Articles Tagged with: poker

Discover: Voice Chat

Human interaction is ever so important. This has become even more clear after the international pandemic closed down for almost all social activities. For EasyPoker this ment we needed to “pivot” to host online poker nights instead of live poker games. 

Spoiler: we added Voice Chat to EasyPoker. Check out how to add Voice Chat to your next digital poker game in the video.

Pivot to online focus

In order to make the switch successful we needed to make some critical changes to the app infrastructure and interface. And big changes can give big issues. Especially when users really liked our current interface because of its ease of use and simplicity.

Voice over video

We love video. It’s a great medium and I personally love YouTube (check out our channel). So we were obviously thinking about adding video chat to our platform. This would take a lot of time to programme, a lot of effort to update the UI – and be really expensive to host. 

And as you might know, EasyPoker is bootstrapped – meaning we finance everything out of our own pocket. So before making the switch we really needed to make sure it was the right move. We did this by playing around on HouseParty and similar apps – and we learned a very important thing.

People hate video chat…

…Well hate might be a strong word but hear me out. Video chat was cool the first couple of times, but after some time we always ended up just leaving the phone on to record the ceiling or the top of the heads. 

Not the cool “immersive” experience we were aiming for… People just seem to have had enough of zoom meetings and video chats.

Why Choose Voice Chat?

Voice chat really seems to be the big winner. We don’t need to rebuild the whole interface and get cribbled by its limitations for something that currently seems like a cool “gimmick” (and I might be wrong).

Voice chat poker

By adding voice chat our players can interact, without compromising the poker experience on the platform. EasyPoker delivers a clean live mixed audio, that will allow you to easily connect with friends through poker.

Check out the app for Android and iPhone. Or use the download buttons below.

History of Poker

Virtual Christmas Games

The Christmas holiday is just around the corner. Friends and family will gather and need virtual Christmas games to keep the spirit going. We have picked our favourite games to play during Christmas. Here are our top five of virtual christmas games to play at home.

Virtual Christmas Games ideas

There are certain benefits to virtual games. They are easy to access, always with you and also germ-free. Virtual games can give us new ways to play old and beloved games. We have chosen five games that do just that. Virtual Christmas games that focus on being together with friends and family – without the restrains of a physical game. The virtual games are meant to be played at the same location, but most of them, can also function as online games. It is plan A and B – all in one package. 

5. Virtual christmas quiz

A good way to have fun is by making a christmas quiz. It can be about whatever you want. You can either do it by making the questions yourself or by making all your friends/ or family answer a couple of questions. For example: What is your favorite/ least favorite christmas song; How do you celebrate christmas; When did you last believe in santa.

Virtual Christmas Games

The goal of making a quiz is to make it relevant and fun for everybody. It does not have to be long, but long enough to make it a social activity.

You can use kahoot to make a free quiz (The first 25 questions are free). It is super fun and easy to make. Everyone can join in on their phone. You can either play it at the christmas dinner or online. You can share your screen if everybody is far from each other. This way everyone can see the results and have a jolly good time – even apart.

Tip: You can even upload pictures. This is a cool way to make the quiz more personal for the player. Message your friends and family in advance, so you have time to make a great quiz.

4. Virtual charades

You can play charades in many forms, you can even do it virtual. Make a virtual chat room, so that everyone can see each other. Take turns to make the charades. You can each make up some different words/ characters that the other players have to guess. If you want to spice it up, then you do it via. Snapchat and use snapchat- filters while maintaining your charade.

Virtual Christmas Games

You can also play draw and guess

The main point of this game, is  to draw the word/ character instead. Facebook, as well as other services, have the opportunity to draw a virtual picture, so if you are not in the same room, you can still maintain the fun activity of playing draw and guess.

If you mix both virtual charades with draw and guess, you have an evening full of fun and surprises. When it comes to virtual christmas games, charades is a match made in heaven.

3. Virtual poker

Poker is a great game at gatherings with friends and family. You can easily talk while playing and feel connected with the other players. It is not always about winning, but more the feeling of playing a game with your friends. You can play virtual poker by getting the EasyPoker app. It is free and you can play it at the christmas party, but also on the way there. It facilitates poker, so you can focus on calling someones bluff.

If you want to, you can use christmas candy/ or gifted presents as ‘chips’ and play a poker tournament with a christmas theme. You could also have a present ready for the winner of the tournament. Easypoker is made for players by players, so you can easily make it your ‘own’ by introducing your own elements into the game.

EasyPoker App

If you dress as Santa or santas helper, it might even help your bluffing. Nevertheless, poker is a great way to maintain social and active while on a digital device.

2. Virtual Sing Along

Okay song birds. Your time is up. Virtual Sing Along is a great way to perform “Last Christmas” by Wham, “All I Want For Christmas Is You” by Mariah Carey or the depressingly funny “Fairytale of New York” by the Pogues. You can do it virtually by someone choosing an instrumental version of a track. It is free, fun and will bring out the christmas spirit in everyone – no talent needed.

You can play it at the party or share a screen and Sing Along from home.

Virtual Christmas Games

1. The play with presents (requires gifted presents)

The ‘play with presents’ is a fun and thrilling game that will keep you on the edge of your seat. It is the FIFA equivalent of christmas games that will ignite any christmas dinner.

The main purpose of the game is to steal as many presents as possible, before the clock runs out.

Virtual Christmas Games

Before you begin, you will need the following:

1. An app that facilitates a virtual dice (or two depending on how many are playing).

2. 1-2 gifted presents per player. The presents do not have to be expensive. Sometimes cheap presents are more fun.

This is how you play:
The game consists of two rounds. In the first round every gifted present is placed in the middle of the table. All players are seated around the table. To get a present you need to ‘roll’ six with the dice. You can grab whatever present you want as long as it is not already taken. The dice rotates clockwise until all presents are gone. Consider introducing more ‘dices’ if you are more than 4 players. When all presents are gone, you move on to the second and final round.


In the second round a game master starts by starting a clock. They are the only ones to know for how long the round takes(estimate a time frame between 5  – 15 minutes max.). In this round you are able to steal from the other players. To steal a present for yourself, you still have to roll six. BUT if you roll one, you have to steal a present and give it to someone else. When the time runs out, you get to keep your presents. If you got any. Let the game begin and have fun with it.

Want to share your favourite ACTIVITY?

Please tell us if you have any virtual christmas games. We would be more than happy to add them to our list. The more the merrier. Write in the comments below and help keep us updated on the best virtual games to play at home. 

Until then, take a game of virtual poker. It’s free, it’s fun and you can get it here.

Merry Christmas.

History of Poker
History of Poker

WANT MORE POKER CONTENT?

