Here’s a shot of the $300k before it was returned.
It’s the feel-good story of the season. In fact it’s just about the ONLY story of the season. The taxi cab driver who found $300,000 in his cab and did the right thing by turning it in and finding its rightful owner finally gets what he deserves.
As many had hoped, that man, Gerardo Gamboa, was thanked and rewarded from the as-of-yet unnamed 28 year old Las Vegas poker professional. The poker pro cut out $10k from his stack and gave it to the cabbie as a reward for doing the right thing and, according to the Las Vegas Sun, a thrilled Gamboa took that $10k to the bank. Literally.
“I’m taking it to the bank for now. But after that, I don’t know what is going to happen,” he said.
Additionally, the cab company itself reportedly awarded Gamboa with an extra $1000, gave him a gift certificate to some steakhouse and named him “Employee Of The Year.”
Gamboa also noted that a piece of the reward was being kicked upstairs to his church.
The last piece to the puzzle, for inquiring minds is, who is the forgetful prominent poker player? Justin Bonomo? Ike Haxton? While a number of poker professionals as well as authorities know who it is, that name has yet to be leaked to the public.
published
4 years, 5 months ago •
by Jeff •
permalink
If you like to watch other people laugh at things that, for you, have almost zero context, then you are going to adore this cute video of the Royal Flush Girls messing up their lines, making funny faces and getting a serious case of the giggles in what the World Poker Tour is calling “the best” of their 2013 bloopers.
RIP (some other) Jeffrey Pollack and confirming pics before posting article. (h/t @mikecraigisamok) http://t.co/YEYfkks520— AlCantHang (@AlCantHang) December 27, 2013
Former World Series of Poker Commissioner turned Epic Poker Executive Chairman (and poker persona non gratis), Jeffrey Pollack was mistaken for another semi-famous Jeffrey Pollack this week when online publication The Atlanta Blackstar posted the photo of the still living poker Pollack in a story about the recently deceased Pollack that is best known as being an Executive Producer of “The Fresh Prince of Bel Air.”
Of course, this has very little to do with either Pollack and more to do with the fact-checking of the publication. But for what it’s worth, Pollack, the Hollywood director/producer died in Hermosa Beach, CA, likely due to natural causes after a career that included directing three feature films and producing a host of television shows.
Speaking of lack of fact-checking, we just assume that Epic Poker’s Jeffrey Pollack is alive and kicking. We can confirm that Epic Poker still is not.
Las Vegas veteran cabbie Gerardo Gamboa must have done a double take when he haphazardly discovered that the brown paper bag found in his cab had a wad of cash inside that would likely take him 6 or more years to make on the job. Six bundles of hundreds totaling roughly $300k were left in the back seat of his ride on Monday morning and he had no idea how it got there.
According to the Las Vegas Journal Review, Gamboa was alterted to the nondescript bag by a hotel doorman after pulling into the Bellagio to pick up a fare. It wasn’t long before he looked inside to discover the small fortune. While perhaps in the City of Sin some may have been tempted to keep the cash, Gamboa immediately notified his dispatcher and drove straight to home base so they could find its rightful owner.
“Even though I am a poor guy I don’t need money that doesn’t belong to me,” said Gamboa to the LVJR.
The police were brought in and eventually the money was traced to a “prominent poker player” that the police refused to identify publicly. All Gamboa could remember was that he believes the passenger was taken from the Cosmopolitan and dropped off at the Palms Tower, for which he received a $5 tip (which means that we know it wasn’t Adam “Roothlus” Levy – way too much of a tip to be him.)
No word as of yet on whether the honest cabbie will get a little bonus reward for his good deed but assuming this story is on the up and up, let’s hope so.
If you are in the mood for some sexually suggestive double entendres about the language used in the poker world, then we have found the perfect video for you. It’s WSOP.com's follow up to their somewhat successful “How To Poker: Talk Like You Have A Pair” video commercial series and it’s packed with hilarious double-speak.
It’s short, sweet, well made and shows that every so often these giant corporate money making machines have a sense of humor. How good is that sense of humor? Well, you have to judge that for yourself.
This video is for everyone out there who at one time folded a certain two face cards and declared to the table “I had Jack King off.”
In case you missed part one of this series, you can check it out right here:
The best thing Qureshi ever did was inspire the SrslySirius’ classic “What’s My [Screen] Name?”
In 2011, in a post Black Friday haze, one of the biggest scandals/dramas in online poker was the Rise and Fall of Lock Poker Pro “Girah“. The mastermind of the whirlwind story, which included chip dumping, teamviewing and more lies than Jim Carey in a lawyer movie, was online poker pro and amateur author Haseeb “DogIsHead” Qureshi. This weekend, on his blog, the one time self proclaimed “liar and dishonest person” has opted to try and “start over” by giving away nearly $500k to his family and charity, leaving only $10k for himself to try and get a new start (and promote his new book.)
