//
//March 2, 2006
We are deep in our 4th season on the World Poker Tour (WPT). I figured I’d start sharing some of our experiences with all you Hollywood Poker enthusiasts. Last week we were in my hometown of Los Angeles for not one, but three events at the magnificent Commerce Casino. In one week we covered the L.A Poker Classic, which had a record 693 players and a $2.4 million first prize; the WPT Invitational, which consists of major Hollywood celebrities and stars of the poker world and last but not least, we had our ‘Bad Boys 2’ Invitational which consists of all the notorious bad but superstars of the poker world. The 6 invited players were the ‘Poker Brat’, Phil Hellmuth, ‘The Australian Airbag’ Tony G, Mike ‘The Mouth’ Matusow, Jean Robert Bellande and Gus Hansen. It was a trash-talk classic – hilarious and brilliant in play! Definitely one of our all-around best shows ever. I won’t tell you who won as a gambling, TV and sports enthusiast. There’s nothing worse than knowing the results of an event before you’re about to watch it. Also, talk about crazy side action! After the Invitational ended on that first night, a few of us were having a drink at the bar and commiserating over our bad beat stories. It was me, my hosting partner, Mike Sexton, ‘Kid Poker’ Daniel Negreanu , KC Thompson – owner of All-In Magazine – and his current girlfriend and poker great, John Juanda. Well, would you believe it? A bet went down. Yup. Juanda made a huge bet – an increment I can’t even talk about – with Daniel and KC that he could eat 5 packs of saltine crackers without liquid in less than two minutes. Guess who won? This one isn’t on TV, so I guess I’ll tell you. Within one minute, Juanda was still choking on only the second pack. When he shook his head in defeat, we all had a good laugh. Juanda paid his debt like a gambling gentlemen. It’s a different breed out here. Well, I'm off to San Jose for our Bay 101 event. Till next time, stay outta my pots! 
~ Vince Van Patten
|
