Three-Way Tie = Poker Studs

It’s no surprise Wicked Chops Poker made Bluff Magazine’s ”Poker’s Power 20” this month. Apparently, followers of the popular poker site believe… a day of poker news without WCP is like a day without sunshine.  After all, what would loyal readers do without the Friday Night Parting Shot, blurry poker pro photos overpowered by sharp background breasts, clever phrases like “A Woman”,  Ginger sightings or simply policing them as ”sexy pigs” or better, sexy pigs who post pictures of sexy girls .  

It’s hard to decide what to call them… WCP, The Guys at Wicked Chops and the latest fave ”The Entities.”  Not that it really matters, as their readership has skyrocketed in the past four years landing them the WSOP Commissioner, Jeffrey Pollack, as a huge fan.

Metaphorically speaking, they possess an additional quality that puts the man in manly and that’s… balls.  Sure, plenty of people have courage to step up and express their thoughts but few can speak brutal honesty combined with style and wit. 

Even better is their ability to laugh when people like Dr. Pauly said… ”The poker world desperately needed an influx of homosexual hipsters like the gang at WCP.  Without them, the poker world would be a bunch of overweight schleps.” And while I’m sure they chuckle at the above statement, it’s quite possible Erica Schoenberg made them speechless (for about two seconds) with her description “You know you’ve arrived when Wicked Chops talks about you.” 

 

Michele Lewis:  What inspired WCP?

THE ENTITIES:  Nothing, really. At the time we didn’t see anyone covering poker the way we wanted to read about it, so we just decided to do it ourselves.
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No Bluffing in Bluff with Maria Ho

Don’t forget to grab a copy of this month’s Bluff Magazine to read my new Girl on Girl interview with Maria Ho. 

Ho’s great sense of humor guarantees an easy interview, read last summer’s interview here.  Blah, blah, blah… the point is… she’s an easy girl to talk to on the phone, in person, refereeing a mud wrestling contest or where ever.  

She’s not an easy sleazy Ho… she’s simply a sincerely-sweet-easy-she.  That was not intended to make sense* but I was enjoying so many s-words.

*I hit publish too soon.

Photo by Jan Schwarz

Girl on Girl Goes Bluff

 If you enjoyed reading the Girl on Girl interviews this summer on WCP then you’re in luck.  My interviews with some of the hottest women in poker are now in Bluff Magazine starting with this month’s issue. 

The first interview is with super duper poker hottie Erica Schoenberg.  Not only is Schoenberg hot but she also happens to be a WCP favorite and why not give the guys a fave when they’re the ones who started me interviewing the hot women in poker in the first place?

Photo Courtesy of Erica Schoenberg Poker.

Eric Morris: Stud of Poker

Eric Morris, publisher of Bluff Magazine, has been asking to be a Stud of Poker since the column started. In fact, Matt Parvis, Editor-in-Chief, suggested they mud wrestle for stud title. Uh yeah, and Phil Ivey will wear a dress and play a WSOP Ladies Event. Anyway, I finally agreed after we negotiated my family’s use of the Bluff Magazine private jet and nine-bedroom villa in the South of France. Poor guy, looks like I made out like a bandit on the negotiations since he was already on my list to interview.

Nonetheless, considering the evolution of Bluff Media in the past three years he obviously has skills. What started in 2006 with a SIRIUS Satellite Radio broadcast enabled Bluff to score the official digital media partner title with the World Series of Poker. Skills or not, Morris modestly explains the developments are not just a result of the experience of the past few years but also Bluff Media’s production and broadcasting talent has continued to grow and improve as well.

After Morris took a trip to the trailer washroom, we sat down in the poker kitchen to discuss his fight with a clown, prison poker, selling Bluff Magazine and Doyle’s Room offering him $8,500,000 to play in the 2008 WSOP Main Event in their name.

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Joe Sebok … Stud!

