It seems that the COVID-19 pandemic has made a lot of professional poker players either A) very bored, or B) not very bright regarding the seriousness of the situation. The online “ghosting” sessions of Dan ‘Jungleman’ Cates and other high stakes pros has once again put a black eye on the game. But it is another situation with Chris ‘Big Huni’ Hunichen that has perhaps shown how poker players aren’t exactly in touch with how serious some situations are.
Hunichen Picks Up $10K for 100K Deaths
Chris Moneymaker; If you ever find yourself thinking in the line of poker and money, Chris Moneymaker is your guy to watch. In 2003, Moneymaker surprised the entire world by winning $2.5 million. Lucky You (2007) cast and crew credits, including actors, actresses, directors, writers and more. In poker circles and among the fans, he is known as ‘Kid Poker.’ Negreanu got involved with the game very early and was often the youngest player at the table. In 1998, the Canadian made his debut at the World Series of Poker and managed to win a $2,000 Pot Limit Omaha event. Stack Overflow for Teams is a private, secure spot for you and your coworkers to find and share information.
In a rather macabre proposition – or “prop” – bet, Hunichen issued a challenge over Twitter in April that deaths in the States of America from the coronavirus would surpass the 100,000 mark before September 1. Although some would think that this is a rather ugly thing to bet on, Hunichen was able to get enough action to have $10,000 on the line, with Hunichen taking the over on all the bets. In fact, according to Yahoo! Sports, Hunichen offered two options for betting – straight money line bets or “winner donates proceeds to the homeless” for a second line. According to Hunichen, he did not get much action on the latter option.
The COVID-19 virus and resulting pandemic has ravaged the States of America. Since numbers have started being kept on the outbreak at the end of February, the number of deaths has risen exponentially. The first death attributed to COVID-19 was on February 26; two weeks later, that number had risen to 43. By the end of March, over 3000 people had passed from COVID-19, and the news was only going to get worse.
On April 27, more than 50,000 people had succumbed to COVID-19 and, nearly a month later, the U. S. has passed another grim milestone. It became official on May 28 that over 100,000 people have died as a result of COVID-19 virus infection, a grim milestone that is not receding at this point in time.
The Rich and powerful get to choose their own prison cells. We are certainly living in an intolerable world. That world always caters to the rich and powerful, the very people who continue to play dice with other people’s lives.
Hunichen, for his part, is defending his betting as trying to raise awareness about the seriousness of the virus and taking precautions, such as wearing masks and social distancing, because of it. In an interview with the Los Angeles Times Hunichen, who is afflicted with asthma, says he wanted to educate his fellow poker players and gamblers as to the seriousness of the situation. “Every day I would see…some 30- or 35-year old dies from this stuff,” Hunichen said to the Times. “Honestly, I’m terrified. If I get it, I feel like that’s going to be me.” Hunichen also pointed out, however, that he wasn’t the only one making prop bets on this current situation.
Silly, Dangerous Prop Bets Have Long History
It is not like Hunichen is the first to make an inappropriate prop bet. In late 2018, poker players Rich Alati and Rory Young wagered that Alati could spend one month in a completely darkened bathroom by himself. The $100,000 wager was an incredibly dangerous one as plenty of scientific studies have shown tremendous psychological damage to extended periods of isolation. After a couple of weeks, Young bought out of the bet and Alati came out of the dark.
Chris Rich Perkins Coie
In 2016, poker professional Antonio Esfandiari (never one to shy away from a wager) was bet by businessman Bill Perkins that he could not lunge – allow his knee to touch the floor on each step while walking – for 48 hours. The problem with this was that it was during the 2016 PokerStars Caribbean Adventure, an event that Esfandiari was competing in.
Chris Rich Park Rapids Mn
The hours of lunges ravaged Esfandiari, to the point he could not get up from the poker table he was competing at to visit the bathroom. Esfandiari would urinate at the table during a break, which ran afoul of the folks at the Atlantis Hotel and Casino in the Bahamas. Despite being fairly well stacked at the time, the Atlantis tournament officials disqualified Esfandiari from the tournament for his actions. Although Esfandiari would eventually win the bet for $50,000, he ended up donating the money to charity.
It isn’t like the bettors in these stories need the money. Hunichen also doesn’t need it, earning upwards of $20 million in his online and live poker career. It is more about the action for this particular breed of people, so much so that their better senses take over and make them wager on things that aren’t particularly…we will let you fill in the blank.
April 29, 2014 12:24 pmChris Rich Poker Tournaments
After years of being the world’s biggest online poker winner, Phil Ivey has finally fallen off the top spot after a disastrous return to Full Tilt Poker in which the legend has been unable to gain any traction on the site.
Casing point, playing under his own screen name Ivey’s profits hit $19,242,744 between 2007 and 2011, but since Full Tilt relaunched Ivey has shed $4,588,929 of his bankroll to show a reduced profit of $14,653,815 million overall.
On the other hand, Finland’s Patrik Antonius had made $11,315,549 on the site prior to Black-Friday, and since returning to Full Tilt under his new pseudonym “FinddaGrind” has continued much in the same vein and has added a further $5,084,330 to his winnings. Antonius’s new overall tally of $16,399,879 means the 33 year-old has overtaken Ivey by $1,746,064.
At the nose bleed stakes Ivey could conceivably bridge the gap over a few successful sessions. However, the signs do not seem at all good for now as whereas Patrik Antonius seems to be on the ascendancy with $977,726 in profits for 2014, making him the third biggest winner of the year, Ivey by contrast is $4.7 million down this year making him the third biggest loser in 2014.
Back in 2010 when his online results were continuing to shine, Phil Ivey gave a rather revealing interview with pokerlistings in which he shed a light into what it takes to be a top player. As the 38 year-old explained at the time:
“In poker if you’re going to get good you have got to learn to lose. ‘Cause poker is just like any other game or sport. But you are going to have to learn how to deal with losing in order to become a better winner. That’s why I think poker is such a wonderful game. There are guys that play certain sports that (sic) hardly ever lose, but in poker, you are just going to have to lose.”
Ivey will now be hoping to use that self same positive approach to overcome his biggest ever downswing playing online. Meanwhile, with two multimillion dollar court cases hanging over his head related to casino card-edging allegations, Ivey at least learned some good news recently. After his ex-wife Luciaetta married a gentleman called Chris Rich, Ivey will will no longer be required to make the $180,000 per month divorce alimony payments he has shelling out over the past few years. Every little bit counts.