It is that time of the year when everyone tends to look back at what has happened over the prior 12 months. And it could be said without the slightest note of exaggeration that 2015 has been quite a thrilling year for both players and fans of poker. Important records were broken, new and exciting tournaments were introduced, PokerStars made first steps towards its return to the United States, and the poker community was presented with the latest WSOP and WSOP Europe champions. Here is the year in poker in a thousand or so words.
Newest Poker Tournaments
There were several new events introduced over the past 12 months but two of them were distinctly welcomed by both players and fans of the game. The first one was the inaugural 2015 WSOP Colossus with a buy-in fee of $565 and a guaranteed prize pool of $5 million. The event ran from May 29 to June 2. It attracted a field of 22,374 entries and broke the record for the largest ever live tournament in poker history. It featured an overall prize pool of $11,187,000 and Cord Garcia took the lion’s share of the money after besting the massive field.
Following the success of the inaugural Colossus, the WSOP announced earlier in December that the event will be on the 2016 WSOP schedule as well.
The other poker tournament that attracted quite a lot of attention in 2015 was the first-ever Super High Roller Bowl. It was part of an eight-day poker festival held at Aria Las Vegas from June 27 to July 4. The actual $500,000 Super High Roller Bowl attracted a field of 43 of the world’s best poker players to generate a prize pool of $21.5 million. Eventually, it was Brian Rast who won the event, adding $7.5 million to his bankroll.
WSOP Main Event Winner
As usual, the name of the WSOP Main Event Champion became clear in November after three days of final table play. At the age of 24, Pennsylvania-based poker pro Joe McKeehen took down the world’s most prestigious poker event to win a first-place prize of $7,683,346. What made his victory particularly impressive was the fact that the player maintained huge chip lead throughout the final table without relinquishing it even for a second.
During the 2015 WSOP $10,000 Main Event, McKeehen not only eliminated Daniel Negreanu in 11th place, depriving the Canadian poker pro of the chance to take a seat at the final table for the very first time in his career, but also defeated the 10th-, 9th-, 8th-, 7th-, 4th-, 3rd, and 2nd-place finishers.
WSOP Europe Main Event Winner
This year’s edition of the WSOP Europe took place at Spielbank in Berlin, Germany on October 8-24. The €10,450 Main Event ran on October 18-24 and saw 313 players contend for the title, the gold bracelet, and the first-place prize of €883,000. And it was American poker pro Kevin MacPhee who won the event to collect the first-place prize of €883,000 and all the accolades. Similarly to the WSOP Main Event Champion, MacPhee, too, maintained his massive chip lead throughout the final table.
The gold bracelet he received for his Main Event victory was the second one in his poker career. He captured his first-ever gold piece earlier this summer for topping the field of the $5,000 Turbo No-Limit Hold’em.
Phil Hellmuth Breaks His Own Record
This year, poker pro Phil Hellmuth made history once again. The player broke the record for the most WSOP gold bracelets ever won. What is more, he broke his own record. During the 46th Annual WSOP, Hellmuth topped the field of the $10,000 Razz Championship to collect his fourteenth gold piece.
Apart from being the all-time gold bracelet leader, the player is also the all-time WSOP leader in cashes. He has cashed in 115 Series events since the beginning of his career. Furthermore, Hellmuth is the only player to have ever won both the WSOP Main Event and the WSOP Europe Main Event. He won the WSOP Main Event back in 1989. At that time, Hellmuth was 24 years old and actually became the youngest player to win the prestigious tournament.
Anthony Zinno Becomes Third Three-Time WPT Main Event Winner
This year has been quite successful for Anthony Zinno. The player collected more than $3.7 million in live tournament earnings and won some of the world’s most prestigious events. And what is most important, he became the third ever player to win three WPT Main Events, with the other two being poker pros Gus Hansen and Carlos Mortensen.
Title number one came in 2013, when Zinno won the Borgata Poker Open $3,500 No-Limit Hold’em Main Event for $825,099. He took down his second WPT Main Event in March 2015, when he bested the field of the Fallsview Poker Classic C$5,000 No-Limit Hold’em WPT Main Event for C$380,021. It was in March again and right after the Fallsview Poker Classic festival when Zinno won his third WPT Main Event title. The player took down the L.A. Poker Classic $10,000 No-Limit Hold’em Championship for $1,015,860 to become the third player in the WPT history to win three major titles.
John Juanda and Jennifer Harman Join the Poker Hall of Fame
Multiple gold bracelet winners John Juanda and Jennifer Harman were this year’s inductees into the WSOP Poker Hall of Fame. The players were honored not only for their excellent performance on the felt but also for their numerous contributions to the growth and popularization of the game of poker.
Juanda is an Indonesia-born poker pro with live tournament earnings of more than $18.1 million and a number of titles from prestigious tournaments. The player has won five gold bracelets so far. And it is important to note that he captured his fourth gold piece in 2008 when he topped the field of the WSOP Europe Main Event.
As for Jennifer Harman, she has won two gold bracelets so far and has numerous other poker achievements, including two WPT Main Event final tables. The player has accumulated more than $2.7 million in live tournament earnings. Harman is also known for her charity work. She has organized a number of poker events in order to raise money for various causes.
PokerStars Makes First Steps Towards Returning to the States
In 2011, PokerStars, Full Tilt Poker, and other online poker rooms were prohibited to provide their services within the borders of the United States for allegedly violating the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act and engaging in money laundering and bank fraud. Four years after what was dubbed the Black Friday of online poker, it was announced that PokerStars and Full Tilt would be returning to the States or to New Jersey, to be more precise.
Canadian gambling operator Amaya Inc., which bought the two sites in 2014, was given the green light to provide poker operations within the state after the New Jersey Division of Gaming Enforcement reviewed its application for a gaming license. Both rooms are expected to go live in New Jersey with Resorts Casino Hotel sometime next year.
These were only some of the highlights in poker this year and it is important to note that a lot more has happened. And let’s all hope that 2016 will be equally exciting with new events on the schedules of some of the world’s most prestigious tournaments, new poker stars rising, and new innovations introduced to the global poker community.
