Tag: Dan Smith

Dan Smith
Double Up Dan Smith

The first World Poker Tour (WPT) Online Championships won’t be the only WPT Online Championships.

As the hive of activity starts to abate, and the tumbleweed begins to roll in from the empty rails, it’s time to rate and review. Looking through Twitter, there are more thumbs up than thumbs down. In short, it’s been a sublime series for everyone, lest those who did their bollocks.

Before the main entree takes a bow to make way for the WPTDeepStacks portion of the festival, we have three events to cover, including the Main Event.

We begin with the final $25,000 No Limit Hold’em High Roller of the series. 91-entrants shifted tectonic plates in this one, and Dan Smith defeated Daniel Dvoress, heads-up, to claim the $555,503.38 first prize after the pair cut a deal. Dvoress banked $456,871.63.

Results

  1. Dan Smith – $555,503.38*
  2. Daniel Dvoress – $456,871.63*
  3. Lucas Reeves – $295,750
  4. Rob Lipkin – $204,750
  5. John O’ Shea – $159,250
  6. Elias Talvitie – $113,750

*Subject to a heads-up deal

The Best of the Rest

High rollers, Andras Nemeth and Luc Greenwood, made the final table of Event #41: $3,200 Second Chance Turbo. The event saw 110-entrants tackle a $330,000 prizepool, and the UK’s Philip Mighall collected the $80,850 first prize. The former PocketFives World #1, Nemeth, finished runner-up, and Greenwood finished in the third place.

Results

  1. Phillip Mighall – $80,850
  2. Andras Nemeth – $57,750
  3. Luc Greenwood – $41,250
  4. David Gradic – $28,875
  5. Igor Yaroshevskyy – $21,450
  6. Stewart Kirby – $16,500

While we shouldn’t sniff at Luc Greenwood’s $41,250 prize, it pales into comparison to the amount of moolah that his brother Sam is hoping to collect by the time the lifeguard leaves her Wednesday 20 May shift by the pool.

Sam Greenwood is once again proving that he is one of the most incredibly talented No Limit Hold’em players in the game, sitting in second place from a field of 2,130 entrants as the $3,500 WPT Online Championships enters its final day.

Eight remain in contention for the $1,048,088 first prize, and leading the way is the Swedish online poker icon Christian ‘eisenhower1” Jeppsson. The former PocketFives World #1 starts with a slender lead, and it will be a titanic tussle if those two end up at the end zone.

High rollers who ran deep include Martin Jacobson, Max Silver, and Orpen Kisacikoglu.

Here are the chip counts and payouts.

Chip Counts

  1. Christian Jeppsson – 17,573,926
  2. Sam Greenwood – 16,087,766
  3. Pascal Hartmann – 14,884,499
  4. Alexander Stuart Clark – 14,407,969
  5. Viktor Ustimov – 9,138,972
  6. Jukka Koskela – 5,700,975
  7. Nikolay Ponomarev – 5,132,492
  8. Pascal Teekens – 2,215,627

Done.Got this.Got this, thanks!

