Finnish online poker player €urop€an knows how to make a deal.

The unidentified online pro took down WCOOP-35 $1,575 Super Tuesday Special for $297,450.

The original first-place payout? $292,450.

€urop€an achieved the feat by cutting a very smart deal three-handed. The three remaining players left an extra $36,450 for the winner and €urop€an went ahead and won that too.

€urop€an already has a Sunday Million victory and a SCOOP win so all that he’s missing for the so-called PokerStars Grand Slam is a TCOOP title.

Timex Falls Just Short of Final Table

As you might expect there were a number of celebrated online pros at the final table. Here’s a complete breakdown of the final table payout (*reflects three-way deal):

Near miss for Timex.

1. €urop€an -- $297,450.00*
2. XingsMaster -- $189,885.05*
3. reno8 -- $176,000.00*
4. ThEcLaiMEer -- $115,069.18
5. sandman20 -- $84,345.48
6. jonaj10 -- $61,824.84
7. probirs -- $45,317.37
8. mrAndreeew -- $33,217.61
9. dudd1 -- $24,348.41

In addition there were a number of big-name online pros who finished just short of the final table included Mike “Timex” McDonald (14th) and Sami “Lrslzk” Kelopuro (18th).

Ben “Sauce123” Sulsky, NigDawG and Mike “munchenHB” Telker also made the money.

There’s still plenty of time to get in on the 2016 WCOOP as the series runs until Sept. 26, culminating with a $10m-GTD $5,000 buy-in Main Event on Sept. 25.

You can always start a PokerStars account by grabbing one of the bonus deals on our review page.

The record for biggest poker score ever streamed live on Twitch just keeps on growing - and it's mostly Doug "WCG|Rider" Polk to credit for it.

Polk did it again last night as he live streamed his deep run in the WCOOP NLHE 8-Max High Roller, finally making a deal three-handed before finishing as the runner-up for $455,000.

Polk also held the Twitch record at $162k before briefly ceding the crown to PokerStars player "SolidPenis," who won €250,000 in a €25 Spin 'N Go in July. 

UK pro Phil "Grindation" McAllister continued his huge rise up the ranks this year by collecting the extra $71,200, the official WCOOP title and $584,415.23.

McAllister hit a royal flush in a huge hand and finished third in the PCA Main Event in January for $356,020.

€urop€an on a Roll

Finnish online pro €urop€an also continued his nice run of the past couple weeks with a third-place finish last night.

Superb year for McAllister continues.

He made waves last week when he brokered a three-handed deal in the $1,575 Super Tuesday Special for $297,450. That deal gave him more than the original first-place money of $292,450.

Given his good fortune in that deal he was more generous in this one, conceding an extra percent to Polk to make the deal happen.

This time around he collected $459,529.71, making for a particularly impressive week. Subscribe to Polk's Twitch channel and you can watch the full replay of the final-table playdown.

Complete results and payouts for WCOOP-53:

WCOOP-53 ($10,300 NL Hold'em 8-Max, High-Roller) results

Total entries: 356 (278 entries, 78 re-entries)
Prize pool: $3,560,000.00
Places paid: 39

1. Phillip "Grindation" McAllister (Mexico) $584,415.23*
2. Doug "WCG|Rider" Polk (Australia) $455,000.00*
3. €urop€an (Finland) $459,529.71*
4. Alexandros "mexican222" Kolonias (United Kingdom) $263,731.20
5. LLinusLLove (Switzerland) $194,561.47
6. ShefanHilaly (United Kingdom) $143,532.79
7. Chris "Big Huni" Hunichen (Costa Rica) $105,887.92
8. Keven "Stammdogg" Stammen (Canada) $78,116.36

*denotes a three-way deal

A £1 million payout on just a £550 buy-in?

That's the dream one lucky (and good) partypoker player will live with the return of the partypoker Millions, announced today.

Originally launched in 2001 the partypoker Millions was a staple of the poker economy back in the day and now it will return in all its glory this October.

The total guaranteed prize pool is £5,000,000 with an exact £1,000,000 guaranteed to the winner next April, making it truly a life-changing tournament for a low-stakes player.

Multi-Venue, Multi-National

Dusk Till Dawn will host.

The partypoker Millions is a mixed online and live event with one universal buy-in of £500+£50.

Online Day 1s will begin at partypoker on Tuesday, October 4, 2016. Your £550 buy-in will get you a 100,000-chip starting stack.

Live Day 1s will also play out at the famed Dusk Till Dawn card room in England, other card rooms across the UK and even a few various spots around the globe.

Once all the Day 1s are completed Days 2a, 2b, and 2c will run both online at partypoker and live at Dusk Till Dawn.

Players can carry their chips through from any Day 1 they've finished with chips or can buy-in directly for Day 2 at the increased cost of £5,300 for 1,000,000 chips.

If either of those buy-ins are too big for your bankroll, satellites for Day 1 buy-ins are already underway at partypoker starting as low as $0.01.

£550 Bonus for 100 Early Birds

Knows good poker value when he sees it.

To celebrate the re-launch of the partypoker MILLIONS a couple of special promotions are on offer for any early adopters.

