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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
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
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
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.
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