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In today’s Daily 3-Bet we’ll take a look at 888poker signing up-and-coming Japanese poker player Akira Ohyama, the intense battle between A.I. and poker pro and finally the cost of playing poker in Monte Carlo.
1) 888poker Signs Japanese Pro Akira Ohyama
What’s the next big market for online poker?
If you went just by the sponsorship deals that online heavyweights like 888poker have been handing out you could make the argument for Japan.
888poker announced a new sponsorship deal with Japanese pro Akira “Clutch Hero” Ohyama this week.
A Tokyo native, Ohyama has $126k in lifetime live tournament earnings but is even more well-known for his online exploits where he’s racked up close to $2m playing MTTs.
A regular in Macau-based tournaments Ohyama also has an outright win in a World Series of Poker Circuit side event in Atlantic City.
Ohyama is a coach for Phil Galfond’s RunItOnce.com where regularly contributes videos on playing MTTs.
PokerStars has also been active in the Japanese market signing pros Kosei Ichinose, Naoya Kihara and model Yuiko Matsukawa.
2) Polk and Friends Battle Claudico
Remember that crazy heads-up challenge we mentioned between the Carnegie Mellon-developed poker A.I. Claudico and Doug Polk, Dong Kim, Bjorn Li and Jason Les?
Well we're five days into the challenge and Polk has been battling Claudico at Rivers Casino in Pittsburgh throughout the day again today.
Right now the humans are up about $300k with most of that off the back of Polk's outstanding play. It’s fascinating to watch and you can follow along live via Twitch.tv:
3) Monte Carlo is Expensive Part 11
The European Poker Tour always ends in Monte Carlo (outside of that weird aberration that was Madrid in Season 7).
It’s a pretty damn glamorous place to play poker. The only downside is that it’s expensive. Like, really, really expensive.
It hasn't gotten any cheaper if you go by the various poker pros who have started to filter in to the area (the festival kicks off today).
Here’s a collection of the best Tweets regarding the opulent nature of Monte Carlo:
I don’t want to say Monaco’s expensive, but 24 hours of hotel wi-fi is listed as “market price.”
— Joe Stapleton (@Stapes) April 28, 2015.@Stapes I don't want to say Monte Carlo is expensive, but @kittykuopoker just had to pay this lady to go bathroom pic.twitter.com/Mt4twBIjOW
— Russell Thomas (@RunGoodRussell) April 28, 2015Could fly to Monaco and do some new 'MC is expensive' tweets. But it's cheaper to stay home and recycle some old ones.
— Barny Boatman (@barnyboatman) April 28, 2015@Stapes I'm not saying Monaco's expensive but @AllenKessler will never win the EPT Grand Final.
— matt salsberg (@msalsberg) April 28, 2015I don’t want to say Monaco’s expensive, but last night I asked a girl for her number and her response was “five thousand.”
— Joe Stapleton (@Stapes) April 27, 2015Visit www.pokerlistings.com