Poker Masters Preview Week: International Affair

The countdown to the highest stakes week of the year has begun and over the next seven days, Poker Central will prepare fans for the first-ever Poker Masters series. The five-event high stakes series will be streamed exclusively on PokerGO and the action starts September 13^th and concludes with the Poker Masters Purple Jacket™ presentation on September 20^th.

The Masters golf tournament was dominated by Americans for close to 25 years until South Africa’s Gary Player became the first international player to win the green jacket in 1961. Nearly 20 years passed before the second non-American won at Augusta National, when Seve Ballesteros of Spain claimed the 1980 title, but international players likely won’t have to wait multiple decades to make their mark on the Poker Masters series.

Over the last few years, international players have had tons of success in some of the United States’ biggest poker events, including the Super High Roller Bowl and the WSOP’s High Roller for One Drop. That success could translate to next week’s Poker Masters series, as tons of international High Rollers have expressed interest in the series through social media.

Max on myself

— Fedor Holz (@CrownUpGuy) September 4, 2017

Some of that interest has come from Daniel Negreanu’s side-bet action and Germany’s Fedor Holz was one of the first to put the “max” on himself and challenge Kid Poker. Holz’s lone WSOP bracelet came in the 2016 $111,111 buy-in High Roller for One Drop and his second-best career score came in the 2016 Super High Roller Bowl, when he finished 2^nd to countryman Rainer Kempe.

Kempe wasn’t seen in Negreanu’s mentions but did take to Twitter earlier Thursday to drum up interest in a Poker Masters fantasy draft. Since winning the 2016 Super High Roller Bowl, Kempe has pushed his career earnings over $10 million, which is good for 6^th on the all-time German money list. Some big Poker Masters scores from Stefan Schillhabel and Dominik Nitsche could move each into the top-ten, after both more or less confirmed they’ll be playing by betting themselves against Daniel Negreanu.

British High Roller Charlie Carrel also got into the action, booking himself in the must-win bet and it is safe to say that while Carrel is known for his colorful attire at the table, he doesn’t have anything like the Poker Masters Purple Jacket™ in his closet.

Nos vamos a Las Vegas. #Pokermasters pic.twitter.com/HCDn2mrlQb

— Sergio Aido (@petgaming) September 5, 2017

The Spaniards also got involved, looking to replicate Sergio Garcia’s Masters victory with success of their own. Sergio Aido has had the best year of his career in 2017, while Adrian Mateos won his third-career WSOP bracelet this summer. Mateos reached out to Negreanu earlier this week to book himself and Aido put his plane ticket where his mouth was on Twitter.

More players should confirm themselves for the first-ever Poker Masters series over the next few days but regardless of who does compete in the five-event high stakes series, it is sure to be an international affair with players from all over the globe battling on PokerGO.