The first 100 players to progress to Day 2 will get a straight-up cash bonus of £550 which can be used for travel and expenses.

Players at the upcoming Caribbean Poker Party in Punta Cana in November can also get in to the Millions action directly onsite with two Day 1s and a Day 2 scheduled to play.

Any players that get to Day 3 will rake in a $1,500 cash bonus.

“I am absolutely thrilled to host and bring back the partypoker MILLIONS in its original format," says legendary partypoker spokeman Mike Sexton, "with £1,000,000 guaranteed to the winner.

"This multi-venue, live and online event gives players the chance to qualify all over the world and win a share of the huge £5,000,000 guaranteed prize pool.

"This will be THE event of 2017 which I will not be missing and means a lot to me as this is how my partypoker journey started.”

If you've yet to create an account at partypoker, check our review for more info and download the software to access our exclusive up to $500 bonus.

The 2016 WCOOP is hurtling to a big finish on PokerStars and it was only fitting the final weekend was dominated by some of the biggest names poker has to offer.

The biggest name among a sea of big names?

The face of PokerStars himself, Daniel Negreanu, who played exactly one WCOOP event this year - Event #71, the $2,100 HORSE Championship - and won it outright.

Not only did he win, he beat out one of the truest legends of online poker, Viktor "Isildur1" Blom, heads-up to do it.

Watson, Geilich Get Paid

Negreanu v. Isildur was just one of the spectacular highlights from the weekend as big names littered the final tables across a slew of events.

Fellow Canadian Mike "SirWatts" Watson won the $10,000 8-Game event over Ben "Sauce123" Sulsky heads-up and a final table that included Matt "MUSTAFABET" Ashton, Cal "cal42688" Anderson and Sami "Lrslzk" Kelopruro.

Big score for Ludo.

Kelopuro was also busy finishing second in the 888poker Super XL Series Main Event over the weekend.

Scottish superstar Ludo Geilich took home the biggest prize of the weekend, beating an elite field in the $21,000 WCOOP PLO 6-Max High Roller.

Geilich collected a substantial $462,182.17 for winning while runner-up Fabrizio "SixthSenSe19" Gonzalez took $355,730.97 and pretty much locked up the #1 on the overall WCOOP 2016 Leaderboard.

Check the PokerStars blog for full write-ups on each of the events; check the final-table results for the more notable ones below.

The WCOOP Main Event is currently playing down on Day 2 with about 300 players remaining. It'll wrap late tomorrow more than likely.

WCOOP-65, $700 No-Limit Hold'em (Ultra-Deep) results

Entries: 1,605 (1,061 entries, 544 re-entries)
Prize pool: $1,067,325
Places paid: 206

1. Patrick "pads1161" Leonard (Hungary) $162,054.98
2. Thomas "sandman201" Tyler (Canada) $117,602.77
3. lll_HWDP_lll (Poland) $85,344.26
4. Ken "kenny05" Smaron (Costa Rica) $61,934.30
5. C.Regando (Czech Republic) $44,945.69
6. chess87 (Germany) $32,617.02
7. dirty.brasil (Canada) $23,670.17
8. zaki74 (Hungary) $17,177.42
9. RigasDinamo (Latvia) $12,465.60

WCOOP 2016: Event #70, $21,000 Pot-Limit Omaha (6-Max, High-Roller) results

Entries: 93 (64 entries, 29 re-entries)
Prize pool: $1,906,500
Places paid: 9

1. Ludovic "ludovi333" Geilich (United Kingdom) $462,182.17
2. Fabrizio "SixthSenSe19" Gonzalez (Uruguay) $355,730.97
3. Jens "Jeans89" Kyllonen (Finland) $273,797.80
4. Dani "supernova9" Stern (Canada) $210,735.93
5. Connor "blanconegro" Drinan (Mexico) $162,198.53
6. MITS 304 (Cyprus) $124,840.47

WCOOP-71: $2,100 HORSE Championship results

Entries: 147 (34 re-entries)
Prize Pool: $294,000
Places Paid: 15

1. Daniel "KidPoker" Negreanu (Canada) $61,865.47
2. Viktor "Isildur1" Blom (United Kingdom) $48,112.18
3. WTFOMFGOAO (Russia) $37,416.40
4. L1TE-BR1TE (Canada) $29,098.41
5. Mike "goleafsgoeh" Leah (Canada) $22,629.59
6. Kashmir_uzi (United Kingdom) $17,598.81
7. Connor "blanconegro" Drinan (Mexico) $13,686.46
8. Childers (United Kingdom) $10,643.82

WCOOP-74 ($10,300 Eight-Game Championship) results

Entries: 120 
Prize pool: $1,200,000.00 
Places paid: 11

1. Mike "SirWatts" Watson (Canada) $280,238.52
2. Ben "Sauce123" Sulsky (Canada) $212,729.16
3. Matthew "MUSTAFABET" Ashton (United Kingdom) $161,482.80
4. Calvin "cal42688" Anderson (Mexico) $122,581.68
5. Sami "Lrslzk" Kelopuro (Finland) $93,051.84
6. Iteopepe88 (Hungary) $70,635.72

In 2014, plucky German upstart Fedor Holz put his permanent stamp on the online poker world by winning the WCOOP Main Event for $1.3m.

