Bovada Poker News: “Hashtag King” Beaten Up Over Unpaid Debt?

For a little while this past spring, Salomon “Hashtag King” Ponte was the most talked-about person in poker. The Toronto native has just over $400,000 in lifetime tournament earnings, mostly from his WPT DeepStacks victory at the 2016 Lucky Hearts Poker Open; however, Ponte made a name for himself in March/April of this year with his awkward and aggressive conduct on Poker Night in America, and on Live at the Bike! programming. Now Ponte’s name has resurfaced after allegedly getting beaten up at what police are calling an “illegal gambling den” in the Toronto area.

This past Friday, York Regional Police released surveillance video showing the assault from last June in Richmond Hill, which left an unidentified 28-year-old male with serious injuries. The beating was apparently over an outstanding gambling debt. Doug Polk, one of the players Ponte insulted on PNiA, has shared the video and believes the player in question (whose identity is blurred) is indeed the Hashtag King.

 

Thatcher Dominates at WSOP Sydney

The World Series of Poker is in Sydney, Australia this week at the Star Poker Room, and the latest player to win a Circuit ring is Jarrod Thatcher, who took down the Turbo event for $35,516 in prize money. Thatcher prevailed on Monday after getting Sid Jabbour all-in with Ace-Six suited against Thatcher’s Ace-Ten. Other winners thus far in Sydney include Johan Lees, who won the festival-opening event for $105,416, and Amanda Gillard, who won the Ladies Event for $10,354.

 

Poker Players Split Over Re-Buys

Are re-buys unfair to recreational poker players? That’s the question being asked at the Bellagio in Las Vegas, where the World Poker Tour is holding the prestigious Five Diamond World Poker Classic. Allen Kessler is the most vocal of the players who want this $10,000 buy-in event to be limited to single re-entries, so that professional high-rollers can’t simply run over the field by buying their way back in. Naturally, most of those pro players feel differently; David “ODB” Baker (lifetime tournament earnings: $4.2 million) tweeted last week that it’s fine to have different tourneys with different structures, while Matt Waxman ($3.6 million) likes the seven-figure prizes for finishing first in these re-buys.

 

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