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Today in the 3-Bet we find the Borgata going to great lengths to avoid letting Phil Ivey keep $9.6m, the 2014 Poker Hall of Fame nominees evoke a deluge of snub talk and, speaking of deluges, Doyle Brunson makes good use of one in Las Vegas to troll the interwebs.
1) Borgata Plays RICO Card
The Borgata Casino in Atlantic City really, really doesn’t want to let Phil Ivey keep the $9.6m he won playing Mini-Baccarat there a couple of years ago.
We’ve gone over the details before but, according to NorthJersey.com, the Borgata has responded to a request from the courts by pushing Ivey’s edge-sorting foray into the realm of “racketeeering.”
In a six-page declaration the Borgata now claims Ivey’s “acts of fraud” should fall under the RICO racketeering statute. What’s the RICO racketeering statute you ask?
“Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act, commonly referred to as the RICO Act or simply RICO, is a United States federal law that provides for extended criminal penalties and a civil cause of action for acts performed as part of an ongoing criminal organization.
“The RICO Act focuses specifically on racketeering, and it allows the leaders of a syndicate to be tried for the crimes which they ordered others to do or assisted them.”
We’re no experts but, uh, that sounds a bit heavy-handed given the details available so far. Check the full breakdown of the Borgata’s claims here.
2) HOF Noms Cause Twitter Tempest, Snub Lists
The 2014 Poker Hall of Fame finalists (voted on by the public) were released by the WSOP yesterday and while most people were fine about who is on the list — including Daniel Negreanu, Ted Forrest, Bruno Fitoussi and Jennifer Harman — who isn’t on it (and how the names were decided on) definitely stirred up some debate.
Erik Seidel weighed in. Phil Hellmuth weighed in. Doyle Brunson weighed in. Mike Sexton weighed in. This guy weighed in for some reason. Negreanu went ham on it.
Cliffs for those who don’t want to click on all that: Consensus is qualification criteria is flawed, top pros should get more say and being a “good or bad” guy should have nothing to do with it. And the important part – some of the names considered “snubbed” this year:
- Gus Hansen
- Isai Scheinberg
- John Juanda
- David Chiu
- Carlos Mortenson
- Bobby Hoff
- John Hennigan
- David Oppenheim
- Steve Lipscomb
- David Sklansky
- Mike Caro and more
All legit – and in some cases totally awesome – candidates. Which makes the real question now why do just two people make it into the Hall of Fame each year?
3) Doyle Brunson, Super Tweeter
Speaking of those big-name pros who weighed in via Twitter the Godfather of Poker, aka @TexDolly, has once again proven his surprising mastery of the 140-character art form.
Tbh it’s still kind of astounding Doyle is so active on Twitter to begin with, given his demographic’s usual level of Internet competence, but he continues to be one of the Top 30 follows in poker.
Case in point: This series of gems about an alligator statue he has by his pool that inspired a flood of “you have an alligator?” replies.
I haven’t seen it rain like this here in Vegas in the last 40 years. Flash flood alerts! pic.twitter.com/L5TkiRmguqâ Doyle Brunson (@TexDolly) September 8, 2014
I feed the alligator scraps of meat from the butcher. Better stay out of my back yard! Allie doesn’t like strangers.â Doyle Brunson (@TexDolly) September 8, 2014
Yep, some people have attack dogs, I prefer my alligator! RT @Jtillathekilla2 @TexDolly Wow! You really do have an alligator!â Doyle Brunson (@TexDolly) September 9, 2014
Is it any wonder Doyle has made a career of keeping people guessing? Masterful, sir.
