Matt Kirk Poker 2019

With his 8th-place finish in the 2019 @WSOP $50,000 Poker Players Championship. Matt Kirk's horrendous run at the partypoker's 'The Big Game' goes viral. Tsoukernik alleges that Bobby Baldwin, winner of the 1978 World Series of Poker main event, and others 'back Kirk and other professional poker players to play against Aria casino ‘whale. Kings Casino owner Leon Tsoukernik 's long-running legal battle over $3million losses he incurred during a late-night, drink-fuelled, high-stakes poker game with Australian pro Matt Kirk has seen Bobby Baldwin named as the man backing Kirk, according to court documents.

Matt Kirk Poker Net Worth

The massive $250,000 buy-in Aria Super High Roller Cash Game has been a rotating carousel of elite No-Limit Hold'em talent and Australian Matt Kirk. The unheralded poker pro from Perth was the biggest loser on Day 1 of the cash game dropping hundreds of thousands to players like Antonio Esfandiari and Phil Ivey. Matt Kirk and Trueteller are two of the biggest action players in the world. No wonder that it results in a massive $251,046 pot, when they collider. Check out Trueteller's next level bluff in our poker hand of the week.

It was a case of best friends at the poker table again for Kings Casino boss Leon Tsoukernik and Aussie poker pro Matt Kirk as they battled each other over 3 days in Montreal, with some other big names in the frame too on partypoker's Big Game PLO.

Millionaire businessman and high-stakes rec Tsoukernik has been embroiled in a series of court battles with Kirk this past year or so, but the legal dramas were swapped for incredible poker dramas this week, with Tsoukernik emerging some $3.5million ahead.

English highstakes crusher Sam Trickett, Dusk Til Dawn owner Rob Yong, US highstakes amateur Lauren Roberts and Jean Claude 'The Wolf' Bitoun joined the duelling duo, and there were no signs of any leftover resentment at the $3million argument which PokerTube has reported on over the past year, instead series of massive pots and incredible plays taking centre stage…

Playing everything from $100/200/400 to $500/$1000/$2000/$4000 PLO, with some $2000/$4000/$8000 HU PLO thrown into the mix when players had been bloodied and bruised by the huge swings of Omaha, Tsoukernik suffered a massive cooler in a hand against Yong.

Flopping a straight and watching as your opponent happily bets into you is the stuff of dreams in No Limit Hold'em of course, but PLO is a different beast altogether as Leon found out to his cost on day 2 of the big game.

♦ ♥ ♣ ♠

Tsoukernik: A♣ 8♣ 8♥ 7♣

Yong: Q♠ J♥ 10♣ 4♥

Board: 10♥ 6♥ 9♦

…and despite Leon flopping the nut straight, with $80k in the middle and Yong betting into him, he found himself a 46% dog in the hand – 'odds worse than roulette!'

Describing it later as 'a dream hand to flop', it would all become a nightmare for the Czech cardroom owner as Yong finally shoved all-in, Tsoukernik snap-calling… and $941,000 sitting in the middle.

The turn bricked making Leon the 68:32 favourite to scoop the lot…

5♣

…but the river appeared…

9♥

…to give Yong the flush and the biggest pot of the weekend.

♦ ♥ ♣ ♠

Although the court case involving Kirk and Tsoukernik may well remain a mystery - both men perhaps fed up with rising legal costs estimated at a combined $800,000 or just preferring to settle their differences on the felt as poker players - the final tally from the Playground Poker Club's huge PLO action was in Leon's favour at least…

…although for poor Matt Kirk the cards simply wouldn't play ball…

..although he'll bounce back soon enough and hopefully we'll have seen the last of the lawyers!

Kings Casino owner Leon Tsoukernik's long-running legal battle over $3million losses he incurred during a late-night, drink-fuelled, high-stakes poker game with Australian pro Matt Kirk has seen Bobby Baldwin named as the man backing Kirk, according to court documents.

