Whether you’re seeking to master poker yourself or to give a friend or family member a boost in learning the game, you won’t find a better place to start than the new PokerStars School Beginners Guide to Poker.

This 33-page e-book covers a wealth of topics, starting with the basic mechanics of playing the game and working up to more advanced topics. It’s the kind of guide that rewards repeated reading as you gain experience at the tables.

Absolute beginners will learn poker’s building blocks quickly and in detail. Don’t know the difference between tournament and cash games, no-limit and fixed-limit poker, and different variants like Omaha and Stud? You will when you finish the opening sections of this book.

“Every successful poker player starts out as a beginner,” writes Ramon Colillas in the PokerStars School Beginners Guide to Poker. “Playing regularly is a great way to improve your game and to build up confidence.”

If you’ve mastered the basics but don’t have a lot of experience, the guide’s next few sections on table position and bet sizing will help you gain the confidence you need to keep your cool. Once you’ve grasped those intricacies you can move on to topics like bankroll management, finding the right game to match your skills, and how much time to spend studying away from the tables.

As PokerStars Ambassador and PSPC champion Ramon Colillas writes in the book’s introduction, “Anyone can learn to play poker, but if you dedicate time to improving your game and have a competitive nature, you too could one day be sitting at a PokerStars final table.” Hopefully, this book can be the start of your journey.

Download the PokerStars School Beginners Guide to Poker today and keep it on your phone or tablet for easy reference as you hone your skills.

Getting started on PokerStars is easy. Click here to get an account in minutes.

Live today: Wednesday August 21

€1,100 EPT National Championship – Day 1A
PLAY-BY-PLAY | CHIP COUNTS

€1,100 EPT National Championship – Day 1B (from 7pm)
PLAY-BY-PLAY | CHIP COUNTS

Also playing:

12pm: Event #2: €1,100 NL Hold’em freezeout – final day
12.30pm: Event #7: €10,300 NL Hold’em (single re-entry) Day 1
10pm: Event #8: €250 EPT National qualifier (win your seat at 50,000 chips)

FEATURE COVERAGE

Vote for EPT Barcelona’s best moment
From Sebastian Malec’s jubilant triumph through slow-rolls, one-outers and magnificent bluffs, we’re looking for the best moment from the past 15 years.

The complete guide to EPT Barcelona
Everything you need to know – and plenty you don’t – ahead of the return to Casino Barcelona

LATEST RESULTS

Latest festival results will appear here.

All this week we’re putting you in charge of selecting EPT Barcelona’s greatest ever moment. The event is steeped in history so the battle is sure to be fiercely contested. We had to say adios to some choice cuts as we whittled down to a shortlist of eight to put before you.

Yesterday you voted to send Sebastian Malec winning the EPT Barcelona 2016 Main Event through to the final four. Today it’s time to select his semi-final opponent, so without further ado on to quarter-final number two.

We’re Going to Need a Bigger Boat

The dealer in this hand would make a terrible builder, he simply couldn’t find a brick anywhere. Five players saw the flop, one flopped a boat, two flopped trips and, well, it only got crazier from there. If we hadn’t caught it on camera you wouldn’t believe it had happened. It’s a hand straight out of a poker movie.

Everyone loves a chop pot

We’re going back to Season 7, in 2010 for the this hand, and if it were a poker movie it would be one of those slow burners, with the action building to a crescendo before a sick twist at the end that you simply didn’t see coming.

Both players reach the river with total air, so when Jesús Lizano led out from the big blind and faced a raise from Giuseppe Pantaleo, it was surely time for the next shuffle? “To win, he needs to re-raise,” said William Reynolds in the commentary booth. Score one for the curse of the commentator…

Which of today’s two contenders will live longer in the memory and deserve a chance to fight for a place in the final? It’s time to cast your vote on our @PokerStarsLive Twitter channel.

It’s time for two more of #EPTBarcelona‘s greatest hits, but which one ends up on rotation and which one’s heading for the bargain bin? 🤔
Head to the @PokerStarsBlog to watch – https://t.co/CwlZE2mL24 – then vote for your favourite below. 👇

— PokerStars LIVE (@PokerStarsLIVE) August 21, 2019

Coverage of this year’s EPT Barcelona action is already under way on the PokerStars Blog. You’ll want to bookmark this page, it’s the central hub for all the action to come over the next 12 days.

If all this reminiscing has had you itching to be in Barcelona, then the good news is that there’s still time to satellite into the Main Event on PokerStars. A €530 qualifier with five seats + expenses guaranteed runs at 21:15 CET on August 22nd and there are feeders to that from just €1.10.

You know the drill by now, we’re on a quest to find EPT Barcelona’s greatest moment, but we can’t do it without you. We’ve condensed 15 years of history into eight amazing moments and pitched them into gladiatorial battle against each other. You get to decide who lives and dies — not literally, but you do get to decide which hands advance to the next round.

You’ve made two big calls already and today it’s time for a third. Both of the hands you’re about to watch left players at the table speechless, but for very different reasons.

Busquet’s Ace Result

So you’re saying there’s a chance?

When you’re less than 1% on the flop, then usually not even that trick where you stand up and collect all your belongings does the trick. That adds like 2% at most. Olivier Busquet sat still and left it to the others at the table do the talking.

“It’ll make great television,” said Sven Reichardt, who was Busquet’s opponent in the hand. And you know what, it did. See for yourself below.

Jacobson Blasts Off

A few months after this hand took place, from Barcelona 2014, Martin Jacobson became World Champion, winning $10M. Perhaps he learned what not to do after this hand against Dan Colman, which took place in the €50,000 Super High Roller.

“That was a gift,” said Colman. “I’ve never seen him do something like this,” replied Martin Finger. Watch the clip to find out exactly what it was the Jacobson did.

Ok, you’ve seen the hands, which one makes your throw up a little or make you want to message a friend to say ‘have you seen this?. Cast your vote on the @PokerStarsLive Twitter page for the hand you think deserves to make it through to the semi-finals.

More #EPTBarcelona gold now, with two hands that left players speechless, but for very different reasons. Watch the action @PokerStarsBlog – https://t.co/CwCyjzljQJ – then vote below for the hand that you think deserves a place in the semi-finals.

— PokerStars LIVE (@PokerStarsLIVE) August 22, 2019

Coverage of this year’s EPT Barcelona action is already under way on the PokerStars Blog. It’s all about the EPT National today, we’re covering Day 1C and 1D, catch up on all the action here.

LAST CHANCE satellite alert: tonight at 21:15 CET is the final online Main Event qualifier. There are five seats plus expenses guaranteed, direct buy-in is €530 but there are feeders that don’t hit the pocket so hard.

Some podcast hosts are just never happy.

First, James Hartigan and Joe Stapleton got all prima donna on us and took the summer off. “Hiatus!” they said in unison, and then they sauntered away. Not much you can do there.

Now they’ve come back with two episodes in just five days — only to demand the next two weeks off!

It’s hard to be too upset with them, though. This latest episode is a good one.

Jessica Dawley at the 2019 WSOP

This episode’s guest is Jessica Dawley, a professional poker player, WSOP bracelet winner, and U.S. Air Force veteran from Florida. One year after finishing on the same tournament’s stone bubble, Dawley defeated Faraz Jaka heads-up to win the recent Seminole Hard Rock Poker Open $2,650 Main Event.

Dawley talks to the guys about her pre-poker career as an intelligence analyst, taking a shot at becoming a poker pro, and ticking off all the goals she’d hoped to accomplish over the course of her 12 years at the tables. Well, almost all of them — she says the last thing she’d like to accomplish is to provide a more inviting environment for women in the game. And she has some very specific ideas on how to make that happen.

The full interview with Dawley begins at the 24:22 mark.

Check out Episode 158 of Poker In The Ears on Soundcloud, iTunes, or Spotify. And if you want to help the boys out before the next episode drops on September 12 — or just encourage them to do more than two episodes in a row before jetting off again — make sure to rate, review, and subscribe to the podcast!

WSOP photography by pokerphotoarchive.com

Sports are a huge part of daily life all over the world. It’s not surprising, then, to find the special language of sports often finding its way into non-sporting contexts, providing analogies and metaphors to help us communicate and express ourselves.

The same is true for poker and its unique lingo as well. Everywhere poker is played, poker terms and phrases have likewise entered everyday discourse.

In fact, we’re just as likely to encounter someone using a sports idiom in a non-sports context as we are to hear poker terms pop up when away from the tables. And of course there is a lot of overlap as well, a likely consequence of the competitive nature of poker — a game that many like to talk about as though it were a sport.

Enough with the preliminaries. Let’s “get the ball rolling” (so to speak) and talk about some of the more popular sports expressions while also noting some instances of sports and poker vocabulary coinciding along the way.

Football (Soccer)

A new season of the Premier League has already kicked off in exciting fashion. Indeed, to talk of something “kicking off” is one of many football (or soccer) idioms used in everyday life.

