The PokerListings Daily 3-Bet is a long moment of reflection, a deep breath and nothing but confidence as you stride back into the afternoon poker news colosseum.
Have a tip to share for a future 3-Bet? Tweet us @PokerListings or drop a note below.
Today in the 3-Bet we find Ben Lamb and Antoine Saout then and now, a J-Pop star meets DNegs and Poker Central introduces the Poker Masters.
1) 2nd Chance at Big Show
No matter your level of poker skill (or how primed your mind is), it's hard to make the World Series of Poker Main Event final table.
Very, very hard. The amount of landmines you need to navigate in a 7,000-player field over seven days to even get a sniff of getting there is, well, astronomical.
Now imagine getting there and coming short, thinking you'll never get another shot like that. And then, all of a sudden, you do.
That's life for Antoine Saout and Ben Lamb right now as they wait for Thursday's final table to begin. Not many people (here's looking at you, Mark Newhouse) know how that feels.
While Saout's moment (3rd for $3.47m) came in 2009 and Lamb's (3rd for $4m) in 2011, we're sure the experience is still plenty fresh in their minds and they'll draw on everything they learned to be the last man standing this time.
How did things end last time? Saout's QQ lost to Cada's 22 in a huge pot that would have made him chip leader and Lamb lost a flip with KJ on the first hand 3-handed.
We imagine both have thought about those moments a lot since. And by the looks of it, they're more than ready to make up for lost time.
Tune in to ESPN Thursday at 5:30pm PT to see if their second times are the charm.
2) Gackt Meets Negreanu
Who, exactly, is "Gackt?" And what does he mean to the world of poker? We're still trying to sort it out but by the looks of it Gackt is an extremely popular singer/actor from Tokyo who happens to have a thing for poker.
How big of a thing? Well, he played the $1,111 Little One for One Drop over the weekend (and cashed) and - here's the shocker - finished 4th for $75k in a $25k Aria High Roller.
That ain't bad. He also found some time to get a shout out from poker's #1 pop star Daniel Negreanu for his fans.
We'll keep an eye out for more Gackt appearances on the poker tour. Want to get with Gackt too? As he says in his Twitter bio: "If u want 2 feel me, Touch my heart n thought."
3) A Tradition Unlike Any Other
Have you ever sat back and thought, "poker really needs a tournament series where the winner gets an impeccably tailored purple jacket?"
Us too! Thankfully, Poker Central has heard our silent pleas and come up with a series that will deliver exactly that. It's called the Poker Masters and it will debut this Fall as a week-long high-stakes series. Here's the schedule:
Sept. 13 – Event 1: $50k buy-in (2 days)
Sept. 14 – Event 2: $50k buy-in (2 days)
Sept. 15 – Event 3: $50k buy-in (2 days)
Sept. 16 – Event 4: $50k buy-in (2 days)
Sept. 18 – Event 5: $100k buy-in (3 days)
Live streams of feature/final tables will be broadcast on PokerGO. Each $50k will have one re-entry; the $100k will be a freezeout. Each will also have 30-second shot clocks like in the Super High Roller Bowl. Sounds fun, yeah? Even better:
"At the end of the series the player with the highest total earnings across the five events will be crowned the Poker Masters Champion and take home the Poker Masters Purple Jacket™. The custom jacket is designed and tailored by world-renowned fashion designer Waraire Boswell, who dresses A-list celebrities and athletes including Will Smith, Kobe Bryant, Pharrell Williams, Ellen DeGeneres and LeBron James, among others."
Cool idea. Just eyeballing it, we'd say Fedor is a 46R.
