If you’ve played poker in Louisiana, you’ve likely crossed paths with Ben Mintz. The man with the raspy voice, over-the-top amiability, and drink in his hand is a unique and memorable character. Everyone seems to love Mintz, and if you buy into one rumor, that includes actor Channing Tatum.
As the story goes, Tatum was recently in New Orleans filming 22 Jump Street and decided to spend some of his downtime at a local casino playing $1-$2 NLHE. Mintz was in the game, and of course he couldn’t resist talking to one of Hollywood’s most bankable stars. The two hit it off, and Tatum confided that he wanted to learn a little more about this game called poker. Mintz offered to teach him, and just like that he landed Tatum’s number.
"I told him I would give him free poker lessons if he could teach me how to pick up girls better," Mintz told PokerNews.
Whether or not that story is true is hard to know, but when Mintz tells it you can’t help but believe him.
Aside from a winning personality, Mintz is also quite the accomplished poker player. He has $232,179 in live tournament earnings, which included a 75th-place finish in the 2011 World Series of Poker Main Event for $90,343, his largest career score. His other notable cashes include third in the 2011 World Poker Tour Jacksonville Summer Series $1,500 Main Event for $52,904; first in the 2012 WSOP Circuit Biloxi $1,125 NLHE event for $30,000; and eighth in last year’s WSOP Circuit New Orleans $1,675 Main Event for $27,192.
For more on Tatum, we recommend you check out this funny clip he did on the set of 22 Jump Street:
Mintz has made the 70-minute drive to Baton Rouge to play his first-ever MSPT, so rest assured we’ll be keeping in eye on him here today.
Robbie Matthews opened for 400 from middle position, and the player to his left made it 1,500. The next player folded, and then the player in the hijack pushed all in for about 7,500. Everyone folded back to Matthews, who reshoved. The first reraiser quickly folded face up.
Matthews:
Opponent:
Matthews had his opponent dominated, and she found no help on the runout.
A player in the hijack bet 1,800 on the end against Mihail Karasoulis on the button. With the board reading , Karasoulis raised it up to 5,300. His opponent thought for about 30 seconds before calling, and Karasoulis revealed for flopped trips. His opponent couldn't beat it, and Karasoulis took the pot.
Kenny Milam, whose hoody identifies him as "Mega Master," bet 1,400 after an opponent checked to him on a flop. The turn brought the , and Milam's opponent check-called 3,000 this time. An completed the board, and Milam bet 4,000 after a third check. His opponent folded fairly quickly, and Milam immediately showed for a set of aces.
We saw the player who lost most of his stack in a cooler to Nicholas Graphia get out of his chair, while Graphia stacked the rest of his chips. According to Graphia, he made a straight against a smaller straight to cooler his unfortunate opponent a second time.
We just saw Kou Vang head to the registration desk to buy in to the tournament. He then took a seat at Table 3, just to the left of Allen Kessler. Vang, who has north of $500,000 in tournament cashes, will certainly be a player to keep an eye on.
Nick Jivkov check-raised to 3,000 after Tom Annonson fired a bet with the board reading . Annonson made the call, and the river brought a . Jivkov bet what appeared to be 3,300, and Annonson called once more.
Jivkov tabled , which was enough to top top the of Annonson.