Hello Gamblers,
The Important Stuff: We are playing poker tomorrow at 7pm pacific! See below for details.
The Less Important Stuff…
I just watched The Card Counter (2021), a Paul Schrader film about a former MP who was sent to jail after torturing people at Abu Ghraib. While in jail he learns to count cards and once he is out he drives around and plays blackjack and poker.
And then last night Kathryn wanted to re-watch Michael Clayton (2007) as a tonal reference for a project she is working on, and I forgot that he’s a gambling addict in that movie.
All of which is to say that I am very ready to play poker tomorrow, and if you want to be on my level you can also watch these movies. Plus, it’s my birthday this Friday, so this is my BIRTHDAY GAME and that means you have to come play. Sorry.
In other poker related news, this Sponsor Content from Google/The Atlantic keeps popping up for me all over the place: When AI Meets Its Match.
I’m not going to read a whole spon-con article even if it does align with my interests, but I did paste it into ChatGPT and ask for a summary:
Engaging Slumbot: The author vividly describes engaging in a virtual Heads-Up No-Limit Texas Hold’em poker match against Slumbot, a renowned AI poker bot. As the battle of wits unfolds with strategic card plays on a virtual poker felt, the narrative captures the dynamic exchange of moves and counter-moves, illustrating the intensity of playing against a high-caliber artificial opponent.
Poker and AI Research: Beyond the game, the text explores the broader implications of AI in poker, emphasizing its role in studying human decision-making and strategic thought. It highlights how poker, an imperfect information game, serves as a valuable model for AI research, offering insights into human behavior and decision-making under uncertainty, with poker AI developments like Cepheus and DeepStack pushing the boundaries of what artificial intelligence can achieve.
Human vs. AI Dynamics: The narrative delves into the inherent advantages humans still hold over AI in poker due to the game's complexity and emotional nuances. While AIs like Slumbot and GTO Wizard AI represent the pinnacle of current AI poker technology, they are constrained by their programming and lack the ability to adapt dynamically to human opponents, a limitation that the author exploits in their matches.
📆 Tournament Details
Tuesday May 14th at 7pm pacific
Game hosted on pokernow.com and a share zoom
Login details will be sent Tuesday
Also available in the #disc-poker channel of the KmikeM Slack
$50 Tournament w/ up to two rebuys
❗Invite a friend and I’ll give them a free share of KmikeyM!
🏛 The Special Rules
As a reminder, we play with special rules meant to incentivize certain behavior. Some of these rules have significant consequences!
Mean Girls: Players on the official Zoom call during the game may collude against players who are not on the official Zoom call during the game, provided that the absence is not a temporary one due to technical issues.
The 2-7 Bonus: If you make it to a showdown with 2-7 you get a free share! But it only counts when there are five or more people at the table. (so if we are split up at the beginning, you might be out of luck until the tables merge). Be sure to announce this as it can happen quick and someone else needs to witness it. If you win in a show down with 2-7 you get five shares.
The Hope Coin Slayer: Whoever takes out the holder of the Hope Coin (Chris) gets 1 share.
The Final Countdown: If seven deuce is played as the final hand of the tournament the player will be given two shares, and if a player wins the tournament with seven deuce they will receive seven shares.
Cain + Abel: If Mike’s brother Gene is playing (username: webvee) there is a bonus of one share to whoever knocks him out.
Kevin Deuce: If you are the first person of the night to beat someone at showdown with unsuited K2 and yell “Kevin Deuce!” Beau will give you a share.
🤑 Payouts
If the prize pool is over $500 we pay out 3 spots and if the prize pool is under $500 we pay out 2 spots.
3 Spots:
🥇 50%
🥈 30%
🥉 20%
2 Spots:
🥇 70%
🥈 30%
🪓 Hope Coin Slayer Stats
The first person to get 3 kills of Hope Coin Holder will receive the Hope Coin.
Nick: 💀
Substack lets you add financial charts! Wow. This is Ceasers Entertainment Corp, the hotel and casino company. What’s interesting here is that weird dip in 2020, which is when Thomas Reeg of Eldorado Resorts did a reverse merger with Caesars and combined forces, becoming the new CEO of the much larger company. This was the biggest merger in gambling history at the time ($17.3bn).