Andrew Porter

The World Series of Poker is returning to ESPN for the first time since 2021, with coverage of this year's main event from Las Vegas beginning July 2. spr.ly/6019B65JrR

@BobMerwald @LivePoker_PHL

Long post about the $2200 at @LivePoker_PHL Before I go into everything I want to say 2 things: 1) This is not the first time that a tournament at Live has been run terribly, as you can see by the comments in my last post this is consistently happening tournament after tournament 2) Anyone that knows me knows I am very calm and non confrontational - but yesterday I hit my boiling point I’ll start things off by saying that I’m not sure if it was Live or Pokerstars who set the start time for the high roller, but the original start time (and day 2 restart) was scheduled for 2:15 and after numerous people complained they changed the start to a normal 11:15. Kudos to whoever listened to feedback and changed the times. They also originally had the $1100 main event as 30 minutes day 1 and 40 minutes day 2 (last year this was 40 min day 1 and 60 minutes day 2) - they listened to feed back and changed it to 40 minutes for both day 1 & 2. During day 1 it was the same normal stuff at Philly live - Confrontations from dealers over stepping their boundaries, tables not being balanced correctly, and the floor no where to be found. The structure sheet said we were to redraw at 27, we did not. The floor never caught it and we asked about it when we realized at the final 2 tables. We asked the floor why we never redrew at 27 and they looked like they didn’t even know what that meant. We were nearing the end of day 1 and asked if we were going to be redrawing for day 2 and the floor said they didn’t know. They went over and asked the other floor and they looked at each other confused, but came back a few minutes later saying yes (but they did not seem sure of themselves). With 9 minutes and 20 seconds on the clock in the final level of the day we had to have 3 different people yelling for the floor to stop the clock and draw for final hands. They came from behind the registration desk and obliged and finally pulled for how many hands we had. No floor was near the final 2 tables, and if we did not flag them down we would have never drew for hands. When I woke up in the morning there was no redraw - I tweeted out to Pokerstars for the redraw and they replied with the redraw- but it only listed 14 of the 16 players remaining. When I mentioned that their answer was “may well have been, that was the sheet we received sorry” - they then said “you can find the complete list on the Pokerstars live app - link here (there was no chip counts or redraw on the app it was completely empty). Their response then was “Poker News will be providing updates for the main event as of today. Regarding the app, we have shared the feedback regarding missing info with our Live events team” - Just frustrating to be run in circles for a simple redraw. Pokerstars also tweeted out that the high roller restart was at 11:30, but the restart was 11:15 - This could have caused serious issues with someone coming 15 minutes late as we are on the bubble of a $2200 tournament. As we get to the tournament area we find 2 separate bags of chips. The chips that we used on day 1 were no longer able to be used because they need to be used for the main event. So they swapped out the new chip set for the old chip set. They also said they didn’t have any 25k chips for the old set, so we were playing 3k/6k with no 25k chips and 100k chips needing to make change consistently. We make the final table, and there is a break with 7 people left. I come back to the table with 3 minutes left in break and notice my 407k chip stack is now only 307k. They apparently just found the 25k chips and were doing a color down unannounced without telling anyone. I tell the dealer nicely “Hey, I had 407k, I am missing 100k” - his instant response is “You need to leave the tournament area you guys are still on break” with an attitude. Not exactly what you want to hear when you are at a final table playing for $48,000. I instantly call the floor over and he realizes the mistake that was made (might have already called security to check the footage) and gives me the additional 100k back - but the dealer is giving an attitude to me and another player at the table. I understand that mistakes happen, but all he needed to say was “No worries, let me call the floor over and we’ll look into it” One of the players had a big issue with the same dealer earlier & the dealer was continuing to give an attitude. The other player requested from the floor for this dealer to be removed, and we both stated that we wouldn’t be playing until he was. The floor then said that he had to deal because they did not have any more dealers (there was currently at least 30 tables of cash and tournament running) - We requested from the floor for the dealer to swap with someone else and they said it would take 8+ minutes to do so. The entire table was ok waiting, and they eventually changed out the dealer as this was not the first time that there has been complaints about this particular dealer. As I mentioned earlier this is not a one time issue, I’ve had issues with color ups in the past at Live and had to have a tournament stopped for 20 minutes with 2 tables left for them to review a mistake they made. It needs to be standard to never touch a players chips without them being present. If you want to rack up the chips and then swap them out when a player takes their seat thats fine, but we always need someone there to validate. Overall the attitude and ineptitude from the entire poker room makes it a terrible experience to play in. Every tournament it feels like it is the first tournament they are running & when mistakes are made instead of just apologizing there is consistently an attitude. As poker players we pay a lot of money in rake, the $2200 was raked over $20,000 for a 73 person field (more than 3rd place money) and over $100,000 will be taken from the prize pool in the main event this weekend. The point of this post is not to just bitch and complain, but a cry to make things better. I know I am not the only one that has had issues, and I’m sure we’ll hear people chime in about their bad experiences as well. There are so many great poker rooms that run flawlessly and are a pleasure to play at, but you know it’s going to be a shitshow every time you go to Philly Live and people are tired of it. If whoever runs tournaments at Philly Live wants to have a conversation with me I would be more than happy too. I was really excited to play the $1,100 this weekend but I am going to pass and head up to Turning Stone on Friday for the WSOPC. Hopefully changes are made and Philly Live can be a great place to play in the future.

