Las Vegas, NV – Big news from the World Series of Poker on Sunday night: statistician and writer Nate Silver, best known as editor-in-chief of political analysis website FiveThirtyEight, finished 2nd to poker pro John Monnette in Event #16 – the $10,000 buy-in Limit Hold’em Championship.
Silver pocketed $151K for his 2nd-place performance, and Monnette took home $245K and his 4th gold bracelet.
At one point during heads-up play, Silver held a 2-to-1 chip lead over Monnette – roughly a 66% chance to win – but Monnette battled back for the victory.
FiveThirtyEight followers react
After the event, followers of Silver’s popular website immediately began questioning Nate’s abilities and the validity of the outcome.
“Listen, all I’m saying is that the math doesn’t add up,” claimed one man at the Rio, oddly angrily. “You don’t need to have a goddamn degree in statistics to know that 66% is bigger than 34%. It doesn’t make any sense that he lost, and I frankly think it really reflects poorly on his math skills.”
A different man, also very angry, added “It makes me question if the whole thing was even real to begin with! How do we know the cards weren’t rigged? Were the chips even counted properly? I WANT A RECOUNT!”
A third angry man overheard the second man and began a chant of “RECOUNT! RECOUNT! RECOUNT!” before we informed him we were talking about a poker tournament and he settled down and left.
The original angry man continued, “Poker is all about playing the percentages, and the percentages don’t lie. You saw it. I saw it. Nate Silver had a 66% chance to win and John Monnette had a 34% chance to win.
Therefore, because 66% is bigger than 34%, Nate was guaranteed to win the bracelet. I’m not saying whether any cheating went on or not, but I am saying something’s up and needs to be investigated. Because I know for damn sure, like I said – 66 is a bigger number than 34. You gonna dispute that?”
ALSO READ: Casino Employees Event Now Open To Anyone, But Be Prepared To Deal
BONUS CODE:
BET247
Min deposit £5
Bet £10 and get £30 in free bets
Registration required. Sign up, deposit between £5 and £10 to your account and bet365 will give you five times that value in Free Bets when you place qualifying bets to the same value and they are settled. Free Bets are paid as Bet Credits. Min odds/bet and payment method exclusions apply. Returns exclude Bet Credits stake. T&Cs, time limits & exclusions apply.The bonus code BET247 can be used during registration, but does not change the offer amount in any way.
888 CASINO
£88 Free
£1,500 Welcome Bonus Package
£88 Free just for signing up
NO Deposit Required
New Customers Only