A man at a football match once showed me how to turn a newspaper into a weapon – you know, in case that lot tried anything. But the morning paper can also be used for good. If your wife ever goes into labour, and you can’t get her out of the house before the madness begins, cover the floor with newspapers, as there are antiseptic properties in the ink. You can also save a few trees by using papers to wrap your Christmas presents, and anyone who has a dog knows how valuable they are when it comes to stopping them from destroying your kitchen lino.
Double Up Drive Dan Smith
They are also pretty good at getting a story out to the world.
Yeah, I nearly forgot about that one, but you should forgive me – times are changing. Instead of the newspaper, we have blogs, social media – the Internet, and it’s through these tin cans and pieces of string that we need to spread the goodness of the world, and my god do we need it.
Goodness = Dan Smith.
For the fifth year, Dan Smith has organised a compact and bijou band of merry men (this year: Aaron Merchak, Matt Ashton, Stephen Chidwick and Tom Crowley), to transform into hybrids of Zig Ziglar and William MacAskill to raise millions of dollars for effective charities.
When I last spoke to Smith in our piece Shaking The Money Tree With The Effective Altruist: Dan Smith the World Poker Tour (WPT) Champions Club member, good guy and giver told us of his goal to raise and match $1,140,000 between Nov 27 – Dec 29.
The name of the drive was The Double Up Drive, and as Dec 29th has gone the way of traveller’s checks, I catch up with Smith to learn how the drive panned out, and I am pleased to announce, that it once again surpassed expectations.
What was the official tally, and how successful was the Drive?
“The official number was $2,718,587,” says Smith. “I believe we did a good job of reaching the small donors. We had an increase in the number of donations this year, both in unique and the number of donations. Last year, we had 714 donations, and this year we had 1,115.”
What were the significant milestones during the drive?
“I would say the pinnacle of the drive, for sure, was when Tom Crowley won the big football tournament for $2m and cashed for $2.2m that day,” says Dan Smith, referring to Crowley’s incredible win in the Draftkings and FanDuel World Championships, and his pledge to donate 50% of his winning to the drive. “There was a ton of publicity, and it was a story that really got out there. It made the front page of Reddit. I really like stories like that. I think it’s a good reminder to people that you are allowed to dream big when it comes to doing these monumental things, and also can donate large amounts of money. He said publicly before the event that he likes to announce to himself or publicly how much he is planning for charity before the event because if you win it may be more difficult to donate the really big number, but when you have decided beforehand the proportional amount of your income it’s already decided for you.”


What challenges did Smith and the team face?
“There were a few times on the logistical side where it was challenging,” said Smith. “At $400,000 of our $1.3m goal, Give Directly had the biggest marketing campaign – they were going to their base and letting them know about the drive, and there was a point when they were definitely getting the most of our funds. We decided we would cap them at $400,000 of the $1.3m, and introducing the cap was a bit of a challenge; then we ended up having the large infusion of more funds resolve that, but in the future, we have to slightly better anticipate how those logistics might work.
“Also the website is totally fine and sufficient, but at some point, I would like it to be cleaner, and I know some people had issues trying to donate through the website. I don’t know if this happens, but if someone tried to donate, and the website didn’t although them to do that, that would not be good, and something to work on.”
What are Smith’s personal goals for 2019?
“My priority on a personal level is my personal and mental health,” says Smith. “I can’t take care of anyone else until I first take care of myself. Then I would say a secondary thing is making time for loved ones, especially. If I don’t live in the same city as them, I have to make more of an effort.”
Poker Goals?
“I don’t especially have any poker goals,” says Smith. “I am a little burned out, and the idea of travelling for poker tournaments at this moment in time doesn’t appeal to me. I am skipping the PCA, and there is Jeju in March. I used to go to all of them. This winter I have a bunch of snowboarding trips planned with my friends, and I don’t feel like travelling across the world to play in some of these bigger tournaments. For the past few years, I have only played in these bigger tournaments. Playing a bit smaller in a stress-free environment could be a fun change, and that’s what I will be doing. I will go to LA to play WPT Hawaiian Gardens, I will play Bay 101 and LAPC, and I haven’t played the non-high roller scene in a while.
“I have heard rumours of there being a £1m tournament, and if that’s the case, I will start gearing up for that around two months out, and preparing for that. So I guess, I will take some time off early in the year except some smaller tournaments and then probably go hard at it in the spring to summer with the World Series.”
Service goals?
“The current model works very well, and if I only did the same project next year that would be totally wonderful, and it’s been growing for five years in a row,” says Smith. “However, I am going to look into the possibility of creating software that allows people to create their own personal Double Up Drives. People love the Facebook birthday matches, so I think if there’s an easy platform for them, I am envisaging that it’s possible to change the way people give. There are plenty of logistical things that could make this a challenge, but if there is a change to next years’ plan I would say this is it, and if not, I will continue with the current model of playing poker, hopefully winning at it, and giving publicly, and hoping that other people who want to make a difference, contribute.”


