The PokerListings In and Out List calls it like a tennis ref, telling you who’s legit and who should just quit this week in poker.
Today’s In List features a new movie about online gambling from the writers of Rounders starring Justin Timberlake and Ben Affleck, the first Two Plus Two post ever plus another lucrative spring for Ben “NeverScaredB” Wilinofsky.
On the Out List we find a police raid in Chattanooga that resulted in a shooting as well as a confusing fold from Dan “Jungleman” Cates on the partypoker Big Game.
Poker’s In List: April 9-15, 2012
Affleck, Timberlake in New Movie by Rounders Writers: IN
Headlining this week’s In List, and piquing our interest in poker movies for the first time since Burt Reynolds in Deal, is a new project from Rounders writers Brian Koppelman and David Levien.
Variety reported the film, titled Runner, Runner, is set to star Ben Affleck and Justin Timberlake and will be set in the $30 billion world of illegal online gambling.
It’s unclear whether poker will be the focus but since it’s described as a thriller you can expect more excitement than Affleck and Timberlake taking bad beats online.
Ben Affleck actually plays poker, and has probably always been jealous of Matt Damon in Rounders.
We’re a little wary of including Timberlake in this tip of the hat, judging by the ludicrous poker scene in his last movie In Time, but we’re willing to cut him some slack because of his SNL Liquorville skit.
Traveling Back in Time Via Two Plus Two: IN
Modern poker culture and the Internet is so young it’s hard to believe people were actually talking poker strategy online in 1997.
Take a time-machine trip 15 years into the past via the first ever thread on Two Plus Two.
The first post went live at 2:17pm on July 8, 1997 when Jessica Vecchione wrote:
Welcome to the Two Plus Two Publishing Gambling Forum. To initiate the forum we have five questions, previously submitted to us, with answers from David Sklansky and Mason Malmuth. Visit often with questions and answers.
What follows is an old-school strategy discussion involving familiar names like Nolan Dalla and Steve Brecher.
Spring for Ben Wilinofsky: IN
Good things seem to happen to Ben “NeverScaredB” Wilinofsky in the spring.
While everyone else spent this week looking forward to Black Friday’s anniversary, Wilinofsky was likely getting nostalgic about when he won €825,000 at EPT Berlin on April 5 of 2011, or perhaps his biggest online result which happened on May 2 of 2010.
Spring seems to be working its magic on the Canadian again in 2012 as he’s third in chips at the final table of the WPT main event in Vienna.
Ben Wilinofsky when he won EPT Berlin.
Today they’re playing down to the $410,519 waiting for the winner so check out our Poker News Section tomorrow for the update.
Poker’s Out List: April 9-15, 2012
Taking Guns to Underground Card Games: OUT
Chances are if there are handguns at the underground card game you’re grinding, it’s time to find a new game.
Police raided a game in Chattanooga and when one of the people inside fled, allegedly brandishing two handguns, an officer shot him.
Chattanooga Police Chief Bobby Dodd had apparently been running a two-month long investigation into this $1,000 buy-in game.
In a puzzling statement Dodd said that it wasn’t unusual for a winner to take home $30k-$40k a night, which seems seriously inflated considering the $1k buy-in and the fact that police only seized $26,393 in total during the raid.
Also seized was a whopping 3.3 grams of marijuana.
Jungleman’s Fold on the partypoker Big Game: OUT
Dan “Jungleman” Cates was far and away the biggest loser at the 48-hour marathon partypoker Big Game in Dublin this week. He lost over €80,000, more than double Mike Sexton who was the second-biggest loser, down roughly €40k
But his losses aren’t what earned him a spot on this week’s Out List. It was a very puzzling fold he made late in the game against Tony G.
Cates opened to €400 with A-K and got calls from Phil Laak with 8-8 and Tony G with K-Q. The flop came king-high with a jack and rag and after Cates fired €1,000, Tony G bumped it up to €4,200.
Cates was shortstacked with only about €10,000 behind but for some reason decided to just fold.
Tony G talks about it in this video:
