5 Minutes Read
Horrific Las Vegas shooting, new DFS site by Phil Galfond and an interesting collaboration in the world of poker and e-sports are the three stories that comprise this edition of our PokerGuru 3-Bet.
We begin with a devastating report not just for poker community but for humanity. The past Sunday (October 1) will be remembered in fond memories of over 58 people who lost their lives after a gunman open fired at a music concert from a hotel window. In some positive news for fantasy sports players, poker pro Phil Galfond recently announced the launch of his own DFS site named Dashboard and we conclude this edition with the news of a collaboration between WPT and ELC Gaming to host their first poker and esports event.
In one of the most unfortunate and brutal attacks in modern history, USA witnessed the deadliest mass shooting late night on October 1, when 64-year-old Stephen Craig Paddock, a Nevada resident used a long-range rifle from a room in the Mandalay Bay hotel to unleash the carnage at a concert happening outside the hotel on the world-renowned Las Vegas Strip.
At least 58 people were killed, and over 500 people were injured leaving the whole world in a state of shock.
According to a press release, “Paddock opened fire on a crowd of more than 22,000 concert-goers from his hotel room on the 32nd floor of the Mandalay Bay Hotel on Sunday evening at approximately 10:08 p.m. The victims were across the street attending the Route 91 Harvest Festival concert when bullets rang out. LVMPD SWAT responded to the call, breached the hotel room and found the suspect dead. The Clark County Fire Department estimated that approximately 406 people were transported to area hospitals and 50 are dead following Sunday evening’s shooting.”
High stakes poker player and Instagram king Dan Bilzerian was incidentally at the concert and even posted a video of him fleeing the scene after apparently witnessing a girl getting shot in the head.
He later confirmed that he was safe and headed home after the incident was resolved.
FUCK stay out of Las Vegas! #activeshooter
pic.twitter.com/CrfyiDVx4W— Dan BiIzerian (@iDanBilzerian) October 2, 2017
You can see gun fire
from one of the lower hotel room
windows in this video. pic.twitter.com/WHv6toXzGf— Dan BiIzerian (@iDanBilzerian) October 4, 2017
PokerNews.com’s Sarah Herring was at Mandalay Bay just hours before the incident and said, “It is such a shame that the actions of one sick person or one group of sick people can have such a devastating and frightening effect on the lives of so many others. I will be praying for all the innocent people and their loved ones and pray that God would soften the hearts of those who intend to hurt others.”
The poker community took to Twitter to express their emotion and thoughts and to express their sympathies.
Thinking of you, Las Vegas. Look after each other 😢â¤ï¸
— Liv Boeree (@Liv_Boeree) October 2, 2017
So sad to wake up to this
Praying for Vegas, praying for humanity
— Jason Mercier (@JasonMercier) October 2, 2017
Be safe Las Vegas. What horrifying news to wake up to.
— Kara Scott (@KaraOTR) October 2, 2017
Sending prayers to the victims, and families of the victims, in Las Vegas.
— phil_hellmuth (@phil_hellmuth) October 2, 2017
There are no words for this horrible tragedy in LV. Prayers for all the innocent lives lost and the ones fighting for their lives. So so sad
— Jennifer Harman (@REALJenHarman) October 3, 2017
Our thoughts and prayers go out to all affected in Las Vegas. Thank you to all who have and are helping in this difficult time.
— WSOP (@WSOP) October 2, 2017
I hope all of my friends in Vegas are safe right now
— Mike McDonald (@MikeMcDonald89) October 2, 2017
Las Vegas shootings-so sad/evil. Our future will change forever. You’ll see metal detectors installed in every hotel & public building.
— Mike Sexton (@Mike_partypoker) October 2, 2017
So proud of Vegas community – lines to give blood very long, people waiting hrs – others bringing free food & drinks to them. #incredible
— Mike Sexton (@Mike_partypoker) October 2, 2017
Two-time WSOP bracelet winner Phil Galfond recently launched a new daily fantasy sports site called Draftboard with its CEO position taken by Dan Quinn. The site opened for business on September 27 and offers similar games present on DraftKings, FanDuel and other popular fantasy sports sites.
In September 2016, Galfond had announced plans to launch an online poker site which is currently in development.
Galfond through a post on his poker-training site Run It Once explained that the new fantasy site hopes to improve on existing offerings with added features in order to make things less intimidating for a recreational player.
Galfond also added that how on most sites the DFS pros are able, “to enter additional line-ups with no degradation in skill,” in contrast with online poker where after a certain point, players who multi-table cannot add additional tables without lessening their edge.
Galfond acknowledges that allowing multi-entry is necessary for DFS sites looking to increase prize pools and payouts but hopes, “to allow users to multi-enter while not putting single entry users at a disadvantage” what the introduction of “Fair Match” games featuring separate lobbies for “Rookie” ($1-$5) and “Veteran” ($10-$50) contests. Players will be allowed to enter contests only once in one of the lobbies each day for each sport.
In other words, players are prevented from playing both low and high buy-in contests in the same sport on the same day. Other new features of the site include random opponent selection (restricts pros from targeting certain opponents) along with a special multi-entry system wherein first entries match with other first entries, second entries with second entries, and so on.
That’s not all as part of an early promotion, the site is giving new sign-ups $1 to try out the platform that offers only NFL games for now.
Another addition is the “Live” section that allows players to follow the action with real-time animations that resemble “game cast” which according to a Legal Sports report, “obviously far outpaces the in-contest experience you’ll find at any other DFS operator.”
The report also states that Draftboard is taking a, “legally conservative approach in the US”, by not offering games in states where there are regulations on DFS and where “the site is either applying for licensure or waiting for the economics to make sense.”
Galfond explained everything through a series of tweets –
Hey all. I’m excited to announce the launch of Draftboard! We’ve been working hard on it for quite some time: https://t.co/8CnXtCqMAV
— Phil Galfond (@PhilGalfond) September 28, 2017
1/ I don’t like to spam a bunch of marketing tweets with no value to you guys, but there’s some nice EV lying on the table here, so…
— Phil Galfond (@PhilGalfond) September 28, 2017
2/ Our Record Breaker Promo pays $10k every time a current record is broken. Current record = 0. Details: https://t.co/kxSlylUL6a
— Phil Galfond (@PhilGalfond) September 28, 2017
3/ We offer a free $1 to new accounts – no deposit required (must verify acct). So even if you never want to play again…
— Phil Galfond (@PhilGalfond) September 28, 2017
4/ You can sign up, take our free $1, enter a contest, and on top of potential contest winnings, have a shot at the $10k for nada.
— Phil Galfond (@PhilGalfond) September 28, 2017
4/ You can sign up, take our free $1, enter a contest, and on top of potential contest winnings, have a shot at the $10k for nada.
— Phil Galfond (@PhilGalfond) September 28, 2017
5/ The first week will be our lowest entry levels AND there’s no previous record to break. Take the free money‚
— Phil Galfond (@PhilGalfond) September 28, 2017
6/ And tell us what you think! We’re still optimizing for mobile and finalizing a number of things, but we love feedback and suggestions!
— Phil Galfond (@PhilGalfond) September 28, 2017
7/ If you want more details, you can read my post on RIO https://t.co/CjHjI2fLJ2 and follow @playdraftboard.
/fin
— Phil Galfond (@PhilGalfond) September 28, 2017
Taking a cue from the trend that sees a lot of crossover between poker players and online “gamers” who like to play, stream and watch their favorite real-time strategy, multiplayer online battle arena (MOBA) and first-person shooter (FPS) games, the World Poker Tour (WPT) has now teamed up with ELC Gaming, the European division of Allied Esports. The collaboration aims to bring the two together in the first-of-its-kind integrated poker and esports event in Valkenburg, Netherlands.
This unique event will feature integrated poker and esports, which will be staged from October 9-15 during the upcoming WPTDeepStacks series at Holland Casino. Along with the regular offerings on the schedule including the headline €1,100 Main Event, there will be an array of additional items too.
Outside of the casino, ELC Gaming’s 18-wheel mobile esports arena “Big Betty” will be onsite providing many exciting opportunities for players and fans to win seats for the poker tournaments and esports competitions. There will also be an interactive virtual reality (VR) experience, a casual gaming lounge and daily esports battles between local universities giving a chance to players to win additional prizes.
WPT CEO Adam Pliska said, “The crossover between the poker and esports communities is undeniable, and the addition of a live esports event to one of the WPT’s live poker festivals is a perfect fit to provide an even greater experience for our players.”
Ourgame International, the parent company of both WPT and Allied Esports, is also excited about the new venture and their CEO Frank Ng stated, “This is an inspiring time in both poker and esports, the two mind sports that have only begun to realize their enormous collaboration potential.”
Looking ahead to the future, Ng added, “With prominent businesses in poker and esports, Ourgame is uniquely positioned to raise the bar with a new breed of events across the globe to give all of our players more of what they want.”
ELC Gaming COO Leon Groenewoud said, “We are delighted to be working with our sister company, the World Poker Tour and Holland Casino to create the first-ever crossover experience between poker and esports. We have seen first-hand the popularity in both industries grow exponentially, and I’m confident this partnership is a natural next step for players, fans, and business partners alike.”