Last week at the WSOP, Joe Sebok and I agreed to meet for an interview next to the WSOP ESPN stage. After retrieving my recorder, it took 20 minutes to walk back to the other side of the room. It was my fault it took so long, I wanted to take pictures of Amanda Leatherman raking in a big pile of chips playing in the Ladies Event. But then someone said “hello”, we began to chat, I saw someone else, we began to chat… then my purse began to buzz and I continued East.  It also took 20 minutes because that’s how long it takes to walk anywhere inside the Rio.

Then it took a few minutes to start the interview because Sebok’s fans, including MySpace friends, started showing up for autographs. Actually, the MySpace friends was a joke.  But several friends stopping by to see Joe is not a joke because he’s Mr. Friendly.  He also had to make sure John Stapleton cleaned his buffalo wings off the tournament poker table.

The is media life in the Amazon Ballroom.  It consists of delayed agendas, welcomed chats, photo opportunities, non-stop joking around and buffalo wings on the table. It’s really one big summer camp party… except for moments of elimination. Six weeks of 55 events…the Amazon Room can get old.  Yet, Sebok lives this experience all year, developing relationships with people who love, respect and believe in him.

Holding a psychology degree from Berkeley and known as “Barry’s kid” he is often feared at the table. However, Chops, of Wicked Chops Poker, will tell you “He is one the nicest, smartest guys I know in the poker industry.” So, to make sure Chops wasn’t lying… I asked Sebok to share with me about his poker success, furrys, media adventures, infamous and famous prop bets and what advice he received from Barry Greenstein

Hump to the jump for the interview…

 

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Jeffrey Pollack Announced As Stuff Commissioner

The head honcho of the World Series of Poker, Commissioner Jeffrey Pollack, will be the first to admit he’s not there to change the game of poker but there to improve the business side of what he claims to be the best poker brand.  He humbly acknowledges the WSOP was a great poker tournament before his arrival but believes growth was needed in new directions by modernization.  I had a chance to catch up with this “Stud of Poker” earlier this week to find out what’s new for the 2008 WSOP.  And of course, I had to ask him again about the strippers and Chippendale dancers attendance at the Gaming Life Expo.

Michele Lewis: How’s it going, what’s new with you?

Jeffrey Pollack: I just got back from the Super Bowl this morning.  I destroyed myself this weekend, it was great.  It was probably the first weekend since the start of last year’s WSOP that I felt I could blow off some steam.

ML: I’m sure and I’m sure the Super Bowl was fun.

JP: Yeah, I went to the ESPN party on Friday night, Saturday night was a big dinner and the Sports Illustrated party was at the NFL Tailgate yesterday.  I was at the Stadium for about ten hours yesterday, it was unbelievable.  And my Giants won, so I’m happy.

ML: It was a great game. So, what’s the latest with the WSOP?

JP: Things are great; we’re starting to gear up for the World Series.  We’re 115 days away, I may be off by a day or two but it’s sooner than you think.  We’re excited; the schedule has been out for over a month, we feel really good about it.  We have more events for the high-end and the amateur than ever before.  There are eight $1500 No-Limit Hold’em tournaments which really draw the largest fields next to the main event.  My pledge has always been to cater to everyone.  This really is the annual Hold’em convention in the poker community and we want the pros to feel as though it’s interesting to them and the non-pros to feel that it’s open and accessible to them as well.  They all come together in the events but we felt by creating these two tracks will help people feel as though there is more fun to be had.  And as you know…we’re all about fun.

ML: Are you combining the celebrity event with media or the Ante Up for Africa Charity Event?

JP: Ante Up for Africa is back.  It was a smash hit.  Annie Duke and Don Cheadle wanted to come back; we wanted them to come back, so that will be our celebrity tournament.

ML: What other charities is the WSOP involved with this year?

JP: Ante Up, Queen of Hearts and the Nevada Cancer Institute.  We will have the VIP players lounge again this year and that will benefit the NCI.

ML: Anything new this year with the Queen of Hearts Charity team?

