The World Series of Poker came to a close this month in Las Vegas, and a Main Event champion was crowned with Norway’s Espen Jorstad capturing a gold bracelet and $10 million top prize.
The humble online poker pro also said he also won between $10,000 and $15,000 online during the series. But there were plenty of other notable online poker winners in June and July. Poker Podium takes a look at some recent international online and live winners who scored big over the summer.
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GGPoker
The $10,300 Super MILLION$ recently crowned a champion on July 19. Brazilian Pablo Silva took the title and $260,765 after starting the final table as chip leader.
In a big pot at three-handed play against fellow countryman Rodrigo Sirichuk, Silva shoved from the small blind with King-Queen and Sirichuk called off his 24 big blind stack with A♣Q♣. The flop missed and Sirichuk picked up a flush draw on the turn to add to his over cards.
He was an 88.6% favorite, but Silva caught lightning when a non-club king fell on the river. That sent Sirichuk home in third with $159,040.
Canada’s Nick Maimone couldn’t overcome a 3-1 chip advantage for Silver to finish in second place for $203,647. The final hand saw Maimone call off 2.2 million after his $240,000 min-raise and shove by Silva. Maimone couldn’t hit his K-10 or flush versus Silva’s 7-7 on a spade flush flop.
Big online micro tournaments continued on GGPoker for a two-week run through July 3. To close out June, German “Johaenski” turned his $5 entry into a $30,202 score in a Mini Global MILLION$ event as part of the microMILLION$ series.
The three-handed deal with Russian “YourOwner” ($28,194) and Ukraine’s “Myskonvat” ($23,554) saw them best a monster-sized field of 88,700 entries.
PartyPoker
The partypoker Grand Prix UK Main Event recently concluded at PartyPoker. Beihao Wang topped a field of 1,507 to reel in £25,000 of the £146,179 prize pool. His $29,588 online score was by far the biggest of his poker career.
Lukas Boublel qualified for the partypoker MILLIONS Europe Main Event at partypoker for just $0.01. He made his way to beautiful Barcelona, Spain, and advanced to Day 2 with 67 players from the field of 450 on June 12. Boublel busted out in 18th place for €11,000 after his big slick ran into pocket Aces.
https://twitter.com/partypokerlive/status/1549001112879087616?s=20&t=WhIYtytmOJlk9lvRRF_CZA
Ireland’s Steve O’Dwyer, who has $31 million in live tournament earnings, was the slight chip leader ahead of Hungary’s Gergely Bartos to start the final table.
O’Dwyer trailed Luuk Gieles by 142 million to 304 million chips going into heads-up action. But O’Dwyer came back and won €250,000 ($267,772) to capture his first victory on Spanish soil. Bartos finished third.
O’Dwyer’s win comes just days after taking runner-up in the €10,300 High Roller event in which Teun Mulder triumphed.
PartyPoker ambassador and streamer Jeff “MaximusBlack” Johnston finished in 25th in the MILLIONS Europe Main Event for €11,000 ($9,104)
Inspired by the energy and excitement of Formula 1, the McLaren F1 Team Turbo Series started July 22. The series continues through Aug. 8 with more than $2.5 million in guaranteed cash prizes.
The aptly-named “HyperTurbo123” came out on top of 247 entries in Event 12-H Eight-Max PKO. His $109 investment turned into a $5,544 payday with $3,024 from bounties after he defeated “DuvelTripelHop” heads-up.
The $215 Turbo Series Main Event will be part of the August update. Partypoker also recently released more events planned for 2022. Here’s a look at the schedule.
888poker
The Festival Online recently came to a close at 888Poker. The series featured 21 online events from July 10 – Aug. 1 with combined guaranteed prize pools of $750,000.
In total, The Festival catered to a combined 6,942 entrants and awarded $820,820 in prize money. The $109 Opening Event had one of the five highest payouts of the series. The 1,000-entry field saw 796 players and 204 rebuys with a $100,000 prize pool.
The final table trio of Brazilian players missed heads up play but cashed in nicely on their entry fee.
- “RMolinar17” (fifth for $4,550)
- “Entaotoma” (fourth for $6,150)
- “DantonGomes” (third for $8,300)
In the end, a heads-up deal was made between Sweden’s “Angelegot” ($14,692) and UK’s “DarioPourzan” ($12,077).
The $109 Texas Progressive KO was the largest draw with 1,072 entries. “DarianZimmer” of Germany cashed in the top prize of $13,925.
The other tournament to also draw at least 1,000 entries was the $109 Texas 8-Max. The winner was “Iaromachikne” of Brazil, who took a 12-1 chip lead into heads-up action against Ireland’s MIKEPOSTLE. Iaromachikne won $16,223 and the runner-up finish was worth $11,831 from a field of 1,048.
The $215 Festival Online Main Event started July 31 and 813 entries created a prize pool of $162,600. A total of 673 players rebought 140 times and the top 120 finishers made the money.
The final table of nine players returned Aug. 1 with cards-up coverage streamed live on the 888pokerTV Twitch channel. After “IOwnU888” bowed out in third for $14,195, the title came down to a pair of players from South America.
Ultimately, Argentina’s “Pbusto14” defeated Brazil’s “vpedote” in heads-up play to win the tournament for $26,553.
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PokerStars
The United Kingdom and Ireland Poker Tour (UKIPT) festival in Nottingham drew some of the best players in Europe. More than £1 million in prize money was guaranteed for the week-long festival that concluded July 31.
Local cash game pro Adam Maxwell outlasted a field of 582 entries (including 182 re-entries) to win the £1,100 UKIPT Nottingham Main Event. Maxwell cashed in for £98,150 after a heads-up deal. Eventual runner-up Jonathan McCann took home £74,500 from the £564,540 total prize pool.
“It feels very good – it’s not quite sunk in yet,” Maxwell said, before reflecting on the heads-up duel. “It was a tough battle but I feel like the cards went my way.”
It's a winning smile from Adam Maxwell as he has just taken down the #UKIPT Nottingham £1,100 Main Event for £98,150! 🏆
Adam scooped the trophy after a heads-up deal with Johnathan McCann, who takes home £74,500.
Read how the heads-up battle unfolded 👉 https://t.co/kkihoM3c1W pic.twitter.com/CBltN7mxIY
— PokerStars UK & IRE (@PokerStarsUK) July 31, 2022
The top five finishers were from the UK with David Ledden (£47,460), Michael Howard (£36,500), and Daniel Gormley (£28,080) rounding out the top five spots ahead of German Fabio Sperling (£21,600) in sixth place.
Stars High Roller action
Following the main event, the two day £2,200 High Roller for £51,730 drew 95 players and Alex Goulder finished in third place (worth £23,840) after taking the chip lead into Day 2 with 21 players remaining. Tan Luan Le finished second for £33,000, while Gary Miller took the trophy and £51,730 first prize.
Kathleen Padovani won the two day £340 UKIPT Cup to best a field of 413 players. With a prize pool of £120,183, Day 2 started with 62 players.
When nine remained for the final table, it looked like Vincenzo Lupoli was on his way to victory after he busted four consecutive players to get heads up against Padovani with a better than 3-1 chip lead.
As Padovani fought back to even and then took the chip lead, she repeatedly offered a deal to Lupoli, which he declined. Padovani flopped trip 9s on the final hand to claim victory and score her biggest-ever live cash for £23,513.