Tommy Vinas

[Congrieve 0]

While at Coushatta Casino in Kinder, LA this week, the legendary Tommy Vinas sat down besides me, http://www.wsop.com/players/playerProfile.asp?playerID=19817&pagecolor=FFFFFF . The games are way too small for him, but it gave me the opportunity to chat for a while. He spoke about Daniel N. and many other pros, and spoke about the last 35 years of WSOP's he has played in. I enjoyed it a lot.

 

In one hand we had the chance to chop, however, Tommy declined apoligizing and explaining that he never chops. NP, I raise my Q4off and he calls. The flop is Q44, lol. Tommy comments, "that hit me, be careful." I had enjoyed myself so much, I flipped over my cards and said, "I was gonna raise, but since it hit you, I'll just let you bet it." We all got a good laugh and Tommy turned over KK. It whole interaction was a lot of fun.

 

Does anyone else know Tommy Vinas and can share?

 

Congrieve

[king_tanner 84]

I never told anybody this but about 8-9 months ago, I'm at the Taj and its late and I see Tommy Vinas walk in. He says 300/600 and the whole place stops. Tommy Vinas walks in everyone puts an eye on him. I mean after awhile there wasn't a craps game goin because all of the high rollers are over there watching him. You know some of them are sitting there, their givin away their money to this guy to say "oh I played with a world champion." And you know what I did... I sat down. Usually you need 50-60 grand to sit in that game, I had 6, I had to know.

 

Played tight for an hour, I folded mostly then I made a score. You would probably think wired Aces or Kings... no, rags. I had nothin.

 

He raised, I just decided you know... I don't care about the money I'm just going to play the guy. I'm just goin to outplay the guy this hand. I re-raised. And he just comes right back over the top of me trying to bully me like I'm some f*****g tourist. I hesitate for like 2 seconds. I'll re-raise, and he makes a move towards his chips and he looks at me, and then he looks at his cards, and then he looks at me again and he mucked. I took it down.

 

He says "did you have it?" I say, "I'm sorry Tom, I don't remember." I got up and I walked to the cashier. I sat with the best in the world, and I WON.

[FARGOpokerND 22]

While at Coushatta Casino in Kinder, LA this week, the legendary Tommy Vinas sat down besides me, http://www.wsop.com/...agecolor=FFFFFF . The games are way too small for him, but it gave me the opportunity to chat for a while. He spoke about Daniel N. and many other pros, and spoke about the last 35 years of WSOP's he has played in. I enjoyed it a lot.

 

In one hand we had the chance to chop, however, Tommy declined apoligizing and explaining that he never chops. NP, I raise my Q4off and he calls. The flop is Q44, lol. Tommy comments, "that hit me, be careful." I had enjoyed myself so much, I flipped over my cards and said, "I was gonna raise, but since it hit you, I'll just let you bet it." We all got a good laugh and Tommy turned over KK. It whole interaction was a lot of fun.

 

Does anyone else know Tommy Vinas and can share?

 

Congrieve

 

I follow poker fairly closely and I have never heard of the guy....what is it that makes this fellow so LEGENDARY?

 

Being that he really has nothing too significant where you would recognize him as a celebrity, I will assume one of two things:

1. You are Tommy Vinas

2. You had no idea who he was until he told you his name and that he is 'legendary' himself, which you then passed along to us thinking we really care about some seemingly no-namer who's only tourney of note is a 5th place finish in a 10k PLH event which doesn't say much.

 

 

I'm going to assume its #2, but I am holding out hope its #1...plzplz be #1

[king_tanner 84]

Fargo I've put up with a lot of shit from you through the years, but you are really crossing the line. How dare you question the legend of Tommy Vinas

[gadjet 11]

This week I was playing in LA and I sat down at a table way lower than I should be playing because I've had to drop down levels from losing so much at the high levels... anyways sat down at a table full of tourists, I told a few stories about playing in the WSOP's to make me look good, then I looked down and saw KK in the big blind.

It was folded to the small blind and because I had K's I told him I never chop... the SB said ok and raised super light and I flatted cause I'm a donk. The SB nearly jumped out of his chair when the flop fell Q44 so I'm assuming he has a 4.... I figure I'll try and angle my way into control of the action so I say "that hit me, be careful" ... the dude opens up his hand and says "I was gonna raise, but since it hit you, I'll just let you bet it."... I turned over KK and we all got a good laugh at the guy who was laughing too. The whole interaction was a lot of fun and I love poker.

 

 

So you flopped the 2nd nut in a heads up battle in the blinds against KK which is pretty much guaranteed double up, and you decided to show your hand because you liked him?

 

If you're asking for poker advice I'd recommend trying to get full value by keeping your hand facedown and betting...

