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Dan Bekavac, the organizer accused of scamming players in a 2020 Midway Poker Tour event, competed in an MSPT tournament in Grand Falls, on Saturday. The players in Illinois he’s owed for months, however, might be rooting for him to cash.
Dan Bekavac had money to play in an MSPT event, but not to pay the poker players he owes. (Image: Twitter/Chad Holloway)
The Mid-States Poker Tour is hosting an $1,100 main event with a $200,000 guarantee. Bekavac bagged a Day 1 stack of 61,300, which is above average.
He’ll be on to Day 2 as he hopes to win his second career MSPT event. That might be good news for those to whom he owes money. In 2019, he won his first MSPT event in Milwaukee, WI, for $126,000.
Seminole Hard Rock in Hollywood, Florida kicked off the
2021 Lucky Hearts Poker Open, which is slated to run through January 26 and will culminate with a
$3,500 buy-in, $1 million GTD World Poker Tour (WPT) Main Event.
Leading up to that tournament is a series of side events. Over the weekend, several winners have been crowned including one who took down a title and came close to winning another⦠twice. Additionally, a single tournament minted a trio of six-figure winners. Read about those stories and more below.
Yuval Bronshtein Hits a Heater
On Thursday, January 14,
Event #2: $400 Limit Omaha 8, which was played in a freezeout format, drew 123 players who created a $41,205 prize pool. It marked the second-largest Omaha 8 event in SHR Pokerâs history behind only the 153 runners from the 2011 Poker Showdown.
Seminole Hard Rock with a $1 million guarantee.
Both events offer a look at the bounce back of the live poker scene. In announcing the Venetian tournament, the tour and property stressed their commitment to safety during the pandemic.
The Venetian operates under its “
Clean Commitment” program, featuring 800 initiatives to minimize risk for guests, players, and employees. The poker room safety measures include:
all players sanitizing their hands before sitting down at a table
cleaning protocols to address the ongoing sanitization of chips, cards, and shufflers
transparent dividers between players
face masks worn in all areas per Nevada regulations
Players can expect a traditional WPT experience in the Venetian and Lucky Hearts. Winners earn Hublot
Friday, December 18th, 2020 | Written by Renee
Earlier this month, the Seminole Hard Rock Tampa played host to the 2020 Winter Poker Open, the first major poker series to take place since the start of the pandemic. After almost two weeks of live action, the festival finally concluded, with South Carolina native Max Young emerging as one of the biggest winners.
Action Recap
The series culminated in the $1,700 buy-in Main Event which featured $200K in guarantees, but ended up awarding a whopping $1,207,450 in total prize pool after attracting 779 entries. That number was reduced to just 125 when action resumed on Day 2. It’s when Young began to climb to the top, and he managed to carry his lead through to the seven-handed final table.
2020 Winter Poker Open (WPO) at the
Seminole Hard Rock Tampa marked the first big poker series to play out at the series since the pandemic began. The eight-event series proved to be a big hit, especially the
$1,700 buy-in, $200K GTD Main Event, which absolutely crushed it by attracting 779 runners (up from 479 the year before) and offering up a $1,207,450 prize pool.
Emerging victorious in that tournament was well-known circuit grinder
Max Young, who captured the guitar trophy and a hefty $226,510 top prize. It marked the second-largest score of his career and brought his lifetime tournament earnings up to $1,941,679.
It was the latest title for Young, who has a case full of trophies. Not only is he a six-time WSOP Circuit ring winner, including a win in the 2018 WSOPC Choctaw Main Event for a career-high $263,815, heâs also won MSPT and WPTDeepStacks titles, and captured titles at Parx, Wynn, Chinook Winds, and Wildhorse Resort & Casino in Pendleton.