With around 22,000 already in the pot and the board displaying 5♠10♠7♣6♠9♠, the action heated up between Elie Saade in the small blind and Piotr Wiecek under the gun. Both players engaged in a fierce raise-and-re-raise battle on the river, ending in Saade pushing all in. It was now up to Wiecek to decide whether to gamble for his tournament life.
After a moment of contemplation, Wiecek made the call, leading them to a showdown. Wiecek revealed K♠10♥ for a king-high flush, but Saade had the better hand with A♠10♦, giving him an ace-high flush. With that, Wiecek was eliminated from the tournament, while Saade happily added a significant boost to his chip stack.
Chrysi Phiniotis started the action with a raise to 1,100 from early position, and Artem Kotkovskyi on the button was quick to call, along with both players in the blinds.
The flop came down 7♠2♠9♠, both blinds checked and Phiniotis seized the opportunity and led out with a bet of 1,300, which only Kotkovskyi decided to call.
When the 5♥ hit the turn, Phiniotis continued their aggression with another bet, but this time Kotkovskyi responded by raising it to 10,000. Phiniotis took a moment to weigh their options before ultimately calling, clearly intrigued by the action.
The river brought the 10♣, prompting Phiniotis to check. Kotkovskyi wasted no time, firing another 10,000 into the pot. Phiniotis went into deep thought, checking their cards several times, but after a long deliberation, they opted to fold, leaving Kotkovskyi to scoop up the pot and add to his growing stack.
One of the most entertaining shows in poker is stepping it up a notch as PokerStars announced that the next season of Big Game on Tour will feature four-time Super Bowl champion and NFL star Rob "Gronk" Gronkowski.
Gronkowski, who spent 11 seasons as a tight end in the NFL and is now a sports analyst, will compete on the upcoming The Big Game on Tour season alongside the pros, Loose Cannons and sports media personality Nick Wright, whose appearance was also confirmed on Thursday.
“I’m always up for a challenge, and diving into the world of poker is going to be an amazing new adventure for me," Gronkowski said in a press release. “I’m beyond excited to play alongside some of the best in the game and tackle the high-stakes action. Just like on the football field, I’ll be bringing my competitive edge and giving it everything I’ve got at the tables.”
With approximately 16,000 already in the pot and the board displaying 6♥5♠A♥J♦3♣, Sergei Bortsov, acting first, checked. Nichita Verbitchii, sensing an opportunity, fired a bet of 8,000. Bortsov appeared to be deep in thought, visibly weighing his options and clearly not thrilled about the situation at hand. After a moment of contemplation, he ultimately decided to make the call, and the action moved to showdown.
Verbitchii revealed his hand, showing K♥Q♥ for a missed flush draw, while Bortsov confidently turned over K♣K♦. His pocket kings held strong, allowing him to scoop up the pot and add a nice boost to his chip stack.
Dinesh Alt got things rolling with a raise to 1,000 from early position. Hakan Pamukcu, sitting in middle position, responded with a three-bet to 2,500. Evgenii Ushakov in the small blind and Alt both called.
The flop came down 10♦A♠10♥, and after both players checked, Pamukcu took the lead with a bet of 2,000, which both Alt and Ushakov matched.
Ushakov seized the initiative on the 3♣ turn, betting 2,000. Again, both Alt and Pamukcu called.
When the 5♠ hit the river, Ushakov fired another bet of 4,000, which only Alt called. At showdown, Ushakov revealed A♣10♣ for a flopped full house, easily besting Alt's hand, which quickly found its way to the muck.
With around 3,000 in the pot and the flop revealing 5♣5♥9♣, Barny Boatman checked to Kaza Paterson, who made a move with a bet of 2,000. After a moment's thought, Boatman called.
When the J♠ hit the turn, Boatman took the lead with a bet of 5,000, which Paterson promptly called.
Both players checked the 6♣ river, and Boatman revealed 2♠2♣ for two pair, fives and deuces. He already sensed he might not be winning this one, and he was right. Paterson turned over Q♣Q♦ for two pair, queens and fives, taking down the pot.
PokerNews is excited to announce that our Home Games Leaderboard is continuing in October and readers can continue to pit themselves against one another in our private PokerNews Home Games group on the PokerStars platform.
PokerNews Home Games has already awarded over $8,000 worth of tickets and with games running daily, there is always time to jump and grab some of that juicy value.
Members can compete on the virtual felt on both mobile and desktop, and PokerNews will add incredible value to the heap of online poker tournaments running throughout the year. Don't worry if you are a new player as everyone is welcome, we have a variety of buy-ins and games that will be running so you too can enjoy battling for bragging rights and big blinds.
Throughout October, PokerNews will be running daily Added Value MTTs in which the winner shall receive a tournament ticket, of $11, for winning the MTT and this is on top of the prizepool itself. Buyins are an affordable $1.10 and there are also Leaderboard prizes for the top 10 finishers at the end of the month. Any MTT in which registration closes with over 30 players, PokerNews will double the 1st place ticket, so the incentive is there to get all of your poker playing buddies involved and get even more value.
