Gossip Column: PokerStars Hits Guarantee Despite Player Boycott, Biopic to be Filmed on Ivey’s Baccarat Partner & Hellmuth Drops $100K in ARIA Cash Game

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  • Attreyee Khasnabis February 19, 2019
  • 5 Minutes Read

Online drama on the international felts reached its peak on February 17 when a group of high stakes players, led by Belgian pro “giraf ganger”, declared a boycott against PokerStars Turbo Series High Roller event. Surprisingly, despite the boycott imposed by around 200-odd online poker players, the high-stakes events on PokerStars managed to smash their guarantees. Additionally, rival sites like partypoker and 888poker, who had announced impromptu events on their sites to attract the players boycotting PokerStars, also reaped in the rewards as their events too saw their guarantees being overshot.

As the online domain began the week on a high note, 10-time World Series of Poker (WSOP) bracelet winner Phil Ivey‘s edge-sorting scandal took an interesting turn. A biopic is slated to be filmed on the life of Ivey’s baccarat partner Cheung Yin “Kelly” Sun. Well, you know what they say, Hollywood loves a scandal!

Though not an entirely scandalous personality, but multiple WSOP bracelet holder Phil Hellmuth is no stranger to being in the spotlight for the wrong reasons. Ever the ‘devil’s advocate’, Hellmuth took to social media to broadcast his $100,000 loss at the ARIA Resort & Casino while also showing off his gorgeous suite at the establishment.

 

MTT Regulars Boycott PokerStars’ Turbo Series $5,200 PKO Event Yet Several Sites Smash Their Guarantees

Global online poker giant PokerStars irked many high stakes poker players recently when they announced the reduction of rewards on scheduled multi-table tournaments by up to 55%. This eventually led to a group of poker players organizing a boycott of February 17’s PokerStars Turbo Series High Roller event. Was the boycott a success?

PokerStars

The truth would be, not really. When Belgian player “giraf ganger” had called for the boycott, he had stated, “The time to make a stand was probably a long time ago and while similar actions have been previously taken by cash-game and sit n go players. We, the MTT community, believe to have a bit more leverage because we can make or break the guarantees and divert action from one site to a competitor, if need be, more effectively.”

The group of players who were hosting the boycott drafted a set of changes they would like to see incorporated by PokerStars. The list included:

i) A direct and open line of communication with the company

ii) Clearly visible rake

iii) A maximum percentage of 10% rake (applying to low stakes and the .eu pool)

iv) Reassessment of the rake across all stakes and in formats where the edges are naturally lower (such as PKO, Rebuys, Turbo, Hypers)

v) Reduction on the length of Late Registration and number of re-entries

vi) Debate on future rake increases

Well, now that Sunday is done and gone, it turns out not only did PokerStars manage to surpass its guarantees in both the $5,200 NLHE 8-Max PKO High Roller and $1,050 NLHE Main Event High, other brands like partypoker, 888poker and Natural8, all benefitted from the boycott.

While the anonymous Belgian online pro managed to pursuade over 200 fellow high stakes pros to not play in PokerStars’ $5,200 buy-in Turbo Series PKO event, the tournament still manged to fly past its $750,000, with the help of 187 entries, eventually collecting $935,000 in prize money. The $1,050 NLHE Main Event High registered 2,343 entries reaching a prize pool of $2,343,000.

Taking advantage of the boycott, partypoker had introduced a $5,200 event to their KO Series schedule which had a huge guaranteed prize pool of $1 Million. Shockingly, even this guarantee was met! Through 206 entries, the event piled up a prize pool of $1,050,000.

888poker too wanted to take on a share of this action and added two rake free events, $100,000 RakeLESS Sunday Mega Deep and $100,000 RakeLESS Sunday Main Event, to its roster. As the trend seemed to be for this past Sunday, both events overshot their guarantees with total collections of $146,400 and $112,800 respectively.

It is safe to say that despite the boycott, it was a great Sunday for online poker!

 

Phil Ivey’s Baccarat Partner Cheung Yin “Kelly” Sun’s Biopic to be Filmed Soon

If the success of “Molly’s Game” and “Crazy Rich Asians” is any indication, Hollywood has always been intrigued by poker. Multiple-WSOP bracelet winner Phil Ivey‘s edge-sorting scandal has been grabbing headlines for a while now, however its latest development is not regarding the legal issues but more in the vein of entertainment. Ivey’s baccarat partner Cheung Yin “Kelly” Sun is all set to become the subject of the upcoming film “The Baccarat Queen”.

Phil Ivey & Cheung Yin “Kelly” Sun
Phil Ivey & Cheung Yin “Kelly” Sun

Touted as one of the most successful female gamblers in modern history, Sun’s life story will be brought to the silver screen by the division of SK Global that recently produced “Crazy Rich Asians” – Ivanhoe Pictures. The film is being produced in collaboration with Jeffrey Sharp of Sharp Independent Pictures and it is based on Michael Kaplan’s 2017 article entitled “The Baccarat Machine”, which appeared in Cigar Aficionado.

The film will deal with Sun’s life as a Chinese woman whose family’s wealth was stripped by the government forcing her to grow up in poverty. It will portray the story of a cunning and ingenious gambling scheme motivated by revenge that led to one of the most lucrative gambling runs in history.

According to Kaplan, part of Sun’s masterful technique of edge-sorting involved convincing Chinese-speaking dealers to turn particular cards “for good luck,” allowing her to predict with relative ease key cards to beat the house. Favorable terms were also often negotiated as is sometimes the case for high-rolling clientele, and the pair beat casinos for more than $30 million during their run.

Commenting on the film’s storyline, Ivanhoe Pictures president John Penotti said, “The Baccarat Queen is a truly captivating story that will feature a diverse international cast, a goal that Ivanhoe continues to pursue as global storytellers. We are thrilled to partner with Sharp as we tell this exciting, high-stakes tale of cunning and revenge.”

“We couldn’t be more excited about bringing this powerful, female-driven story to the screen with John and the Ivanhoe team,” Sharp added. “They are the perfect home for this project.”

 

Phil Hellmuth Drops $100K in ARIA Cash Game

15-time WSOP bracelet winner Phil Hellmuth is always at the top of his game and rarely loses, hence the multiple bracelet wins. But every once in a while, even the best of the best go through a bad patch. Seems like that is what happened to the “Poker Brat” recently at the ARIA Resort & Casino.

Phil Hellmuth
Phil Hellmuth

Hellmuth was seen participating in a 100/200 NL hold’em cash game where he lost almost $100,000. True to his gloating self, he couldn’t keep his miseries to himself and lamented about it over social media.

As it turns out he wasn’t moping all by himself and had celebrated basketball player Draymond Green to share his woes with. In fact, Green even posted a win.

 

Hellmuth’s night wasn’t over just yet as he treated his followers to a view of his classy suite at the Aria. The famous “037” rooms are renowned for their exquisite view of the bright lights overlooking Las Vegas.

View this post on Instagram

The “037” “wrap around” suites @AriaLV #PHNiceLife #POSITIVITY LOVE this hotel ❤️❤️

A post shared by Phil Hellmuth Jr. (@philhellmuthpositivity) on

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