We’re NOT going to lie – this is pretty involved and has a lot of moving parts so only jump in if you have time. But, since it’s the holidays, you might just have that time. Here is some background for you:
It’s the end of the year when we all assess what we’ve done and how it’s all gone down. The good guys over at the iconic poker site Wicked Chops Poker decided to take a look back at the state of poker media and gave our big brother pokerfuse some mighty high praise.
Bravo. Add a few pics of hot girls and a snarky comment here and there, and Poker Fuse feels like what WCP would be if we had ever dedicated ourselves 100% to the site. Given our opinions of ourselves, that’s high praise. Also, having met Michael Gentile and Jeff Walsh, the Fusers are among the more “normal” guys we’ve met in the industry.
Phil Ivey has taken a new approach to his image in 2013. He’s been looser, more available and, at times, even playful, and it has been quite a departure from the stonewalling enigmatic persona he’s put forth for most of his career.
Take this photo for instance: we all have embarrassing photos lurking in a yearbook or our parents photo albums, but Ivey not only ships that photo out to his social media stream – but he contemplates taking a bet that would take his haircut back to the old school.
How much cash would it take to get Ivey to let it all go for a calendar year? We’re guessing there’s not enough on the table to let something like that happen but it’s fun to take a look at the past and see what the future of poker looked like back then.
*Doyle “Texas Dolly” Brunson has announced his retirement from poker so that he can spend more time with his wife, who is in failing health.
Brunson has amassed 10 WSOP bracelets, a WPT title along with being a fixture in the high-stakes cash games run in the famous “Bobby’s Room” over the decades.
Talking to Poker Central ahead of his last WSOP foray Brunson said: “I’m planning on retiring after the summer. My wife is not in very good health, and I will stay with her for the duration of either her life or mine.”
You can read more on Brunson’s decision to retire from the game over on Poker Central.
Currently Brunson and his son Todd have cashed in the $10,000 No Limit 2-7 Single Draw — where play continues today — in what could be the last hurrah from the poker godfather.
I’ve been replaced as chip leader https://t.co/fnzqZp7vV9— Todd Brunson (@ToddBrunson) June 12, 2018
It has only taken 7 years for Chris “Jesus” Ferguson to apologise for his part in the Full Tilt fiasco that followed Black Friday. He has finally commented via Vimeo. Check it out below.
A year on from agreeing to a crazy prop bet with billionaire Bill Perkins, the Staples brothers have walked away with $150,000 and won their bet to get within 1 lb of each other.
Unibet have worked with creative agency FCB Inferno to release a custom deck of cards to accompany the launch of a new poker format where the Queen outranks the King.The project is intended to help draw attention to gender equality and unconscious gender bias in poker.
In this great interview with CardPlayer Lifestyle, Robbie Strazynski goes one-on-one with Phil Hellmuth ahead of the launch of his new autobiography “The Poker Brat”—which Hellmuth hopes will become a New York Times Bestseller—to really find out the man behind the famous name.
Thanks to pokernyhederne and some cryptic tweets from Doyle Brunson it was revealed that the two men who lost their shit in the Bellagio’s high stakes Bobby’s Room were none other than Gus Hansen and David Oppenhiem.
We are bit late to the party on this, but back in late November Fedor Holz challenged his twitter followers to read or listen to 40 new books before the end of the year. All in the name of bettering yourself. I think.
After a few minutes of creeping on Twitter, we have managed to round up some of the best photos from the much anticipated wedding of Jason Mercier and Natasha Barbour.
Branching out into the world of YouTube beyond his usual poker shows, Polk is now reaching for heights of internet stardom by trying to recreate the success of renowned YouTubers such as PewDiePie, Markiplier, and jacksepticeye.
The Atlantic Ballroom at the Resorts Casino in Atlantic City New Jersey is the scene of the all new StarsFun Skills Zone. Those attending the new PokerStars Festival event in New Jersey can not only blow off steam while taking a break from the poker tables, but they can take the opportunity to even get in a little extra action.
By now just about everyone has seen the infamous “Check your privilege” hand from the 2016 World Series of Poker Main Event (if not you can watch it below), but according to speech-play master William Kassouf, there was more to the hand between him and November Niner Griffin Benger than what was shown on ESPN.
Following Mike “The Mouth” Matusow’s interview on the PokerNews podcast where he talked about the Poker Hall of Fame nominees and why he feels he was snubbed, Daniel Negreanu took to the podcast to tackle some misconceptions that were spoken about.
Doyle Brunson Will Retire From Poker After Last WSOP Outing This Summer
*Doyle “Texas Dolly” Brunson has announced his retirement from poker so that he can spend more time with his wife, who is in failing health.
Brunson has amassed 10 WSOP bracelets, a WPT title along with being a fixture in the high-stakes cash games run in the famous “Bobby’s Room” over the decades.
