Poker Media Mid Life Crisis

[GreekStein]

Hi

[DaveShoelace]

 

Hi

Hello

[dino1980]

With regards to prop bets I wrote a piece recently and there were a couple I hadn't heard of before.

1) Johnny Moss was sitting in a bar where one of the regulars had a reputation for having never lost a bar fight. A fellow gambler gave Moss 15/1 odds that he couldn’t beat him, with the stipulation that Moss got the first punch. So Moss socked him from behind, but didn’t knock him out and ended up in hospital with broken bones. “Fifteen-to-one was too good to pass up,” he said.

2) As Tiger Woods was coming onto the golf scene John Hennigan gave Barry Greenstein 19/5 on every event Tiger was in for the next two years. Big mistake, Tiger went on a tear and Greenstein banked $100,000 before letting Hennigan buy-out for a further $100,000.

That second one was told me to by Jesse May (and then corroborated by Greenstein) if you haven't already reached out to Jesse on this subject you should as he's an amazing poker historian and has got plenty of pre boom stories that may not be documented anywhere.

[celtic]

Chip Rich in a cupboard was very funny.

[DaveShoelace]

With regards to prop bets I wrote a piece recently and there were a couple I hadn't heard of before.

1) Johnny Moss was sitting in a bar where one of the regulars had a reputation for having never lost a bar fight. A fellow gambler gave Moss 15/1 odds that he couldn’t beat him, with the stipulation that Moss got the first punch. So Moss socked him from behind, but didn’t knock him out and ended up in hospital with broken bones. “Fifteen-to-one was too good to pass up,” he said.

2) As Tiger Woods was coming onto the golf scene John Hennigan gave Barry Greenstein 19/5 on every event Tiger was in for the next two years. Big mistake, Tiger went on a tear and Greenstein banked $100,000 before letting Hennigan buy-out for a further $100,000.

That second one was told me to by Jesse May (and then corroborated by Greenstein) if you haven't already reached out to Jesse on this subject you should as he's an amazing poker historian and has got plenty of pre boom stories that may not be documented anywhere.

The Johnny Moss one I knew and actually features quite prominently.

Hennigan I didn't know but that fits perfectly in the golf chapter of my book

And yep, Jesse is the man, I will be reaching out.

thanks Nick

[DaveShoelace]

Chip Rich in a cupboard was very funny.

Of course, how could I forget?

[vegaslover]

Chip Rich in a cupboard was very funny.

Of course, how could I forget?

This has to be in there

[pokerfan]

Chip Rich in a cupboard was very funny.

Of course, how could I forget?

This has to be in there

Absolutely, it was the first one I thought of when catching up on the thread.

[DaveShoelace]

Being a poker-media type, every year I am one of the 50-odd people who decides the Bluff Power 20, which is an industry ranking for who are deemed the most influential people in poker. It's a business-to-business type of deal, not so much for the poker audience, more for the industry.

Its very interesting because every year I feel like European poker is not well represented, but every year I tend to agree with the rankings and struggle to think of Europeans who were missed out. Problem is that people like Bruno Fitoussi, Luca Pagano, Channing, Rob Yong and dare I say it, Tikay, are incredibly influential in their native country, because each European market is very different to the next, invariably they dont have as much influence in the rest of Europe.

I'm doing my list over the weekend. Below is last year's official list. I'm expecting Alex Dreyfus of the GPI to debut in the top 10 this year.


1. Mark and Isai Scheinberg

2. Mitch Garber

3. Norbert Teufelberger

4. Harry Reid

5. Ty Stewart

6. Daniel Negreanu

7. Gary Loveman

8. Mark Pincus

9. The Fertittas

10. A.G. Burnett

11. Raymond Lesniak

12. Chris Christie

13. Tony Guoga

14. Brian Balsbaugh

15. Dominik Kofert

16. Edgar Stuchly

17. Guy Laliberte

18. Steve Heller

19. Matt Savage

20. Antonio Esfandiari

[Tal]

I'm not sure why, but I'm always surprised not to see many top players in these lists.

The players - the ones 95% of those involved in the game around the world want to emulate - are the ones who drive the business. If a big name pro came out and said a particular poker venue was full of thieves and was generally rubbish, their word would carry huge influence.

[DaveShoelace]

I'm not sure why, but I'm always surprised not to see many top players in these lists.

The players - the ones 95% of those involved in the game around the world want to emulate - are the ones who drive the business. If a big name pro came out and said a particular poker venue was full of thieves and was generally rubbish, their word would carry huge influence.

Generally I disagree. I dont think many top players actually have a big influence on whether you play at a poker room. I doubt Patrik Antonius actually got many players to play on Full Tilt for example. Anyone who knows who this people are tend to have already made their poker decisions/preferences.

The exceptions are the Iveys/Hellmuths/Negreanus, literally four or five players with genuine fanbases. And at a smaller level, people like Joe Hachem have influence in Australia. I'll be surprised if more than three players makes the list this year.

[Tal]

I'm not sure why, but I'm always surprised not to see many top players in these lists.

The players - the ones 95% of those involved in the game around the world want to emulate - are the ones who drive the business. If a big name pro came out and said a particular poker venue was full of thieves and was generally rubbish, their word would carry huge influence.

Generally I disagree. I dont think many top players actually have a big influence on whether you play at a poker room. I doubt Patrik Antonius actually got many players to play on Full Tilt for example. Anyone who knows who this people are tend to have already made their poker decisions/preferences.

The exceptions are the Iveys/Hellmuths/Negreanus, literally four or five players with genuine fanbases. And at a smaller level, people like Joe Hachem have influence in Australia. I'll be surprised if more than three players makes the list this year.

As a general point, sure, but it's the superstars who drive the business side of the game. Rafa Nadal, Shane Warne and Ronaldo will have more influence than the majority of sponspred players.

[DaveShoelace]

Planning a holiday this summer for the other halves birthday. We are not ones for sunbathing, we like seeing as much as we can.

We are toying with this, as there are several places our group of friends wants to go;

Brussels for a day (because it's easy on the Eurostar)

Then Bruges for a day

Then Berlin for two or three days.

Then maybe Copenhagen for a day or two.

Generally that is quite a lateral trip. The only big stretch of travel is Bruges to Berlin. Anyone know anywhere good between those two destinations that is worth breaking things up with a visit?

Also should we maybe pick Austria instead of Copenhagen as the final destination? Or somewhere else?

[Tal]

Sound of Music tour in Salzburg?

Yes, yes I have

[KarmaDope]

Planning a holiday this summer for the other halves birthday. We are not ones for sunbathing, we like seeing as much as we can.

We are toying with this, as there are several places our group of friends wants to go;

Brussels for a day (because it's easy on the Eurostar)

Then Bruges for a day

Then Berlin for two or three days.

Then maybe Copenhagen for a day or two.

Generally that is quite a lateral trip. The only big stretch of travel is Bruges to Berlin. Anyone know anywhere good between those two destinations that is worth breaking things up with a visit?

Also should we maybe pick Austria instead of Copenhagen as the final destination? Or somewhere else?

Cologne if you are going by train.