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Rafe Furst

Cantu Can Do! And Can Furst Finish First? God, Sorry, Terrible, No Excuse for Those Headlines

by Wicked Chops Entity on 6.30.2006 in Poker News,Tournaments | 1 comment

BrandoncantuThe 2006 WSOP has its first event winner!

Editor’s Note: Let’s keep it real, the employee tournament, while special in its own way, doesn’t really count. Also, our enthusiasm with the exclamation point (!) is mostly feigned. We’re excited, sure, just not “exclamation point excited.”

Brandon Cantu has won the 2006 WSOP’s first [real] title by bagging Event #2 ($1,500 NLH). This is Cantu’s first major tournament cashing, and let’s just assume that he’s swimming in all that money you see right about now in his newly upgraded hotel suite. And trust us, what Brandon is feeling at this moment is hard to top. Big king-sized bed, money sprawled out in a sea of green, three beautiful Asian women wearing nothing but baby oil squirming around in it. It’s a feeling everyone must experience at least once. Brandon Cantu, enjoy it while you can.

BrandoncantublurryHowever, there is a greater question than how Brandon Cantu is enjoying his newly acquired $757,839. And that question is this: Can anyone at Poker Pages take a damn photo that doesn’t look like the photographer was smacked upside the head with a mallet when the lens snapped? (Evidence at left) Do they use a camera that has a "Blur Only" feature? We could hold a camera in our mouth while shivering from hypothermia and take clearer snaps then this.

Brandon Cantu bested Mark Ly heads-up for the title. Ly will take home $416,816. The big name pro at the final table, Carlos Mortensen, was the first to go. See how much richer Mortensen and the rest of the final table got over at Card Player.

Also, Event # 3 ($1,500 PLH) will wrap later today, and we’ll throw all journalistic integrity out the window by saying we’d really like to see Tiltboy Rafe Furst pull this one out.


However, it won’t be easy.


Rafe, who sits third overall with 222,000, will have to deal with the likes of John Juanda (147,000), Burt Boutin (140,000), Day 1 chip leader Can Kim Hua (122,000), and current chip leader Eric Lynch (455,000), among others.
A Furst victory truly has some mega-tilt implications, as Rafe would win his first WSOP bracelet before everyone’s favorite 6’9 presidential candidate, Phil Gordon. How can two Tiltboys own bracelets (Perry Friedman being the other) before Phil Gordon? We believe the word you’re looking for is “preposterous.”

But it could happen today. Final table play kicks off at 2pm PST. Check Card Player and Poker Wire for the updates.

* Photos from Card Player and Poker Pages, respectively.

Tagged as: 2006 WSOP, brandon cantu, live blogging, Rafe Furst, Tiltboys, wsop tournament reports

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The Blogfiles: Jen Leo Live!

by Wicked Chops Entity on 6.12.2006 in Uncategorized | 13 comments

Jenleoheader

Intro: Jen Leo is, without a doubt, our favorite female poker blogger.  Granted, it’s not like there’s a ton of competition in that market, but even if there was, she’d still be our favorite.  Cause she can fucking write. She’s like the Mia Hamm of writing. In that Mia Hamm is like the best female soccer player of our generation, and Jen is a damn witty, funny, intelligent writer…and a girl. We like her so much we’ve even put her pink header graphic at the top of this post. Yes, a big bright pink header, on WCP. But this isn’t about us. It’s about Jen.  Maybe you’ve seen her stuff in BLUFF, Woman Poker Player (it’s a magazine for women…who play poker), TIME, and Playboy. She’s also got a book in the works. The girl has got talent. Which is great. Cause we respect women. We respect their minds. We respect what they have to say. Lots. For real.

WCP: So…what are you wearing?

JL: I am wearing a short, lavender bathrobe, nothing underneath.

WCP: Hot. Alright. You’re a quote unquote writer. So what the hell got you into poker? Shouldn’t you be at a coffee shop typing away on your Mac wearing Moby-esque eye-glasses?

Jen_leo_pauly JL: I’ve been in the travel book publishing biz for ten years. But the Chinese side of my family has insured that I’ve had gambling in my blood for longer than that. My grandfather taught me how to play craps, and then proceeded to take me to Vegas several times a year after I was 21. After a while, I wanted to write about my gambling experiences but didn’t quite know how to go about it. So, on one trip to the desert I went to the Gamblers Bookstore and got the grand tour from Howard Schwartz. I asked him to set me up with books that I could learn from. One of the ones he suggested was Anthony Holden’s Big Deal. After I read and raved about that one, a friend recommended Positively Fifth Streetby James McManus.

That’s all it took. Two books. I was hooked and just had to see the World Series of Poker. So, knowing very little about the game, but knowing how to get a few writing gigs, I packed my things in San Francisco and moved to Vegas for the summer. That was just last year. Now, I’m hooked the whole way around. On tournaments, and playing in our home game, and online.

But yes, if I were a kept woman and could say no to the ever present marketing ideas that take over my brain and lead me to busyness, I’d love to sit and write romantic comedy scripts at a coffee shop. It’s the adult version of a teenager’s bad love poetry.

WCP: How much leverage do you get out of telling people, "Yeah, I’ve been in Playboy…"

JL: That’s funny. But still a lame question.

[click to continue…]

Tagged as: phil gordon, Rafe Furst

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