Despite being the owner of perhaps the most powerful franchise in the NBA, Jerry Buss’ role with the team has been limited to being more of a mascot in recent years rather than the proud owner. His children have taken over most of the responsibilities with the Los Angeles Lakers and that has given Buss more time to do some of the things he loves such as chasing 20-something year-old women around and, more importantly, playing poker.
Buss loves playing poker so much in fact that he recently announced he will be attempting to become a full-time poker pro. Whether the move works out or not is irrelevant, but it is interesting nonetheless that a guy who is worth $340 million would take up the game of poker as a profession. And I know that he’s not playing professional poker as a way to make ends meet, however, it will be cool to see Jerry Buss playing alongside some of the best players in the world.
But before Buss starts winning tournaments and WSOP bracelets, there is no doubt some work to be done. After all, Buss is turning pro at a time when 77 year-old icon Doyle Brunson is winding things down. Also, Jerry has failed to make any significant noise in the poker world since he finished 3rd in a WSOP 7-Card Stud event back in 1991. Compound that with the fact that he’s only generated $155k in prize money over his semi-pro career and you can see he has a long ways to go.
But the fire is definitely there….even in his late 70’s. Last year when Kobe Bryant and the rest of the Lakers were sucking up the glory of a championship season in a downtown LA parade, Jerry Buss was in the Bicycle Casino playing poker all by his lonesome.
