PartyPoker managed to bump a trend and record significant growth in the first quarter of 2016, according to financial documents released by GVC.

It’s the first time in five years that PartyPoker has reported growth rather than decline. It’s even more impressive when you consider the online poker industry has been consolidating greatly over the few years.

The sudden boost has allowed PartyPoker to once again get a spot in the top five online poker sites when it comes to cash game traffic.

Focus on Rec Players Paying Off

The positive bump for PartyPoker did not occur without some significant changes to the site.

Patrick Leonard

PartyPoker has been overhauled in the last five years to focus more heavily on attracting recreational players.

Among the numerous changes that PartyPoker has enacted over the last few years:

PartyPoker also brought back the ultra popular PowerFest online poker series. This year’s edition will have an enormous $7.8 million in guaranteed prize pools.

PowerFest, which kicks off May 1, features 172 separate tournaments spread across three different buy-in levels including lightweight, middleweight and heavyweight.

If you want to check out the new PartyPoker you can head over to our review where you’ll find a link to download the software.

Patrik Antonius hasn’t played a ton of high-stakes online poker over the last couple years but he pulled off a big win on PokerStars last night.

Antonius dominated high-stakes reg Andrew “ClockWyze” Pantling in 144 hands of $400/$800 to take down $64k, according to highstakedDB.

The famous Finn said he could no longer compete in high-stakes NLHE and PLO games due to the prevalence of add-on software in a PokerListings interview last year.

Fortunately he’s still very willing to get in the action when it comes to mixed games.

Dan "Jungleman" Cates Rakes in $54k

Dan “jungleman” Cates, hot off those MVP-level GPL appearances, proved he can still roll with the best of them this weekend by winning $54k.

Dan Cates

Unfortunately Cates has been having an off year on PokerStars and is still down $265k, even after last night’s score.

It’s been a strange year for high-stakes action as the games have definitely trended down.

Currently Educa-p0ker is the overall biggest winner with $629,611, which is pretty low historically.

Ben “Sauce123” Sulsky (+$508k), Ike “philivey2694” Haxton (+$205k), Antonius (+$185k) and ChaoRen (+$129k) round out the top five.

High-stakes master Alex “Kanu7” Millar is experiencing a down year and is currently $616k in the red for 2016. Right behind him is none other than Viktor “Isildur1” Blom who’s dropped $564k.

Blom had one of his best years ever in 2015, when he actually managed to finish with $3.4m in profit.

The 2016 PokerStars Spring Championship of Online Poker is off and running with a couple of well-known online stars already finding success.

Earlier today Luke “lb6121” Schwartz, who you might know as “FullFlush”, outlasted 144 players and then out-dueled Russian whiz Vladimir “vovtroy” Troyanovskiy heads-up to win SCOOP-06-H Omaha Hi-Lo Progressive Bounty for $32k plus $19k in bounties.

According to the official SCOOP stats it was Schwartz’ fifth title, which puts him one behind Calvin Anderson’s record six SCOOP bracelets.

Deep Crushing Early

Shaun Deeb is up to his old tricks in the 2016 SCOOP as he’s already recorded two final tables.

Shaun Deeb

Deeb final tabled both the high and low versions of SCOOP-03 NL Draw. He finished fifth in the high version to take home $7,650 and then sixth in the low version to add another $995.

Deeb is currently tied with Schwartz for five SCOOP titles but he also has three WCOOP wins. Both Calvin Anderson and Deeb have eight COOP titles overall.

Interestingly Vladmir “vovtroy” Troyanoskiy also finished placed fourth in SCOOP-03-H, which means he’s definitely among the early contenders for the SCOOP leaderboard as well.

With over 55 events and $40m in guaranteed prize pools there’s still a ton more poker to be played in this year’s SCOOP.

You can learn more about more about the PokerStars client or sign up for an account right here.

Over 30,000 eyeballs were glued to Twitch.tv last night as Jason “JCarver” Somerville attempted to win a SCOOP tournament on stream.

Somerville eventually came up a little short finishing 9th for a little over $7,000 in SCOOP-13-H but his Twitch numbers continue to astound.

He’s now up to over 12 million views and closing in fast on 180,000 followers on the burgeoning streaming platform.

Carver ended up going out in a race situation with A-Q falling to Brazilian gilcoe’s pocket nines.

JCarver Just Short of Twitch Record

The only time Somerville has ever attracted more viewers was during WCOOP last fall when 37,000 fans tuned in to watch him take 6th in a $700 NLHE event for a little under $40,000.

James "Andy McLEOD" Obst also had a great week.

It’s been a good SCOOP so far for Somerville as last week he finished 9th in SCOOP-11 for $19,209.

