The 2020 PokerStars Championship didn’t happen and now it looks like the 2021 edition is off the table too. That’s where we start our weekly recap of the poker news.
2021 PokerStars Championship Has Been Delayed
While many were expecting last year’s delayed PokerStars Championship to finally play out this year, that won’t be the case. We aren’t going to be able to witness the PokerStars no-limit Hold’em Players Championship until further notice.
The championship had broken numerous records the very first time that it was held back in 2019, bringing in 1,039 entries and creating a prize pool of $26.4 million. They were supposed to follow this event up with a second one in 2020 but that was postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. There was a lot of hope that it would be rescheduled to 2021 but it doesn’t seem like PokerStars is ready to follow through with it just yet with everything going on in the world. They announced recently that they will be postponing the event for a second time, meaning it will not be held in 2021.
While it does look like travel is picking up in some places, there is also concern about a third COVID-19 wave in certain places. They wanted to get ahead of things and avoid the possible last-minute changes, which are always difficult with poker tournaments.
Vanessa Kade Wins PokerStars Sunday Million 15th Anniversary Event
Vanessa Kade walked away with a huge payday after winning the 15th anniversary in the PokerStars Sunday Million event. The event had lasted three days with a whopping 67,876 total entries but none were able to win as much as Kade, who collected $1,514,920.
She immediately took to Twitter right after to say that it was the best day of her life and that all of the pain and struggles were worth it in the end. Kade will now be getting a sponsorship deal of her own with Americas Cardroom. This comes a little while after the company picked up Chris Moneymaker back in February.
Kade was shockingly let go of her affiliation with GGPoker after making disgruntled comments about their new face of the company in Dan Bilzerian. The two went back and forth with one another before the group severed ties with Kade. Luckily, she now gets a brand-new company to continue her career with after her huge win.
Will Joyner Wins The 2021 Wynn Spring Classic Event
Will Joyner is six-figures richer after defeating a field of 1,251 entries and taking the the top prize in the 2021 Wynn Spring Classic $1,600 buy-in no-limit hold’em event. The event ended up having a bigger turnout than expected, which pushed the prize pool to $1,820,205 – much way higher than the $1 million guarantee.
Joyner took home the biggest chunk of that pool with a $243,188 prize for his first-place finish. He was able to strike a deal with Joey Weissman in order to finalize the event. This also happens to be the biggest score of his career with his previous highest coming from the $365, buy-in WSOP Circuit gold ring event back in 2017 for $90,112.
On top of the cash prize, he was also awarded with 960 Card Player Player of the Year points and is now placed in a tie for 17th place with James Carroll.