Even Celebrities Take Shots At The Poker Table

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Shot takers are available in all sizes and styles. Many of the shot takers you see on the on line casino are doing it out of an act of desperation, and others solely after spending an ample time gaining any individual’s belief and confidence. But the celebrity-filled, high-stakes, personal video games that I’ve frequented through the years have had their justifiable share of shot takers as properly.

For the uninitiated, let me set the stage. You are enjoying poker at your native on line casino, and also you see a man who you’ve sat throughout the desk with for months. He sits down and out of the blue realizes that he left his pockets at residence. He asks if the seller can lock his seat up whereas he runs residence to get it, and the seller makes no such promise since others are ready to play. You recall this man shopping for you the occasional beer, and resolve to be a gentleman by providing to cowl his first stake within the sport. You may very well be handing him $500 or $5,000, however regardless of the quantity is, you might be assured that by the top of the night time, you’ll have your a reimbursement.

Cut to a few months later, and also you at the moment are chasing this seemingly good man for the stake he owes you. But you’ll be able to by no means catch as much as him, and whenever you do, he at all times has a narrative or an excuse.

In an act of desperation, the man “took a shot at you” realizing you’d belief him, and now you’ll be fortunate for those who ever see that cash once more. One fascinating psychological facet of taking a shot at somebody, and why it’s usually inconceivable to make an correct learn on the scenario till it’s too late, is the truth that usually the shot taker begins out with the most effective of intentions. It’s when issues go south that these intentions exit the window.

When the man goes bust, he appears to be like you straight within the eye and says, “I’m going to run home to grab my wallet so I can pay you back.” You thank him for being honorable. Hell, he might need even been telling the reality about forgetting to convey his pockets. Maybe he’s really planning on doing the proper factor for your complete drive residence. But then, when he lastly grabs his tattered outdated pockets, and solely sees 200 bucks, after which logs into his checking account to search out all he has ready for him there may be an overdraft payment… properly, guess what? He received’t be coming again together with your cash! And someplace deep at the back of his thoughts, he knew the one approach he may pay you again can be if he received utilizing the mortgage you floated him. Or even worse, he might need identified from the start {that a} day would come the place he would take a shot at you, and you’d be sucker sufficient to oblige him.

Now think about the same state of affairs, however this time you might be in a high-stakes, invite-only, personal poker sport. The host of the sport proclaims {that a} well-known actor is stopping by and wish to play. The brutal bitch about getting scum bagged by a celeb is the truth that confidence doesn’t should be established for these cats to take a shot at you. Their fame is all the boldness they should know that the ball is of their nook. Nobody of their life says no to them! They dwell on this stunning little fantasy land we name Hollywood and no matter they need, they get. Most of the time anyway.

I’ve witnessed a number of Tinseltown shot takers in motion through the years who used their movie star standing to attempt to screw over a poker sport. Some of them have been attempting to take a shot at me immediately, whereas others simply wished to freeroll on their fame with out worrying about who was going to take it on the nostril on the finish of the night time when it was time to settle up.

Some movie star shot takers have been small time scum luggage. One night time I used to be enjoying poker at some resort close to Silverlake and in walks this child who was one of many actors from the film Swingers, (the cult traditional that launched the careers of Vince Vaughn and Jon Favreau.).

I liked Swingers. It was near my coronary heart as a result of I used to be arising in Hollywood when that movie got here out and I may relate to so many issues that occurred in it. I used to dwell in the identical space Favreau’s character lived in, I went to all the identical bars they frequented within the film, and I even ate breakfast on the similar diner the place Vaughn embarrasses himself enjoying peekaboo with a girl and her child.

So when this actor (whose identify I received’t reveal) sat right down to play, I had no drawback extending him credit score. He didn’t need to submit like everybody else, as a result of that will have been an insult. After all, this man was a star of one of many best popular culture impartial movies of the ‘90s! I just wish I would have thought to ask him what other films he had been in lately, because the answer would have been NONE! This guy probably hadn’t labored in ten years. There’s no telling what he was doing for a dwelling at this level, however that night time, his fading fame bought him a freeroll into the sport. He owed me $10,000 inside the first hour, and minutes later he was out the kitchen door, by no means to be seen once more.

Another world class shot taker was the delightfully charming Amir Vahedi, God relaxation his soul. At this time Amir was coming off an important run that took him deep within the 2003 World Series of Poker important occasion on ESPN, making him, Sammy Farha and naturally Chris Moneymaker family names. He was the man who first introduced Ben Affleck to the Hollywood Park pot-limit sport which I’ve written about beforehand.

I staked Amir one time in a money sport, towards my higher judgement. He instructed me he busted out with a nasty beat, however another person instructed me he used the stake to enter himself right into a match. So the subsequent time Amir got here to me asking to stake him in a Legends of Poker occasion, I politely declined. He ended up profitable it, however allegedly had bought 200 p.c of himself previous to the match starting. So, in that case, he took a shot and it backfired on him.

