence from his role as CEO of Las Vegas Sands Corp to receive cancer treatment. But days later, the Republican megadonor died of complications from that treatment.

Amateur poker players have the chance to become a world champion thanks to Partypoker. Following on from the recent glut of elite-level online MTTs, Partypoker is hosting the World Championship of Amateur Poker (WCOAP).

Partypoker will host the first online World Championship of Amateur Poker as COVID-19 restrictions stop play in the UK. (Image: APAT/Concord Card Casino)

WCOAP is a product of the Amateur Poker Association & Tour (APAT). The British company was founded in 2006 and now hosts amateur events across Europe and North America.

APAT will run its World Championship online for the first time this year. With ongoing lockdowns in the UK, WCOAP’s normal home, Dusk Till Dawn, is closed. Cue Partypoker.

Ante Up canceled its February print edition, but its co-founder tells CardsChat that it hopes to be back up and running when the COVID-19 pandemic dies down.

Ante Up magazine won’t publish its February issue due to a lack of distribution channels because so many poker rooms remain closed. (Image: Ante Up)

The magazine, which has published for 12 years, recently sent out a notice to its customers saying that not enough of its distribution locations have reopened and it would not publish its planned February issue.

“We’ll continue to hope our country can turn the corner on this terrible virus to allow enough poker rooms to reopen for us to be able to return to producing the quality product we insist on producing,” the notice reads.

Daniel Negreanu still has a ways to go before tying up the score against Doug Polk. But after Monday’s session in which he won six figures, there’s light at the end of the tunnel.

Daniel Negreanu isn’t too far from getting to within striking distance against Doug Polk. (Image: YouTube)

Polk has led ever since the first online session on WSOP.com more than two months ago. His lead at one point surpassed $950,000, and it appeared he was destined to potentially win millions, much like many expected before this grudge match began.

But things haven’t been so easy for the heads-up poker legend in recent weeks. Negreanu entered Day 26 on Monday having won four straight sessions and five out of six. He needed to continue on that momentum as he chases what would be the greatest comeback in poker history.

Americas Cardroom has upped the ante once again and increased the guarantee for its fourth Venom event to $8 million.

Americas Cardroom is set to host another potentially record-breaking Venom MTT, this time with an $8 million guarantee. (Image: Americas Cardroom)

The $2,650 MTT has been anything but a poison chalice since its first incarnation in 2019. Venom II was hailed as the “largest online poker tournament by a US-facing site” with a $6 million guarantee.

That record was broken last year when Venom III paid out more than $7 million. The fourth version of the event will add an additional $1 million to the guarantee and take it to $8 million.

Shay Segev won’t lead Entain into a possible merger with MGM Resorts worth more than $11 billion. The current CEO has handed in his notice after being offered a new position at sports streaming platform DAZN.

Entain CEO Shay Segev has handed in his notice following a lucrative offer from sports streaming company DAZN. (Image: The Financial Times)

Entain hit the headlines last week when it confirmed MGM Resorts had made a takeover offer worth $11 billion. The informal proposal was rejected but there are rumors a revised offer may be made in the coming weeks.

Segev may not be around if that happens. The former Playtech executive joined Entain in 2016 after stints at Playtech and Gala Coral. He took over from Kenneth Alexander as CEO in July 2020 but is now moving on to pastures new.

Joseph Cheong is closing in on another massive score as he is potentially one day away from winning the WSOPC Online Main Event. The World Series of Poker bracelet winner is one of nine players left still chasing a $1.2 million first place prize.

Can Joseph Cheong pull off another huge win? (Image: World Poker Tour)

Event #18 of the WSOP Winter Online Circuit series on GGPoker, a $10 million guaranteed tournament, attracted 6,395 entries, each costing $1,700. The winner of this massive online event will take home a gold WSOP Circuit ring and become quite wealthy. After two days of play, only nine remain, each guaranteed at least $123,106. An unknown player using the screen name “iownumind” busted in 10th place ($55,718), bubbling the final table in cruel fashion.

Alexandru Papazian from Romania called an all-in bet with pocket 3’s against “iownumind’s” pocket aces. The board ran out K-7-4-10, and then a lucky 3 on the river, setting up the final table. Papazian will enter play on Monday fifth in chips with 31 big blinds.