Two years later, fellow German grinder Jonas "llJaYJaYll" Lauck has taken his turn at the top of the online podium.

Lauck put the icing on three long days of online play late tonight by finally topping all 1,772 entries to claim the 2016 WCOOP Main Event title and $1,517,541.

With no deal agreed upon (despite a couple of attempts), Lauck collected the entire first-place prize - although he alluded to sharing the proceeds with his backer Doug "WCGRider" Polk in the chat.

After a lengthy stretch of heads-up play, runner-up 0409479 eventually had a slight lead but 5-bet shoved with AQ and got caught by llJaYJaYll's AK. It was all over on the next hand and 0409479 settled for $1,101,279 and second place.

$5m+ Shared by Final Table

The $1.5m score is Lauck's career best and actually exceeds his total career live earnings by $200k.

Whatever percentage he'll get to keep, he'll also sleep well with a very supportive tweet from one of the best players in the world in Polk:

Congratulations @jownzpownz on his win in the $5,000 #WCOOP. Amazing poker player and couldn't think of a more deserving guy. pic.twitter.com/QITfqshfMQ

Lauck isn't the only happy online grinder tonight either as most if not all of the final table likely came away with career-best scores.

Third-place R_Scientist from the UK hauled in just under $800k while fourth-place Gambler4444 from Austria scooped $580k. Complete final-table results and payouts below:

WCOOP-78 ($5,000 NL Hold'em Main Event) results
Total entries: 2,091 (1,772 entries, 319 re-entries)
Prize pool: $10,052,879.79
Places paid: 224

1. llJaYJaYll (Germany) $1,517,541.25
2. 0409479 (United Kingdom) $1,101,278.90
3. R_Scientist (United Kingdom) $799,196.90
4. Gambler4444 (Austria) $579,976.77
5. axtipitos_86 (Austria) $420,888.94
6. Olorionek (Poland) $305,439.66
7. uknowProsky* (Netherlands) $221,656.95
8. gorodski (Malta) $160,856.12
9. deadfizh (Finland) $116,733.03

The entire final table was live streamed on the PokerStars Twitch channel with commentary from PokerStars Team Pro Celina Lin and Kevin Martin. Watch the full replay below!

You wouldn't mind playing a bit of Sunday afternoon poker for a share of $1 million, would you?

The next free-for-all in PokerStars' ongoing $1 Million Freeroll series is set to roll on October 9 and you can get your seat for, well, virtually nothing.

Impossibly easy online qualifiers started yesterday (Sept. 28) and if you have a real-money poker account on PokerStars, there's a seat in the gigantic $1m freebie there for the taking.

Thousands (and Thousands) of Seats Available

Here's how you get a seat:

Qualifiers for days.

Every day from Sept. 29 - Oct. 7 there's a daily All-In Shootout Qualifier. All you have to do to earn a free seat in that one is open up your Challenges window in the PokerStars client and opt in for a single daily challenge.

Complete that challenge and you'll automatically be registered into the next daily All-in Shootout Qualifier at 07:04 ET. That qualifier doesn't even require you to play as everyone will be all in every hand.

The top 8,192 players (!) from each will advance to the $1 Million Freeroll on Sunday October 9, 2016, with $10,000 guaranteed to the winner.

If you somehow can't find a seat via the daily All-In Shootout, you still have another shot to get in. A special challenge on October 7 will be offered that, if completed, gets you a seat in the Last Chance Skill Qualifier on Saturday, October 8 

Unlike the All-in Shootout, though, you'll need to actually register and play in that one to win a ticket into the $1m freeroll. The $1 Million Skill Qualifier will be capped at 45,000 players with seats on a first come, first served basis. 

Once You're In, You're In

All players who qualify via either the Daily All-In Shootouts or the Last Chance Skill Qualfiier will automatically be registered for the $1 Million Freeroll on October 9 at 12:04 ET.

If you've already advanced to the $1m Freeroll you don't need to opt-in for any more Challenges. If you complete more Challenges after qualifying, you'll be unregistered from any upcoming All-In Shootouts/Last Chance Skill Qualifier. 

To open a new PokerStars account and get started, download the software via our review page to be eligible for our exclusive monthly offers.

Has there been a bigger gamechanger in the poker strategy game over the past year than Twitch.tv?

Formerly just a hub for online gamers, poker has surged onto the Twitch consciousness over the past 10 months led by the ultra-popular Jason Somerville and his RunItUp army.

Daniel Negreanu, Parker Talbot, Jamie Staples, ElkY, Sam Grafton, Jeff Gross, Dutch Boyd, the Global Poker League ... dozens of poker superstars have signed on to stream their online action and share their hard-earned insight with passionate fans and new audiences.

All for free, no less.

Joining in the trend have also been several big poker brands, from Poker Central to PokerStars to Unibet, and now partypoker has jumped into the mix, launching its own channel last night.

Natalie Breviglieri.

Leonard Up First

Starting things off was partypoker Ambassador Patrick "plenopads/tiote22" Leonard, a career online crusher with $2.7m in online earnings.

