Three barrels of value for you including an interesting tale of a suspected bot turning up at the final table of a Turbo Championships of Online Poker (TCOOP) event; probation for a naughty poker dealer, and what could poker learn from the Royal Rumble?
There was a time when I used to think my friends were idiots for believing that online poker was rigged.
I guess I owe them an apology.
If Bill Gates, Elon Musk and Stephen Hawking believe artificial intelligence (AI) will one day wreak havoc on this world, why should we be so naive to think that online poker is an AI free environment?
I don’t think we are anymore.
The most recent high profile Loch Ness Monster style sighting came during the final table of Event #8 in the Turbo Championships of Online Poker (TCOOP) on PokerStars.
Two players remained.
LuckboxStami and IvanHaldi.
Both players had pressed the ‘make a deal button’. The moderator appeared and explained that ICM calculations showed LuckboxStami would receive $40,393 while IvanHaldi would receive $39,450. LuckboxStami agreed. There was no response from IvanHaldi.
According to screenshots of the chat posted on 2+2 IvanHaldi failed to respond for 30-minutes. By which time the moderator sent the player a private message that would have broadcast in the middle of the player’s screen.
The moderator then tried to contact the player by phone to no avail. Then after there was still no response after 60-minutes of downtime, the tournament resumed. Play continued as normal and LuckboxStami won the event and pocketed $48,042.
The IvanHaldi account belongs to a Russian player prompting speculation that a bot was controlling the account.
Poker Dealer Gets Probation For Stealing Chips
A Cuyahoga Country Judge has handed a former poker dealer, who used to work at Horseshoe Casino Cleveland, an 18-month probation sentence, after he was found guilty of stealing $711 in cash and chips from poker tables.
Randall White was also ordered to complete 250 hours of community service. Unbelievably, he was facing the prospect of six years behind bars for the offence. White told the court that he stole the $5 and $10 chips to help pay for a legal issue his daughter had become embroiled in.
Kids.
Royal Rumble Anyone?
Steve O’Dwyer and Sam Greenwood have come up with an interesting way to Sportify poker. They want to introduce a World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) Royal Rumble style contest.
The rules for the Royal Rumble are simple.
30 wrestlers are given numbers at random (ok we know they aren’t really random), and every two minutes a new wrestler walks into the ring according to their randomized number. Wrestlers are eliminated by being thrown over the to rope. The last wrestler standing wins a title shot at WrestleMania.
Both O’Dwyer and Greenwood were big wrestling fans in their youth, and they spoke to PokerNews about the possibility of creating such an event in poker.
I have championed the idea of poker players walking in to loud music, and am hoping the Global Poker League (GPL) will introduce this when they launch their live games.
But as for the rest of it?
It would be tough, but not insurmountable by any means.
I like the approach both players have taken. They are looking at the idea of sportifying poker from a whole new angle.
Let’s hope that our flagship poker entities are doing the same thing.
Would it work?
What are your thoughts on a poker Royal Rumble?
