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PokerGO, GPI Reach Deal on Streaming Global Poker Awards in Las Vegas Through 2024

The GPI announced an agreement with PokerGO this week that will see the service streaming the Global Poker Awards through 2024.

The Global Poker Index (GPI) has carved out a niche in the poker world ranking the game’s best players. Over the last few years, the site’s Global Poker Awards have also recognized greatness within the game.

The company announced an agreement with PokerGO this week that will see the service streaming the awards through 2024. Like the first editions in 2019 and 2020, the 2022 ceremony will be in Las Vegas at the PokerGO Studio. 

Because of COVID-19, GPI canceled the awards ceremony in 2021 and will resume in March 2022. The Global Poker Index is part of Mediarex Group sports and entertainment, which also includes Hendon Mob (THM). The awards celebrate notable poker players, media, and industry pioneers.

“We are honored to be a part of celebrating the accomplishments of the most renowned figures in the poker industry,” GPI/THM President Eric Danis said in a news release.

“After having to cancel this year’s ceremony due to the pandemic, we are so excited to welcome the poker world once again to the Global Poker Awards in March 2022 and for years to come.”

What to expect from 2022 awards

When the awards resume in 2022, poker fans will see more than 20 awards presented. Some of those regularly given out include:

  • GPI Player of the Year
  • GPI Female Player of the Year
  • Poker Icon
  • Players’ Choice Award for Best All-Around Poker Player
  • People’s Choice Award for Hand of the Year

“The Global Poker Awards recognize and celebrate the most elite poker players and significant figures making a notable difference in the industry,” PokerGO President Mori Eskandani said.

“At PokerGO, we aim to give credit to those who make a splash in our sport, and holding these awards in the PokerGO Studio for the next three years allows us to do so.”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g-I9on-UY2A

A look back at 2019-20

The last Global Poker Awards saw some of the biggest names in poker collect hardware for 2019 performances. Alex Foxen picked up Player of the Year for the second straight year. Kristen Bicknell claimed the Female Player of the Year for the third year in a row.

As of Thursday, American Nick Pupillo stood atop the standings for 2021. However, Foxen also has a shot to add another title and is currently in seventh.

Bicknell, a partypoker ambassador, remains at the top of the standings on the female side of the rankings. She could be in line for a fourth straight award.

Australia’s Robert Cambell won the award for Breakout Player of the Year. The honor came after a huge World Series of Poker performance that included two bracelet wins.

Phillip Hui took Final Table Performance of the Year for winning the WSOP Poker Players Championship. He won the event for $1.1 million at a final table that included Josh Arieh, John Esposito, Bryce Yockey, Shaun Deeb, and Dan Cates. 

The annual Icon Award went to Johnny Chan. Other winners included:

  • Stephen Chidwick – Players Choice for Toughest Opponent
  • Paul Phua (Triton Poker) – Industry Person of the Year
  • Matt Savage (World Poker Tour) – Tournament Director of the Year
  • PokerStars Players Championship Bahamas – Event of the Year
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PokerGO Launches New High Roller Tour To Rank Game’s Best, Releases 2021 Event Schedule

The team behind PokerGO is betting on live poker’s return in 2021 and has unveiled the PokerGO Tour, a global poker ranking system.

The team behind PokerGO is betting on live poker’s return in 2021, including high rollers getting back in the action. The company unveiled the PokerGO Tour last week, a global professional poker ranking system with some extra winnings for top performers.

The tour highlights 150 tournaments around the world with tens of millions of dollars at stake. The goal is to rank top poker pros as seen in professional sports such as golf or tennis.

“The sport of poker is hundreds of years old and until now, there has not been a globally recognized tour and ranking system that establishes and celebrates the most elite players across the globe, so we started something we hope will evolve and grow,” PokerGO President Mori Eskandani said in a news release.

“The PokerGO Tour events will include the world’s most challenging high stakes events in the world, bringing poker front and center in the world of sports in a way that has never been done before.”

The tour’s addition comes online poker has also exploded internationally – including numerous online high roller events.  As of now, the PokerGO Tour only highlights live events however.

Details on the PokerGO Tour

As part of the new tour, players earn points throughout the year for every finish at each qualifying event. The top performer will be named Player of the Year and score an extra $100,000.

Second and third place also earn $50,000 and $25,000. The tour rankings are updated regularly and showcase the top spot in the world of high stakes poker players.

So far, the standings have included about 20 events so far this year. As of Monday, Ali Imsirovic stood atop the leaderboard.

Online players will recognize many of the names from some of the world’s biggest online events as well. Here’s a look at the top five players with their winnings:

  • 1st – Ali Imsirovic, $1.4 million
  • 2nd – Sean Perry, $731,700
  • 3rd – Chris Brewer, $759,565
  • 4th – Sean Winter, $708,590
  • 5th – Arthur Conan, $733,320

PokerGO high roller schedule released

As part of the PokerGO Tour’s launch, the company also released the schedule for its 2021 high roller events. That includes a few new events planned.

The US Poker Open is set for June 3-14 with 12 events at the PokerGO Studio in Las Vegas. The player of the series wins the inaugural Eagle Trophy this year.

