The Tarrant County Sheriff’s Department raided the Copa Club, a poker room in Westlake, Texas, on Monday. The Forth Worth area club posted a note on its Instagram page to inform customers of the room’s closure. “Due to unforeseen circumstances, we are closed at the moment. We sincerely apologize for any inconvenience, and appreciate your understanding. We will keep you updated, and we look forward to reopening our doors to you very promptly,” the business wrote.

Rising actor Timothee Chalamet celebrated his recent Oscar nomination not with champagne and cigars but with a poker night filled with A-listers like Tobey Maguire, Kid Cudi and Kevin Hart — on second thought, cigars and champagne were definitely a part of the equation. Chalamet, who was first revealed to be a poker player on the red carpet in January, is nominated for the Best Actor Oscar for his portrayal of folk musician Bob Dylan in the biopic A Complete Unknown.

Self-proclaimed “best sports bettor in the world” Sean Perry will step back into the poker arena to face Matt Berkey, whom he referred to as a “clown,” on PokerGO’s next High Stakes Duel contest. Berkey defeated Jared Bleznick in a pot-limit Omaha/no-limit hold’em mixed cash game battle on High Stakes Duel 6 earlier this month. Bleznick was fresh off three straight wins over Patrik Antonius on the heads-up poker show, which began in 2020 with Phil Hellmuth dropping Antonio Esfandiari in three consecutive matches.

Online poker players of a certain age will remember the excitement and exhilaration of watching the world’s best cash game players battle it out for pots most mere mortals could only dream of winning. Rail Heaven on the now-defunct Full Tilt Poker was a haven for the so-called “nosebleed” stakes players. Poker fans opened tables and watched Goliaths such as Tom “durrrr” Dwan, Phil Ivey, Patrik Antonius, and countless others lock horns in cash games with $100/$200 to $500/$1,000 blinds!

Table Of Contents The LA Poker Classic has a long and storied history in the poker world, and few players would know that history better than Michael Nia. The Southern California native has been playing this event for more than 15 years, and earned a special piece of hardware at The Commerce Casino & Hotel. After four days of dramatic action, the 71-year-old Nia reached a heads-up deal with Elvyn Bello, earning the victory in the $10,000 LAPC Main Event.

Table Of Contents As the cherry blossoms bloom and the ocean breeze sweeps across Jeju Island, poker players from around the world are getting ready for one of Asia’s most exciting poker festivals—the 2025 Korea Poker Cup (KPC). From April 7-13, the Jeju Landing Casino will become the ultimate poker battleground, offering high-stakes action and ten figures in combined guarantees. While the cards may be the main attraction, KPC understands that the players want a holistic experience and will deliver top-tier action at the tables and unforgettable moments away from them.

Table Of Contents The Amateur Poker Association & Tour (APAT) has delighted recreational poker players everywhere by announcing the dates of the 2025 World Championship Of Amateur Poker (WCOAP). Known in the APAT community as “the worlds,” the WCOAP is a week-long festival featuring bankroll-friendly tournaments across various formats and variants. Players flock to the WCOAP in droves, hoping to become a world champion in the amateur realm and capture a WCOAP bracelet and one of APAT’s famous medals.

Table Of Contents Nobody has managed to win the Kings of Tallinn Main Event twice in the popular event’s ten-year history. That fact could be set to change after Karl Karlsson and Priit Parmasto, Kings of Tallinn champions in 2020 and 2023, respectively, progressed to Day 2 of the 2025 edition. Three of five scheduled flights are done and dusted. The current attendance stands at 433 entries across that trio of Day 1s, with 158 players punching their Day 2 tickets.

Table Of Contents The World Series of Poker Circuit (WSOPC) festival at Harrah’s Cherokee made headlines, though not for the usual reasons. On Day 2 of the event, a man entered the tournament area during a break and started flipping tables, damaging property and scattering chips. The man turned three tables over before being subdued. After just a couple of hours in which they carefully reviewed the security footage and took counts from the players, the team at Harrah’s was able to reconstruct the overturned stacks and the tournament got back on track.