For instance, just like a key substitution, the issuing of a red card, or a crucial VAR ruling, we instinctively call any consequential action a “game changer.” When someone makes a particularly self-sabotaging mistake, we’ll say they committed an “own goal.” Of course, you can increase your chances of avoiding such a mistake if you’re careful and “keep your eye on the ball.”

Football (American)

Meanwhile in just a couple of weeks a new NFL season will also get started. American football has likewise provided a whole host of phrases and terms used in everyday life. Think about how often a boss or team leader is called the “quarterback,” and how those who second-guess a decision are frequently referred to as playing “Monday morning quarterback” (a reference to day-after discussion of Sunday games). That sort of talk often crops up if someone “dropped the ball”

On an NFL roster, the kicker is often regarded as a distinct type of football player — that is, one who typically avoids the physicality of the game endured by other position players while specializing in extra points and field goals. In poker a “kicker” refers to a side card that like NFL kickers is often employed to break a tie (e.g., we both paired our ace, but my king “kicker” beats your queen). Meanwhile outside of sports or poker, a “kicker” usually also refers to something extra or special, as in “here’s the kicker — because of all the trouble we didn’t have to pay for our meal.”

Boxing

Boxing has probably produced more everyday idioms and expressions than any other sport. Who hasn’t referred to having “someone in your corner” to support you, a reference to the typical position of a boxer’s trainer? Or complained about someone “hitting below the belt” with a “low blow” — not allowed in boxing, and frowned upon as well when done figuratively outside the ring? Of course, when facing difficulty the person who “rolls with the punches” or handles adversity the best typically succeeds — or at least doesn’t have to “throw in the towel” or give up.

In poker tournaments we often refer to a player getting eliminated as a “knockout,” an obvious borrowing from boxing. What you might not know is how the phrase “to go in the tank” used in poker to describe a player thinking about a decision also has a boxing-related origin. Actually in boxing the phrase has to do with boxers throwing bouts and “taking a dive” (as though into a tank of water). Meanwhile poker probably more likely picked up the phrase from the concept of “think tanks” where a body of experts put their heads together to solve problems and recommend policies.

Basketball

Basketball provides a number of other expressions, such as putting on a “full-court press” when exerting a special amount of effort to accomplish something. You’ve also probably heard someone talk about a sure thing or easy decision as a “slam dunk.”

When trying to find overlap between basketball and poker vocabulary, both share a number of terms though in a largely incidental way. “Paint” refers to the key or three-second lane in basketball, but also to face cards in poker. In both people often say “trey” to refer to the number three — as in a three-pointer or card with the rank of three. The ball in basketball is sometimes called the “rock,” a term used to refer to a super-tight poker player.

Also common to both basketball and poker (and a more meaningful connection) is the term “brick.” That’s bad in both — in basketball referring to a particularly bad shot, and in poker to a particularly bad or useless card.

Baseball & Cricket

It’s hardly original to point out that baseball has likewise produced a wide variety of commonly-used idioms employed in non-baseball situations. I mean, when I make that claim it’s not like I’m coming out of left field or anything. 😉

When you face a challenge and do your best, someone might say that in such circumstances you’re a person who is able to “step up to the plate.” If you do really well, someone might say you “hit it a home run” or “knocked it out of the park,” which means that going forward circumstances have changed enough to make it “a whole new ball game.”

I think it’s safe to describe one poker term as having been taken directly from baseball — a “walk.” When everyone folds to the big blind, thereby giving that player the small pot (just the small blind and antes if in play), that’s very much like a walk in baseball when a batter gets four balls and thus a free pass to first base.

I’m not going to claim much knowledge of cricket, although even without understanding the game I know what is meant when someone says they’ve encountered a “sticky wicket” — that is, an awkward or hard-to-manage situation. (Looking it up, I see the phrase literally refers to the quality of a still-drying pitch after a recent rain on which it is difficult to bat.)

Hockey

Even non-hockey fans might know what a “hat trick” is — three goals by the same player. In fact, the phrase first originated in cricket and dates back to the mid-19th century as a reference to three wickets taken by a bowler in three straight balls (again forgive me, I’m having to look that up as I still need to learn how the game is played).

In any case, hockey took the phrase over, and apparently somewhere along the way an enterprising milliner started awarding a free hat to players who scored three goals in one game. Eventually fans began throwing hats on the ice after a player scored a third goal as well.

A more often used phrase from hockey, though, has to be “taking off the gloves” to refer to preparations for some kind of conflict, physical or otherwise. That, of course, is a reference to the many fights in hockey with players taking off their gloves typically a signal that fisticuffs will follow. I suppose a particularly aggressive-seeming check-raise on the turn might be referred to similarly.

Golf

Performing at an average level is often called being “par for the course,” a phrase from golf that might be used unironically or with a measure of sarcasm. An example of the latter would be when a person’s aces get cracked by a runner-runner flush and the loser exhales and says “that’s par for the course.”

Golf also seems a likely source for the phrase “in full swing,” a reference to something being well underway or moving forward in a vigorous way, although that one might have come from other sports, too.

Aces are obviously good in both golf and poker. There’s one other small overlap, too, to note, the somewhat obscure poker term “golf bag.” The term refers to a particular poker hand — a flush comprised of clubs. (Get it?)

Horse Racing

We talk about “coin flips” a lot in poker, although both there and elsewhere any close competition is sometimes described as a “horse race.” And a lot of times those contests aren’t decided until the end, going “down to the wire” with someone finally winning “by a nose.”

Poker has borrowed the term “horse” from the sport, too, as a reference to a player that has been backed by someone else. Imagine the backer as the jockey, “riding” his or her “horse” who is playing with the backer’s money.

Track

Finally, track provides a lot of expressions as well. Whenever we refer to a “front runner” in a political campaign — or a poker tournament — we’ve borrowed a term from track. In fact, just staying on course and not getting too distracted is often referred to as being “on the right track,” another phrase referring to various sports involving competitors running or racing around a track.

The longest regular track event is of course the 26.2-mile long marathon, which is a term often also used to refer to any activity requiring patience and/or endurance. Indeed, it’s practically a cliché to say a poker tournament “is a marathon, not a sprint.” (They’ve even created a special “Marathon” event at the WSOP, no doubt inspired by the connection.)

Speaking of track-related expressions, for this survey of sports and poker expressions I’ve at last reached the finish line. What other examples can you think of?

_{Photo: Sports portal bar icon (adapted), Sven Manguard, CC BY-SA 3.0.}

Most players get started with poker by playing Texas Hold’em. Some find their niche and stay there, but others sometimes find that other poker variants better suit their temperament or skill set.

Whatever game you’re considering, PokerStars School is ready to help you make the transition to your new pursuit as smooth as possible.

This week:

• Avoiding common Omaha mistakes
• 6+ Hold’em quick start guide

Avoiding common Omaha mistakes

Pot-limit Omaha, or PLO as it’s known to aficionados, is one of the more common alternatives to Hold’em. It’s an action game at its core, one that draws a special type of player.

Avoid common mistakes and you’ll save a lot of chips in the long run

With four cards in the hole, Omaha offers more ways to make strong hands than Hold’em– but on the flip side, it also opens up more potential pitfalls that can cost you your stack if you don’t know to watch out for them.

A good place to start is Dave Roemer’s PLO introduction, Five Common Mistakes. If you can avoid poor starting hands, overvaluing AAxx and KKxx combinations, and getting involved out of position, you’ll be off to a good start. Then just avoid going broke with non-nut hands or stacking off vulnerable nut hands with no redraws, and you should find yourself in a pretty good position more often than not.

Once you have all that under your belt, Pete Clarke has some great advice specific to hand selection. With so many cards in the hole, lots of Omaha hands look a lot better than they really are — especially to new Omaha players more familiar with Hold’em. His list of Over-Rated Starting Hands in Pot-Limit Omaha includes bare medium-high pairs, ace-king-nothing, three Broadway cards, and a few other categories of fancy-looking trash.

Get a firm handle on these two articles and you’ll find yourself in good position to perform well in PLO.

Getting off to a quick start with 6+ Hold’em

Just like PLO, 6+ Hold’em is an action game that holds lots of appeal for players who are already familiar with Texas Hold’em. And also just like PLO, 6+ features lots of potential trouble spots if you rely too much on your past experience with other games.

6+ Hold’em is trickier than it looks to players already familiar with Texas Hold’em

Good thing the OP Poker crew is on the scene! They’ve been playing lots of 6+ across its various incarnations and they’ve come up with an excellent video on some of the most important considerations when you’re new to the game. It’s just a touch over five minutes long, so it’s the kind of thing you can come back to repeatedly as you play.

Click through to watch the OP Poker 6+ Hold’em Quick Start Guide.

Other PokerStars School content you might enjoy

• Promotion: PokerStars School Community Tournament
• Question of the Week: What’s your thought process when playing in a poker hand?
• Strategy: Spin & Go – Take It Slow
• Article: Luck or Skill?

Open a PokerStars account today and start learning from PokerStars School. Click here to get started, and then click here to register for PokerStars School.

Last week’s $109 Sunday Million (August 18) was a little bit different.

Oh sure, it had the same massive field it usually has (16,281 total entries) and an enormous prize pool ($1,628,100, which smashed the $1M guarantee). But it was the way that loot was to be awarded that made this Milly special.