Offering a look “inside the mind of one of the world’s best poker players" Leonard streamed for over 3 hours.

Playing a variety of games and stakes and multi-tabling in the process, Leonard showed off just how bright his game is and how much insight can be gleaned.

Along with fellow (and newly signed) partypoker ambassadors Jackie Glazier, Natalie Breviglieri and Beata “Wildhungarian” Jambrik, he'll be part of a regular weekly Twitch lineup that includes:

Watch Leonard's session from last night below; follow the partypoker.tv stream here.

First, it was a doubling of the guarantee in the partypoker Million in the Caribbean from $1 million to $2 million.

Then they pumped up the guaranteed packages you can win online every week from 10 to 30 and now 50.

All signs point, then, to the upcoming Caribbean Poker Party from Nov. 19-26 being a big one. And a very fun one.

And starting next Monday, Oct. 31, every Monday for the next month you'll have a shot at one of 50 guaranteed $6,000 packages in the $180k GTD Final Phase satellite.

Qualifying Starts at 1 Cent

Direct buy-in for the weekly Final Phase satellite is $675 but if you want to get in on the cheap there are more than a few options.

If you want to go the ultra cheap route, find the Live Events tab in the partypoker lobby and enter one of the "Live Events Tickets" satellites for $0.01 buy-in.

Any of these tournaments have 20 tickets guaranteed for the next level satellite - the $1.10. The $1.10 events then feed into a $5.50 buy-in event, which feed to a $22 buy-in satellite.

You can also of course buy-in directly to any level satellite.

Next up from there is the $109 buy-in Phase One satellite which has 16 levels of play. In that one all you need to do is have chips in front of you at the end of Level 16 and you're through to the Final Phase.

If you don't like your stack you can play more Phase One tournaments to try and improve and your largest stack will go through to the Final Phase event, where direct buy-ins get a 200,000-chip stack starting stack.

What's In It for You? Poker Paradise

Now the good bit. Should you make the top 50 in a Caribbean Poker Party Final Phase event, which runs every Monday at 4:15 pm ET/9:15 pm GMT/10:15 pm CET, you win a $6,000 package that includes:

Get on it.

Should you win more than one package (over a couple of satellites, obv.), you can use the $6,000 for a $5,000 WPT Caribbean Main Event seat (running simultaneously over the week in Punta Cana) and $1,000 cash in your partypoker account.

You can also qualify for the WPT main via WPT Caribbean Main Event Feeder tournaments, which start at $11. The guarantee for the WPT Main Event is $1 million.

To create a new account, get a $500 bonus and start on the path to qualifying for a Caribbean poker holiday, register via our partypoker review page here.

Play online poker. Take a vacation. Win some serious cash.

That’s the idea behind PokerStars new Spin & Go promotion where the site is giving away packages to the first-ever PokerStars Championship in the Bahamas.

The limited edition Spin & Go’s start today with a $10 buy-in and run until Dec. 4, 2016.

That means you can turn $10 into $10,565 if you get particularly lucky playing Spin & Go’s on the site.

Jackpot Includes $5k PCB Seat

The PokerStars Bahamas Championship, previously known as the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure, will run from Jan. 8-14, 2017 with a plethora of poker tournaments and cash games.

The complete Spin & Go first-place $10k PCB package breaks down in the following manner:

Spin & Go’s are PokerStars’ three-handed turbo Sit & Go style events with randomly increased prize pools.

Even if you don’t win a PCB packages there are some consolation prizes with PokerStars throwing some cash into various Spin & Go’s.

The PCB is the first-ever tournament on the brand-new PokerStars Championship circuit that consolidates EPT, APPT, LAPT and various other now-defunct tours.

You can learn more or sign up for a account by heading over to our PokerStars review.

PokerStars is challenging costumers to “Beat the Clock” in its new hyper-paced tournament mode on desktop and mobile.

Beat the Clock tournaments are four-handed Zoom Poker events that take only five minutes to play.

To make the money players have one simple goal: Survive.

Each player that’s still standing after five minutes will be paid out according to how many chips they’ve got in front of them when time expires.

Ronaldo Amps Up Action

PokerStars tapped ambassador Christiano Ronaldo as the face of Beat the Clock and it’s safe to say the football superstar is a fan of the format.

Beat the Clock, Beat Ronaldo

“Beat The Clock requires you to think and act quickly with a high level of skill, which gives me the same rush of excitement that I experience on the pitch,” said Ronaldo.

“The timed element of this game makes it fun to play and means I can get that quick adrenaline fix on the move.”

The tournaments never take more than five minutes, which helpful for anyone with a limited amount of time to play.

Beat the Clock is latest new format that PokerStars has introduced over the last few years.

Some of the other notable experiences include jackpot-based Spin & Go’s, Knockout Poker and even the now-defunct PokerStars Duels.

For more information or to sign up for an account you can head over to our PokerStars review.

Do you want to get a cut of $5 million in prizes and win a seat in the last $1m freeroll of 2016?

The next six weeks at PokerStars are perfect for you then as the annual Christmas Festival begins today and runs right until the New Year.

