A blast from the past returns with vengeance. Isabelle “No Mercy” Mercier shipped the €340 buy-in Open Face Chinese Progressive Pineapple Event at the King's Casino in Prague. The opening event kicked off the 2015 OFC Poker World Championships hosted by Tonybet Poker.
It's gotta be the t-shirt.
Rocking a vintage Grateful Dead t-shirt and channeling the spirit of Jerry Garcia, Isabelle “No Mercy” Mercier won the first event at the Open Face Chinese Poker Championships in the King's Casino at the Hotel Corinth in Prague. Mercier faded a field of 108 players and won €10,189 for first place.
Earlier this year, Mercier announced that she was the newest poker brand ambassador for Tonybet, which was the sole online poker site to offer up Open Face Chinese Poker (OFC).
Mercier caught my attention when she referenced the godfather of EDM in her initial press announcement: "Just as Giorgio Moroder knew that the synthesizer would be the sound of the future, I am more than convinced that OFC 'is' the game of the future."
Variations of OFC have been taking the poker world by storm over the last few years. Initially, OFC was a game played on the road in hotel rooms, lobbies, cafes, bars, and airports while poker players traveled from one tournament to the next. But now, everyone's favorite downtime degen game has become a part of the mainstream online poker ether.
Meanwhile… the OFC Championships continued in Prague. In the wee hours of the morning, Maxim Panyak from Russia emerged as the High Roller champion after taking down the €10,000 OFC High Roller event. First place paid out a record-setting €110,000. Evgeny Kocherov, also from Russia, finished in second place.
Jen Shahade, the two-time American women's chess champion and author of "Chess Bitch," was the defending High Roller champion. Shahade had earned €100,000 for winning the 2014 OFC High Roller.
The OFC Championship Main Event is currently underway. At press time, there are 72 players but registration is still open. Follow Tonybet blog for updates and any livestreams.
Jerry Garcia, the lead guitarist of the Grateful Dead, had penned many of the songs for his band with his friend and collaborator Robert Hunter. Many of the earliest Dead songs told tales of the fringes of American society, including hustlers, outlaws, and gamblers. Both Hunter and Garcia were poker enthusiasts and several Dead songs contain card-playing lyrics.
Here is the Grateful Dead performing Deal from a concert on 26 April 1977...