Any suggestions for a future 3-Bet, feel free to drop a note in the comments.

Today in the 3-Bet we find an intriguing list of names on the newly released Bluff Power 20, an awesome in-depth feature on former poker pro and “world’s top NBA gambler” Haralabos Voulgaris and a behind-the-scenes look at the recent $25k NBC Heads-Up Championship care of Jason Somerville.

1) Scheinbergs, Negreanu in Charge on Bluff Power 20

Even Esfandiari unsure how he made the list.

 

The much-anticipated Bluff Power 20 was released yesterday with an intriguing set of names taking spots on the annual industry survey of the most influential people in poker.

Given the seismic shifts over the last year it’s no surprise eight of the 20 names are different from 2012 and the founder of the great poker hope of 2013, PokerStars, remains king.

PokerStars founder Isai Scheinberg was alone at the top last year but his lingering indictment and the expanded role of his brother Mark has the two sharing top spot this year.

PokerStars pro Daniel Negreanu remains the top player at #6, up three spots from last year. The only other player on the list, surprisingly, is Antonio Esfandiari at #20.

Notables to drop off this year included Annie Duke, US attorney and Black Friday villain Preet Bharara and Tapie Groupe overlord Bernard Tapie.

Check the full Power 20 here. If power players aren't your bag, check our list of the 20 Most Fascinating People in Poker.

2) Haralabos Voulgaris: World’s Top NBA Gambler

Future NBA GM?

 

You might know former poker pro Haralabos Voulgaris from High Stakes Poker or last year’s Big One for One Drop, but Voulgaris is most heralded these days for his prowess as an NBA sports bettor.

A Nate Silver-esque genius in the world of betting, Voulgaris has made his living off an advanced computer-generated NBA prediction model co-created by him and a certified math genius.

No lie. It sounds like the storyline for a bad sitcom, sure, but it's true. And ESPN has just posted a great in-depth article about it that will also appear in its March 4 analytics issue.

In short, it’s awesome and Haralabob is awesome. An excerpt:

“By 2009, once they’d added this mysterious additional model to Ewing’s inner workings -- version 2.0 -- they started making bets based on the scores it produced after the All-Star break.

"’We just, like, crushed the second half of the season,' Voulgaris says. Since then, as each subsequent season has passed, Voulgaris’ confidence in Ewing has increased. So too has the frequency of his wagering. In a season, he now regularly puts down well over 1,000 individual bets.

“’I mean, I don’t want to sit here and brag,’ he says. ‘But this is literally, like, the greatest thing ever when it comes to sports betting.“ Read the full piece here.

3) Behind the Scenes at $25k NBC HU with Jason Somerville

Want to see what it's like behind the scenes at the $25k NBC Heads-Up Championship AND what it’s like to play OFC in your hotel room with the most powerful poker player in the world?

Poker pro Jason Somerville has an awesome two-for-one deal for you, then, with his new Vblog from inside the NBA HU:

The unheralded Bozinovic, whose career cashes prior have been exclusively in Belgrade and total just $46k, outpaced the field to bag up 975,000 and end the night in first overall.

He’ll lead Dutchman Paul "padjes" Berende, a $2m+ winner online, with 895,000 when play resumes at Casino Baden tomorrow for the playdown to the final six.

Rounding out the top five after Day 3 are Fedor Holz (642,000), Rien de Vries (583,000) and Adrian Apmann (502,000.

Staszko, Rettenmaier and Sbrzesny Still Alive

Sitting just off the lead pack is a trio of recognizable pros all looking to make a much bigger splash than just the $10,760 they’re now guaranteed.

2011 World Series of Poker Main Event runner-up Martin Staszko - $5m richer than he used to be but still not  far removed from working in an auto plant in his native Czech Republic – is in the best shape, sitting in sixth overall with 421,000.

Mad Marvin: Still kicking.

 

Back-to-back WPT champ Marvin Rettenmaier, last year’s GPI European Player of the Year, lies in wait with 261,000 while Day 2 chip leader Bodo Sbrzesny managed to hold on to 242,000.

Day 1a chip leader Kimmo Kurko also still lurks in the field with 371,000.

The top 10 in chips after Day 3:

Action resumes in Baden at 2 pm local tomorrow and won't stop until a final six is reached; tune in for live updates at WPT.com.

The 95 billionth hand will be the last mega milestone before the big 100 billionth, so the rewards will be big. The winner of the 95 billionth hand will receive at least $20,000. 

Eligibility is simple. Just play on any regular non-Zoom tables and you have a shot at potentially being dealt into the massive prize. Players can obviously increase their chances by multi-tabling.

Even players using the iPad and iPhone PokerStars apps are eligible to dealt into the 95 billionth hand.

The last big Mega Milestone – the 90 billionth hand – saw $229,630 spread across a lucky table of $1/$2 No-Limit Hold’em.

Online player m1sspiggy took down $66,360 for winning the historic hand.