Here are the charities that benefited from the DoubleUpDrive.
Fund Distribution
ACE Effective Animal Advocacy Fund $313,927
AMF $290,194
EA Long-term Future Fund $139,583
The Good Food Institute $431,282
GiveDirectly $433,155
GiveWell (regranting) $271,630
Helen Keller International – Vitamin A Supplementation Program $44,304
Machine Intelligence Research Institute $228,966
Malaria Consortium – Seasonal Malaria Chemoprevention Program $89,629
Massachusetts Bail Fund $49,302
REG Fund $149,052
StrongMinds $277,557

money tree
Growing up thinking there’s a money tree in the garden that’s always barren it’s not the prelude to a philanthropic life. I existed in a perpetual state of lack, and not-enoughness for 35-years before deciding to dam up the waterfall of alcohol that used to burn my throat.
The fog lifted.
I saw the cat’s stare.
I heard the men in white coats cut the bulls off a horn.
I smelled my son’s hair in a pillow soaked in my tears.
I became a voracious reader. Mentors who filled my mind with the blueprints of success, made me feel like I could do more than tie my shoelace.
One of the men with a helicopter pad on his roof said If I donate my money to someone or something needier than I, then the universe will return the bounty with compound interest.
Selfishly, I began donating.
Like strobe lighting at a Motown gig, it never felt right.
It was for me.
Not for them.
Time passed.
Perfume faded.
My Elvis Costello LP warped in the sun.
Oliver’s Army trudged off to war.
Then I found Raising for Effective Giving (REG) and Effective Altruism, and things changed. Maybe it was age? Perhaps it was nausea produced by all of those Fabergé eggs, unslept in beds and slit wrists.
REG made me feel right about being in the poker industry. I no longer felt the kid hiding his fish paste sandwiches. Shame became pride. Poker players became ambassadors for greater meaning and purpose, and I looked across at them as a man on equal footing instead of looking up to them like a little boy seeking approval.

Amongst them, Dan Smith.