JP: Lisa Tenner, who is the Queen of the Queen of Hearts, is still working with Ty Stewart on the details but we expect a bigger and better team this year.  There are some in the poker community that don’t like that we continue maintaining the ladies only event but I’ve yet to be persuaded that we shouldn’t.  I think it’s a fun event, I think it has to be viewed as an event that is responsive to a lot of customer demand.  If women didn’t show up for this event we wouldn’t stage it.  But the fact is, every year the numbers continue to go up.  That to me says we need to keep staging it.  Ultimately, we’re in the business of giving the poker player what he or she wants and I hear from a lot of women that this is what they want and I hear from some that it’s mildly offensive.  I respect that view, I just don’t agree with it.

ML: I agree, to each his own, if you don’t like it, don’t play it.

JP: Right, it’s been likened to segregation and I’m not sure I would make that comparison.  And it somehow smacks the women’s right moment, the right of women to vote and it doesn’t fit with women being equal to men.  And I just don’t see it that way. Just as there is an audience for the WNBA as well as the NBA, I think its fine, I think it’s appropriate and bottom line it’s poker.  There are plenty of guys I know that have a guys game during the week and plenty of women I know that have a women’s game during the week.  So why not have a women’s only tournament?

ML: Technically is a man allowed to register and play in the ladies event?

JP: [Pause] I would have to check but I think a man can.

ML: They can?

JP: I think so, I’d have to check.

ML: So there’s a chance Phil Hellmuth could win bracelet 12 in the ladies event?

JP: I think Phil would not enter the ladies event.

ML: Probably not, but it would be a first and it would be great marketing for him.  We had some prop bets going on last year trying to get some guys to register but they didn’t go for it. How about a men’s only tournament?

JP: Nuns?  Did you say nuns?

ML: No! How about a men’s only tournament?

JP: Oh. [Laughing] That I wouldn’t do.

ML: Why not?

JP: No one’s ever asked that of me.  I can’t imagine there being a demand for that.  But if that’s what the customer wanted, I’d have to take a hard look at it. But I don’t think that thought has crossed anyone’s mind, other than yours, Michele.

ML: [Laughing] The World Series once had a couple’s event or something like that.  Would they do that again?

JP: That’s interesting, with Valentine’s Day coming up maybe we should be doing couple’s events.

ML: You know, I think Doyle Brunson has a WSOP bracelet in a couple’s event from the 70’s. They didn’t call it a couple’s event, it was something else.

JP: Pairs?

ML: Maybe, something like that.  Are you going to have additional room to replace the tent?

JP: Yes, we’ve expanded our footprint inside the Rio.  It’s bigger than it’s ever been this year but not as big as it will get.  There will be no poker played in any tent, anywhere at the World Series this summer.  Not a wedding tent, not a Bat mitzvah tent, no poker in any tent ever again.

ML: You didn’t end up getting the bus or igloo?

JP: No igloo, no poker bus, no van, no poker tent.

ML: Will you have live poker, satellites and the tournaments in the same room again?

JP: It may not be all in the same room.  That goes back to the footprint but we will have live poker and satellites.  Got to have live poker and satellites.

ML: Yes, you definitely do.  But will there be strippers at the Gaming Life Expo?

JP: There will not.  There will not be anything close to nudity at the Gaming Life Expo.

ML: So that means you won’t be having the Chippendale dancers?

JP: Uh, were they there last year?

ML: I didn’t see any.

JP: I don’t think so.

ML: Maybe they should be there for the Ladies event.

JP: [Laughing] See, now you’re just being a trouble maker.

ML: Of course I am. What is a day at the office like for the WSOP and Jeffrey Pollock?

