The PokerListings Daily 3-Bet is the rebellious DNA strand juiced with frog genes that brings the afternoon poker news dinosaurs back from extinction.
Any suggestions for a future 3-Bet, feel free to drop a note in the comments.
Today in the 3-Bet we find Daniel Negreanu crushing his appearance on reality show Millionaire Matchmaker, the key to Vanessa Selbst’s poker success possibly hiding in her genetic code and Isildur1’s online proficiency inspiring one of the world’s top pros.
1) Negreanu Crushes Date on Millionaire Matchmaker
Well… that went surprisingly well.
After a few questionable turns for poker on reality shows (we're looking at you, JRB), we were treated to a good one last night with Daniel Negreanu’s appearance on Bravo’s Millionaire Matchmaker.
Going along with a trip to an astrologer before jetting off on a date with his pick Lindsay, Negreanu came off as sharp, funny, kind and good at his job –- exactly the kind of face poker can use these days.
Even better, the date seemed to work out for Negreanu personally as Matchmaker co-star Destin Pfaff (who called Negreanu "the real deal") blogged that things are still on for the couple:
"Sweet guy. Self-deprecating, funny, listens, and genuinely has a good heart. Couple that with being a world famous poker player… easy sell!
“And he was! All the girls wanted him. Ultimately he chose wisely and picked Lindsay, the cutest and most genuine of the bunch. He took her out on a great date and they’re still seeing each other!”
Read more in our Pop Poker column.
Sure, DN coming off good or bad on a date might not be that big a deal for poker but check the clip below if you doubt it can set the game back a few years:
2) Selbst Reshapes Poker with Aggression, Genetics
In a great piece today in The Atlantic, writer Shawnee Barton, a poker player herself, explores the rise of Vanessa Selbst under the context of "What It’s Like to Be a Woman Who Plays Professional Poker."
Digging into her role as a mentor to Jesse Sylvia for last year’s WSOP Main Event final table, her trademark aggression at the table and the continuing struggle for gender respect in poker, Barton makes it clear what Selbst's done – and continues to do – in her career is nothing short of revolutionary.
Interestingly, one of the secrets to Selbst's success may in fact have been some mentoring she received herself:
“Selbst's success at poker may be genetic. Her mother—who died in 2005, just before Selbst became a poker superstar—was an MIT graduate who paid her way through college by playing poker, and her parents met during a bridge game.
“Growing up, Selbst's mom acted as her poker mentor, and the family encouraged competiveness by playing games like cribbage and Mastermind.”
If you have a few minutes, the whole piece is well worth the read. Check it out here.
3) Theo Jorgenson Buys Guard Dog, Awestruck by Isildur
A quick update on PokerStars pro Theo Jorgensen, who you might remember was the victim of a scary home invasion last month in Denmark where he was shot three times.
He’s doing much better and recovering at home, he says, although one of the wounds took longer to heal and kept him from getting back to the felt at the PCA.
In the interim he's taken some measures to upgrade his home security system including, as you can see in the picture, adding a new, more protective member of the family.
He's also spending a lot of time playing online, which led him to post a classic observation about the awe-inpriing talents of Isildur1:
“Feeling like I have played pretty much every single minute for the last 24 hours online on Pokerstars and even 3 tables multaniously most of the time. On highstakes they counted it to 566 hands. Isildur has played 3771 hands in the same 24 hours. I mean. WTF?????"
Isildur plays most of his hands heads-up, accounting for much of that, but Jorgensen's not wrong. Isildur is a true WTF in a lot of ways, including running up $4 million in profit over the first 8 days of the year. Follow Jorgensen on Facebook here.
mike matusow is a certifiable train wreck how fucking terrible were those jeans
Terrible thing to hear about, get well soon Theo.
I didn’t know that about Selbst’s mom. Makes a lot of sense; she must have been a pretty cool Mom.