For the past several weeks, BetMGM in Michigan, Pennsylvania, and New Jersey has been qualifying players online for the live $3,500 buy-in, $1,000,000 GTD BetMGM Poker Championship June 23-26 at ARIA Resort & Casino in Las Vegas.
One player to win their way in was New Jersey's Val Arzunian, CEO and founder of a tech start-up called UBMe.
"I was born in Ukraine and when I was 12, my family moved to the United States and settled in New Jersey," Arzunian told PokerNews. "I have a Bachelor's Degree from C.W. Post Long Island University."
Arzunian is relatively new to poker having learned the game a year and a half ago during the pandemic.
"We all went into lockdown, so I learned poker to keep myself sane," he said of signing up for BetMGM, which is where his poker success is limited to, at least thus far.
"I have been to Vegas but have not played in any other tournaments," he admitted. When asked if he would like to meet any poker pros while in town, Arzunian responded: "Absolutely, would love to learn from the best!"
Only time will tell if Arzunian can turn his satellite win into a big Vegas payday!
For the past several weeks, BetMGM in Michigan, Pennsylvania, and New Jersey has been qualifying players online for the live $3,500 buy-in, $1,000,000 GTD BetMGM Poker Championship June 23-26 at ARIA Resort & Casino in Las Vegas.
One player to win their way in was 39-year-old Keegan Smith, who hails from Holland, Michigan.
"I have a mother and father (who is a doctor) and I had a younger brother who passed in March 2020," Smith told PokerNews. "I worked in the Air Force for six years as an intelligence analyst. I have some college but only an associate degree. I play poker for a living and have been for two years. Played semi-pro on and off since I was 20."
He continued: "I learned how to play poker in my fraternity at Hope College. Some of the older guys were playing online and I used to love hanging out with them and learning. I won $10k in an online tournament at the frat house which was a cool experience. I’ve been playing on BetMGM since the first day it went live in Michigan. As a professional player, it’s a great site with an excellent tournament structure. I specialize in MTT’s and really prefer the deeper structure that the sister sites in Michigan seem to lack."
Smith has had multiple wins in nightly $10K GTDs and a few wins at the $200-500 level on various Sundays. He's also been to Las Vegas on multiple occasions, and back in 2010 played the World Series of Poker (WSOP) Main Event, his biggest buy-in event to date.
"My proudest poker moment might have been winning that $10k back in college," he said, "though to be honest the ability to quit my job to pursue this full time is up there."
Smith concluded: "I’m just excited about the experience. As an online player in Michigan, I just don’t interact with other players or pros very often, especially in person. It’s enjoyable being surrounded by others who share your passions. The pro I’d most like to meet is probably Jonathan 'apestyles' Van Fleet but he’s grinding online in Canada. Live pro would be Phil Galfond. His hustle is admirable and I’m getting into PLO which he wrote the book on."
PokerNews will aim to keep an eye on Smith and other qualifiers during the upcoming BetMGM Poker Championship.
For the past several weeks, BetMGM in Michigan, Pennsylvania, and New Jersey has been qualifying players online for the live $3,500 buy-in, $1,000,000 GTD BetMGM Poker Championship June 23-26 at ARIA Resort & Casino in Las Vegas.
One player to win their way in was David Rohn, who was born and raised in Muskegon, Michigan. The 36-year-old single father (he has two sons aged 3 and 13) is a professional boxer/MMA fighter who currently works at Fairlife.
"I learned poker from my grandfather," Rohn told PokerNews. "He loved cards including poker, setback, and hearts."
Rohn has never been to Las Vegas before, nor has he played in a major poker tournament.
"I’ve won a few tournaments on BetMGM," he shared. "My biggest being a $35 buy-in, but I play a lot of cash tables also. I’ve played in many cash games at casinos and my proudest moment was winning the bad beat jackpot at Turning Stone Casino in New York. "
As for what he's looking forward to most, Rohn said: "I’m looking for to the atmosphere of the event because I play better under pressure and under the big lights! I’d like to meet Scotty Nguyen. He has been around so long and I’ve watched him since I was a young man."
For the past several weeks, BetMGM in Michigan, Pennsylvania, and New Jersey has been qualifying players online for the live $3,500 buy-in, $1,000,000 GTD BetMGM Poker Championship June 23-26 at ARIA Resort & Casino in Las Vegas.
One player to win their way in was Michigan's Brett Baublitz, a retired lieutenant from the Gratiot County Sheriff’s Office who plays online as “Hitman29904LT”.
"That came about from an old professional wrestler Brett 'The Hitman' Hart combined with the County I worked for '29', my badge number '904', and my rank when I retired," Baublitz told PokerNews. “I retired from the Gratiot County Sheriff’s Office after 25 years of service in 2018. I started my new career working for the City of Alma as their Director of Transportation for our local transit system."
