On the heels of the 2018 World Series of Poker, the month of August is usually a reset for many in the poker world after they take some time to recharge from the strenuous Vegas grind. That doesn’t mean the news slows down, though. Here are PocketFives’ top stories from August.

Former CardPlayer Employee Charged With Theft of $1.1M from Company

August closed with a bang as far as news headlines were concerned, after it was made known that Shelby “Anna” McCann, a former employee of poker media outlet CardPlayer, was charged with the theft of $1.1 million from the company.

As reported by the Las Vegas Review-Journal, McCann had been stealing from the company for quite some time, writing checks to herself, increasing her own salary without approval, and paying off personal debt with company money.

READ: Former CardPlayer Employee Charged With Theft of $1.1M from Company

Badziakouski Wins EPT Barcelona €100K Super High Roller for €1.65M

Mikita Badziakouski has had himself quite the 2018. Entering the December Super High Roller Bowl, Badziakouski had already earned more than $14.5 million on the live felt, including four seven-figure scores. One of those huge scores came in August when Badziakouski won the EPT Barcelona €100,000 Super High Roller.

Badziakouski topped a field of 54 entries in the six-figure buy-in tournament to continue his incredible pace in 2018. He won the event for the third-largest score of his live tournament career, €1.65 million, and did so in one of the toughest high-stakes tournaments in the world.

READ: Badziakouski Wins EPT Barcelona €100K Super High Roller for €1.65M

SHRPO Big 4: Eisen Wins Championship, Foxen Goes Back-to-Back

Seminole Hard Rock’s ‘Big 4’ group of poker events has quickly risen the ranks as one of the best tournament festivals in the world. This year’s event saw Brandon Eisen, Alex Foxen, Marc MacDonnell, and Jake Schindler earn the four major victories.

Foxen’s win stuck out in particular, and it’s because the event he won, the $2,650 No-Limit Hold’em event, was the same one he won the year before. In 2018, he took home $208,452 for topping a field of 422 entries. In 2017, he bested a field of 395 entries to win $204,600.

READ: Eisen Wins Championship, Foxen Goes Back-to-Back

The Year of the Fox: Alex Foxen Now Living the Poker Dream

Sticking with Foxen, PocketFives’ Jeff Walsh sat down with the poker pro in August to discuss the year he was having, bookended by the two SHRPO wins in South Florida. At the time, Foxen stated that he was “aiming to reach #1 in the GPI rankings.” He reached that goal in October and remained #1 on the GPI for the rest of the year.

READ: Alex Foxen Now Living the Poker Dream

SUNDAY MAJORS: Sunday Million DDoS’d; Moorman, Leonard Win Elsewhere

Although the names of Chris Moorman and Patrick Leonard are included in the headline on this story, the big story from Sunday, August 12, was that PokerStars had to cancel many of its tournaments due to a DDoS attack across its network that caused outages in events such as the Sunday Million, Sunday Warm-Up, High Roller, and Bounty Builder High Roller, with refunds and prize money distributed.

In more positive news from this Sunday, Moorman and Leonard both scored sizable victories on the platforms of their sponsors.

READ: Sunday Million DDoS’d; Moorman, Leonard Win Elsewhere

‘hellohellohello’ Wins August Monthly PLB Title

PocketFiver ‘hellohellohello‘ claimed the Monthly PLB title for August with 3,062.21 points. His biggest score came on August 19 when he won the PokerStars Sunday Million for $160,888 and 1,091.60 points. He also won the PokerStars $1,050 Thursday Thrill [Progressive KO], $175K Gtd for $27,270 and 378.15 points during August.