Players receive bonuses based on the number of VPPs they’ve generated while sitting at the table.

There will also be smaller bonuses paid out from 94,700,000 to 95,000,000 so it’s worth getting in on the action early.

Don’t have a PokerStars account? It’s not too late. Players who sign up through PokerListings currently receive a 100% deposit match up to $600.

Coming into the day in the bottom half of the remaining 20 players, Rettenmaier needed two critical double-ups to keep him alive.

The first, early in level 20, came against Dutchman Paul Berende. Rettenmaier had his AQ shove snapped off by Berende with kings but an ace on the flop added another 350k to his stack to get him back in contention.

The last, in level 25, came against chip leader Vladimir Bozinovic. Hovering just under 1 million chips, Rettenmaier got it in bad with K9o against the Serbian's AQ but a king on the river saved him and pushed him up to 1.56 million to end the night -- second overall.

The hit to Bozinovic knocked him back to 1.98m but still hold his chip lead entering the final table.

With back-to-back WPT titles last year, another would give Rettenmaier 3 titles in just 9 months.

Dutch pro Paul "padjes" Berende, a multi-million-dollar winner online, bagged up 1.3 million to sit third overall.

No go for Staszko.

 

Oswin Ziegelbecker (1.15 million), Kimmo Kurko (1.1 million) and Gzregorz Wyraz (550,000) round out the final six.

Staszko, Sbrzesny Hit the Wall

Pros Martin Staszko and Bodo Sbrzesny, both strong contenders for the final table for virtually all of the tournament, finally hit their walls today.

Staszko hit a run of bad luck early, doubling up a couple of players before finally falling in 17th with tens against aces. Sbrzesny made it a bit further but still bowed out in 11th place.

Official Final Table Chip Counts:

Final-table action resumes at 2 pm local time. Watch the live stream or follow the live updates at WPT.com.

Any recommendations for a future 3-Bet, drop a note in the comments.

This week in the UK 3-Bet we find five British grinders working towards an ambitious goal for 2013, a tragic poker-related story coming to its conclusion in the US and Jake Cody finding it's not all autographs and photo requests when you're at the top of the game.

1) Another $1 Million Poker Goal

It might not be original, but if it helps pull ordinary folk into the world of poker then it will do for me.

"5 Poker Players, 1 Year, $1 Million" -- That’s the mantra of a small band of poker warriors from London who make their living playing Heads-Up Sit n Go’s (HUSNGS) on the PokerStars network.

The team consists of Flippetyflop, Giabest, Millz_UK, MocaChoca89 and RocMar87.

I caught up with Flippetyflop and MocaChoca89, AKA Leon Louis and Ryan O’Donnell, during WPT Vienna. Louis was eliminated on Day 1 and ended up in casualty after celebrating a little bit too hard, but MocaChoca89 strolled into Day 3 in third place with just 44 players remaining.

Here is Mocachoca89 explaining about the Whynotgrind goal in his video blog. Updates on the goal progress can be found at whynotgrind.com.

2) British Poker Player Pleads Guilty

A tragic poker-related story came out of the woodwork this week as British poker player Marcus Bebb-Jones pleaded guilty to second-degree murder in the United States -- 16 years after his wife Sabrina Bebb-Jones went missing near Douglas Pass in Colorado.

Marcus Bebb-Jones

 

In 2007, Bebb-Jones qualified for the William Hill Poker Grand Prix II, where he played on Sky TV in a heat that featured both Johnny Lodden and Ross Boatman.

He later went on to win the Grosvenor Grand Prix of poker for $184,370.

Bebb-Jones is from Kidderminster in Worcestershire and was extradited to the United States in 2011 before entering his guilty plea.

The remains of his missing wife were found in 2004 in Douglas Pass, Colorado. Bebb-Jones is due to be sentenced on May 1.

3) Jake Cody Gets a New Fan

Jake Cody is the new wave of new wave in poker. Male and female fans alike adore the youngest Triple Crown winner in history and newest PokerStars cover boy.

But even Justin Bieber has his haters right?

Haters gonna hate lol? instagr.am/p/WArOwbQyj0/

While the German Rettenmaier came in second in chips and eyeing his third career WPT title, it was Bozinovic and Berende there in the end battling for the championship.

The Serbian Bozinovic and the Dutchman Berende dominated much of the action in the final six - as they did for much of the tournament - and were very deserving of their heads-up spots.

Berende even had himself one card from the win before an eight on the river gave Bozinovic a straight and turned the momentum heads-up.

Bozinovic finished Berende off shortly after to take home his first WPT title and $271,258. Berende earned $172,695 for the runner-up finish.

Rettenmaier Crashes Out in Fifth

No glory for Rettenmaier today.

 

The conditions were prime for Rettenmaier to seize the day and his third WPT title in nine months but fate had other ideas.

Losing a few pots early to Berende, Rettenmaier couldn't get anything going and met his demise early against Finn Kimmo Kurko.