Justin Bonomo shows off his winnings and championship ring after the 2018 Super High Roller Bowl. (photo courtesy of PokerGO)

The company is also launching the PokerGO Cup, a new series with eight events and running July 1-10. The Cup features various poker formats including a $100,000 No Limit Hold’em Main Event.

Other qualifying PokerGO Tour events from the network include:

  • PokerGO Heads-Up Championship – This is a new $100,000 event slated for July 12 with a $3.2 million prize pool. The tournament features 32 poker pros battling in a bracket-style format.
  • Poker Masters – A 12-event series from Sept. 13-24 challenging the world’s best all-around players. The overall winner takes home a championship purple jacket.
  • Super High Roller Bowl – A $300,000 buy-in, three-day tournament set for Sept. 26 with some of the world’s best players. The pros battle for millions of dollars with the winner also taking home a championship ring.

The PokerGO platform will stream all the action from each series.

Live poker returning in big way

The PokerGO tour uses any live tournament with a $10,000 buy-in or higher in calculating standings. As April closes out, players seem to be eager to return to live poker.  

The World Poker Tour has seen massive fields in events run since January. The $3,500 Seminole Hard Rock Poker Showdown is currently underway in Florida.

That event produced a field of 2,482 entries for a $7.9 million prize pool, easily topping the $2 million guarantee. The champion earns a top prize of almost $1.3 million.

The series also includes a pair of events counting toward the PokerGO Tour. Arthur Conan won a $50,000 Super High Roller event last week for $733,320. A $25,500 High Roller also kicks off Monday.

Online poker also remains extremely hot at the moment. Tournament series around the world continue awarding hundreds of millions of dollars each month.

Partypoker currently has its annual POWERFEST underway. The Spring Championship of Online Poker (SCOOP) is also running at PokerStars.

The WPTDeepStacks London Online also wraps up today at 888poker. The US market has also seen some major series this month at WSOP.com, partypoker US Network, and PokerStars.

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Partypoker Hosts Poker Masters PLO Series; Cash Leaderboards Now Offer Daily Payouts

Partypoker again partnering with Poker Central for the Poker Masters Online PLO Series.The series runs June 21-29 with more than $10 million in guarantees.

The action at partypoker doesn’t seem to slow down and the site announced three tournament series just last week. The site is once again partnering with Poker Central/PokeGO for the new Poker Masters Online (PMO) Pot Limit Omaha Series.

The series runs June 21-29 and features 29 two-day events with buy-ins ranging from $530 to $51,000. That includes more than $10 million in guarantees.

“Partnering with partypoker for our recent online tournaments like Poker Masters Online and the Super High Roller Bowl has proven to be a great success,” Poker Central chief business officer of J.R. McCabe said in a news release.

What to expect from the partypoker PLO series? 

Fans of this form of poker will be in heaven with a high-stakes series devoted solely to PLO. The $51,000 Main Event highlights the final two days with a $1.5 million guarantee.

A further $500,000 will be paid out in the $5,200 Mini Main Event. A few other highlights include these events:

  • $5,200 High Roller – $250,000 guaranteed (Event 2, June 21)
  • $25,500 Super High Roller – $1 million guaranteed (Event 5, June 23)
  • $530 High Roller Knockout Mini – $25,000 guaranteed (Event 8, June 24)
  • $1,050 High Roller Mini – $50,000 guaranteed (Event 13, June 27)

On top of the cash winnings, the top series performer wins the PMO Pot Limit Omaha Championship. That honor comes with a championship purple jacket and $50,000 bonus.

“This is such a great opportunity to watch the world’s best PLO players fight it out on the virtual felt,” partypoker LIVE President John Duthie said. “The exceptional PokerGo production and commentary team will be on hand to deliver their usual excellent streams. This is not to be missed.”

Here’s a look at the complete schedule:

