The Nightly Turbo: Esfandiari on Howard Stern Show, Beth Shak's New Venture, and More
In case you haven't heard, PokerNews will be unveiling an exclusive interview with Howard Lederer on Tuesday. But that won't be the only poker-related interview to look forward to tomorrow. In this edition of the Nightly Turbo, we're covering Antonio Esfandiari's appearance on the Howard Stern Show, plus Beth Shak's venture away from poker, and more.
In Case You Missed It
On Monday, PokerNews announced the exciting launch of the Lederer Files, an seven-part interview with former Full Tilt Poker exec Howard Lederer. PokerNews' Matthew Parvis conducted the interview and discussed the interview process in an introduction piece.
How did Sunday's WCOOP events play out on PokerStars? Who took down the biggest score? Find out in the Sunday Briefing.
The World Poker Tour Borgata Poker Open kicked off Sunday in Atlantic City, New Jersey. Which well-known pros survived Day 1a? Find out in our WPT Borgata recap.
The WPT is also running an event in Malta this week. PokerNews' Matthew Pitt is providing live updates from the event and covered the highlights from Day 1a in our WPT Malta recap.
How did David "Doc" Sands' begin playing high-stakes poker? Find out that and more in the latest Seat Open.
Last month, Krisztina Polgar got the opportunity to work alongside Kristy Arnett and Lynn Gilmartin as part of the PokerNews video team in Barcelona. On Monday, Polgar wrote about her experience in a PokerNews blog entitled Life on the Road.
Antonio Esfandiari on Howard Stern Show
Poker pro Antonio Esfandiari is set to appear on the Howard Stern Show Tuesday morning. Needless to say, we're excited about the potential of some entertaining dialogue.
Stern, the self-proclaimed "King of All Media," will likely question Esfandiari about his $18 million score at Big One for One Drop in July, a victory that made him poker's all-time money winner. But given Antonio's party lifestyle and Stern's controversial interview tactics, we're expecting some gold to emerge from the discussion with Stern and his rowdy crew.
Esfandiari flew into New York City on Monday and announced his appearance on the show via Twitter.
New York New York...Just arrived. 3days in the Big Apple. Ill be on the Howard Stern show this tuesday morning. Details to come...
— Antonio Esfandiari (@MagicAntonio)
Esfandiari won't be the first member of the poker community to appear on Stern's talk show. In 2009, Poker Player's Alliance Chairman Alfonse D’Amato joined the show to discuss National Poker Week, a week of activities centered around raising awareness for online poker on Capitol Hill. Stern was warmed by the cause and officially became a member of PPA.
If you'd like to hear Esfandiari's interview, be sure to tune in to Sirius XM Radio at 7:00 a.m. ET Tuesday.
Beth Shak's Shoe Line
Beth Shak has been noticeably absent around the tournament circuit lately. Apparently, she's lowered her volume on the felts to focus on her first passion: shoes.
According to an article in the New York Post, Shak is planning to come out with her own line of women’s footwear in the near future. Shak says she has already designed and manufactured 25 sample pairs in a dozen styles. The shoes will reportedly cost between $160 and $190 per pair.
“My almost-18-year-old daughter wasn’t happy having a mom that traveled and was gambling,” Shak told The Post. “She kept saying, ‘Why don’t you design a shoe line?’ and one day I was like, ‘You know, she’s right.’ ”
Shak's passion for shoes has been well-documented in the past. You may remember Beth's ex-husband, Dan, suing her in June for not disclosing her $1 million collection of designer shoes during their divorce proceedings. Beth argued that Dan was saying he "didn’t know the closet in our master bedroom existed." The lawsuit was dropped a short while later.
The New York Post has more.
Rui Chen Wins Macau Poker Cup
Rui Chen survived one of the longest final tables in Macau Poker Cup history over the weekend to win the 2012 Macau Poker Cup Main Event. After a grueling 12 hours at the final table, Chen bested Yosuke Sekiya heads-up to claim the title and the HKD$1,108,500 (USD$143,000) top prize.
Despite the long road to victory, Chen got off to a quick start at the final table by eliminating Robert Streatfield with pocket aces on the second hand of the day. From there, Chen sent the two ladies at the final table — Lisi Wei and Jessica Ngu — packing in sixth and fifth place, respectively. Sekiya then eliminated Kevin Kung, Sunny Jung and Wenlong Jin in successive fashion to set up the heads-up battle with Chen.
Heads-up play began with Chen having a 3-to-2 edge in chips, but the rollercoaster match began with Sekiya coming from behind with 9♠8♦ against Chen's pocket eights after all the chips went in preflop. The 9♣ landed on the river, keeping Sekiya alive. Despite the brutal beat, Chen was able to keep his composure and go on to win the match. On the final hand of the tournament, Sekiya's K♠J♣ was unable to outrun Chen's K♣Q♣ and Chen finally secured the victory.
Here’s a look at the results from the final table:
| Place | Player | Prize |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Rui Chen | HKD$1,108,500 |
| 2 | Yosuke Sekiya | HKD$759,000 |
| 3 | Wenlong Jin | HKD$458,000 |
| 4 | Sunny Jung | HKD$361,500 |
| 5 | Kevin Kung | HKD$289,160 |
| 6 | Jessica Ngu | HKD$241,000 |
| 7 | Lisi Wei | HKD$193,000 |
| 8 | Ryan Hong | HKD$144,500 |
| 9 | Robert Streatfeild | HKD$120,500 |
Read the full final table recap at the PokerStars Blog.
Team Poker770 Expands
Poker770.com has announced the addition of four poker players to its Pro Team this week.
In cooperation with poker agency Poker Icons, Stefan Mattsson, Arvin Golrang, Stjepan Jokic and David Wintersberger have signed on to represent Poker770 online and at tournaments around the world.
Of the new team members, Mattsson has the most extensive list of poker accomplishments. The Swede burst onto the tournament scene in 2008 by taking second place at the European Poker Tour Barcelona Main Event for €220,000, and followed that result up with a third place finish at the 2009 EPT Prague Main Event for $382,160. Mattsson has more than $1.2 million in live tournament cashes to go along with his success on the virtual felt where he plays in some of the biggest tournaments and cash games online.
Other members of Team Poker770 include Koen De Visscher, Sonja Kovac, Oahn Bui, Julian Herold and Anthony Rodrigues.
Full player profiles of each of the team members can be found at Poker.770.com.
Brian Townsend's Physical Challenge
Have you been wondering where Brian "sbrugby" Townsend went? Yeah, so have we. Fortunately, thanks to a blog entry last week, we learned that the former high-stakes poker superstar is preparing for a seven-day, 156-mile race through the Sahara Desert.
Yes, seriously.
Townsend has been training for the arduous physical challenge in Vancouver, running through sand while wearing a 20-pound weight on his back. He wrote about process in depth in his blog at 4deserts.com:
As the race gets closer I find myself being more and more consumed by it. Today I ran 20 miles in 3.5 hours. 7 miles were to Jericho beach in Vancouver and the remaining 13 were going up and down the same 3 mile stretch of soft sand beach over and over.
To track Townsend's progress during his intense training, be sure to check out his blog.
No Sleep on the WPT
After wrapping up coverage of the World Poker Tour Grand Prix de Paris, Kristy Arnett and the PokerNews Live Reporting team traveled to Malta for the WPT Malta Main Event. Kristy provided an update from Day 1a, including details from Tony G about his triathlon challenge against Phil Hellmuth.
Follow PokerNews on Twitter for up-to-the-minute news.