Shoving in the small blind over the Finn's open from the button, Rettenmaier's KQ couldn't catch Kurko's AQ and that was that.

Kurko could only hold on for a fourth-place finish of his own, however, cashing for $81,034.

The official final-table results and payouts:

For a full recap of all the final-table action, check the WPT Live Updates.

Neff, a major winner online under the nickname #1PEN, is the overall chip leader with 284,700 heading into Day 3 today.

Kihara, Japan’s first-ever WSOP bracelet winner, is third overall with 260,400 and the popular Seiver, most recently the winner of the PCA Super High Roller, is fifth with 244,100.

WSOP National Championship winner Ryan Eriquezzo (265,000) and pro Evan McNiff (248,500) round out the top five.

Harman, Hall, Tilly Contending

Always one of the toughest events on the circuit, this year’s LAPC main event is no different with the bulk of the field made up of notable players with notable résumés.

Good start for Ho.

 

Pros Justin Young, Sam Stein, Jeremy Ausmus and Jesse Sylvia are all in the top 15 as is high-stakes vet Jennifer Harman (197,500).

Former PCA Main Event winner Galen Hall (183,000), celeb Jennifer Tilly (136,600) and pro Maria Ho (112,300) are also off to good starts.

The top 10 in chips after Day 2:

Action picks up again from the Commerce Casino in Los Angeles at noon and will play down to the money bubble. Follow along with the WPT live updates here.

Thanks to Mind Sports International players also had the option of competing in chess, backgammon, Magic: The Gathering, eSports and Scrabble.

The new collaboration between poker and mind sports helps legitimize poker as a skill game and also raises the profile of some of the lesser-known games.

PokerListings' own Dirk Oetzmann had the chance to sit down with commentator Jesse May and poker pro Scott O'Reilly and find out why mind sports are a natural fit for poker festivals.

PokerListings.com: What’s behind the idea to host mind sports along with poker tournaments?

Scott O'Reilly: The thing is, there are a lot of players who used to play some of the other games. I, for example, used to play a lot of chess, I played Magic for several years, and I still like to compete in these games.

On the other hand it is good for poker to bring it closer to the notion of it being a mind sport.

Jesse May and Scott O'Reilly

 

Jesse May: There is already the idea to bring all the players together after their respective main events, and have them compete in all the other games.

Like a games pentathlon.

It would make for a nice comparison, because all the players think their own game is somehow superior.

PL: They do?

SOR: Oh, yes. The chess players for example think that everyone else is just messing around.

PL: Isn’t it true, though, as chess is supposed to be the game without any luck factor?

SOR: So you think chess requires more skills than scrabble?

PL: I didn’t say that. Did I say that?

JM: I just don’t see why “luck” is the arbiter that decides whether something is a pure game or not. Why isn’t managing your luck as much of a skill as anything else?

SOR: Exactly. That is certainly also true for a game like backgammon. Backgammon is essentially a solved game. Technically. But it’s still a game.

And the reason is the cube. The cube is essential, as it changes the game completely, and it’s also a very good example for managing calculated risks.

The backgammon players consider themselves particularly good at this, so they also think they are playing some special game.

Kara Scott was one of many players who played several games at WPT Baden.

 

Luck and Luck Management

PL: So, just as in poker, there is luck involved, but you can still play good or badly.

SOR: Yes, and you play good or badly with your luck. You have to know when to take a gamble and when not to. There is just no other way to say this.

You need to know when you can turn the odds in your favor, when to increase the stakes and when to decrease them – which is also what poker is.

I’d like to say that different games require different skill sets. Scrabble for example is a very interesting game, and that guy from New Zealand [two times scrabble world champion Nigel Richards] has memorized – I mean literally memorized, a dictionary that is this thick.

There is NO other game in the world where that kind of skill and knowledge is present or required.

PL: I guess towards the end of a match, he also knows the letters you have on your board.

SOR: Yes, he has the information of his own board and the letters on the table, so he knows.

Now if you compare chess with Scrabble, the reason why chess is considered a much more skillful game is because it’s been around a lot longer, so it’s a lot more accepted.

But Scrabble requires a different skill set. It requires language, it requires math. You need to know the optimal placements for your letters to get maximum points, without letting a door open for your opponent.

It has a lot of elements in common with chess, but it requires different skills as well.

Scott O'Reilly has over $1.1 million in online poker winnings.

 

Gambling in Mind Sports

PL: What are the gambling and strategy elements in these games?

JM: Well, for once, the luck factor materializes in the set of letters you draw. Do you get a board with no vowels, or do you get three vowels.

The next questions for me is, do I make a defensive play, so my opponent cannot play the cue and doesn’t get many points, and then leaves the board open for me?

Or do I try to go for a more risky play, in the hope to pick up the letters I need in the next round. When you reach a certain level in this game, those decisions become highly mathematical.

