The PokerListings Daily 3-Bet is a couple of buttons, a pile of matchsticks and nothing even close to the true joy of an afternoon poker news poker social gathering.

Have a hot tip for a future 3-Bet? Tweets us @PokerListings or drop a line in the comments.

Today in the 3-Bet we find a vote for Magic: The Gathering over poker, a farce of seniors home bureaucracy and a 70-year-old socialite grinds hard.

1) M:tG Beats Poker, Chess?

We love it when poker gets a (well researched) mention in mainstream media outlets like major American tech mag Wired.

Better than poker? Nah.

We’ve also been long-time believers that strategy/card games like Magic: The Gathering and Hearthstone make excellent stepping stones into the world of real-money online poker – not to mention there’s plenty poker can learn from them, too.

But better than poker? That’s a step too far.

Still, author Titus Chalk‘s appearance on Wired‘s Geeks’ Guide to the Galaxypodcast is likely worth a listen if you’ve ever dabbled in both games.

Chalk’s new book is called Generation Decks and digs deep into M:tG’s beginnings and highly successful pro tour which featured players like Jon Finkel and WSOP Main Event/MasterChef runner-up David Williams.

He gets into all that and more on the 1h20min podcast including the suggestion – gasp – M:tG might be more immune to the eventual takeover of AI.

2) 10 Cent Seniors Game Gets Shut Down

We thought about starting this blurb off with ‘stop us if you’ve heard this one before’ and then, sadly, we realized you likely have. All too often.

While poker’s image has made a lot of progress in mainstream media over the past decade there’s still a lingering, unfavorable impression out there that it’s still “gambling.” Or, more precisely, equatable to pure games of chance like Roulette and Baccarat.

Out of a venue. (Photo:CBC)

It’s not. And everybody should know it. Sadly, that’s not enough to help the players in the Texas Hold’em poker circle at Richmond’s Minoru Place Seniors’ Centre right now.

The group had about 40 players, ranging from ages 55-95, who gathered to play a little 10c per chip Holdem for the past 10 years. Now officials at the Center have told them they can’t play with money because it ‘violates provincial gambling regulations.’

That, of course, is pretty silly. As regular player Marilyn Berger said: “If anybody is playing poker, it’s more fun if you play for a little bit of money and it makes it more interesting.”

Said another: “It was just a fabulous way to spend three afternoons a week.” Hear, hear.

The group is hoping city officials change their minds, otherwise they ‘might as well just sit at home and play solitaire.” Read the full piece on CBC.ca.

3) Jackie Kennedy, Ken Starr and Maryland Live!

Speaking of septuagenarians who gain a lot of life value from poker …

Meet Jane Hitchcock, featured in a great new piece by writer Roxanne Roberts in the Washington Post today about her life and times in poker – specifically a $365 buy-in tourney earlier this year at Maryland Live

Jane Hitchcock (Photo: Ricky Carioti/The Washington Post)

She’s a former Park Avenue ‘debutante,’ 70-year-old ‘Georgetown socialite’ and esteemed mystery author. She was friends with Jackie Kennedy. She helped bring down Ken Starr.

By any estimation she has lived/lives a fascinating life among A-List Washington socialites.

Eight years ago she found poker and hasn’t looked back. Among the joy she has found and things she says she’s learned:

“Poker is like life. At the poker table, everyone makes mistakes, everybody plays hands wrong. It’s a game that teaches you about not dwelling on the past, but also learning from your mistakes. You play the next hand as it comes.”

And:

“I just found a whole new world out there of people that I would have never met. I would trust some of those guys before I would trust people I’ve known for years in ‘society.’ Social friends are very fickle.”

Great read; check it out at the Washington Post.

The PokerListings Daily 3-Bet is a couple of buttons, a pile of matchsticks and nothing even close to the true joy of an afternoon poker news poker social gathering.

Have a hot tip for a future 3-Bet? Tweets us @PokerListings or drop a line in the comments.

Today in the 3-Bet we find a vote for Magic: The Gathering over poker, a farce of seniors home bureaucracy and a 70-year-old socialite grinds hard.

1) M:tG Beats Poker, Chess?

We love it when poker gets a (well researched) mention in mainstream media outlets like major American tech mag Wired.

Better than poker? Nah.

We’ve also been long-time believers that strategy/card games like Magic: The Gathering and Hearthstone make excellent stepping stones into the world of real-money online poker – not to mention there’s plenty poker can learn from them, too.

But better than poker? That’s a step too far.

Still, author Titus Chalk‘s appearance on Wired‘s Geeks’ Guide to the Galaxypodcast is likely worth a listen if you’ve ever dabbled in both games.

Chalk’s new book is called Generation Decks and digs deep into M:tG’s beginnings and highly successful pro tour which featured players like Jon Finkel and WSOP Main Event/MasterChef runner-up David Williams.

He gets into all that and more on the 1h20min podcast including the suggestion – gasp – M:tG might be more immune to the eventual takeover of AI.

2) 10 Cent Seniors Game Gets Shut Down

We thought about starting this blurb off with ‘stop us if you’ve heard this one before’ and then, sadly, we realized you likely have. All too often.

While poker’s image has made a lot of progress in mainstream media over the past decade there’s still a lingering, unfavorable impression out there that it’s still “gambling.” Or, more precisely, equatable to pure games of chance like Roulette and Baccarat.

Out of a venue. (Photo:CBC)

It’s not. And everybody should know it. Sadly, that’s not enough to help the players in the Texas Hold’em poker circle at Richmond’s Minoru Place Seniors’ Centre right now.

The group had about 40 players, ranging from ages 55-95, who gathered to play a little 10c per chip Holdem for the past 10 years. Now officials at the Center have told them they can’t play with money because it ‘violates provincial gambling regulations.’

That, of course, is pretty silly. As regular player Marilyn Berger said: “If anybody is playing poker, it’s more fun if you play for a little bit of money and it makes it more interesting.”

Said another: “It was just a fabulous way to spend three afternoons a week.” Hear, hear.

The group is hoping city officials change their minds, otherwise they ‘might as well just sit at home and play solitaire.” Read the full piece on CBC.ca.

3) Jackie Kennedy, Ken Starr and Maryland Live!

Speaking of septuagenarians who gain a lot of life value from poker …

Meet Jane Hitchcock, featured in a great new piece by writer Roxanne Roberts in the Washington Post today about her life and times in poker – specifically a $365 buy-in tourney earlier this year at Maryland Live

Jane Hitchcock (Photo: Ricky Carioti/The Washington Post)

She’s a former Park Avenue ‘debutante,’ 70-year-old ‘Georgetown socialite’ and esteemed mystery author. She was friends with Jackie Kennedy. She helped bring down Ken Starr.

By any estimation she has lived/lives a fascinating life among A-List Washington socialites.

Eight years ago she found poker and hasn’t looked back. Among the joy she has found and things she says she’s learned:

“Poker is like life. At the poker table, everyone makes mistakes, everybody plays hands wrong. It’s a game that teaches you about not dwelling on the past, but also learning from your mistakes. You play the next hand as it comes.”

And:

“I just found a whole new world out there of people that I would have never met. I would trust some of those guys before I would trust people I’ve known for years in ‘society.’ Social friends are very fickle.”

Great read; check it out at the Washington Post.