The American pro is taking a quick break from the competition but will resume streaming for another eight straight days on Sunday.

Meanwhile that same SCOOP-11 $1,050 PLO event that Somerville placed ninth in was eventually won by Australia’s James “AndyMcLEOD” Obst.

Obst outlasted a total of 244 players to win a $155k first-place prize.

Incredibly Obst won the exact same tournament last year for $166,980, which means he successfully defended his title in the event.

Somerville was visibly impressed by Obst on stream and, after busting out in ninth, was pulling for him to take it down.

The 2016 PokerStars Spring Championship of Online Poker is set to wind to a spectacular close with the playdown of three main event final tables today.

All three FTs - the low buy-in, medium buy-in and the $10k high - are riddled with fantastic players and high-profile names.

Chief among them at the SCOOP-H final table are a few talented veterans of the high-stakes scene including UK hedge fund maestro Talal "raidalot" Shakerchi and member of the $10m winner club, Scott "gunning4you" Seiver.

They're joined by an impressive list of live and online regs that includes the likes of Markku "markovitsus" Koplimaa, Lasse "IReadB00ks" Nielsen, Sean "Nolez7" Winter, Tomás "pablotenisis" Turbado, Aleksandr "EvnomiYa" Mordvinov and, possibly, live game legend John Juanda

Is JJ the LuckBox?

The elite final nine will play it out for the $1m+ first-place prize starting at 2:30 pm ET today.

Young, Artinano Still Alive in SCOOP 54 - M

The prestigious high buy-in SCOOP Main Event isn't the only one with some familiar names at the final table.

Vying for the Medium crown are two very savvy vets of the online game in Jordan "Jymaster11" Young and Andres "Educa-p0ker" Artinano.

Jerry "hummylun" Wong, who famously had has aces cracked by a two-outer deep in the WCOOP Main Event four years ago, is also still around.

Here's how the last remaining final tables of the 2016 SCOOP look heading into the final day. To watch any of them live online, download the PokerStars client and create an account here.

SCOOP 54-L

mmleandro (Brazil) 342,341,265
Pablos701 (Brazil) 255,207,477
tnb1990 (United Kingdom) 208,090,984
nillolok (Brazil) 164,543,400
TimMoscow007 (Russia) 80,636,429
andreas1966 (Germany) 63,106,705
sebirizoR (Germany) 45,239,350
Jason-Pan39 (Taiwan) 36,563,518
Rose Gambit (Brazil) 33,820,872

SCOOP 54-M

OMGitsH.O.H (Romania) 50,831,406
Jymaster11 (Mexico) 45,374,999
hummylun (Canada) 37,811,780
Xading (Russia) 34,493,147
iamivar (Sweden) 26,513,474
Ryokan (Ireland) 25,415,056
Educa-p0ker (United Kingdom) 18,312,857
rumbaii4 (Finland) 12,547,281

SCOOP 54-H

raidalot (United Kingdom) 9,804,971
markovitsus (Estonia) 5,843,118
gunning4you (Canada) 4,598,537
IReadB00ks (Denmark) 4,210,444
s0nny_bLacCk (Thailand) 3,943,686
Nolez7 (Romania) 3,869,914
pablotenisis (Mexico) 3,093,841
LuckBox (Japan) 3,052,276
EvnomiYa [2] (Russia) 2,783,213

Deeb Edges out Mercier for Overall Leaderboard Title

More familiar names dominate the overall leaderboard for the Player of the Series title led by COOP legend Shaun Deeb.

With no more opportunities for second-place Jason Mercier to earn points to overtake him Deeb has already secured the 2016 SCOOP leaderboard crown.

As you can see from the list below the Top 10 is a literal who's who of online poker power with Mercier, Calvin Anderson, Dzmitry Urbanovich, Mike Leah and Naoya Kihara also putting together impressive SCOOP results this year.

For a complete rundown of all the 2016 SCOOP events, past and ongoing, check the PokerStars blog.

When most poker players get to the final table of a major online main event, with a couple of million dollars on the line, they immediately think 'make a deal.'

Not Talal 'radialot' Shakerchi.

Already independently wealthy thanks to an impressive career in finance, Shakerchi has added a serious poker habit over the last few years and become quite a tournament closer.

Combine those two elements and he's more than happy to play things out rather than cut a deal, and that's exactly what happened at the final table of the SCOOP-H $10k Main Event today.

Coming into the final table as the chip leader Shakerchi went wire-to-wire and pulled off one of his most impressive scores yet with an outright win for $1,468,000.

