October 5, 2026

Poker and chess. All you need to know.

The PokerNews Podcast invited Albert Cheng to dig into the overlaps between poker and chess, with host Chad Holloway steering the conversation. Cheng describes the origins of The Gambit, a game that tries to mix the strategic depth of chess with the bluff and variance of poker.

Apparently, none of this is for real money, so your rating (and pride) are safe.

Alexandra Botez and the Gambit Cup get a mention, as do ideas for new games that could be added to Gambit in the future.

Today

A Doug Polk 5 card PLO stream you didn’t know you needed.

5 card PLO is now available on ClubWPT.

BetRivers Poker swag giveaway.

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Jennifer Tilly keeps the table lively on Day 1 of Hellmuth’s Home Game, trading quips with Texas Mike and surviving Jungleman’s stare.

It’s Reno, so anything can happen, including a few hands Phil Hellmuth will definitely complain about later.

GGPoker turns up the variance with Ocean KO – a format never before available outside of France and Spain.

As Nick writes on pokerfuse, it’s a blend of progressive knockouts and random prize multipliers, making every elimination a potential payday. According to the debut numbers, the format drew big crowds on its opening Sunday, comfortably beating its guarantees.

The real twist is that when you knock someone out, you get a random multiplier on their bounty.

“Hit the 400x and that $5 bounty becomes $2,000: $1,000 in cash, plus a now $1,005 bounty on your head,”

This means you could become a target in just a few hands, even in small buy-in events.

GGPoker is the first to offer this format outside France and Spain, and it could join fast-fold and PKO as a major innovation.

Jackpot PKOs are having a moment.

These tournaments, with origins on Winamax as Space KO, have gone global thanks to GGPoker’s Ocean KO. The premise is simple: every knockout pays out a randomized bounty, which can be a fraction of the original or up to 400 times the buy-in.

“The result is a tournament where huge prizes can be won at any point, by any player. Because the multipliers are randomized, a jackpot PKO can pay out far more than the total buy-in.”

The GOAT debate: Daniel Negreanu sat down with PokerNews to reflect on the never-ending Doyle Brunson vs Phil Ivey conversation.

He shared his admiration for both players, highlighting what sets each apart in the poker world. According to Negreanu, Brunson’s legendary status is about more than his bracelets, while Ivey’s mystique is tied to his unorthodox style and psychological edge.

'Doyle is the Godfather, but Phil is the guy everyone fears at the table,’ Negreanu says.

After a cheating scandal rocked the high-stakes poker world, ACR Poker CEO Phil Nagy addressed players in a seven-minute video.

According to PokerOrg, Nagy explained that malicious third-party software had let bad actors see players’ hole cards in real time. The culprit wasn’t the poker client, but compromised remote-access tools installed on players’ computers.

To counteract this, ACR launched Screen Shield, which blocks screen-sharing and screen-capture tools from viewing WPN tables. Nagy said, “Screen Shield will prevent your tables from being visible to screen-capture and screen-sharing software.” The feature is already active for some players, with a self-activation option coming soon.

Other sites like CoinPoker have also responded, banning suspicious accounts and issuing refunds. The investigation is ongoing, and ACR is offering Screen Shield tech to other operators. In the meantime, streaming your poker wins just got a little bit harder.

“Thats a recipe for you to get f*cked” per Andy Stacks.

Couldn’t have said it better ourselves.

Britney Jing, one of Hustler Casino Live’s most visible players, is stepping away from the felt as the show investigates a series of accusations against her.

The story started when Chengsi Ye, known as “C Ye,” posted a video titled “She Ghosted Me After Owing Me Money,” claiming Jing failed to pay back $18,000 from a staking deal. Jing responded on social media, insisting she has “no outstanding debts” and accused Ye of underreporting winnings.

Since then, other regulars have come forward with stories alleging deception and even collusion in streamed games. Some, like Hustler founder Ryan Feldman and Nik Airball, have defended Jing. Others, including Aaron Zhang, have called her a “habitual liar” who exaggerates her image to organize games.

The Britney x C Ye drama just isn’t going away.

Xuan Liu makes another statement regarding her involvement.