Men Lie, Women Lie, Numbers Don't

Facts and figures. They make the world go around and, more often than not, tell a story without letting opinions or biases get in the way. Which numbers from the past week tell that story and what quick opinions do we have?

$130 – In a relatively slow week for poker news, the winner of the Aussie Millions Main Event was always going to lead the headlines. Shurane Vijayaram claimed the title and a $1,600,000 score but that wasn’t what people were talking about this weekend, they were talking about how Vijayaram got there. The Aussie won his Main Event seat in a $130 live qualifier and then went on to turn that investment into a massive return.

8 – The wait was finally over this week, as the World Series of Poker released it’s 2017 schedule. In total, 74 WSOP gold bracelet events will be contested throughout the 50-day series, with eight of those events debuting for the first time this summer. Some of the most buzzworthy of those additions were the $365 “The Giant” No-Limit Hold’em multi-flight event, the $2,620 “The Marathon” and a $3,333 High Roller WSOP.com event, one of three online bracelet events scheduled to be held.

$519,447 – How much do recreational players hope to win in a given weekend? A few hundred dollars playing cash games? Well, the retired Fedor Holz now considers himself a recreational player and he put the rest of us to shame this past weekend. Holz final tabled both the Aussie Millions Main Event and the $100,000 Challenge, taking home nearly $520,000 for his efforts and confirmed that he is a cheat code.

59 – Super Bowl LI is a week away and as the New England Patriots and Atlanta Falcons prepare, the sport betting world sits and tries to make sense of the current lines. New England is three-point favorite, which makes perfect sense but the total, 59 points, is the highest in Super Bowl history. Since Super Bowl I, in 1967, the total has only gone over 59 points seven times, with the most recent involving the Patriots in 2004.

10% – The High Roller circuit has gone around the world through the first month of the year but it returns home in February. The ARIA High Roller series returns with three one-day events, two $25,000 and one $50,000, this weekend and when the first event begins on Thursday, players will also have the first chance to register for this summer’s Super High Roller Bowl. The $300,000 buy-in event is capped at 50 players and sold out within two weeks in 2016, meaning that some of the world’s best will be putting down their 10% deposit this week. Poker Central will be at the ARIA to bring you High Roller coverage throughout the weekend.