Posts Tagged ‘mtv’

The Poker Beat

by , Oct 18, 2010 | 5:17 am


Pokerati’s pirate feed is back … and to celebrate, the amazing Joey Stapleton from PokerStars’ The Big Game joins Huff, Sirius XM’s “fantasy guy”, in studio as Gary is off getting married and BJ leaves Jess to work the floor of WPT-Bellagio/Festa (unprotected from knife-wielding bandits!) so he and an angry Wolfman can tell you 2/6ths of everything there is to know about:

The Poker Beat: October 17, 2010

[audio:http://www.pokerroad.com/download/the-poker-beat:85]
  • Rush Poker in your pocket – and the perks of Full Tilt’s Black Card
  • Russian spy Anna Chapman – and the wisdom of a poker dalliance with black ops
  • Nick Schulman on MTV’s World of Jenks
  • Weeds poker TV
  • Regional COOPing in the USA
  • WPT-Festa al Lago and WSOP-Indiana
  • WSOPC on Versus TV

Joan Rivers to Host Pokery TV Show

Starring Norm Zada, math professor turned porn exec

by , Jul 29, 2009 | 1:20 am

OK, I’m definitely Tivo-ing this one:

The economy is definitely taking a toll on everybody, but unlike many people, Norm Zada took a chance and became a millionaire–by gambling! Norm made $100,000 in one year which he eventually turned into $100 million by playing poker. Watch him talk about his journey on TV Land Prime’s new original series “How’d You Get So Rich?,”- hosted by gossip diva Joan Rivers- which premieres on August 5th at 10pm. Multi-millionaire Norm is able to live every man’s dream in a lavish 11 bedroom house surrounded by famous neighbors and beautiful women serving as his employees.

WTF? That’s what MTV (parent network of TV Land) is saying … even though this Norm Zada character has no listing in the Hendon Mob database nor on Pocket 5s. So who is he really?

For one, he is founder of the implant-free porn magazine Perfect 10 (nsfw). He’s the same guy who sued Google (and won) over their use of thumbnail images from his publication. He’s also the author of a book, Winning Poker Systems, which was a follow-up to his not-so-heralded paper, “Theoretical efficiency of the Edmonds-Karp algorithm for computing maximal flows.”

Prior to poker (and porn), he apparently taught mathematics and computer science at Stanford, Columbia, and UCLA. And then he tried to start money management competitions called the U.S. Trading Championship and the U.S. Investing Championship … essentially the World Series of Finance? In 1996, he supposedly made the claim that balancing the US federal budget would lead to “economic disaster” — and offered $400,000 to anyone who could prove him wrong.

Zada, a Ph.D., is the son of famed UC-Berkley mathematician and computer scientist Lofti Zadeh, who received the 2009 Benjamin Franklin Medal in Electrical Engineering for “inventing and developing the field of ‘fuzzy logic,’ in which a system applies a quantitative assessment to inherently ambiguous ideas, thus providing a new paradigm to improve artificial intelligence and automated control systems.”

Oh, and he’s part Iranian.


Can You Handle The Truth?

I mean at poker

by , Jul 21, 2008 | 9:59 am

Got sucked into a new awesome/terrible reality show yesterday on MTV2 called From G’s to Gents — have already programmed a “season pass” on the Tivo to make sure I don’t miss an episode. The show is done by Jamie Foxx, and the concept revolves around P-Diddy’s personal valet, Fonzworth Bentley, trying to reform gangstas into classy dudes. Anyhow, one of the first contestants eliminated for non-stop yapping and going on near-violent tilt early was a guy named “The Truth” — and he claimed he made his living “hustling” in New York and “playing poker” in Atlantic City. Just wondering if any of you out there have run across him (or anyone like him) at the tables, and what he’s like to play against.


Do Online Players Want Their MTV?

by , Nov 24, 2007 | 1:03 am

MTV logoEvidently, MTV is seeking online poker players for a reality/documentary series to air on the network. “True Life” is a series that has been running since 1998, featuring stories on everything from interfaith relationships to drug addictions to wannabe superstars.

In the producer’s quest for online players, the company posted a request on the 2+2 forums looking for online players ranging from 18-28 who lead interesting lives.

Ummm, can you imagine the kinds of responses they’re getting?

Well, everyone wants their 15 minutes of fame. If you’re not a world-famous poker pro, this might be your chance.


Hollywood Juice

by , Sep 15, 2007 | 3:17 pm

Living and working in Los Angeles, just a few miles of nightmarish traffic away from Hollywood, it’s not difficult to keep up with tabloid journalism news of the rich and famous. And as they make poker news, this reporter is right there to help spread rumors and inconsequential news. You’re welcome.

Let’s start with MTV’s Video Music Awards that took place in Las Vegas last weekend. Sure, the important news was Brittany Spears and her, ummm, interesting performance at the show. But I’m here to give you the poker-related info.

Rolling Stone magazine took the opportunity of the celebrity mecca to Vegas to celebrate their 40th anniversary with parties and the obligatory charity poker tournament. Nowhere could it be determined what charity was benefiting from the event, nor what the buy-in was. It was confirmed that there were 15 tables that played out on Saturday, September 8, and some of the participants included Nelly, Kevin Smith, Joe Simpson, Brody Jenner, Cee-Lo, Ryan Cabrera, John Salley, and Vince Neil.

NellyThe winner? Rap superstar Nelly. At the WSOP, he played the $10k main event and donked off his chips in less than two hours. At this charity tournament, he outplayed a bunch of celebrities and won the thing. The best news was that he donated all of his prize money to charity.

How did Nelly go from donkey-status to semi-average poker player? Evidently, he’s been dropping in on home games with Phil Laak and Antonio Esfandiari. Homeboy seems to be serious about being a playa.

Pamela AndersonOther news at the VMA’s included the high school man-to-man fight between Kid Rock and Tommy Lee over Pamela Anderson, going forward to be referred to as Pammie. (Not that she and I are gal pals, but I like men to think so.) While the boys are fighting over her, she claims to be in love with a pro poker player. She refused to name the person to any source, even Ellen DeGeneres, but reportedly told one source that she was down several hundred thousand dollars in a poker game, and the player offered to take care of it in return for, ummm, take a guess. “I paid off a poker debt with sexual favors,” she said, “and fell in love. He took advantage of me… He’s a good guy.” And on the Ellen show, she confirmed that much and concluded with, “It’s so romantic. It’s romance.”

Awww.

Pamela Anderson with Rick Solomon & friendThe tabloids have put her statements together with some recent sightings of Pammie and Rick Salomon, infamous Paris Hilton sex tape entrepreneur, on a Malibu beach on Labor Day weekend, so rumors are running rampant that Rick is that poker player. Here’s a tip for Pammie and everyone else: Rick Salomon is not a professional poker player. Trust us.

But the Pammie rumor mill is not out of juice yet. According to the Las Vegas Magazine blog site, insiders are saying that Pammie’s new boyfriend is actually poker pro Antonio Esfandiari. Voila! That would be magical, wouldn’t you agree?

Antonio EsfandiariSpeaking of Antonio, he’s made the tabloids lately with his recent Cristal-off. He was reportedly at the new nightclub Blush at the Wynn on the Vegas Strip, and he and NBA pro Kobe Bryant were each trying to buy more Cristal champagne than the other. Kobe ordered approximately 15 bottles – cheapskate! Not to be outdone, Antonio ended up ordering 26 bottles and spent nearly $35k for one night out. Then he told TMZ about it. Nice hand, sir.