Calvin Anderson, the Las Vegas-based professional poker player, emerged as the winner of the 2023 World Poker Tour (WPT) Prime Championship. The prestigious event took place at Wynn Las Vegas and saw a staggering 10,512 entries that helped generate a prize pool of $10,196,640.

This year’s Prime Championship enjoyed much more interest when compared to its debut in 2022. For comparison, the 2022 WPT Prime Championship attracted a field of 5,430 entries. In other words, this year, the number of participants nearly doubled, helping generate a staggering prize pool that surpassed $10 million.

Emerging as the winner, Anderson collected the first-place prize of $1,386,280. Moreover, the poker pro earned secured the WPT Prime Championship trophy. The recent win represented Anderson’s first WPT win and also granted him a seat in the 2024 WPT World Championship.

During the 2023 WPT Prime Championship, the poker pro met other notable poker veterans, including Frankie Cucchiara who finished in 52nd place, Daniel Lowery, a 14-time gold ring winner, who ranked 18th as well as Steven Jones, the 2023 WSOP Main Event runner-up who ranked 10th place during the recent tournament.

There was a total of six players that endured to reach the Prime Championship’s final table. With Anderson emerging as the winner, Aaron Pinson finished second, collecting a $910,000 prize. The third place belonged to Jay Lu, who took home $675,000, while Jon Glendinning ranked fourth, taking home $505,000. At the 2023 WPT Prime Championship, Bob Buckenmayer ranked fifth, taking home $380,000, while Valeriy Pak finished sixth, collecting a $290,000 prize. Just outside of the top six was Mukul Pahuja, who finished in seventh place.

The Recent Win Grows the Poker Pro’s Total Live Earnings

The WPT Prime Championship rounded off the 2023 WPT Prime season and comes ahead of the 2024 WPT Prime season. The new WPT Prime season starts on January 26, 2024, and is expected to attract more seasoned poker professionals.

Adam Pliska, WPT’s CEO, shared his excitement about Anderson’s recent win. “The astounding increase in the WPT Prime Championship exceeded expectations, and further fortifies the event as a pillar of the WPT World Championship festival at Wynn Las Vegas,” he explained in a statement released by WPT on Wednesday. Finally, Pliska congratulated Anderson for his “monumental win.”

The 2023 WPT Prime Championship win further grows the total live earnings for the Las Vegas-based poker pro. According to the Hendon Mob, Anderson’s total live earnings are close to $5 million or $4,961,841 to be exact. His latest win represents the best live cash prize collected by the poker pro throughout his professional career.

The post Calvin Anderson Wins WPT Prime Championship, Takes Home $1.4M appeared first on Keno Wizard.

Calvin Ridley, an American football wide receiver, was suspended from the NFL for wagering on sports. The reformed player acknowledged his mistake and will now try to return to competing.

Ridley Wagered on Sports

Ridley was suspended after placing several mobile wagers in November 2021. It is known that Ridley placed around 10 bets and made a few parlay wagers. In total, the wide receiver wagered around $1,500.

Experts found out that in his playtime, Ridley had made parlays which included the Atlanta Falcons, which were his team at the time. Luckily for Ridley, investigators did not find any evidence of fraud or game information leak.

However professional NFL athletes are prohibited from betting as they might undermine the integrity of the league. Because of such concerns, Hard Rock contacted Genius Sports, the NFL’s sports data provider, and informed it that Ridley had bet. As a result, the player was reprimanded and suspended from competing professionally.

Ridley bet on his own volition, with his NFL coaches, teammates, competitors and staff being unaware of his wagering activity. According to a post he made on Twitter, the player does not suffer from problem gambling.

Ridley Began the Reinstatement Process

In November 2022, Ridley was acquired by the Jacksonville Jaguars despite still being suspended. The team believes that once the player will be a great option for quarterback Trevor Lawrence once he returns to competing professionally.

Ridley will now begin the process of returning to the league. As outlined in his suspension, Ridley became able to apply for reinstatement on February 15, 2023. The player applied for reinstatement as soon as possible and now hopes to return to the NFL.

Wagering Athletes Undermine the Integrity of Pro Sports

Athletes betting on sports are something that is widely regarded as problematic in professional competitions. Allowing professionals to wager may give them an unfair advantage over average bettors, compromising the fairness of sports betting.

In addition, wagering athletes may oftentimes be convinced to fix matches, thus undermining the integrity of professional sports as well.

Because of that, in 2022, UFC betting was temporarily banned in Ontario as the league did not follow some of the standards expected by the regulator. These concerns came amid a big betting scandal involving several professional UFC athletes and leading to the suspensions of a number of players. Soon after that, the UFC teamed up with US Integrity to improve its integrity controls.

The post Calvin Ridley Applies for Reinstatement, Hopes to Return to the NFL appeared first on Keno Wizard.