If you're asking for social advice I'd suggest that any good poker player would lose respect for your gooey eyed tourist play and it would actually hurt your chances of becoming best friends with your new poker celebrity friend.

[Congrieve 0]

Wow, I am surprised at the comments so far. I was simply posting a comment regarding an old timer I ran into, and how I enjoyed his stories. Whether he is a legend or a "legend" in his own mind it doesnt matter. I posted my positive experience and was curious if any else had any funny stories to tell. I didnt ask for advice, I didnt represent anything other than a casual interaction.

 

Comment or dont, but it serves no purpose to negative post. Haters gonna hate, I guess. Have a good weekend...

[king_tanner 84]

Wow, I am surprised at the comments so far. I was simply posting a comment regarding an old timer I ran into, and how I enjoyed his stories. Whether he is a legend or a "legend" in his own mind it doesnt matter. I posted my positive experience and was curious if any else had any funny stories to tell. I didnt ask for advice, I didnt represent anything other than a casual interaction.

 

Comment or dont, but it serves no purpose to negative post. Haters gonna hate, I guess. Have a good weekend...

 

Shutup

[FARGOpokerND 22]

One time at a WSOPc in San Diego, Kathy Liebert sat down at my table with 2 blinds and shoved and lost.

 

Theres my cool story.

[Balloon guy 158]

Yea, I get why you liked the experience.

 

But you really should have stacked him, cause he would have stacked you had the situation been reversed.

 

What if that had been Phil Hellmuth?

[king_tanner 84]

One time I was railing the WPT Doyle Brunson classic with a bunch of other FCPers. DN came over to talk to a couple of the people I was with. I was a pretty big poker fanboy at the time and I couldn't help but stare at DN. He glanced at me and noticed I was staring and he started to stare back. I have never talked to DN but I had a staring contest with him. True story.

[gadjet 11]

Wow, I am surprised at the comments so far. I was simply posting a comment regarding an old timer I ran into, and how I enjoyed his stories. Whether he is a legend or a "legend" in his own mind it doesnt matter. I posted my positive experience and was curious if any else had any funny stories to tell. I didnt ask for advice, I didnt represent anything other than a casual interaction.

 

Comment or dont, but it serves no purpose to negative post. Haters gonna hate, I guess. Have a good weekend...

 

If you would've left the Q4 story part out of it, I'm sure the reaction would've been less negative... unfortunately for you, you did represent much more than a casual interaction, you represented a horrendous poker player... you told a poker story on a poker forum that makes you look like a complete dadonk and having seen that situation unfold in the past I can tell you that any of the good regulars at the table were laughing at your expense...

 

It's cool that you got to meet and play beside someone that you were impressed by... I still remember my first session playing against someone who'd won a bracelet and that was 10+ years ago... so yeah it's fun and memorable to play against the pros... that's always been a big selling point for pokers surge in the last decade was that anyone could compete against the greats... but when you play against them... you should be trying to play well. Opening the flopped nuts heads up and losing that value makes you the laughingstock of that game... not realizing it and posting the story here will get you some "negativity"... but haters gonna hate so you should just cast the feedback off as internet trolls and stick to your game cause you clearly have no leaks.

 

P.S. I played against Phil Ivey live for the first time in my life last WSOP which was pretty fantastic as a fanboy... no stories worth telling other than the rush of being moved to his table and he's probably not the best ambassador for the game ... which is where DN should get a ton of respect.

[Congrieve 0]

Based on the negativity of posts, I agree, I should have left out the Q4 hand portion of the post. Yes, I most likely would have stacked him on that hand, but I was having fun, and "shocker," sometimes a laugh is worth more than a few hundo's. As far as playing with the pros, while it is not the norm, I have been fortunate to be seated with a few in various tournaments. In fact, at the 2010 WSOP I got lucky and sat with DN in the 2-7 Single Draw $1500 event. No stories to tell, but it was fun. I am sure that most of us who have played in any WSOP events, Circuits, or WPT's have eventually sat with some of the Pros. At the end of the night in question, I managed to finish $2890 ahead, which at the size of games we play is a good night. Thanks for your responses, and if anyone has any funny stories to tell and is not worried about your 'image' being damaged from a single post, do tell.

[mrpaddyx 13]

Fargo I've put up with a lot of shit from you through the years, but you are really crossing the line. How dare you question the legend of Tommy Vinas

 

I question it,

 

Goggle search results,

 

 

"Tommy Vinas" = 3,390 results

"Mrpaddyx" = 4870 results

 

I'm not even a poker legend in my own house.

[Balloon guy 158]

Did you add Tommy Vinas's online screen name? "TV"

 

Got about a billion hits