SOR: The different lines you can take are actually very similar to chess, but people don’t realize it, because it’s such a completely different looking game.

In both games, what it comes back to, is calculated risk. Managing your luck.

PL: How do you manage your luck?

Poker pro David Williams also plays Magic: The Gathering.

 

JM: One thing that’s important, and we know this from poker, is the ability to stay in control.

Staying in control again requires a skill set, that let’s you understand that despite whatever you do, there are always a couple of unknown factors involved that can make things go badly against you.

Game theory, in this respect, seems to be very particular to poker, as opposed to chess.

Chess and Variance

SOR: Chess is more of a learned method. Looking at the games here, maybe the first ten moves will usually be standard play.

Someone starts with an Italian opening, for example, and the black player responds with a queen’s gambit, and so the first moves are from the book. Only then do they start playing.

Chess players think they play with no luck involved, and poker players do. But they have to realize, that playing blitz chess, and reducing the thinking time between the moves to a few seconds, means that they add luck as an extra element into their game.

JM: In these blitz format games, a low range player might beat a grandmaster, which he simply never would in a standard format. The faster the game, the more uncertainties you don’t have control over anymore.

Poker players talk about variance all the time, and what you often hear is phrases like: “Luck decreases skill”, and “luck increases variance”.

Now these are two completely separate statements. Yes, luck increases variance, but it doesn’t really influence skill.

Variance is something most people don’t understand or don’t want to think about.

SOR: Also, luck plays a major role in a lot of sports. Do you hit the bunker with your golf ball, or do you miss it by a foot? Does the ball bounce out of or into the goal after it hit the bar in a football match.

That’s luck. In poker, luck is just a lot more definable, by numbers, odds, outs, expected value and so on.

Open Face Chinese Poker is growing fast. Jason Mercier is a fan.

 

What's Considered a Mind Sport?

PL: What defines a mind sport?

SOR: A game that involves more skill than luck, and it has to be thinking skills.

JM: I think it’s not that easy. Think of tic, tac, toe. Is it a mind sport? It is possible to play tic, tac, toe badly, but almost everybody at the age of four knows the perfect strategy. Ok, I might have been six or seven. (laughs)

SOR: But if someone isn’t playing the perfect strategy, they get destroyed, so yes, it is a mind sport. Mind you, it would be boring as hell in a competition with all the draws.

Another example: Monopoly. Monopoly involves luck elements and skill elements. Still, I would say that poker is a more skilful game because it involves more thought processes.

But both games have a majority of skill over luck – even so the exact odds are impossible to calculate –  so they should both be considered mind sports.

If there was no skill in poker, what about the people who win consistently? Are they lucky? Is there such a thing?

Open Face Chinese Poker 'Exploding'

PL: How important is the skill vs. luck relation in Chinese and Open Face Chinese Poker?

JM: I am stoked about Open Face Chinese.

SOR: The two games are a world apart. Chinese Poker is a solved game. There is skill involved, but once you get to a certain level, you should be able to play nearly perfect.

Open Face has a lot of different aspects to it that use different skill sets. You can see your opponent’s cards, so you’re getting more information, and this will influence your play.

You can see what the other players are going for, you can see where your flush cards are gone, and you have to set your own hand accordingly.

You will also set your cards differently depending on your position. Position is crucial to Open Face. You have so much more information in late position, especially in the first round where everybody gets dealt five cards.

And again, it is a lot about calculated risk.

The Vienna Mind Sports Festival

 

JM: There is something very chess-like about Open Face Chinese. There are the elements of infinite possibilities and pattern recognition.

In both games, there are so many moves or permutations that the human brain cannot go through all of them. And exactly as in chess, you eliminate the 95% moves or sets which are obviously bad.

The amazing thing about it is, it’s only been around for a very short time, but it has literally exploded.

SOR: Everybody who is taken to Hold’em will be drawn to it like a duck to water.

There are parallels to Hold’em, but Open Face probably plays out more like chess than any other card game.

Part of the attraction it has also comes from that nobody knows a lot about it. There is no theory, and no one has figured out the perfect way to play. So, many people think they are really good at it, but no one knows if their play is successful in the long run.

JM: I have only played for ten days, and I’m pretty good. I mean – I’m not!

PL: Should it be part of the WSOP? Is it actually even poker?

A Scrabble game at WPT Baden

 

SOR: It already is part of it. They have a 5k event. And yes, it should definitely be in every big event series.

JM: If only for the simple reason that it would sell out. At the end of the day, skill or not, we have to go with what the players like, even though there will always be purists who oppose it.

SOR: There used to be purists who were against playing Omaha.

Others opposed against Mixed Games, while others say there aren’t enough.

There was a time, when someone introduced Hold’em, and people would massively go against it.

JM: Yeah, they said, ‘we’re playing Draw Poker here, son’. (big laugh)

SOR: Now, we’ve come up with a new game, and people are enjoying it. A new game is evolving, and we have to react.

