With Christmas coming this week, the tournament poker scene was all quiet in preparation for the new year. Yet there’s still plenty to discuss as Chance Kornuth stepped up to the plate in the Galfond Challenge. The poker world lost a legend in “Oklahoma” Johnny Hale. And the debate over re-entry events rages on all the more. Find all those stories and more in this – the weekend Hit and Run.
Phil Galfond and Chance Kornuth Set to Battle
The Galfond Challenge has been a little slow to take off with a couple of different players backing out before their sessions began. However, today Galfond announced that bracelet winner Chance Kornuth will take his shot against the Run It Once founder.
PartTimePoker’s own David Huber has the full story on how the match came to be. The two plan to play 35,000 hand with Kornuth getting 4:1 odds on his $250k.
I’m excited to announce that we’ve got a coach for the #GalfondChallenge!
Chance @ChancesCards Kornuth of @ChipLDR has stepped up to the plate 💪🏻
We plan to play 35k hands of €100/€200 PLO with a side bet of my €1m to his €250k.
May the best training site win. pic.twitter.com/6hO5tyKwaA
— Phil Galfond (@PhilGalfond) December 28, 2019
Huber’s article has the full story, so check it out, and keep coming back to PTP for the latest on the Challenge.
“Oklahoma” Johnny Hale Passes Away at Age 92
Born in 1927, Hale had been a staple at the World Series of Poker for decades. He would often give a short speech before the Senior’s Event at the WSOP, and called seniors the “lifeblood of poker.”
Hale made 7 final tables at the WSOP – all in the 80’s, but three in 1980 alone. He never was quite able to win his bracelet, although he did have an incredible five 3rd place finishes.
For those that listen to the DAT poker podcast with Daniel Negreanu, they might remember stories and jokes from Daniel about how Johnny was the first player to start stalling on the bubble. Trendsetter Johnny Hale.
Hale wrote a biography of his life in 1999 entitled: “The Life and Times of a Gentleman Gambler: ‘Oklahoma Johnny’ Hale on Poker & Las Vegas.”
Quick Hitters
-Over on PokerCentral.com Paul Seaton has a fun article about poker’s brother from another mother – video poker. Simply entitled “Video Poker Tips and Tricks” – Paul goes over some basic rules and advice that will make you a winner in no time… Or at least less of a loser.
-Meanwhile over on CardPlayer, Greg Raymer has penned another great article talking about how every hand is different. While there are certainly different optimal approaches to take to the game, Raymer often tells players “it depends.”
-Of course we would be remiss if we didn’t include a blog entry from Robbie Strazynski over at Cardplayerlifestyle.com. Robbie put out some great articles this week, but easily our favorite one comes from Ivan Potocki and discusses all sorts of odds and percentages in poker. Odds of being dealt quads? Or getting a royal flush or straight flush on the river? It’s all here.
-David Huber is back with another article on PartTimePoker discussing how the Twitter debate over re-entry events continues to rage on. Per that article “Poker players of all skill levels are taking to Twitter this holiday season to give their opinions on controversial poker tournament re-entries — a topic that was brought to the attention of the general peer-to-peer gambling community in October 2019 when WSOP announcer Norman Chad sharply criticized the practice.”
-And finally, Alex Weldon is back with a great post on Online Poker Report where he asks “Is Shared Liquidity Ever A Bad Thing For Online Poker Players?” Everyone craves merged player pools, but Alex takes a look at some of the pros AND cons.
Best Poker Videos on the Internet
-Live at the Bike! has been growing and growing in popularity and one of the moer popular players is MamaCita. And in this highlight clips she makes quads! Oh, there are some other big hands too.
-Meanwhile, if you haven’t subbed to the Solve for Why Youtube channel, what are you thinking? Berkey and the boys are back and better than ever, and one of their best concept if “Poker Out Loud.” It’s fantastic. Check it out here:
-And to wrap things up, Charlie Carrel is back playing another 25k High Roller. Oh, and have we mentioned the give away?
That’s all for this week! Keep coming back every day to PartTimePoker for your daily updates on all the action in the poker world.
PhotoCredits: Pokernews.com, WPT.com, Cardplayerlifestyle.com, PokerCentral.com, PartTimePoker.com, ESPN.com, PokerStars.com, PokerTube.com
Keith Woernle is a writer, comedian, and semi-pro poker player based out of New Jersey. He was a producer for season 10 of the World Poker Tour. Keith won a WSOP circuit ring in 2011. He likes poker a lot. Follow or contact him on Twitter @WoernlePoker.