Baublitz, who lives in Ithaca, recently turned 50, has a beautiful wife and two wonderful children.
"Both of my kids are married, and my son and his wife are expecting their first child," he said with a smile.
Baublitz learned to play poker as a young man playing nickel/quarter cash games. He was a part of a poker club for a few years where we met monthly in a tournament-style format. Naturally, he found his way to online poker when it came to the Wolverine State.
"I’ve been on BetMGM for probably two years now," he explained. "I joined because of the amazing first-time offers that were available. I’ve stayed because the platform is amazing. I’ve had some success on BetMGM playing their casino games (mainly blackjack). I enjoy the sportsbook too!"
As for winning his way to Vegas, Baublitz is quite excited as it'll be his first visit to Sin City.
"I’m excited to take it all in," he said. "I’ve never played poker in any major tournaments either. I watch several poker professionals online and learn their playstyle. My favorite player is probably Daniel Negreanu. I enjoy watching him process the table, have a good attitude while playing, and best of all have fun. Life is short to do something that you don’t get pleasure from. I would love the chance to meet him if possible. I know that Darin Elias will be there, and he’s playing some of the best poker in the world today."
As for Baublitz's proudest poker accomplishment to date? ... "I’d say qualifying for this event."
BetMGM announced an agreement with PokerGO? to host the upcoming BetMGM Poker Championship final table and a $25K freeroll tournament in the PokerGO Studio at ARIA Resort & Casino in Las Vegas. The Championship live final table will feature six players on Sunday, June 26, during the 2022 ARIA Poker Classic. The newly added no-limit hold’em freeroll will take place on Wednesday, June 22, and is available exclusively to BetMGM Poker Championship online qualifiers.
“PokerGO delivers the best in poker content to fans around the world, and we’re thrilled to welcome them as a valued partner of the BetMGM Poker Championship,” said Luke Staudenmaier, Director of Poker, BetMGM. “Through this relationship, the first-ever Championship final table and freeroll participants will play some of the most important hands of their lives in PokerGO’s iconic studio. With Jeff Platt and Jamie Kerstetter on the mic, players will have the opportunity to claim poker glory that will live on PokerGO’s platform for years to come.”
Headlining four days of branded poker events and carrying a $1M guarantee, the $3,500 buy-in no-limit hold’em BetMGM Poker Championship begins Thursday, June 23. On Saturday, June 25, a $600 buy-in BetMGM Poker Mystery Bounty will mark the first time ARIA has run this modern take on a live poker knockout tournament.
As BetMGM continues to expand into new markets, responsible gaming education remains a key focus. BetMGM is proud to provide resources to help customers play responsibly including GameSense, an industry-leading program, developed and licensed to MGM Resorts by the British Columbia Lottery Corporation. Through the GameSense integration within BetMGM’s mobile and desktop platforms, customers can directly access responsible gaming tools.
From June 23-26, leading sports betting and internet gaming operator BetMGM Poker will hold the inaugural $3,500 buy-in BetMGM Poker Championship at ARIA Resort & Casino in Las Vegas. The BetMGM Poker Championship, which headlines the 2022 ARIA Poker Classic, will not only be comprised of players in Las Vegas, but also a slew of players from Michigan, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania who are busy winning their way via online qualifiers.
"There are already 30 online qualifiers and it looks like there’s going to be around 75 total when all is said and done," said Matt Berkey, who is representing BetMGM this summer. " I know the next two Sundays they’re going to be running five-seat giveaways. We really haven’t seen too much of this since Black Friday, it’s nice to finally see the two worlds merge together."
Another part of the qualifier process will be a player party and freeroll: "The day before the actual BetMGM Championship there will be a freeroll where Darren Elias and I will be doing a meet-and-greet. We’ll give them some quick pointers before they get in there for a chance to win their way into the Main Event."
While he won't be winning his way in via an online qualifier, Berkey still has every intention of playing.
"I’ve got all the bullets in the chamber. I'll fire as many as I need."
"I’ve got all the bullets in the chamber," he told PokerNews. "I'll fire as many as I need."
He's also looking forward to playing the $600 BetMGM Mystery Bounty.
"I’ve played one at the Wynn, didn’t make Day 2, so I’ve no idea what it’s like to stick my hand in that roller wheel," he said, "but I really want to try and get that experience, so there’s a pretty good chance I’ll be in the BetMGM Mystery Bounty as well."
For now, Berkey looks forward to continuing his relationship with BetMGM.
"It’s been really smooth. I know Luke Staudenmaier [Director of Poker of BetMGM], he’s a Pittsburgh guy himself," said Berkey. "He’s wrapped up in the community. It’s nice to see someone who has their hand so heavily involved as a player kind of make their way into a management position. He’s really easy to deal with. Obviously, Tom Wheaton has been a big help and influence with all of this. He’s always overseeing everything, so he’s nice to have as a friend in my corner."
