People News: Ivan Deyra loses Winamax title and ambassadorship; Galfond Challenge vs Kornuth concludes; Anatoly Filatov plays for GGPoker; Martin Jacobson leaves 888Poker Team Pro

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

Ivan Deyra loses Winamax title and ambassadorship

The French player Ivan Deyra is known to have won a World Series of Poker bracelet back in 2019 and he was a Winamax pro. Recently he won over €83,000 in the Winamax Series by multi-accounting, as it turns out.

The well-known French poker forum Club Poker uncovered that Deyra busted from the tournament and then used an account registered to his father’s name to go on and win the event. Incredibly the forum members discovered that this pseudonym was put together using the Christian names of Deyra’s brothers and sisters.

Deyra had to return his winnings and also admitted the “crime” in a statement: “Today, with hindsight I recognize the cheating aspect of multi-accounting,” Deyra said. “In the past, I realized when doing my finances that on Winamax I hadn’t been making money for three years, since I became a Team Pro. After asking myself several questions about my game. I came up with a theory. Players change nicknames every six months. All the information that I collect on their play disappears at this time, but the reverse is not true since I keep the same nickname.”

Considering his position in the industry, this statement does sound like a weak excuse. But he continues with more remorse: “Neither [Winamax] nor I would have wanted this, but it is so. How could I have been so naive or oblivious? For the days and nights that follow, I am searching within myself to dig into the reasons for this unforgivable and serious act. I have given all my energy and passion for poker, through blogs, strategy videos, deep runs, my dreams, my [setbacks] and team spirit, ever since my first day as a pro. I will continue to share this with you until the end.”

In addition to the tournament winnings of the proven cheated event, Deyra also had to give up his ambassadorship with Winamax.

At least he will now be able to change his username as well.

Galfond Challenge vs Kornuth concludes

The Galfond Challenge has been more of a proof of Galfond’s poker skills rather than a marketing tool to promote his online poker platform Run It Once Poker. Most games have been played on other poker platforms than RIO due to regional and deposit restrictions.

And so was the latest installment of the Galfond Challenge, where our hero Phil battled against Chance Kornuth over 5 months in $100/$200 PLO on WSOP.com. For a long stretch of the match it looked like Kornuth was getting the better of Galfond. It probably wasn’t the reason for a turn of events, but it might have helped to swing the pendulum the other way, that Kornuth became a dad in December.

Last week Kornuth surprised his fans and followers of the challenge by pulling out and taking the $726,500 loss.

I’ve decided to concede the challenge . Congrats to @PhilGalfond on another #GalfondChallenge Victory. It was an incredibly fun battle even though I lost. Going to take a few days w/ friends and family, and share more about my experience in the weeks to come on @ChipLDR

— Chance Kornuth (@ChancesCards) January 23, 2021

Phil Galfond also showed his surprise, but of course accepted another victory after having beaten VeniVidi1993 and ActionFreak in previous matches. The match against Bill Perkins had been put on hold and there are no updates if this is ever going to be continued.

So what’s next in the Galfond Challenge and will Phil be able to keep coming out on top? Two more opponents are outstanding, Brandon Adams and Daniel “Jungleman” Cates. No dates have been set as of yet.

Anatoly Filatov plays for GGPoker

Another player has left the interim position as a partypoker ambassador and moved on to GGPoker. Russian high stakes player Anatoly “NL_profit” Filatov will from now on support GGPoker on their quest to conquer Russia.

The main poker sites have already created standalone Russian online poker clients and so has GGPoker with GGPokerOk, which is connected to the global network.

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A post shared by Anatoly Filatov Poker Pro (@filatovpoker)

Martin Jacobson leaves 888Poker Team Pro

Apparently there is a lot of movement when it comes to online poker ambassadors. Many contracts have run out or have been terminated.

888Poker is no different and we see a former WSOP Main Event champion leave the Team Pro to look for new horizons: Swedish pro Martin Jacobson.

Jacobson announced his departure on Twitter and thanked 888Poker for the 3-year partnership.

My partnership with @888poker has come to an end. It’s been a fun 3 years and I wish them all the best in the future! pic.twitter.com/jsVD4gva21

— Martin Jacobson (@Martin_Jacobson) January 21, 2021

The reasons have not been explained as so often when ambassadors leave their employers.