Oleg Ostroumov, who created the world's first poker solver, has published his story.

Of course, we featured the exclusive story about the beginning of his career. The article was written in Russian, but your internet browser should translate it quickly.

One player who gained access to the software early on, Alexander Millar (Kanu7), noted:

– It was interesting to learn about this story from his perspective. I didn't know what financial situation Oleg was in during all of the negotiations.


– Do you still play? – they asked Alexander.

– No, haven't played for many years.

– It seems like Katya18, fish2013, Wilhasha, and others used to beat you – despite your software?

– Don't worry, everything was fine with me :)

– What are you doing now? Do you plan to return to poker?

– I'm doing great. All my time goes to family and investments. I don't plan to return (to poker). I think I've hopelessly fallen behind regulars and catching up with them is impossible. The only option is to start grinding from low limits if I lose all my savings suddenly.

– Haha, cool. – wrote Henrik Hecklen. – Lottenice and I always suspected you had "preliminary access" to some software. It's funny to get confirmation after so many years.

– Everything written is true. – confirmed Timofey Kuznetsov. – Thanks to this program, I learned several new approaches, and it also confirmed much of what I had figured out myself. All of this helped me build my own strategy and gain additional confidence.

– Do you still play poker? – they asked Trueteller.

– Yes, I play occasionally on GG and in private games.

4.9
GGPoker is a Hold’em and Omaha focused site on the Good Game Network. Offering a broad range of playing formats such as Randomised Sit & Gos, All-in or Fold, and 6+ Short Deck as well as fast cash games, and a plethora of tournament series including: GGMasters, Multi Millions and Bounty Hunters.

A gentle two-week ban for a cheating poker streamer:

Mark "Weazel_1991" Rubbatan tweeted his surprise at the PokerStars security team's reaction.

"Streamer is caught straight up using RTA on PokerStars and they've issued a two week ban. Two weeks. For literally cheating"

No confiscations or compensations to other players. Instead, they blocked me on social media when I brought this to their attention.

Mark's tweeting was obviously seen by the higher-ups and there was an update from Stars officials. On the very same day as his outraged tweet, the Director of Online Poker Experience at PokerStars said the case was "more serious than initially judged." It's quite an apology that Stars is issuing in this tweet; blatantly stating that they made mistakes in their assessment and then sincerely apologizing.

– Did he use software for ChipEV in PKO? – Barry Carter clarified. – If so, he should be banned for stupidity.

– Well, what did you expect, that they (Stars) would admit to their own incompetence? – Girafganger wondered. – It's easier for them to pretend it's an isolated case than to admit that cheating is so easy for them that you can calmly do it even on a stream.

Beriuzy gets a big laugh from his coach:

I bet/3bet jammed on river on to bust my 3rd bullet of WSOP 5k main.

My coach is Aleks Ponakovs & this is his response.... 😂😂

Find a Punt Support group that supports you this way 🥰

Remembering weird laydowns in high-stakes private games:

Against the backdrop of the loud cheating story, Len Ashby recalled a funny episode from his lengthy career.

A guy I know once was in a private game in Houston and was up about 50k. He went to bathroom and as walking back they told him he had a hand. He runs back and the action was open, 3 bet pot, 4 bet pot. He looks down at double suited. Laughs and says yeah right and folds. 😀

Doug Polk decided to look into a new high-profile poker scandal, the main characters of which are regulars of Hustler streams.

Read

David Peat (Viffer) recalled another story often told at Las Vegas tables:

One guy constantly lost in one game, so he found another where they blatantly cheated. When friends told him about it, he replied, "I know, but here they deal me many more good hands, and I lose just as much!"

Farah Galfond asked readers:

Have you ever had a situation where you're chatting with a tablemate, maybe even telling them a long exciting story, and after 6 minutes, you realize they doen't understand a word of English? I haven't either.

You-mad-br0 admired the BitB podcast with Cameron Couch:

Cameron is probably top three 1kNL winners in the modern era, definitely a model for grinding your way to financial freedom.

+ he was my first student ever, so I claim credit for 100% of his achievements. 🧑‍🎓

For those interested, KTclubs, and mayothedon/ mrbuilderman are my candidates to be ahead

One of the best mid-stakes cash regulars revealed that he pays $500k in rake a year, explained why he doesn't plan to take shots at NL20k, and admitted that he wouldn't try a banana even for $1k.

