Hope Diamond

How to play Hope Diamond

The action will kick off with New Zealand’s David Yan in the lead, sitting as he does with 5.3 million chips, a good chunk more than his closest challengers Yuri Dzivielvski (3 million) and Niklas Astedt (2.6 million). Of those two, it is perhaps the Swede Astedt who will fancy their chances more than anyone, desperate to seal the deal having accumulated almost $2 million in winnings in the tournament series but never having closed one out to take the outright win.

Elsewhere, there are some superstars of the game who are taking their places lined up behind the leaders in pursuit of poker profit. Canadian poker legend Sam Greenwood comes into the final a little short-stack with 1.9 million chips, but he’s immediately followed by another luminary of the game in Mikita Badziakowski. The Belarussian only has 1.4 million but will be doing everything he can to get over the line. The final table betting prices are slightly different to the order in which the players find themselves in the chipcounts:

As you can see, David Yan has enjoyed the most money being places on him and goes into play as the 4.12 odds favourite. He may have the most money placed on him, but almost double the number of bettors rate the Swedish pro Astedt as a good shot to see out the win for the first time. Sam Greenwood is tempting plenty of punters at odds of 10 and 103 people have invested in the Canadian to upset the chipcounts.

About Hope Diamond

Bringing you series of articles such as Poker on Screen and Poker in Print has been a massive source of pride for myself and the team and I even got the chance to discuss poker in the movies and on television on the recent episode of the award-winning podcast, The Chip Race.  

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What is Hope Diamond?

When its first apartment buildings opened in 1953, the Meadows Addition became a popular home for Strip employees, including showgirls, who found the low rents and short commutes ideal.

But the expansion of Las Vegas beyond the Strip eventually gave its hospitality workers and performers their pick of nearby accommodations, including beautiful new houses that were also reasonably priced and more suited to raising families.

By the late 1970s, the Meadows Addition had become forgotten by almost everyone except drug dealers, gangs, and illegal sex workers. Locals and cops nicknamed it after “The Naked City,” a 1948 film noir about the New York City police hunt for a murderer that later inspired a gritty, 1958-1963 TV series of the same name.