Outlasting aces John "LuckBox" Juanda and Scott "gunning4you" Seiver before finally defeating Sean "Nolez7" Winter heads-up, Shakerchi now owns one of the most sought after titles in poker.

raidalot's Resume Grows

With past wins at $10K tournaments at the EPT8 Grand Final in Monaco and at EPT9 London, plus regular appearances in the planet's biggest cash games, Shakerchi had more than proven himself live.

Another big number for Seiver.

Looking at his results from the 2016 SCOOP, he's clearly turned himself into an equal force online.

Cashing 36 times with five final tables, the Main Event win was actually his 3rd career SCOOP title, although by far his biggest.

Making things even tougher were the presence of veritable legends Seiver and Juanda, but Shakerchi never flinched even when Seiver creeped up to second.

Beginning heads-up against Winter with a 2-1 edge it only took four hands to wrap things up when both players rivered a flush but Shakerchi's was the nuts.

Winter, who's been on a solid tear of his own for the past couple of years, earned over $1m for second. For a full recap of all the final-table action, check the PokerStars blog.

SCOOP-54-H ($10,000 NL Hold'em Main Event) results
Entrants: 824 
Prize pool: $8,000,001.76 
Places paid: 99 

1. Talal "raidalot" Shakerchi (United Kingdom) $1,468,000.88
2. Sean "Nolez7" Winter (Romania) $1,048,000.23
3. s0nny_bLacCk (Thailand) $792,000.17
4. Scott "gunning4you" Seiver (Canada) $596,000.13
5. Markku "markovitsus" Koplimaa (Estonia) $416,000.09
6. Pablo "pablotenisis" Fernandez (Mexico) $336,000.07
7. Luckbox (Japan) $256,000.05
8. IReadB00ks (Denmark) $176,000.03
9. EvnomiYa (Russia) $104,000.02

Five years after Black Friday, is the tide finally shifting back in favor of online poker in the United States?

With online poker legalized in just three states the process has been long and arduous but a vote in the New York Senate yesterday may indicate the shift is on the way.

By a vote of 53-5, the NY State Senate passed a bill that will allow the state's 11 racetracks to apply for licenses to provide online poker.

Licenses would cost $10 million and last for 10 years. The $10m would be applied to a 15% state tax.

While the bill still needs to be approved by the State Assembly, the vote yesterday was applauded by casino interests including MGM General Counsel John McManus:

“Creating a safe, regulated option for online poker players in New York would generate millions in new tax revenue that could be used for education and other critical investments.

“We applaud the Senate for passing this sensible legislation that will help protect New Yorkers who have for years played online poker on unprotected, off-shore poker websites that today operate with no regulation, fraud controls, or age restrictions.

"This bill will open opportunities for all providers of online poker to deliver a safe, regulated alternative.”

Not the Only Bill on the Table

While the vote is promising for online poker advocates in NY it's not a sure thing by any means.

Cali too?

Besides having to be passed by the state Assembly, an identical bill from Assemblyman J. Gary Pretlow is also being considered and he has expressed recently he feels the online poker issue is "dead."

Meanwhile, in California, Bill AB 2863 is expected to come to a vote this morning in the Assembly Appropriations Committee.

AB 2863 was approved over a month ago by the Governmental Organization Committee and has since been amended to include more specific language regarding bad actors and more.

It is expected to pass the vote this morning but still will face several hurdles before reaching any kind of implementation stage, including the current lack of cooperation among several Native tribe coalitions.

After 5 years, however, it seems online poker is at least moving forward in several key US states, which will be essential cogs in pushing forward a viable, interstate compact to return nationwide player pools. More on yesterday's NY vote on Syracuse.com here.

Make your voice heard and help support the cause by tweeting your State representatives with the hashtag #fight4poker. More on what else you can do here.

Looking to get your poker grind on this summer?

PartyPoker launched its Summer of Grind promotion today. The new promo offers free cash for cash game players and Sit & Go specialists.

Players can strap in for the fastGrind missions, which require a set amount of FastForward hands to be played with up to $1,500 in cash.

Alternatively players can opt for Sit & Go missions with $1,000 cash in addition to regular earnings.

Sit & Go HERO events are a good way of knocking out the requirements quickly. It’s also possible to hit jackpots up to $170,000 in Sit & Go HERO tournaments.

Promo Open to New Players

The Summer of Grind actually scales quite nicely if you don’t want to spend the entire summer on the Internet.

Here’s a look at the various unlocks for fastGrind Missions:

And here’s how the Sit & Go Missions (including regular and HERO) rewards compare:

That's a total of $2,500 in cash incentives to play. The contest is open to any players with a real-money account on PartyPoker and runs from now until Aug. 14, 2016.

Of course you'll still be earning PartyPoker points the entire time so it's a great time to double dip on the site.

