2 Minutes Read
German poker prodigy Fedor Holz recently disclosed how 2021 was a losing year for him, where he lost as much as $1.50 Million. Holz has been trying to rev up his performance on a psychological level, and it looks like the GGPoker Ambassador is back to his winning ways and on track to meet his goal of doing significantly better in 2022. On May 10, the German had made it to the final table of one of the biggest weekly tournaments, the $1.5 Million GTD Super MILLION$, and finished second for $429,996. Now that’s quite a comeback!
The All-Time Money List topper and the protagonist of the much-discussed alleged cheating, ghosting, and collusion scandal, Bryn Kenney, now has another unflattering tag on his head – that for losing one of the biggest pots in the history of High Stakes Poker. PokerGO broadcast Episode 12 of Season 9 of the show last Monday, and towards the end of the episode, Kenney took one of the sickest bad beats in the show’s history, losing a $934K pot to Krish Menon, who two-outered him on the river.
GGPoker Ambassador Daniel Negreanu was invited by Doug Polk on his podcast this week to discuss raging topics like Phil Hellmuth’s recent behavior, high-stakes cheating, etc. But just days ago, Negreanu drew criticism for opining why female participation in poker continues to remain low. Some of his reasons didn’t go down too well with many, including Polk.
Fedor Holz Reveals He Lost $1.50 Million in 2021
German poker pro and GGPoker Ambassador Fedor Holz had hoped 2021 would be a comeback year for him, but it was not to be! Holz revealed that he dropped close to $1.50 Million playing online MTTs last year, making it his worst year in poker. However, the sample size was not too big as he played only 500 tournaments.
On the bright side, he shared that he sold half of his action, cutting down his significant losses by half to about $700,000. The Poker Code founder and coach confessed that he had played around 5,000 online tournaments in 2020, and compared to that, his MTT volume last year was significantly less.
Holz shared his 2021 results in a YouTube video he tweeted on March 28 and analyzed his performance by comparing it with his more successful years.
After a hot 2020 I had a losing year in 2021 and share my results:https://t.co/VrlYPEkLaN
— Fedor Holz ? (@CrownUpGuy) March 28, 2022
As much as Holz makes it sound awful, it’s not that bad. In 2020, he made $2 Million in MTTs with an average buy-in of $3,500. In comparison, if his 2021 losses look enormous, it boils down to only 40 buy-ins, a modest downswing for any tournament player. Holz recorded a higher win rate in events with an ABI of $400 on average compared to his high-stakes results.
But Holz being the player he is, shares that he is now trying to adjust to his poor performance on a psychological level. The talented player has even been in the center of GGPoker’s “Ask Fedor” feature, an AI tool that reviews hand histories and shares feedback on how you should play a particular hand.
Holz has been planning to put in more volume this year and is convinced he may be on the negative side of variance but should be able to change that soon. He has been working to improve his mindset for the game, and the results are already showing. The German poker superstar FT-ed of the GGPoker-hosted $1.50 Million GTD Super MILLION$ just two days back. Coming into the FT second in chips on Wednesday, he finished runner-up for a hefty $429,996, with Artur Martirosian taking down the title for $557,636.
The cards-up FT replay of the Super MILLION$ is a MUST WATCH for everyone.
Bryn Kenney Takes One of the Sickest Bad Beats in High Stakes Poker History
There’s no shortage of exciting moments in poker, and one we’re about to talk about involves Bryn Kenney, the #1 ranked player on the All-Time Money List. Kenney, who has been tainted in the poker community for his active involvement in an alleged cheating scandal, recently lost one of the biggest hands shown on High Stakes Poker.
The episode was filmed by PokerGO much before all hell broke loose for Kenney over allegations of him running a cult-like cheating ring. The hand in question was broadcast last Monday as Episode 12 of Season 9. Making an appearance in the show was John Andress, Tom Dwan, Eric Persson, Garret Adelstein, Patrik Antonius, Krish Menon, Stanley Tang, and Kenney.
Towards the latter part of the episode, Stanley Tang (UTG) straddled to $2,000. Krish Menon raised it to $7,000 from the early position with . Kenney three-bet to $20,000 with from late position. Only Menon called, making it two way to the flop .
Menon opted to check, and Kenney, who hit trip sixes, fired a bet of $30,000. Playing against the world’s winningest player can be intimidating, but Menon was unfazed. He called.
The on the turn completed Kenney’s full house.
Menon checked again, and Kenney bet $80,000. Everyone watching must have gaped as Menon announced a “raise to $200,000!” Kenney quickly called.
