Tweet Tweet Bad Beat: Brunson Almost Robbed, Negreanu Offers Poker Strategy Insight and More
There's a whole lot going on in the world of poker this week. There's a huge poker tournament at the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in Florida, the EPT Barcelona is coming up, and the PokerStars WCOOP awaits. Twitter and other social media is used frequently in the world of poker, and not solely to give updates on chip counts and bust-out details. Players list their favorite movies (Ludovich Geilich, Randal Flowers, Matthew Waxman, Adam Levy), debate the United States Presidential election, and share all sorts of other updates. With everything moving so fast, Tweet Tweet Bad Beat, a feature originally featured on our Dutch site is here to keep track.
I Bet You
I Bet You was a show starring Antonio Esfandiari and Phil Laak where they challenged each other, with a camera team following each and every step they took. Esfandiari or Laak would put together some crazy prop bets with the two of them putting up some big bucks to make it fun to watch and keep score. After two moderately popular seasons, a third season was announced but never happened. Fortunately, all the episodes can still be watched on YouTube (playlist Season 1, Season 2).
Though the show is no longer aired, prop bets aren't gone from the poker world by any means. In fact, we see prop bets between poker players dominate the mainstream media coverage of our game. Not long ago, Esfandiari was DQ'ed from the PCA after peeing in a bottle, a move he made because his legs were too sore after competing in a $50,000 lunge bet with Bill Perkins.
And while Dan Bilzerian is no longer considered a poker pro by poker players, his bet to cycle from Vegas to LA within 48 hours with Bill Perkins also made headlines when Bilzerian completed the challenge, netting himself a couple hundred thousand dollars in the process.
On a much smaller scale a bet was made this week at the Seminole Hard Rock Hollywood Poker. World Poker Tour Champion Will Failla bet a slate of fellow players he could do 10 laps in the pool under 24 minutes. It took him 22 minutes and 20 seconds eventually, netting himself a nice little bonus of $600:
.@WILLFAILLA UPDATE https://t.co/OQw2Wm2LhC
— Tommy Bates (@HardRockTommy)
.@WILLFAILLA UPDATE pic.twitter.com/OQw2Wm2LhC
— Tommy Bates (@HardRockTommy) August 14, 2016
He got us @WILLFAILLA #goathustler https://t.co/Kc0oqcVg7T
— John Racener (@racener)
Easy money for Failla. A way to make money without as much effort but with a bit more pain would be to get a tattoo, like Poker Central marketing director, Sam Simmons who reached out to his followers for some help. Simmons wanted to know how much it would take to tattoo the 'poop' emoji on his butt:
Q for twitter followers: how much $$$ would it take you to get the poop emoji tattooed on your butt? Need input for a bet
— Sam Simmons (@PokerSampson)
The poop tattoo would have to be the size of a silver dollar and it would be allowed to be removed afterward. That last stipulation changes everything and makes getting that tatoo a far easier choice for anyone. We were curious what our audience thinks, though, so for our incredibly important poll we remove that detail and ask the important question:
More Players Chime in on 4-Color Deck Debate
Last week we discussed whether or not it made sense to introduce the 4-color deck in live events or not. [Removed:17] and Steve O'Dwyer both gave their opinion, and some other players chimed in on Twitter afterward.
Steve is right. Knowing exact suit vs red/black when a card is slightly exposed is a big deal. https://t.co/t2EOm802hM
— Isaac Haxton (@ikepoker)
@OnTheMac @steveodwyer ya flashing cards from dealer mistakes ... Excellent point #
— Kevin MacPhee (@KevinMacphee)
Many live players don't effectively protect their hands & may inadvertently flash suits more easily w/ 4CD, also players folding w/out care.
— Jesse McKenzie (@OnTheMac)
The pros seem to agree with O'Dwyer that using a 4-color deck in live events is a bad idea, but the poll shows 53 percent being all for it. Whether the European Poker Tour will give it a try or not is yet to be seen. The EPT Barcelona event starts this week, and PokerNews will be on site for the €50,000 Super High Roller this Saturday.
What Do You Think?
Brunson Almost Robbed Again
Doyle Brunson is no stranger to robberies. Back in 2012, the Godfather of Poker wrote a blog about getting robbed in the late 50's where the robbers dressed up as cops to prevent the players armed security from shooting. Unfortunately, the blog on doylebrunson.com is down a lot, but here's a little piece of it to give you a taste of what happened:
We were used to being arrested, taken down to the police station and paying a fine for gambling, then being released. It was part of the risk of illegal poker but when these guys started taking our money from the table and searching us for more, we realized those "policemen" were really robbers.
Life wasn't easy as a road gambler back in the day, but apparently, life hasn't become much better. This week, Doyle Brunson almost was robbed again. Brunson tweeted what happened, and added some advice to people with bad intentions.
A police officer just left my house. There was a robbery a few doors from my house last night. The robber told the guy he knew he was a poker player and got him in his garage. That was probably meant for me. Don't these idiots know we leave our money at the casinos where we play? He told the victim his cut was supposed to be $700,000. WARNING... I carry a pistol with me at all times. When I come home I get out of my car with a gun in my hand. I have all kinds of silent alarms, motion detectors, etc. Plus I'm 83 years old, have been good with guns all of my life and am not going to be robbed again. 5 times in my life is enough! So any aspirations of trying had better be reconsidered!!! The robber got about $500 from his victim and said he was going to kill his informants for giving him the wrong house.
— Doyle Brunson (@TexDolly)
Negreanu Does Strategy
Fedor Holz (eventual runner-up) and Jason Mercier (bubbled the final table) played an interesting hand in the Super High Roller Bowl at Aria this past summer. Here's what happened:
Jason Mercier opened under-the-gun for 14,000 holding Q♥Q♦. Fedor Holz defended his big blind with A♠Q♣. The flop came 4♦J♣6♠ and Holz check-called a bet of 14,000. The turn came the 6♣ and Holz bet out 14,000. Mercier raised to 68,000 and Holz made the call. The A♦ on the river saw both players check and Holz took it down with his rivered top pair.
Daniel Negreanu watched the episode on Poker Central in preparation for the upcoming €50,000 super High Roller set for EPT Barcelona. Negreanu decided to treat his fans to some strategy content and shot a video with some analysis of the hand:
Some late night hand analysis of two of the young studs in poker today. Fedor Holz vs Jason Mercier
— Daniel Negreanu (@RealKidPoker)
Negreanu wasn't fond of Holz's turn bet and predicted Mercier would have a tough decision if Holz would have decided to three-bet the flop.
Clock Called on McDonald
And then there's this. Both Pratyush Buddiga and Mike McDonald both took to Twitter to discuss their marital status or lack thereof:
Jesus Christ, just got the "Would you ever be open to an arranged marriage?" speech from my parents. # Time to get to Florida asap
— Pratyush (@pratyushbuddiga)
@pratyushbuddiga literally yesterday my mom told me if I don't find a girl in 2 years she is going to help me ##
— Mike McDonald (@MikeMcDonald89)
@MikeMcDonald89 @pratyushbuddiga your mom called clock on you? https://t.co/1rzs8D34n6
— Chris (@coolbearcjs)
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