Found: '04 WSOP final table member
Sometimes what you think of people, especially celebs and such, are shaped by meetings with them.
I'll give you an example: When I worked for the Arlington Morning News, I was the backup Texas Rangers writer. Will Clark was an ... well, he was cocky, arrogant, not a big fan of the media, and since I was young, he tried to walk all over me. To this day, I'm not a Will Clark fan. The first year of interleague play, the Padres came to Arlington. I scheduled an interview with now-Hall of Famer Tony Gwynn, that media relations failed to tell him about. He was hitting .400 at the time, and he was getting hounded about his average and interleague play, and he reluctantly told me to follow him to his locker. When I told him I wanted to do a story about what he would tell a little leaguer about hitting, his face lit up and he talked for an hour and a half. He was funny, informative and one hell of an interview. To this day, he remains one of my favorite three players, along with Greg Maddux and Nomar Garciapara.
That leads me to Matt Dean.
In 2004, the math teacher from The Woodlands, Texas finished seventh in World Series of Poker Main Event. He won a cool $675,000.
The next fall, my good friends Scott Honea, Joel Weckerly and I went to Club One in Dallas to play in a preliminary WSOP give-away qualifier hosted by 102.1 The Edge, when the great Jagger, Dean, Mondo and Jasmine were still manning the morning show. Matt Dean was playing in that event. (You had to win a seat online, but I doubt Matt had to!)
Having just penned a lengthy story on the poker explosion in Explore ..., a local magazine, I struck up a conversation with Matt Dean and told him I wish I had met him a month earlier. (I did interview Norman Chad for that story, and he was great. A lot like Gwynn, Chad started slow, but ended up being a great conversation with someone who acted more like a neighbor than a celebrity.)
Dean was accommodating, friendly and down to earth. He signed my hat and my seat number.
Then, Poof! Matt Dean disappeared.
I've tried to track him down, hoping to send him a Deuce Lee Poker Ledger. Finally, I've found him.
First, I found him recently in the results part on cardplayer.com. There is also a player list, and their results are tracked. Dean has actually been rather busy.
I also found his blog, http://blogs.chron.com/pokertable/. Very good stuff.
Because of that chance meeting at Club One, Matt Dean will always be one of my favorite pros. That night, I told him I hoped to see him in Vegas for the WSOP. I haven't given up hope.
I'll give you an example: When I worked for the Arlington Morning News, I was the backup Texas Rangers writer. Will Clark was an ... well, he was cocky, arrogant, not a big fan of the media, and since I was young, he tried to walk all over me. To this day, I'm not a Will Clark fan. The first year of interleague play, the Padres came to Arlington. I scheduled an interview with now-Hall of Famer Tony Gwynn, that media relations failed to tell him about. He was hitting .400 at the time, and he was getting hounded about his average and interleague play, and he reluctantly told me to follow him to his locker. When I told him I wanted to do a story about what he would tell a little leaguer about hitting, his face lit up and he talked for an hour and a half. He was funny, informative and one hell of an interview. To this day, he remains one of my favorite three players, along with Greg Maddux and Nomar Garciapara.
That leads me to Matt Dean.
In 2004, the math teacher from The Woodlands, Texas finished seventh in World Series of Poker Main Event. He won a cool $675,000.
The next fall, my good friends Scott Honea, Joel Weckerly and I went to Club One in Dallas to play in a preliminary WSOP give-away qualifier hosted by 102.1 The Edge, when the great Jagger, Dean, Mondo and Jasmine were still manning the morning show. Matt Dean was playing in that event. (You had to win a seat online, but I doubt Matt had to!)
Having just penned a lengthy story on the poker explosion in Explore ..., a local magazine, I struck up a conversation with Matt Dean and told him I wish I had met him a month earlier. (I did interview Norman Chad for that story, and he was great. A lot like Gwynn, Chad started slow, but ended up being a great conversation with someone who acted more like a neighbor than a celebrity.)
Dean was accommodating, friendly and down to earth. He signed my hat and my seat number.
Then, Poof! Matt Dean disappeared.
I've tried to track him down, hoping to send him a Deuce Lee Poker Ledger. Finally, I've found him.
First, I found him recently in the results part on cardplayer.com. There is also a player list, and their results are tracked. Dean has actually been rather busy.
I also found his blog, http://blogs.chron.com/pokertable/. Very good stuff.
Because of that chance meeting at Club One, Matt Dean will always be one of my favorite pros. That night, I told him I hoped to see him in Vegas for the WSOP. I haven't given up hope.
posted by deuceleeDOTcom at 6:56 PM
2 Comments:
Was Club One the club with the weird closed-in toilet stalls or was that the other club we went to?
In other poker news --- just got back from a four-day cruise to Ensenada, Mexico... played pot-limit Hold-Em every night with a bunch of drunk tourists and raked in about $300!
Ahh yes! I remember that conversation well. Someone mentioned a "deuce," and I replied that I never saw any stalls in there. It's because the doors went from the roof to the floor, they were painted black like the walls, it was dimly lit, and the guy turning the water on and off and offering lotions scared me! Cool take on the trip. Always knew pot-limit was your game.
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