JP: Gosh, no one else would want to experience it.  No, I love what I do and I feel very fortunate to have the job that I do.  Honestly, everyday is different.  I can’t think of two days that were similar.  A lot of it is focused on meeting with the teams that bring life to the WSOP.  The teams do the hard work along with the people at the Rio.  Some personnel news is that Gary (Thompson) is leading the WSOP full time.  He’s moved back to our corporate communications group. Seth Palansky will be our new director of communications.  He is currently the top communications executive for the NFL network under NFL President and CEO Steve Bornstein.  Seth is a very seasoned sports and entertainment communications executive and he’s going to be an awesome addition to the team.  I now have two former NFL executives (Ty Stewart) working on the WSOP and fresh from the Super Bowl, I will tell you that no one does it better than the NFL. And having that training only bodes well for the WSOP.

ML: That’s a great lead to my next question.  You were with the NBA which, like the NFL, is such an established entity in regards to media and being a dominant force in the sports industry.   And while the WSOP has been around for a long time, it is new to the boom and media explosion.  Did you find it challenging with new development and adjustments?

JP: The funny thing about the WSOP is that it now has this 39 year tradition and history, yet when I got to the WSOP there wasn’t a lot of business behind it.  It was a big tournament that was doing very well and the most important tournament.  And I don’t want this to sound the wrong way but it was just a poker tournament.  Not just any typical tournament but a tournament that was a business.  And what we’ve done in the last 2 ½ years is modernize the WSOP in a way that was, frankly, overdue.

My specialty is start ups.  I like taking a sheet a paper that still has some white space on it and coloring that in.  And that’s what we’ve done with the WSOP.  The (WSOP) canvas wasn’t blank and what was already on the canvas was pretty damn good but it sort of stopped at a certain point.  We’ve picked up from that point and grown the WSOP in a way that no other poker brand has ever been successful with growing.  We have more sponsors than any other poker brand, better media distribution and players who are associated with us are enjoying more endorsement opportunities from the sponsors than any other poker brand has been able to deliver.  There are all kinds of rumors about how wealthy, how robust our partnerships are.  I will tell you our business isn’t close to the scale of the NBA, NASCAR, NHL but we’re really just beginning.  We’re only about 30 months into a new type of management approach for the WSOP.  So, it really is like a start up.  I think in the next three, five, ten years you’re going to see poker as industry mature or grown in a way it hasn’t before.

Our job is to make sure that poker isn’t perceived as just a fad.  Frankly, most sports marketers think that it’s a fad that’s already over.  So our job is a tough one because we’re selling to an inherently skeptical audience on Madison Avenue.  We’ve been successful; it’s a lot of a hard work and taken more time than I thought it would but we’re getting there slowly but surely.  I think the playing community will hopefully continue to be patient with us as we bring more money into the poker economy.  Ultimately, that’s what it’s about.

ML: Speaking of playing…are you keeping the same blind structures this year?

JP: We haven’t announced the blind structures and I don’t want to tip off what we’re doing there.

ML: When will you make the blind structure announcement?

JP: In the next couple of weeks.

ML: Are there any changes in the media room for 2008?

JP: We’re going to have a special announcement about that but it’s going to be bigger, better and more fun than before.  The hint I’ll give you…imagine a press box in a sports stadium, like your right in the venue watching, you’re watching the game.  So, that may be the direction we’re heading in but we haven’t announced anything.  Making conditions better for the media is a top priority this year.  As well as, better servicing the long term guest at the Rio, there will be a WSOP Concierge desk set up, improve the food offering again.  Everything we touch the goal is to make it better.

ML: I’m excited about some new food.

JP: New food, baby!  New eats.

ML: Can you give me any scoop on the new food?  I need better trail mix.

JP: [Laughing] I don’t know that trail mix has made it onto the menu for improvement but I will send a note to our head chef immediately.  Michele’s trail mix.  If you have a trail mix recipe, send it and maybe we can work off of that.

ML: I do, I make my own from Whole Foods right out of the bins.

JP: Actually, I do that too. I love it.

ML: The WSOP is still working with Bluff Media right?

JP: Bluff will continue on as our internet and radio partner. We’re still sorting through ways to balance Bluff’s presence and accommodate all media, so there will be some announcements on that as well.