Table Of Contents Ted Forrest is an annual Poker Hall of Fame (PHOF) candidate, and one poker legend is making a surprising push to get the six-time World Series of Poker (WSOP) bracelet winner off the sidelines and into the exclusive club. John Hennigan, inducted into the PHOF along with Mori Eskandani in 2018, doesn’t speak publicly often. But “Johnny World” feels so strongly about Forrest being deserving that he not only penned an op-ed for PokerNews about the topic, he did so in support of a poker pro he isn’t exactly best friends with these days.

Table Of Contents The World Series of Poker Circuit (WSOPC) is returning to Toronto under the new leadership of GGPoker for a Circuit stop running April 10-22 with 11 Circuit ring events. WSOP and GGPoker announced the WSOPC Circuit Toronto stop today, which will take place at Great Canadian Toronto. It follows last year’s inaugural Toronto Circuit series, this time with an expanded schedule and increased prize pools. Returning to Toronto The announcement follows news earlier this year that Great Canadian Toronto in Ontario would be the exclusive partner of GGPoker, meaning all bracelet and ring events will be run through the Toronto casino.

Table Of Contents As the build-up intensifies for the upcoming boxing match between Chris Eubank Jr. and Conor Benn, the war of words took a surprising turn at Tuesday’s press conference. Benn made explosive claims about Eubank Jr., alleging that the British boxer owes Brazilian football star Neymar £4 million in poker debts. Benn didn’t hold back, questioning Eubank Jr.’s financial motivations for agreeing to the fight. “Do you know why you need the money?

Table Of Contents The World Poker Tour (WPT) Cambodia Championship wrapped up on February 25 with the crowning of the $3,500 Main Event champion. Over the course of the festival, the WPT processed 10,240 entries and re-entries, and awarded $11,242,891 in prize money. Some 750 of those entries and $2,400,750 of the prize money stemmed from the Main Event, with Artem Vezhenkov claiming the $390,650 top prize, the winner’s trophy, and a $10,400 seat in the season-ending WPT World Championship at Wynn Las Vegas.

Table Of Contents Tuesday at the Olympic Park Casino was buzzing as the Kings of Tallinn Main Event finally got underway, kicking off with a guaranteed €1 million prize pool and a whole lot of excitement. With Day 1B and 1C flights taking centre stage today, the series’ headline event drew 175 hopefuls, all taking their first shot at glory. After nine levels of battling on the felt, just 60 players survived, locking up their seats for Friday’s Day 2.

Table Of Contents Day 3 of the $215 Mystery Bounty Main Event is in the books here at the PokerNews Online Championship hosted by 888poker, after less than two hours of play. Germany’s “nonoty” entered the final table as second in chips and put on a dominating performance en route to victory. They topped a field of 1,530 entries, capturing a total of $39,172 from the overall $306,000 prize pool with $22,792 making up the first-place prize.

Doug Polk has another online poker challenge planned, this one on ClubWPT Gold, a new social poker site that is, at the very least, entertaining the poker community on X. The heads-up poker legend and co-owner of The Lodge Card Club near Austin, Texas is setting out to win $100,000 playing online poker in a month. Per his tweet, he will begin the challenge March 3, and livestream the action throughout on his YouTube channel, where he has 420,000 subscribers.

Table Of Contents The RunGood Poker Series (RGPS) is headed to Horseshoe Casino Tunica in Mississippi for a stop taking place March 11-16. The Mission RunGood Tunica stop will award a dozen rings over six days and will culminate with a $600 buy-in Main Event with a $200,000 guarantee. The series will also feature a $50,000 guaranteed DeepStack Ring Event and $40,000 in guarantees across other events. $200k Guaranteed Main Event Action in Tunica will kick off on March 11 with a $250 Seniors Ring Event, a $250 Series Opener Ring Event and a $200 Guest Bounty Ring Event.

