Bovada Poker News: Muskan Sethi Makes a Splash in India

You may not have heard of Muskan Sethi yet, but the poker professional from New Delhi will be rubbing elbows with the President of India next month. Sethi will reportedly be one of 100 women honored by Ram Nath Kovind for their success in male-dominated industries. Since becoming India’s first recognized female poker pro sometime around 2010, Sethi has racked up close to $150,000 playing tournament poker live and online.

 

Shcherbak Wins Event No.1 WSOP Europe

Oleksandr Shcherbak isn’t one of the better-known names on the tournament poker circuit. Until this week, the Kiev native had just one official cash on his resume. Now it’s two: Shcherbak took down Event No. 1 of the 2017 World Series of Poker Europe on Monday, winning the €1,100 No-Limit Hold’em MONSTER STACK and bagging the top prize of €117,708, or roughly US$140,000.

Shcherbak outlasted a field of 561 players in Rozvadov, including Ryan Hughes, who finished in 21st place to take over the lead in the WSOP Player of the Year race. That reign didn’t last long; Chris Ferguson cashed in Event No. 2 (€550 Pot Limit Omaha), placing 32nd out of 217 players to re-take the POY lead. There are 12 events remaining before the 2017 WSOP Europe wraps up November 11.

 

Will Poker Become an Olympic Sport?

The Olympics don’t have quite the same cachet they used to, but according to the Global Association of International Sports Federations, match poker has been granted “observer status” for the Olympic Games. The GIASF represents 109 different sporting federations around the globe, including the International Federation of Match Poker in Lausanne, Switzerland. Match poker is a version of Texas Hold’em that splits players into teams at different tables, then deals the same cards to the same seats and compares the results from each hand – much like the “Brains vs. AI” challenge between the poker bot Libratus and four human pros back in January.

You can read last week’s Poker News here.