To learn more about PartyPoker or sign up for a new account you can just head over to our review.

in 10 days, one of PokerListings' most popular freeroll series ever is back in full swing.

Every month from July-October exclusive PokerListings $1,000 freerolls will run at the world's biggest online poker site.

The one, simple requirement to be eligible for these high-value freerolls:

Just be a new PokerListings sign-up as of January 1, 2016.

Four Exclusive PL Freerolls

Four exclusive freerolls will run over the course of the summer

Official dates are:

All you need to do to qualify and be eligible to play is to download and create a new account at PokerStars via our review page link anytime after Jan 1, 2016.

If you've yet to sign up for an online poker account before, it's a simple as it sounds. Download the PokerStars software via our link and enter the affiliate code pl.com in the designated box.

Once you've created your account it'll be tagged to PokerListings.com as your affiliate and you'll be eligible for all of our exclusive benefits and rewards.

First, you'll be eligible for up to a $600 sign-up bonus at 100% match. That means whatever the amount of money you deposit (up to $600) will be matched by PokerStars.

So if you deposit $50 you'll get an additional $50 released in $10 increments at a rate of $1 of bonus for each 20 player points you accrue.

More info and sign-up details here.

Get a Taste of Live Scene at UKIPT Lille

Once you've opened your account and started playing the whole world of live and online poker opens up with thousands of cash-game, tournament and satellite qualifier options running minute after minute.

Why not try UKIPT?

From the biggest EPT events and festivals to the smallest local and online events you can play your way up from the microstakes to some of the best poker experiences in the world.

If you're looking to start in the low-to-medium range the UK and Ireland Poker Tour continues its burgeoning schedule with a new stop in Lille, France next month.

Just one hour from London, Paris and Brussels, Casino Barriere Lille is easily accessible from the main railway station.

The UKIPT Lille Main Event will run from July 19-24 and has a guarantee of €500,000. An even bigger field and prize pool are expected. Check for all the details right here.

Ever wanted to track jaguars in the jungles of Brazil and dine at Michelin star restaurants in London or Iceland?

How about take a private, historian-guided tour of the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam or dine like a local at a sideria in San Sebastian?

The opportunities are there for the taking in Unibet's new Rio Showdown MTT series starting August 5.

Sixty-five tournaments in total will be on offer with buy-ins from €0 - €10 and 100 individual prizes to be won.

Sitting at the top of the pecking order are five unforgettable travel experiences, all-expenses paid, in some of the world's most stunning locations.

Thrilling Adventure, World-Class Gastronomy

A wide variety of events with buy-ins of €0, €2, €4 and €10 will run over the course of the 16 days of the Rio Olympics.

Live large in London.

NLHE Turbo Showdowns, NLHE Bounty Showdowns and NLHE Flip Showdowns along with their PLO counterparts are all on tap as are daily events at each buy-in level.

The kickoff event is a €1,000 Added Opening Ceremony Showdown on Aug. 5 at 20:00 CEST with a €4 buy in.

To enter the daily €0 buy in tournaments you only need to place a bet of at least €5 during the Rio Olympics.

Play a lot, because your 25 best results count towards the series leaderboard.

If you make the top 5 the prizes are spectacular travel getaways.

First place on the leaderboard is an incredible, one-of-a-kind experience in Brazil that includes:

2nd-5th place will win travel packages to London, Iceland, Amsterdam and San Sebastian, respectively, with guided tours, multiple-course meals at Michelin star restaurants and cash for flights and expenses included.

Other leaderboard prizes:

6th - 10th €750 Unibet UK Tour package
11th - 20th €250 Unibet Open ticket
21st - 30th €100 cash
31st - 50th €50 cash
51st - 100th €25 cash

Find the full details for all the packages here and sign-up via our Unibet review for our exclusive sign-up bonus.

Win a Share of €100k+ in Summer Bootcamp

Also ongoing over the summer at Unibet is a weekly cash game race for NLHE and PLO right through to the end of August.

Simple challenges = good money.

All you have to do is complete various achievements at the cash game tables - like reaching the flop in two consecutive hands or being dealt 7-2, and you'll earn point towards the weekly leaderboards.

Finish in the Top 250 or Top 500 players, depending on the week, and you'll earn a share of the prize pool between €10 and €2,000.

High-value online qualifiers are also currently running for the following live events:

Don't miss out on the major opportunities for rec players at Unibet; register here to get started asap.

The world’s biggest online poker series is going to get a little brother.

For the first time ever the 2016 PokerStars WCOOP will get a companion “Mini-WCOOP” edition that will run alongside the main series.

The Mini-WCOOP will feature buy-ins that are mostly 1/100th of its WCOOP counterpart although some will be 1/1000th.

