Gossip Column: Daniel Negreanu & Amanda Leatherman Joined in Matrimony, Ronnie Bardah Rumored to be Entering Survivor & More

Gossip Column Cover Image May 20
  • Profile picture
  • Attreyee Khasnabis May 20, 2019
  • 6 Minutes Read

If you can hear the sound of wedding bells ringing its cause six-time World Series of Poker (WSOP) bracelet winner Daniel Negreanu tied the knot with long-time girlfriend Amanda Leatherman on May 17 at the Terranea Resort in Palos Verdes, California. As expected, the ceremony was attended by many big names from the poker fraternity, leading to social media being flooded with pictures from the lovely occasion.

While Negreanu was probably preparing for his honeymoon, fellow bracelet winner Ronnie Bardah may be preparing to enter the jungle as one of the latest castaways for the CBS hit show, Survivor’s most recent season – Survivor: Island of the Idols.

As the 50th WSOP nears, poker town is going bonkers! After winning his boxing match bet with actor Kevin Hart, Antonio Esfandiari has now challenged Phil Hellmuth to a heads-up match where the winner gets to shoot the loser with a taser gun. Unsurprisingly, Hellmuth has accepted the challenge.

While we are on the subject of crazy things, Nevada-based ophthalmologist Steve Friedlander won $609,504 at the 2019 Kentucky Derby, but only received about $35,000 in winning since the Tamarack Junction’s William Hill sports book in Reno, where he made the bet, did not offer parimutuel betting, Now that’s one helluva bad beat!

 

Daniel Negreanu & Amanda Leatherman Joined in Matrimony

Multiple WSOP bracelet winner Daniel Negreanu tied the knot with his long-time on-and-off girlfriend-now-wife former PokerNews host Amanda Leatherman on May 17 at the Terranea Resort in Palos Verdes, California.

Daniel Negreanu & Amanda Leatherman
Daniel Negreanu & Amanda Leatherman

The pair had initially dated back in 2010 and rekindled their romance in 2018. Negreanu had proposed to Leatherman on New Year’s Eve, and the couple had been engaged ever since. Thanks to the presence of several poker personalities on the blessed occasion, there was no dearth of pictures. Negreanu rocked a royal blue custom suit from Vegas-based STITCHED complete with Jimmy Choo studded shoes which he showed off on Instagram.

Daniel Negreanu's Wedding Shoes
Daniel Negreanu’s Wedding Shoes
Daniel Negreanu's Wedding Suit & Tie
Daniel Negreanu’s Wedding Suit & Tie

His groomsmen included Negreanu’s long-time friend, videographer, and golf coach Christian Sanchez, Eddy Sabat, and Eric Wasserson, matching in all black suits with royal blue pocket squares.

Daniel Negreanu's Groomsmen
Daniel Negreanu’s Groomsmen

The event was attended by the likes of David Williams, Jason Somerville, Frank Kassela, Maria Ho, Antonio Esfandiari, Phil Hellmuth, Jeff Madsen, David Benyamine, and David Oppenheim.

The menu included cavatelli pasta, Caesar salad, a lemon marinated ‘chicken’ complete, and chocolate cheesecake or coconut caramel brownie for dessert and The Dan Band performed at the wedding reception.

Social media was abuzz with friends and family of the couple sharing the nuptials on Twitter.

But no wedding is complete without some kind of mishap, and in this case, it seems it was ‘Kid Poker’ who messed up. He forgot the wedding rings! He admitted on his stories that it was on his list (in all caps as Leatherman pointed out) of wedding prep, but he still forgot.

“It’s no big deal, we’ll just find rings,” he said.

Daniel Negreanu_Gossip Column

And true to form, the event did go on and what a beautiful ceremony it was! Congratulation to the newlyweds.

 

Ronnie Bardah May Participate in Survivor: Island of the Idols

CBS show Survivor is on the lookout for candidates for its fall season – Survivor: Island of the Idols – and WSOP bracelet winner Ronnie Bardah may just be a contestant on the new season.