Ant it’s amazing how quickly it spreads. It’s only been on the scene for about a year, the Finnish say they’ve played for about three years, and the roots probably lie in Russia, where they have played it for about five.

New and different games are played all over the world, and that’s a good thing. My personal favourite for example is six card Omaha double board.

JM: To me, the most important thing is not the definition of mind sports, but that everybody gets together and plays all the other games, too.

SOR: And a perfect mixed mind sports evening would probably have chess, backgammon, Open Face Chinese, Scrabble, and maybe one more game, depending on logistics.

JM: Then we’ll find out who really are the best players.

The next Mind Sports Festival is set to take place April 11-15, 2013 at the Marbella Casino in Spain.

First off Anderson outlasted over 700 players to get to the final table of the elite PokerStars Sunday 500.

Unfortunately for Anderson he ran out of steam just after making the final table and ended up finishing in eighth place for a relatively modest $8,169.

Anderson missed out on the really big cash as online player boahgerding went on to win the tournament for $64,768.

Unperturbed Anderson played the $175k GTD PokerStars Sunday 2nd Chance and proceeded to get by over 1,300 players to make his second final table of the day.

This time around Anderson made no mistake and ran over the table, eventually beating Joshk1981 heads-up to take the $47,120 first-place prize.

cal42688 Aims for First in Worldwide Rankings

Anderson is currently second to Matt “ch0ppy” Kay on the PocketFives Worldwide Rankings and the two final tables bring him within 300 points of Kay. Not familiar with Anderson? Check out this eye-opening story we did with him at the PCA.

It was a busy day all around in the Sunday Majors as Brazilian Team PokerStars Pro Andre Akkari made the final table of the Sunday Million.

As usual the prizepool was enormous – this time tipping the scales at $1.56 million – and just by making the final table Akkari was guaranteed over $10k.

Eventually Akkari fell in sixth place to pick up $46,830. Tonaldinho11 went on to win the tournament for $234,150.

Any suggestions for a future 3-Bet, feel free to drop a note in the comments.

Today in the 3-Bet we find a poignant tribute to Dr. Jerry Buss at the WPT LAPC, Chicago Bulls guard Rip Hamilton sharing his poker-themed birthday cake and a New York Times opinion piece says poker isn’t just America’s game – it’s America itself.

1) WPT Pays Tribute to Lakers Owner Jerry Buss

With the WPT LA Poker Classic running right in Dr. Jerry Buss’s backyard at the Commerce Casino this week, the sense of loss is even larger without his presence at the tables.

The WPT paid tribute to Dr. Buss prior to the start of the event with a touching eulogy from Mike Sexton and a video reel of his final-table appearance at the WPT Celebrity Invitational in 2003.

One of the more memorable lines: "I don't know whether poker prepared me for the Lakers or if the Lakers prepared me for poker -- maybe a little bit at the same time." Watch the tribute below:

2) Rip Hamilton Plays Poker with Himself in Cake Form

Rip's poker cake.

 

It’s hard to put the amazingness of this picture into words so we’ll mostly just let it speak for itself.

Chicago Bulls guard Richard "Rip" Hamilton turned 35 over the weekend and his friends arranged for this super cake to commemorate the major milestones in his career - and, we can assume, his love for the game of poker.

Represented are:

Amazing on so many levels. Easpecially, as Hamilton says, for its cake-ness.

My birthday cake. Can u believe that everything u see is cake. #holdat#cv4lifeinstagr.am/p/WH57PeRkKP/

3) New York Times writer: “Poker is America”

Poker is America.

 

Forget the debate about whether online poker should be legal in the US or not. New York Times opinion writer Charles A. Murray says not only should it be legal -- it should be mandatory.

If you missed it this weekend, Murray's piece, called "Poker is America," delves into poker's most noble and egalitarian aspects and proclaims it not just America's game but the embodiment of America itself. An excerpt:

"A poker table is America the way that television commercials portray it but it seldom is. A normal table of 10 at Charles Town has at least two or three Asians, one or two blacks, maybe a Latino, another one or two players who hail from some other part of the world, and maybe four or five plain-vanilla whites like me ...

"Poker tables are pure meritocracies. The pecking order of respect at Charles Town is determined by how good you are at the game. Other players may like you personally, but if you’re a bad player you’re a bad player, and nothing about your status in the outside world makes any difference.

"For readers with high-powered degrees and high-powered jobs, let me suggest that nothing will do more to keep your feet on the ground than to start playing poker in a public casino."

Read the full piece here.

Ausmus, who finished fifth in the 2012 WSOP Main Event for over $2m, bagged up just over 1m in chips for the edge on the field heading into Day 4 today.

Ausmus was the only player to crack the 1m mark. He’s followed by Blake Barousse at 815,000 and Eric Froehlich at 755,000.