For one week only, a Progressive Knock-Out format meant half the prize pool was to be distributed in bounties, meaning players didn’t necessarily have to reach the final table to secure a big payday.

Of course, when nine players were seated around a single final table, that’s when the money jumps really got interesting. Ultimately it was Kazakhstan’s “Newcomer113” who came out on top, banking $70,097 plus a huge bounty prize of $35,971. You’ll find a full interview with the champ at the bottom of this article.

For now, here’s a look at how last week’s Sunday Million played out, with help from members of the final table.

IN FOR CHEAP

As well as the PKO format adding a touch of spice to proceedings, the Milly finale was also interesting because of how the players got there. Five of the final nine qualified for the $109 tournament via a satellite, and all of them made it that far without needing to fire a second bullet. That created some crazy ROIs, as you can see:

“Newcomer113”, a 34-year-old financial specialist from Kazakhstan, told us he’d only played the Sunday Million a handful of times before, and while he had reached the money once or twice, nothing could have prepared him for a final table like this.

“Poker is a hobby for me,” he said. “I don’t have a fixed range of games, but in tournaments up to $100 I feel quite comfortable. I think that winning a Sunday Million is the dream of any poker player, I am no exception.”

It’s a dream he’d fully realise last Sunday night, but before we get to that, let’s rewind.

The final table is set

The first final table casualty came courtesy of a cooler. Both Taiwan’s “MAXSOMAN” and Romania’s “Marcelutz111” flopped a flush, but the latter was nutted. The money went in on the turn and “MAXSOMAN” saw the bad news: he was out in ninth, with $5,391 plus $4,656 as his consolation.

It was a dream start to the final table for “Marcelutz111”, a 28-year-old poker pro who took down a Spring Championship of Online Poker title earlier this year for $98K, his biggest score so far.

“I’ve been playing poker for about ten years, but only for about four professionally,” he told us. “I was drawn to poker immediately. For a long time I only played freerolls for fun, as the idea of winning real money was far from me.”

Now he found himself on the Sunday Million final table, with real money prizes and bounties all around him.

Down to eight, it was Brazil’s “Tatizechini” who was next to fall. After slow-playing pocket kings pre-flop, the original raiser (Russia’s “Bykladjo”) had flopped a set of threes. The money went in, and when a third king failed to arrive “Tatizechini” departed with $7,428 plus $345.

We then lost Russia’s “Ko1ya777” in seventh ($10,236 + $7,632), who called all-in on the turn with a nut flush draw and couldn’t hit versus the Netherlands’ “Kapertje”, who had top pair.

Six-handed play went on for a little while, throughout which “Marcelutz111” found himself short-stacked. With just seven big blinds he committed himself with Q♥5♥ from the cutoff only for eventual champion “Newcomer113” to wake up with A♦A♠ in the small blind. The rockets held, and “Marcelutz111” had to settle for $14,105 plus $3,385.

“It was a mixed final table, few good players, few recreationals,” he told us, a few days after the tournament. “The PKO format is definitely more appealing to a broader range of players, the huge guarantee being the proof of that. Personally I don’t have preference.”

Now that it has sunk in, is he happy with his result?

“It’s definitely something to check a Sunday Million final table on my resume,” he replied. “I’m happy with the result, but am I a bit disappointed that I couldn’t finish higher? Sure…who wouldn’t be.”

Russia’s “Disel59” had a dominating chip lead heading into five-handed play, but he’d quickly take a hit, doubling up Canada’s “MikeyGG3” when his A♦K♠ lost a flip against Q♥Q♣.

It wouldn’t take long for him to get all of those chips back though, in brutal fashion. Action folded to “Disel59” in the small blind, and with Q♠5♠ he set “MikeyGG3” all-in. When he woke up with Q♦Q♣ in the big blind, “MikeyGG3” snap-called his last 22 big blinds, only for the board to run out A♠2♠8♣A♥9♠, giving “Disel59” a flush and the knockout. “MikeyGG3” would have to settle for $19,437 plus $4,420.

We then lost “Kapertje” in fifth, in yet another unlucky situation. Having opened the button with K♥K♠ from a 22-big-blind stack, “Bykladjo” then raised all-in, covering him, with A♦5♣. Of course the raise was snap-called, but when an ace hit the flop it proved to be the nail in “Kapertje”s coffin. Still, he won $26,784 plus $10,562 for his efforts.

An interesting hand played out almost immediately when they were down to the final three. “Newcomer113” 3x opened with ace-king on the button, only for chip leader “Bykladjo” to jam, putting his opponent to the test for his 45-big-blinds. “Newcomer113” opted to lay it down and fight another day.

He’d pick up a healthy pot from “Disel59” a couple of hands later, flopping the nut straight and getting a couple of streets of value versus top pair. “Disel59” could never recover, and ultimately busted in third for $36,908 plus $7,606 when his Q♥J♣ couldn’t suck out on “Newcomer113”s A♥Q♦.

And then there were two. “Newcomer113” held a 2:1 chip lead, and the duel wouldn’t last long when both players picked up big hands. “Bykladjo” opened the button with A♦10♣, only for “Newcomer113” to shove with A♠K♦. That jam was called, and when big slick held up, we had our Sunday Million PKO champion.

After such a huge victory, “Newcomer113” was kind enough to sit down for an interview with PokerStars Blog. Enjoy.

INTERVIEW WITH “NEWCOMER113”

Can you tell me a bit about your journey in poker so far?

My friends introduced to me to PokerStars about 7-8 years ago. Over the years, I have won some tournaments, but my biggest score is $5,000.

How did this Sunday Million go for you overall?

In general, the tournament went very smoothly. There were several key points where fortune was on my side. I gradually increased the stack and aimed to get into the top ten. In the deeper stages, I also tried to minimize the number of pre-flop all-ins.

What did you make of your final table opponents?

All the players showed a decent level of play, but overall, I felt very comfortable.

What did you think of the PKO format?

The PKO format, in my opinion, added a twist to Sunday Million. The game has become more dynamic, and much more interesting. I would like to see this format more often.

Winning the Million is an amazing achievement. How does it feel?

For me, victory in this tournament means more than just the monetary gain, although the cash prize is an incredibly nice bonus! Moving forward I will treat the game a little more seriously, and may attend several live events.

Do you have any advice for other players hoping to follow in your footsteps?

Enjoy the game, do not follow the routines, because your style of play is unique in its own way. Good luck and victories.

Opening a PokerStars account is easy. Click here to get an account in minutes.

All this week we’ve been whittling down the eight greatest EPT Barcelona moments. All eight hands are already winners, but three are also losers, having been knocked out already and there’s just one spot left in the semi-finals.

Which of our final two hands will get the green light to travel onwards and which will be pulled over and brought in for questioning? You decide…

It’s Jamila Time

May the fours be with you…

OK, so pocket fours vs A-9 off-suit isn’t exactly a classic race, but this was a coin-flip that lived long in the memory.

An ace on the flop meant that Jamila von Perger was left drawing to a single out – one of the two remaining fours was folded pre-flop. Her rail asked for the one time, and as you can probably guess given that we’re showing you this hand, the poker gods delivered.

Whilst Florian Duta would lose this hand, he did outlast von Perger in the Main Event, finishing 21st to her 23rd.

Death By Quads

You could look at this as queens vs kings in a Super High Roller and file it under then ‘hands the play themselves’ column, but that would be doing this hand a disservice.

First there was the fact that both Vitaly Lunkin and Philip Sternheimer were both deep stacked. Next it was a five-bet pre-flop pot, then there was Sternheimer’s tank with kings, more of a nitroll than a slowroll as Sternheimer legitimately thought Lunkin could have aces. Add in the fact that it was a virtual all-in pre-flop with the players then putting their shrapnel in before the flop was dealt and it’s all kind of weird.

Then came the flop! Watch below to find out exactly what happened.

Which hand deserves to clinch the final semi-final berth? Head to the PokerStars Live Twitter page to cast your vote.

It’s time for the final quarter-final in our quest to find #EPTBarcelona‘s greatest ever moment. Which hand deserves the final spot? Head to @PokerStarsBlog – https://t.co/jlEfeRwzwE – to watch the contenders, then vote below.

— PokerStars LIVE (@PokerStarsLIVE) August 23, 2019

Coverage of this year’s EPT Barcelona action continues here. The record-breaking EPT National, which attracted 4,682 entries, is getting to the business end fast. We’ve got Day 2 coverage here — at the time of writing Michael Soyza, Julien Martini and Raffaele Sorrentino are among the big names still in contention for the €585,500 first prize.

Poker can be a ruthless game and we’ve seen that over the last four days, where you’ve voted to keep four incredible moments from Barcelona’s rich history in the competition to find EPT Barcelona’s most memorable moment and consigned four more to history.

The competition is hotting up and, whilst you’ve already made some big calls, there are harder ones to come. Take today’s first semi-final for instance, we’re pitting an incredible winning moment against an incredible “wtf” moment, you get to decide which earns a place in the final. Let’s meet the contenders.

