What If You Could Read Minds at a Poker Table?

You can hear every thought at the biggest poker tournament in the world, and the $12.1 million first prize is on the table. Ten thousand dollars buys you in. Every opponent's inner voice tells you their cards. The only problem: somebody upstairs is counting every fold, and poker has caught mind readers before. 0:00 Las Vegas, day one 0:43 Level 1, the rule 1:40 Level 6, listening 2:38 Level 14, the people who count 3:50 Day 4, the bubble 4:53 Day 4, the fold 5:36 Day 5, the evidence 6:47 The final table 7:34 The payout 8:28 Is any of this real? 9:08 Call or fold? Ruth is all in with nine-four and you can hear her thoughts. Call or fold? Money notes The Main Event costs $10,000; its biggest first prize ever was $12.1M (2023). In 2007, players exposed an online "superuser" account that could see every hole card, using hand histories. Soft play, going easy on another player on purpose, is against tournament rules. Big poker wins are taxed as income, up to 37% federally; Nevada has no state income tax. Sources (the mind reading is fiction, these are not): Main Event buy-in and 60,000 starting chips, 2023: WSOP Event #76 structure sheet. https://wsop.gg-global-cdn.com/wsop/p... 10,043 entries and the $12.1M first prize, 2023; 1,507 paid, $15,000 min-cash: PokerNews, 9 Jul 2023. https://www.pokernews.com/news/2023/0... Bubble burst on Day 4 with 1,508 left, 2023: PokerNews. https://www.pokernews.com/news/2023/0... Online poker superuser scandal, 2007: PokerListings, 19 Oct 2007. https://www.pokerlistings.com/news/ga... Hand-history analysis of the 2007 account: Washington Post, "Inside Bet". https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv... Soft play penalties: Poker TDA Rules 71 and 74. https://www.pokertda.com/view-poker-t... Ivey v Genting Casinos, UK Supreme Court, 25 Oct 2017, [2017] UKSC 67. https://www.supremecourt.uk/cases/uks... Hole-card broadcast delay at the 2023 final table: DraftKings Network, 17 Jul 2023. https://dknetwork.draftkings.com/2023... Poker tournament winnings reported and taxed as income: IRS Instructions for Forms W-2G and 5754. https://www.irs.gov/instructions/iw2g Nevada has no state income tax: Nevada Department of Taxation. https://tax.nv.gov/about-nevada-depar... Casinos may exclude patrons: NRS 463.0129 (https://law.justia.com/codes/nevada/c...) and Slade v. Caesars Entertainment, 132 Nev. 374 (2016). https://law.justia.com/cases/nevada/s... Pocket aces 1 in 221: 6 combinations out of 1,326 starting hands. The tax figure in the story is an estimate, not advice. Not financial or legal advice. The story is fiction; the facts are sourced. #whatif #animation #money