PCA to host "double bubble" tournaments

In today's Daily Rewind we outline a new tournament concept from PokerStars and report on an armed robbery during a Swedish home game.

Double bubble

PokerStars will be trialling a new "double bubble" concept at the next PCA event according to Lee Jones.

In an announcement made earlier this week, the online poker site said that the new format will debut in two tournaments at the 2015 Caribbean showdown.

Explaining the new payout structure, Jones said that it will reward 50% of the field.

For example, if 100 players lined up for a $1,000 event, 50 players would receive a return at least equal to their buy-in.

When only 50 players are left, the organisers will walk around the room and give everyone a payment (in chips or cash) worth $1,000.

Once this process has been completed, play will continue as normal until a second "bubble" is reached and players vie for more cash.

The premise behind the innovation is that "paying out more of the field is better" than adding bonuses on top of already large winner's prizes.

Norwegian grinders robbed

A group of approximately 15 poker players, mostly from Norway, were recently robbed by a group of gun-touting thieves in Sweden.

Like a scene from a Hollywood movie, the assailants stormed a private game, forced the players to lay face down on the ground before stealing their cash.

According to local police officer, Tore Lomgard, the players were seen as "easy targets" and the assault was "planned".

At present, real-money poker is illegal in Norway which has forced many local grinders to cross the border and ply their trade in private parties across Sweden.

This trend has led to a spate of similar incidents in recent months as criminals target non-locals visiting the country to play poker.

As yet there have been no arrests, but Lomgard has stated that border officials are keeping an eye out for four suspects.

Liv talks tilt

Tackling tilt is the goal of every poker player, but often the process of reading through pages of literature on the subject can cause an adverse reaction.

Fortunately, for those of you that can't cope with mounds of text, Liv Boeree has put her face to an infographic on the subject.

While we admit that the image of Miss Boeree is a little off-putting, the bite sized tips should prove useful for any aspiring grinders out there.

Question of the Day

"Do you agree with Lee Jones: is it better to pay more tournament players rather than bulk up a winner's prize?"

High Stakes Corner

'Sanlker' topped the high stakes leaderboard last night after raking in $137,912. Despite not breaking the bank, the six-figure haul was enough for the online pro to leapfrog 'hasufly' who just made it over the $100,000 mark.

Falling to the largest defeat in the last 24 hours was 'Trueteller'. After playing just 125 hands, the mysterious grinder managed to bank $96,006 to finish comfortably ahead of Gus Hansen who added a further $68,906 loss to his overall deficit.

Daily Signoff

If there was ever a case for going on tilt at the poker table, this hand between Mike Matusow and Shaun Deeb is it.

Yesterday's Daily Rewind: PLO grinder makes a $300,000 prop bet