For the past four years, Smith has leveraged his status within the poker hierarchy to do tremendous good in the world. Last year, his championing of poker as an effective and altruistic vehicle resulted in the astonishing number of $4.5m raised for effective charities.
This year, he’s back, with a new look campaign that has the same old guts and bolts feeling beneath the hood. From now, until to December 29, Smith, Daily Fantasy Sports (DFS) pro Aaron Merchak, and fellow poker pros Stephen Chidwick and Matt Ashton, and some anonymous donors have promised to match $1,290,000 in charitable donations for effective charities.
Luckily for you and me, I got the opportunity to ask Smith a few questions about the new initiative and began by asking him to share his ‘service’ biography.
“Years ago, I would have considered myself a negative person, so if anything went slightly wrong, my first thought would be negative. For instance, if my cell phone weren’t where it should be, I would think, “Maybe the goddam maid stole it'” before realising I had moved it to the kitchen or something.
“Now, I think with years of mindfulness – and I have started therapy in the past year which has been very helpful, taking care of my body both mentally and physically – I think I have changed to the core to be a more positive person. Now, if something bad happens to me, I think I could take rough events in my stride, and in some cases see the good in everything.”
Who is the DoubleUpDrive designed for?
“The campaign is designed for everyone,” says Smith. “I like the idea of making it more accessible. I loved the idea of changing the narrative that one person can’t make a difference. Of course, I had a lot of help and support along the way even contributions as small as coming up with the name of the drive or the logo, the logistics. Ultimately, I feel I created the project. I had the idea and executed it, and I like the idea of reminding myself and others that one person really can make a difference.
“With GiveDirectly you can give money to people in Uganda who are living off 65 cents a day. 65 cents is not an amount that even registers for me. I think a lot of people get caught up in their head about not caring about other people, so they don’t ‘do charity’, and yet you can still prioritise yourself over other people and help others. Even if I value my mental well being more than others – by how much? When it comes to supporting someone for 65 cents a day, I do think for your own mental wellbeing helping other people is very satisfying. I will look back on my life, and this will be one of my top accomplishments. I am super thrilled that I achieved my dream of becoming a great poker player. But I take more pride in doing this thing that provides a real positive impact in someone’s life.”
What is the worldview of the people you are hoping to reach?
“Small donors and I like the idea of giving a big donor an avenue for matching and inspiring other people. To make it bigger than just yourself. I am trying to convince people that it’s possible to make a profound difference in the world without dramatically inconveniencing yourself. People think you can’t be self-indulgent and charitable and you can do both. I live a very nice life where if I were completely utilitarian I would live in a one bedroom shack, spending as little as possible and donating more. My primary energy is to take care of myself, even if that’s ‘selfish.’ When I take care of myself, I can be there more for other people.”
When it comes to ‘service; what do people fear?
“I think some people are afraid that they are not inherently charitable people, but I don’t think people are born charitable,” says Smith. “When I first wanted to get into this world it was just something I wrote on my New Year’s resolutions list – ‘be more charitable’.
“I didn’t know how to go about doing it. It wasn’t until I started that I realised it was about going through and putting in the motions. I used to think that some people had a different view of the world and cared more but I think it’s entirely a thing that you can create.
“I also think that people are afraid of trying in some cases. I was nervous when I started this that I would come across as preachy, or that I was bragging that I could afford to donate some larger numbers or maybe I would flop on my face, but I think it’s important never to be afraid to try and do a good thing.”
What change are you seeking to make in the world?
“I would like to reduce harm and then suffering,” says Smith. “GiveWell is a great organisation that tells you what the most efficient causes are that you can support. Generally, malaria nets or even treating people with malaria is super cheap or feeding people who live off very little money. The Helen Keller Vitamin A Supplementation Program, where people, especially children, are malnourished. You give them Vitamin A Supplements, and it helps – they don’t go blind and prevents people from dying.
“I am trying to maximise the change I can do and am happy to defer to experts, and I am also hoping to move up the ranks and become an expert myself. Secondly, helping people with mental health issues is a passion of mine. I have tried to do a bit of writing about it because I think with interviews like this it comes across like I have my shit together when I go through periods just this February where I was struggling to sleep through the nights because I had many anxious weeks. When you’re not sleeping great things, get worse, and I get anxious about being anxious. I have done some writing to express that I have issues, and I am hoping that people can see that even a successful poker player who seemingly has it all, struggles. I am hoping that someone sees it and views their struggles as normal. It’s easy to feel like we are alone when we’re all dealing with a lot of the same things.”
Why will people tell their friends about DoubleUpDrive?
“It’s a remarkable story.” Says Smith. “It’s easy to get numb to it, but last year we raised $4.5m. I have seen a statistic that on average, $3,000 saves a life. That’s 1,500 people that might have died. That’s a tremendous impact and I think it’s a wild story, taking an inherently selfish thing and doing good with it and I think it’s challenging and will motivate people. It’s a magnified impact for people thinking of donating, so it’s a much better deal for them as well.”
If you could rid the world of one thing, what would it be and why?
“There are a lot of problems in the world, but I will go with my gut and say mental anguish.”
And with that, Smith thanks me for my time, and the recording stops. Typically, I would go for a walk, stretch my aching neck like a giraffe reaching for the tallest acacia leaf, thinking about the swimming pool full of worries I have in life.
Not today
Today, I’m walking into the backyard to shake the shit out of that money tree, and donate whatever falls off to www.doubleupdrive.com safe in the knowledge that this marvellous young man will match my contribution.
Do you want to join me?