Berkeys' BetMGM deal paid big dividends back in March when he traveled home to Pennsylvania to represent the brand in the March Poker Mania for the $1,060 Main Event. Berkey stole the show on the final day of the series with a win in a wild finish in Pennsylvania, while "s7udz88" and "GogoYubari" took down the Main Events in Michigan and New Jersey.
"I wasn’t going to go home and not hold it down for Pittsburgh. I had to make the trip worthwhile, so yeah, I was lucky enough to ship the Main Event," he said with a smile.
Berkey came from behind in late final table play to defeat Edward "Hisoka" Leonard, who held a commanding lead throughout the end stages.
BetMGM Pennsylvania March Poker Mania Main Event Final Table Results
Place
Player
Prize
1
Matt Berkey
$31,250
2
Edward "Hisoka" Leonard
$17,500
3
"MrSchneebly"
$12,750
4
"MuckLavin"
$9,500
5
"pa500"
$7,350
6
"Gail the Snail"
$5,550
7
"bottleopener"
$4,150
8
"luckybluffer777"
$3,250
Matt Berkey Only Friends
Finally, Berkey commented on his new his web show, Only Friends.
"I’m a huge Pat Macafee fan. For anybody who doesn’t know who that is, he was a punter for the Indianapolis Colts, also a Pittsburgh native. He actually grew up 10 miles away from where I grew up," Berkey said of the show's origin. "I’ve kind of followed his journey since retiring. He did this really cool thing where he got six or seven of his closest friends and just started a daily show on the internet."
He continued: "Here we are a few years later and he’s been picked up by SiriusXM, by Fan Duel, he just signed a $100 million deal. I said you know what the poker space lacks – daily content. Why not us? We have the ability, we have the production crew, we have the team to do it. So it sort of fell out of the sky overnight, kind of emulating a little bit of what Pat Macafee does on his show."
Leading sports betting and internet gaming operator BetMGM Poker is hosting the first-ever $3,500 buy-in BetMGM Poker Championship from June 23-26 at ARIA Resort & Casino in Las Vegas. The BetMGM Poker Championship, which headlines the 2022 ARIA Poker Classic, will kick off four days of BetMGM live poker action at the luxurious Las Vegas casino.
One man who will be there is BetMGM Ambassador and four-time World Poker Tour (WPT) champ Darren Elias, who recently spoke with PokerNews about the upcoming series and just missing out on his record-extending fifth WPT title.
"It’s still kind of bittersweet to be so close, be heads-up with the chip lead, be right on the precipice there," Elias said of finishing runner-up to Mark Davis at the end of May in the World Poker Tour (WPT) Seminole Hard Rock Poker Showdown, a tournament that attracted 2,010 entries. "It’s tough to be too upset because it’s still a great score but obviously I would’ve liked to win."
Elias earned $660,000 for finishing in second place. While the New Jersey native failed to close that one out, he's hopeful he can carry his momentum into the summer at the 2022 World Series of Poker, and more important for him, the BetMGM Poker Championship.
"It’s kind of unique here in America to have this concept going again," Elias said of having an online avenue to send players to live events. "We’ve already qualified around 20 players from Michigan, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania. We expect to qualify over 75 players. We have satellites running in those states, the big one being $535 every Sunday to give away the $6,000 packages. I think it’s great just to see these sorts of events exist again in the US and hopefully, we can run more of these bigger events at MGM properties and get some synergy with the online market."
For those who win their way to Vegas, they'll not only compete in a major tournament but also get the chance to hang out with Elias.
" There will be a Player Party, maybe even a freeroll event at PokerGO Studio, we’re still hammering out the details, but a great experience for the players to go over and play at, in my opinion, the premier place to play poker, the PokerGO Studio. Where the high rollers are filmed, the Super High Roller Bowl, it's absolutely pristine in there, so that will be a good event. Matt Berkey and I will be there for that event."
Whether it was the End Boss Poker Series late last year or more recently the March Poker Mania a few months back, BetMGM has been hitting home runs in the US market, and Elias is their biggest slugger lending his name, expertise, and support to each event.
"It’s exciting to be a part of a team that’s willing to take chances and run these sorts of events," he said. "I feel like we’re building momentum and hopefully the cards fly the way we’d like to with regulation and combining markets so we can kind of create these bigger player pools and run bigger events. It’s exciting to be a part of and I’m looking forward to the future with BetMGM."
Likewise, Elias is looking forward to calling the ARIA home all summer long as that's his new home away from home.
"ARIA is definitely one of my favorite places to be, one of my happy places I’d say," he said. "We’ve got great restaurants, great rooms, and the poker room, the staff there, they all do a great job. You get treated with respect. They really work with the players to give them what they want which I appreciate and I think most players appreciate."