EPT Champion Over Here

Usually ‘happy feet’ are a strong tell that your opponent is holding a strong hand, the trouble for Uri Reichenstein was that whilst Sebastian Malec did have a strong hand that wasn’t the reason he was dancing. It was the final hand before a scheduled break and Malec desperately needed a comfort break.

Invoking the spirit of Scotty Nguyen, Malec said to Reichenstein, “You call and it’s all over baby.”

Malec was right.

Bluffing yourself off a chop

This goes down as one of the most bizarre hands in EPT history.

You can see Giuseppe Pantaleo’s logic, you’ve got J♦8♠ on a 2♣Q♠6♣Q♣2♥ board and, having raised your opponent’s river bet, he then calls you. There’s simply no way two-pair with a jack kicker can be good here, right? Except it was, well for half the pot.

There’s a lesson to be learned for players at all levels here, cards speak so no matter how slim your chance of winning the pot at showdown turn your cards over. You can’t win any of the pot if you muck.

So, which of the two classic moments from Barcelona deserves a place in the final and the chance to compete for the title of Barcelona’s Most Memorable Moment? Head to @PokerStarsLive to cast your vote.

The quest to find #EPTBarcelona’s greatest moment continues. We’ve reached the semi-final stage & today a winning moment goes up against a ‘wtf’ moment. Watch both @PokerStarsBlog – https://t.co/6H5dD425XZ – then cast your vote.

— PokerStars LIVE (@PokerStarsLIVE) August 24, 2019

Coverage of this year’s EPT Barcelona action continues here. There’s a double dose of live updates today with action from the EPT National and the €100K Super High Roller.

Every single one of the 15 years we’ve been to EPT Barcelona, the cameras have been rolling, catching the best of the action and beaming it onto your TV, tablets, computers, and smartphones.

It’s a good job they’ve been there, because if they hadn’t you may not have believed that the two hands battling against each other in today’s second semi-final actually happened. These are hands that only happen online — except here they were happening right in front of our eyes and captured on tape for posterity.

Let’s get it on.

Less than 1% isn’t drawing dead

A lot of poker is about timing. It’s all well and good picking up aces or flopping the nuts, but if there isn’t another strong hand –- or someone trying to represent one -– then you may not win a big pot. Similarly, when you three-bet all-in in a standard spot you have to hope your opponent doesn’t have it. Unfortunately for Olivier Busquet, his opponent, Sven Reichardt had it in spades… and diamonds.

Still, A♠2♠ was 32% against pocket kings, that was until an 8♥8♣K♣ left Busquet all but drawing dead. Then the Poker Gods took over.

Top of the flops

“This is weird,” said James Hartigan when Vitaly Lunkin five-bet pre-flop with pocket queens. The five-bet of 656,000 was essentially a shove by Lunkin, as he’d left himself just 260,000 behind.

This strange bet by Lunkin may well have been what gave Philip Sternheimer pause for thought, even though he was holding pocket kings. The two of them got all the chips in, eventually, and as far as flops go, it was fairly favourable for Lunkin.

These are two heavyweight hands, one of them will go big and one of them will go home. Head to @PokerStarsLive to cast your vote.

Two heavyweight hands do battle now for a chance to make the final of our #EPTBarcelona’s Most Memorbale Moment contest. Drink them in @PokerStarsBlog – https://t.co/eKw6j3SaD8 – then vote below.

— PokerStars LIVE (@PokerStarsLIVE) August 25, 2019

Coverage of this year’s EPT Barcelona action continues here. The €100K Super High Roller takes centre stage.

Over the last week you’ve narrowed down the list of EPT Barcelona’s best moment to two contenders. Both of the finalists have already traversed two tough matches to reach the final and now face their biggest test yet, as do you.

There’s no doubt that the two hands in question deserve their place in the final match-up, which is where the problem lies, which one do you vote for? Is it the greatest winning moment in EPT Barcelona history or the greatest turn and river in EPT Barcelona history? There’s no more sitting on the fence to be done, pick your horse. Are you #TeamMalec or #TeamBusquet?

Perhaps we can help you make up your mind.

Malec’s Magic Moment

When the EPT made its first stop in EPT Barcelona Sebastian Malec was only 9-years old. Twelve years later, he qualified online and turned $27 into more than €1.1M. In true poker style though it wasn’t what he did, but how he did it.

A self-confessed poker fanboy, as he waited for Uri Reichenstein to call his all-in bet, Malec went and sat among the fans. Likely a bundle of nervous energy he shared a drink with a fan and even posed for a selfie. When Reichenstein eventually called he rushed back to the table and turned over the winning hand and the title was his. Then the tears flowed.

He might’ve been a fresh-faced poker player, barely old enough to play in Las Vegas, but Malec was a throwback to the old school. He talked to himself, sung to himself and, yes had more than one drink. He was an entertainer, and boy did he entertain.

Busquet aces it

This hand needs no introduction, but it’s the final so it’s going to have one.

This might be the most outrageous hand ever witnessed on the European Poker Tour. In pure equity terms it’s doubtful there have been many bigger both in terms of percentage, Busquet had less than 1% equity on the flop, and actual cold hard cash. If Busquet had busted in eighth place he’d have collected €138,600, a few hours later he’d won €896,434.

What’s also remarkable about the hand is the sheer coolness and understated commentary by the players involved. “That’s bad,” uttered Busquet upon seeing Reichardt’s pocket kings. Upon nearly flopping him dead on the flop Reichardt said. “Ace, ace you win,” when the turn got Busquet halfway there, Reichardt simply said. “Great television.”

Watch below, we think you’ll agree.

So there we have it, which hand do you think deserves to be crowned as EPT Barcelona’s greatest ever moment? If we could we’d award them both the title, but this is poker tournament and there can only be one winner. It’s up to you to decide who takes it down. Head to the @PokerStarsLive Twitter page to cast your vote.

We’ve reached the end game. It all comes down to this, which hand deserves to be voted as #EPTBarcelona‘s Greatest Moment? Watch on @PokerStarsBlog – https://t.co/3rkRrD0zLi – and then decide if you’re #TeamMalec or #TeamBusquet.

— PokerStars LIVE (@PokerStarsLIVE) August 26, 2019

It’s an incredibly busy day at EPT Barcelona with the Main Event getting started, the €100K Super High Roller playing to a finish and plenty more besides. Follow it all here.

There was a time, not long ago, when Spanish players couldn’t seem to win tournaments on the European Poker Tour. But these days, they’re crushing Super High Rollers like it ain’t no thing.

A couple of months ago, Sergio Aido beat Jesus Cortes heads up to win the €100K in Monte Carlo. And tonight in Barcelona, 29-year-old Sergi Reixach, from Girona, burnished his growing reputation when he defeated the UK’s Sam Grafton heads up to win a first prize of €1,816,210 in the biggest ever €100K in this venue.

Both Reixach and Grafton were playing their first €100K event in Europe, having taken similar paths through the ranks — online first, then tournaments of increasing buy-ins — to the highest table. And either could have won it too, with Grafton likely feeling hard done by after a series of rough beats heads up.

Reixach, however, will be rightly energised by his performance. He did it the hard way. After making all of the running during the opening stages of this final table, he was facing a near six-to-one chip deficit heads up as Grafton eyed his own first major title. But Reixach hit double-up after double-up, including getting 8♠4♠ to beat A♠K♥ (“Live cards!”) and eventually managed to close it out.

“It’s part of the game,” Reixach said. “You have to have a little bit of luck to win a tournament. Actually, a lot of luck.”

But he added that he has spent a long time working on his game to get to the stage that he can play, and win, events of this nature.

“It’s unbelievable,” he said. “I’ve been working a lot of years for this kind of moment. It’s been a long way for me. Some people have a lot of luck in the beginning, but for me it’s been a tough way. But I’m very happy now.”

Grafton, who is one of the best-known and most popular players in European poker, was uncharacteristically silent during the closing stages as the momentum shifted back to Reixach. But both these guys have a taste now and will surely be back.

Sam Grafton: Defeated heads up

The bubble burst late last night, when ten became nine owing to the elimination of Daniel Dvoress. That left players from nine countries still involved at the start of the final day, with Japanese hot-shot Tsugunari Toma on the top of the pile, and Portugal’s Rui Ferreira propping them all up.

Final nine (l-r): Luc Greenwood, Steve O’Dwyer, Mikalai Vaskaboinikau, Kahle Burns, Sergi Reixach, Tsugunari Toma, Danny Tang, Sam Grafton, Rui Ferreira

Neither became the champion by the end of the day, but it wasn’t Ferreira who was knocked out first. That €180,070 “ignominy” fell to Mikalai Vaskaboinikau, from Belarus, who found a perfect spot to shove his 18 big blinds, but ran into a better hand. Vaskaboinikau’s 9♠9♥ lost to Reixach’s 10♥10♦.

Mikalai Vaskaboinikau: Ninth man

Ferreira resultantly laddered up, and he then quadrupled up his three big blinds when his kings held against three opponents. It was, however, only a temporary stay of execution because his A♥8♣ lost to Reixach’s A♣K♥ soon after. Ferreira won €235,950, as Reixach’s double knockout put him into the chip lead.