Ronnie Bardah
Ronnie Bardah

The 38th season of the popular show ended on May 15, and the network has since announced the theme for the upcoming season which will see two-time winner Sandra Diaz-Twine and “Boston” Rob Mariano return and coach 20 new castaways.

According to Inside Survivor, the buzz behind-the-scenes suggests that Bardah may be the latest addition to the show. He may be joined by Jean-Robert Bellande and Garrett Adelstein as former poker pros who have competed on the show. Even Jackie Glazier had participated in the Australian version of the show last year.

With more than $1.3 Million in lifetime earnings including $182,088 for winning the 2012 World Series of Poker Event #40: $2,500 Limit Hold’em for a gold bracelet, Bardah will undoubtedly be the most accomplished poker player to feature on the show.

The Brockton, Massachusetts resident is also a renowned beatboxer and has cashed the WSOP Main Event a record five years in a row from 2010-2014.

 

Antonio Esfandiari v. Phil Hellmuth: Taser Challenge

Antonio Esfandiari is on a roll! After beating Kevin Hart in a three-round boxing match on April 26, the ‘Magician’ has now challenged the ‘Poker Brat’Phil Hellmuth to a heads-up match. It doesn’t sound like much of a challenge, does it? Well, that’s because you haven’t heard the entire challenge – the winner gets to taser the loser!

Antonio Esfandiari
Antonio Esfandiari

Esfandiari had issued the challenge to Hellmuth on Twitter on May 5.

Hellmuth has never been one to back down from a challenge and responded immediately.

Phil Hellmuth
Phil Hellmuth

The challenge got the poker community talking on Twitter.

Kevin Mathers also pointed out that this wasn’t the first time a taser challenger had been done by poker players and shared the video of Brandon Cantu getting taser back in 2009.

In addition to the right to taser the loser, it’s likely that the pair will be playing for high stakes as well. It seems like the players are evenly matched. While Hellmuth holds the record for winning the highest number of WSOP bracelets, Esfandiari holds the record for the largest single score in the history of poker of $18,346,673 after he took down Event #55: $ 1,000,000 The Big One for One Drop at the 2012 WSOP.

Will this challenge actually take place and if so, who will be the unfortunate man to get tasered? Only time will time.

 

Steve Friedlander Takes a Bad Beat at the 2019 Kentucky Derby

Nevada-based ophthalmologist Steve Friedlander couldn’t believe his luck after he ended up winning his bets of $40 trifecta (top three horses) and $100 exacta (top two horses) to the tune of $459,024 and $150,480 respectively at the 2019 Kentucky Derby. As luck would have it, it was too good to be true.

Steve Friedlander
Steve Friedlander

When the heavily favored the no 7 horse Maximum Security was taken out of the mix, the 65-1 long shot No. 20 Country House was declared the winner and Friedlander had it among his exotic picks. But when he went to cash his winnings at the Tamarack Junction’s William Hill sports book in Reno where he made the bets, he was told his winners were only worth $35,000.

The reason being – Tamarack Junction does not offer parimutuel betting. In parimutuel gambling like horse racing, individuals are competing against other bettors for a share of various betting pools. The longer the odds of the horses finishing in the top places, the bigger the payout.

In a cruel twist of fate, it turns out Tamarack Junction location falls into the non-parimutuel category and thus has caps on exotic wagers such as those Friedlander placed.

“I was pretty sick,” Friedlander told reporters. “It’s one of those things where I watched the race and thought I won all this money, yet I thought ‘This is too good to be true.’ And I went down there and ‘Yeah, that’s right.’”

“It’s somewhat ironic how the story goes because if my son’s track meet was on the north side of town, I almost certainly would have stopped at Grand Sierra, where William Hill has pari-mutuel,” he explained.

Friedlander hopes his story will act as a cautionary tale for other bettors. “I want new bettors to hear my story, so they’re aware what house rules are,” he said. “And to make sure they do their research before they make a bet.”

0 0 votes
Article Rating
Subscribe
Notify of
0 Comments
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments

Top Online Poker Rooms

Top
PokerGuru