Also cracking the top five in chips is 2011 PCA main event champ Galen Hall (734,000) and recent WSOPC Caesars winner David Tuthill (613,000).

Harman, Laak Among Final 63

All 63 players remaining are now assured of a min-cash ($18,260) but given the depth and quality of the field a lot would be disappointed if that’s all they pocketed.

Harman in contention.

 

Paul Volpe (570,000), David Peters (375,000), Dan Shak (310,000), Jennifer Harman (304,000) and Zach Hyman (302,000) all topped the 300k-chip mark.

Japan’s first WSOP bracelet winner Naoya Kihara (299,000), Brit Sam Razavi (281,000), Phil Laak (266,000) and Noah Schwartz (236,000) are also all decently stacked.

The top 10 in chips heading to Day 4:

Action picks up from the Commerce Casino in Los Angeles at 12 pm. PT and will play down to the final 18. A tantalizing $1,004,090 awaits the winner.

Follow along with the WPT Live Updates here.

PKR, known for its signature 3D graphics and detailed avatars, was launched in 2004, right in the midst of the original online poker boom.

Since then PKR has built a devoted following by offering an alternative experience to what the other major online poker sites provide. The site has averaged over half a million new sign-ups every year since it launched.

"Every element of PKR's success in the UK and across the world is down to our members - they are the ones that spread the word, tell us what we're doing right and tell us what we're doing wrong,” said a PKR spokesperson.

“To reach five-million before the end of last year was crazy and we've got plenty of online ideas to keep the recruitment drive going in 2013.”

PKR Software Upgraded in Late 2012

PKR’s software is always evolving and the site added several significant enhancements in late 2012 with in-game chip protectors, snacks and drinks at the table.

The company also launched an iPad app in January and the site is planning on releasing an iPhone app later this month.

PKR Live will also return later this month at the Aspers mega-casino in Stratford, London. More than 300 entrants are expected to compete for a six-figure prizepool.

To learn more about the site check out our PKR review.

Any recommendations for a future 3-Bet, feel free to drop a note in the comments.

Today in the 3-Bet we find Zynga CEO Mark Pincus making it clear who he has in mind for real-money games in the UK, Shaun Deeb making a classic “Deeb-ian” mistake with a simple request and Doyle Brunson sharing a glimpse of his Texas homestead.

1) Zynga CEO Mark Pincus: “We Are for the Mass Market”

Social-gaming powerhouse Zynga is on the cusp of breaking into the real-money market in the UK, but make no mistake: it’s not trying to take over the industry.

In fact, CEO Mark Pincus told a crowd at a Morgan Stanley conference in San Francisco yesterday that it’s not even interested in a good portion of the potential customer base:

Pincus: Not for the hardcore.

 

"We're not the company to win the hardcore real-money gamers," he said. "But we think we are for the mass market audience."

Still no definitive date has been targeted for Zynga’s official real-money launch but it’s expected to be in the first half of 2013.

When it does launch, expect to see some of its trademark social features carried over such as brags to your friends about big scores.

"It makes it more exciting than when you're by yourself in an anonymous poker room," Pincus said. Read more here.

2) A Shaun Deeb Dime is Not an Actual Dime

Poker pro Shaun Deeb's, err, "looseness" with money is fairly renowned within the poker community. Deeb accidentally dropping $5k off in his laundry is a hallmark story in poker circles, even.

He did nothing to threaten that reputation over the weekend when his Uncle asked to borrow a bit of spare change:

My uncle just asked if I had a dime for him I go sure hand him 1k he goes no a dime

Ah, that old misunderstanding.

Hear more of Deeb's classic money foibles in our Easy Game mini-doc about him.

3) Doyle Tweets Snap of Longworth, Texas Homestead

Think the average poker pro in 2013 - say a Shaun Deeb for example - has grown up under a slightly different context than poker players of old?

Poker legend Doyle Brunson has a million stories from his epic career as a Texas road gambler but none might be as interesting as those from growing up during the depression in Longworth, Texas.

Currently on a Texas tour revisiting some of his past, it seems, Brunson shared a snap of his humble upbringings with his fans via Twitter this AM:

This is the house I lived in for 15 years at Longworth Texas. twitter.com/TexDolly/statu…

Follow Brunson on Twitter for more memories here.

As expected Governor Chris Christie signed an online gambling bill into law today after conditionally vetoing the bill earlier in the month.

Christie maintained he would sign the bill if the necessary changes were made.

The legislature had no problem amending the bill to increase operator tax from 10% to 15% and also added a 10-year expiration date.

Earlier in the day the bill passed through legislature with a vote of 31-1. Republican Senator Michael Doherty was the only member to vote against the bill. It passed through Assembly by a vote of 68-5.

New Jersey joins Nevada and Delaware as the only states in the U.S. to have fully legalized online poker. Nevada fast-tracked its bill into law earlier this month in response to New Jersey’s pending bill.