We’re constantly adding new blogs about all things poker. You can find them all on our blog.

If you have a suggestion for a story you would like to read, or something to add to this one, let us know in the comments below. Thank you.


History of Poker

The fascinating history of poker seems as interesting and full of legends as the game itself.
There are lots of different theories out there, so we decided to go through them all and create a ‘one stop’ blog post to tell you everything. 

Poker is the world’s most popular card game, played all over the planet by all kinds of people. The game has seen a huge boom in popularity over the past 15 years, but the game actually goes way back and seems to be a melting pot of popular features known from a range of old card games.
It’s story stretches across centuries and played a major role in iconic moments of history such as the colonization of America, the Old West, and World War 1.

As-Nas

As-NasMost historians agree that the ancient, Persian card game ‘as-nas’ seems a likely origin to poker. The game can be traced back as far as the 17th century and stems from Arabic culture. 

As-nas was both the name of the game and the type of cards used to play it. The name as-nas roughly translates into something like “Aces and Mankind”, and the cards featured an ace and 4 different kinds of man. Not unlike modern playing cards.
However, the ‘mankind cards’ would often show 4 ranked levels of society such as a king, a lady, a soldier and a dancing-girl. The ace was usually something cool – like a dragon or a lion. Or both, fighting each other.
A deck of as-nas would have 4 or 5 identical cards of each suit meaning the full deck was either 20 or 25 cards.

When playing as-nas, each player was dealt five cards. With no community cards, the player would only use the cards in his hand to make combinations. The ranking of combinations was pretty similar to what we use today, but without straights and flushes. 

The dealer would be the first to place a stake and you would then go around the table in a circle with players either calling, raising or folding. Sound familiar? When all players’ stake was even and no one wanted to raise further, the players would show their cards and a winner was found.
What’s also really interesting about as-nas, is that the game would encourage bluffing.

As-nas certainly seems to be a very likely ancestor to poker. It introduced elements like betting, bluffing and even the early stages of the same hand rank we use today.
There’s also no denying that the game had a huge involvement in shaping the deck of cards we use today, with its introduction of aces and face cards.
But later card games would come to further develop the game towards the poker we play today.

The European Ancestors

Like much of the American population, poker also seems to have clear roots in Europe. 
Some time during the 17th century, a card game called ‘primero’ became wildly popular in Spain. The game had three cards dealt to all players and a big focus on bluffing.
Later, primero was copied by the Germans who named their version ‘pochen’ and the french who called it ‘poque’.
As if that wasn’t enough, the Irish also had a version called ‘poca’ and the brits developed a version called ‘brag’. Confused yet? 

Anyway, the french version (poque) was by far the most played and in the 17th century the French colonists brought it to their settlements in North America.

Early History of Poker in America

After being brought to North America, poque was translated into English and quickly developed into different versions. Around this time is when stud poker was introduced – a version of poker that is of course still played today, although less popular than Texas Hold’em and Omaha.

This version of poker became popular among the crews of riverboats transporting goods up and down the Mississippi River and thus quickly spread around the country. In fact, this is believed to be where the poker term ‘river card’ (fifth community card) derives from. As poker became popular during Mississippi boat rides, sometimes cheaters would purposely deal a final community card that would improve their own hand. If such cheating was discovered, the guy would be thrown overboard and so the river card got its name.

Early versions of casinos called ‘gambling houses’ started popping up along the riverbanks and these attracted a lot of opportunistic people, trying to hit the jackpot. This same group of people was later attracted to the possibilities of prospecting and the gold rush – and so poker spread to the West. It became tremendously popular in Westers Saloons, and is perhaps one of the most recognized elements of the Old West today. Their game of choice mostly resembles stud poker and was the backdrop of many Western stories and legends. Although a great pastime, one can easily imagine how the alcohol, guns and laws of that time would often result in very dramatic poker games. 

History of Poker

Soldiers spreading poker

When the civil war broke out in April of 1861, many men were called to arms. As both sides gathered in their respective camps a lot of them brought poker from the West and this quickly became a popular pastime between fights. Since it was played by both sides, pretty much every soldier was introduced to the game and it’s rules at this time and it seems the game stuck with them after the war. Upon returning to their families, the soldiers further spread the game and poker, that up until now was only played by men and outlaws, was now enjoyed by everyone.

Soldiers at war also seem to be what brought the game of poker back to Europe after maturing across the pond. Although the US tried to remain neutral for the start of WW1, certain events and threats forced them to enter the war in 1917. On a faithful morning in June of 1917, American soldiers sat foot in Europe, ready for war. As during the civil war, poker became a great way to socialize between battles, and quickly caught on among the US allies who kept playing it long after the last shot of WW1 was fired.

History of Poker

History of Texas Hold’em

Just as one would expect, the exact origin of Texas Hold’em is the object of much debate and myths. According to official documents by Texas Legislature, the official birthplace of Texas Hold’em is the small town of Robstown, located in the state of (you’ve guessed it) Texas. This was sometime in the 1920’s.
It was the first of it’s kind to use community cards, and therefore the first to distinguish between cards on the board and the cards you hold. This is probably why they doubted the game ‘Hold’em’.
Although never officially confirmed, poker legend has it that this fast paced and pretty different take on poker was invented by notorious road gambler Blondie Forbes. A man who was later inducted in the Poker Hall of Fame for the creation.

This new type of poker quickly became popular around Texas, but never really left the state. Not until several decades later, in the 1960’s, when the entrepreneurial texan Crandell Addington saw a business opportunity and took the game to Vegas.
Things didn’t go too smooth for Addington though, as the only casino who took the bid was ‘The Golden Nugget’. The Golden Nugget was located in downtown Las Vegas, and not on the prestigious and buzzing ‘Strip’. And as if that wasn’t enough, it’s poker room was run down and very basic, with sawdust covering the floor. Not an ideal place for Addington to have his game played by any of the big players – and something had to be done.

Addington finally got his big break in 1969 when the now-demolished Dunes Casino, located on the Las Vegas Strip, agreed to host a Texas Hold’em tournament which caught the attention of the big players. And the attention of Benny Binion, a huge influencer of the Las Vegas we’ve come to know. Binion had lost his gaming license, and was looking for a chance to bounce back to the top of the Las Vegas gaming community. He and his son Jack started “The World Series Of Poker” and made Hold’em (now known as Texas Hold’em due to its roots) the centerpiece of the entire thing. 

WSOP took off like a rocket and this helped solidify Texas Hold’em as the most popular type of poker in front of Five-Card Draw and Seven-Card Stud. And when Texas Hold’em was legalized in California in 1980 the game saw a massive boom.