ML: What changes are you most excited about this year?

JP: That’s a good question.  I think the expanded footprint inside the Rio.  We’re finally headed towards the type of physical presence we deserve at the Rio and that’s exciting.  But as good as it will be this year and as improved as it will be, I’m not done yet.  It will keep getting bigger.  I’m excited about this year, except for my incredible laryngitis from partying way too hard this weekend.

ML: So, now that the merger has closed, is there are any plans to move the WSOP?

JP: No, no.  I love the fact that we are at the Rio.  It is becoming a better home for the WSOP and as the footprint expands inside the convention center, it’s really going to click.  I actually thought tent aside, the Rio was a very good home last year and in 06’ as well.  With the ease of the parking into the convention center it has the infrastructure that we need and the task is to build on that infrastructure.  The team at the Rio is very passionate about the WSOP.  I’m not thinking at all about a different location for the WSOP.

ML: Are you concerned about the first event having the long line like last year?  I didn’t play just because of the line.

JP: No I’m not because we’re going to have a soft opening with some non-bracelet events, registration is going to open earlier, you can go to the cage anytime between now and the WSOP and register.

ML: So, how was Europe?

JP: Oh, that seems like a lifetime ago.  It was great.  Most of the great players showed, Betfair was very happy.  The T.V. coverage hits globally in March.  We’ll announce the Schedule for this year pretty soon.  We will probably increase the number of events in Europe.

ML: Any WSOP Asia news?

JP: I’m looking forward to going over the next few months. Our top priority is to improve Europe.  But we are looking at Asia and Latin America.

ML: Would the Caribbean be included in Latin America?

JP: Hmm, no one has asked me that before.  We have a property that is going to open in the Bahamas.  One day we may have an event there.  What I’m thinking about with Latin America right now is South America.  But yes, I would include the Caribbean in Latin America.

ML: Will there be more programming on ESPN this year?

JP: There will be 32 hours this year.

ML: OK, same as last year?

JP: Yeah, and to that, I don’t know that more is always better going forward.  One of the things that I’m going to be looking at over the next few months with ESPN is whether or not they are overexposing the World Series of Poker.  I think we need to be focused on quality more than quantity.  They do a good job but I think there’s a theory to be explored about exactly which events they cover, why and in what detail.  We may find that it’s better to have a little less on television with ESPN, but to better promote the shows and make the shows only special occasions, if you will.  And I don’t know if that’s happening right now.

ML: Right.  They did a good job in the past when they explored the room more and focused on several tournaments or tables as opposed to just one table.  It gives the viewers a better idea of what it’s like to be at the WSOP.

JP: Right, yep.

ML: Have you been playing any poker yet?

JP: A little bit but I haven’t had a lot of time.

ML: Are you going to play any WPT events?

JP: [Laughing] No.   That would be funny though.  You know, you actually just gave me a new project to work on. I think I’m going to have to get ready for that.  That’s an interesting idea but only if I make it to a televised final table.

ML: You have to play the main events.  Then you can take a picture with your WPT bracelet with Lyle Berman and his WSOP bracelets.  You guys could put the picture up in the poker room.  That would be cute.

JP: That would be funny.

ML: You need to get working on your poker skills.

JP: Maybe if I find some time I’ll have you teach me.

ML: Ha, right. Get in line.  Yeah, you should pick me over Hellmuth or Brunson.

JP: What’s so funny?  You know what you’re doing.

ML: I do all right.  Hey, then you could play the Ladies event.

JP: That won’t happen.  I’ll host. I like hosting the Queen of Hearts dinner, that’s my job.

