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In this edition of our PokerGuru 3-Bet, we start with the news of PokerStars Italy limiting multi-tabling to six tables at one time, on trial basis. The move has come as part of the steps being taken by The Star Group to improve the overall gaming experience for poker players and to encourage recreational players.
Next, we move to the recent announcement by WSOP bracelet winner James Obst aka Andy McLEOD who has shocked the poker community by declaring his plans to leave poker in order to play professional tennis.
We then wrap up with the report on Hayden Glassman winning the first event of 2018 Seneca Poker Summer Slam i.e. Event #1: $1,000 NLHE Deep Stack High Roller for $27,966, after a four-way chop.
Often online poker players experience difficulty when one or more of the players on their table slow down action as they multi-table through games. It not only slows down the entire game, other players also lose precious poker time and this affects the decisions they take. Recognizing this, and in a bid to encourage recreational players, online giant PokerStars has set the limit for players to multi-table at six cash games on its site and as a start, the limit is being applied to the PokerStars Italy client that will also see the introduction of the ‘Seat Me’ feature soon.
Making the announcement early this week, PokerStars declared that from July 17 onwards they will be testing a new feature, limiting multi-tabling to six tables at max, starting from Italy.
Subsequently in his blog on Thursday, Director of Poker Innovation and Operations at Stars Group Severin Rasset explained that both Seat Me and the new multi-table limit are means of achieving the company’s primary goal of making games on the site as sustainable as possible.
“That goal is achieved by creating an atmosphere where the game is fun, fast and enjoyable for all,” Rasset said.
For some time now, PokerStars has made a directional re-orientation towards recreational players, in tune with the wide belief that pros tend to monopolize the online games with their ability to multi-table a number of games and this discourages recreational players. The PokerStars’ VIP rewards system and other changes have been tailored to pull in more amateurs and push the growth of the poker industry.
In 2017, PokerStars introduced the ‘Seat Me’ feature on a trial basis in its site editions for Spain, France and Portugal. The feature prevents online players to table and seat select based on specific players at the tables.
The new six-table maximum multi-table limit will apply to regular cash games, while the current limits for Zoom and other games will remain the same.
While 99.7% of PokerStars players already play few tables at a time, according to Rasset, the Star Group believes the change will help improve the overall poker experience for customers. The trial run in Italy will allow the gaming giant to analyze the impact of the change before launching in other domains.
“In light of previous changes, we expect that winning more will be achieved by playing a wider range of hands and giving more action, which will lead to a much more fun game for all players,” Rasset said.
He revealed that the company also plans to roll out Seat Me in Italy in near future, with the intentions of eventually bringing the feature on all PokerStars.com platforms, assuming they find positive effects on the market as expected.
The list of professional poker players who have decided to leave the mind sport for other endeavors is ever expanding. The latest addition to that list is the former World Series of Poker (WSOP) bracelet winner James Obst.
Following the example of Vanessa Selbst who had announced her retirement from poker in December 2017 via a long Facebook post, Obst too has decided to call it quits. However, while Selbst had left poker to spend more time with her growing family and joined the investment management firm Bridgewater Associates, Obst had taken a completely different route by leaving one sport for another.
On the heels of his deep run at the WSOP Main Event World Championship, Obst announced his plans for leaving poker. Through a tweet posted on July 11, Obst said, “Running deep in the Main Event plays funny tricks on your mind. Despite disappointing results, it’s been an extremely enjoyable and fulfilling experience throughout. So much so that it’s left me regretting not integrating myself more within the community previously.”
He went on to add, “I never even conceived the possibility of sharing this publicly, but after feeling all of the support and interest in the last couple of days, I realise that if I all but disappeared from poker that some people would want to know why.”
Thanks ✌ï¸pic.twitter.com/0OiNm2IudC
— James Obst (@JamesObst) July 11, 2018
Obst’s announcement invoked a lot of responses from the poker fraternity, including Vanessa Selbst, Todd Brunson, Shannon Shorr, Ryan LaPlante, Andrew Lichtenburger and Adam Levy.
Kick ass dude. So cool. Great post and super excited to follow your tennis journey. Let me know if you ever need a hit in NYC, we have a great community of 100+ ppl 4.0+ out here always down to play any hour of the day.