Years later, WSOP became a household name when Chris Moneymaker (a complete amateur) beat all the pros and went on to take home the grand prize of a whopping $2,500,000. A truly amazing story we’ve detailed in this post

Today the word “poker” is largely synonymous with Texas Hold’em – so much so that pop culture often get’s it’s timeline wrong. Like in the popular video game “Red Dead Redemption” where players are free to roam around the small towns of the Old West. The game allows users to enter saloons and play poker – but the game you’ll be playing is Texas Hold’em – even though this style of poker was in no way popular (or even invented) at that time. You gotta give the people what they want, right?

Make your mark on the
History of Poker

Now that you’re educated on the fascinting history of poker you of course need to casually share it with your friends – perhaps over a game of poker? 

If so consider downloading the free EasyPoker app – a digital version of a physical poker set that provide you and your friends with an endless amount of chips and cards – for free.
The app is available for both Android & iPhone and so easy to navigate that even good old Blondie Forbes would be able to pick it up and get a game going in no time. 
The app takes care of everything, so all you guys have to do is just play your cards and have fun. 
And who knows, maybe we’ll have to add a segment about you in the history of poker.

History of Poker
History of Poker

History of poker

Here at EasyPoker we’re always eager to hear from our community. If you have something to add to this story, or a specific element of the history of poker you’d like us to touch on, please let us know in the comments below. 
Thank you, and have a great day. 


Top Danish Poker Players

There is a lovely country. It is called Denmark. It is small, but it has had an historical impact of size and matter. Once the danes ruled the seas as vikings and in the year of 92, they won the European Championship in football. The danes have also proved themselves in something else. Poker. In this article we celebrate some of the four most influential danish players and the achievements.

Peter Nicolas Eastgate

Fortune favors the bold – and young. Peter was only 22 years old when he won the 2008 World Series of Poker Main Event Champion. It made him the youngest poker player to have ever won the World Series. He beat Pro Phil Hellmuth’s 19 year old record. Phil won at the age of 24.
Peter learned to play the game with his friends and had only played professional 2 years, prior to his major win. He took home an astounding amount of $9.152.415. Peter held the record one year until 21 year old Joe Cada won the very next year.

Danish poker players

Peter used his winning as any other 22 year old would. On having a good old jolly time with his girlfriend in Las Vegas. He admits that he did not do much to promote the game following his major win. Nevertheless. His win made history and threw Phil of the mantle. A new and young generation had arrived and it started with Peter.

Jan Vang Sørensen

As a former professional football player, this guy craves to win. Jan spent his early career as a footballer in the best football league in Denmark. A knee injury ended his career. He transferred his competitive ability to poker and stands tall as the dane with most won bracelets.

Jan won The World Series of Poker with PL Omaha in 2002 and 7 Card Stud in 2005. He began playing poker in the mid 70’s, so he has a long standing history with different iterations of the game. His favourite is 7 Cards. Jan is a fighter and a true testament to hard work, ability and dedication.

Danish-poker-player_jan-vang-sørensen

When reaching the final table, Jan never relied on mathematics. He always went with playing what he could see. The stakes, the cards, the players. He had at an interview in 2007 played roughly 50 final tables. Needless to say. He knows what he is talking about. His best live earnings is at an $800,972.He seems not to have been active in poker since 2013 when he attended The No Limit Hold’em – Main Event in Copenhagen and finished 12th.

Mads Mikkelsen “Le Chiffre” 

There are benefits of playing the part of the most despicable poker player in the world. Renowned danish actor took on the role of “Le Chiffre” opposite Daniel Craig’s depiction of “James Bond”. Mads Mikkelsen contributed to unfold the intensity of high stakes poker on the big screen. Sure, he might have had to break some balls (literally) getting there. There is no denying that the movie “Casino Royale” succeeded in using poker as the primary drive of the story. Each hand made it all more hard to watch.

Casino-royale_mads-mikkelsen_danish-poker-player

The movie was released in 2006 and made $606,1 million in box office earnings. Sadly, 2006 was also when the poker boom was near its end. If it had to finish on a high note, Casino Royale and Le Chiffre did it justice. Just not enough to keep the boom booming.

Mads Mikkelsen was because of the storyline coached in playing the game. He took home his newfound knowledge and used it to win money from his friends. They were not so happy. He was.

A fun fact. Mads Mikkelsen appeared in a danish mockumentary called “Pokerface”(Danish: Pokerfjæs) playing ‘himself’ in a tour de force of five friends’ failure of trying to make it big with poker in the U.S.

If you are interested and want to read about other great poker movies, please check out our blog about: Poker movies you need to watch.

Gus Hansen “The Great Dane”

He is known as “The Great Dane”, but feared as “The Madman”. Gus is furious at the poker table. His way of playing is aggressive and sometimes bonkers. Nevertheless, Gus’ fearless personality has made him a force to be reckoned with. In the slipstream of televised poker tournaments and the poker boom, Gus became a great character and ambassador for the intensity of the game. Suddenly poker players became celebrities.

Whether Gus Hansen was cherished, loved, hated or feared, he was most of all respected. His influence was widespread. In Denmark he was a national hero and equal to Denmark’s celebrities. On the international scene of poker Gus was a superstar. Everybody knew him. A great ambassador for the mainstream perception of poker and further development of the popular game.

Gus-Hansen_danish-poker-player

Just like Ikaros, Gus Hansen flew too high and got burned. His aggressive style of poker came with certain downsides. Gus has ended up losing more than he could afford. Millions of dollars in loosings have temporarily ended his once winning spree. At least he has a bracelet to show for it. In 2010 he won his first and only WSOP by winning the High-Roller No-Limit Hold’em Heads up Championship at WSOP Europe in london. He ended up bringing home $451,880.

Even if he is not as he once was, he is still remembered as dane who has had the most influence in promoting poker in Denmark. A true gambler and aficionado of our beloved game of poker.

If you want to know more about Gus Hansen, then check out our Poker Player Story about Gus Hansen here.

WANT TO KICKSTART YOUR POKER CAREER?

Test your skills against your friends in a free game of private digital poker? The EasyPoker app provides both chips, cards and an unlimited amount of games – for free. It’s a digital version of a physical poker set that takes care of everything. And so all you have to do is just play your cards. Get the poker app for Android and iPhone.

WANT MORE POKER CONTENT?

We’re constantly adding new blogs about all things poker. You can find them all on our blog.

If you have a suggestion for a story you would like to read, or something to add to this one, let us know in the comments below. Thank you.

Easy-poker-app
poker with friends

Mike Sexton Poker Player Story

This year the poker community lost one of the big voices of poker. The professional poker player and commentator Mike Sexton died at the age of 72. His impressive career has earned him multiple wins, induction into the Poker Hall of Fame and is famously known as The ambassador of poker. This is the story of Mike Sexton.

