Slash ESPN Best Damn Sports Show PokerBrat.com and UB

Posted: October 15, 2008 03:36 PM

Slash, ESPN, "Best Damn Sports Show," PokerBrat.com, and UB

On Tuesday Oct 7 I started playing $50-$100 blind heads up no limit Hold'em at UltimateBet.com. I won about $6,000 or so for the day. On Wednesday I bought in for $5,000, and cashed in about $54,700 or so, which rounds up to a $50,000 win! In that session I won a lucky pot. I had Qh-4h, and the flop was 9h-4s-3h. My opponent bet out $400, and raised it up the size of the pot. He called, and the turn card was the Ad. I now moved all in for about $7,300 into the $6,300 pot, and I was insta-called by my opponent who held Ah-9c; the river was the 10h! A nice card for me to hit for almost $21,000!

On Thursday I won over $10,000, but on Friday I lost a huge pot to a bad beat and I wound up losing $22,000 or so. I had Qh-7s, the flop was Qs-10h-7h, and I check raised the flop small. On the turn the 5s hit, I checked, my opponent bet $2,500, and I insta-moved all in. He snap called $6,500 more, the river was a ten, and he showed me K-Q. I made this guy move in over $10,000 with one pair, and most of it when I was over a six-to-one favorite! What a horrible play on his part, and a tough beat for me to take. Saturday I lost about $12,500, and again I lost a huge pot where I was a two-to-one favorite. I now made plans to fly to LA on Monday. Ideally, I would golf with Corey Pavin and Janet Gretzsky on Monday morning, but it was a tough day for them timing wise, so we cancelled. Instead, I flew in Monday night and attended an opening party at "Shin," (a new Korean barbeque at 1600 Wilcox). Chris and Danny Masterson, along with Laura Preppon invited me and I believe that the three of them have some ownership interest in "Shin," which is a very nice place. After 30 minutes there with my friend Scott Ian (the guitarist from "Anthrax" and "Pearl"), Scott and I decided to go to "Osteria Mozza" for dinner. It was either that or Eva's Parker's terrific restaurant "Beso." While we were at OM eating the manager told us that the most famous chef in the world was there-Ferran Adria-and that his restaurant "Eli Bulli" in Spain is the most famous restaurant (and the hardest to get into!) in the entire world. Scott was pretty excited, but I hadn't heard of Ferran before. After dinner, Scott and I headed over to the Roosevelt Hotel to have a drink at the Library bar with a friend of his from the show "Battle Star Gallactica." When we arrived near the Library bar, someone came running up to Scott to say, "Slash will be glad that you made it!" Scott said, "Why, what's up?" It turned out that Slash was having a party for his wife Perla in the bar next to the Library bar. So Scott got us credentialed, then we grabbed his other friends, and we headed in. I'm not a huge drinker, but I started early when I had a $250 shot of "Louis XIII" from the Ermitage Hotel; a shot that I took in a paper cup into Scott's car. Imagine drinking Louis out of a paper cup! By the time we hit Slash's party I was feeling pretty good. It turns out that Slash loves poker and is a big fan of mine (I'm honored)! This is especially cool, because my sons and I are big fans of Slash's. My boys love "Guitar Hero," and my whole family loves "Guns and Roses." After the bar closed Scott and I (and now Scott's girlfriend Pearl joined us) went up to Slash's suite where the party continued. Pearl feels like her new record deal came in part because "Pearl" opened for "Velvet Revolver" in Europe earlier in 2008, and there was also a lot of "Good blood" between the bands. By the way, I look forward to when "Pearl" and Pearl blow up big time! Pearl's first album debuts in April, and they will follow that up with a big tour.

Eventually, a deck of cards was found and we played a $100 buy in no limit Hold'em freeze out. The final three were Scott, Slash, and I. Imagine Slash with sunglasses and hat, me with sunglasses and hat, and Scott sitting there with shaved head and purple beard staring each other down! Scott won most of the money, but I won the title. I had a great time hanging out with Perla, Pearl, Scott, and Slash, and I wasn't at all surprised to learn that Slash is a really great guy. Slash also knows how to play poker! He had great patience and instincts for the game.

I hit my hotel room at the Ermitage at 5:00 am, and was up at around 12:30. Immediately upon waking up, I went for a run, and then I hit the gym. My voice was pretty cashed, and yet I had to do "Best damn Sports Show" in a few hours. I met Scott in the green room and we went on with Chris Rose (who told me my Green Bay Packers will probably win ten games-Rose announced the Seattle-Green Bay game last weekend), John Salley (he said that doesn't watch any NBA games anymore, but he does play tons of hours of poker), and Clarissa. It was a fun interview, and we talked about Slash, Scott's intro to poker, Annie and my "Best Damn Poker Show II," and my clothing line (which is now out at pokerbrat.com). I gave three hats away on air to Rose, Salley, and Clarissa (who looked amazing in my black PH hat!). Scott and my "Best Damn Poker Show" segment airs tonight (Wednesday) night on FSN, maybe at 9:00 pm and 11:00 pm? Tuesday night I made a fool out of myself on ESPN for two hours! However, it was great television…FYI - "Best Damn Poker Show" begins airing on October 27 on FSN. Look for me a lot the next week or two at UltimateBet.com playing heads up in the $50-$100 blind room.