Table Of Contents Waka Flocka Flame, a famous rapper, played poker earlier this month in Las Vegas alongside athletes and influencers as part of the rowdy and high-octane Celebrity Poker Tour (CPT) Game Night V. Just a day earlier, he mourned the loss of Murder Inc. Records founder Irv Gotti, a legendary hip-hop figure who was found dead from a stroke suffered during a poker game. Gotti, 54, is credited with discovering or signing rappers such as Jay-Z, Ja Rule, and DMX.

Table Of Contents A week to the day after Miami John Cernuto’spassing, poker players honored the mixed game legend with a commemorative poker tournament in Las Vegas. The inaugural Miami John Commemorative O/E event took place on Feb. 17 during the Cardplayer Lifestyle Mixed Game Festival X at Resorts World Las Vegas, which kicked off on Presidents’ Day and ran through Feb. 20. The $300 buy-in event drew 36 runners for a prize pool of $9,000.

Daniel Wojcik and Trung Pham chopped the Lodge Championship Series Half Milly event for just over $100,000 a piece, but a controversial hand occurred during the action-packed final table. The $500,000 guaranteed event at Texas’ The Lodge Card Club, a $400 buy-in no-limit hold’em contest, had over $800,000 in the pot. Sunday’s Day 2 session, livestreamed on the card room’s YouTube channel, played down to a winner. The final two players agreed to a chop following a heads-up cooler, with Wojcik earning the trophy and $100,072, while the runner-up was paid a slight bit more at $102,614.

Table Of Contents The 2025 Irish Open is only weeks away, with the first eagerly anticipated event shuffling up and dealing at noon on April 10. Expect a star-studded field, including eight PokerStars ambassadors, to be right into the thick of the action in the €1,150 buy-in Mystery Bounty. Not only does that event have a €1 million guarantee on its prize pool, but it is the first chance for PokerStars ambassadors to earn points for their respective teams in the Shamrock Showdown.

Table Of Contents The poker world has gathered at OlyBet’s Olympic Park Casino for a landmark celebration as the Kings of Tallinn marks its 10th anniversary with its biggest festival to date. Now firmly established as Northern Europe’s premier poker series, Kings of Tallinn has become a must-play event, and this year’s edition—running until March 2—is already in full swing after kicking off on February 20. With nearly €500,000 already awarded in prizes, the stakes are only getting higher as Tuesday saw the start of the festival’s marquee event—the €1 million guaranteed Kings of Tallinn Main Event.

Table Of Contents Action has wrapped up in Day 2 of the $215 Mystery Bounty Main Event in the PokerNews Online Championship hosted by 888poker, after nearly four hours of play. Of the 219 runners who started the day, only eight players will return for Day 3 on February 25 to play out the final table. The player who sits atop the counts heading into Day 3 is “CurrD” of the United Kingdom, with an impressive 3,965,492.

Table Of Contents Alan Keating made one of the best televised poker calls seen in a while during Monday’s episode of High Stakes Poker, and it was one of many monster pots in the nosebleed-stakes cash game. The sixth episode of Season 14 provided action from start to finish, and it kind-of-sort-of included the largest pot in High Stakes Poker history (more on this later), and a $910,000 hand Keating took down when he sniffed out a bluff.

Table Of Contents For the sixth time, the PokerGO studio at ARIA Las Vegas was filled to the brim with a mix of the industry’s biggest names, notable players, and well-beloved content creators to celebrate the Global Poker Awards. No fewer than 38 awards were handed out during the two-hour show, including a second win for 2022 GPI Female Player of the Year Cherish Andrews, who was once again recognized and gave a heartfelt speech about her brother who passed away during her career year.

Table Of Contents It took over 24 hours, but Ebony Kenney eventually responded on Sunday to a year-old image that surfaced showing a real-time assistance (RTA) chart on her computer screen while playing online poker. But the poker community doesn’t seem to be buying the excuse. The same can be said about social media comments made by the poker site Kenney represents — ACR Poker — in regards to their ambassador’s controversy.

Table Of Contents The World Series of Poker Circuit is heading to the Oil Capital of the World on March 5 for the WSOP Circuit Hard Rock Tulsa. For two weeks, the Hard Rock Tulsa will host players for 18 WSOPC ring events. In particular, the casino will cater primarily to low-stakes players, putting on a wide spread of $250 and $400 buy in tournaments. As a result, this is going to be a great opportunity for beginners who want to play in their first serious tournaments.

