What’s been going on in the world of poker while you’ve been grinding away? We scour the nether regions of the internet so you don’t have to…
You think you get it bad?
The next time you start in on a bad beat story, spare a thought for Connor Drinan, who satellited into the $1m buy-in Big One for One Drop at this year’s World Series of Poker. He was dealt Aces and proceeded to get all his money in preflop against… pocket Aces. What happened next isn’t for the faint-hearted.
Do poker players earn more than David Beckham and Roger Federer?
That was the headline of a sponsored article that featured on the Mirror website this week. (If you just want the answer to the question in the headline click here.)
The article was liked by Global Poker Index head honcho Alex Dreyfus on Facebook and quickly picked up a group of detractors. Dreyfus was quick to respond:
‘What is #Sad is that pro players, should ‘support’ articles that promote the game, and aim to reach new audience. Which is exactly what this article does.’
225 shares at the latest count from the Mirror story backs this up. The Global Poker Index wants to push poker into the mainstream and is doing a fantastic job in the States with deals cut with outlets like USATODAY.com. Despite the UK fully embracing poker live and online, it’s still almost impossible to find mainstream content. TV shows are tucked up close to midnight and Victoria Coren’s brilliant series of poker columns in the Guardian finished back in January 2012.
It’s obvious that more positive mainstream coverage is a good thing. Was this particular story well researched or accurate? Pass. Did it succeed in pushing the game of poker in front of new eyeballs? Very probably. And that’s a good thing, right? Google shows the story on the first two pages of searches for ‘Negreanu Beckham’ and it was picked up by Aol.co.uk. Unfortunately the Aol piece ended like this: ‘Poker isn’t something you can simply have a bash at to see if you can make the big time – because you could lose your shirt in the process.’ And the keys to your house/car as well presumably?
Negreanu on… the Middle East crisis
Daniel Negreanu isn’t one to hold back his opinions on… well, pretty much everything. This sort of approach isn’t going to go down well with all of the people all of the time, and this past week Negreanu decided to open up on the Gaza/Israel conflict.
‘For the record I’m 100% pro-Israel defending themselves against terrorist groups like Hamas and you aren’t going to change my mind on twitter’
This was the tweet that kicked things off but the debate that followed is still rumbling on. Check Negreanu’s Twitter feed here and see more of the reaction on this busy 2+2 thread.
Our take on it is thus: the poker world is lucky to have a player like Negreanu, who’s a great ambassador for the game and not scared to voice his opinion. Whatever view you have on the situation in the Middle East is going to upset people – especially on a platform like Twitter. You don’t have to agree with him – debate is good – and, right or wrong, Negreanu isn’t the first big name celebrity to put his head above the parapet and get flamed for expressing an opinion on this subject. If you don’t like his tweets it’s very easy to unfollow him.
And finally…
Phil Ivey has been working on more than just his poker game if this image from his Twitter feed is anything to go by.
‘Been working out this Summer more than ever. Can feel it’s improved my overall energy & daily life.’
It follows a growing trend from poker players who are eschewing the party lifestyle and looking for improved results through a healthy lifestyle. It certainly looks like Ivey’s gym time is working and he’ll now have the guns to go with his bullets.
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