Among the highlights this year are the $2 million 25-day Christmas Calendar, a 21-event MicroMillions Marathon Day, a $2m Monday Million and the last of 2016's $1m freerolls.

It's a Christmas money free-for-all, really, and the action begins now.

Daily Christmas Calendar

Depending on your Holiday schedule and playing preferences it's hard to pick which event is the centerpiece of the festival.

Horton hears cha-ching.

To start it all off, qualifying for the $1,000,000 freeroll begins today. It only requires completing a small daily challenge between November 21-29 to get in to that day's All-in Shootout qualifier.

You don't even need to be around to play that event as all players are all in every hand and the final 8,192 players all get seats to the $1m freeroll.

If you miss one of those 9 chances there's still the Last Chance Skill Qualifier tournament on the day of the $1 Million Freeroll - Dec. 1 - which can get you in.

Once the big freeroll is over it's on to the full December Christmas Calendar.

For the first 25 days of the month $2 million in prizes will be up for grabs with a new promotion or activity to unlock every day in your Challenges window.

Deposit bonuses, Spin & Go challenges, freerolls and random giveaways are just a few of the gifts.

Massive MicroMillions Marathon

Hidden behind one of the Christmas Calendar doors is also a MicroMillions Marathon day. 

Action awaits.

21 low buy-in events will run all day that day with the $22 buy-in, $1 million GTD Main Event the big capper.

To finish things off on Boxing Day is a special $2 million guaranteed Monday Million with the winner getting $200,000. 

If the standard buy-in is still too much for your bankroll you can of course satellite in all month long.

Ready to get started? Check our PokerStars review for our exclusive download link that gets you a $600 sign-up bonus and exclusive freerolls and promos for PokerListings players.

The much-anticipated Unibet Poker 2.0 software client will hit all markets Dec. 1, 2016, and with it comes one of the most exciting online poker promos in ages.

Not only will players get to log in to the next generation of the award-winning software Unibet Poker is also running its biggest-ever promotion.

Dubbed 'Around the World' it will pay out over €250,000 in prizes capped by a 28-day business-class trip for two to see the Seven Wonders of the World.

New Hand Replayer, Integrated Missions

First things first: When Unibet players log in on Dec. 1 they'll automatically be prompted to update their software to the 2.0 version. What they'll find on the new client should impress.

New features will impress.

Among the changes are a new hand replayer, fully integrated missions, improved graphics and multi-tabling options for players on desktop, mobile or tablet.

Along with the obvious improved functionality will also be an improved and revamped loyalty scheme. What they won't see but will benefit from too are improvements to the back-end functionality and the overall stability of the client.

"Unibet Poker 2.0 was built from the ground up," says Andrew West, Unibet's Head of Poker, "and designed to provide us with a foundation upon which we can seamlessly add in-game features to continuously provide the best experience possible for all of our players.

"We’re looking forward to collecting feedback on the new software and hope that our players will see the potential for 2017 and beyond."

Unibet's complete shift in direction over the past few years towards the recreational poker player is also paying off. Player growth has been substantial, highlighted by a 65% year-on-year increase in Q3 2016.

Once-in-a-Lifetime Travel Opps

If you've ever dreamed of dropping everything and winging around the world, here's your chance to do it on Unibet's dime. Along with the software release Unibet is doling out over €250,000 in prizes from tournament and cash game tickets to laptops to Unibet Open packages.

34 players will win once-in-a-lifetime travel experiences and one will win the ultimate £31,088 Around the World trip. Here's how it'll work:

Starting Dec. 1 raffle tickets will randomly be distributed at Unibet Poker cash game tables. Each time a table is selected the player on the button gets a ticket. All other players at the table will win a Unibet Open qualifier ticket. Raffle tickets are split in three tiers:

One Gold ticket holder will win the 28-day Seven Wonders experience while all other Gold ticket holders will win either a travel experience or high-stakes cash game ticket.

Two Silver ticket holders will win a travel experience and all other Silver ticket holders will win prizes ranging from mid-stakes poker tickets to laptops and UK Tour packages.

Two Bronze ticket holders will win a travel experience while all other Bronze ticket holders will win low- to mid-stakes poker tickets.

Play and win.

Live Stream Raffle on January 7

Everything will culminate at 16:00 CET Jan. 7 when all prize winners will be announced via live stream on Unibet's official Twitch.tv channel.

The stream will be hosted by Unibet's host/streamer David Vanderheyden and will continue until all prizes have been given away.

Check here for a full list of all the prizes which include trips to the Great Barrier Reef, Angkor Wat and the Amazonian Rainforest along with hundreds of live and online tourney tickets.

The Ultimate Around the World Experience is worth £31,088 and includes: 

More details on the trip here; to open a new Unibet Poker account and access our up to €200 sign-up bonus, download the Unibet software via our review here.

PokerStars will be the first official online poker operator in Portugal.

Earlier this week the Amaya-owned site received official approval from the country’s gaming board.

The license was actually awarded to REEL Europe Ltd but that’s a subsidiary of Amaya. A brand-new PokerStars.pt will be coming to the market in the near future.