Who is Mike Sexton?

Sexton was an american professional poker player and commentator. He was an entity in the poker community. Mike commentated The World Poker Tour with actor and former professional tennis player, Vince Van Patten. He got his first and only bracelet in 1998 in the $1.500 Seven card stud split event at the 1989 World Series of Poker.

His impact and achievements did not come unnoticed. Mike Sexton was inducted into the Poker Hall of Fame in 2009.

Mike Saxton

Early life of Mike Sexton

He was born Michael Richard Sexton, in september 22, 1947 in Shelbyville, Indiana. His parents got divorced when he was only four years old. When he was young he was actually far from a poker player. He was a gymnast. He earned a degree as public recreation after changing majors from business from The Ohio State University. He began playing poker during college. He often joked that he actually majored in poker due to the time he spent playing. Besides poker, he also played a bit of contract bridge.

Eventually he went on to join the U.S. Army as a paratrooper. He was assigned to the 82nd Airborne Division in the year of 1970. He never went on to see combat as the division had just returned from war in Vietnam. His past as a gymnast went on to become useful, when he taught himself ballroom dancing in the army. He began teaching it to people. One of ‘clients’ saw a future salesman in Mike and encouraged him to pursue a career as a salesman. This became relevant later on in his life. During this time he got married. Mike spent a short period working as a salesman before returning to his ‘major in poker’.

He took on poker in 1977 as he thought that he would make more money playing poker, then he would as a salesman. This took a toll on his marriage and they eventually got divorced. It took almost 10 years before he really went for it. In 1985 he moved to Nevada and advanced to a full-time poker player.

The ambassador of poker

Mike Sexton has proved himself at the poker table. He has got an astounding 17 career cashes in the World Poker Tour (WPT). He even won as late as the 2016 World Poker Tour in Montreal. His first prize amounted to $317,896.

His bracelet from the World Series of Poker is still one of his biggest achievements. His highest rank in The Global Poker Index is #212. His all time money amounts to a humongous $6,516,421.

Mike Saxton

His cashes aside, Mike also cemented himself as a known innovator and entrepreneur within the poker community. Mike Sexton used his wits within his business majors to co-found the Partypoker platform. Partypoker became a major player in the realm of online poker and even topped the list of the biggest poker sites in the United States. Although it had a rough patch with a $500k deficit after its launch in 2020. The former salesman sold his shares two and a half years later for $15 million a year. The company went public later on, after four year, for 9 billion dollars. Auch. Mike Sexton is estimated to have lost around half a billion dollars due to his early departure. He never regretted his decision.

Charity

Even though he lost a lot of ‘dough’, Mike donated a lot of money to charity. He has donated way
beyond $1,000,000.

In 2006 he donated his entire winnings and pledged to do so with all following prizes. In 2009, the same year he was inducted into the Poker Hall of Fame, he went a bit further. Together with Linda Johnson, Jan Fisher and Lisa Tenner, he created PokerGives.org. The organization is non-profit and facilitates a way of making it easier for poker plates to donate to charity.

Mike Saxton Poker player

His wins, ability to commentate, entrepreneurship and heart for charity earned him the high honour of being recognized as the top poker ambassador at the Card Player of the Year Awards Gala in 2006.
Hence his nickname, The ambassador of poker.

Private life of Mike Sexton

Mike’s early divorce propelled him on to use all of his time on poker, but at the age of 60, he remarried. The lucky woman was a hostess at the Bellagio casino. Her name is Karen and they conceived a child. A boy.

His persona and work ethics has even made room for significant quotes from some of the biggest poker players around. Daniel Negreanu, the poker kid, said: “He’s always put a good face on poker. He’s always been someone who promotes the game in a very very positive way”.

Mike Saxton wife

The kind word seems to keep on as Phil Hellmuth once said that “Love Mike Sexton. He has been one of the biggest ambassadors for poker we’ve ever had”.

Sadly, Mike Sexton died on september 6th, 2020, at the age of 72 due to a long battle with prostate cancer. BUT Mike Sexton will continue to live on the Poker Hall of Fame and in history, as best described by Nolan Dalla. “Mike Sexton is simply one of the most important people in the history of the game.”

Are you the next Mike Sexton?

Want to test your skills against your friends in a free game of private digital poker? The EasyPoker app provides both chips, cards and an unlimited amount of games – for free. It’s a digital version of a physical poker set that takes care of everything. And so all you have to do is just play your cards. Get the poker app for Android and iPhone.  

Mike Sexton poker app
Poker Terms and Slang

WANT MORE POKER PLAYER STORIES?

We’re constantly adding new stories of interesting poker players. You can find them all on our blog.
If you have a suggestion for a story you’d like to read, or something to add to this one, let us know in the comments below. Thank you.


Daniel Negreanu vs Doug Polk – How the Poker Feud Started

It’s no secret that there has been a public feud between the two professional poker players Doug Polk and Daniel Negreanu. Lately the Daniel Negreanu vs Doug Polk poker feud has reached a high point, as the two players finally agreed to play heads up – something the entire poker community is going crazy over. 

25.000 hands, both live and online, will determine the ultimate winner of one of the biggest feuds in poker history. But how did it all start? Settle in and let me explain it. 

Daniel Negreanu vs Doug Polk – The Beginning

The year is 2014 and Daniel Negreanu a.k.a. KidPoker has cemented his place as one of the biggest stars in the history of poker. With his charismatic person and dominance at the live poker tables, Daniel Negreanu can pretty much walk on water at this point.
In August of that year, Negreanu took part in the “One Drop” event and finished second. Not a bad result, but Negreanu is criticized for a key play. No stranger to online criticism, Kid Poker pretty much ignored the comments.

But one guy, cash game pro Daniel Merrilees, went on twitter and wrote “OK fair enough – I applaud your confidence. Do you think you could jump right in now and play a starts 25/50 6max game and win?”

In his usual style of likeable cockiness, Negreanu answered ‘@danielmerrilees haven’t played in ages so would say NO. However I believe it would take two weeks of work and I would be a winner.” And so it began. 

Daniel Negreanu vs Doug Polk

A lot of people jumped on this – including Doug Polk, perhaps the biggest star of online cash games at the time, who wrote “I respect what you have done in your career, but it’s naive to think that you can log onto PokerStarts and beat $25/$50.”

This led to a long twitter fight between the two poker giants, and the seed for feud was planted.

More Rake is Better

Negreanu’s over the top confidence and character has often landed him in discussions, but Doug Polk’s massive following on social media made this feud a perfect storm. The two went back and forth at numerous occasions after the twitter incident, but the next big episode happened in early 2016. 

