The second and final U.S. presidential debate between President Donald J. Trump and Democratic candidate Joe Biden took place Thursday night. As is the case any time a major political event takes place, poker Twitter was quite lively during the debates.
Brian Rast, who openly despises the two-party system in the U.S., was active on Twitter. He praised Biden, whom he has many disagreements with, on at least one issue.
"Stoked Joe took a firm stance moving from oil to clean energy at the end of this debate. The contrast of Trump trying to politicize that to show he’s on the opposite side here (hear that TX, PA?) is one of the starkest differences on policy that actually came out of the debate," Rast wrote.
Rast also posted a couple of polls to find out where his followers stood on the debate performance from both candidates. He asked his followers which candidate they felt won the debate. Through over 730 votes, 43% said Trump won, 29.7% claim Biden won, and 27.2% felt neither candidate had an edge.
Mike Matusow posted a similar poll and received over 2,900 votes. Trump won among his followers by a landslide with 65.5% of the vote (21.8% for Biden). It should be noted that Matusow is a hardcore Trump supporter as are many of his followers.
Matt Glantz is always there with a hot take
You had to figure Matt Glantz was active during the debate on poker Twitter. He's always one of the most vocal political pundits in the poker community. The east coast poker pro supports Biden's candidacy, but was objective in analyzing the debate. He felt Biden got off to a strong start but faded as the debate wore on.
"Trump won this debate with a big Biden fade in the end. Wont change any votes or motivate anyone new to vote, but still a small moral victory for Trump," Glantz wrote.
Poker author Zachary Elwood, who wrote the book "Reading Poker Tells," strongly disagreed with Glantz' take. He responded: "What world do you live in, Matt? Did Trump win because he was less of a wreck than usual? Because they prevented him from maniacally interrupting Biden? Not sure what reality-adjusted ruler you’re using."
Glantz has numerous bets on Biden winning. So, it came as a breath of fresh air to some poker Twitter users that even though he has a ton riding on this election financially, he's still able to be somewhat objective.
David "ODB" Baker, not to be confused with David "Bakes" Baker, was critical of Biden's performance late in the debate, much like Glantz.
Phil Hellmuth, who typically stays non-political publicly, took a different approach to the debate than most. He was focused on the betting odds, which shifted in Biden's favor following the conclusion of the debate.
The 2020 U.S. presidential election takes place Nov. 3. More than 50 million Americans have already voted, which means Thursday's debate will only have a small impact on the outcome of the election. According to the polls, Biden holds a significant advantage over the incumbent president. But we all know what the polls said in 2016 — that Hillary Clinton had a huge lead — and Trump ended up winning.
Featured image source: Flickr