Table Of Contents PokerStars has announced two more stops for the 2025 European Poker Tour (EPT), taking the total to four legs. Players already knew about the since-cancelled EPT Paris, EPT Monte-Carlo, and EPT Barcelona. However, on February 24, details of EPT Malta and fan-favorite EPT Prague emerged. EPT Monte-Carlo is scheduled for May 4-10, with EPT Barcelona scheduled for August 24-31. And let’s not forget about the newcomer to the live circuit, the PokerStars Opens.

Table Of Contents Welcome to the latest edition of the Stream Showcase, where PokerNews scours the internet for some of the biggest moments caught on stream during the past month. In this edition, you’ll see that pocket kings giveth but also taketh, Global Poker Index winner Benjamin “Spraggy” Spragg’s magic hand, a triple victory for Lasse Jagd “Wistern” Lauritsen, a historic PokerStars hand, and more! Pull up your favorite chair, grab a drink, and sit back and enjoy some of the highlights from the streaming world.

Table Of Contents The first two events of the 2025 Grosvenor UK Open have crowned their worthy champions as the two-week-long festival exploded into action. The £115 No-Limit Hold’em Ladies Championship and the £440 No-Limit Hold’em Mystery Bounty events are done and dusted, with Jacqueline Sherwood and Dale Wilson helping themselves to the respective titles. Ninety-five women bought into the £115 Ladies Championship, creating a £9,020 prize pool that the top 12 finishers shared.

Table Of Contents The RunGood Poker Series’ triumphant return to Jamul Casino saw an uptick in entrants as compared to last November. A grand total of 407 entrants over the course of three flights of play beat the set prize pool guarantee and left $211,640 to be split between 52 players. After ten hours of play, there was just one player standing alone at the end. It was just four short months ago that Kenneth Hirose claimed a career-best score at the WSOP Circuit Commerce.

Table Of Contents Brazilian superstar Dalton “daltonhb” Hobold wrote his name into PokerStars’ history books, where he will forever be known as the first-ever champion of the Sunday Million Phased. PokerStars spiced up online poker’s most famous weekly tournament by running several phases (Day 1s) throughout the week before concluding the tournament on February 23. Players seemed to enjoy the phased format, with 12,858 players creating a $1,285,800 prize pool, making it one of the richest Sunday Millions in recent weeks and the perfect way to kick off the Sunday Million Season.

Table Of Contents The wait is nearly over. PokerStars is about to usher in a brand new era of live poker with the launch of the PokerStars Open, and it all kicks off in the stunning setting of Campione, Italy, from March 10-16, 2025. With an action-packed schedule, a fresh vision for live events, and the chance to earn points for the recently introduced PokerStars Live League, this series is ready to make an instant impact on the poker community.

Table Of Contents The 2025 edition of the PokerNews Online Championship (PNOC) is nearing a thrilling conclusion, with only a trio of flights remaining in the $300,000 guaranteed Mystery Bounty Main Event. Those Day 1s run on February 24 in time for Day 2, also on February 24, before the final table shuffles up and deasl a day later under the watchful eyes of the 888poker Twitch channel and the PokerNews live reporting team.

The World Series of Poker Circuit (WSOPC) Main Event at Harrah’s Cherokee erupted into chaos on Sunday as a man flipped over three poker tables in an apparent fit of rage. The incident took place on Day 2 of the $1,700 buy-in Main Event with 65 players left. A video posted to X by four-time Circuit ring winner David Moses shows several tables overturned inside the Harrah’s ballroom with players looking on in disbelief.

The GGPoker online poker site experienced major technical issues causing a crash on Sunday during one of its biggest winter events. Kevin Martin, a GGPoker ambassador, shared with his X followers some information he was provided by the site’s web developers. The former reality TV star had been competing in, and livestreaming, the $150 buy-in GGMasters Anniversary no-limit hold’em event that had a $5 million guaranteed prize pool and over 20,000 entrants.