Paul McGuire Still Studly II

Paul McGuire, Tao of Poker creator and known as just Pauly, travels the world covering poker tournaments and writing stories of the people that fill them.  It’s no surprise our interview marked the longest in Studs of Poker history as Pauly conversations flow as if you’ve known him your whole life.  Yet, a Pauly departure leaves you with more questions and a strong urge to peek back inside his brain Although he is a busy man, he still manages to make you feel as if you are an important part of his day and he’s grateful to have seen or spoken to you.  Part two wraps up with his views of the not-so-glamorous poker circuit, favorite poker pros and the writers he wishes would return to the mother ship.

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Tao of Poker Creator… Studly

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This Stud Went From CFO To Poker Pro

 

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Alan Feiner Is Bellagio Stud

It’s no fluke that Bellagio’s poker room, Alan Feiner, sets a standard by running the most professional poker satellites in the world.  Feiner is personable with the pros, makes new players comfortable within seconds, turns out more satellites than Starbucks does coffee and when asked a question he knows the answer.  I had a chance to sit down with Feiner last week to discuss his long poker room career, what it’s like working at the Bellagio and how much he appreciates his job.

Michele Lewis: How long have you been in the gaming industry?

Alan Feiner: This November it will be 28 years.

ML:  Did you start in Las Vegas?

AF:  I started in downtown Las Vegas at the Western Casino and learned how to deal in a little two-table card room for a year or so and then came to the strip.  Then I worked back downtown again from 1982 until 1990.  And I’ve been with The Mirage Resort Company since 1990; it’s been almost 17 years.  I was in the Mirage poker room for 8 years and in October I’ll have been here at the Bellagio poker room for 9 years.  Since the first day we opened.

ML: Did you play a lot of poker before you worked in a poker room?

AF: I played a lot of poker back in Brooklyn New York.  Matter of fact, the Rabbi’s son ran a poker game at the synagogue back in Sheepshead Bay in Brooklyn.  So, I used to play poker and check out the horses occasionally.  After I got an accounting degree, I bummed around about 9 months then moved out to Vegas and the rest is history.  I tell people I have a B.S. in poker [laughing].  A lot of B.S.

ML: Do you still play?

AF:  I used to years ago but now there are too many time constraints and I’ve lost a lot of interest. I didn’t necessarily play for entertainment, I played to win and when I saw myself not playing my “A” game I gave it a rest.  But after the first of the year I think I’m going to start playing and try and learn this no limit Holdem. You can lose money fast but you can win it a lot faster than you can playing limit.

I don’t play as many tournaments as I would like but the ones I have played, I’ve played well.  [Smiling] I haven’t really won anything but I find myself learning something each time I play.  I’m getting close, I’m going to win a tournament soon.

ML: What do you think of all the big tournaments at the Bellagio, like the WPT events?

AF: Well, we have three or four events a year, we just finished up with the Bellagio Cup in July.  The next major tournament we’re having will be at the end of November into December, it’s the Five Diamond World Poker Classic with the Doyle Brunson tournament, which will be December 12-18^. It’s a 15k event, last year we got over 500 players, I don’t see why we wouldn’t get that many this year.  First prize should be a couple million.

ML: There’s no Festa al Lago tournament this year?

AF:  There’s no Festa al Lago this year, hopefully it will be re-established next year.  We ran into a difficulty with space and couldn’t get around it.  But the tournament in December has always been a huge tournament so we don’t see why it won’t be as big, if not bigger than last year.

ML: What exactly is your position in the poker room now?

AF:  Right now I’m the poker operations manager, I was the training manager but then I got involved with the tournaments.  I help Jack McClelland (director of poker tournaments) organize the tournaments, I put the satellite program together and I’m pretty much Jack McClelland and Doug Dalton’s (director of poker operations) right hand man.

ML: Jack’s considered one of the best tournament director’s in the world.  What’s it like working with him?

AF: I’ve known Jack for about 25 years.  I’ve had the pleasure of working with him the past five years since he’s come to the Bellagio.  I’ve learned an awful lot from Jack and we have become very close and I attribute a lot of my success to him.  He gave me an opportunity, he knew that I was capable and it’s worked out well.  The tournaments are going well.