For a long time, Negreanu has been sponsored by PokerStarts as the poster child of their brand – always promising to represent player interests. But when the massive poker site got in trouble for rolling back benefits from some of its most loyal players, Negreanu surprised everyone by siding with PokerStars. He went on twitter and argued that the new setup of higher rake would be an overall benefit to the game since it kept pros away.

And he had a point. The world of online poker had certainly become very top-heavy and something needed to be done about it. But even though PokerStars had acted within their legal rights, the entire thing let to a massive shitstorm and Negreanu was caught in the middle, siding against the poker community. And even though he never actually said it, Negreanu’s views were condensed by the poker community to the catchy slogan of ‘More Rake is Better’.

Who is Doug Polk?

Doug Polk was born December 16, 1988 (31 years old). Polk mostly play under the alias WCGRider and specializes in Heads-up No Limit Hold’em.

Doug Polk officially retired from professional poker in September 2018 but kept running his popular YouTube channel with a poker focus.

Tap to read Doug Polk’s full poker story

Daniel Negreanu vs Doug Polk

Two years later, at the time of a big poker tournament in Las Vegas, the long lasting feud between Negreanu and Polk took another turn, when Doug Pol bought a huge billboard outside the event that stated ‘MoreRakeIsBetter.com’. An obvious attack on Negreanu, which caught the attention of the poker community.
Polk also showed up to numerous tournaments wearing t-shirts that said ‘More Rake is Better’ – something that clearly provoked Negreanu and didn’t help their relationship. 

Head to head – Daniel Negreanu vs Doug Polk

No doubt 2020 is a crazy year – and this is also true for Daniek Negreanu. During a live stream, an online troll attacked Negreanu and made some very rude comments about his wife. Negreanu was quick and harsh in this answer, and his stream was swiftly suspended by Twitch. While one certainly understands Negreanu’s reaction, this was probably not a smart move by a guy representing numerous sponsors and the game as a whole. 

Amidst all this controversy, Doug Polk saw his opportunity to once again poke the bear.
As he’d done many times before, he went on Twitter and challenged Negreanu to a heads-up. But this time, Kid Poker surprised everyone by accepting.
And so finally, the long lasting feud between two absolute giants of poker seem to be coming to a climax.

Daniel Negreanu vs Doug Polk

The Setup for the Heads-up Poker Game

Negreanu and Polk have agreed to play a total of 25.000 hands – with an option to quit after 12.500 hands. Stakes are $200 and $400. First 200 hands are played live, in-person. All remaining hands are played online on two tables at the same time. 

All hands are streamed live either from the PokerGO studio in Las Vegas or on the GGPoker YouTube channel.

Daniel Negreanu vs Doug Polk live game

The first heads up game was played live in Las Vegas in the PokerGo studio. Here Daniel Negreanu and Doug Polk were face to face against each other. Doug Polk is registered for $9,4 million in total live earnings – placing him as the 101st highest earning player at official live games. 

Doug Polk is known as the ultimate heads-up wizard in online poker games – so how will he perform against Daniel Negreanu who is notoriously known for his live games? See how it all went down in the video below.

SPOILER WARNING: The result of round 1 was a pretty significant win for Daniel Negreanu. He came out on top with +$116,500 after the forst 200 hands.  

Who is Daniel Negreanu?

Negreanu is one of the most well known and successful poker players in modern time. The Canadian was born July 26, 1974 (46 years old) and is known as KidPoker. Daniel is most known for his live games performance where he has won six World Series of Poker Bracelets and two World Poker Tour titles.

Tap to read Daniel Negreanu’s poker story.

Best Friends?

After the first live heads-up event in Las Vegas most viewers and experts were shocked – and not about the tension. The big time feud just all seemed to disappear as the players were face to face. It actually seemed like they really enjoyed each other’s company like two best friends having a good time around the poker table. 

via GIPHY

Some viewers have called this an embarrassment as they had expected an aggressive feud – just as we have seen online. But as Daniel Negreanu said about Doug Polk: “He (Polk) has been very tough online like, I’m gonna kill this guy and calling me names – but when you see him in person he is much softer. That’s very typical for most online trolls“. It really seems like it played out exactly as Negreanu had predicted.

Online heads-up – Who will bring home the gold?

The majority of the heads-up game will be played online. Here Doug Polk has the advantage over Daniel, as this is his speciality. First online game was played on 6th of November 2020. Here Negreanu started out great but ended with short stack as Doug Polk made a strong come-back and played well all through the game. See how it all went down following all rounds.

Round 2

SPOILER WARNING
Round 2 was pretty rough on Daniel Negreanu. Luckely for him he did have a big win from round 1. Watch the whole game below.

Hands played: 424
Overall hands: 624
Result: Polk +$218,292

Overall:
Doug Polk +$101,792

Round 3

SPOILER WARNING
Round 3 played out well for the online heads-up expert Doug Polk. He continued to win and gain an even bigger lead. 

Hands played: 382
Overall hands: 1006
Result: Doug +$166,239

Overall:
Doug Polk +$268,031

Round 4

SPOILER WARNING
Negreanu had his first online win after an intense game with some big hands.

Hands played: 366
Overall hands: 1372
Result: Daniel Negreanu +$87,166

Overall:
Doug Polk +$180,865

Round 5

SPOILER WARNING
Another big win for Daniel Negreanu. Daniel now takes the overall lead.

Hands played: 365
Overall hands: 1737
Result: Daniel Negreanu +$206,994

Overall:
Negreanu +$25,916

Round 6

SPOILER WARNING
Doug Polk fired back and got back his overall lead again.

Hands played: 637
Overall hands: 2374
Result: Polk +$93,542

Overall:
Doug Polk +$67,625

Round 7

SPOILER WARNING
Negreanu is back in the lead with biggest win of the feud yet.

Hands played: 591
Overall hands: 2965
Result: Daniel Negreanu +$222,832

Overall:
Daniel Negreanu +$155,206

Round 8

SPOILER WARNING
Another session that ends up with Mr. Negreanu in the lead. A lot of big pots in this game.

Hands played: 457
Overall hands: 3422
Result: Daniel Negreanu +$24,156

Overall:
Daniel Negreanu +$179,363

Round 9

SPOILER WARNING
Doug Polk gets back in the lead. But just barely by less than one 40k buy-in. 

Hands played: 377
Overall hands: 3799
Result: Doug Polk +$205,521

Overall:
Doug Polk +$26,158

Round 10

SPOILER WARNING
The longest Daniel Negreanu vs Doug Polk settion yet with over 4 hours of poker logged. 