@Kevmath If there’s anyone to beg, please beg them to fix the bracelets events this Summer so they don’t run 630pm-8am ET

I’ve never understood the desire to have events starting at times focused on Vegas time instead of East Coast time.

@ARJeff_ @WSOP @wsoponline @Kevmath @jeffplatt 7pm ET main event with 15 min levels and 260 mins of late reg is just wildly brutal

@WSOP @wsoponline @Kevmath @jeffplatt Looks like MTT start times weren’t adjusted online for the leap forward time change. Was hoping the word could be spread before the heart of the schedule tonight. already goes late enough for us east coasters.

@LivePoker_PHL @PokerStarsUSA @LivePokerRoom 👏

🚨 Player Update! 🚨 We heard you! Based on player feedback, the PokerStars $2,200 High Roller will now start at 11:15 AM for both Day 1 & Day 2 (previously 2:15 PM). See you at the tables! ♠️♥️♣️♦️ @PokerStarsUSA @LivePokerRoom Gambling problem? Call 1-800-GAMBLER.

@BobMerwald @LivePoker_PHL @PokerStarsUSA @LivePokerRoom agreed - both day 1 and day 2 start too late.

@LivePoker_PHL @PokerStarsUSA @LivePokerRoom Nicely done...While we're at it, can we adjust the $2200 start/restart time to 11:15?!

@LivePoker_PHL @PokerStarsUSA @LivePokerRoom very cool 🫡

@FrankFunaro1 @BobMerwald @LivePoker_PHL @PokerStarsUSA Yea day 3 FT or even 40/45 levels. Don’t think I’ve seen many (any?) “main events” with 30 min levels. 🤷‍♂️

@And_Porter @BobMerwald @LivePoker_PHL @PokerStarsUSA I mean it played until like 7-8 am that day 2. Needs to be a 3 day if they kept it

@BobMerwald @LivePoker_PHL @PokerStarsUSA They sneaky tried to change it. 😂

@LivePoker_PHL @PokerStarsUSA Sad to see the structure go from 40/60 min levels to 30/40

@BetMGMPoker @mattzambanini1 big deal

Nice bluff from Matt Zambanini @mattzambanini1 @And_Porter

@padspoker when people take an irrationally long time to flip their cards over when they’re all in

What’s something irrational that really tilts you in poker? I hate on the river when the dealers count down the remaining deck whilst people are thinking. I know they have to do it / their job and helps, but always drives me irrationally tilted.

@WPT Either option with no dinner break

What would you rather for poker tournaments? 🤔 - Start @ 10am + no dinner break = finish @ 7pm~ - Start @ 10am + dinner break = finish @ 9pm~ - Start @ 12pm + no dinner break = finish @ 9pm~ - Start @ 12pm + dinner break = finish at 11pm~ - Something else (comment below)👇

@Sdavies22 Yep. Half the field late regs anyway. No dinner on day 1s. This is the way. Poker players want to be healthy too, it’s 2025!

The industry is due for a paradigm shift in tourney start times. Starting a tourney at 12pm, 1pm, 2pm and playing really late is rough. Almost no one likes it, pros and recs alike. Let's start tourneys at 10am. Finish at a reasonable time. If you bust early you can still have the evening free.

@GregHPoker @BorgataPoker @MGMNH_Poker @BetMGMPoker agreed + online day 1 flights would be amazing

Cool idea for a 2m Gtd cross property event from @BorgataPoker and @MGMNH_Poker by @BetMGMPoker. It did slightly miss the gtd, but don’t let that discourage you from running it again- w even 1 of these tweaks 2m easily hits: Reg til Lev 12, A Sat D1 flight, a turbo 1H PM flight

@Sdavies22 I agree, but knowledge is power. Explaining the dangers of seed oil is a good thing for society. Most are simply ignorant in the subject. Getting under 15% BF / running a 7 min mile is difficult. Simply choosing cookies with coconut oil instead of seed oils is an easy switch.

Until you’re under 15% body fat and can run a 7-minute mile, seed oils and preservatives should be the last thing you’re worried about. Have a Diet Coke and a Muscle Milk if that’s what will keep you from eating 4000 calories

@Nick_Palma1010 well deserved bro

I just won my first WSOP bracelet !!! First place out of 199 players in the $2000 pko event for 80k. I talk smack sometimes but everyone knows I respect all the players and grinders and there was some real tough competition in the end of this one.It feels really good to win it 😊

@PokerGO @Justin_Saliba You’ve helped many in this game, we’re rooting for you bro @Justin_Saliba

"The game can be lonely at times, so having people that are by your side through the wins and the losses, it keeps you motivated, it keeps you hungry." @Justin_Saliba talks about what this victory means to him. 🏆

@adamlevitan Looks great, thank you

Happened further into the season than we intended. But we now have the correct timestamp functioning on DFS projections. Whenever we change a projection, the timestamp (top right) will auto-update. #TechLords

@Nick_Palma1010 Thanks man

@And_Porter good job at borgata bro !

Gotta go to another country to play online poker… every other commercial Kevin hart stuffing sport betting down your throat tho