The PokerListings Daily 3-Bet is an ayahuasca-and-yoga-fueled lucid dream that jolts you right out of the afternoon poker news sensory deprivation tank.
Any suggestions for a future 3-bet, drop a note in the comments.
Today in the 3-Bet we find Daniel Negreanu responding to some fairly extreme accusations, Spanish poker star Leo Margets joining the elite ranks of Team PokerStars and poker media titan Nolan Dalla sharing some of his more egregious and hilarious mistakes.
1) Negreanu Responds to “Cult” Accusations
Yeah, so, we judiciously left out the part about Daniel Negreanu being accused of being in a cult in yesterday's 3-Bet because it seemed, well, unseemly. And kinda ludicrous.
Cult member? Really?
Seeing that Negreanu himself has responded now, though, we figured we’d share his rebuttal and leave it at that.
In short: Negreanu took a three-month leadership training program done by a for-profit business called Choice Center. The “friends” he said he skipped the NBC Heads-Up for were part of this program.
A story that appeared yesterday first questioned the legitimacy of Choice Center and then a growing thread on 2+2 named several other poker pros who've participated (including Antonio Esfandiari and the Binger brothers) and called it "a cult."
Conceding it's certainly a business and he paid to participate, Negreanu says the cult claims are, of course, a gross exaggeration:
“First of all, I am not in a cult, nor does Choice Center have anything to do with religion in the slightest. It is a 100 day course on emotional intelligence that I graduated from last weekend. It cost $2700 for the entire training, and you are never asked for a penny on top of that. Ever.
"...Many of the things I read on the internet are wildly inaccurate. If there was anything 'fishy' going on, I would be the first to bring attention to it as I have in the poker community for the last 10+ years. I'd say that my record speaks for itself."
Read Negreanu’s full response plus a very cogent take on LGAT-type programs from Nick Binger on Full Contact Poker.
At the top of her game.
2) Leo Margets Joins Team PokerStars Pro
Last woman standing in the 2009 WSOP Main Event. EPT Grand Final Ladies Champ. Full Tilt Masters Series champion. Master of Business Communciation Management.
Those are just a few of the titles Barcelona’s Leo Margets has already laid claim to, and now she can add another impressive line to her résumé, poker or otherwise: Team PokerStars Pro.
The 27-year-old Barcelona native was named to the team yesterday in an official release, putting her into elite company with the top females in the game including Vanessa Selbst, Vanessa Rousso, Liv Boeree and Vicky Coren.
With over $770,000 in career earnings in just four years, Margets is eighth on Spain’s all-time money list.
She's previously been a sponsored pro for both 888 Poker and Lock Poker.
More on the signing from PokerStars.
3) Nolan Dalla Revisits Some of His Worst Typos
Makes the odd gaffe.
If you’ve read anything about poker online in the last, oh, 10 years or so, chances are good you’ve read something written by (or paraphrased from) Nolan Dalla.
A one-man news arsenal for the WSOP, among other media outlets, Dalla has covered more poker tournaments and punched out more late-night, sleep-deprived copy than any human being ever should.
As you can imagine, without a dedicated editor and with a direct pipeline out into the Internet, some major typos/gaffes/missteps have hit the worldwide poker spotlight – much to Dalla’s embarrassment.
Given how awesome he is, however, he’s more than capable of having a good laugh at himself and has shared some of his most wince-worthy moments in a new blog post.
Among the gems: Spelling countless names, known or otherwise, wrong, leaving some critical letters out of critical words and, you know, possibly ruining a certain poker player’s career.
He also officially suggested a cat won a PLO tournament.
