Stefan Burakov started a Twitter account.
– My channel in X will periodically publish unique content, – he said in Telegram. – In English, of course. But don’t look at it as an obstacle, but as an opportunity to improve your understanding of the language in a natural and exciting way. That’s how I learned English from scratch in a few years.
In one of his tweets, Stefan broke down a hand where he called Q-high on the river against Linus.
– This hand may seem crazy at first glance, but if you look at the ranges on all streets, it becomes obvious that players like Linus are heavily over-bluffing on the river.
If he also out-bluffs on the flop, which is obviously the case since he made a polar bet of 3/4 of the pot, then he will bluff on the turn with his entire range (Ace is a very bad card for me, against such a sizing I very rarely call on the flop with Ax, and he understands this very well). On the river in such spots, Linus does not know how to slow down.
That's why after the flop I knew that I would be calling both the turn and the river with my entire range.
It was easy money. Unfortunately, when you play this beast, not all hands are that easy.
Nick Shulman remembered Phil Ivey :
– Btw one time in the Bahamas in a taxi to the airport the driver could tell I played, asked if I knew Ivey, I said ofc, goat, the guy starts sobbing said the year before he took him to the airport and Phil gave him 10 Gs 😭💀 guy put a down payment on a house for his family 🐐 🐐
– Easy to overthrow the word goat around. Froze me a bit tip wise lol think I gave him $300
MMAsherdog continues to recall stories from his wild poker youth :
– High Stakes poker story – Did Fedor Holz Test My Integrity?
When I was in my early twenties, I played the WSOP Main Event for the first time.
I had about a year of experience at high stakes poker and was eager to play the biggest tournament in the world.
But I didn’t yet have the bankroll for it.
I knew better than to gamble recklessly in a tournament full of variance, especially one that wasn’t my area of expertise. Looking back, I’m glad I never had to learn that lesson the hard way.
So I asked around to see if someone wanted to buy a piece of my action. Fedor Holz was happy to buy some. I sold 50% at a 1.7 markup. Steep price, but we believed a high-stakes cash game player could still have a big edge over a soft field.
That meant I only had to risk $1,500 of my own money to keep half the potential winnings. Sweet deal.
We texted, and I met him at his table.
He had the exact same relaxed smile I'd seen on camera.
He’d already counted out $8,500 for me, but asked me to count it again.
So there I was, sitting on the casino floor like a schmuck, counting bills.
It came out to $8,600. I counted again. Same number.
Fedor was in a hand, so I waited a moment, then leaned over and told him he’d given me $100 too much.
He took back the $100, thanked me, and I went to register.
Halfway through day 1, when playing 30 hands an hour, many thoughts go through your head.
Anything from ''what am I doing with my life?'' to ''should I buy an island if I win 5 million?''.
Then I thought “Was that a test?”
Maybe he saw potential in working with me and overpaid on purpose to see what I’d do.
If that $100 saved him a future headache worth tens or even hundreds of thousands… it would’ve been a brilliant investment.
To this day, I don’t know. He’d be crazy to admit it.
But I walked away with two clear lessons.
Lesson 1: Surrounding yourself with the right people is paramount to long-term success.
Nobody conquers an industry alone.
And if you screw people over for short-term gain, you’ll end up alone with a reputation you can’t fix.
Greed kills long-term potential. And a clear conscience is a luxury no amount of money can buy.
Lesson 2: Some small investments can pay off big.
You cannot measure the exact return of every investment.
But there’s a fine line. If you’re tipping $1,000 just to show off, or putting up an act to get attention, you’re not building trust, you're just being a clown.
Sometimes the best lessons come from things that may not have even happened.
But they stick with you anyway.
Do you think Fedor pulled that sneaky move on purpose?
Patrick Leonard has caused the ban of streamer Alan "AlanFPoker" Finn.
Pads posted a screenshot from Alan's stream, where two Excel tables were visible – xMoms Shopping List (the contents had nothing to do with either the mother or the shopping list) and WPT RANGE v.2.0.
30 minutes later, WPT Global tweeted that Alan had been banned :
– Use of RTA is unacceptable. AlanFPoker will be banned immediately.
After this, Patrick deleted his first tweet :
– I am against public bullying. WPT Global banned him instantly, great job. I hope Alan learns his lesson. But this story left me feeling uneasy. My tweet had over 100k views. The ban is already enough punishment. Although, I myself do not fully understand why I feel sorry for him.
It seems there will be problems with vlogging players at this year's World Series. Well, not all of them. In the past, some players have gotten press credentials to record videos during games.
Rampage reported that he was rejected this year:
– Officially my sign to quit poker, thanks WSOP.
Many have decided that the reason is the competition between the rooms. WSOP is now owned by GG Poker, and Rampage is represented by WPT Global.
However, Kevin Mathers has published a clause in the official rules that prohibits players from receiving accreditation:
– Players can not receive media credentials.
Rule 64f of the WSOP Rules prohibits players from audio/video recording of hands except for their all-in hand
– So, any vloggers, even Daniel Negreanu, will be denied accreditation? – They clarified in the comments.
“That’s right,” the official WSOP account confirmed.
"Is it a good bet that DNegs will get special treatment?" Matt Berkey asked.
"1. I've never had accreditation," Daniel countered. "2. I've never filmed hands where the action hasn't ended yet. 3. Like everyone else, I won't be able to use electronics when there are three tables left in play."
So if you're really interested in a "big bet," I'd be happy to take it, but first we need to figure out what special treatment is.