Talking to Poker Central ahead of his last WSOP foray Brunson said: “I’m planning on retiring after the summer. My wife is not in very good health, and I will stay with her for the duration of either her life or mine.”
You can read more on Brunson’s decision to retire from the game over on Poker Central.
Currently Brunson and his son Todd have cashed in the $10,000 No Limit 2-7 Single Draw — where play continues today — in what could be the last hurrah from the poker godfather.
Watch Chris Ferguson's Nothingburger Full Tilt Statement
It has only taken 7 years for Chris “Jesus” Ferguson to apologise for his part in the Full Tilt fiasco that followed Black Friday. He has finally commented via Vimeo. Check it out below.
Jaime & Matt Staples Win Prop Bet!
A year on from agreeing to a crazy prop bet with billionaire Bill Perkins, the Staples brothers have walked away with $150,000 and won their bet to get within 1 lb of each other.
#QUEENRULES At Unibet
Unibet have worked with creative agency FCB Inferno to release a custom deck of cards to accompany the launch of a new poker format where the Queen outranks the King.The project is intended to help draw attention to gender equality and unconscious gender bias in poker.
Daniel Negreanu: "Forget Books...Watch Twitch Streamers"
Daniel Negreanu has taken to Twitter to let his followers know that he thinks Twitch streamers are “more engaging and entertaining than a book”.
The Kevin Hart Hand Everyone is Talking About
You need to see it to believe it!
Watch: Kara Scott's Top 5 Poker Topics of 2017
888poker’s The Poker Brief with Kara Scott released its year in review episode last week focusing on the “top 5 topics that matter” in poker.
Welcome to a New Dawn: PokerStars Announces the PokerStars Player Championship
PokerStars has revealed the PokerStars Player Championship NL Hold’em event for January 2019.
Liv Boeree Stars in Video Sponsored by Hewlett Packard
Professional poker player and PokerStars sponsored pro Live Boeree appears in a video released last week about artificial intelligence and poker.
WATCH: Doug Polk Gives Advice on Avoiding Poker Scams
In Doug Polk’s latest video, the subject is all about “scams, hacks and angles” that players should watch out for in the poker community.
Phil Hellmuth Thinks He'd Have Made A Good US President
In this great interview with CardPlayer Lifestyle, Robbie Strazynski goes one-on-one with Phil Hellmuth ahead of the launch of his new autobiography “The Poker Brat”—which Hellmuth hopes will become a New York Times Bestseller—to really find out the man behind the famous name.
2017: The Year of The Durrrr Challenge?
It looks like 2017 might be the year that Tom “Durrrr” Dwan and Daniel “Jungelman” Cates can resurrect the Durrrr Challenge.
Doyle Brunson Dishes The Dirt On Bobby's Room Bust Up
Thanks to pokernyhederne and some cryptic tweets from Doyle Brunson it was revealed that the two men who lost their shit in the Bellagio’s high stakes Bobby’s Room were none other than Gus Hansen and David Oppenhiem.
Fedor Holz Challenges You To Read 40 _useful_ Books Before The End of The Year
We are bit late to the party on this, but back in late November Fedor Holz challenged his twitter followers to read or listen to 40 new books before the end of the year. All in the name of bettering yourself. I think.
Brian Hastings Moving On From Poker, Brewing Tea Instead
Brian Hastings is moving on from this turbulent industry of poker.
Pics! Jason Mercier & Natasha Barbour Tie The Knot
After a few minutes of creeping on Twitter, we have managed to round up some of the best photos from the much anticipated wedding of Jason Mercier and Natasha Barbour.
Introducing Doug Polk's Comedy Show
Branching out into the world of YouTube beyond his usual poker shows, Polk is now reaching for heights of internet stardom by trying to recreate the success of renowned YouTubers such as PewDiePie, Markiplier, and jacksepticeye.
Brian Hastings Sees Similarities In His Multi Accounting And Hillary Clinton's Emails
Brian Hastings has taken to his blog to tell us all why this election is so important to him.
StarsFun Skills Zone Adds to Festivities at PokerStars Festival in New Jersey
The Atlantic Ballroom at the Resorts Casino in Atlantic City New Jersey is the scene of the all new StarsFun Skills Zone. Those attending the new PokerStars Festival event in New Jersey can not only blow off steam while taking a break from the poker tables, but they can take the opportunity to even get in a little extra action.
William Kassouf Talks About What You Didn’t See in the “Check Your Privilege” Hand
By now just about everyone has seen the infamous “Check your privilege” hand from the 2016 World Series of Poker Main Event (if not you can watch it below), but according to speech-play master William Kassouf, there was more to the hand between him and November Niner Griffin Benger than what was shown on ESPN.
Negreanu Bites Back at Mike “The Mouth” Matusow
Following Mike “The Mouth” Matusow’s interview on the PokerNews podcast where he talked about the Poker Hall of Fame nominees and why he feels he was snubbed, Daniel Negreanu took to the podcast to tackle some misconceptions that were spoken about.