In this February, basketball and poker legend Dr Jerry Buss passed away; purchasing the Los Angeles Lakers, he managed the team for 32 years, during which they played 16 championship finales and received 10 titles.
Jerry Buss
His person is, however, much more than a key in LA Lakers’ successes. His revolutionary ideas changed the face of basketball in the US: with exceptional talent to attract money and fans to the stadium, he was the first NBA team manager ever to sell the name of their arena, turning Forum into Great Western Forum. Even though today this is kind of a standard, in 1988, this was thinking out of the box indeed. It was also Dr Buss’ initiative to invite celebrities to the matches, allowing seats near them to sell at stellar prices.
He was a recreational but still dangerous poker player. He kept playing the best of the game on the highest stakes. When he passed, the most iconic players expressed their sadness over losing him:
„Jerry Buss: 1997 I found myself at Lakers Training Camp in Hawaii w @HuckleberrySeed @SHAQ @kobebryant & Johnny Chan. We played $400-$800,” Phil Hellmuth tweeted.
“Dr. Buss lost $50K in a poker game. Me: ‘Sorry u lost so much.’ Him: ‘it’s ok, I could do it every day for 100 years and still be rich’. RIP Jerry,” wrote Doyle Brunson.
Dr Buss’ favourite game type was Stud, with one of his best live tournament results also being in this game : he finished 3rd in WSOP 1991 $2,500 Seven Card Stud event. This year’s $2,500 Seven Card Stud tournament launched on Thursday and it was dedicated to Jerry Buss’ memory with LA Lakers star Kobe Bryant opening the event in a video message.
Dr Jerry Buss can no longer play the tournament but he will be remembered forever in the poker community.
Jerry Buss
His person is, however, much more than a key in LA Lakers’ successes. His revolutionary ideas changed the face of basketball in the US: with exceptional talent to attract money and fans to the stadium, he was the first NBA team manager ever to sell the name of their arena, turning Forum into Great Western Forum. Even though today this is kind of a standard, in 1988, this was thinking out of the box indeed. It was also Dr Buss’ initiative to invite celebrities to the matches, allowing seats near them to sell at stellar prices.
He was a recreational but still dangerous poker player. He kept playing the best of the game on the highest stakes. When he passed, the most iconic players expressed their sadness over losing him:
„Jerry Buss: 1997 I found myself at Lakers Training Camp in Hawaii w @HuckleberrySeed @SHAQ @kobebryant & Johnny Chan. We played $400-$800,” Phil Hellmuth tweeted.
“Dr. Buss lost $50K in a poker game. Me: ‘Sorry u lost so much.’ Him: ‘it’s ok, I could do it every day for 100 years and still be rich’. RIP Jerry,” wrote Doyle Brunson.
Dr Buss’ favourite game type was Stud, with one of his best live tournament results also being in this game : he finished 3rd in WSOP 1991 $2,500 Seven Card Stud event. This year’s $2,500 Seven Card Stud tournament launched on Thursday and it was dedicated to Jerry Buss’ memory with LA Lakers star Kobe Bryant opening the event in a video message.
Dr Jerry Buss can no longer play the tournament but he will be remembered forever in the poker community.
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