BetMGM and ARIA have partnered to give players in Michigan, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania a chance to play live in Las Vegas this summer in the inaugural BetMGM Poker Championship! Daily mega-qualifiers are running now and offer players a chance to win for as little as $5!
Enter $500 Sunday qualifiers for the chance to win $6,000 BetMGM Poker Championship packages! These packages include travel expenses and free ARIA lodging.
Players who qualify will not only win a seat in the $3,500 live event, but also enjoy exclusive access to a $25K Freeroll hosted by Darren Elias and Matt Berkey prior to the $1,000,000 GTD BetMGM Poker Championship.
BetMGM Poker
HEre's a look at the qualifier schedule, which will run through June 12:
In the latest edition of the PokerNews Podcast, BetMGM Ambassador Darren Elias, who opens up about falling one spot shy of his record-extending fifth World Poker Tour (WPT) title and chats about the upcoming BetMGM Poker Championship from June 23-26 at ARIA Resort & Casino.
Also, PokerNews' Chad Holloway and Sarah Herring come to you from the 2022 World Series of Poker (WSOP) and offer thoughts on the early goings at Bally's and Paris Las Vegas.
Guests on this episode include Katie Kopp, who became the first bracelet winner of the summer and captured the inaugural bracelet offered at the new home of the WSOP; both David Peters and Chance Kornuth, who clashed heads-up battling for their respective fourth bracelet; and Shaun Deeb, who shares his thoughts on the $25K Fantasy Draft, Mark-Up Police, and more.
Listen to those stories and more on the latest PokerNews Podcast!
Leading sports betting and internet gaming operator BetMGM Poker will be expanding into the live realm later this summer with the first-ever $3,500 buy-in BetMGM Poker Championship scheduled to take place June 23-26 at ARIA Resort & Casino in Las Vegas.
The BetMGM Poker Championship, which headlines the 2022 ARIA Poker Classic, will kick off four days of BetMGM live poker action at the luxurious Las Vegas casino.
"The first-ever BetMGM Poker Championship descends on Las Vegas during one of the most exciting times of the poker season," Luke Staudenmaier, Director of Poker of BetMGM, said in a recent press release. "ARIA is a legendary poker brand and we're thrilled that the Championship has become an integral part of this year's Poker Classic. Through our relationship with MGM Resorts and its world-class U.S. properties, we'll continue to leverage event programming and connect with players both online and in their favorite poker rooms."
A Million Up for Grabs
The no-limit Hold'em BetMGM Poker Championship will feature a guaranteed prize pool of $1,000,000, and it could surpass that with so many poker players in town for the summer poker action.
PokerNews will be on-site to live report on the BetMGM Poker Championship, so be sure to check out the live reporting hub for tournament updates.
Next up will be the $600 buy-in BetMGM Poker Mystery Bounty event on June 25, which will mark the first time ARIA has run such an event. Mystery Bounty events are all the hype right now and add an additional sweat factor to the game, so expect this event to be an exciting one that draws a sizable field.
Other notable events that will take place during the ARIA Poker Classic, which is running June 1-July 17, include the $400 buy-in No-Limit Hold'em Ladies event, which kicks off on June 28 and has a $50,000 guarantee.
Omaha junkies are in luck as the ARIA Poker Classic will feature four Pot-Limit Omaha events with buy-ins ranging from $600 to $1,100, including the $1,100 Pot-Limit Omaha event on July 3 with a guaranteed prize pool of $100,000. The series will also feature a $600 buy-in H.O.R.S.E. event that will run on June 9 with a $50,000 guarantee.
The 2022 ARIA Poker Classic will wrap up with a Player's Choice freeroll on July 17, with the entrants being chosen via Twitter vote.
Ways to Qualify
Ahead of the series, Bet MGM Poker is awarding prize packages to at least 15 players from each US market, which consists of BetMGM Poker Michigan, New Jersey and Pennsylvania. In addition to a buy-in into the BetMGM Poker Championship, these packages include travel expenses and a five-night stay at ARIA.
BetMGM ambassadors Darren Elias and Matt Berkey, who recently hosted the online BetMGM March Poker Mania series, took to Twitter on May 18 to promote the upcoming live events, including offering daily qualifier tickets.
15 online poker players have already qualified for the BetMGM Poker Championship at @ARIAPoker!
— Darren Elias (@DarrenElias)
Every Sunday leading up to the BetMGM Poker Championship, BetMGM Poker will host $500 qualifier events for a chance to win the $6,000 prize package.
Be sure to check out BetMGM Poker's Twitter page at @BetMGMPoker for more information about the upcoming live events and ways to qualify.
A full schedule of the upcoming 2022 ARIA Poker Classic is available in the table below.
