News from the Poker World

Apparently people other than us play poker. Who'd have thunk it?

Chimp Might Not Be Chump in Poker

In a “rumor mill” exercise that sounds remarkably like a viral marketing project, the poker site PokerShare.com is being touted as the first company to enter a chimpanzee in the the august tournaments of the World Series of Poker.

Unlikely as it may seem that WSOP would consider such a distraction (unless it's in on the stunt) the word is that PokerShare intends to enter a chimp called Mikey into the main event at WSOP. Adding to the hype, the animal has apparently been given an intensive course in poker playing over the past few months.

Alex Van Klaveren of GameShare, the Gibraltar-based parent group for PokerShare, responded thus to an InfoPowa enquiry about the rumor:

“Thanks for your e-mail. Your sources are accurate. We have been training Mikey for the past four months, and he is now ready to play the WSOP main event. We will be issuing a press release by the end of the week.”

Van Klaveren did not comment on whether this ploy had the cooperation of the WSOP tournament director, saying in response to a direct question on this: “I agree, it should be interesting to see what people make of it. Mikey has a blog which is starting soon where you will be able to follow his progress.”
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I wager 400 quatloos on the newcomer. 300 quatloos says he will hurl feces on the table.