It will be the first time since 2015 that PokerStars will be available in the market.

Poker, Blackjack and More

PokerStars.pt will be permitted to run NLHE, Omaha and tournaments in addition to Blackjack and French Roulette.

Portugese poker pro Joao Barbosa.

Unfortunately PokerStars.pt will be a restricted market with players only able to compete against opponents actually located in Portugal.

There is talk, however, of a shared liquidity deal with other EU members such as Spain, Italy and France.

PokerStars left the Portuguese market in 2015 when local lawmakers drafted stricter online gaming rules.

There have already been four licenses awarded to online casinos and sports betting sites but PokerStars is the first online poker operator in the country to be granted a license.

For the time being the PokerStars.pt website still reads “Coming Soon” but an official launch is expected soon.

Only time will tell if PokerStars will once again host some real-life tournaments in the country.

Vilamoura used to be a prominent stop on the European Poker Tour but currently there are no events on either the PokerStars Championship or PokerStars Festival schedule set in Portugal.

Last week it was Sam Trickett; this week's it's Boris Becker.

Former online poker #1 partypoker continued its big push back into the spotlight with another big signing to its ambassador team announced today.

German tennis ace Becker, who picked up poker seriously in the last decade while still coaching world #1 Novak Djokovic, even brings his own unique promotion to the team.

Called Beat the Ace, partypoker players will get the chance to play in four $5,000 freerolls starting today, Dec. 5. The overall winner will then get to play Becker heads up live in Germany for up to $25,000.

Equal Drive at the Poker Table

If you grew up watching sports in the 80s Germany's Becker is as iconic a figure as it gets.

Serious about poker, too.

The six-time Major singles winner became the youngest Wimbledon champion ever at the age of 17 and went on to spend the decade dominating the courts against legends Ivan Lendl and Stefan Edberg.

Becker says the competitive fire that drove him then hasn't changed:

“I am equally competitive at the poker table as I was on the tennis court, so I’m really excited to be partnering with partypoker and taking on players around the world.

"I learnt to play poker a long time ago; it’s a game of skill and perseverance, so I’m hoping to use my experience on the tennis court to my advantage. partypoker has some world class tournaments coming up and I look forward to playing online as well as live at the partypoker MILLIONS in April, so see you there!”

Previously a Friend of PokerStars Becker has played and held his own in plenty of Invitational tournaments and racked up $111k in live earnings, including a recent cash in the Devilfish Cup.

“It’s great to have Boris on board," adds Tom Waters, Group Head at partypoker, "as he is one of Germany’s, and indeed the world’s most notable sportsmen.

"Boris’ mental strength and desire to win will make him a tough competitor at the poker table, and I’m sure he’ll test our players as part of the partypoker Tennis Missions promotion!

£6 Million partypoker Millions Returns in April

Along with the addition of Becker to its team partypoker also announced the addition of an extra £1M to the next partypoker Millions prize pool this April.

Action for everybody.

Now up to £6 Million it'll be the biggest ever guaranteed prize pool in Europe and guarantee a minimum of £1,000,000 to the winner.

The partypoker Millions will be hosted online on partypoker and live across the UK/internationally this winter and culminate with a live final at Dusk Till Dawn on April 18, 2017.

Joining Becker in helping push partypoker into the German market will be Jan-Peter Jachtmann, a WSOP bracelet winner in PLO and regular in the high-stakes cash games at King's Casino.

To open a new account and begin your qualifying towards the next partypoker Millions, check our review page here and sign up via the download link to receive an up to $500 sign-up bonus.

Did you open a new account on PokerStars via PokerListings in 2016?

If so you're invited to an exclusive $5 tourney next week for a $10,000 PokerStars Championship Bahamas package!

The tournament will take place on Dec. 18 at 13.35 (ET) and you'll find it in the Restricted section of the PokerStars lobby.

Top 11 All Score

The name of the tourney is ‘PokerListings Takes You to Bahamas’ and if you come out the winner, that's exactly where you'll be going to take part in the inaugural Bahamas Championship.

Even Gilbert Arenas loves it.

The winner's $10k package includes:

You don't have to win the whole thing to get a prize, though. If you finish in 2nd-5th place you'll get a $530 PCA Super Satellite ticket. Finish 6th-11th and you win an $82 (Rd 2) satellite.

All players who have opened an account on PokerStars through us before Dec. 16th this year are eligible so if you've yet to open an account, it's not too late.

Head to our PokerStars review page here to download the software and join the list of PokerListings players eligible for our exclusive promos and freerolls.

Ton of Poker, Ton of Adventure

Formerly known as the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure this is one of the signature stops on the global poker circuit.

Held at the spectacular Atlantis Resort in Nassau it's 9 days (this year from Jan. 6-14) of wall-to-wall tournaments, cash games and side activities.

Atlantis at night.

Beyond the 90 tournaments and perpetual cash games there are any number of adventures to keep you occupied from the death-defying waterslides to a new 3-on-3 basketball tournament.