U.S. Players Still Waiting for First Legal Site to Launch

The next step for New Jersey, as well as Nevada and Delaware, is to actually launch a regulated online poker site.

Nevada has issued numerous online gaming licenses to major properties like Caesars, Station Casinos and MGM but no site has gone live yet.

There is no timetable although some Internet gaming experts are predicting sites will be online before the end of the year.

There are questions as to whether sites like Full Tilt Poker and PokerStars, which operated in the U.S. after 2006, will be allowed to apply for licenses in New Jersey.

The Rational Group, which owns PokerStars, recently announced plans to purchase The Atlantic Club in New Jersey.

Lewis, who recently signed on with the burgeoning crew at IveyPoker.com, had an impressive day among a stacked field to bag up 1.8 million in chips.

He'll start Day 5 and the playdown to the final six tomorrow a good 200k ahead of second place Paul Klann (1,581,000) and third place Paul Volpe (1,562,000).

Lewis, a $2m+ winner online under the name 810ofclubs who also has a list of live cashes a mile long, is looking for his first WPT final table.

Ausmus, Kihara Stick Around

Naoya Kihara

 

Benjamin Zamani (1,380,000), David Tuthill (1,086,000) and Day 3 chip leader Jeremy Ausmus (1,053,000) hold down the other current spots in the top six.

Japan's Naoya Kihara also managed to squeeze into the final 18 with 654,000 - good for 12th spot overall.

The top 10 in chips heading into Day 5:

Notables busting just shy of the end of the day included Noah Schwartz (19th - $43,180), Ana Marquez (20th - $43,180), Jennifer Harman (21st - $43,180), Galen Hall (22nd - $38,710) and Eric Froehlich (23rd - $38,710).

Also falling by the wayside but in the money today were David Peters, Scott Clements, Chris Klodnicki, Mohsin Charania, Joe Hachem, Sam Razavi, Dan Shak, Scott Seiver, Phil Laak and Carlos Mortensen.

Play resumes at noon tomorrow from the Commerce Casino in Los Angeles and will play down to the final table of six; follow along with the WPT Live Updates.

Just over $1 million awaits the winner who will be crowned on Thursday night.

Negreanu issued the challenge in a YouTube video after Gus Hansen needled Kid Poker about a famous High Stakes Poker hand. 

“I, Daniel Negreanu, challenge you, Gus Hansen and your two cronies Viktor Blom and Tom Dwan to a heads-up Battleship match at EPT London,” he said in the video.

The Canadian won’t be going in alone, however, as he’s going to handpick two members from Team PokerStars Pro as teammates.

Negreanu is letting fans help decide who his teammates will be in the challenge but he did mention Vanessa Selbst, Jason Mercier, Bertrand “ElkY” Grospellier, Eugene Katchalov and Isaac Haxton as potential picks.

As for format, Negreanu wants to play three freezeout tables at once, with the player who wins two out of the three tables taking the individual match. The winning team will be the one that wins two of the three games.

Stakes or games were not discussed. Hansen has yet to respond to Negreanu's challenge.

The EPT London Main Event takes place March 10-16, 2013. Here’s the entire Daniel Negreanu challenge video:

Any recommendations for a future 3-Bet, drop a note in the comments.

Today in the 3-Bet we find an exclusive high-stakes poker club about to open in Beijing, Vanessa Selbst getting ready to lay it on the line for discerning Reddit readers and Mad Marvin Rettenmaier joining the Premier League line-up.

1) Exclusive VIP Poker Club to Open in Beijing

Shen Jian (Photo: Forbes)

 

The long-awaited Chinese poker boom the industry has banked on for years has, truth be told, stumbled out of the blocks a bit.

Big steps forward like the first-ever WPT event in China last year and the opening of dozens of poker clubs have been encouraging, but a massive player-influx into the game has been somewhat thwarted by inflexible Chinese gambling regulations.

Most of those clubs have now shut down and, despite plenty of action in Macau, poker in mainland China has yet to take hold.

That’s not to say interest isn’t there, though. And a few young investors are willing to bet on it, according to Forbes Asia, with an $8 million investment in a new, private “Goldfish Club” -- an all-night, members-only games club aimed at VIP clientele.

The only catch? You can’t cash out your winnings.

“We offer them a chance to play with people of the same social status or with people they admire and want to meet,” owner Shen Jian says.

So yeah. Still a work in progress. Memberships will start at $16k and go up to $320k for VIP high rollers and to separate the club from “gambling" connotations games like chess, Go and bridge will also be run.

The first Goldfish Club is due to open in March. Read more here.

2) Selbst Joins Elite Group of AMA’ers

Ask her anything.

 

Bill Gates has done one. Astronaut Chris Hadfield has done one.

So have John Cusack, Nick Offerman, Woody Harrelson and an Iranian presidential candidate, among hundreds of other notable and obscure persons of interest. Even Tom “durrrr” Dwan has done one.

