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Today in the 3-Bet we find Daniel Negreanu sweeping another round of fan awards, the International Stadiums Poker Tour making some much needed changes to its format and a physicist at the University of Manchester claiming poker is too complex for the human mind.
1) Negreanu Wins Favorite Male Player, Best Tweeter
Want to have a lasting, lucrative career in the poker industry? Best try and get a sit down with PokerStars pro Daniel Negreanu and beg for his secrets, because decades into his he’s more popular than ever.
One of the most visible, outspoken and honest pros in the business, Negreanu proved his staying power yet again by sweeping his two categories in the 2013 Bluff Magazine Reader Awards.
Negreanu won both Favorite Male Player and Favorite Tweeter by substantial margins, topping such poker luminaries as Antonio Esfandiari, Phil Ivey, Phil Hellmuth and Jason Mercier.
More notable winners below; full list here.
Favorite TV Personality: Antonio Esfandiari – 35% Favorite Male Player: Daniel Negreanu – 31% Favorite Female Player: Vanessa Selbst – 41% Favorite Poker Tweeter: Daniel Negreanu – 54% Breakout Performer of the Year: Greg Merson – 51% Favorite High Roller Tournament Player: Phil Ivey – 36% Best Final Table of 2012: Big One for One Drop – 51%2) ISPT Tweaks Qualifiers, Scraps Laptops
After a series of vague press conferences, confusing marketing and outright backtracking from its founders, it's been hard to believe the debut event of the International Stadiums Poker Tour planned for this May at Wembley Stadium in London would ever really see the light of day.
It took a big step closer to legitimacy, though, with some much-needed changes to the format.
Originally planned with the absurd scenario of players bringing their laptops to Wembley to battle the early rounds out in the stands, that idea has been scrapped in favor of six online “Day 1s” now scheduled from Feb-May.
Buy in is €300, starting stack is 5,000 chips and levels are 15 minutes. Ten per cent of entrants over the six Day 1s will then qualify for Day 2 live at Wembley and will take their online stacks with them to begin the day.
Players who want to join on Day 2 for the live segment can buy in for €3,000 on June 1 and get a starting stack of 50,000 chips. Action will continue live on the pitch over four more days until the last person is standing on June 5.
Still a massive undertaking with a slew of obstacles to reach the now estimated €10,000,000 prize pool, but it sounds like a much more viable enterprise for sure. Check the revised format here. Qualifiers are also now running on Lock Poker.
3) Researcher Says Human Brain Can’t Cope With Poker, Chess
We always knew this game was unsolvable (there had to be a reason we're still playing $5.50 SNGs) and now our instincts have been backed up by a researcher at the University of Manchester.
According to an article in the Daily Mail, Physicist Tobias Galla and his colleagues ran an experiment with “thousands of simulations of two-player games to see how human behaviour effects decision-making." The results were illuminating:
“When games became more complex and when there are a lot of possible moves, they found that players' actions became less rational and it was harder to find the best strategies.”
In short, Galla says “our minds just are not big enough or wired up suitably for the human brain to cope with all the permutations” in games like poker, chess and Go.
In other words, unsolvable. Uncrackable. Impossible to master. A mental Chinese finger trap.
Finally. It’s been said. We will no longer feel the shame of a thousand Gods. About poker at least.
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