Hands played: 852
Overall hands: 4651
Result: Doug Polk +$117,624

Overall:
Doug Polk +$143,996

Round 11

SPOILER WARNING
Pre-Thanksgiving session that again goes in the favor of Doug Polk. 

Hands played: 386
Overall hands: 5067
Result: Doug Polk +$120,023

Overall:
Doug Polk +$264,019

Round 12

SPOILER WARNING
This was a big round for Doug Polk that more than double his lead. The game had a lot of bad beats for Negreanu.  

Hands played: 684
Overall hands: 5751
Result: Doug Polk +$332,178

Overall:
Doug Polk +$596,197

Round 13

SPOILER WARNING
Daniel Negreanu is fighting back and ends up in plus for the day. Still a long way to go for the come back.   

Hands played: 476
Overall hands: 6227
Result: Negreanu +$17,780

Overall:
Doug Polk +$578,417

Round 14

SPOILER WARNING
Biggest pot yet. 180.000 dollars ending in a flush vs. Flush. Negreanu took it home.  

Hands played: 600
Overall hands: 6800
Result: Daniel Negreanu +$10,000

Overall:
Doug Polk +$568,417

Round 15

SPOILER WARNING
Negreanu takes another step closer to Polk by winning with a single buy in.  

Hands played: 450
Overall hands: 7250
Result: Daniel Negreanu +$40,000

Overall:
Doug Polk +$518,417

Final Results

Check back here to see the final results and who will be the final winner of the Daniel Negreanu vs Doug Polk feud.

Have a Poker Feud of your own?

Looking to settle a poker feud of your own?
Check out EasyPoker – the easiest way to play poker with friends (and foes).

Settle your feud using the most beautiful and user-friendly poker app ever created. 

Doyle Brunson
Poker with friends

Want more poker player stories? 

The world of poker has many legends with interesting stories. We’ve gathered some of the best, and are constantly adding more. You should check them out.

Like the story of poker’s biggest playboy, the nutorious Dan Bilzerian.
This modern day Hugh Hefner claims to have won more than 50M dollars playing poker – although critics doubt this story. And now he and his company Ignite risk bankruptcy.

Or maybe the story of ‘the Great Dane’, Gus Hansen, who built a fortune playing poker but ended up losing more than 20M dollars. Read the crazy story here.  

Daniel Negreanu vs Doug Polk

Daniel Negreanu – Poker Player Story

Daniel Negreanu AKA Kid Poker, is one of the most well known and liked poker players in the world.
He is famous for his incredible ability to read players and his may wins and major titles.
His place in the official Poker Hall of Fame is a true testament to his poker-skills and achievements.

But how did a colorful, loudmouthed Canadian become perhaps the greatest poker player of all time?
This is the story of Daniel Negreanu.

We’ve also made this blog post into a video, if you prefer watching instead of reading. 

Who is Daniel Negreanu?

Daniel Negreanu is a talkative professional Canadian Texas Hold‘em poker player.

His aggressive style of playing, and flair for reading opponents, has earned him 2 World Poker Tour titles and 6 World Series of Poker bracelets (among numerous other wins). Negreanu has also been named The World Series of Poker – Player of the year, twice.

Daniel is currently placed third in all time poker earnings. His total live earnings are currently at a whopping $ 42.053,305.

Daniel Negreanu

Early life of Daniel Negreanu

Daniel Negreanu’s parents immigrated to Toronto, Canada from Romania, seven years prior to Daniels birth on july 26, 1974. They wished for a better future for their children.

By the age of four, Negreanu was hooked on The American Dream. He wanted to be rich. He is described as ‘bad-mannered’ in school and as the years went on and Daniel went to college, he was several credits short of graduating. He was failing.
But at the age of 15, he learned to play poker.

Daniel Negreanu

Daniel Negreanu is synonymous with ‘poker’. His funny wit, charismatic persona and unrivaled skill of reading players, has influenced the poker-scene like few other. Negreanu has appeared on numerous live transmitted poker-events and speaks freely about all things within the range of poker. He has even appeared in movies and made series and books about how to play and win poker.

By age 16, he was already ‘a regular’ at the local pool tables, and at one point he actually thought about becoming a professional snooker player. In the end though, his love of poker won, and Negreanu eventually dropped out of high school and began pursuing a career in poker.
He started off as a
rounder 
An expert player who travels to seek out high-stakes games – appearing at Casino Country and Fundtime. He’s even been rumored to sniff out illegal games.

Daniel began working on his reputation and his bankroll throughout his early twenties and headed to Las Vegas when he was 21. Things didn’t go as planned and he ended up losing more than he could afford.

He moved back to Toronto, and began rebuilding his bankroll.

In 1998, 24 year old Daniel won the $2,000 Pot Limit Hold’em at the World Series of Poker. The win added an astounding prize of $169,460 to his growing bankroll and his first bracelet – which is kind of a big deal within the poker community. He became the youngest to ever win a bracelet. Hence, Kid Poker.

From this point on, there was np turning back for young Negreanue.

Daniel Negreanu biggest win

Negreanu’s biggest win was in 2014, when he placed second in the Big One For One Drop $1 million buy-in event. Kid Poker battled 41 other poker players for the prize pool of $37,333,338.

Daniel Negreanu came in second only beated by Dan Colman. But Negreanu’s pity prize of $8,288,001 still remains his biggest earning. Negreanu later said that all he could think about after that was how much money he could have won, had he beat Colman.

Bracelets and titles

Daniel Negreanu began his impressive collection of bracelets in 1998, when he won the $2,000 Pot Limit Hold’em($169,460). In 2003 he went on to win the $2,000 S.H.O.E ($100,440) and followed that up in 2004 by winning the $2,000 Limit Hold’em ($169,100) again.
Four years later, in 2008, he took another bracelet from a $2,000 Limit Hold’em($204,874). In 2013 he won both a $10,000 No Limit Hold’em Main Event ($1,038,825) and a €25,600 High Roller No Limit Hold’em (€725,000).

Negreanu won both his World Poker Tour Titles in 2004. One for his win in the $10,000 Borgata Poker Open ($1,117,400) and the second in $15,000 Five Diamond World Poker Classic ($1,795,218).

He has several more merits to his name, amongst these, Foxwoods’ World Poker finals in 1997 and British Columbia Poker Championships’ main event, which made him $299,951 richer.

Private life

On the home front, Daniel Negreanu has been married two times. In 2005 he got married to Lori Lin Weber. Lori is a known and accomplished professional poker player. They later separated in 2007 and got divorced later on.

Daniel remarried in 2019 to long-time girlfriend Amanda Leatherman. He had acually bought the rings 10 years prior to that, when they decided to get engaged. But he thought she was not ready to settle down at that point of time. They separated, but eventually got together again, when she returned to Las Vegas.