It’s the prestigious Reddit “Ask Me Anything" - an exclusive Q&A that gives discerning Reddit readers the chance to ask inspiring people inspiring questions about his or her life and success.

If you're interested in that kind of thing, all-time female leading money winner Vanessa Selbst is going under the AMA spotlight tomorrow at 5 pm.

If you’re unfamiliar with it, “Ask Me Anything” is pretty much all you need to know, although given the volume and an obvious disregard of ignorance and idiocy, not every question will make the cut.

Questions with the best chance of being upvoted? Smart, well researched and/or funny, we'd bet. Start working on your questions now; check it out here.

3) Rettenmaier, Shak Join Premier League

Wins a lot for part-timer.

 

We've already mentioned a few of the big names to confirm for the Party Poker Premier League VI and the lineup is shaping up to be one of the best ever.

Two more great names were announced today in Dan Shak and Marvin Rettenmaier, who will each fork over the $125k to play.

Shak of course is the "poker hobbyist" and high-roller fixture with about, oh, $5m in career earnings. Rettenmaier is the first-ever back-to-back champ on the WPT who narrowly missed a third title last week.

Also committing to play last week was 2010 WSOP Main Event champ Jonathan Duhamel, bringing the total number of announced players to 11 of 16.

Daniel Negreanu, Phil Laak, Scott Seiver, Phil Hellmuth, Dan Cates, Luke Schwartz, Antonio Esfandiari and Tony G. are the others so far.

Party Poker Premier League VI is set to run March 17-23 at the Aspers Casino in London, England. Read more about it and its unique format here.

Volpe, a massive winner online under the nickname paulgees81, will enter the final day of play with the overall chip lead at 4,195,000 - about 800k ahead of second place Paul Klann.

Volpe also might be recognizable to fans from his deep run at the 2012 WSOP Main Event where he made Day 7 and finished 20th overall.

British pro Lewis, also a huge winner online as 810ofclubs and a member of Team IveyPoker, dropped from the chip lead entering play today but still held on as the short stack for the final six.

He'll enter play tomorrow with 1,125,000 - good for 22 big blinds and some room to make a move.

Another near miss for Ausmus.

 

Danny Fuhs (3,280,000), David Fong (2,295,000) and Jesse Yaginuma (1,235,000) round out the final six.

The official final six and chip counts:

Each of the final-table members are now assured of $193,560 with $1,004,090 reserved for the winner.

Garrett Greer was the final-table bubble boy, busting in seventh for $161,300. Japan's Naoya Kihara busted in ninth ($86,780) and 2012 WSOP October Niner Jeremy Ausmus exited in 12th ($70,970).

Action begins again at 4 pm local time tomorrow with live updates available at WPT.com along with a live stream with hole cards starting 30 mins after the beginning of play.

Official payouts for the final table:

Hansen confirmed earlier today he would accept Negreanu’s challenge and Dwan had committed to playing as well.

Sweden’s Blom announced via Twitter he would join Hansen and Dwan for the heads-up match against Negreanu’s team.

“Yes I will play,” he said bluntly. “I will always play anything.”

Meanwhile Negreanu surveyed fans and fellow Team PokerStars Pros about who the best players to have on his team would be.

Eventually Negreanu arrived at Isaac “luvtheWNBA” Haxton, who has plenty of experience against Isildur1, and French poker icon Bertrand “ElkY” Grospellier.

Hansen and Negreanu are team captains so they will obviously play each other but the rest of the matches are undecided.

Challenge to be Played with $150,000 on the Line

Negreanu wants each player to throw $50,000 into the pot with the plan being to three-table No-Limit Hold’em heads-up freezeout on laptops battleship style.

A player wins an individual match by taking two of the three tables. The team who wins will take two of the three individual matches overall.

The challenge marks the first time there has ever been an official competition between PokerStars pros and Full Tilt pros. It would likely be impossible if both sites didn't belong to the Rational Group now.

Interestingly the challenge will play out on Full Tilt Poker instead of PokerStars. It's set to take place during the EPT Main Event in London, which will go down March 10-16.

Here’s a video of Negreanu announcing his selections:

We're giving away one $15,500 package including travel, hotel and buy-in to the main event in a special qualifying tournament on 888poker on March 24th, and it's only open to PokerListings members.

Direct buy-in to the satellite is $33 but if you deposit $20 or more in the 888poker cashier you'll get a free ticket to the PokerListings WSOP APAC Qualifier.

New players must use the promo code PLWSOP when depositing while existing players tracked by PokerListings must use the promo code WSOP888.

“We've been to the Aussie Millions every year since 2007 and the poker scene in Australia is unbelievable,” said PokerListings Editor in Chief Matt Showell.

“And since this will be the first time Australians can win a World Series of Poker gold bracelet in their own country, it's going to be huge.”

The package includes:

For more information and to read the terms and conditions, visit the PokerListings WSOP APAC Qualifier page on 888poker.com.