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Today in the 3-Bet we find Phil Ivey sinking further into his divorce proceedings, a $10m poker tournament on hold for seven years in Massachusetts and Daniel Negreanu sharing his obsession with his nut.
1) Ivey Divorce Case Hung Up on $5k Donation
Of all the millions of dollars that have come and gone from Phil Ivey’s hands, it seems particularly ironic that a measly $5k is sinking him even further in his divorce proceedings.
Rumored to be making over $800k a month from his Full Tilt Poker dividends, any way you cut it Ivey’s divorce from his wife Luciaetta was going to be costly.
But strangely enough it's the $5k donation Ivey made to the judge set that presided over the case that's coming back to haunt him.
Long story short, Luciaetta Ivey filed a petition last September to remove the judge, Bill Gonzalez, because of campaign contributions Ivey made in April 2010 - four months after the divorce was settled.
Her initial appeal was denied but now according to the Las Vegas Review-Journal, a new order has directed the court clerk to hear oral arguments and revisit the decision.
Ivey's lawyers have argued the campaign donations were made after the case was closed and Gonzalez no longer had jurisdiction anyway.
Ivey was last seen busting out of the EPT Grand Final today but is expected to stick around for the $25k High Roller event. Check the poker news section for more.
2) Four People Die Waiting for Massachusetts Poker Tournament
The story, from the Metrowest Daily News:
In October 2005, the Massachusetts Lottery introduced a Texas Hold ’Em scratch ticket game offering a $10 million grand prize tournament for 560 randomly selected players.
Almost seven years later, 501 players drawn from the instant-winners list are still waiting for the other 59 players to be picked.
As of this week, 79.8 million of the 80.6 million tickets (92%) had been sold but the state is waiting for the rest to be bought before picking the final contestants.
“Seven years is an unusually long time,” Lottery communications director Beth Bresnahan said. “The game didn’t sell as quickly as the Lottery expected.”
In the interim, four of the initial winners have died (although a family member or proxy can represent them in the tournament).
Truth be told the 500 chosen so far have received $2k in cash and the "end game" tournament isn't really a tournament anyway - the 560 players will be cut to 80 then 16 and then four finalists over three rounds through simulated poker hands randomly computer-drawn.
Still, at least the Lottery commission says all the prize money is still there (take note, Epic Poker).
The winner will get $10 million and the three losing finalists will get $1 million each.
3) Negreanu Films Underwear Drawer, Passes on FTP Comment
We went back and forth on including Daniel Negreanu’s weekly rant in the 3-Bet this week as, well, you only need so many video tours of his hotel rooms and underwear drawers.
On rewatching though, Danny does pull it together for the last half of the vid and makes some helpful suggestions on how to think about your monthly nut (don't live beyond your means), the rampant sense of entitlement among young players and a solid Erik Sagstrom degen story.
He also skirts around the PokerStars-FTP deal, but you can read what he's said so far about it here.
Skip to the 6-minute mark to get to the good stuff. (Note to Daniel: Ease off the bathroom products for real. For a vegan, that's awfully cruel to animals. And never film your closet again).
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