Daniel Negreanu wedding

Newer controversy

Kid Poker was banned from Twitch in July of this year, when he got caught in a bad mannered outburst at a viewer in the chat. The reason? The viewer had made rude remarks about Negreanu’s wife, Amanda Leatherman.

His wife defended the actions of her husband, stating that she was happy that her husband stood up for her. A month later Daniel / @realkidpoker was back on Twitch.

In 2019 Daniel Negreanu came into new controversy for writing a blog about the worst kind of poker players. He later had to apologize, as many thought he had lost touch with the poker-scene, as he does not grind as much anymore.

Daniel Negreanu Controversy

Daniel Negreanu vs. Doug Polk

For years, Daniel Negreanu has had an ongoing feud with Californian poker player Doug Polk. 
Like Negreanu, Doug Polk is a colorful and loudmouthed character of the poker scene – and we’ve actually also written a complete post about his story which you can find here.

The relationship between the two poker legends have been bad blooded for years, and reached it’s unavoidable peak in 2020 when Negreau surprised everyone by actually accepting a challenge from Doug Polk.

Negreanu and Polk agreed to play a total of 25000 hands – with the option to stop after just 12500 hands.
The game is Texas Hold’em HUNL and stakes are $200 and $400. The first 200 hands were played live, face to face. Later hands are played online on two simultanious tables.

This poker feud is really something, with a ton of small jabs going back and forth between the two.
If you’d like to dig deeper we’ve gathered everything in this one post. Truely a clash of poker titants.

Daniel Negreanu - Poker Player Story

Are you the Next Negreanu?

Want to test your skills in a game of free online poker with friends? The EasyPoker app provides both chips and cards for a digital private table poker game (both live and online). And it’s free.

The app takes care of everything, and so all you and your friends have to do is just play your cards.
Poker has with friends have never been easier!

Get started now – download and play for free.

Daniel Negreanu
DANIEL NEGREANU POKER STORY

Daniel Negreanu – Poker Player Story

What do you think – is Negreanu the best poker player of his era? Let us know in the comments below 👇

If you liked this post, maybe check out one of our other poker player stories – like the rise and fall of the ‘Great Dane’, Gus Hansen, who went from being one of the best poker players of all time to loosing more that $20,000,000, quitting poker and getting a job as an accoountant. 

Or how about the story of Dan Bilzerian, the poker playboy who claims to have won more than $50M playing high stakes poker against international billionaires. But is he really a legit poker player? 

Doug Polk

How to Play Poker

Welcome to the full beginners guide on how to play poker. The guide is separated into sections and will take you through everything from introduction to poker and types of games to poker hands rankings and general rules of poker. You can also watch the full guide on how to play poker in the video below. 

How to Play Poker Video Guide

Watch the full tutorial on how to play poker in this video.

How to play poker

An easy way to get  started with poker is to use EasyPoker. This is a free app that facilitates your poker games with friends. I keeps track on all rules, so you just have to enjoy the game.

Poker positions
Poker positions

The most common types of poker games are Texas Hold’em and Omaha poker. These two go way back to the beginning of poker and have been played by eveyone from cowboys to presidents. This guide will focus on Texas Hold’em – but once you get the hang on the general rules of poker you will easily be able to move to other types of games like Omaha. 

Poker Hands Ranking

Before we start the guide on how to play poker you will need to know the 10 basic hand combinations and how they rank. For an in debt guide on this you should visit our full poker hands ranking guide. But here is a quick guide: The lowest ranked is called high card and is basically just used when no players have any other combinations.

The second lowest poker combo is called One Pair. This is two cards of the same number or letter.

One pair - how to play poker

Next in line is the Two Pair combination which is two different pairs of cards. Like 3, 3, 9, 9 etc.

two pair - how to play poker

Next comes Three of a Kind which are three cards of the same number or letter. Here the suits have no role in the combination.

Three of a kind - how to play poker

Next up is the Straight which are 5 cards in sequential order. An Ace can be used both as A-2-3-4-5 (lowest straight) and 10-J-Q-K-A.

straight - how to play poker

After the straight comes Flush. The flush consist of 5 cards of the same suit. In any order.

 Guide on how to play pokerFlush

Then we have the Full House – a combination of Three of a Kind and one Pair – all in one hand.

How to play poker - Full House

Four of a Kind is 4 cards of the same number or letter.

Four of a Kind - How to play poker

Next up is the Straight Flush which is a Flush in sequential order.

Straight Flush, How to play poker

Finally we have the Royal Flush which is the best hand in all of poker. It’s basically the same as a Straight Flush, but it goes from 10-A. Here’s a fact: The probability of getting a Royal Flush is 649,739 to 1.

Royal Flush (straight flush) - how to play poker

How to Play Poker – Getting Started

With Texas Hold’em each player is dealt two cards facing down. These two cards are for your eyes only and must be kept a secret for the other players. These are called hole cards and are just for you. Once all cards are dealt, the two players sitting clockwise from the dealer button (the player who is dealing) will have to put out the small- and big blind. This is also called ante. These blinds make sure that we always have chips on the table each round. The big blind is usually the double amount of the small blind. Let’s set the blinds to $1 and $2 for this example.    All players will have to at least match the big blind in order to continue to the next round. This is called to Call. Players also have the option to Fold and Raise. Folding means to quit the current round and you will have to give up your two cards. If you Raise you not only match the current bet, but raise the price for further participation. 

The Flop

After the initial betting round three new cards will be put out on the table for all players to see. This is called the flop. See image from EasyPoker. The cards on the table are called Community Cards. These are for all players to combine with the cards in your hand.  After the flop comes another round of betting – starting with the player sitting left of the dealer. All players who wish to stay in the round have to match the highest bet (just like in the initial betting round). Unlike the initial round, players now also have the option to check, which means not to bet nor fold. This will simply let me go to the next round – but only if nobody makes a bet. If one of the other players bet, yoou will have to either fold, call or raise.

How to Play Poker Flop

The Turn

The dealer “burns” the top card of the deck (meaning it’s removed and put aside) and then proceeds to add another card face up on the table. This means we now have four community cards on the table.  Players then have another round of betting – following the same format as last time.

The Final Card (River)

The dealer burns another card from the top of the deck and draws a fifth and final community card for the table. After this we have one last round of betting before players have to show their cards. The player with the highest 5 card combination wins and gets all the chips betted during the round (the pot). The role of the dealer then changes clock wise as well as the role of small- and big blind before all cards are shuffled and you starting all over for a new round. 