e534033b2d
I’m listening to William Shatner on Spotify.
What’s going on?
William Shatner?
He’s banging on about mountains in the air, and the need to get it together man. I would have thought a man like Shatner would have been on the scrapheap by now. What versatility.
TJ Hooker.
James T. Kirk.
Singer.
I need serenity.
I need peace.
It hasn’t happened yet.
Well, let’s see if I can bang out the week’s top stories from the world of the High Rollers before it does.
Online Poker News: Record-Breaking Online MILLIONS; Greenwood Doing His Bollocks; Talal Shakerchi Making Sunday Million Final Table
I don’t know how much air to put into a tyre. I don’t understand when the oil needs topping up. Temperature means nothing to me.
But I know this.
partypoker made history this week.
The online poker behemoth hosted the wealthiest online poker tournament since the days of the Allosaurus, when 4,367-entrants created a $21,385,000 prize pool, easily beating the $20m guarantee that many (including me and Shatner) thought they had no chance of achieving.
Four people had their siblings hoping for a handsome handout.
Manuel Ruivo won the world-record prize of $2,329,944 after cutting an ICM deal with Pim de Goede that saw the Dutchman become only the fourth player in history to win a $2m+ prize, collecting $2,309,995.
And check this out.
The Slovenian, Scarmak3r, parlayed a $5 online satellite win into a $1,364,688 windfall.
The dream is still alive.
Pedro Marques was the fourth player to bank a seven-figure score = $1,091,750.
And there was another record, but one Sam Greenwood likely didn’t want.


So that’s how they make these imperious guarantees!
partypoker didn’t reserve all big money for the partypoker tournament tables. Sam Trickett and Rob Yong had a good week, collecting $300k+ each from a $200/$400 Pot-Limit Omaha (PLO) game that included the likes of Matt Kirk. Trickett used the money to buy himself a nice new shirt in preparation for handing Team USA their first Mosconi Cup win since 2009.


Moving from partypoker to PokerStars, and Talal Shakerchi, finished sixth in the $215 buy-in Sunday Million, showing his love for the game. The Global Poker Index (GPI) World #1, Alex Foxen, also had a good week picking up his third PokerStars High Roller Club title. Fellow high rollers, Joao Vieira, Ivan Luca and Alex Papazian also picked up PokerStars High Roller Club titles.
Live Poker News: SHRB Draw; Million Dollar Cash Game; WPT Garden and WSOP Sydney HRs
 
Super High Roller Bowl
The organisers of the Super High Roller Bowl V (SHRB) had a brain fart this week. The live lottery to determine the first 24-picks should have gone ahead on Nov 27, but Poker Central cancelled it without telling any of the players.


The lottery did happen, albeit late, and 34-names came out of the hat, not 24.
Here they are:
1. Justin Bonomo
2. Daniel Negreanu
3. Fedor Holz
4. David Peters
5. Dan Smith
6. Bryn Kenney
7. Phil Hellmuth
8. Jason Koon
9. Jake Schindler
10. Brian Rast
11. Mikita Badziakouski
12. Isaac Haxton
13. Christoph Vogelsang
14. Stephen Chidwick
15. Cary Katz
16. Rainer Kempe
17. Dominik Nitsche
18. Adrian Mateos
19. Nick Petrangelo
20. Igor Kurganov
21. Steffen Sontheimer
22. Sean Winter
23. Koray Aldemir
24. Ben Tollerene
25. Sam Soverel
26. Alex Foxen
27. Dan Cates
28. Ben Yu
29. Talal Shakerchi
30. Bill Klein
31. Matthias Eibinger
32. Ali Imsirovic
33. Seth Davies
34. Chris Kruk
That leaves 14-spaces left.
The SHRB V takes place December 17, 18 & 19.
One player who is not on that list is Patrik Antonius, and this week the fabulous looking Finn was in India where he guested at Deltin Corporation’s 10th-anniversary celebrations aboard the Deltin Casino in Goa. Antonius finished runner-up to Justin Bonomo in the inaugural Super High Roller Bowl China earlier this year, earning $3.1m.
In other high rolling live tournament news the World Poker Tour (WPT) announced a $25k buy-in event as part of the WPT Gardens Festival 16 January, and the World Series of Poker Circuit (WSOPC) at The Star in Sydney has an AUD 20,000 buy-in event penned in for 12th/13th December.
From tournaments to cash games and the Bicycle Casino in Los Angeles has announced a million dollar cash game. The game is $100/$200 No-Limit Hold’em with a $100k Minimum buy-in scheduled for ten hours of action Friday, December 14 – Garrett Adelstein and Nick Vertucci feature.
And Ben Lamb seems to have created a new game.
Short-Deck is so last week.


