Poker Masters 2017
Brandon Adams - 2017 Poker Masters Event 4 Winner The Poker Masters Event #4: $50,000 NLHE at the ARIA Resort and Casino began with 39 entries, but in the end, it was old-school player Brandon Adams who emerged victorious to capture an $819,000 first-place prize. Sep 14, 2017 Poker Masters 2017. Sep 13 - 14, 2017, PokerGO Studio at ARIA Resort & Casino. Completed tournaments. Event #1 - $50,000 NLH. FINISHED Sep 13 - 14, 2017.
Photos Steffen Sontheimer - 2017 Poker Masters Event 5 $100,000 Winner Steffen Sontheimer - Drea Renee Steffen Sontheimer - 2017 Poker Masters Event 5 $100,000 Winner Steffen Sontheimer - Sean. Jan 21, 2017 Directed by Borrtex. Short comedic scene about four poker masters, who met up at the world championship to play against each other. Unfortunately, the game goes wrong. Don’t miss a minute of Poker Masters® action by tuning in live to one of the largest buy-in tournaments of the year live on PokerGO. Subscribe today and get caught up with an extensive library of original programming, throwback poker classics, and more than 100 days of live poker every year.
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I’m having a bit of a tough time thinking of the Poker Masters as any kind of big deal.Part of it is the fact that the Poker Masters is a brand-new concept. In contrast, the 2017 World Series of Poker was its 48th. Of course, it’s a heck of a lot easier to believe in something that’s been around for almost 50 years. However, a concept like Poker Masters must start somewhere. It’s not easy to embrace change, but change is inevitable. The Poker Masters should not be shunned solely because it is the new kid on the block.
However, my problem with treating the event like it is more than just another high roller series aimed at breaking its competitors’ bankrolls, is also due to the composition of the field. The idea is that the lofty buy-ins, including four $50,000 prelims and a $100,000 championship, will draw out only poker’s elite. The Poker Masters is meant to separate the best from the best. Does it?
The best in the world?
At the very least, some 35 or so of the best and richest poker players on the planet turned up for the inaugural Poker Masters in Las Vegas, Nevada. Unfortunately, this also included groups of players who share a single bankroll and only play in similar high buy-in, small field events. The players in these groups may very well be among the best poker players on the planet. However, since they only play in these types of events, that’s as hard to prove as the soft play and collusion some suspect they are guilty of while playing in them.
Several players who have made previous best in the world lists didn’t bother to show up either. Each likely has a different reason. These range from scheduling conflicts to wanting to avoid the half-million-dollar downswing that could result from running bad for a week. This brings me to another problem I have with the Poker Masters: It just isn’t built to last.
Since their inception, high roller events have been criticized as being unsustainable. They have continued to endure. However, a series like the Poker Masters may be asking too much. Can anyone in poker outside of a few elite players at the top of the food chain really afford to dump half a million dollars in tournament buy-ins? Will those that do really show up each year to donate? I’m naturally skeptical. I just don’t think the poker economy, or those backing it behind the scenes, have deep enough pockets to keep the Poker Masters afloat. Certainly not for anywhere close to the WSOP and its 48 years. In fact, they’ll be lucky to make four.
Poker Masters 2020
Flaws in the Poker Masters purple jacket?
But the real problem I have with the Poker Masters is the battle for the purple jacket itself. This is the award being offered to the player who earns the most money through the five-event schedule. Unfortunately, it is being awarded through a flawed system that has devalued the jacket almost entirely.
The idea that the player who runs hottest through a five-event series is anything more than that is flawed from the outset. However, awarding it to the player who earns the most cash has proved most problematic.
In the end, doubling the buy-in for the championship event meant anyone who won it could walk away with the jacket. Regardless of whether they even played any of the prelims.
Steffen Sontheimer won one and cashed in three out of four prelims. He bubbled the fourth, yet all that was practically rendered moot heading into the championship. In fact, Sontheimer was required to run deep to remain in contention for the jacket.
It doesn’t matter whether he managed to do it or not. It’s the fact any player could walk in off the street, skip the prelims and claim the jacket by winning the championship that revealed the flaws. Poker Masters organizers are certainly going to have to fix that going forward. Particularly if they want the public to attach any kind of significance to the jacket going forward.
