Tuesday, July 28, 2009 - P0ker H0
From my first days of playing poker, I loved the game! My love for poker was so intense it was the first thing I thought about in the morning and the last thing on my mind before falling asleep. I even dreamed of winning big tournaments! In my early days of poker, I got really lucky and won my very first live tournament I ever played at the Four Queens in Las Vegas for about 20K, and the flame has been burning ever since. Then about ten years ago, when the online boom hit, it really gave me the chance to take my game to the next level and play full time. It wasn’t easy, though. I remember stealing the quarters out of my pinball machines and pool tables at my bar to get money to make deposits to my account just so I could keep playing.
As my luck turned into skill and I became a lot better, I started winning satellites to go play in WPT and WSOP events. I’ve had many opportunities to experience playing in live events in such places as France, the Bahamas, Canada, Mexico, South and Central America, all across the United States, and of course the best of them all, Aruba!
I started living the dream of playing poker and it took me a while, but I realized my love of playing poker wasn’t as strong as my love of being a poker player. I found myself caught up in all the glamour and excitement of being a professional poker player…… the parties, meeting celebrities, visiting exotic locations, the money and notoriety of it all.
I think it’s very important for all poker players to stay focused on the game and not the stuff that comes with it. The game is hard enough as it is without all the distractions. Stay focused and never stop loving the game. That’s my goal from here on out……Good luck at the tables!
H0
Tags: Aruba, Four Queens, las vegas, Poker Poker Poker, poker tournaments, WPT, WSOP
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Saturday, April 18, 2009 - Phil Hellmuth
As we approach another WSOP, I find myself thinking back fondly of my memories with John Bonetti. Here is an article I came across that I’d like to share with y’all.
Good ole’ John Bonetti (Bono), my best friend and dinner companion…oh, did I mention that he can play some poker? Imagine starting to play poker at age 56, and winning three World Series of Poker (WSOP) bracelets and finishing third twice in the WSOP Championship event! Imagine being 67 years old and winning three firsts at the Four Queens during their big January tournament, which helped him become the all time leading money winner at the Four Queens! Imagine being 71 years old at the US Poker Open (Taj Mahal) and winning three events in one month, including the Championship $4,000 buy-in seven-card stud event, and he finished second in the $7500 buy-in no limit hold’em Championship event when Daniel Negraneau made a flush on the last card (not to mention a fifth place that trip as well!)! That’s right, three firsts, a second and a fifth at the Taj at age 71! John Bonetti has done it all! He has won poker tournaments all over the USA (including the Championship events at the Four Queens and Foxwoods!), and he even placed when I dragged him out of the country to Amsterdam with me when he was 70 (it was Bono’s first time out of the country).
I was especially pleased to see Bono inducted into the Seniors Hall of Fame in front of a whole room full of players at the WSOP this year. It was exciting to witness, although I wasn’t able to do the induction speech like was originally planned. I was playing the Deuce to Seven event at the same time as the induction was happening – like I really cared if I missed some 2 to 7 hands in order to induct my best friend into the Seniors Hall of Fame! Anyway, Vince Burgio and John handled themselves well during the induction. And how about the event that followed the ceremony? Who would have ever expected in their wildest dreams that 350+ people would show up and play in the Seniors World Championship of Poker! Nice job to Oklahoma Johnny Hale on that one! I believe they will move the Seniors World Championships of Poker to Saturday (two days before the big one) next year. Wow, is ‘The Seniors’ good for poker or what?
This year, in the $5,000 buy-in Omaha eight or better event, Bono and I had a ‘close call’ in regards to something that we have been waiting to happen for a long time. Many times over Sushi, John and I have talked about the fact that we thought we’d end up ‘heads up’ in a major championship event. With three people left in the Omaha eight or better, myself, John, and Scotty Ngyuen, we thought this was finally going to happen. Unfortunately, John finished third, and then, although I had $480,000 to Scotty’s $60,000, I ended up finishing second. I give Scotty credit for being a great player and a good man!
We have talked about John Bonetti being a great player, but there is more to him than this. I love and respect Bono as an honorable businessman. In the past when I have done business with John, I have handed him up to $50,000 and known that it would be used and accounted for in the right way. I’ve never even thought twice about handing John any amount of money, and that’s what we call honor! John has earned that honor in the poker world by always doing the right thing for many years, and believe me poker players have a long memory! There is also the funny side to John. Have you ever heard him on an Internet poker broadcast? Go to philhellmuth.com and listen to John from the 2001 Tunica tournament and I guarantee you that will just laugh and laugh. And, we certainly can’t forget about John Bonetti the family man. When I talk to John two subjects continually come up – Nastassia (Nastash), his granddaughter, and Michael, his son. For ten years I have heard about Nastash, and I feel like she is a relative of mine! (Right now Nastash is turning 16 years old, and she expects Johnny to buy her a car!). John also speaks a lot of his son Michael (Michael just quit his job and started a limousine service in Manhattan). I love it when people talk about their families. I mean ‘shop talk’ (poker talk) can be awfully boring! I think that it says something good about someone when they are into their families, and John sure is into Nastash and Michael! Of course, lets not forget John’s wife Jean, who he likes to say, in an old fashioned way, is a ‘pain in the butt!’ Of course, John always tells me in private how lucky he has been to have Jean by his side all of these years (oops, sorry John, I wasn’t supposed to say that)! John might be old fashioned, but you should see who really wears the pants in that family! When I am on the road and make it to the final table, I can always count on Jean Bonetti to be there ‘sweating me’ (thanks Jean, it’s nice to have ‘family’ there rooting for you).
At any rate, as I was saying at the beginning of this article, good ole’ John Bonetti – my best friend and dinner companion …What’s that John? Yes, I know, it’s my turn to pick up the bill!
I miss you John.
Tags: Daniel Negraneau, Four Queens, John Bonetti, WSOP
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