Any suggestions for a future 3-bet, feel free to drop a note in the comments.
Today in the 3-Bet we find Shannon Shorr passing some wisdom on to young players considering a poker career, more scorn piling up for another Howard Lederer "I don't know" and a contest to guess the new PokerStars Team Online pro.
1) Shorr to Young Players: Don’t Drop Out Now
With over $4.7 million in career live earnings and $2m won online (including last Sunday’s PokerStars 500), Shannon Shorr is easily one of the best tournament players in the game.
Even more importantly, as a guy who’s basically grown up in the poker industry, he’s still managed to keep a level head, his ego in check and recognize the need for a balanced life outside of poker.
As someone who’s been there and made it through, his advice to younger poker players just starting out should carry a lot of weight.
Blogging from a backpacking trip through Europe, Shorr offered up some words of wisdom and made it clear it’s a very different poker world than when he started playing:
“I am a firm believer that with the current state of the industry, it would be a very poor decision for any young, unestablished person to abandon school or work to try to make a living playing poker.
“The variance is just so incredibly remarkable. Myself and other players from my generation were so fortunate with the timing of our entry into the business: a time when the economy was good, people were uneducated about the game, and online poker was legal in the United States.“
“From talking with other professional poker players recently, almost all agree that it would be a most daunting task to try to build from the ground up right now.”
As always, it's a balanced and thoughful read. Read the full post here.
2) Did Lederer Know About “Safe and Secure” Claim?
One of the largest points of contention with the Lederer Files interview and his follow-up with the 2+2 Pokercast revolves around Full Tilt’s claims that player money was “safe and secure” post-Black Friday. The debate comes down to two questions:
1) Did Full Tilt knowingly claim funds were “safe and secure” to players after April 15 despite knowing it couldn't cover account balances, thereby defrauding ROW players? and 2) Did Lederer know this despite his claims he didn’t?
The answer to 1) clearly seems to be yes. The statement that funds were “safe and secure” at Full Tilt was on the front page of the FTP website until at least Sept 22, 2011, as proven by HardBoiledPoker blogger Martin Harris.
The second question is where much of the debate lies now and where critics, including Daniel Negreanu of course, say Lederer otutright lied.
Specifically, in his Pokercast interview, Lederer said he doesn’t believe “safe and secure” was used after April 20 and that “if it did happen, it happened without me knowing about it.”
Simultaneously, however, he also says all of the language for statements post-April 20 was vetted and signed off on by the Board and FTP's lawyers - meaning he did know.
So: Did he or didn’t he? You can guess which side most of the poker community lies. Read more of the ongoing debate here.
3) Stephen “stevie444” Chidwick the Next PokerStars Online Pro?
Given the recent signing of Tom “durrrr” Dwan and Viktor “Isildur1” Blom to the new Full Tilt Poker team, you’d think a contest to name the next pro signing would belong to FTP as it builds buzz for its Nov. 6 relaunch. You’d be wrong, though.
PokerStars is about to name its newest member of Team Online and is offering players a shot at $50 if they can guess the pro correctly.
A shadowy photograph and a Randy Lew video clip with a few clues is now posted on the PokerStars blog along with the contest rules, which are basically to follow @PSTeamOnline on Twitter and tweet:
I'm (insert PS Username here) on @PokerStars, and I think the new @PSTeamOnline member is (Insert the PS Username or Real Name of your guess here) #GuessTeamOnline
If you can guess right your PokerStars screen name will be entered into a draw for $50 with up to 50 winners getting paid. Find the full rules and hints here.
Our bet? The UK’s Stephen “stevie444” Chidwick.
Visit www.pokerlistings.com