Poker meets martial arts

Mixed martial arts has taken the place of boxing in the poker world, however, we are used to seeing fighters playing poker, now we want to see poker players fighting.

Over the past few years the popularity of mixed martial arts style fighting in the poker world has grown hugely. It has steadily taken the place of boxing and seems a perfect substitute as it contains a mixture of adrenalin and sports betting. This has caused some speculation as to what may happen if poker was combined with MMA, instead of putting fighters at a poker table, why not put the poker players to fight.

How about Amarillo Slim vs. Doyle Brunson in motorised scooters. It seems that Slim would have the advantage here as Brunson has a handicapped leg since he injured in a Sheetrock accident when he played for the Minneapolis Lakers back in the 1950s. Also, Slim has already beaten Brunson in a scooter race during the 2009 WSOP. However, the winner is likely to be the first to knock his opponent from the scooter.

Alternatively, a match between Liv Boeree and Annie Duke could raise the profile of women in poker even more. Last year Duke won the NBC National Heads-Up Championship taking home $500,000 and Boeree won the EPT San Remo Main Event for $1,698,300. Both raised the “Year of the Woman” banner but only one of them could take the title of best woman fighter in poker.

In 2006 Jeffrey Lisandro threatened Prahlad Friedman with the words “I’ll take ya head off buddy!”. That should have developed in to a fight then and there in the Amazon Room. However, it didn’t amount to a fight and video evidence was used to show that Lisandro did not in fact steal Duston Holmes’ ante. Lisandro is the bigger man but Friedman should not be underestimated when betting on this match.

Currently two of the most respected young poker players in the world are Jason Mercier and Eric Baldwin. So far Mercier has earned over $5 million in tournaments and Baldwin over $3.3 million and both players have won events at the WSOP. However, Baldwin is also an NCAA Champion which would probably make him the favourite to win a match.

A real highlight though would be a fight for the 2008 WSOP Main Event Bracelet. Instead of the auction, Peter Eastgate should have let second and third place finishers, Ivan Demidov and Dennis Phillips battle it out in the ring for the bracelet. However, given their age gap this may not be fair as Demidov would have a clear advantage.