On the poker side here are a few highlight events to watch out for:

PokerStars Open: January 10-12, 2017 - $220
PokerStars Cup: January 12-14, 2017 - $440
PokerStars National Championship: January 7-9, 2017 - $2,200
PokerStars Championship Main Event: January 8-14, 2017 - $5,000
PokerStars Championship High Roller: January 12-14, 2017 - $25,750
PokerStars Championship Super High Roller: January 6-8, 2017 - $100,000

On the non-poker side these are among the highlights on the schedule from PokerStars:

Atlantis is also one of the most renowned and kid-friendly resorts in the world so there's plenty to do for every member of the family. 

For a more complete look at the venue, schedule and logistical details of travelling to/playing poker in the Bahamas, check the PokerStars page here. To be eligible for this exclusive tournament and a $600 sign-up bonus, visit our review here.

There are a couple new ways to play on partypoker.

This week the site launch Fast Five cash games and Progressive Knockout Tournaments.

Progressive Knockout tournaments are a bounty-style tournament with players getting a cash bonus every time they eliminate an opponent.

There difference with Progressive Knockout tournaments is that the bounty payouts progress as the tournament goes on meaning players could potentially win thousands of dollar in the latter stages of an event.

Fast Five = 5 BB Cash Game

If you’re looking for some rapid-fire cash game action then you might want to look into partypoker’s Fast Five games.

partypoker ambassador Mike Sexton

Players are only allotted five big blinds in each Fast Five game, which means you’ve got to make a move fast (but so do your opponents).

Everything else is played just the same as a regular 6-Max cash game. Fortunately buy-ins start at just $2.50 so you can afford to dust a few buy-ins while getting the hang of the game.

"Today we launch two new products on partypoker that will suit both tournament and cash game players,” Group Head of partypoker Tom Waters said.

“Progressive Knockout tournaments are a popular format in the poker community so it was important to respond to feedback and offer these on partypoker. Fast Five is a fun, fast-paced cash game, suitable for players with only a short amount of time but wanting action quickly.”

The new Progressive Knockout Tournaments run three times a day with three different buy-in levels. Fast Five games are already available in the partypoker lobby.

Tiger Gaming isn’t the most famous online poker site in the world (yet), but it recently added one big incentive for poker players with new Bad Beat Jackpot tables.

The site plans on giving away at least $100,000 in cash to start as that's how much they've seeded the Jackpot pool with while launching the new product.

The jackpot will grow with every hand played at any real-money BBJ tables, which can be identified by the star that appears next to them in the Tiger Gaming lobby.

Bonus Paid Out Immediately

To qualify for a Tiger Gaming Bad Beat Jackpot you have to get four of a kind with jacks or better cracked.

As usual for bad beat jackpots you must use both hole cards in the hand.

If you have the misfortune (fortune) of getting your monster hand beat then you’ll get paid out immediately after the hand ends.

Even if you aren’t the player who received the bad beat you’ll still get a share of the reward.

17.5% of the jackpot will be split evenly between the rest of the players at the table.

If you haven’t tried Tiger Gaming you might be interested to learn it's one of the only poker sites in the world that offers Chinese Poker as well as Big2.

$100,000 New Year’s Special

Tournament players will want to start 2017 by playing in the special $100K New Year’s Guaranteed Tournament running on January 1st.

A $10,000 Weekly Cash Leaderboard also runs every week for cash-game players as do $5k MTT and SnG Leaderboards.

For more information or to sign up for an account you can head to our Tiger Gaming review and be eligible for a $1,000 sign-up bonus.

Could this be the last biggest online winners and losers’ list that’s worth publishing?

It certainly seems possible as the high-stakes games have undeniably shrunk over the last couple of years.

There are also a number of high-profile players who have opted out of tracking, which makes it tough to get an accurate picture of what's been won and lost

This year’s biggest winner (spoiler alert) Alexander “joiso” Kostritsyn accumulated $1,466,568 on PokerStars in 2016, which is a dramatic step down from $3.4m that Isildur1 won in 2015.

Go back to 2013 and the contrast is even more considerable as Niklas Heinecker earned $6.3m.

Despite the general slowdown all the usual suspects were still there this year, though, with Ben “Sauce123” Sulsky, Sami “Lrslzk” Kelopuro, Isildur1 and Kanu7 all factoring into the biggest winners & losers list for 2016.

We’ll take a closer look at the movers and shakers below:

Kostritsyn Only Player to Top $1m

Russian Alexander “joiso” Kostritsyn was the only player that topped $1m in earnings in 2016 with $1,466,568 to lead everyone according to HighStakesDB.

Alex Kostritsyn

Kostritsyn had previously opted out of tracking on the site so it was surprising to see him at the top of the rankings but there he is.

It’s not the first time that Kostritsyn has finished the year as the biggest winner as he ended up with $3.3m in 2014, although that was on Full Tilt Poker instead of PokerStars.

The next biggest winner for 2016 is the remarkably consistent Ben “Sauce123” Sulsky who picked up $815,517. Sulsky always seems able to escape posting a loss for the entire year.

Finnish pro Sami “Lrslzk” Kelopuro made a strong return to the high-stakes online scene in 2016 with a haul of $565,077, which was enough to place him in the top 10 earners.

