| 15 Outs ... One Time! |
| Join LA Mike in finding out a little more about these players and what makes them do the things they do. |
| Featuring : Amnon Filippi |
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| LA Mike invited New York City based professional poker player Amnon Filippi into his world of multi-tabling low-limit No Limit Hold’em for an afternoon of discussion. The topics? Anything and everything. Filippi is a thirty-something year old funny guy who loves to talk and happens to be a legend in his own mind. He’s actually a damn good player as well. He’s made two WPT final tables and he won the 2005 Bellagio Cup. Oh, I almost forgot, he also finished 4th in the $50k HORSE event at the World Series in June, cashing for over $500,000 |
LAMike: Amnon, if you weren’t a one big blind per week winner as a cash game player, what would be your occupation?
AmnonFilippi: I’d probably be a pimp or something similar, same hours as poker with no boss or supervision. (LA: Well thank god poker has worked out, I’ve seen how good you are with the ladies.) |
LA: You’re from NYC, what’s your favorite east coast casino?
AF: The east coast is the worst place to play poker. You asked what my favorite casino is, well I guess Borgata. Not because it’s good or anything, all the other places really suck. (LA: Sounds like a ringing endorsement to me.) |
LA: Why is it that on the circuit, the west coast players make fun of the way a majority of the east coast professionals play NLH? Are there really that many more eastern seaboard donkeys? Fill me in, I want to understand.
AF: I really don’t know why the western guys think they’re so much better. I’ll give you 10 names of east coast guys to play any 10 west coast guys and I bet it would be really tough to pick a side. If the east coast guys are so damn bad, why do so many move to Vegas to play poker? Hmmm, sorta interesting. (LA: This sounds like the perfect prop bet for LA Mike to track and report back to the public. I envision a future segment, east coast goes heads-up vs. west coast.) |
LA: You’ve told me several times, you don’t play online poker. LA is looking for a clarification here. Is it because you’re addicted to internet porn and can’t concentrate to play or is it more a function of your computer literacy?
AF: I don’t watch online porn (laughs). I can’t seem to win online. Maybe it has to do with the way I read players live and can’t do that as well online. (LA: Basically constantly talking to a computer monitor doesn’t give you a “tell”?)
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LA: Amnon, you have the following option when sitting at a WPT table. Would you rather be able to see the other eight player’s hole cards or would you rather know what the five community cards were going to be? (You’d be the only one at the table to know in advance.)
AF: I would much rather be able to see everyone else’s cards. That’s essentially the game in a nutshell. The community cards wouldn’t matter. Just think, you could never be bluffed while being able to bluff 85% of the time. Wait, the players would have to be from the west coast because east coast donks don’t fold anyway. Well, the guys at Foxwoods sure don’t. (LA: Sure sounds like you have some close friends in Connecticut.) |
LA: This is an interesting question; one of your fans wants to know this, “You can choose one superpower which do you choose”?
AF: I would definitely like to be able to travel back and forth in time. That has to be the best superpower of all superpowers. Don’t you watch “Heroes”? (LA: Sorry, I don’t watch much network television, does that show have hot chicks?) |
LA: You’re wearing your trademark Yankees hat. What’s the story with this team? Should they fire Joe Torre, let A-Rod leave, or does it really matter?
AF: (Clearly LA struck a nerve here.) I think they could keep both or let both go. It doesn’t really matter, the only way for them to win is to get some f****** pitching. They’ve done the same s*** with or without Joe and A-Rod, but when they have strong pitching they win no matter what. Anyone who says I’m wrong is a f****** idiot. The playoffs is 80% pitching and probably only like 20% hitting. Hitting is much more important during the regular season. The Yankees can score runs but can’t pitch. Also, Cashman (Yankees GM), should be fired for bringing that old f*** Roger Clemens back. (LA: Dude relax, I’ve never taken a CPR class, I don’t want you having a heart attack.) |
LA: Obviously the Yankees won’t be in the World Series (LA chuckles), how was your World Series?
AF: Non-responsive. (LA: Apparently the comment was below the belt.) |
LA: Moving along then, I’ve always wondered this. You cashed for just over $586,000 in the $50k HORSE event, did you just board a plane with a duffel bag full of cash or do you have a local bank in Vegas?
AF: Ya, the money went into the bank. If I would have won the main event, I was going to do the duffel bag full of cash just to screw with security. (laughs) Al Krux told me he did that after his final table at the World Series several years ago. I still think about that every time I get to a final table. (laughs) |
LA: You’ve made a final table? Damn, I need to start rounding up backers immediately.
AF: F*** off!
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LA: Speaking of poker Amnon, you run with quite the “crew” of players. (JC Tran, Nam Le, Steve Sung, Danny Wong, Tuan Le, Tim Phan, Quinn Do and Tommy Hang) Who would you most want to play heads-up for the Bellagio Five Diamond title in December?
AF: It really wouldn’t matter much. Honestly, we’d probably make a deal for most of the money and then leave a bit on the table to make it a match. I’m not sure who I would want to play heads-up, not many weak players in that group. Truly my heads-up game isn’t the best part of my game and by that time in the tournament, it’s simply an all in fest due to the blinds being so high. Whoever catches the best cards likely wins. (LA: So you’re saying LA would have a shot?) |
LA: There’s some time off coming up between Foxwoods and Bellagio. What do you do to relax from the traveling circus of tournament poker? It must get tiresome?
AF: I really like to go to the islands on my downtime. I love the water so there’s really nothing better than a nice beach and some great island food. (LA: What in the world is island food?) |
LA: Specific location you prefer or is that classified information?
AF: St. Thomas is my choice spot, I go there a couple times a year. |
LA: When you’re in the islands with “sweetie”, do you prefer using the front or back door?
AF: (laughs) I refuse to answer on the grounds I may be incriminating myself. I definitely plead the 5th! (LA: Ahh, totally understandable, LA never discusses his conquests with the ladies either.) |
LA: Alright Amnon, thanks very much for coming into my world. When will we see you again on the circuit?
AF: God willing, I’m planning on going to Canada for the North American Poker Championship. |
| LA: Good luck, we’ll see you at a final table soon! |
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