Lamb joined Justin Bonomo, and a whole host of degens as Short-Deck, Medium-Deck, Call-It-What-You-Want-Deck appeared on Poker After Dark for the first time this week.
Thor Hansen Passes; Smith Charity Drive; Bathroom Bet Update
The Norwegian legend Thor Hansen finally lost his battle with cancer this week, but boy, did he put up a fight. Six years ago, doctors gave Hansen three months to live after diagnosing him with cancer, and yet Hansen was still riffling chips at the WPT Seminole Rock ‘N’ Roll Poker Open in Hollywood, Florida last month. Tributes poured in from all over the poker globe, but I particularly like this one from Mike Sexton.


Rich Alati’s father (also Richard) has told the poker media that the $100k Bathroom Bet is more to do with the personal challenge than the money. Cash game grinder, Rory Young bet Alati $100k that he couldn’t stay in a darkened bathroom without human contact or any external stimuli for 30-days, and although his father is ‘concerned’ about the bet, you sense he feels confident that Alati junior will get the job done.
Finally, Dan Smith launched his fifth annual charity drive. This year, Smith has labelled his philanthropic effort DoubleUpDrive, and the plan is for Smith and his team to match donations up to a ceiling of $1,140,000.
If you want to make a difference in the world, then donate to one of Smith’s charities, and send your receipt to receipts@doubleupdrive.com.
And that’s this week’s Pinnacle.

Stop licking those envelopes. Christmas can wait. Put down that cheap wine. Listen up. It’s time to find out what the high stakes poker players have been up to this week.
It’s time for The Pinnacle.
We begin with a new record.
partypoker successfully breached the $20m guarantee slapped onto the wrapping paper covering the $5,300 buy-in MILLIONS Online event. All told, 4,367 entrants created a total prize pool of $21,835,000, and leading the pack going into Day 2 is the high roller and partypoker ambassador, Philipp Gruissem with 26,865,379 chips.
Gruissem has earned more than $3.6m playing online multi-table tournaments (MTTs), so expect him to run deep, if not win the thing. If he does, it will rank as his Jolly Green Giant of wins as the first prize is $2.5m and not even the man with the best tash in the business has won money like that before.
Here are the other high rollers who have made it through to Day 2 (that I know of).
68th: Fedor Holz, Team partypoker: 11,946,929
305th: Sam Trickett, Team partypoker: 5,576,388
505th: Dzmitry Urbanovich, Team partypoker: 2,432,447
270th: Viktor “Isildur1” Blom: 6,303,392
285th: Chance “ChanceSeeYou” Kornuth: 6,006,067
425th: Talal “raidalot” Shakerchi: 3,600,564
You see the name of Sam Trickett in 305th place, well the lad from the UK has had a good week. Trickett and Dusk till Dawn (DTD) owner, Rob Yong, both pulled $300k+ off the $100/$200 and $200/$400 Pot-Limit Omaha (PLO) tables at partypoker this week. At his peak, Matt “SwordfishAA” Kirk sat with more than $600k in front of him.
They may have begun with the goal to become the End Boss of live tournaments, but they are also demonstrating the power to go head-to-head with PokerStars in the online realm.

