Poker News: 4 Top Headlines for January 2020

The year has just begun but there is plenty of news to follow at tables around the world.

Let’s look at a few of the top headlines from the world of competitive poker and see what’s been going on so far in 2020.

The Swede is Grinding

Johannes Korsar, also known as Greenstone25 is on a roll. So far he is burning through the competition like a man on fire at Pokerstars and has already won two big online competitions.

The Swede entered the $2,100 buy-in $100k guarantee Sunday High Roller tourney on the 19th of January. He played through the 58 entrants and ended up beating the Jon Van Fleet, AKA apestyles. The Canadian is a legend in the online poker community but Greenstone25 reduced his tournament winnings down to $27,920.00. Meanwhile, Korser took the 1st place spot and banked $40,778.00. But that was only part of his Sunday earnings. He ground out another win upping his total to nearly 100k to open the new year.

WSOP Thunder Valley

The WSOP Circuit has already begun, and the Thunder Valley Casino Resort in Lincoln, California played out on Monday evening. It didn’t take long for the weaker players to be weeded out of the final table. Four-hundred-eighty-seven players joined the competition but it ended up being Jaime Haletky who took the Gold Ring along with $147,706.00! He’s also earned himself a seat at the 2020 Global Casino Championship.

Haletky is a mathematician and cryptographer so, it’s safe to say that he might have a little bit more aptitude for card games than most. This isn’t his only big win. He previously won the Ante Up Norcal Classic to the tune of $49,865.00 and took second at the Ante Up World Championship for just under $88,000.00. He did say that he felt like some of his previous wins were more based on luck but this time, he studied hard for two years to improve his game.

WSOP Marrakech

Another Swede has made a big blip on the poker community radar this January. Samuel Duzgun took down a massive field of 625 in Morroco in the WSOPs Main Event at the Casino de Marrakech.

Just like Jaime Haletky, Samiyel now has a chair at the 2020 WSOP Global Championship. But he is also $166,747.00 richer – before taxes, of course. The 1.6 million MAD prize is one of the biggest taken so far this year. The multicultural table yielded big earnings for Ayman Jarrar from Isreal, who took second and $110,470.00. And Edouard Piquet from France, who sagged $72,952.00 with his 3rd-place finish.

Ironman takes Nearly $125K

Cleveland, Ohio just held a massive MSPT event at JACK Cleveland Casino. The MSPT Cleveland Poker Open proved to be a big deal for Pat Steele, a Michigan man playing in the Mid-States Poker Tour.

Steele proved to be the best, outlasting 611 others and snagging $124,461.00 in the process – not to mention the MSTP Hall of Fame. This was the 25th time that Steele has taken cash at an MSPT main event, and he also previously grabbed the Player of the Year title as well. So, thanks to this win, he’s now a Hall of Famer. Congrats, Pat! Well done.

This was no easy feat. On the last day of the tournament, 90 players were still in action, many of which are notable poker players.

Well, there it is, your four top headlines for the New Year. There is some tough competition at Pokerstars and other online poker rooms, so it’s a good idea to hone your skills at free poker tables, you can find which of the Best Sportsbook offers them at SBR.

Good luck out there and have a great year at the tables, whether physical or virtual!

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