Both series are tentatively scheduled to run from Sept. 4-26, 2016.

Looking for WCOOP Feedback

The main WCOOP schedule is not set in stone, however, as organizer are still looking for input from poker players as they lock in the various events for the series.

Will Jason Mercier take WCOOP POY too?

The tentative schedule includes 82 events and as you might expect the vast majority are Hold’em tournaments. There are 50 individual Hold’em events on the current schedule.

Of course there are also a significant number of PLO events followed by Seven-Card Stud, HORSE, 8-game and even Badugi.

Meanwhile the Mini-WCOOP will be considered a stand-alone event and will not be found in the WCOOP tab of the PokerStars client. Instead you’ll have to navigate the main tournament lobby to find Mini-WCOOP events.

PokerStars will be running a very limited amount of satellites to Mini-WCOOP so most of the time you’ll be buying in directly to the smaller buy-in tournaments.

You can contribute to the schedule by emailing wcoop@pokerstars.com.

To make sure you’re ready for WCOOP make sure you head over to our PokerStars review.

The online high-stakes games have been very quiet lately but that didn’t stop Viktor “Isildur1” Blom from raking in over $150k this week.

Blom spent plenty of time at the $100/$200 mixed games that included SamRostan, Alexander “joiso” Kostritsyn, RealAndyBeal and Lrslzk.

After putting in several thousand hands at the tables this week Blom looks to be far and away the biggest winner on PokerStars with $151k in profit since the start of the week, according to highstakesDB.

Blom Poised for a Comeback

2016 hasn’t been kind to Isildur1 as the Swede hit some trouble early in the year and is still down nearly $700k.

Viktor "Isildur1" Blom back in 2012.

It remains to be seen if the London resident can pull off a comeback before the year concludes but this week was a good start.

The undisputed king of high-stakes online games this year remains Ben “Sauce123” Sulsky with $824k.

The relatively unknown Educa-p0ker ($729k) and supernova9 ($373k) are also in the midst of strong years.

Former M:TG great Niki Jedlicka, known as KaiBuxxe and RealAndyBeal, has also been running well with $266k in profit on PokerStars.

Meanwhile former PokerStars Team Online pro Alex “Kanu7” Millar (-$607k) and Canadian Andrew “Clockwyze” Pantling (-$341k) find themselves on the bottom along with Viktor Blom.

While $10k buy-ins and star-studded High Rollers draw a lot of attention in poker these days, the truth is that 99 per cent of all poker action happens at small stakes.

Even more accurately: The overwhelming majority of it happens at the microstakes of $5 and less.

So while the high-stakes world is relatively small, the microstakes world is literally gigantic and features millions of players from across the globe.

And when those microstakers all congregate in the same place, as they did last weekend on PokerStars, the return on investment can grow substantially.

That's what happened to 22-year-old JiiJay from Finland, who turned a late-reg $22 buy-in into an $82,000 payday.

90 Events, 65,000-Player Main Event

Now one of the busiest and most successful festivals on PokerStars, the 2016 MicroMillions wrapped its massive schedule of 90 events at the end of last month with the $1m guaranteed, $22 buy-in Main Event.

Over 65,000 players bought in to smash the guarantee and make for an unbelievable payday for the top 4 finishers.

After a four-way deal, each took home over $70,000.

The eventual winner was Finland's JiiJay, who turned a last-minute rebuy before late reg closed from 13 BB into an $82,173 payout.

"My other friends busted out earlier and went to sleep," the Finance Grad Student told the PokerStars blog.

"When they woke up the tournament was pretty deep, and they were just as excited as I was. They cheered and railed me for about last two hours or so, and when it was all over we were just like 'What the hell just happened?'" Read the full account of his win here.

Introducing the Mini-WCOOP!

With the massive and growing popularity of microstakes poker it was only a matter of time before it took its rightful place alongside PokerStars' signature festival.

A WCOOP for the rest of us.

For the first time ever in 2016 the new Mini-WCOOP will run alongside the famed World Championship of Online Poker (WCOOP) as a companion series.

Not technically part of WCOOP, the micro-to-low-stake series is its own independent series with buy-ins 1/100th and 1/1,000th of the buy-in WCOOP Events.

Mini-WCOOP buy-ins will range from $1.10 to $11 except for the Mini-WCOOP Main Event, which will be a $50 buy-in. A few limited satellites will also run to Mini-WCOOP events, which will run in the exact same formats and at the exact same days/times as the corresponding WCOOP Events.

The 2016 WCOOP runs from Sept. 4-26. Check the full 2016 WCOOP schedule here and sign-up for a new PokerStars account via PokerListings to play the 2016 Mini-WCOOP!

