Poker Pro David Diaz Thrilled To Be Back At WSOP After Getting Banned Last SummerOne-Year Ban Has Ended For 2011 Bracelet Winner |
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Card Player’s 2014 WSOP coverage is sponsored by CarbonPoker.
Poker pro David Diaz had a rough summer last year. He was banned from all the remaining World Series of Poker events in early June after a drunken night out at a Caesars nightlife venue. He explained that he got into hot water because he “was so drunk and harassing [people] at Carnaval Court.” He said that he didn’t remember anything about the incident.
Fast forward to this summer at poker’s largest tournament series, and the 2011 bracelet winner is back competing for more hardware, as well as some prize money.
Card Player had the chance to speak to him on a break during Friday’s $3,000 buy-in no-limit hold’em six-max tournament to find out how he feels to be back at the Rio.
Brian Pempus: How does it feel to be here at the World Series after getting banned last year?
David Diaz: Oh, it feels great. I mean, it’s the best tournament in the world. This six-max event is actually the tournament that I got…they came and got me and kicked me out of the tournament. So, I feel pretty good about this tournament.
BP: Do you think still think about the incident last year that got you into trouble?
DD: Yeah, I do. I was like top 10 in chips with around 100 people left. So, yeah, I ended up missing out on a lot of money in that event. They disqualified me and gave me back $3,500.
BP: What exactly happened last summer? There was a lot of speculation.
DD: I’d rather not talk about it. It’s over with.
BP: What did you do after the ban last summer?
DD: I went back home and played cash games. I started on a better diet and quit drinking some.
BP: Have people in the poker community been happy to see you back at the Rio?
DD: Yeah, I have a lot of support in the poker community. But you are still going to have haters. There are a lot of people happy to see me back competing. Everyone comes here, and I wanted to be able to compete. If you are a tournament player, this is when you can make the bulk of your money. Last year I was in a good grove; I was running deep in a lot of events. I kind of screwed myself out of a lot of money. I also missed the main event, and that’s the biggest tournament there is. It was devastating. I had to go back home and check out what my values were.
Diaz ended up finishing 48th out of 810 in the $3,000 six-max for a score of $7,938.
For more coverage from the 2014 summer Series, visit our WSOP landing page.
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