Let an app handle your game

An easy way to get started with poker is to use an app like EasyPoker to facilitate your game. The app takes care of everything from shuffling to dealing and makes sure that all rules are followed and that chips are correctly distributed. It’s free to download on the App Store and Google Play. Consider giving it a go. 

Free Poker App with Friends
DANIEL NEGREANU STORY
DANIEL NEGREANU STORY

More poker content

Here’s some more poker content you might also find useful.

Short deck poker rules

Short Deck Hold’em Rules

Poker Drinking Game

private table poker app

Setup a private poker table


Short Deck Poker – Rules & How to Play

EasyPoker just launched Short Deck Poker – play directly from within the app.

In a recent update we added support for more types of poker games, including Short Deck Hold’em – also known as 6-plus poker. In this post I will talk about why we choose Short Deck Hold’em and how the Short Deck poker rules differ from regular Texas style of play.

Short Deck Poker – using EasyPoker

First off, Short Deck Hold’em is a Plus feature you will find in the EasyPoker table settings. EasyPoker Plus starts from $3.99 and will allow more customization for your home games, as well as many other features. Our goal is to deliver all “need to have” features for free (such as creating a free game for up to 6 players) and nice to have features are Plus. This includes Short Deck Poker.

Virtual poker with friends
Poker positions

Why Chose Short Deck Poker? 

Short Deck Poker is becoming more and more popular each month. And I completely understand why. The Short Deck game is eliminating all the low ranked cards. This makes the gameplay more intense and leaves a greater chance of having impressive hands – both for you and your competition.   

This small but amazing twist made it an obvious choice for EasyPoker to support the poker style. It’s also very closely related to regular texas hold’em, which fits perfectly in the EasyPoker mindset. 

EasyPoker app Short deck poker

Short Deck Poker Rules

Short Deck Poker is very closely related to Texas Hold’em. With Short Deck Hold’em you play without cards lower than 6 (Ace are still included in Short Deck). This means no 2’s, 3’s, 4’s and 5’s. 

Eliminating these cards means that you have a greater chance of getting a full-house than a flush. It’s also harder to get three of a kind than a straight – unlike in 52 cards poker. This is because you only have 9 cards of each suit, so flushes and three of a kind are pretty rare when playing with a short deck.

Short Deck Poker Hand Rankings

As mentioned above the hand rankings are a bit different when playing Short Deck Poker. This is because the mathematical possibilities change when removing the lower cards. The hand rankings are…

1. Royal Flush
2. Straight Flush
3. Four of a kind
4. Flush 
5. Full House
6. Three of a Kind
7. Straight
8. Two Pair
9. One Pair
10. High Card

As you can see by the colors, Flush and Full House has switched places. So has Three of a Kind and Straight.

How to Play

You start the game by putting out a small blind and big blind. After that you deal each player two cards with the top down – just like in regular Texas Hold’em. All players need to at least match the big blind in order to continue. 

After the initial betting round you lay out the first 3 community cards. Then you have a new betting round. Next you lay out the turn card in the CC, bet again, and then finally add the river card – just like in Texas Hold’em.

In the end all the remaining players need to show their cards in order to find the winner of the pot (keep the mucking rules in mind).

EasyPoker will manage all rules, dealing, blinds etc. for you. Just follow the link to play short deck poker on Android and iPhone or use the buttons below. Just a friendly reminder from me.       

Get EasyPoker

EasyPoker will allow you to play short deck
hold’em with friends and family.

DANIEL NEGREANU STORY

How to Host a Poker Night During Quarantine

In Denmark, a story just broke about a group of friends who were all fined for attending their weekly poker night. The police were called and found that the poker night was in violation of the danish ‘Law of Assembly’, which restricts more than a few people to gather in one location during these times of lockdown.

This story is just one of many crazy ones related to the current Corona quarantines, but it raises a valid question: How to host a poker night during quarantine?

Poker is a Hazard

Poker is everyone’s favorite game – but it’s also a really effective way of spreading a virus between your friends.

You usually sit around a table, in close proximity, and maybe share snacks or drinks.
On top of that, you all take turns touching both cards and chips before putting them into a pile and exchanging them among you. 

It’s a virus frenzy, and not ideal in times like these. 

So, without further adieu, here are some tips on how to host a quarantine-friendly poker night. 

coronavirus poker

Practice good hand hygiene

We use our hands for pretty much anything, and if you come in contact with the virus it will most likely be through your hands. The virus can’t enter your body directly from your hands, but you might transfer it to your eyes, mouth or nose if you touch your face – something the average human does many times an hour.

Therefore, the best way to prevent such a spread would be to keep good hand hygiene. Wash your hands before playing, making sure you don’t bring any outside virus to the table. Ideally, you should wash your hands frequently and every time you’ve touched your face. An alcoholic hand sanitizer will also do.

Keep it small and keep your distance

This is probably the most effective way of stopping the spread.

There’s no way around it – crowds are a bad idea during a quarantine. For this reason, it’s probably best to scale back and keep your poker night small in numbers. In general, you wanna avoid big groups.

The virus can’t jump between you if you keep the recommended distance of 6 feet. This is not ideal, of course, but it goes a long way to prevent the spread.

Get Some Fresh Air

Open a window and let in some fresh air. The Corona virus is airborne and can hang in the room after someone sneezes or coughs. So keeping the air in circulation is a great idea.

In an ideal world, you would have your poker night outside – something we of course realize might be hard with cards and chips everywhere.

EasyPoker will do all this for you

Lucky for you, there’s a free app on the market that takes care of all this, and provides a realistic and completely Corona-safe, face to face poker night. EasyPoker – the digital poker set that fits right into your pocket.

The app lets you create a game with a single tap on your phone, and your friends just enter the four digit game code to join your table.
It’s that easy – and EasyPoker provides both cards and chips.

The app lets you create a game with a single tap on your phone, and your friends just enter the four digit game code to join your table.
It’s that easy – and EasyPoker provides both cards and chips.

You each use your own phone to play, and so EasyPoker eliminates the need for physical cards and chips, which removes the risk of transmitting the virus from your hands. A pretty big win.
Not having to exchange physical cards and chips means you can easily keep your 6 feet distance. The app also has a voice chat feature, allowing you to talk with each other while playing, no matter the distance between you.

You don’t even need a table to play anymore – meaning, for the first time, you can have your poker night anytime, anywhere. This means you can play outside, with plenty of air circulation, without having cards and chips fly everywhere.

This really is a new way to play poker – an easier way.

Get EasyPoker Here

DANIEL NEGREANU STORY

So stay safe everyone!

And remember that washing your hands is always a good idea – not only in times of virus and crisis. And always follow the corona quarantine guidelines from WHO.