You know about WCOOP.

And maybe you know a bit about mini-WCOOP now, too. 

But the $10m Guaranteed Powerfest and an ongoing $500k Grand Prix series might make partypoker the best value in online poker for the next couple of months.

With just under 200 events scheduled for Powerfest and daily Grand Prix Day 1s all the way from now until Sept. 5, there's certainly no shortage of action.

$500,000 Grand Prix = Big Value

If you're unfamiliar with partypoker's massively popular, monthly Grand Prix format here's a quick primer:

Playground awaits.

From July 31 until Sept. 5 there are a series of online $109 buy-in events. Players can buy-in and play as many Day 1 flights as they like but can only carry one stack forward to Day 2.

That Day 2 will be played on Monday, September 5, where the biggest stacks from Day 1 will move forward and play to a winner. Win the Grand Prix final and you'll likely pocket in the neighborhood of high five-figures or more. 

If you're in possession of one of partypoker's Grand Prix Golden Chips, that payout will be boosted another $50,000.

This time around the prize pool guarantee is $500,000 but the target is ultimately $1m so if partypoker makes the guarantee it will up the GTD to $600,000 for next month, and so forth.

The Grand Prix also runs in an online/live format - in this case for the Canadian Grand Prix at the Playground Poker Club in Montreal.

Online Day 1s are running on partypoker from Aug. 7-Sept 1 with your biggest Day 1 stack carrying over to a live Day 2 on Sept. 4. Live Day 1s with the same buy-in will also run on Sept. 2 and 3 to further juice the prize pool.

Check out all the details here.

3 Weeks, 198 Events, $10m Guaranteed

When the monthly Grand Priz winds down down, partypoker's next Powerfest is set to take off.

Feel the Powerfest.

Scheduled over three weeks from Sept. 4-25, this edition of Powerfest is prepped to be the biggest yet with $10m in guaranteed prize pools and an eye-watering 198 events to play out.

How can you get in on it? Direct buy-ins start from $5.50 or you can satellite in for just a penny.

Much like its September WCOOP counterpart buy-ins run on tiered levels. Featherweights go from $5.500-$11, Middleweights from $22-$55 and Heavyweights from $109-$215.

There's even a tier for high rollers from $530-$5,200. The marquee main events are at $215 (with a $500k Guarantee) and $1,050 (with a $1m Guarantee).

Check the full Powerfest schedule here and register for a new account via our partypoker review to be eligible for an exclusive up to $500 sign-up bonus.

PokerStars' parent company Amaya reported its second quarter earnings today and they came with a surprise - the resignation of CEO David Baazov.

The embattled Baazov, who spearheaded Amaya's at-the-time shocking purchase of PokerStars and Full Tilt Poker for $4.9 billion, had been on a voluntary leave of absence since March after he was charged with insider trading surrounding the purchase.

Despite the charges Baazov insisted he was still planning on acquiring the company himself and was using the time off to prepare his bid.

As of August 11, however, he's now officially resigned from all positions at Amaya effective immediately.

"I am proud of my contributions in building Amaya into the successful company it is today," Baazov said in a press release, "and continue to be supportive of its strategy and management."

Ashkenazi CEO, 'Seasonal Headwinds' Overcome

SCOOP a big deal.

Interim CEO Rafi Ashkenazi, who has replaced Baazov during his leave of absence, has now been named CEO of Amaya "on a permanent basis."

"We continue to execute on our 2016 strategy," Ashkenazi said in a release.

"Through focused expense management and product improvements and diversification, we delivered second quarter results that overcame seasonal headwinds and continued currency challenges, evidencing the strength of our combined core business.

"In addition, the Special Committee continues to focus on the strategic alternatives process with a committed view towards maximizing shareholder value."

Some highlights from Amaya's second quarter earnings:

Read the full report form Amaya here.

Love making the money in poker tournaments but can’t stand the time in takes to get there?

PokerStars might have the solution for you.

The online poker giant launched a new format called “Bubble Rush Tournaments” this week.

The first portion of the event features a turbo-charged structure with blinds that increase every three minutes.

As soon as the money bubble bursts, action slows down and the game becomes a little more strategic. Buy-ins range from $.55 to $33 during the week and up to $109 on the weekend.

Essentially players will spend a lot less time waiting to get into the money.

Bubble Rush the Latest in Stars’ Experiments

PokerStars has been very busy with rolling out new formats over the last few years with varying degrees of success.

Here's a look at several of the new formats:

KO Poker on PokerStars

Knockout Poker

Essentially an bounty-style MTT tournament, Knockout Poker events split the prize pool down the middle with half going towards the overall prize pool while the other half distributed to players for every opponent they knock out of the tournament.

