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Today in the 3-Bet we find Tom Dwan (reportedly) raking in a massive score in Macau, professional poker pro deemed one of the coolest jobs going (if they nnly knew) and former November Niner James Akenhead moving on to a new venture.
1) Dwan Rakes in $25m USD Pot in Macau?
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There's just something so tantalizing about Macau high-stakes poker rumors and speculation. There's virtually no way to confirm any of it but it all just sounds so outrageous it might be true.
Patrik Antonius barred from playing in big games because he's a nit? Sure. Businessmen re-buying for millions with a snap of the fingers to their personal butlers? Sounds about right.
After a few months of pretty negative poker publicity the Tom "durrrr" Dwan fanboy train got back on track bigtime today with a rumor circulating about a big $25m USD score.
Based on a CardPlayer Latin America post which cites a "friend of the family" sitting next to Dwan's table at Star World Macau, durrrr reportedly raked in the $25m pot in a four-handed $15k/$30k (USD!) game with two Chinese poker pros and a billionaire.
It also (we think) says durrrr previously lost $7m in the game and is the only foreign pro allowed to play.
Good news for Jungleman? More empty conjecture? Either way, we can't get enough of it. Read the full report in Spanish here.
2) Poker Pro Makes the Cool-List
We'll give you this: From the outside looking in, the life of a professional poker player does look pretty sweet.
No "office" to go to. No boss. Work your own hours (give or take). Pick up and leave any time you like. Travel the world to play in huge tournaments with seven-figure prizes.
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The reality, of course, as anyone who's tried it knows, is it's a lot more complicated than that. And a lot harder to truly make a living at it. And pretty stressful. And unhealthy in a lot of ways.
So what we're saying is it's got some cachet value, sure. But cool? Probably wouldn't go that far. TheRichest.com thinks otherwise, though, and put "professional poker player" on its Cool-List of jobs.
It's actually a pretty well-informed article with a very realistic and accurate portrayal of the job of being a poker pro. It just comes to a different conclusion than might. Poker itself? Very cool. Being a poker pro? A lot less cool. Check the full piece out here.
3) Akenhead Quits Poker, Invests in Bar
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Speaking to the point above...
In 2009 Brit James Akenhead was literally living the poker dream. A WSOP runner-up finish for $500k in 2008. Final tables at BOTH the WSOP Main Event and the WSOPE in 2009. A follow-up win in the Poker Million.
Four years later Akenhead is out of poker and working full-time as part-owner of a restaurant/bar in London's Docklands.
Not a sob story by any means, Akenhead made his choice for a variety of reasons and is far from broke. But he did find out poker - even for one of the best, which he is - is no easy ride as he tells PokerPlayer.co.uk in a new interview:
"You can have years where you have two or three results and they can be back- to-back-to-back like that or you can have years where you don’t get a single result.
"I’ve had both and that’s one of the reasons why I wanted to get out of poker – to have some stability financially or even emotionally. Those bad years can hurt. But those good years are great."
If you've ever worked in the restaurant/bar industry, which we have, if it looks like an improvement over being a poker pro we're not kidding about poker being a tough job. Either way it's a great interview; check it our here.
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