The Scoop -- Rafe Furst

Rafe Furst was one of the first members of the Tiltboys, a group of players who started a weekly home game almost two decades ago and published a book about their experiences. He won a World Series of Poker bracelet in a 2006 $1,500 pot-limit hold’em event, and also spearheads the initiative “Put a Bad Beat on Cancer.” He recently sat down with Adam and Diego to talk about an event that put the Tiltboys in the poker spotlight.

Diego Cordovez: I mean, really, you actually came to light in large degree when you guys played in a women’s tournament. We’ve talked about ladies tournaments, the purpose of ladies tournaments and open tournaments, and I don’t know the exact dates, but you guys, meaning you and Perry [Friedman] and the other Tiltboys, dressed up as women and took part in a women’s event. At the time, it became a controversial thing, because in some ways it could be viewed as a mockery of it, and even a challenge to the legality of it.

Rafe Furst: You [Diego] were in the Bay Area at the time. I don’t know if you were at Bay 101, but …

DC: No, thank God, because the image of it might still be seared in my head [laughing].

RF: Well, you can go online and read about it [laughing]. So, yeah, it was myself, Phil Gordon, Perry Friedman, and Mike Stern, my cousin, who ended up chopping the tournament, actually. I made the final table, as well. It was my best finish up to that point. Just to give you some context, Matt Savage was still dealing. He was a dealer at Bay 101. A couple of the dealers got wind of the fact that we were thinking about doing this. Bay 101 had a meeting, and they decided amongst themselves that they’d let us do it.

Adam Schoenfeld: Also, in California, they are going to have a hard time stopping anyone from doing anything in a public venue.

RF: That is true.

DC: Did they decide to let you do this because they were afraid of the consequences of not letting you do it or because they thought it might be fun and good publicity, or a combination?

RF: I think a combination. I think they had a pretty decent sense of humor about it.

DC: But some people didn’t, correct?

RF: One or two of the participants didn’t.

AS: One or two, meaning all of the other entrants [laughing].

RF: I don’t remember it being that way, and I don’t remember it not being that way. What I remember is the official version that we told. Actually, Nolan Dalla wrote about it in Card Player.

DC: Was this just a goof or was there a point?

RF: I think, really, it was a goof trying to look for a point, meaning that we just wanted to do it. It was so much fun. We didn’t really have an agenda. We knew what the agenda would have been, but …

DC: So, it wasn’t a commentary on ladies-only tournaments?

RF: No, because it was the first one, at least at Bay 101. I didn’t have any problem with it.

DC: Now you did this again, correct?

AS: You wore women’s … or traditional women’s clothing?

RF: Thank you, mister, that’s politically correct.

AS: Did Phil Gordon have to go to the big and tall women’s shop?

RF: [Laughing] We went to Goodwill, but Phil didn’t go. We picked outfits for everybody. We just showed up, put on our stuff, and away we went.

AS: See, wearing the women’s clothing might have been the point at which it crosses over from a semi-serious political statement to mockery [laughing] … not that I’m against that.