This week’s poker news starts off with a big celebrity joining the PokerStars family and then follows up with a couple of big wins in the Aussie Millions and the U.S. Poker Open. Here is a closer look at this week’s poker headlines:
Kevin Hart Opens Up Poker School
Kevin Hart is one of the funniest comedians of our time but his next endeavor is no joke. A little-known fact about the popular actor/entertainer is that he’s also an avid poker player. Hart teamed up with PokerStars to produce a series of instructional videos that will be educational to new poker players. Of course, with Hart involved, you know that there are going to be some laughs. The idea is for the videos to be short and consumable, so that young new players can get a quick intro to the game and be entertained. The first two videos are about poker etiquette and poker faces. They’re only a week old but have already generated views in the tens of thousands.
Hart still has a lot to learn about the game as well, so he’ll be coached up for the videos. He recently tried to hold a straight in a PokerStars championship but found out later that it wasn’t actually a straight.
Lewis Wins Aussie Millions Main Event
Toby Lewis, a well-known veteran in poker circles, took the biggest prize at the 2018 Aussie Millions. He entered the final table of the main event as the chip leader and made it count, finishing in first place with a grand prize of $1,156,653. He finished ahead of Stefan Huber, who won $721,579, while Espan Solaas came in third with $933,686 (there was a three-way deal agreed upon between the top three). Chul-Hyon Park finished in fourth place with $372,807, while Mike Del Vecchio rounded out the top five with $293,486. It was the biggest payday of Lewis’ career, one that has seen him earn almost $4.4 million. It was his first payday of six figures or more since he finished second in a World Series of Poker event in March 2017.
2018 is definitely off to a good start for Lewis, who now sits 11th on England’s all-time money list. If all goes well, he should be in the top 10 by the end of the year.
Gorodinsky Takes Pot-Limit Omaha Event
The U.S. Poker Open has been taking place this week in Las Vegas. In the Pot-Limit Omaha Event #2, Mike Gorodinsky came out on top. Gorodinsky was clearly the class of the final table as he eliminated everyone in his path to go home with $179,200 in winnings. Richard Kirsch came into the final table as the chip leader but ended up finishing second with $128,000. Rainer Kempe finished third with $83,200, Anthony Zinno would come in fourth with $64,000 and Andjelko Andrejevic finished fifth with $51,200. It wasn’t quite the biggest payday of Gorodinsky’s career as he won $1.27 million in June 2015 for winning The Players Championship at the World Series of Poker. However, that was the last time he collected a payday of six figures (or more).