Rui Ferreira: Ladder, quadruple, bust

Among all the relative newcomers, there was at least one seat for a veteran at this final table, and Steve O’Dwyer is more experienced than perhaps anybody in the world at PokerStars Super High Roller events. O’Dwyer has 24 outright tournament wins on his resume, but before today had finished seventh on only seven times. But this time, that’s as far as O’Dwyer went, losing with pocket fives to Toma’s A♥4♥. Toma turned an ace to eliminated O’Dwyer. O’Dwyer won €304,250.

Steve O’Dwyer: A relatively rare seventh-place finish

That pot put Toma back on Reixach’s shoulder, but Reixach almost immediately hit back. With Luc Greenwood slumping to the small stack, he got his chips in with 6♠6♥ and Reixach snapped him off with A♦Q♣ and hit a queen on the flop. Greenwood took €384,980, leaving five.

Luc Greenwood: Out in sixth

Grafton’s career has been one of a steady rise through the ranks, from the small buy-in tournaments of London’s card rooms, eventually to the biggest games on the planet. And here, scenting his first victory at these stakes, he managed to do what all players need to do: win a couple of flips. His pocket fours bested Reixach’s ace-king to keep him alive, and then Grafton’s A♦K♥ beat Toma’s 9♠9♦. Suddenly Grafton was in the ascendant and Toma was on the ropes.

Toma has a huge cult following in poker, and a maiden triumph would have raised the roof from Portsmouth to Tokyo. But he then lost another flip to Grafton and bust in fifth, picking up €496,740. Toma had A♣J♦ to Grafton’s eights. Toma rode his luck a little yesterday, so will not be too disappointed with this one.

Tsugunari Toma

Grafton’s roll was seemingly unstoppable at this point, and Kahle Burns was the latest man to get in the way. Burns had way the best of it with K♥Q♣ to Grafton’s K♠9♠ when they got it in, but the 9♥ on the flop won it for Grafton. Burns won €639,560 for fourth.

Kahle Burns: Hot streak goes cold

Burns’s recent form is pretty hot. He won heaps in SCOOP on PokerStars, and has three six-figure scores from the past two months. But it’s actually nothing compared with the man who went out next.

Danny Tang won $1.8 million on the Triton Series in May, and then $1.6 million along with his first WSOP bracelet in July. And so it was no surprise to see him at another high buy-in final table, even if his EPT record is fairly modest. He couldn’t get his A♣8♦ to beat Reixach’s A♦Q♦ here, however, and so he picked up €847,570 for third instead.

Danny Tang: Shocked he didn’t win this one

The heads-up match is probably best reviewed via our play-by-play coverage. It went this way and that, and there were a succession of grim spots and coolers. Neither player knew when they were beaten, though, and there were no easy pots. On this occasion, it just turned out that it ran better for Reixach.

“It’s my first EPT 100K and, lucky me, I win it,” he said.

Sam Grafton and Sergi Reixach heads up

EPT Barcelona Super High Roller
Dates: August 24-26, 2019
Buy-in: €100,000
Entries: 64 (inc. 15 re-entries)
Prize pool: €6,209,280

1 – Sergi Reixach, Spain, €1,816,210
2 – Sam Grafton, UK, €1,303,950
3 – Danny Tang, Hong Kong, €847,570
4 – Kahle Burns, Australia, €639,560
5 – Tsugunari Toma, Japan, €496,740
6 – Luc Greenwood, Canada, €384,980
7 – Steve O’Dwyer, Ireland, €304,250
8 – Rui Ferreira, Portugal, €235,950
9 – Mikalai Vaskaboinikau, Belarus, €180,070

The definitive account of the Sunday Million (July 28).

They say the cream rises to the top.

Two weeks ago, long-time crusher Conor “1_conor_b_1” Beresford took down the $109 Sunday Million for a massive $112K score. This week another beast–Ole “wizowizo” Schemion–came close, finishing in fifth for $31,874.

But while it’s always exciting to see big names like Schemion (almost) go the distance, the biggest weekly online tournament continues to provide life-changing scores for both pros and recreational players alike. Heck, even an “average Joe” or a shrimp fisherman can make the final table and a five-figure payday–both of which happened this week, on July 28th.

We think that’s pretty exciting, too.

The tournament saw an uptick to 11,300 entries, producing a $1.13 million prize pool and $114,934 reserved for the winner. However, the final three players made a deal to chop it up, and when Czech poker pro Jakub “Olli444” Oliva came out on top, he won $97,937 for his largest online score to date.

Here’s how it all went down, with help from some of the final table players.

OLE OLE OLE

When the Sunday Million had just nine players remaining of the 11,300 who entered, all eyes were on Ole Schemion. Playing under his PokerStars screenname “wizowizo”, Schemion’s presence at the table didn’t go unnoticed by the others.

“I was aware it was Ole Schemion right next to me, my friends railing me made sure of that,” the eventual runner-up—Finland’s “Goatse”—told PokerStars Blog. “I was fortunate to have position on him. I just happened to run better than him in this tournament, but it is always great to go up against the very best.”

Ole “wizowizo” Schemion: one of the best

It was Oliva who entered the final table with 45 big blinds and the chip lead, and he rated the German highly too. “I think only ‘wizowizo’ was among the best players, otherwise the rest were average players,” Oliva said a couple of days after his victory had sunk in.

Oliva started playing poker a few years back, and developed his game through what he called “intense studying”. Now a professional, he makes his living grinding both online and live in mid to high stakes tournaments.

“My biggest result was in a World Series of Poker (WSOP) circuit event four months ago. I came third for $101K,” he said, just pipping the amount he won Sunday night. “For the whole Sunday Million I was above the tournament average. It was only on the last two tables that the journey to the final table became complicated, and I found myself on a short stack. I won some pots again, though, and I entered the final table as a chip leader.”

“Goatse213” recognised that Oliva was a good player. “I think I had a bad spot having ‘Olli444’ on my direct left, he was playing really well and limited my options,” “Goatse213” said.

Meanwhile Schemion’s stack sat around the middle of the pack. He quickly found a big boost when he eliminated Uruguay’s “IlDepredator” in ninth ($8,840).

Schemion min-opened the button with A♦4♥, and “IlDepredator” defended his big blind with K♣6♠ to see a 3♦6♦5♠ flop fall. This gave Schemion an open-ender and he put in a c-bet when checked to. “IlDepredator” then shoved his 11-big-blind stack with top pair, and Schemion made the call. A deuce hit the turn to complete Schemion’s straight draw, and he then had a comfortable stack to play with.

Belgium’s “moneymach301” was the next to fall. His stack has dropped down just three big blinds when he picked up K♠K♥ under the gun, and naturally all of it went in. Action folded around to “Olli444” in the small blind who made the call with A♥J♣, and he ended up rivering a straight to eliminate “moneymach301” in eighth ($12,181).

Down to seven, the money jumps were already huge. “esbjerdr”, a shrimp fisherman from Denmark, told us this was his best result to date.

“One time I finished in the top 16, but that was maybe five or six years ago,” he said. “I lost most of that money in a cash game, but I learned from it and now I only play tournaments. I also play a lot of live tournaments where I live in Denmark.”

Another player enjoying his time at the final table was Finland’s “Goatse213”.

“I started playing poker with a few friends back in 2005 or so,” he explained. “We played in home games and I got intrigued really quickly. I normally focus on live poker, mostly cash games, but from time to time I like to play some online tournaments.”

That decision proved particularly fruitful on July 28^th. While it ended with nice scores, their journeys towards the final table were far from smooth.

“Throughout the Sunday Million I was near the top of the chip counts,” “esbjerdr” remembered. “At one point I had almost 21 million in chips, but then I doubled up a lot of small stacks and lost a lot.”

“Goatse213” had the opposite experience. “I lost a big flip with like 250 players left and was crippled down to about eight big blinds, but managed to claw my way back up.”

By the time he reached the final table, he had one of the biggest stacks. One nice pot which went “Goatse213”’s way at the final table happened during seven-handed play. Holding the chip lead, he opened with J♠9♠ from early position and picked up one caller—“esbjerdr”–who had 10♣10♦ in the small blind. The flop produced two nines giving “Goatse213” trips, and when “esbjerdr” check-shoved and couldn’t find another ten, his tournament came to an end ($16,786).

“Goatse213” continued the good all-in form when he won a huge flip to KO Belarus’ “Dj_Sun_Rusma” in sixth ($23,131). The latter jammed for 16 big blinds under the gun with A♦K♣, and “Goatse213” called with 7♦7♥ in the cutoff. The pocket pair held up.

“Obviously you need to have your good hands hold up on the final table,” “Goatse213” said. “I don’t remember a specific hand which helped me get that far, but obviously I won all of the big all-ins when I needed to.”

The same can’t be said for Schemion. He went out in fifth.