Isaac “philivey2694” Haxton (+$388,463) and Jens “Jeans89” Kyllonen (+$293,503) were a couple of the notable players who narrowly missed out on the top 10 list.

Here’s a complete look at the top 10 winners from 2016 (all numbers from HighStakesDB):

1. Alexander “joiso” Kostritsyn: +$1,466,568
2. Ben “Sauce123” Sulsky: +$815,517
3. SamRostan: +$748,018
3. Cobus83: +$626,487
4. OtB_RedBaron: +$579,900
5. Sami “Lrslzk” Kelopuro: +$565,077
6. Educa-p0ker: +$539,974
7. bajskorven87: +$500,954
8. ChaoRen160: +$466,416
9. RaulGonzalez: +$450,402
10. honeybee088: +$444,410

Isildur1, Kanu7 Hit Tough Times on ‘Stars

ClockWyze power outage.

It was not a great year for Viktor “Isildur1” Blom who dumped $489,789 into the high-stakes games on PokerStars.

It was not for lack of trying, however, as Blom recorded over 200,000 hands, which was considerably more than any other player in the winners or losers top 10.

Don’t feel too bad for Blom as he recorded his best year ever in 2015 with over $3m in earnings.

The biggest loser in 2016 was actually unheralded PLO player bodamos who dropped a total of $868,252.

Close behind bodamos was former Team PokerStars Online pro Alexander “Kanu7” Millar who lost $635,521 in 2016.

Some of the other notable players in the red bracket included Rafi Amit (-$381,888) and Andrew “ClockWyze” Pantling (-$341,934).

Here’s a complete look at the top 10 biggest losers in 2016 (all numbers from HighStakesDB):

1. bodamos: -$868,252
2. Kanu7: -$645,521
3. spaise411: -$624,166
4. candela2005: -$546,253
5. Viktor “Isildur1” Blom: -$489,789
6. wilhasha: -$465,476
7. flong78: -$438,634
8. refaelamit: -$381,888
9. Andrew “Clockwyze” Pantling: -$341,934
10. Katya_18: -$330,074

Your odds of making it into the massive £6m partypoker Millions this April just got better.

partypoker announced today it has increased both the number of satellites running online to qualify and added a second weekly Online Phase 1 to the schedule.

More tickets to the next level satellite have also been added to each feeder event to essentially double your chances of getting to the next tier.

That means more low buy-in players than ever have a shot to play the massive, life-changing tournament at Dusk Till Dawn this Spring.

£1,000,000 Guaranteed to Winner

If you've followed the latest news about one of poker's most famous tournaments you'll already now the overall prize pool guarantee has already been bumped from an original £5m to £6m.

Begins now, ends at Dusk Till Dawn.

A minimum £1,000,000 is guaranteed to the winner regardless meaning one day at the end of April this year will literally change a poker player's life.

Getting a shot at the massive prize is now even easier. While the standard Day 1 entry fee of £550 is still very affordable, more low buy-in feeders to Day 1 have been added daily on partypoker.

The number of tickets guaranteed in the feeders has also been bumped from 5 to 10 to make them even greater value. Here's a look at the full complement of feeders and satellites that can get you a Day 1 ticket on the cheap:.

Daily MILLIONS feeders and satellites

Weekly MILLIONS satellites and Online Phase 1s

Players can also of course buy in directly for £5,300 on Day 2 either live or online and any player advancing to Day 3, starting April 20 at Dusk Till Dawn, has locked up £5,000.

To get started on qualifying, jump to our partypoker review and create a new account to access our up to $500 sign-up bonus.

2017 is barely underway and already 888poker players can win up to $100,000 in its new Treasure Quest promotion.

Participation is easy.

Just log into your 888poker account every day (if you've yet to open one, start here) to check for your Daily Challenge assignment.

Complete that simple challenge (anything from playing a few SnGs to completing a certain hand) and you'll immediately get a random prize.

Tickets to the Daily $6,000 Pirates Prize Tournament are most common but $1, $5 and $50 bonuses are also in the mix.

Continue filling out the squares in your Treasure Quest map every day and bigger prizes await.

$100,000 Cash Prize to One Lucky Player

Your Treasure Quest map is a 5x5 grid of 25 squares with Challenges waiting to be completed. Once you've completed 5 Challenges in a row across, down or diagonally, you'll get a cash bonus.

Complete the map and win.

The most common prize is $5 but $10, $50, $500 and $5,000 prizes also await. Just click on the treasure chest icon to claim your prize.

Complete the whole map of Challenges and you're in the running for the biggest prize on offer - $100,000 in cash.

That winner is randomly selected. The other cash prizes are $20, $100, $1,000 and $10,000. All you have to do is complete all your challenges to be eligible.

On top of the cash prizes there's $9,000 in free tournaments every day with one $6,000 Pirates Prizes Tournament and 2 x daily $1,500 Treasure Quest Tournaments.

No tickets are needed to play the Treasure Quest Tournament, which runs every day at 11:04 and 17:04 GMT until Feb. 25, 2017.

Open a new 888poker account via our review page to access our exclusive $888 bonus and our weekly/monthyl freerolls. More on the Treasure Quest Challenge in the video below: