October 7, 2026

PokerStars’ Spraggy joins the Lock-In crew for a wide-ranging chat about all things modern poker.

According to the show, WCOOP 2026 was a highlight, but all anyone can focus on is the 'Jurojin super-user scandal’.

Spraggy gave his two cents on how the scandal is shaking trust in poker software, while David and Dara dug into what it means for the average player.

AI coaching was also on the table, with Spraggy suggesting that artificial intelligence will change how players approach learning the game.

The episode finishes with a look at the new PokerStars network.

More from this week

Today

Chris Moneymaker and a lost WPT title.

Chris Moneymaker’s poker fairy tale didn’t get its sequel at the 2004 WPT Bay 101 Shooting Star Championship.

As PokerNews recounts, Moneymaker, fresh off his 2003 WSOP Main Event win, found himself heads-up for a WPT title but fell short to Phil Gordon.

The final hand saw Moneymaker’s pocket jacks up against Gordon’s ace-seven, but a cruel ace on the flop sealed Moneymaker’s fate.

Gordon walked away with the title and $360,000, while Moneymaker settled for second and $200,000.

Bryn Kenney sits at the top of the poker world, but he has little time for solvers or study groups.

Instead, he calls poker his art form, comparing the game to painting or composing a symphony.

“The way that I play and think about poker, I feel like I’m allowing myself to express my creativity, which is really fun.”

He has reason to be confident: Kenney is the all-time live poker tournament earnings leader, with over $90 million, and even this summer at the WSOP, he cashed close to $4 million.

Watch the GGPoker Super High Roller final table here!

Denys Chufarin and Kevin Martin break down the action.

Hollywood, poker, and reality TV. It could only mean one thing.

JENNIFER TILLY.

Poker legend Eric Seidel to play in his first backgammon tourney in 40 years!

And we know just the piece of software (created by our very own pokerprojones) that may help with the studying!

PokerStars ambassador, Jen Shahade on the Cornell 7.

It may not be poker, but this is worth the read.

Yesterday

Condoms and lube are given away as prizes at the Japan Open Poker Tour.

How is that sentence real in 2026?

888 poker hits 500,000 YouTube subscribers!

A big milestone for 888 poker, with the channel recently reaching the half-million mark.

As Heli Hecht, Video Marketing Manager at 888, shared on LinkedIn, the channel has seen significant growth over the past two years, adding more than 200,000 subscribers.

The longer-term growth is even more impressive. Three years ago, 888 poker celebrated reaching 100,000 subscribers. Today, that number has grown to 500,000 — an increase of 400,000 subscribers in just three years.

TODAY! Phil Laak in the commentary booth and Garrett Adelstein on the felt.

Check out the Bally Poker Live YouTube for the stream at 3pm PST.

Kmart streams the new Ocean KO variant from GGPoker.

The poker world are divided, they always are, but this new innovation is going to be BIG.

GGPoker is leaning hard into Halloween this year, with a reported $18 million in promotional prizes up for grabs through October.

The highlights: a million-dollar Halloween Party promo, a comeback for the Bounty Hunters Series, and the usual pile of leaderboard giveaways.

The Halloween Party runs from October 24 to 31, and all you need to do is play cash games and keep an eye out for the Jack of Spades.

Collect ten candies by spotting Jacks, and you get a crack at a Mystery Pumpkin worth up to $1,000 in cash.

Is Ocean KO the latest revolutionary poker product to hit the market?

We think so!

Novibet Poker Series VIII is bringing a little GTA energy to Thessaloniki.

The eighth edition of the Novibet Poker Series takes place November 24–29 at Regency Casino Thessaloniki.

But honestly, the cover might be the most interesting part. The whole thing has a pretty clear GTA-inspired look—cars, characters, city streets and all.

Early-bird WSOP Paradise packages almost sold out.

🏝️🏝️🏝️

Poker streamer, Lex Veldhuis, on his WSOP Online grind.

It’s a long read, but a good one!

October 05

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.

If you want FREE BetRivers Poker merch – now is your time to shine.

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.”

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.

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.

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