The on the river gave Menon one of only two cards left in the deck that could win him the pot, and he predictably jammed. Kenney snap-called, growing the pot to $934,500, only to find out that he had lost one of the biggest hands in the show’s history!
Daniel Negreanu Draws Criticism For His Take on Possible Reasons For Low Women Participation in Poker
GGPoker Ambassador Daniel Negreanu recently broached the important subject of why the participation of women in poker remains less, even today.
In a tweet last week, Negreanu pointed out that he’s been in the business of playing poker for 26 years and has seen that women form only 5% of the tournament fields, a situation that has remained so since 1996.
26 consecutive years as a pro poker player hearing the same “getting women into poker is an untapped market” discussion.
Tapping efforts have yet to increase participation past roughly 5% of fields.
It was the same in 96’ as it is today.
— Daniel Negreanu (@RealKidPoker) May 7, 2022
Negreanu also listed the five common reasons he thought women don’t play poker. Something many in the poker community did not agree with.
Doug Polk was the first to disagree with Negreanu’s comments publicly. Polk countered that he had noticed a significant jump in the female audience in his latest videos.
Don't agree, I'm personally seeing a large increase in female audience on my latest videos pic.twitter.com/nm3TfPRl1Q
— Doug Polk (@DougPolkVids) May 7, 2022
Xuan Liu, one of the recent High Stakes Poker participants, responded by asking how many marketing efforts have been made since 1996 to pull more women to the game.
On the other hand, Matt Glantz countered how the gender pay gap and raising children were valid reasons when most casino slot players were women.
How are Gender Pay Gap and Raising Children valid when a majority of casino slot players are women???
A woman can just as easily find a cheap poker game as cheap slots.
These 'excuses' are nonsense.
— Matt Glantz (@MattGlantz) May 8, 2022
Several accomplished women poker pros reacted to Negreanu’s tweet, including Maria Ho, who countered Glantz’s comment by saying she wasn’t a mother yet, but she won’t be able to play when she has a child.
Comparing the time investment poker requires especially in tournaments to the time it takes to sit at a slot machines for a couple pulls is pretty absurd. I’m not a mother yet but it’s definitely crossed my mind lots of times that when I have a child I won’t be able to play poker
— Maria Ho (@MariaHo) May 8, 2022
Jennifer Shahade pitched in by citing the gender wealth gap and lack of community as relevant reasons for limited female participation.
Gender Wealth Gap. This may sound like nitpicking #1 but wealth at least as relevant as pay when it comes to poker, especially high stakes/live (also contributing to limited diversity/intersectionality)
— Jennifer Shahade (@JenShahade) May 8, 2022
Lack of community. Would love to see women have tons of choices for other women where they live to travel with/swap/talk hands with. Lots of great orgs improving the scene here, like @joinpokerpower (which I'm on the board of). We could see a record-breaking WSOP Ladies.
— Jennifer Shahade (@JenShahade) May 8, 2022
When asked what he meant by the gender pay gap, Negreanu replied that he was referring to the disparity in disposable income.
Can you elaborate on #1? Serious question.
If a woman wins a $400 pot, does she only get 70%, where a male gets the full amount?
Are female dealers paid/tipped less than their male counterparts? Winning a tournament gets the same payouts for any gender, right?— Joseph W. (@Hockey_Poker) May 8, 2022
Disparity in disposable income
— Daniel Negreanu (@RealKidPoker) May 8, 2022
Some followers said Negreanu’s comments reeked of sexism. Still, he pointed out that scientific studies say there are innate differences in interests between men and women, and nature and nurture play a role.
According to scientific studies, it does appear to show innate differences in terms of interest.
So #3 being nurture while #5 being nature
— Daniel Negreanu (@RealKidPoker) May 8, 2022
On the surface, it may sound true that men have higher income and thus more money to play poker. But this is just one facet of the issue. According to Ruth Hall, poker is predominantly a male game. She said, “Walking into a poker room for the first time can be intimidating to anyone.”
Former MSPT champion Kyna England was among those who vehemently opposed Negreanu’s views. England pointed out – “I think that much more is happening now in poker for women. Many educational groups and media (both written and social) share success stories for women. I don’t think what Daniel said was necessary and I was disappointed to see it.”
England also gave thumbs down to PokerGO for not streaming the $1K Ladies NLHE event in the upcoming 53rd annual WSOP.
Founder of Poker League of Nations, Lena Evans, cited a study to underline that having inadequate bankrolls have limited women’s representation in the game.
Jennifer Harman, Kristen Bicknell, and Liv Boeree also pitched in with their thoughts.
What Negreanu began with a tweet certainly snowballed into a heated argument on the topic.