Spin & Go

The controversial jackpot-based three-person hyper Sit & Go gives amateurs an extra advantage thanks to the increased variable payouts. Recently ‘Stars launched Spin & Go on Holiday where the winner receives a $5k getaway package.

Mini-WCOOP

The upcoming Mini-WCOOP marks the first time that PokerStars has run a standalone version of the famous World Championship of Online Poker with buy-ins that are amenable to small stakes grinders.

PokerStars Duel

This now defunct real-money app would have focused on entirely on heads-up play. The game was asynchronous meaning players could play one hand and then move on to a different game while waiting for their opponent to respond. The app was not commercially viable, according to PokerStars, and was never released on a wide scale.

For more information about the site or to sign up for an account to try the new Bubble Rush Tournaments you should head over to our PokerStars review.

The big games aren’t always running on PokerStars these days but when they are there’s a good chance that Viktor “Isildur1” Blom is involved.

Last night Blom and Isaac Haxton recorded huge sessions on the site picking up $111,570 and $196,432 respectively, according to highstakesDB.

Once again most of the action place in high-stakes PLO and 8-game with a number of noteworthy poker pros in the thick of it including Daniel Cates, Alexander Kostritsyn, Ben “Sauce123” Sulsky and SamRostan.

Isildur1 on the Comeback Trail

It’s been a weird year for Viktor Blom as he rocketed up to $240k in the early stages but then went on a disastrous five-month long downswing that saw him drop close to a million.

Since late July, however, Blom has shown a considerable amount of consistency and appears to be edging his way closer to even.

After last night’s score Isildur1 was very close to just -$500k on the year, which is a massive improvement over -$1m.

Meanwhile it’s been mostly smooth sailing for Isaac Haxton on PokerStars this year as he’s now up to nearly $630k on the site.

Last night Haxton played a huge heads-up PLO session against Daniel “d2themfi” Isaacon and picked up biggest pot of the evening honors when he raked in a $65k monster.

Meanwhile Ben “Sauce123” Sulsky, who won $70k last night, remains the biggest winner of the year with $1 million in profit.

Two years ago Unibet made the brave decision to leave the Microgaming network and create its own stand-alone poker software.

Now it’s time for the next step.

The Unibet software that launched roughly two years ago was designed with a focus on the recreational player instead of the grinders, not only at the tables but also on their bankrolls. Third party software such as HUDs were banned, sharks were no longer able to choose the tables with beginners or fishes and most promotions such as challenges and missions were targeting players who only played a few hours a day.

Even table chat was restricted in order to protect beginners from abuse in the chatbox.

The shift towards recreational players has worked well for Unibet. While many operators have experienced a downward trend since 2013, Unibet’s player pool and income from rake has grown steadily.

Their attempt to fix poker has shown that it is possible to turn the tide for online poker by changing the focus – a trend what other poker sites have also realized.

Hitting Limits with Current Software

A look at Unibet 2.0's new avatars.

Unibet’s current software has also proved to have certain limitations to develop it further as it is programmed in Adobe. Consequently, Relax Gaming, creator of Unibet’s software is developing a new version of the software, which is to be launched in October.

An alpha version of the software was presented to the press, including PokerListings, at the Unibet Open in Copenhagen in August.

Andrew West, Head of Poker at Unibet, explained why the new software is necessary.

“If you see our software as a skyscraper we had reached a point where we were unable to add new levels on top,” he said.

“For this reason we decided to create a new software where we can decide ourselves how many levels we want to build on top.”

Better Graphics, More Stable Software

According to West, the new version 2.0 will be faster and more stable. Graphics have been given a lift and the new software will also include a smartphone version for Android and iOS.

Players will also notice that it will be possible to combine poker tables with other Unibet products, for example a livestreamed football game with sports betting options or a casino table.

Unibet has also included several improvements suggested by the players. The hand history section will be more easy to use and Twitch streamers will have better options to avoid revealing important details about their account unintentionally.

Unibet Getting Praise from Grinders, Rec Players

The selection of poker games will not be changed except from the introduction of re-buy tournaments.
When Unibet launched their recreational player focused software two years ago was it generally well received by the players, even grinders. Other sites have been criticized for their efforts to accommodate recreational players.

The Unibet Poker 2.0 lobby.

Andrew West explained why this has been the case.

“We decided to implement around 20 measures at once when launching our software while other sites have done it piece by piece. By doing so it does not feel like a punishment for the loyal players.”

“We are two and a half years ahead of our competitors in implementing this and I am absolutely convinced that this is the way to go to make poker more fun again”.

Oct. 3 is currently set as the launch date for the new software. In connection with the launch Unibet will have a campaign with €250,000 worth of travel experiences in prizes.