ML:  Do you prefer the daily tournaments in the poker room or the big events that move into The Fontana Lounge?

AF:  I like the big events because it’s a lot more fast and furious.  I enjoy organizing the throngs of people coming in.  It’s a lot busier, time goes by quick, there’s a lot more excitement with a major event going on rather than the daily event.  Yes, the major events are what I prefer.

I crank out them satellites. When the people are here we get them cranked out.  Double the price, half the players, whatever we gotta do to make it work.  I started satellites where it was one hand because we were out of time.  Whatever it takes to produce.  I enjoy the operations more than I did necessarily the human resources side of poker. I enjoy dealing more with the customers than I did the hiring. It was a greater learning experience (managing) but I prefer this much more.

ML:  True but there’s a problem with that and the problem is…when anybody goes anywhere else to play a satellite they are spoiled from playing here. I hear complaints at all the other tournaments like “this would never happen at the Bellagio.”

AF:  Its very flattering, very flattering.  Matter of fact, Tony Kofman wrote a new book and on page 232 he wrote about me.  He called me the king of satellites [laughing].

ML: Really?

AF: He just gave me a signed copy. It’s a very funny book with a lot of good anecdotes in there.  I told Tony I appreciated the acknowledgment and recognition.  I was so thrilled that I changed my license plate to “page 232.”

ML: You did?

AF:  [Chuckling] Not true.  But I did tell him that.  Tony wrote that Kirk Kerkorian (who bought the Mirage Resorts in 2000) should have a picture of me on his nightstand.

ML: Do you have any favorite pros you look forward to seeing?

AF: I have a lot of customers from all over the world.  I won’t mention any by name but I have become very good friends with a lot of them.  I enjoy the interaction with the customers. It’s something I look forward to as much as running the satellites or tournaments.  I like meeting and seeing the people maybe once or twice a year and the greeting I get from a lot of them.  I remember a lot them by first name and they appreciate that.

ML: Do you ever play poker when visiting your son in Texas?

AF: He took me to a game he and his buddies were playing in and the house was taking 10% no max.  After two or three hours I took him outside and told him “if you ever come back here I’ll shoot you.” Not literally.  But at the end of the day this guy running the game is going to get all the money.  I gave him a good example of how fast that money will disappear over the course of the night, you don’t have a chance.  I think the game is gone because everyone went broke.

ML: What’s the craziest thing you ever seen in a poker room?

AF:  I wouldn’t say crazy but there are some different personalities and characters in this business.  Some of them scream at the top of their lungs and make spectacles of themselves.  After 28 years I could write a book about all the people I’ve come across. When they win they’re the best players and when they lose it’s a bad beat.

A funny line I heard was…what’s the difference between Phil Hellmuth and God?  God doesn’t think he’s Phil Hellmuth.  Linda Johnson said that at one of the WPT tapings, I thought that was pretty funny.  He’s a character and he’s done a lot for poker.  He has eleven bracelets and that didn’t happen by accident.

ML: You’ve probably seen a lot, you should write a book.

AF:  Not only a book but a television show, between the employees and the customers it would be the funniest show.  Especially with poker so popular, it could be funnier than Seinfeld.  Did you watch Seinfeld?

ML: Of course.

AF:  Here’s a true story.  Jason Alexander was playing and I introduced myself as a huge fan of the show.  Later when he was cashing out at the cage he only had a few chips and I said, “Jason, looks like your chips are suffering from significant shrinkage.”  I made Jason Alexander laugh after all the years he made me laugh.

ML:  Do you ever find yourself stopping in the Fontana Lounge to watch the fountains?

AF:  [Passionately] I do that all the time.  I walk out there sometimes…it is by far the greatest poker room in the world second to none.

As far as the view, people have the ability to go out for some fresh air or to smoke, we don’t allow smoking in the Fontana Lounge, which is good.  I find myself all the time, I mean… being here everyday I am just amazed at this establishment.  I love just looking and seeing…I appreciate working here.

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