Lawyers for the Czech millionaire have claimed a 'conspiracy' involving Baldwin and others is the reason for Kirk reneging on a deal to settle the debt accrued by Tsoukernik, claiming that 1978 WSOP Main Event winner Baldwin is among those who 'back Kirk and other professional poker players to play against Aria casino ‘whale' patrons.'

Tsoukernik's legal team stated in court documents that Kirk attempted to enlist the aid of a number of high-profile players to support him, with Bobby Baldwin and Cirque du Soleil founder Guy Laliberté named in a text message from Kirk. Lithuanian poker pro-turned-politician Antanas ‘Tony G' Guoga and Dusk Till Dawn owner Rob Young were also named.

Tsoukernik has also alleged that after Kirk agreed on a $1 million settlement, he was told to 'renege on the deal' by his backer during a ‘mysterious phone call' in which the person hung up on Rob Yong, that person 'believed to be Baldwin of the Aria.'

Baldwin, who is President and COO of the Aria, an MGM resorts-owned resort & casino, has yet publicly comment on the case.

Nouvel an casino forges les eaux merveilles.

Tsoukernik vs Kirk timeline

May 2017

Tsoukernik and Kirk played a late night heads-up match in the Aria Casino's Ivey Room on May 27th 2018, during which Kirk loaned Tsoukernik $3million in chips in order to continue playing – the loans recorded by sms and CCTV.

June 2017

Kirk launched legal action claiming that Tsoukernik was refusing to repay the outstanding amount of $2million, the Kings Casino boss having repaid $1million on June 3rd.

October 2017

The majority of Kirk's claims were thrown out by Clark County District Judge Linda Marie Bell who ruled that ‘gambling debts are not enforceable in law'. Eight of the ten allegations from Kirk were dismissed, but Judge Bell stated that Kirk could still pursue redress - along with potential punitive damages - on the ‘fraudulent inducement' and ‘unjust enrichment' accusations.

November 2017

Tsoukernik hit back by launching a $10million counter-claim stating he was taken advantage of by the Aria and Kirk working together. He also claimed that Kirk reneged on a deal made in the presence of Dusk Till Dawn casino boss Rob Yong after receiving a mysterious phone call – now believed to have come from Baldwin himself.

A few days later, Yong himself published an account of the Tsoukernik-Kirk deal, his blog posting supporting Tsoukernik's claims that someone (as stated above, believed to be Bobby Baldwin) had interfered after the deal was struck and told Kirk he was not to accept the deal.

February 2018

Tsoukernik's counterclaims were rejected by Judge Bell, although she left the door open for a renewed claim if Tsoukernik could bring detailed evidence to the court to support his claims. Kirk's legal costs were awarded against the Czech high-roller.

Tsoukernik hit back by launching a $10million counter-claim stating he was taken advantage of by the Aria and Kirk working together. He also claimed that Kirk reneged on a deal made in the presence of Dusk Till Dawn casino boss Rob Yong after receiving a mysterious phone call – now believed to have come from Baldwin himself.

A few days later, Yong himself published an account of the Tsoukernik-Kirk deal, his blog posting supporting Tsoukernik's claims that someone (as stated above, believed to be Bobby Baldwin) had interfered after the deal was struck and told Kirk he was not to accept the deal.

February 2018

Tsoukernik's counterclaims were rejected by Judge Bell, although she left the door open for a renewed claim if Tsoukernik could bring detailed evidence to the court to support his claims. Kirk's legal costs were awarded against the Czech high-roller.

April 2018

This week Tsoukernik brought these ‘details' to court as outlined above as an 'opportunity to amend his counterclaim based on the additional facts he received… along with other facts that may be developed during discovery.' His lawyers also asked that Kirk's legal costs award be suspended until after trial.

In addition, separate documents have been filed which claim that although the NGCB (Nevada Gaming Control Board) would ordinarily handle elements of Tsoukernik's case which allegedly involved being plied with alcohol among other factors, there is a 'conspiracy' that 'occurred after the poker game in question' and that extends beyond the regulator's boundaries.

Matt Kirk Poker

A jury trial for the case has been set for April 2019.