My only "advantage" is the room I use to relax during breaks, but I think I've earned it, since I'm one of a small number of players who have been promoting the WSOP for nearly 30 years.
I have never even applied for accreditation, my assistant Christian gets it every year. And I try to follow all the rules. Even if I break some out of ignorance, I try to do everything to avoid it in the future.
Beriuzy declared an information war Mystery bounty:
– Mystery bounties are truly so dumb, how are we okay with this being the norm?
16 people ALL IN at the same time from a field of 50 LOL
Someone will point out I won the 2nd biggest, I am not complaining. I am simply stating that this format is moronic & should be reduced.
– You do understand that you are supporting him when you register? – the commentators clarified.
– I haven't played them for a long time, but for some reason they haven't disappeared. I downloaded this one in a fit of gambling addiction, because the session wasn't going well. I think gambling addiction is the main reason why such tournaments still exist🤣A couple of boycotting regs definitely won't be enough for them to disappear.
Bencb didn't understand Stoyan Madanzhiev's play in the $10k tournament:
– Is this the craziest Fold ever? 🤯🤯🤯
$10,000 Final Table.
He slowplays Aces, only calls the SB 3bet, calls the flop, and folds the Turn?
Why?
I am confused.
“It was too easy, I wanted to give the guys a chance,” Stoyan explained.
– But I'm really curious why you threw it away.
– I don’t want to reveal all the secrets, but one of the main reasons is that I thought AKo would 3-bet push preflop. I also had certain strategic reasons and tells. I was obviously wrong about the latter, but I was lucky and still won the tournament. That was two years ago, I don’t play like that now 😎
A year's supply of burgers was up for grabs at the Japan Open Poker Tour.
According to Japanese law, players can make small buy-ins but cannot receive large cash prizes. Organizers resort to various tricks and pay out prizes in their own currency (which can be used for buy-ins in other tournaments) or play out packages to foreign series.
Some tournaments manage to attract big sponsors, one of which was Burger King. The winner of the NLH Whopper®Stack tournament with a buy-in of ¥20,000 (approximately $140) received 365 vouchers for free burgers.
Steve O'Dwyer admires the level of Japanese series:
– I think there is a lot that poker tours can learn from the growth and success of the Japan Open Poker. Their ability to attract major brand sponsors is probably the biggest one. It will be vital for the sustainability of the game, the answer can’t always be higher rake.
Cole South noticed that the Juicero.com domain sold for $4k.
The startup, which appeared in 2014, sold machines for $400 each that squeezed juice from special bags. The owners managed to attract investments of $120 million. However, it quickly became clear that squeezing juice by hand was no less effective, and in 2017 the business went bankrupt.
Allen Kessler changed his profession :
– Crazy day.
Set up and floored the $400 RG Poker Series 8game mix event at Graton Poker from 11am to 2pm.
Now I just late-regged the same event!
The EPT Main Event in Monte Carlo was won by Alexander Shevlyakov .
“His success was brought about by interesting tactics, to put it mildly,” noted the commentators of the official PokerStars channel .
Alexander, who was introduced in poker news as "an amateur IT guy who qualified through a satellite," has been playing poker since 2008, has been blogging on our Russian forum for many years, and has achieved great success in online cash games. Lately, he has been enjoying himself in tournaments.
In late April, Tom Dwan tweeted a series of very strange messages. He claimed that he was being held in a London psychiatric hospital, forced to take unknown medications, and that his life was in danger. Dwan asked for help from the US Embassy and Donald Trump personally.
PokerNews journalists went to the scene and confirmed that Tom was indeed in the hospital and clearly needed medical attention.
– Btw on the flight early on, as the “flight attendant” plugged in my phone, he wiped my browser history and other info, so this plan was obv in motion for a while.
Please help. I’m so scared. I’m a good man, this is nuts. 😢💔
Tom's latest tweet was posted on April 30th :
– Finally feeling a bit better, I got a bit stressed sorry.
Daniel and Amanda Negreanu concluded in their podcast that Tom's behavior is very similar to schizoaffective disorder.
Daniel remembered how, years ago at Aria, Tom had pulled him aside and made him remove the battery from his phone before continuing the conversation.
A couple of weeks ago, Ali Imsirovic signed up for the starting flight of the $1,200 RunGood Poker Main Event in Florida. He built up the chip lead by lunchtime, but when players returned to the tables, Ali had disappeared .
The organizers did not make any official statements, but the tournament participants were informed that Imsirovic was no longer participating in the tournament.
The Triton series will begin in Montenegro on May 13.
Vladimir Korzinin, who has already become a legend, confirmed his participation in the $200k tournament. He invited Jesse Lonis as a professional partner.
From fairytale to force, Vladimir "Santa" Korzinin returns after one of the most unforgettable Triton debuts in history. With three cashes, a runner-up finish in the $200K Invitational, and a $4.35M victory in the $150K NLH, he has already cemented himself as a name to watch.… pic.twitter.com/33pVwuR0IY
— Triton Poker (@tritonpoker) May 11, 2025
An old video was found on Twitter in which Howard Lederer introduces three innovative features at Full Tilt.
Note taking and multitabling is still such an advanced feature that in 2025 some sites still can't do it. pic.twitter.com/wCFyBp8NHK
— atarirobby (@atarirobby) April 28, 2025
– Ability to play multiple tables (Howard launched two at once)
– Detachable chat ( Ed. – whatever that means )
– Ability to write notes on opponents
“Thank you, Lederer,” Patrick Leonard responded to the video.
