At the start of the year, many well-known professionals were on the hunt for the progressive jackpot at Pai Gow. It was played in all Caesars casinos and has grown to a tempting $6 million.

Dan Smith went to play against the casino in the company of Andrew Lichtenberger.

“Just vacated my seat if anyone else wants to hit the jackpot,” Dan wrote a few hours later.

– Is it at least +EV? Charlie Carrel asked him.

– Expectation $6 per hand, you can play two boxes at once (ed. – $25 per hand ), Dan explained.

Smith's game was disappointing, but he did not want to miss out on the benefits.

“Pai gow is by far the worst game against the casino I have ever played 😴,” he complained the next day. – But I wanted to go to yoga even less, and here I am again. There are still seats."

To win the jackpot in Pai Gow, you need to hit a 7-card straight flush. Dan did not achieve this result, but the little-known grinder from Las Vegas, Thomas Zanot, successfully managed.

On the way to success, he spent 11 hours at the table and twice collected a 6-card straight flush. Later, he said that before the coveted distribution he was in the red by $375.

He also documented the bad beats on twitter.

Shuan Liu was hunting for the jackpot at Planet Hollywood that evening.

– Are there any more places? the future winner asked her. – I was at Harrah's, but you can't bet $25 there, and at Linq all the tables are occupied.

Without waiting for an answer, Tom went to Flamingo, where he won the treasured $6 million.

“I'm glad you didn't answer lololol,” he wrote a little later.

Max Silver also congratulated Tom, and at the same time sympathized with the gamblers, thanks to whom the jackpot reached such values.

“I myself was amazed that so many people played as if nothing had happened and did not even try to win the jackpot 😂,” Zanot answered him.

Marty Mathis offered readers a hypothetical situation:

– You won $6.4 million on Pai Gow playing Flamingo for $25 per hand. How much for tip?

In his tweet, Marty tagged Tom and Mike McDonald.

– At what jackpot amount does it all become +EV? Mike asked.

“About $3.2 million,” Tom replied.

– Then, probably, $43,401.

– 😂, – Rob Yong chuckled at this answer, knowing perfectly well that Mike would not give such a sum for a tip, even if he won a billion.

But Tom did not understand the irony:

– You mean 1% after taxes?

– No, I just saw the jackpot amount ($6,443,401) in the picture and removed the first two digits.

Timex was involved in this discussion for a reason. He regularly brings up the subject of tipping on social media.

– We haven’t discussed tips for a long time, – the other day he saddled his favorite horse again . – We dined together for $70 at the hotel restaurant (<1% that our waiter owns the restaurant). When we asked for the bill, he said: “Nothing is needed. Enough tips." How much will you leave? What is going on? Did he lose a bet to someone?

As often happens in such threads, the discussion turned out to be very heated. Readers have suggested a whole range of options from $0 to $100, but the most popular option is to leave about half the amount of the bill, that is, $30-40.

MJ Gonzalez and Bill Perkins made a strange bet :

We'll have a boxing match, but Bill will be on his knees for the full 12 rounds (if that's necessary). I gave him 3 to 1. My height is 178 cm, weight 77 kg, his 185 – 84.

Serious question: my best strategy to win?

Such conditions, to put it mildly, surprised readers. Almost everyone is sure that MJ is a clear favorite.

Bill is also unsure of his success:

“I think you will destroy me, but it will be fun."

– Bill, of course, is a generous guy, but here he has reached a new level, – Fedor Holz is on the side of MJ.

“I pray this turns out to be a joke,” Connor Drinan agrees. “If not, then I advise you to keep everything quiet and not make Bill look like a complete fool."

Perkins has long been famous for his generous wagers. Of the last major bets, he managed to win only against Landon Tice.

New items from the World Series of Poker, Chris Moneymaker declares war on PayPal, Dan Bilzerian invites the winner of the freeroll, and Ryan Reiss opens a fight club for poker players.

Max Silver reacted with a meme :

“I still can't believe Landon was the one who got hurt by friendly fire."

The 3rd season of the show High Stakes Duel unexpectedly ended with an early victory for Jason Koon.

The 5th round of the High Stakes Duel took place in Las Vegas, Phil Hellmuth read the opponent perfectly, but this did not help him win.

The organizers never managed to find a person who was ready to play a match with him for $3.2 million. It seemed that the opponent had already been determined – it would be Limitless. Immediately after Hellmuth's defeat, Wiktor wrote that he was ready to play in the next round. And at the end of December, he tweeted a cry for someone to help him change $1.6 million of crypto for cash or chips in Vegas.

However, on January 4, PokerGo's official Twitter reminded that they are still accepting applications from those who are ready to make such a buy-in. The submission deadline was January 6th and Jason was declared the winner on PokerGo yesterday .

Season 4 kicks off soon, starting with a $50,000 buy-in match.

In one of the previous reviews, we talked about Daniel Forte, who bet $26 on an accumulator of 7 events.

A French victory in the World Cup would net him $557,770.91. As you know, Argentina became the champions. However, for Forte, this result did not become a tragedy. Before the final, the bookmakers offered him to take a little more than half ($283,538.52) of the potential winnings, to which he gladly agreed.

Daniel Negreanu offered everyone a bet on the PokerGo leaderboard:

– I am ready to bet against any player of your choice that in 2023 I will score more PGT points. Minimum bet $5,000, maximum $25k, I can accept more on some players.

In the 2022 leaderboard, Daniel took only 18th place. The top 10 looks like this:

The balance of power was significantly influenced by the Triton series tournaments (by the way, the next ones will be held in Vietnam from March 1 to March 13).

However, Daniel clarified that they would not be taken into account in his bet. He is ready to bet only on the stages that are held in the PokerGo studio, plus the WSOP.

Charlie Carrel thought about an unusual bet.

– Do you want me and Jungleman to arrange a stand-up challenge? We will perform for 15 minutes, the winner will be determined by the reaction of the audience.

The majority voted for such a performance, although there were many who doubted the ability of Charlie and Dan to joke with dignity.

***

Farah Galfond shared the promises she made to herself for the coming year:

1) Stop drinking Chardonnay just because they didn't have Sauvignon Blanc.
2) Pray more 🙏🏼 to poker gods.
3) Read at least one Phil's Twitter thread.
4) Never 🚫 offer to fire a person, even if they are acting nasty
5) Don't bluff rappers and women.

Daniel Cates has three items on a similar list :

1) To overcome any kind of excessive sexual desire. In my opinion, this adversely affects both me and the world as a whole.
2) Play the 4th note on the flute.
3) Convince Ike Haxton of the existence of divine providence.

“I’ll give a lot to personally observe the third one,” Chris Hook froze in anticipation.

Patrick Leonard illustrated what the chip lead looks like in PSKO tournaments.

Erik Seidel impressed with the White Lotus series:

“We need to put us on lockdown again until everyone has watched it.