Read

In the Bahamas, Phil Hellmuth made a grandiose entrance to the main event:

Hellmuth's oceanic antics got some laughs, but some players couldn't kelp feeling a bit salty.

Ike Haxton wasn't about to clam up:

Does anyone actually like this shit? If I’m in the minority I’ll just concede that this is fun for most people and I don’t get it, but I don’t think I am.

The 100k at least paused for most of it but ME players had to play through it. I still have a headache 40 minutes later.

If it’s for the sake of producing content for people who aren’t in the room, maybe you could do it before the tournament starts, or at the end of dinner break?

Doing this while cards are in the air is so disrespectful to the players.

"He shook the sand off his feet right at the table" added Chris Harder, not shying away from the gritty details.

"Did you manage to gather at least a bit?" – the commentators inquired, asking the tough questions.

"You understand nothing about high art" – criticized Daniel Cates, showing his loyalty to Poseidon.

The man who loved the ten-duece still has a Twitter page:

Doyle Brunson's Twitter continues its activity under the new name "Doyle Brunson Legacy." Now, they post quotes from the legendary player and memorable episodes from his career. For example, about his first victory in the WSOP main event:

The 1976 WSOP Main Event saw Doyle heads up against Jesse Alto for the bracelet. Alto was an amateur who worked full time as a car salesman.

10-2 wouldn't be known as the "Doyle Brunson" for another year but this hand planted the seed.

Patrick Leonard praises the Wynn, who is offering a $40 million guarantee:

These days, the Wynn casino hosts a WPT tournament with a $10,000 buy-in and a $40,000,000 guarantee.

The world poker tour @ Wynn is exactly how it should be. Faultless, incredible, magical. If God invented a poker tournament it would look something like this. belíssimo!

There were a total of 3835 entries, so the organizers couldn't avoid increasing the overlay.

Patrick Leonard is among the leaders; also, big stacks belong to Chance Kornuth, Lynn Gilmartin, and Gus Hansen. The Danish star is playing his first tournament in several years and came to Vegas by special invitation from the organizers, as a person who was close to the origins of the series. Russian players Anatoly Filatov and Arthur Martirosyan successfully played on the first day. Both flew in from the Bahamas, where Arthur won his second WSOP bracelet in an $800 flip-and-go tournament. Anatoly was the one who persuaded him to register for it.

All players in the top 6 will become millionaires, and the winner will receive $5,678,000.

Kitty Kuo's tweet on her performance and dresses in a tournament:

1st day dress: black – << 3-bet pot
2st day dress: pink- cards totally dead
3rd day dress white : << 3-bet pot
What should I wear tomorrow ?
Poker isn’t fun if u need to play everyday

Mike McDonald once again raised the touchy issue of tips:

Valet parks the car. He loses the keys and ordering a new one in takes weeks. I'll be out of the country when it arrives so I'll either need to change travel plans or have my car with them for months.

How much are we tipping?

"Valet in Vegas once lost my car (very expensive)", David Williams tweeted back. "Was found 3 months later…after my insurance totaled it out and filed suit against them to pay them back for it."

"Honestly was the best thing in a way because I had just paid 100k or so for the car and shortly after wanted a new Tesla, they had just came out around 2013, but didn’t wanna sell for a loss. Few weeks later car disappears at valet. Give up the search, insurance cuts me a check and I go get my Tesla. Looks very suspicious lol."

Mike replied back, "That sounds awful! (This valet story happened to a friend of mine but I'll use any excuse to make a tipping thread. Personally, I run way too pure for this type of thing to ever happen to me)."

Daniel Negreanu hunted for short stacks:

Crazy tournament idea that would ultimately be a “no short stack event”

Rules:

Any time a player is below 20 bbs in a tournament… they are eliminated

Those chips go into the very next pot

Would be wild

I know most of you will hate this idea but I love it. You?

The poll was around 50/50 when last checked, though a slight majority seems to hate this idea from Daniel.

Ice cream takes Dan Smith into the wrong alleyway:

Very frustrating travel day yesterday so decide to walk across the street for late night ice cream

Stumble into a homeless guy in a small secluded hallway. Thought he was pulling out a knife but he was just showing me his Dick 😂

✅first freak out of the holiday season. 🎄🎅