L.A. Lakers CEO Frank Mariani Posting Up in $1,500 H.O.R.S.E.
The World Series of Poker attracts all walks of life – from professional card players to professional athletes to business owners. One players in today’s $1,500 H.O.R.S.E. event finds a place in a bit of all of those. L.A. Lakers CEO Frank Mariani was one of those who saddled up for Wednesday’s mixed-game action.
Mariani has been with the team more than 30 years and been playing poker since age 10. He was a longtime associate of Lakers owner Jerry Buss. Buss, who passed away in 2013, was also a regular poker player with more than $172,000 in live tournament cashes.
“I’ve been playing poker since I was 10 years old.”
Away from the office, Mariani feels quite at home at the table and has $464,000 in live tournament winnings. His biggest win came at the WSOP in 2009 when he finished fourth in the $10,000 World Championship Seven Card Stud Hi/Lo for $124,684.
Today’s action might be perfect for Mariani, who also won a $550 H.O.R.S.E. event in 2016 for $13,690 as part of the WPT Legends of Poker at the Bicycle Casino. He’s hoping that kind of winning continues at the Rio.
At the first break, Mariani had worked his initial chip stack of 7,500 up to 10,000, but said it had been as high 15,000. The game has been a lifetime pursuit.
“I’ve been playing poker since I was 10 years old,” he said.
No stranger to the poker scene, the CEO was a popular figure in the Amazon Room with several players coming by to shake hands and chat a little including Mike Sexton and Allen Kessler.
“I’ve been around a few years. I get to the casinos to play when I’ve got the time.”
“I’ve been around a few years,” he says after catching up with Sexton. “I get to the casinos to play when I’ve got the time.”
The NBA Draft is about two weeks away and the Lakers will be drafting 25th. The team showed some improvement in 2017-18 after a few tough years. Last season, however, the Lakers notched nine more wins than in 2016-17 and finished 35-47 – the team’s best finish since in five seasons. Mariani is pleased with the upward trend, which cratered to only 17 wins in 2015-16.
“I think we did well last year and I think we’ll do better this year,” he said.
The historic franchise has produced 16 championships, the last coming in 2010. Mariani is hoping to do some of his own winning today. His strategy? He says laughing: “Just try to make it to Day 2.”
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Sean Chaffin is a freelance writer in Crandall, Texas. His work appears in numerous websites and publications. Follow him on Twitter @PokerTraditions. He is also the host of the True Gambling Stories podcast, available on iTunes, Google Play, TuneIn Radio, Spotify, Stitcher, PokerNews.com, HoldemRadio.com, and TrueGamblingStories.com.