Schemion min-opened the cutoff with 16 big blinds left holding A♥9♦, and Russia’s “IIewxa” defended his big blind with J♥10♥. On a K♦6♥3♣ flop, Schemion c-bet when it checked to him. “IIewxa” floated and picked up an open-ender on the Q♠ turn, which he checked again. Schemion didn’t slow down, firing again and leaving himself nine big blinds behind. Call.

The A♠ hit the river, giving Schemion top pair but “IIewxa” the nut straight. “IIewxa” now led with a shove, putting Schemion to the test for it all.

Ole Schemion (aka “wizowizo”) goes deep in the tank for his tournament life

Deep into his time bank, Schemion made the call and saw the bad news. He banked $31,874 for his efforts, and they were down to four.

“THIS JUST DOESN’T HAPPEN TO PEOPLE LIKE ME”

With Oliva, “Goatse213” and “IIewxa” all above 30 million at the 400K/800K blind level, the player who found himself in the most trouble was the UK’s Robert “USARtist” Gough. He had 16 big blinds, but at this point, he was just amazed to be in such a great position.

“I’ve played poker for years, as far back as before the Moneymaker Effect. I never had much to shout about prize wise; before last Sunday my biggest win was $1,800,” he said.

Gough usually only plays $11 tournaments, but always tries to satellite in to the Sunday Million when he can.

(Speaking of satellites, this week’s best ROI belonged to the UK’s “x1267bb”, who qualified for just $0.50 and won $937 after finishing in 131st place. Canadian player “PERCOSET” managed to get 13th place, good for $6,415.23 after qualifying for just $11).

Gough’s previous best milly run was somewhere around 250^th, but things started to click this week and he found himself running super deep.

“It started slowly as I struggled for hands early on, but I got into a rhythm after a few double ups,” he said. “From there I just grinded my way through. I hit a royal flush at a good time with the J♠10♠ and doubled up nicely.”

Still, he was in tricky spot versus three similar big stacks. At this stage, though, he had nothing to lose.

Robert “USARtist” Gough

An hour of four-handed play went by, in which time Gough really found nothing to play with. His chips dwindled down to just four big blinds, and when “IIewxa” set him all in from the small blind holding 7♦7♥, he called it off with a hopeful 8♠4♠. He found no help on the board, but with $43,922 now sitting in his account, he had no complaints.

“I never thought I would win an amount like this, it just doesn’t happen to people like me,” he said jubilantly. “It’s an unbelievable feeling. I’ve never had anything like this happen to me, I’m just an ‘average Joe’ poker player, nothing special. But it’s the best feeling after more than 14 hours of playing. I’m going to celebrate by taking a nice holiday, but first I plan to win next week’s Sunday Million!”

Having built his stack up and delivered the fourth-place KO, “IIewxa” now held a dominating chip lead. Three-handed began with stacks at 63 million (“IIewxa”), 34 million (Oliva), and 16 million (“Goatse213”).

A few hands in and play stopped to look at numbers. “There were no negotiations, we all just agreed to ICM numbers immediately. I was so tired that it felt good to strike the deal at that point,” said “Goatse213”.

“IIewxa” locked up $83,566, Oliva secured $77,937, and “Goatse213” banked $77,365. There was still $20,000 to play for though, and after seeing his chip stack fall to the shortest position, “IIewxa” exited in third.

Oliva min-opened to 4 million on the button with A♦J♠, and when “IIewxa” found Q♦J♦ in the small blind he jammed 11 bigs for 22M. Oliva made the call, and as you can see below, it took a pretty sick runout to eliminate him.

“IIewxa” flopped the world, but still couldn’t survive

With that they were heads-up, but the duel didn’t take long. Oliva created a 2:1 chip lead, and when “Goatse213” opened 7♠7♥ only to be shoved on by Oliva holding A♣K♥, all the money went in. An ace hit the turn, and that was all she wrote for “Goatse213”.

“It feels great obviously, but I have not celebrated yet,” he said. “Maybe I’ll take my other half for a great dinner. Pokerwise, I’ll now be participating in a few live tournament series, though I haven’t decided which ones and where. Maybe somewhere warm during the winter so I could combine a tournament series and a holiday.”

As for Oliva, who now plans to play EPT Barcelona followed by a full WCOOP schedule, he had just three words to sum his win up:

“A nice feeling.”

Ready to sign up for PokerStars and make the Sunday Million final table yourself? Click here to get an account.

“A deuce in the hole in this game is as good as an ace.”

So says a character near the beginning of the 1939 film Destry Rides Again starring James Stewart and Marlene Dietrich.

Directed by George Marshall and based on a popular novel by Max Brand, the film continues to entertain as a classic western from the genre’s golden era. It also makes a especially clever use of a five-card stud hand right off the top, using the game both to kick off the story and to introduce a kind of symbolic significance contained in the above-quoted line.

As I write about in Poker & Pop Culture, in western films a poker game is more or less a required element, not unlike horses, guns, and Stetson hats. In some cases the card game happening over in a saloon corner has little significance other than to help fill out a typical Old West scene. However, in some of the better westerns the poker played onscreen often turns out to be central to the film’s story and larger messages the film is trying to convey.

Destry Rides Again is an example of poker being used both to affect the plot and to introduce what turn out to be multiple themes in the movie. Let’s start with the plot.

Bluffing and showing

The film opens with the sound of gunfire and the image of a sign saying “Welcome to Bottleneck.” The camera then pans to a raucous brawl happening outside the Last Chance Saloon, with more gunshots and shouts punctuating the rousing opening theme.

We’re being shown (in an unsubtle way) that Bottleneck is a violent, dangerous place. Fade to a relatively quieter scene — a game of five-card stud happening upstairs in the saloon.

As we’ll soon learn, the players include a local rancher named Lem Claggett and the saloon’s owner, Kent. Claggett’s looks wide-eyed and jovial as he announces his action. “Well, if I don’t bet ’em you may not think I got ’em, so I’m betting,” he says with a grin.

Meanwhile Kent looks much more circumspect, the brim of his hat casting a shadow that obscures his expression. “That’s good,” he says as he folds, revealing neither his hole card nor his face.

Claggett gleefully rakes in the pot, and without any prompting shows he was bluffing, delivering that line about a deuce being as good as an ace as he does.

“I never knew money was so easy to get!” he laughs.

A hole card switcheroo

If you’ve watched any westerns before, you already have some idea who the good guys and bad guys are here. You also know Claggett probably shouldn’t be so cocky about his bluff getting through.

A brief musical interlude follows introducing Frenchy, the saloon singer played by Dietrich. Playing against her glamorous image, the German actress enjoyed a career boost from this film. (Fans of of the satirical western Blazing Saddles might recognize how Madeline Kahn’s Lili von Shtüpp in that film is a spoof of Dietrich/Frenchy.)

Back to the poker game, where we watch another hand that (perhaps unsurprisingly) doesn’t go so well for Claggett.

Frenchy is in attendance for this hand, having arrived to serve coffee to the men in the game. Once more Kent and Claggett build up a pot, and while we can’t see the cards the action suggests that by fifth street Kent has a pair of eights among his four upcards while Claggett has two aces showing.

Claggett gives a short speech in which he says he doesn’t think Kent has three eights (i.e., an eight as his hole card). “So pop goes the weasel!” he says while pushing all his chips in the middle. As Kent decides what to do, Claggett rechecks his hole card. It’s the A♣, meaning he has trip aces — that is, an unbeatable hand no matter what Kent’s hole card is.

Rather than fold, though, Kent asks Claggett “Is that enough?” The taunt prompts Claggett to add further to his bet by committing his 3,000-acre ranch containing 15,000 head of cattle.

The action is interrupted for a moment when Frenchy spills coffee on Claggett. He’s briefly bothered, but soon refocuses on his opponent. “Call my bet or ain’t ya?” he asks.

Kent does call, and with the same hubris he demonstrated before Claggett crows he has “three shiny aces” while showing his hole card. Only, it’s not an ace… it’s the 2♠!

Claggett is flabbergasted. “I had an ace in the hole! How’d that deuce get there?” he cries. “Maybe you only seen one end of it,” says the player to his left. A broken Claggett is soon tossed out of the saloon.

The surreptitious replacement of the ace with a deuce provides a nifty call back to Claggett’s earlier boast from before. As it turns out, in this game a deuce in the hole is not as good as an ace — especially when your opponent put it there!

Young Destry arrives, following in his father’s footsteps

As Claggett says later on, “the game was crooked as a hog’s tail.”

The fact is, everything is crooked in lawless Bottleneck, a place where Kent appears to wield unfettered power with Frenchy, a group of toughs acting as his henchmen, and even the town’s mayor, Judge Slade, all enabling his villainy.

In fact, when Sheriff Keogh arrives to inquire about the crooked poker game on Claggett’s behalf, he’s summarily shot dead!

Making up a story about Keogh having “been suddenly called out of town on urgent business” and that “he’ll be gone permanently,” Slade appoints the town drunk Washington “Wash” Dimsdale as the new sheriff, a seeming guarantee that corruption in the town will continue unabated.