Written by Thomas Hviid

If you've got the time and the bankroll, September is the season for proving your mettle in online poker tournaments.

You can vie for a WCOOP (or mini-WCOOP) bracelet. Battle for the big money in the 888poker Super XL Series. Or punch it out in partypoker's Powerfest.

You can also, if you choose, put your hat in the ring for the title of the Greatest Poker Player in the Universe.

1 Week, 24 Events, €500k GTD

The Universal Championship of Poker is already underway on the Microgaming Network, which includes famed 3D poker site PKR.

Offering up 24 events with buy-ins from €5.50 to €320 (most under €15), the series runs from Sept. 4-11 and is aimed directly at the recreational player.

Multiple events run daily all week leading to the €320 main event finale on the 11th with €75k guaranteed.

Win the main event and you'll take home the biggest cut of the biggest prize pool, of course. But you'll have to do a little more to claim the title of "Greatest Poker Player in the Universe."

The UCOP leaderboard will keep track of all your results over UCOP and if you come out on top you’ll pocket €10k in cash and the GPPitU Trophy.

Every €1 won in UCOP = 1 point. Cash in 2 or more events and you'll get a bonus 500 points. 

You'll also be rewarded for playing more than one variant. If you Play Event #5, Event #7 and any rebuy event you'll get 1,000 points.

Play all events in the series (only one day 1 from Event #5 is required) and you'll get the maximum 2,000 point bonus

Share and Earn More Points

As we also espouse for our Spirit of Poker Awards, great players share their love of the game with others.

If you do so in the UCOP you'll earn bonus points for your efforts - especially if you stream your events online on Twitch.tv.

Every tournament streamed online = 500 points and the "Most thrilling stream," awarded at the network's discretion, will earn an extra 1,000 points.

The award can be doled out for "best commentary, highest quality stream, best promotional gimmick, or anything else deemed to contribute to an exciting stream."

If you share UCOP via Twitter you'll also gain. Tweet a screenshot of you playing any event with the hashtag #UCOP and you'll earn 250 points per event up to 6,000 points.

Check the full UCOP schedule here for all the terms and conditions. Sign up for a new account at PKR via our review to play and to access our exclusive €1,000 sign-up bonus.

German wunderkind Fedor Holz didn’t win the biggest buy-in tournament in online poker history earlier today but he did lock up nearly first-place money thanks to a deal with Swedish online player bencb789.

Holz and bencb789 agreed to a basic chip chop after reaching heads-up of the WCOOP $102k Super High Roller with just $56k set aside for the winner.

bencb789 won the tournament (in one of the first hands of heads-up) for $1,172,360 but Holz picked up a nearly-as-impressive $1,067,639 for finishing runner-up.

Holz maintained he would play less poker after an impressive summer that included winning the $111k buy-in Big One for One Drop at the WSOP for nearly $5m but he’s since won the EPT Barcelona €48k SHR for €1.3m as a “recreational” player.

Holz Runs Amok at Final Table

It’s safe to say the legendary Fedor Holz run-good was alive and well at the final table of the WCOOP $102k Super High Roller.

Dirty bubble for Ike Haxton

First Holz had the fortune of rivering a full house with K-2 against Makita “Fish2013” Badziakouski who had pocket aces and ended up busting Fish2013 in sixth place.

From there Holz rivered a straight to bust Igor Kurganov in fifth place.

Only three players were getting paid and Holz decided to shove on the bubble with 5♦ 3♦ and Isaac “philivey2694” Haxton snapped him off with T♥ T♣.

The dominating hand wasn’t enough as the board ran out: T♦ 8♠ 6♦ 4♠ J♦ to give Holz the checkmark.

Holz wasn’t the only player getting lucky, however, as bencb789 busted Salman “salfshb” Behbehani in third place with ace-queen against Behbehani’s ace-king.

Here’s a look at the updated payouts (including two-way deal):

1. bencb789 - $1,172,360
2. Fedor “CrownUpGuy” Holz - $1,067,639
3. Salman “salfshb” Behbehani - $560,000

As usual here’s a small collection of reactions from the poker world about Holz’ latest feat:

Am I doing retirement right? #102k #WCOOP2016

on what planet are you from ? @CrownUpGuy rsrs

congratzzzz!

Forgot to post this video @CrownUpGuy sent me on his webcam before the start of the 100k FT today pic.twitter.com/gFzU5OjkFz

Besides winning over $20,000,000 at age of 23 @CrownUpGuy also winning crazy hands in largest online buy-in today pic.twitter.com/MTRoGCtaQA

Without a doubt @CrownUpGuy is the best. He is also on the sickest heater ever.