2020 partypoker Poker Masters Online (PMO) Pot Limit Omaha Series

DateEventBuy–inGuaranteeFormat
Sunday, June 21, 2020Event #1 – PLO High Roller Online [2 Day Event]$10,300$500,0002 re-entries
Sunday, June 21, 2020Event #1 – High Roller Mini Online [2 Day Event]$1,050$50,0002 re-entries
Sunday, June 21, 2020Event #2 – PLO High Roller Online$5,200$250,0002 re-entries
Sunday, June 21, 2020Event #2 – PLO High Roller Knockout Mini Online$530$25,0002 re-entries
Monday, June 22, 2020Event #3 – PLO High Roller Online [2 Day Event]$10,300$500,0002 re-entries
Monday, June 22, 2020Event #3 – PLO High Roller Mini Online 1 Day [2 Day Event]$1,050$50,0002 re-entries
Monday, June 22, 2020Event #4 – PLO High Roller$5,200$250,0002 re-entries
Monday, June 22, 2020Event #4 – PLO High Roller Knockout Mini$530$25,0002 re-entries
Tuesday, June 23, 2020Event #5 – PLO Super High Roller Online [2 Day Event]$25,500$1 million2 re-entries
Tuesday, June 23, 2020Event #5 – PLO Mini High Roller Online [2 Day Event]$2,600$125,0002 re-entries
Tuesday, June 23, 2020Event #6 – PLO High Roller Online$10,300$500,0002 re-entries
Tuesday, June 23, 2020Event #6 – PLO High Roller Knockout Mini Online$1,050$50,0002 re-entries
Wednesday, June 24, 2020Event #7 – PLO High Roller [2 Day Event]$10,300$500,0002 re-entries
Wednesday, June 24, 2020Event #7 – PLO High Roller Mini Online [2 Day Event]$1,050$50,0002 re-entries
Wednesday, June 24, 2020Event #8 – PLO High Roller$5,200$250,0002 re-entries
Wednesday, June 24, 2020Event #8 – PLO High Roller Knockout Mini$530$25,0002 re-entries
Thursday, June 25, 2020Event #9 – PLO Super High Roller [2 Day Event]$25,500$1 million2 re-entries
Thursday, June 25, 2020Event Mini #9 – PLO Online [2 Day Event]$2,600$125,0002 re-entries
Thursday, June 25, 2020Event #10 – PLO High Roller Online$10,300$500,0002 re-entries
Thursday, June 25, 2020Event #10 – PLO High Roller Knockout Mini Online$1,050$50,0002 re-entries
Friday, June 26, 2020Event #11 – PLO High Roller Online 1 Day Event : $500K GTD [2 Day Event]$10,300$500,0002 re-entries
Friday, June 26, 2020Event #11 – PLO High Roller Mini Online [2 Day Event]$1,050$50,0002 re-entries
Friday, June 26, 2020Event #12 – PLO High Roller Online$5,200$250,0002 re-entries
Friday, June 26, 2020Event #12 – PLO High Roller Knockout Mini Online$530$25,0002 re-entries
Saturday, June 27, 2020Event #13 – PLO High Roller Online$10,300$500,0002 re-entries
Saturday, June 27, 2020Event #13 – PLO High Roller Mini Online$1,050$50,0002 re-entries
Saturday, June 27, 2020Event #14 – PLO High Roller Online$5,200$250,0002 re-entries
Saturday, June 27, 2020Event #14 – PLO High Roller Knockout Mini$530$25,0002 re-entries
Sunday, June 28, 2020Event #15 – PLO Main Event Online Day 1 $51,000$1.5 million2 re-entries
Sunday, June 28, 2020Event #16 – PLO Mini Main Event Online Day 1$5,200$500,0002 re-entries
Monday, June 29, 2020Event #15 – PLO Main Event Online Final Day
Monday, June 29, 2020Event #16 – PLO Mini Main Event Online Final Day

Big few weeks for partypoker

The new PLO series follows the Poker Masters Online tournament, also hosted on partypoker in conjunction with Poker Central. That series crushed the $16.5 million guarantee, generating a final prize pool of $35.4 million.

The new series comes after some other big announcements for partypoker. That included three series announcements just last week.

Beyond the PMO, the company also announced another pair of partnerships with the World Poker Tour. The biggest of those is the WPT World Online Championships, which run July 17 to Sept. 8 with a massive $100 million guaranteed prize pool.

The series is designed to replicate an authentic live WPT experience with several major events. The live WPT World Championship hasn’t been offered on tour since 2015 and partypoker is now reviving the event.

The series includes 12 championship tournaments divided in three categories; Micro, Mini, and Main. Winners of five of these will receive:

  • membership in the WPT Champions Club
  • championship trophies
  • a $15,000 entry and travel accommodations to the WPT Tournament of Champions

The company also announced the new WPT Online Poker Open for players in the US in New Jersey. The series runs June 21-28 with 12 events plus a $400 championship on June 28 with $300,000 guaranteed. 

The partypoker US Network also includes BorgataPoker and BetMGM. Players can participate on any of these three sites.

The series becomes the first partypoker/WPT coordinated effort in the Garden State. The winner also adds an $11,000 package to the next WPT Five Diamond World Poker Classic at Bellagio in Las Vegas ($10,400 buy-in).

$1 million Cash Games Leaderboards shift to daily payouts

 Along with major tournament series announcements, partypoker also added to its Cash Games Leaderboards. The site is giving away even more money for players with the prize structure moving from weekly to daily payouts.

Beginning June 15, $36,206 will be paid out each day across 16 leaderboards. That’s more than $1 million per month available to winners.

The site works to ensure the leaderboards offer prizes to all levels of player. Eight of the leaderboards will be for NLHE games and the remaining eight will be for PLO.

This is the same format used for weekly Cash Games Leaderboards. However, an improved payment structure has been added – with more rewards to low and micro stakes players.

There are also still huge daily prizes for medium and high-stakes players as well. Up to $1,200 is up for grabs and the number receiving payouts is extended for many leaderboards.

For example, the $0.01/$0.02 Micro leaderboards pay out 75 places daily.

“We’re excited to offer cash game and fast forward players a daily leaderboard promotion, following the great success we’ve seen with our daily SPINS and Sit and Go leaderboards,” partypoker managing director Tom Waters said.

“We think this makes partypoker more fun, as players no longer have to grind for a whole week to win leaderboard prizes, and we are opening up leaderboards to a whole new range of players.”