If you somehow haven't heard the news, there's a big game taking place on the Bally Live Poker stream this Saturday. It's the "Return of Viffer" game and thestakesarehigh--$100/$100 with a $100 big blind ante and a minimum buy-in of $100,000.
CEO of Maverick Gaming and host of the game Eric Persson and the team at Bally Live Poker have put together a star-studded lineup featuring legends from the old days and the up-and-coming superstars of the modern day.
As the stream title states, David "Viffer" Peat makes his return to the high stakes cash game arena, joined by Patrik Antonius, Ethan "Rampage" Yau, Charles Yu, and Nik "Airball" Arcot.
PokerOrg spoke with Persson about Saturday's game and how he gets together a lineup with heavy hitters in each seat.
As he said it, "When I'm putting together a game, I'm looking for a people who understand that, while this is for real money, it's also entertainment. Getting Airball and Rampage together is a great spot for Airball to extract some revenge. Rampage himself has some real aggressive gamble in him. He regularly puts people to tough decisions. This is my first stream with Rampage and I'm pretty sure we will mix it up."
Persson continued, "Being able to bring back Viffer is something that I'm really looking forward to. He hasn't been in Vegas in eight years and I feel like he's itching to get back in the action. I expect him to come out swinging from hand one. We used to play $10/$20 at Bellagio in 2008, seems like so long ago."
Persson and Antonius have history on the felt--$1,978,000 worth of history--but the two clearly love to battle. As Persson said, "There's always room for Patrik [Antonius] in my game. He helps keep me in line, especially if he's on my left. I think this game has a little of everything and I'm sure it will make for some memorable moments. I'm just hoping to run like God on Saturday."
As for Antonius, we spoke to the long-time Finnish professional and founder of FLOP (First Land of Poker) about who he's excited to play with.
In terms of the other players in Saturday's lineup, Antonius looks forward to battling it out with old friends and new opponents: "It's gonna be another interesting game, I'm looking forward to playing. Lineup looks good, there's always action when Eric [Persson] is in the game. I can't even remember the last time I played with Viffer, so that's going to be interesting. And, with Rampage, I've never been on the same table with him."
Antonius also offered up his thoughts on today's live-streamed cash game arena and how it compares to the old days.
He said, "Nowadays, there's so many more players that play high stakes cash games. And the game has changed quite a bit in two different ways, but regarding the streamed games--players look to play more in games that aren't too tight. They have high VPIPs, which, because everyone plays a wide range of hands, creates a lot of unusual spots. That's why there's a lot of interesting hands. It's fun to play in these games. And I like to play deep stacked, so I feel very comfortable overall. Saturday is going to be 9-handed, which isn't my preference, but I'm looking forward to playing."
The "Return of Viffer" kicks off on the Bally Live Poker YouTube channel at 4pm PST on Saturday, February 4th.Check out the trailer below and be sure to tune in for all the action!
