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A Hot Time for a Worthy Cause
Under an expansive white tent in the back yard of a spectacular private mansion on the water in Miami Beach, a rapper recently won a pot. “Young free, cruising down the Westside Highway … Just me and my girlfriend,” I sang over the PA system. There were a few chuckles from those who recognized this lyric from a rap song by Jay-Z. You see, I was good-naturedly needling the Jay-Z himself, who won the pot, and his girlfriend, Beyonce, who was sitting behind him.
I was in Miami as emcee for the “Alex Rodriguez Hosts the Dewar’s 12 Texas Hold ’em Poker Tournament” for A-Rod and his charity of choice, The Boys and Girls Clubs of Miami. And what a lineup for me to tease and lay props on! Among the celebrities were New England quarterback Tom Brady, Jay-Z and Beyonce, Evander “The Real Deal” Holyfield, slugger Sammy Sosa, NFL defensive MVP Ed Reed, NY Giant Jeremy Shockey, NCAA football and NFL champion Bernie Kosar and NCAA basketball and NBA champion Glen Rice, so smooth dropping shots from way downtown.
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A Busy Day for Annie Duke
Recently, UltimateBet.com held a $1 million guaranteed no-limit Hold ’em tournament. Surprisingly — for a guarantee of that size — the buy-in was only $500. Incredibly, there were 2,774 players, and the prize pool was a whopping $1.387 million. First place was $260,000, pretty amazing for a $500 buy-in poker tournament. Only on the Internet!
Joe Reitman, who didn’t even know he was playing that day, was handed a laptop in bed by his girlfriend, Annie Duke. He responded by saying “Annie, leave me alone, I’m trying to sleep.” Duke replied, “Phil Hellmuth is playing, and I can’t because I’m doing the final-table commentary, time-delayed. So I want at least a chance to win some of that “gi-normous” prize pool. Honey, you’re playing!”
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Norrie and His Chums Jet West
Welcome to our New Year’s no-limit Hold ’em poker tournament on my friends Carl and Jimmy Lou Westcott’s Challenger 604 jet. The buy-in is as high as the 45,000-foot altitude we hit as we head from Vail to Los Angeles for the Rose Bowl. (Nah, it was $20.) Although the buy-in is modest, the company is another matter. Jimmy Lou, Chart and Court Westcott, Pam and David Norrie, and I begin our no-limit Hold ’em tournament with $500 apiece in chips.
Former UCLA quarterback and current ESPN college football announcer David Norrie takes an early chip lead in the six-player affair. David knows a little something about Texas Hold ’em, having played a lot of poker at the Commerce Casino in Los Angeles in the 1990s. Of course, David knows a little something about Rose Bowls as well, because he played under center in the 1983, 1984 and 1986 Rose Bowls.
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A Not So Ho-Ho-Hum Holiday Game
Along with my family’s tradition of spending Christmas in Wisconsin comes the annual pot-limit Hold ’em game that my friends set up for my return each year, at my buddy Jon Green’s house. The game wasn’t a pushover, what with players like Wayne Tyler, Mark Kroon (the famous “PokerHo” on UltimateBet.com), Paul Clements, Larry “Concrete” Beilfus, Tim Belstner, Gary Ebert, Denny Ruef, and a few others at the table.
The year before, I managed to lose a record-setting $12,000 in the traditional game. So after last year’s performance, poker players from all over the state of Wisconsin were trying to get a seat at that table.
With the blinds at $5-$5, and the buy-in and re-buys set at $500, the game didn’t figure to be big enough for me to win back that $12,000. Two factors, though, made sure that it was. First, half of the time someone had the $10 “live blind” on. (A $10 “live blind” means that player A, to the left of the big blind, voluntarily adds an additional blind of $10, so that there were, in effect, three blinds instead of two, making it $10 to call, and then player A had the chance to raise it up as well.)
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‘Coach’ and the Poker Cheerleaders
While at the Borgata Hotel in Atlantic City recently, my opponent moved all-in for $5,500 on a board of K-Q-8-2-2. I had Q-Q, and $40,000 in chips in front of me, which made for an easy call — but still, I looked into my opponents menacing clear blue eyes and asked, “Bluffing, Coach?” Now “Coach” peered down at his hole cards, exposing them to the four beautiful cheerleaders in full uniform standing behind him.
Suddenly, the cheerleaders stepped into formation, and began the following cheer, “Pocket kings, pocket kings, go kings!” On cue, I looked toward the dealer, and said, “I fold,” while throwing my queens face up on the table. Then I quickly turned back to the cheerleaders and said, “Thanks, ladies.”
“Coach,” NFL Legend Mike Ditka, then said — perfectly on cue, and dripping with anger — “Don’t you girls have a game to go to?” I laughed as I watched Ditka fold his pocket kings face up on the table. “That’s a wrap, put it in the can,” said the director. Ditka, Ron “Jaws” Jaworski, a bunch of AFL (Arena Football League) mascots, and I, all relaxed and waited for the crew to set-up the second commercial shoot.
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‘High’ Stakes Poker
On the way home from Monte Carlo I decided to give up my airline ticket and pay for a one-way seat on Larry Flynt’s private jet. With one quick stop scheduled in Bangor, Maine, for fuel and pizza, it was to be pretty much a 12-hour straight shot to Vegas. Phil Ivey, Gus Hansen, Mike “the Mouth” Matusow and I were scheduled to play $400-$800 limit poker all the way home! So what’s not to like? We were flying high on Larry’s Gulfstream IV, playing high-stakes poker (so the time would pass more quickly), and perhaps I could win $50,000 on the flight home.
We hired a dealer to deal to us all the way home, and even before we were off the ground, the cards were in the air. Because Ivey had won both tournaments in Monte Carlo over the previous two nights (for $1.6 million), and because he wasn’t used to playing poker at such modest stakes (he’s used to limits of at least $2,000-$4,000), I thought he might be off his game a bit. He wasn’t. Gus wasn’t used to playing this limit either, so he figured to be playing way too loose, which he did do, but he barbecued Matusow and me anyway.
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