One of the funniest tales of a celeb shot taker got here from the time Tobey Maguire performed Limp Bizkit entrance man Fred Durst in a sport of Backgammon for $100. Fred misplaced, however I feel he figured since him and Tobey have been each celebrities and it was solely 100 bucks, that Tobey would simply neglect about it. Of course, Tobey didn’t neglect about it and even went so far as calling Fred’s publicist to shake him down for the debt… which Fred ultimately paid.

But one of many ballsiest shot takers I ever got here throughout truly took pictures for a dwelling! He was an expert basketball participant for the Detroit Pistons that I point out in my e-book. This man used his fame to penetrate a giant sport that includes myself, Tobey Maguire, The Joker and The Hangover director Todd Phillips, and others.

The first and solely time he ever performed in our sport, he misplaced $40,000, after which walked out the door assuring everybody he would settle up the subsequent day. But when the subsequent day got here, he referred to as Molly Bloom and instructed her he felt he was cheated and due to this fact didn’t really feel he needed to pay! Of course, I’m positive if he would have received, he would have had no drawback amassing.

I used to be owed about $25,000 from his loss, so I used to be fairly pissed on the time. He was the one participant who ever stiffed our sport. But I bought him again over a 12 months later at a very totally different sport in what I can solely describe as a “double shot” of redemption.
There was a sport within the valley that was hosted by a shrewd, however grasping dude who I’ll check with at present as Gringo. Gringo had been wanting me to convey huge gamers to his sport in trade for inviting me to put with the lambs. One night time I invited El Drunko, a man I knew who supplied a number of motion.

I bought to the sport and the Pistons ball participant who had stiffed me a 12 months in the past was there, as was just a few different celebs together with comic Kevin Hart. El Drunko went off the rails that night time, dumping pot after pot to Mr. Piston. I used to be in a enterprise cope with El Drunko on the time and owed him slightly below $40,000 on a royalty that was due in a few week. So when he misplaced 38 grand I instantly bought up and cashed out. I instructed El Drunko to inform Gringo, “Houston owes me some money, so collect my $38,000 loss from him the next time you see him.”

I had beforehand instructed Gringo that the ball participant was on my blacklist and to by no means invite the 2 of us to the identical sport. I swore to Gringo that this man would ultimately trigger a significant drawback for his sport, however he didn’t pay attention. So when Gringo requested for me to pay up what my El Drunko owed the sport, after all I instructed him that he had damaged our pact, and that he would want to deduct El Drunko’s loss out of the ball gamers winnings together with a reminder in regards to the $40,000 debt he owed from the night time he misplaced to me, Tobey, and Todd. Damn, that felt good!

But not each desk mortgage story ends badly. An ideal instance can be when Billionaire banker Andy Beal floated Rick Salomon just a few million to play towards him in his personal home! Rick went on to Beat Andy for what was rumored to be round $40 million! I’m not saying that Rick wouldn’t have discovered a technique to pay him again the buy-in if he would have misplaced… however you simply bought to like the balls it takes to beat somebody over the pinnacle in their very own home, with their very own cash for $40 million!

For all of my readers on the market who’ve been stung prior to now by somebody who took a shot at you, permit me to offer you a enjoyable little video tutorial of a traditional card hustle that you should utilize as payback. Either that, or it is going to assist take your thoughts off the truth that you donked off some dough to an angle taking pictures scum bag!

Remember, there’s at all times going to be any individual on the market attempting to take a shot at you. So keep sharp! Stay KardSharp!

Houston Curtis, founding father of KardSharp.com and writer of Billion Dollar Hollywood Heist has lived a profitable double life as each a producer and excessive stakes poker participant for almost 30 years. His credit embody government producing gambling-related TV reveals comparable to The Ultimate Blackjack Tour on CBS, The Aruba Poker Classic on GSN and pioneering the poker educational DVD style with titles that includes poker legend Phil Hellmuth.

Barred for all times from Las Vegas Golden Nugget for “excessive winning” at blackjack, Houston is without doubt one of the world’s most profitable card mechanics and sleight-of-hand artists of the trendy period. Curtis, who hardly ever performs in tournaments, received a 2004 Legends of Poker no-limit maintain’em championship occasion besting Scotty Nguyen heads-up on the closing desk earlier than occurring to co-found the elite Hollywood poker ring that impressed Aaron Sorkin’s Academy Award-nominated movie Molly’s Game.

Curtis now resides in Columbia, Missouri whereas sustaining places of work in Los Angeles, and Phoenix, Arizona. In addition to operating a manufacturing firm and impartial report label, Curtis additionally consults as a poker safety skilled to purchasers throughout the globe searching for perception into grasp degree card dishonest ways by way of superior sleight-of-hand method. In addition, Houston is now out there for in-person and on-line talking engagements, personal sleight-of-hand instruction, and quite a lot of media creation/manufacturing companies. Houston might be contacted immediately at stacked@kardsharp.com.