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Today in the 3-Bet we find an Olympic hopeful banking on online poker, grinders getting pinched for their cash at US customs and Gus Hansen steamrolling Jimmy Fricke.
1) Olympic Fencer Uses Online Poker to Supplement Funding
Threads usually turn up between poker and virtually every competitive enterprise (see our recent Poker and MMA post) so it’s no surprise even fencers draw on poker for help from time to time.
Brit Jamie Kenber, an Oxford graduate and surefire fencing candidate for the 2012 London Olympics, told the BBC he occasionally uses online poker to help with the bills when he's training.
"I've had some wins,” Kenber says, “but it's not a reliable source of income unless you have a lot of time to commit.
"I'm a decent hobbyist, but I've made a little bit of money from it."
As for any similarities between fencing and poker, Kenber says there are a few:
"In fencing someone might show you something and you don't know whether they're actually going to go through with it or if it's just an early bluff.
“That happens in poker as well.
"And if you think people are doing things for the wrong reasons you can end up losing. It's no coincidence that I enjoy both of them."
Check out the full feature here.
2) Never Let Your Sweaty Younger Brother Hold Your Cash
Before getting in to poker, it was one of those things on the customs form that always made us laugh.
Any plants or fruit with you? Um, no. Over $10,000 cash? Ha, yeah sure.
After poker, well, having a lot of cash with you just seems normal – and a very important thing to declare at customs.
Three grinders from New Jersey found that out this weekend when they had $26k seized at the Nassau airport.
Sean Ruane (18) and his older brother Michael (23) both had to plead guilty to falsely declaring the money while going through US pre-customs leaving the Bahamas.
Their 18-year-old cousin Thomas Freeman Jr, pleaded guilty to abetting them.
How'd they get caught?
“It was revealed by prosecution that a secondary search of the defendants brought on by the nervousness of the sweating younger brother, showed that the brothers were each in possession of $9,400.”
None were given an additional sentence but the cash stays in the Bahamas.
An expensive lesson, for sure. Declare your cash. And never let your sweaty brother handle things at customs.
Full story here.
3) Fricke Rolled by Hansen in 2007
With another Aussie Millions main event set to get underway (check our live coverage Saturday for updates), we're revisiting a classic final table from 2007.
Running over both Gus Hansen and Andy Black three-handed to take a massive chip lead into heads up, 19-year-old Jimmy Fricke was set to score his biggest win ever and justify the negative comments he had made about how bad some pros were playing.
Hansen had other ideas, however, got hit by the deck pretty hard and stormed back to take the title.
Despite the $1m AUD he won, the sadder arc of the Jimmy Fricke story was born here as he was taken to task online for his negative interviews and wardrobe selection, among other things.
He later became known for an email exchange with Howard Lederer labelling him a "freak and a really weird dude" and the ubiquituous Fricke Roll.
Here's how the final played out:
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