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POKER PUNCH BOWL: Negreanu’s Rap, Spraggy’s Downswing, Platinum Pass, & Bad Beat Jackpot

Poker Punch Bowl offers a look at the interesting, weird, fortuitous, and strange from the world of poker.

Welcome to the Poker Punch Bowl, offering a look at the interesting, weird, fortuitous, and strange from the world of poker. This inaugural column offers a look at some poker rap lyrics via artificial intelligence and Daniel Negreanu.

With the PokerStars Players Championship, another well-known online poker player also scored a Platinum Pass over the weekend. A Stars poker streamer also gave some insight on how tournament life can go bad.

All that as well as a huge bad beat jackpot that had several players thankful they chose to jump in the online poker action. Here’s some interesting news in the Poker Punch Bowl.

Daniel Negreanu impressed with AI poker rap

The new ChatGPT tool has been in the news quite a bit recently. Users are astounded by the capabilities of the app and how thorough the results can be. The artificial intelligence (AI) can produce written works, solve problems, hold a conversation, and more.

“We’ve trained a model called ChatGPT which interacts in a conversational way,” research and deployment company OpenAI notes about the app. “The dialogue format makes it possible for ChatGPT to answer followup questions, admit its mistakes, challenge incorrect premises, and reject inappropriate requests.”

Many have hailed the technology as revolutionary. Investors are eager to get on board and there are even rumors of a possible $10 billion investment from Microsoft.

Apparently there’s also some interest from poker players as well. Maybe some players are interested in how the technology could be used in a man-versus-technology matchup? Or what about as a training tool or to offer some hand analysis?

Those may be interesting considerations, but Daniel Negreanu recently had a more pressing concern. Could the chat app create some unique poker rhymes? The six-time World Series of Poker bracelet winner was impressed with the results.

 

Facing the reality of a downswing

Ben “Spraggy”Spragg has almost $200,000 in live tournament winnings and much more online. The PokerStars ambassador  is known for his streaming and as well as being quite a soccer/football fan.

And despite a long career at the poker tables, Spragg recently took a look at that dreaded poker reality – the downswing. The new year apparently brought a tough run of cards for the Twitch streamer and YouTuber.

Dealing with a downswing is something most players can commiserate with. Even the best players experience some time in the red, no matter how well they might be playing.

“In the modern game, everyone knows the percentages and the correct plays,” 1999 WSOP Main Event champion once Dan Harrington noted. “What marks out the top players is how they handle themselves when they are losing.”

Spragg eventually bounced back, notching a 17th-place finish in the Irish Poker Open for $4,213. He also scored a nice online finish as well.

Vanessa Kade scores Platinum Pass

The PokerStars Players Championship (PSPC) is right around the corner. The $25,000 event runs from Jan. 30 – Feb. 3 and the site continued dishing out Platinum Passes in January.

Canadian poker pro Vanessa Kade was one of the latest, receiving a pass out of the blue over the weekend. She was thrilled with her good fortune.

“I was just settling in to play my Sunday game and logged into Stars, and this is the first thing I see,” she said in a video posted on her Twitter account. “Thanks so much PokerStars.

“You guys have already given me three incredible life-changing experiences with the opportunity to win the Sunday Million, a trip to Barcelona, and an amazing trip to Brazil to see F1 (Formula One) and meet so many incredible people. I will happily join you in the Bahamas for yet another adventure, thank you so much.”

Kade has more than $1.1 million in live tournament winnings and plenty of major scores online. As she noted, the biggest of those may be winning the 15th anniversary of the Sunday Million in 2021 for $1.5 million.

“This is the best month of my life and it’s not even close,” she said after the win. “This is the best day of my life.”

No doubt Kade is now hoping for an even bigger run in the Bahamas.

GGPoker has players heading to Brazil

Brazil has become a key online poker market in recent years. Poker sites continue reaching out to players in the land of samba and sun, and GGPoker recently made an additional foray into the country.

The company has added its name to Brazil’s largest live poker series, rebranded the Kings Series of Poker by GGPoker. GG hasn’t embraced live poker as much as competitors so far, but continues partnering with other tournament series.

The first stop on the Kings tour is set for Feb. 8-14 in Rio de Janeiro. GG is already offering online qualifiers for a chance at a nice South American getaway.

An awesome Omaha bad beat jackpot

Speaking of GGPoker, the site partnered with the World Series of Poker in 2022 for an exclusive site for players in Ontario, Canada. WSOP.ca features championship ring and bracelet events throughout the year as well as plenty of other action.

The site was also recently home to a massive bad beat jackpot payout in an Omaha cash game. The hand saw a player named “Bafaym” flop a royal flush.

Another player named “timmy turnem” held pocket Queens and hit a set on the flop. The fourth Queen in the deck hit on the river and triggered the $130,673 payout.

The winner of the hand scored $27,515 with the “loser” collecting an extra $84,853. The three other players at the table collected $6,788. No doubt these cash game players were definitely saying “good game” at GG on this occasion.