Super High Roller Bowl Ruling; Brian Rast Musing

From what is now the Whole Foods Green Nutty Buddy of an online poker tournament to it’s equivalent in the live realm. I am, of course, talking about the Super High Roller Bowl V (SHRB).
Poker Central scheduled the event for May 2019. Then they pulled it back to December 2018, told people to pay a $30,000 deposit by Nov 26, and promised to select the first draft of players via a live lottery on PokerGO on Nov 27.
Well, it’s 4 Dec.
Tick.
Tock.
2017 Poker Master, Steffen Sontheimer, had to ask Twitter if Poker Central had postponed said lottery. ARIA Tournament Director, Paul Campbell, confirmed the rumours were true. The deposit deadline had moved to Dec 3, and the lottery would take place on Dec 4.
I reached out to three players who will be in that live lottery, including Sontheimer, and they all confirmed that nobody from ARIA or Poker Central served notice.
Bad form for a $300,000 buy-in event if you ask me.
The first-ever SHRB took place in 2015. Back then the price point was $500,000, and Brian Rast beat 43-entrants to win the $7,525,000 first prize, and Brian has been battering Twitter this week.
Rast showed that he’s not a fan of nationalism, reposting a blog post he wrote in 2016 entitled Citizen of Earth.
Here are some pieces of gold from that one.
Nationalism has become an intellectual poison, a virus.
The more I age, grow, and travel, the more that this is clear to me: Despite what my passport says, I am not fundamentally an American, but a citizen of the pale blue dot that is Earth.
But in poker, I’ve learned that I am not defined by what I’ve done. Every day that I go play, I forget what I’ve accomplished because that only exists to serve my ego. And serving my ego, while perhaps emotionally satisfying, is but a crutch and will only hold me back. I’m only as good as the next hand that I play. And the same is true of just about everything else you do in life.
The post also included this peach of a video from Carl Sagan.
Check it out.

Birthdays, Books and the Bathroom Bet

It was an excellent week for the three-time World Series of Poker (WSOP) bracelet winner, Eli Elezra. Not only did he celebrate his birthday, but his autobiography: Pulling The Trigger, finally shipped to the printers and will be on sale January 2019.
You can buy a copy on presale here:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1880685604/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=cardplayerlif-20&camp=1789&creative=9325&linkCode=as2&creativeASIN=1880685604&linkId=66ad04e12f3f8e20f36684da321e2419
Elezra wasn’t the only high stakes poker player enjoying a birthday this week. The former One Drop winner, Antonio Esfandiari, turned 40 and celebrated in his usual imitable style throughout the Las Vegas Strip.
Remember the time that Esfandiari pissed in a bottle underneath a poker table at the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure (PCA), so he could win a bet with Bill Perkins?
Well, this week we learned of an even more insane bet.
High stakes live cash game grinder, Rich Alati, stands to win. $100,000 if he can live in a bathroom for 30-days.
I nearly forgot.
The bathroom will be sealed shut.
There is no light.
No personal possessions except a yoga mat.
No contact with people.
Fellow high stakes live cash grinder, Rory Young, is the man likely to win the $100,000 even money bet.

Doyle, Dan, David and Dandelion Tea

David Peters continued his pursuit of Alex Foxen in the race for the Global Poker Index (GPI), Player of the Year, after defending his $5,000 No-Limit Hold’em crown at the Seminole Hard Rock Rock ‘n’ Roll Open.
Peters topped a field of 95-entrants to win the top prize of $143,159, 12-months after conquering a field of 61-entrants to bank the $104,309 first prize.
Peters later told the press that he wore the same sweatshirt during both tournaments. Maybe poker isn’t bringing in enough bacon to pay the bills? If so, then I have just the job for him.


Last year, Fedor Holz kindly contributed $250,000 to Dan Smith’s fourth Charity Drive, and this week, the man in the ten-gallon hat released details of his fifth Charity Drive where he will match any donations to the tune of $1.4m. Once again, effective altruism is at the heart of his decisions.
Learn more here.

CHARITY DRIVE KICK OFF


And nobody wears a ten-gallon hat better than the next man.
Doyle Brunson believes that the host of the Waking Up Podcast, Sam Harris, is an idiot after Gus Hansen tweeted that the famous atheist suggested you could walk him blindfold into a library and he would pick out a book with more wisdom on how to live your life than the bible.
And I bet that’s precisely how Brunson felt when in the days before giant corporations turned a stretch of the Las Vegas desert into The Strip, he turned down the opportunity to buy a prime piece of land for $60,000 because he lost a big bet on the Dallas Cowboys.
And that is this week’s Pinnacle.