Poker News Roundup - Week Ending Aug. 27
by Bodog Poker | Aug 27 2010
New York
ABC's Nightline, a features-driven late night news program took a look at the world of online poker this week, focusing on the college students that have become the next generation of players. The piece focused primarily on Joe Cada and Blaine Brount. Cada, of course, won the 2009 World Series of Poker Main Event, taking home $8,546,435 and Brount is a 19-year-old college student in Illinois. Since the departure of Ted Koppel, Nightline has become a more sensationalist program focusing on scare pieces and the like (and indeed, the article on ABCNews.com that ties into the piece has footage from the Berlin casino robbery from earlier this year) but poker fans were pleased to find what amounted to a balanced look at two young men who were smart about the cards and their bankroll and it explored how poker offers good players a second income.
In the segment, Brount stated: "I'm not gambling to see what's going to happen, I'm trying to make a profit," he explained. "I pay my rent, I pay my bills by playing online poker ... if you're smart about it and manage your money well, it absolutely can be a real job." The piece's even-handedness and frank look at how winners (and losers) are made was a refreshing change of pace from most media coverage at poker, be it online or real-world games.
Nevada
Speaking of positive media coverage, Dr. Steve Friedlander of Reno was profiled by the Reno Journal Gazette to good effect. The ophthalmologist, most famous in poker circles for losing a hand to 96-year-old Jack Uri in a YouTube video that's garnered hundreds of thousands of views, finished sixth while playing in the Aussie Millions tournament and earned a quarter of a million dollars. While he had every intention of playing a few hands of poker while on vacation with his son down under, he was sucked into the tournament. With wins like that and a second-place finish at the Bellagio's weekly tournaments, you'd think the man would want to look at playing poker professionally, but he genuinely enjoys his career.
He told the Gazette: "Unless I quit this job, I'll never be at the level pro poker players are at. However, I am starting to get to the point where I see more and more things at the poker table, things that I haven't been able to do in years past. All of it came together for me in the run I had down there."
California
Andy Frankenberger took the top spot in this year's World Poker Tour Legends of Poker tournament, held at the Bicycle Casino in the Los Angeles area. He earned $750,000 for his play, along with a bracelet and entry into the World Poker Tour World Championship event at the Bellagio. After going into the final table with a significant chip lead, he had a few spotty moments, but the stock trader from New York rallied quickly and eliminated Kyle Wilson in a dramatic showdown with a pair of nines. Wilson earned a nice consolation prize, however: $370,000. He was followed by Tom Lee ($174,772); Tom Braband ($109,000); Jared Jaffee ($86,000) and Franco Brunetti ($63,000.)
