Gossip Column: Tom Dwan Coolers Antonio Esfandiari on Poker After Dark, Molly’s Game Trailer Released & Poker Player Jason Funke Shot

Gossip Column
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  • PG News August 17, 2017
  • 4 Minutes Read

Gossip! It’s as delicious as anything forbidden is – there is something unreasonably lascivious in indulging in some wild, wicked and decadent loose talk, especially when it concerns such colorful personalities, such as our poker players. We must admit that we enjoy bringing these shenanigans to you, just as much as you get a kick out of reading them! This time we are barraged by stories of fruitcakes like Tom Dwan whose return made noise at the Poker After Dark show after he won a massive $700K pot from Antonio Esfandiari.

Waitress, Skier and Poker Hostess, Molly Bloom is back too, this time prepped to bring you her real-life story on silver screens and our last story is of a 25-year-old poker player who got shot by Las Vegas police after he was found butt naked that too with a semi-automatic gun.

 

Tom Dwan Coolers Antonio Esfandiari for $700,000 on Poker After Dark

The new season of the immensely popular poker show ‘Poker After Dark’ made a comeback on August 14 exclusively on PokerGO with a $100,000 buy-in cash game that featured Tom Dwan’s return to US poker.

There was over $2 million in play with big names like Daniel Negreanu, Antonio Esfandiari, Jean-Robert Bellande, Bill Klein and Lauren Roberts in action. The $200/$400 blinds began with a super (two) ante, later reduced to one straddle and the main talking point of the episode was a massive hand where Dwan won almost $700,000 from Antonio ‘The Magician’ Esfandiari.

It took some time for the production crew to solve some audio and graphics issues early during the live stream, but the kinks were ironed out in time to capture what might be the most ridiculous cooler the show has ever seen.

The hand of the night came when Dwan was dealt aces, Esfandiari kings and Negreanu queens. But more important is what happened prior to the hand. Bellande, Negreanu and Esfandiari talked about how many times they’ve folded kings preflop in their lifetime. Negreanu claimed twice, won once and Bellande was there to see it years ago. Esfandiari said he’d done it five times in his life and that his “folding days were over.”

Tom Dwan & Antonio Esfandiari
Tom Dwan & Antonio Esfandiari

A pre-flop raising war saw roughly $700,000 go in the middle after Dwan six-bet shoved all in, Negreanu mucked and Esfandiari called to run it twice. Esfandiari blanked both boards, Dwan took a large lead and Esfandiari reloaded a bit later. That hand proved to be the turning point for Esfandiari He had a hard time gaining any traction after the beat and was visibly struggling to reign in tilt.

 

Molly’s Game Trailer Released

Hollywood is all set to bring the real-life story of Molly Bloom to reel life that too with top of the line star cast and production. Leading Hollywood actress Jessica Chastain shines in the first trailer for “Molly’s Game,” which portrays her as the operator of a high-stakes underground poker game before she is arrested in the middle of the night by FBI agents.

The movie is based on the true story of the leading lady, who for years ran the most exclusive high-end poker game in town that attracted Hollywood celebrities, sports stars, and billionaire businessmen. (Gossip lovers might remember her stories about Tobey Maguire from a few years back.) But it all came crashing down in 2011, when the FBI arrested her.

If that crisp, cutting rhythm of dialogue seems familiar to movie buffs, that’s because the movie comes from writer of legendary movies like The Social Network, A Few Good Men and creator of epic TV Series West Wing. Yes, we are talking about Aaron Sorkin who is now trying his hand stepping behind the camera as a director for the first time. He adapted the script from the 2014 book “Molly’s Game: From Hollywood’s Elite to Wall Street’s Billionaire Boys Club, My High-Stakes Adventure in the World of Underground Poker.”

Renowned actors Michael Cera, Brian d’Arcy James, Chris O’Dowd, Bill Camp, Graham Greene, Claire Rankin and Kevin Costner star in the movie that is expected to release on November 22 (USA). It will screen at next month’s Toronto International Film Festival too.

The project was bought at the famous Cannes Film Festival last year for $9 million.

IMDB describes the movie’s storyline like this – “Molly Bloom a beautiful, young, Olympic-class skier who ran the world’s most exclusive high-stakes poker game for a decade before being arrested in the middle of the night by 17 FBI agents wielding automatic weapons. Her players included Hollywood royalty, sports stars, business titans and finally, unbeknownst to her, the Russian mob. Her only ally was her criminal defense lawyer Charlie Jaffey, who learned that there was much more to Molly than the tabloids led us to believe.”

 

Naked Poker Player With Semi-Automatic Gun Shot by Las Vegas Police

Poker players can indeed indulge in some crazy behavior and more often than not they pay for what they do. 25-year-old poker player Jason Funke was recently shot by police outside the Life Springs Christian Church in Las Vegas after he bizarrely stumbled around naked in the church’s parking lot holding a semi-automatic weapon.

The incident, which was caught on camera from a police helicopter, took place at around 11am on August 5. The longhaired Funke was seen meditating cross-legged outside the church with the gun on the ground beside him. He then stood up, picked up the gun, and began walking slowly, all butt naked across the parking lot towards no particular person/place.

After the Las Vegas police demanded him to drop the weapon, Funke dropped it and put his hands above his head while walking slowly towards a police officer waiting to apprehend him. But, out of nowhere Funke had a change of heart and turned on his heels, making a dash for the gun. A police sniper took him out with a well-aimed shot to the shoulder.

Funke cashed three times at this year’s WSOP, including the Main Event and was apparently known to the church and had previously donated money to them.

Keith Mosher, one of the church employees had approached Funke as he sat meditating and had previous knowledge of the poker player. According to the police report from the incident, “Mosher had previously met Funke with the Elder of the church after Funke had donated money to the church and school,” the arrest report said. “Funke was suicidal and told Mosher that he had been using LSD, marijuana and alcohol. A couple of days prior, when Mosher saw Funke, he stated he felt better and was okay.”

Funke was booked into the Clark County Detention Center on one count each of possession of a dangerous weapon at a school or child care property, and indecent exposure. Jail records show he is no longer in custody.”

The bizarre incident took the poker world by a surprise and even high stakes pro Doug “WCGRider” Polk shared table space with him at the featured table at the 2017 WSOP Main Event!

That’s it for this time, folks. Though there exists a lot of uncertainty in poker, you can be certain, we will be back, with many more luscious stories that create records off the felts. Till then, Au Revoir!

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