— Vanessa Selbst (@VanessaSelbst) July 13, 2018
Sorry to see u go man. Best of luck with tennis and any new adventures u decide to tackle in the future. I hope we will get to see u from time to time once ur a big time star. 🙋♂ï¸
— Todd Brunson (@ToddBrunson) July 12, 2018
tough one last night man. you legend. gg.
— Shannon Shorr (@ShannonShorr) July 11, 2018
It seems that life in it’s own unique way is always pushing us towards becoming a greater version of ourselves. Nice post and GL dude! â¤ï¸
— Andrew Lichtenberger (@luckychewy) July 11, 2018
Respect. Best of luck getting to Centre Court. Also, no one ever fully leaves poker 😂
— Adam Levy (@Roothlus) July 11, 2018
Best of luck!
— Ryan LaplanteðŸ³ï¸ðŸŒˆ(@Protentialmn) July 11, 2018
Even the recently crowned World Champion John Cynn gave Obst his best wishes.
I appreciate this post and glad you haven’t regretted it enough to take it down before I got a chance to read it… good luck brotha!
— John Cynn (@john_cynn) July 12, 2018
Nevertheless, there is some respite for Obst’ fans as the bracelet winner has stated that he does not wish to completely disappear from poker, so he will play on rare occasions.
After grueling 15 hours of play, Hayden Glassman topped a field of 104 runners to bag the top prize of $27,966 in Event #1: $1,000 No-Limit Hold’em Deep Stack High Roller at the 2018 Seneca Poker Summer Slam. Fresh from his 340th place finish in the WSOP Main Event World Championship for $37,705, Glassman has taken his total live earnings to $312,081 with his latest win.
With an increased participation of 22 players from last year’s 82, the prize pool added up to $93,220, but only the top 12 were assured of a minimum payout of $1,58
Several local pros were seen at the event but were railed before reaching the money including Dan Wagner, Dave Grana, Rob Zaenglein, Chris Meyers, Jason Eisele, Patrick Tighe, Mark Roberts, Mike Rellinger and defending champion Peter Raimondi.
DJ MacKinnon busted on the money bubble when his pocket eights lost out to Glassman’s ace-jack, who paired his ace on the river.
Nate Kross (12th for $1,958), Blake Napierala (11th for $1,958) and Aaron Olshan (10th for $1,958) busted before the nine-handed final table was set up.
Final Table Recap
The first to depart from the American dominated final table was Kurt Boutelle. His could not hold on against Silvio DeRubeis as the board ran .
Frank Parisi was busted in eighth place as he went head-to-head with Budwey Salhab. The board missed both players but Salhab’s pocket tens were good to bust Parisi’s .
Paul Bitterman was kicked out by Barry Kruger’s jack kicker in seventh place while Silvio DeRubeis’ pocket rockets were cracked by Scott Murawa’s in sixth place.
After a 10-minute break, Scott Murawa went up against Glassman. As the community cards fanned out , Glassman tabled to show that he had flopped two pairs of queens and deuces. Murawa mucked his hand and moved on to collect the fifth-place prize money.
The remaining three finalists decided to opt for a chop, but Glassman turned down multiple requests, only agreeing when he was offered the full value of first place. He decided to give back $1,000 to play for along with the trophy.
Glassman then went on to eliminate Budwey Salhab and Steven Filipovic in fourth and third place respectively, setting up the heads-up match with Barry Kruger.
Soon enough, on the final hand, all the chip went in on the flop . Glassman tabled and was in the lead with three-of-a-kind fives, against Kruger’s for two pairs The turn and river missed both players and Kruger had to contend with his runner-up finish as Glassman took down the pot and the title.
Final Table Results (USD)
1. Hayden Glassman – $27,966*
2. Barry Kruger – $12,800*
3. Steven Filipovic – $12,800*
4. BudweySalhab – $12,800*
5. Scott Murawa – $6,525
6. Silvio DeRubeis – $4,847
7. Paul Bitterman – $3,915
8. Frank Parisi – $3,169
9. Kurt Boutelle – $2,517
*denotes four-way deal
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