Posted on Feb 27, 2010 under Archives, Interviews, Other interesting people |
NASCAR racer Taylor Barton
I recently sat down with NASCAR racer Taylor Barton to chat a bit about poker and race car driving. For over nineteen years the Las Vegas native has been competitively racing in motorsports. He started at age 5 and has competed in over 200 competitions, locally and nationally, and has always placed in the top ten. He currently races in the NASCAR Whelen All-American Series and is planning to compete in the 2010 NASCAR Camping World West. Barton also spends a lot of his time volunteering and raising money for the Boys and Girls Clubs of Las Vegas. One of his main sponsors is Full Tilt Poker.net.
Posted on May 07, 2009 under Archives, Interviews, Other interesting people |
Michael Lamanna, golf pro at the Phoenician
While staying at the lovely Phoenician resort I was lucky to grab a private golf lesson with pro Michael Lamanna. He taped my swing and provided a detailed CD of our lesson at the end of the hour, which is really helpful if you are trying to improve your game. Michael began playing golf at age 4 and earned a golf scholarship to the University of Idaho. After graduating he worked as a club professional for 10 years. He has taught golf using video training techniques since 1979. During the past 18 years he has dedicated himself to teaching full-time. First as a Master Instructor, then as Director of Instruction and Director of Schools for three Jim McLean Golf Academies. In 1998, he became the first Director of Instruction for Resort Golf Group and opened and operated golf academies at Sierra Nevada Golf Club in Lake Tahoe, Nevada, Mesquite Golf Club in Palm Springs, California, Cimarron Golf Club in Cathedral City, California, The Westin Mission Hills in Rancho Mirage, California and at Doral Arrowwood Resort in Rye, New York. In 1999, he was named Director of Schools at the PGA TOUR Golf Academy in Saint Augustine, Florida and in 2002, he was named Director of Instruction at the prestigious The Academy at La Cantera, located at The Westin La Cantera Resort in San Antonio, Texas.
Michael has worked with teaching legends Jim McLean, Bob Toski, Golf Magazine Top 100 Teacher, Scott Sackett, and Golf Digest Top 50 Teacher, Tim Mahoney. He has conducted clinics with Hall of Fame members Billy Casper, Ben Crenshaw, Gary Player and Tony Jacklin, and with tour legends Bruce Lietzke, Calvin Peete, Bill Rogers, Dale Douglass and Gay Brewer.
Michael has been affiliated with the PGA and teaching golf for more than 27 years and is a Certified Golf Fitness Instructor with the Titleist Performance Institute. He was named “2004 Harvey Penick Teacher of the Year” in the Western Chapter of the Southern Texas PGA and has written articles for About.Com, Avid Golfer magazine, Texas Golfer, AZ Golfer, Northwest Golfer and numerous local and regional newspapers and periodicals. He has hosted local golf talk radio programs and has appeared in numerous TV golf tip segments. He has taught players of all levels, including the San Antonio City Girls, Boys and Men’s Champions, the Texas State Mid Amateur Champion, Arizona Amateur Champion, Phoenix Men’s Amateur Champion, Montana State Open Champion, Arizona State Boys and Florida State Girls Junior Champions, collegiate golfers, members of the LPGA, Nationwide Tour, The Champions Tour and PGA TOUR.
Here is our conversation about golf and the three nine hole courses at the Phoenician.
Posted on May 07, 2009 under Archives, Interviews, Other interesting people |
Ron Heraty, Head Golf Pro at the Arizona Biltmore
While in Arizona for a golf story I got to take a private lesson with head golf pro Ron Heraty at the Arizona Biltmore. Ron has been a member of the PGA for 15 years is a graduate of the Professional Golf Association Business School in San Diego and in Denver.
View of adobe course, 14th hole
We talked about his golf background and the two 18-hole courses, The Links and The Adobe, at the Biltmore.
Posted on Dec 04, 2008 under Interviews, Other interesting people |
Some call him the “Granddaddy of Poker,” others the “Godfather,” and “Ten-Deuce” represents the hand that won him back-to-back World Series of Poker championships. Doyle “Texas Dolly” Brunson revolutionized the game of poker and set the standard for excellence by which other players would be measured.
Born Aug. 10, 1933, Brunson grew up in Longworth, Texas. Young Brunson had natural athletic and academic gifts. The Minneapolis Lakers drafted Brunson, but after severely breaking his leg, his athletic career ended.
During the 1950s, he played small-limit poker, but graduated quickly to the higher-stakes games and traveled throughout Texas playing in the biggest games with the likes of Sailor Roberts, Amarillo “Slim” Preston, and Johnny Moss.
Brunson’s first book, titled How I Made Over $1,000,000 Playing Poker, became Super/System. It transformed the game and gave ordinary players an insight into the way professionals played and won. His second book, According to Doyle, was published in 1976, but was later retitled Poker Wisdom of a Champion.
Brunson has made tons of tournament final tables, holds a World Poker Tour title, and is tied with Johnny Chan for the second-most WSOP bracelets, with 10.
