People News: High Stakes Duel Round 3 – Is Phil Hellmuth Drake cursed? ;$1 million robbed from Chad Power and more…

In this column we deliver you the latest and most interesting news and gossip from our favourite poker people.

High Stakes Duel Round 3 – Is Phil Hellmuth Drake cursed?

The date is set for the third and probably final round of the High Stakes Duel between Daniel Negreanu and Phil Hellmuth. The two poker legends will battle it out on the felt on 23rd June. The first duel was for $100k, the second for $200k and this third one will be for a whooping $400k.

As with the other two matches, Daniel Negreanu is seen as the absolute favourite despite his two losses against the Poker Brat. Phil Hellmuth was able to win all three matches against Antonio Esfandiari in the previous Duel, but will he be able to do the same against DNegs?

Hellmuth might have cost himself the win already before even sitting down at the table. He proudly posted hanging out with Canadian rapper Drake recently and it is said that sports stars lose their next game after taking a picture with Drake.

Last name ever;
First name greatest,
Like a sprained ankle boy ain’t nothing to play with,
Started off local but thanks to all the haters,
I know G-IV pilots on a first name basis

Drizzy and I this week @Drake#POSITIVITY #PHNiceLife pic.twitter.com/bJ98v4aOuq

— phil_hellmuth (@phil_hellmuth) May 9, 2021

The match will of course be broadcast on PokerGO, so you can watch the action unfold yourself.

Dan Smith vs MJ Gonzales update

Another, way less promoted, heads-up challenge is underway between Dan Smith and MJ Gonzales. They are playing it out at the Aria Resort & Casino, but without the pomp of the PokerGO’s cameras.

The pair is playing $500/$1.000 with a $100k minimum buy-in. The fourth session recently concluded with Dan Smith absolutely crushing his opponent for $290k. This gives him a total lead of $378k.

At the moment it’s not clear when the challenge is over, if there is a specific amount of hands they want to play or just quit when one of them does not want to play anymore… we will keep you updated.

WPT $25k Heads-up Championship announced

And there’s even more heads-up action! The World Poker Tour Heads-up Championship has been announced for the dates of 18th to 22nd June in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico. 32 players will fork up $25k to fight for the top spots. Amongst these players will be Phil Ivey, Tom Dwan, Nick Schulman, Landon Tice and Brad Owen. The complete list of players will be announced soon.

Poker King, which is a site with more than 1.2 million registered users and has Tom Dwan and Phil Ivey in their ambassador team, published a nice trailer already, spiking interest in more:

Poker King presents the @WPT Heads Up Championship: A $25,000 buy-in tournament featuring 32 players including @PhilIvey @TomDwan @NickSchulman @TheBradOwen pic.twitter.com/byYRueADMH

— PokerKingMedia (@PokerKingMedia) May 20, 2021

The event will be streamed live on YouTube and Twitch.

$1 million robbery from Chad Power

Back in February poker player Chad Power reported a robbery at his home in Las Vegas. A safe had been stolen, containing $750k in cash and $250k in casino chips. It was suspected that the robbers had observed him playing at a casino, followed him home and then broke in once the house was empty.

Now it was reported that a known local gang member has been arrested. Security footage has shown two individuals with their masks down, breaking into Power’s home, but the second perpetrator has not been identified yet.

This is once again a reminder not to keep big amounts of your bankroll at home. If possible, always store it at the casino case. Most of us smaller stakes players probably won’t have these problems though.

Hustler Strip Club and Bike offers vaccines

To facilitate more vaccinations in gambling cities, casinos and strip clubs now seem to take it upon themselves to aid this process. The Bicycle Hotel & Casino in Los Angeles is offering vaccinations at their card room on 27th May only while the Hustler strip club in Las Vegas offers vaccinations in the afternoons.

An additional benefit to the vaccine will be a free platinum membership at the strip club. This probably doesn’t apply to all, however, as humans from the age of 12 are invited to get the vaccine at the establishment.