Watching the Los Angeles Lakers beat the Orlando Magic for the NBA Basketball championship reminded me of a great heads-up Hold'em game that Lakers owner, Jerry Buss, played against poker pro Daniel Negreanu a few years back.
Buss, who holds a doctorate in chemistry, is truly a skilled Hold'em player. In fact, he manages to consistently stay ahead in whatever game he plays. He's dealt himself some of Basketball's biggest superstars including Earvin "Magic" Johnson, James Worthy, Shaquille O'Neal, Kobe Bryant and many others. His most recent NBA championship proves, once again, that Buss knows how to crush his Basketball competitors.
He can do it in poker, too. Buss regularly beats 99 percent of the world when he sits down to play Texas Hold'em but that's not good enough for him. He wants to compete against and beat the top one percent of poker players.
WSOP poker champ Johnny Chan once asked him why he's so driven to play against the best players in the world. Buss responded that he thrives on the challenge, that it's an honor to play against the best, and that there's no other game where he can sit down and play against the best in the world.
According to Buss, there's no better feeling that beating the best in the world.
Back in 2005, Buss was invited to play in the National Heads-Up Poker Championships. He drew Negreanu in the first round. Although Negreanu prevailed, the match had some great drama.
In the final hand, Negreanu had Qd-Jd and Buss had Ad-6h. They both moved all-in after the flop came 10d-9h-7d.
Negreanu needed a diamond or an eight, jack, queen or king. He famously called for the 8d on the turn. Lo and behold, it came!
Negreanu completed his flush but Buss was still alive, needing any diamond but the 9d to win the pot with his ace-high flush.
Negreanu jokingly called for the 9d on the river to complete his straight flush. And that card hit, too!
Buss momentarily thought he had won the pot with the diamond but Negreanu knew that wasn't the case. Negreanu shouted, "What was that! I just called for the eight of diamonds and the nine of diamonds, and they both came. That's too spooky!"
I'll say. The odds of calling two cards in a row are 1,892-to-1!
Fast forward to 2008 when I watched another confrontation between Buss and Negreanu on GSN's High Stakes Poker.
With the blinds at $300/$600, Chan opened for $1,600 with 6h-4h. Negreanu called from the button with Ah-Qc. Buss called in the big blind with Kh-Qh.
The flop came Qd-10h-2s. Buss and Chan checked. Negreanu bet $6,000 and Buss check-raised making it $18,000 to go. Chan folded quickly. Negreanu studied the situation, trying to decide what to do.
Negreanu grabbed two $50,000 bricks of cash, juggled them for a moment, and then tossed them into the pot. Now, it was Buss' turn to think.
Buss asked Negreanu if there was really $100,000 in the pot. "Yes," said Negreanu, "I think that $100,000 has you covered." Buss made the call.
Negreanu showed the A-Q and Buss acknowledged that Daniel had one of the few hands that had him beat.
Buss may have lost this pot and may have lost to Negreanu in the National Heads-Up Championship, but he'll always be one of the top Hold'em players in the world. He'll grab his share of poker victories because he's a true champion, just like his reigning 2009 World Champion Los Angeles Lakers .
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