Tony Parker and Eva Longoria

While attending game one of the Dallas Mavericks/San Antonio Spurs series in San Antonio, I happened to see myself up on the Jumbotron. After being booed by 250,000 NASCAR fans in Vegas, I wasn't sure what to expect this time (at least Jeff Gordon and Tony Stewart got booed there, as well). Yes! This time I was cheered! Being there with one of the San Antonio Spurs minority owners, Ken Kamp, allowed me access to the owners' lounge for a snack at halftime. As Ken and I walked back to the lounge, Tim Duncan and Tony Parker of the Spurs came rushing out of the locker room, headed back to the court. As Parker whizzed by, he threw us a quick, "Hi."

That was Sunday. On Friday of that week, Maxim magazine's most beautiful woman in the world (the last two years in a row), Eva Longoria, called my agent to invite me to game six in Dallas - and to be the master of ceremonies at a birthday party the day after for Parker (her longtime boyfriend). The party was to take place on Saturday night at La Cantera Resort in San Antonio. I accepted, and Longoria arranged for my son and me to sit courtside for game six. Wow! What a game, the Spurs winning it late.

On Saturday night, Parker was surprised to see me walk into the room. But this wasn't a birthday party as much as it was a poker tournament, with deluxe surroundings, music, and a bar. I was to emcee the event as well as play. Talk about a hard-core poker party: This was a $300 buy-in no-limit Texas hold'em tournament, with rebuys, professional dealers, and even a floorman, and everyone in the room was playing! The San Antonio Spurs are so into poker that they keep records for the entire year (Michael Finley, another great basketball player, won their last tournament). Finley has been a player whom my wife and I have enjoyed watching play basketball ever since he came running out on the University of Wisconsin court as a skin-and-bones freshman.

In the first hand dealt, with starting chips of $10,000, the blinds were $100-$200, and I limped in with the J 7. With five callers, Parker raised it $700 more, and two players called. Now, I inquired about the rebuy structure, and was told that I could rebuy for just $200 more. So, I thought: I have the microphone, I'll move all in, and I'll announce it. If no one calls, I'll win $2,400 uncontested. But if Parker calls, I'll probably double him up, but that's OK because rebuys are only $200 more. If Parker calls and I win, I'll have more than $20,000 in chips, so I'll be able to play extremely tight, and I'll have a reputation as a loose cannon at the table, which will enable me to accumulate even more chips.

So, I moved all in, Parker called, and showed A-K offsuit. I was less than a 2-1 underdog, although not by much, but the flop came J-10-7, giving me two pair! Now, I was secretly rooting for Parker to win the pot. He deserved it, because he had started with the best hand, and for Pete's sake, it was his birthday. Then, an ace came off on fourth street. Now, Parker needed a 10 (three left), a queen (four left), a king (three left), or an ace (two left), so he had 12 wins to my 32 wins (44 cards were left that we hadn't seen yet), making him more than a 2.5-1 underdog. The last card was a 4, and I won the pot.

After winning that pot, I went on to play very tight poker while I carried around the microphone, praising and teasing Parker, Longoria, Duncan, Finley, Malik Rose, Nazr Mohammed, and a few others like Crandall Addington (who finished second twice in the main event of the World Series of Poker, once to Johnny Moss and once to Bobby Baldwin). After the rebuys ended and the real tournament began, Parker and Longoria each had $50,000 in chips, and I had more than $60,000, but there were still more than 50 players left battling for the $10,000 first-place prize.

With about 30 players left and the blinds at $1,000-$2,000, the following hand came up between Player A and Parker. Player A opened for $4,000, making the minimum raise, Parker made it $6,000 to go, also making the minimum raise with his pocket queens, and Player A called. The flop was 9-9-4, and Player A bet $4,000. Parker made it $12,000 to go, and Player A called. When a 7 came off on the turn, Player A checked and Parker moved all in. Player A called fairly quickly, and Tony flipped up his pocket queens. Player A then showed pocket aces, and when the last card was a 10, Parker was busted out.

Parker asked me if there was any way he could have avoided going broke in this hand. I said, "Of course not! But I would have raised it more before the flop with your pocket queens, perhaps making it $15,000 to go." Some hands, you just have to lose. Given that game seven was coming up two nights later, all of the Spurs players were drinking water, and most of them left before the tournament ended at 11:20 p.m. None of them, or I, made the final table.

After spending an hour or two giving Parker (and his two brothers) and Longoria some private lessons the next day at Parker's house, I came to be impressed with them both. They struck me as admirable and solid people, definitely not stuck-up or haughty, as so many famous athletes and actresses are. It's too bad the Spurs went on to lose game seven to the Mavericks. (By the way, I would have been going to an NBA Finals game if the Spurs had made it that far.)