Poker’s Only Twitter Jam – Hellmuth, Jaka and Matt Salsberg

Oh social media. You’ve ushered in a new era of communication and personal promotion – and you’ve also let us embarrass ourselves in a whole new way to a whole new group of strangers.   This week we take a look at both Twitter and Facebook to catch some great insights, shared memories, rants and tirades from some of poker’s best…and loudest.

We’ll open this week with a classic Phil Hellmuth pout.  The Brat should be happy, having just pulled down his 100^th WSOP cash while in France in the 2000 Euro NLH event, but all he could do was ruminate on getting bluffed.  Phil – recalling a hand where he folded top pair on a 3-to-a-straigh, 4-to-a-flush, paired board, but could have…well, I’ll let him tell you:

As @efropoker pointed out – that would have been a fouled deck and he should have at least gotten a chopped pot out of it, but let’s chalk it up to a typo.  Maybe, despite his deep run, he was just put on tilt the day before in a way only @FarazJaka can do it.

At least The Brat has his ego (and a screensaver) to console him. #WhiteMagic #SelfiePorn

As you know, I also cover high stakes poker action here on iGaming.org, so I’m always on the look out for great action being announced.  Was a bit surprised to see this announcement…and I wasn’t the only one.

In a similar vein – David Bach pulled off a personal first that wasn’t worth crowing about dollar-wise, but I’m sure we’d all like to double-bink high buy in tournaments:

Sometimes shady people get their comeuppance – #karmavariance 

Prop bets anyone? @danblizerian tipped everyone off that Bill Perkins (@bp2269) and @jgross5 had a doozy. #WhatsYourNumber #Phobias #lolBillionaires #MeNext

Photos don’t always do things justice, so check out this interview live at EPT London:

And on a serious note – and I know this just applies to US players – but finally passing the Affordable Care Act is huge for “independent investors,” as professional gamblers in the US are classified.  Most are young, most are uninsured, but what happens when they grow up?  WSOP Media Director Nolan Dalla takes a close look at the situation and what it means to US grinders. #PositiveEVInfo 

For those of you out there that feel I have a view that is far too “American-Centric” allow me to offer you a viewpoint on European culture from WPT Player of the Year and award winning screenwriter, Matt Salsberg as he competes in the WSOP-E.  A trip report via his Facebook feed:

“Awake at 630 am in Paris. The French are assholes.

Got to my hotel outside of Paris. I’m in room 246. Which wouldn’t be noteworthy except it’s on the 4th floor. No joke. Took an elevator up to second floor, walked down long hallway past the 230’s. Arrive at another elevator that indicates 246 is 2 more floors up. The French are assholes.

Thanks to the jetlag/time difference, I’m now getting my morning wood at 4 pm. #UnexpectedDiscoveriesInEurope

Exciting day in the South of France. Just got back from the cash game in Monaco. The Sultan of Brunei was caught cheating using marked cards and infrared glasses and thrown out and then James Bond went broke bricking a 21 outer all in on the flop with two overs and an open ended straight flush draw against a one-armed man’s underpair.

Besides the sublime genital rinse function, a bidet also makes for a very good laptop stand when surfing the net on the toilet.#UnexpectedDiscoveriesInEurope

Bagged 42k on day 1 of WSOPE. Table was absurdly tough so feels good to have above starting stack. Oh, and I have le flu. Probably caught it from one of these French assholes.

Busted the WSOP Europe cuz I played like merde. #FrenchAreAssholes“