Into this maelstrom arrives one Thomas Jefferson “Tom” Destry, Jr., portrayed by James Stewart in an early role (and his first western). After swearing off drinking, the new sheriff Wash has called on Tom to be his deputy, a nod to Wash having before served as a deputy when Tom’s late father had been sheriff.

You can see where this is going. Young Tom will have to set things right in Bottleneck and thus fulfill Wash’s proclamation that “Destry will ride again!”

While Destry Sr. was apparently a legendary lawman, Destry Jr. seems perhaps less well-fitted for a similar role. The fact that he refuses to wear a gun makes him an object of ridicule, causing Kent and others not to take him seriously.

“Careful… that’s No-Gun Destry!” cracks one of the many who disrespect his authority.

While Destry Sr. was apparently held in high esteem, Destry Jr. ranks much lower. It’s a bit like comparing a deuce to an ace.

Battling through Bottleneck by bluffing

Destry eventually figures out something nefarious has happened to Keogh. He also quickly pegs Kent as likely having been responsible. Meanwhile he begins to prove himself in other, creative ways, including his handling of a memorable brawl between Frenchy and the jealous wife of a saloon patron.

Tom Destry Jr. (James Stewart) attempts to handle Frenchy (Marlene Dietrich)

I’ll pass over other machinations of the plot in order to highlight one in particular. Destry recognizes that the “game” in Bottleneck is crooked. But he also realizes there’s a way he can beat it — by bluffing.

Destry knows he can’t pin Keogh’s murder on anyone without a body. So he suggests to both Kent and Mayor Slade he has found a body when in actuality he has not.

As Destry anticipates, Kent immediately sends one of his thugs to check on the location where Keogh’s body has been buried. Sheriff Wash follows and arrests the man, charging him with murder. That sets up still more bluffing by Destry continues to try to implicate Kent.

It all goes back to the card game

All doesn’t go exactly according to plan — after all, Kent, Mayor Slade, and the others are incapable of playing it straight.

And while I’ll leave the rest of the story for you to enjoy on your own, you get the idea — the card game at the beginning isn’t just a bit of color helping to fill out an Old West setting. It’s vital to the entire film. Not only does it get the plot going, it introduces not just one but several themes that emerge over the course of the story…

The game is crooked, much like the corruption pervading Bottleneck.

Bad guys might win by cheating, but good guys can win, too, particularly if they can pull off a well-managed bluff.

And much as young Tom goes about things a little differently than did his famous father apparently did, the second Destry ultimately proves himself the equal of the first.

In other words, a deuce can sometimes be as good as an ace, if you play your cards right.

Images: Rialto Theater ad (adapted) and promotional still, public domain.

More “5-Card Fiction”

• “Kenny Rogers as The Gambler”
• Paul Newman surprisingly turns over four jacks in “The Sting”
• Three hands in “Rounders” screenplay draft that didn’t make it to the screen

“5-Card Fiction” is an ongoing series examining fictional poker hands from film, television, and elsewhere. Have a favorite fictional poker hand you’d like to see discussed? Tweet your suggestions @PokerStarsBlog.

Weird Variants of Poker You Should Be Playing

If you learned how to play poker after seeing it on television, you’re not alone. Millions of poker players around the world first found their favorite card game on the tube, almost all of them watching people play Texas Hold’em in major tournaments.

Poker is so much more than Hold’em, though — just ask anyone who grew up playing draw poker home games back in the day. They can tell you all about the wide, crazy world of poker games.

Here’s a look at some weird poker games and variants you should be playing. See if you can work them into the rotation next time you play in a dealer’s choice home game!

Pineapple

This is a good game to start with if you’re branching out from Hold’em because it plays very similarly to the world’s most popular poker variant. Everything in Pineapple is exactly the same as Hold’em except for one small difference: every player is dealt three hole cards instead of two.

Players choose one of these hole cards to discard, the first round of betting begins, and everything else proceeds as in a Hold’em game. If you were to discard after the flop instead of before the first round of betting, you’d be playing a vairant known as Crazy Pineapple.

Once you have a grasp of Pineapple, it’s time to move away from flop games…

Razz

Razz is easy to learn how to play because, at least in terms of mechanics, the game plays identically to seven-card stud.

It’s frustrating. It’s fun. It’s Razz.

Every player is dealt two cards face-down and a third card face-up to start. As the action continues, three more face-up cards are dealt to each player, and a final card is dealt face-down on seventh street.

The only difference is that instead of trying to make standard poker hands, you’re aiming for the lowest five-card poker hand possible: A-2-3-4-5. Flushes don’t count, straights don’t matter, and pairs actually work against you.

It’s frustrating. It’s fun. It’s Razz.

Badugi

Badugi is relatively new among unique poker games. It’s a four-card draw poker game with four rounds of action, usually played in a fixed-limit format.

Like in Razz, in Badugi you’re trying to make the lowest possible unpaired hand. Unlike in Razz, suits matter. If two players both have A-2-3-4 but one of them has two spades in hand, the one with a spade, a club, a diamond, and a heart in hand — a “badugi” — will win the pot.

With only four cards per player, so many draws in play, and the four-suit requirement to make the nuts, every card dealt in a game of badugi seems to goose the action. That makes it perfect for a home game and online cash sessions alike.

Here’s a quick catch up from the week on PokerStarsBlog… 

• All the latest from APPT Manila
• 5-Card Fiction: Bluffing the toughs in ‘Destry Rides Again’
• How the Sunday Million was won (July 28)
• Weird variants of poker you should be playing
• Live tournament tips from Liv Boeree

But before we get to that, PokerStars Blog would like to pay our respects to high-stakes online poker legend Richard ‘nutsinho’ Lyndaker, who passed away earlier this week in his San Diego apartment at the young age of 33.

Lyndaker was a force on the virtual felt, making more than $2M in online earnings in 2011 alone playing the biggest nosebleed games around. He will be missed.

ALL THE LATEST FROM APPT MANILA

There has been plenty of action at the beautiful Okada venue this week as APPT Manila has been in full swing.

Super High Roller champ Chaofei Wang

Chaofei Wang is the biggest winner so far with his victory in the ₱500,000 ($9,800) Super High Roller for ₱7,000,000 ($137,210). Meanwhile the ₱65,000 ($1,270) APPT Manila Main Event is currently on Day 1B.

Click here to catch up on everything from the Philippines.

5-CARD FICTION: BLUFFING THE TOUGHS IN ‘DESTRY RIDES AGAIN’

“A deuce in the hole in this game is as good as an ace.”

So says a character near the beginning of the 1939 film Destry Rides Again starring James Stewart and Marlene Dietrich.

Tom Destry Jr. (James Stewart) attempts to handle Frenchy (Marlene Dietrich)

In this week’s edition of ‘5-Card Fiction’, PokerStars Blog’s resident poker historian (and author of Poker and Pop Culture) Martin Harris takes a close look at a great poker scene from a classic western from the genre’s golden era.

Read ‘5-Card Fiction’ here.

HOW THE SUNDAY MILLION WAS WON (JULY 28)

Last Sunday’s edition of the Sunday Million was a doozy, with long-time high-rolling crusher Ole Schemion making the final table. As we found out when interviewing the final table players, he was joined by a Czech pro, a self-proclaimed ‘average Joe’, and a shrimp fisherman from Denmark.

Ultimately is was Jakub “Olli444” Oliva who outlasted the 11,300 field to win $97K.

Find out how he did it here.

WEIRD VARIANTS OF POKER YOU SHOULD BE PLAYING

If you learned how to play poker after seeing it on television, you’re not alone. Millions of poker players around the world first found their favorite card game on the tube, almost all of them watching people play Texas Hold’em in major tournaments.

Poker is so much more than Hold’em, though — just ask anyone who grew up playing draw poker home games back in the day. They can tell you all about the wide, crazy world of poker games.

Here’s a look at some weird poker games and variants you should be playing. 

LIVE TOURNAMENT TIPS FROM LIV BOEREE

Liv Boeree isn’t just a Team PokerStars Pro. She’s also a past EPT and WSOP champion with more than $3.8 million in lifetime live tournament earnings. In other words, she’s exactly the type of person whose brain a new tournament player would want to pick before playing live for the first time.

Liv Boeree of Team PokerStars

This week we got some thorough advice from Boeree that will help you make the most of your first live event, courtesy of PokerStars School — plus some useful advice from Pete “Carroters” Clarke on some of the few situations where making a decision to call ahead of time can actually be profitable.

Check out Liv Boeree’s live tournament tips here.

Opening a PokerStars account is easy. Click here to get an account in minutes.

Is Spraggy’s the no.1 Twitch stream? He’s certainly making a great case for it, winning two tournaments this week live on his channel.

Sometimes Benjamin “Spraggy” Spragg is heated:

Fuck the internet for today. pic.twitter.com/Fu0Ycqhf1c

— Benj Spragg (@spraggy) July 11, 2019

Other times, he’s happy.

Saved the day, got out the $1,500 hole. 11 hour stream. Finally picked up the win in the $44 PKO. Back tomorrow. Same Again. pic.twitter.com/nJZkJilUkD

— Benj Spragg (@spraggy) July 30, 2019

And while we love that wrestling GIF, we prefer the happy Spraggy.