For the hardcore only
It’s true that I’ve been critical of most of what Poker Central has done over the past year. They should be applauded for trying to introduce innovations to the game and poker broadcasting. However, they just keep going about it the wrong way.
Subscription-based content like PokerGO is great for existing hardcore poker fans. However, it does zero to help grow the game of poker or bring it to new audiences.
In theory, creating a high roller championship series like the Poker Masters and its purple jacket gives players something to strive for. It also gives fans another reason to watch them as they fight for it. In practice, they’ve put together a flawed and unsustainable series. Plus, they’ve hidden it away on a subscription service destined to last only as long as its initial investors’ resolve.
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Bryn Kenney Wins 2017 Poker Masters Event #3 for $960,000
The way the first few days of Poker Masters action has played out, it is clear that it is going to take a lot more than just one deep run or victory to win the Poker Masters Purple Jacket™. Steffen Sontheimer did just that on Friday and for the second consecutive night, players making back-to-back final table appearances notched huge victories that will help and potentially define their campaigns for the Purple Jacket.
Since the start of the year, High Rollers around the world have been defined by Bryn Kenney and while Kenney opened his Poker Masters account in Event #2, he wasn’t near the top of the leaderboard coming into Saturday’s final table. Instead, it was a three-headed monster of high stakes experts that paced the field, with Doug Polk, Dan Smith, and Super High Roller Bowl runner-up Jake Schindler leading the way.
Poker Masters 2017 Results
That three-headed monster was cut down through the first few hours of play, leaving Kenney and Erik Seidel heads up for the title. While Seidel shot to the top of the charts through one hand, Kenney rode a roller coaster of a stack to heads up play. Seidel then survived time and time again, before Kenney finally dispatched the Poker Hall of Famer to claim the win and a $960,000 score.
“The game is the sickest thing ever, it changes so quick.” Kenney said in the Poker Masters winner’s circle, before talking about how sick his year has been. “So many tournaments this year, I’ve went from last in chips to winning the tournament. I’ve just done a really good job at like ninja-ing a tournament from last to first.”
Looking at Bryn Kenney’s results since the turn of the year, you’d say that the New Yorker has played the role of ninja well. Kenney has already cashed for over $7 million in 2017, including four scores worth more than $500,000. Two of those such results came in PokerStars Championship High Rollers that Kenney won. The first was a $50,000 High Roller in the Bahamas and the second came in a $100,000 Super High Roller in Monte Carlo, which was also good for a career-best $1.9 million result.
While his Event #3 victory doesn’t hold the weight of that Monte Carlo win, in terms of physical dollars, it could play a serious roll in the race for the Poker Masters Purple Jacket. Kenney has now cashed twice throughout the series and is only one of two players to eclipse $1 million in Poker Masters cashes. The other player to do so is Steffen Sontheimer, who is now leading the Poker Masters Championship Standings by less than a $50,000 preliminary buy-in.
Kenney may have some ground to make up in the race for the Purple Jacket, but the entire world has been chasing him in the 2017 GPI Player of the Year race. Kenney was full of confidence earlier this week and a strong showing at Poker Masters looks like it could put him in a position to end the year atop those rankings.
Poker Masters 2017 Full Match Hd
“Confidence is so important, but if you don’t have the tools to maneuver and do what you want to do, the confidence isn’t going to help you.” Kenney said, when asked where his confidence meter stands, as compared to earlier this week. “The thing is, in these games you’re playing against the best in the world though, so you need a lot more.”
Throughout his career, and especially over the last two years, Kenney has proven to have a lot more than just confidence. He now has another High Roller victory and is within touching distance of the Poker Masters Purple Jacket, meaning that all eyes will be on him through the final two events of the series.
Poker Masters Results
Those events will be live streamed on PokerGO, with final table coverage of the finale $50,000 prelim going live Sunday at 3:30 PM ET. The $100,000 Championship will have three days of live action streamed on PokerGO, including Day 1 coverage on Monday, September 18. Until then, stay tuned to Poker Central and PokerGO for exclusive Poker Masters coverage, updates, content and player features from ARIA Resort & Casino.