The first reason for his current contentment came on Tuesday night, when he took down a $44 Progressive Knockout tournament on PokerStars for $709 plus $935 in bounties, outlasting a 194-player field.

Spraggy held the chip lead when they were down to six, and added to his stack after this hand:

Things got really fun when they were down to three-handed. Spraggy held an enormous chip lead, and was excited to have both remaining players covered holding A♠Q♠ in a three-way all in.

Problem was, they both had real hands.

That didn’t effect his dominant position though, and he’d end up taking it down by outkicking his opponent.

Two evenings later and Spraggy was spending his Thursday evening back on the grind.A $109 Progressive Knockout was on the menu, which got 92 entries.

He set himself up well for the FT, KOing the final player on the final table bubble.

Things went for good to great, particularly when he could just “sit back and relax” with quad aces.

And a massive cooler set him up for his second victory in three days.

For that win, Spraggy banked $1,106 plus $1,156 in bounties.

Keep it going Spraggy. Now let’s take a look at that GIF one more time.

Fuck the internet for today. pic.twitter.com/Fu0Ycqhf1c

— Benj Spragg (@spraggy) July 11, 2019

Opening a PokerStars account is easy. Click here to get an account in minutes.

All the results from the APPT Manila 2019 festival

Main Event
Date: August 1-4, 2019
Buy-in: ₱65,000 (58,500+6,500)
Players: 1,135
Prize Pool: ₱64,405,575

*heads up deal

Event 1: APPT Kickoff – NL Hold’em – PHP 3,000,000 Guarantee
Date: July 26-28, 2019
Buy-in: ₱16,000 (14,400+1,600)
Players: 924
Prize Pool: ₱12,906,432

Event #1 champ Jinlong Hu

Event 2: PHP 8,000 NL Hold’em – Turbo – Freezeout
Date: July 26, 2019
Buy-in: ₱8,000 (7,040+960)
Players: 82
Prize Pool: ₱559,962

Event #2 champ Charalampos Lappas

Event 3: PHP 55,000 NL Hold’em – Deepstack
Date: July 27, 2019
Buy-in: ₱55,000 (49,500+5,500)
Players: 48
Prize Pool: ₱2,304,720

Event #3 champ Nobuhito Ogo

Event 4: PHP 8,000 NL Hold’em – Knockout – Freezeout
Date: July 28, 2019
Buy-in: ₱8,000 (7,040+960)
Players: 163
Prize Pool: ₱950,094 (Additional ₱163,000 awarded in bounties)

Event #4 champ Gang Tao

Event 5: PHP 100,000 NL Hold’em – Shot Clock – Single Re-Entry
Date: July 28-29, 2019
Buy-in: ₱100,000 (92,000+8,000)
Players: 77
Prize Pool: ₱6,871,480

Event #5 champ Bobby Zhang

Event 6: APPT National NL Hold’em – PHP 5,000,000 Guarantee
Date: July 28-31, 2019
Buy-in: ₱33,000 (29,700+3,300)
Players: 674
Prize Pool: ₱19,417,266

APPT Manila National champ Benigno Jr Ledina

Event 7: PHP 10,000 NL Hold’em – Freezeout
Date: July 29, 2019
Buy-in: ₱10,000 (8,800+1,200)
Players: 120
Prize Pool: ₱1,024,320

Event #7 champ Chunsan Fan

Event 8: PHP 100,000 NL Hold’em – Shot Clock – Freezeout
Date: July 29, 2019
Buy-in: ₱100,000 (92,000+8,000)
Players: 40
Prize Pool: ₱3,569,000

Event #8 champ Wayne Zhang

Event 9: PHP 10,000 NL Hold’em Deepstack – Single Re-Entry
Date: July 30, 2019
Buy-in: ₱10,000 (8,800+1,200)
Players: 155
Prize Pool: ₱1,323,080

Event #9 champ Michael de Leon

Event 10: Megastack NL Hold’em – Shot Clock – Freezeout
Date: July 30-31, 2019
Buy-in: ₱25,000 (22,500+2,500)
Players: 282
Prize Pool: ₱6,154,650

Event #10 champ Lixun Zhou

Event 11: PHP 150,000 – 6+ NL Hold’em – Re-Entry
Date: July 30, 2019
Buyin: ₱150,000 (141,000+9,000)
Players: 19
Prize Pool: ₱2,598,630

Event #11 champ Hao Zhu

Event 12: PHP 15,000 NL Hold’em – SuperDeep – Freezeout
Date: July 31, 2019
Buyin: ₱15,000 (13,500+1,500)
Players: 287
Prize Pool: ₱3,758,265

Event #12 champ Tae Hoon Han

Event 13: APPT Super High Roller – Re-Entry
Date: July 31-Aug 1, 2019
Buyin: ₱500,000 (485,000+15,000)
Players: 51
Prize Pool: ₱23,992,950

APPT Manila Super High Roller champ Chaofei Wang

Event 14: PHP 15,000 NL Hold’em – Megastack Turbo – Freezeout
Date: Aug 1, 2019
Buy-in: ₱15,000 (13,500+1,500)
Players: 161
Prize Pool: ₱2,108,295

Event #14 champ Kang Feng Lien

Event 15: High Roller One Day Event – Single Re-Entry
Date: Aug 1, 2019
Buy-in: ₱150,000 (141,000+9,000)
Players: 115
Prize Pool: ₱15,728,550

Event #15 champ Ivan Lee

Event 17: PHP 10,000 NL Hold’em – Hyper Turbo – Re-Entry
Date: Aug 2, 2019
Buy-in: ₱10,000 (8,800+1,200)
Players: 62
Prize Pool: ₱529,232

Event #17 champ Ronald Morfe

Event 18: PHP 15,000 NL Hold’em – Hyper Turbo – Freezeout
Date: Aug 2, 2019
Buy-in: ₱15,000 (13,500+1,500)
Players: 121
Prize pool: ₱1,584,495

Event 19: Re-Buy Charity Event PHP 300,000 Guarantee
Date: Aug 3, 2019
Buy-in: ₱5,000 (4,400+600 to Charity)
Players: 240
Prize pool: ₱1,024,320 (₱228,000 donated to charity)

Event 20: Saturday SuperStack NL Hold’em – Freezeout
Date: Aug 3-4, 2019
Buy-in: ₱33,000 (29,700+3,300)
Players: 347
Prize pool: ₱9,996,723

*denotes deal

Event 21: APPT High Roller NL Hold’em – Re-Entry
Date: Aug 3-4, 2019
Buy-in: ₱200,000 (185,000+15,000)
Players: 175
Prize pool: ₱31,403,750

Event 22: Flipout
Date: Aug 3, 2019
Buy-in: ₱5,000 (4,500+500)
Players: 90
Prize pool: ₱392,850

Event 23: PHP 25,000 NL Hold’em – Shot Clock – Single Re-Entry
Date: Aug 4, 2019
Buy-in: ₱25,000 (22,500+2,500)
Players: 200
Prize pool: ₱4,365,000

Event 24: PHP 10,000 6+ NL Hold’em – Turbo – Re-Entry
Date: Aug 4, 2019
Buy-in: ₱8,800 (22,500+1,200)
Players: 163
Prize pool: ₱1,391,368

* denotes deal

Event 25: High Roller 6+ NL Hold’em – Shot Clock – Turbo
Date: Aug 4, 2019
Buy-in: ₱200,000 (190,000+10,000)
Players: 9
Prize pool: ₱1,658,700

APPT Manila ran from July 26 to August 4, 2019, at PokerStars Live at Okada Manila, Philippines. Click through links below to find out what happened in all the major events.

FULL APPT MANILA DETAILS | EVENT TIMELINE | RESULTS

APPT Main Event

Dates: August 1-4, 2019
Buy-in: ₱500,000
Players: 1,135
Prize Pool: ₱64,405,575

Campomanes clinches Main Event title for ₱11.1 million ($215,000 approx)

Home-town hero Florencio Campomanes seals Main Event victory

PREVIOUS COVERAGE:
Thijs Hiberts Leads Last 36 After Day 2
Tautvydas Jonikas Leads Day 1B Field, Main Event Field Tops 1,100
Jingzhi Wang Leads, 90 Remain After Main Event Day 1A

APPT Super High Roller

Dates: July 31 – August 1
Buy-in: ₱500,000 ($9,800)

Chaofei Wang defeats Lester Edoc heads-up for Super High Roller title, ₱7,000,000

APP Manila Super High Roller champ Chaofei Wang

Previous coverage:
Graeme Siow leads, 20 remain after Super High Roller Day 1

APPT National

Dates: July 28-31
Buy-in: ₱33,000 ($645)
₱5 million ($98,000) guaranteed

Benigno Jr Ledina defeats Linh Tran to win National, ₱4,174,500

APPT Manila National winner Benigno Jr Ledina

Previous coverage:
Linh Tran Bags Big Lead, 16 Left After National Day 2
Hogyun Kang Tops Field, Edgar Eui Kim Second at End of National Day 1B
Alex Lee Leads at End of National Day 1A