By Sean Chaffin
Ben Mintz (pictured above) and Seth Foster (pictured below) shared a unique claim to poker fame as they relaxed for a few minutes during the second break on Day 1b of the Season XVII WPT Choctaw.
“Achamos que somos o único grupo de rádios esportivas a ganhar dinheiro no mesmo Evento Principal da World Series of Poker”, disse Mintz, rindo.
É um ponto que parece muito difícil de refutar.
“Vamos apenas reivindicá-lo, que tal?” Mintz acrescentou.
The two host “Mixin’ It Up with Mintz” on The Ticket-100.7 FM in Shreveport-Bossier City in Louisiana. The show airs from 3-6 p.m. local time, but the two hosts are given some freedom to play poker tournaments here and there.
Their poker adventures have become a big part of the show and their deep run in the WSOP Main Event garnered plenty of attention. Mintz finished 327º por $37,705. His on-air radio partner and fellow poker player Foster finished 94º por $66,330.
“It’s been kind of wild,” Foster said, who is hoping to celebrate his 36th birthday on Sunday by advancing to Day 2 at Choctaw. “We've gone to a lot of restaurants around town and everybody was saying they had the WSOP on TV and were rooting for us. Ben went to play a tournament at the Horseshoe poker room and it was all anybody wanted to talk about. It’s been fun.”
To accommodate their poker travels, the radio duo taped their Friday show early so they could head to Choctaw. They don’t have to be back until 2 p.m. Monday unless they make a deep run in this tournament.
“We're very blessed and lucky that our general manager loves poker,” Mintz said, who began hosting in December 2015. “So if we miss a radio show and we're deep in a World Poker Tour or World Series of Poker event, he's our biggest fan. They give us a lot of creative freedom, which is cool because the show's doing well right now.”
While in Las Vegas playing this summer, the pair broadcast the show live when not at the tables. Mintz, 35, has nearly $583,000 in live tournament winnings and was a regular on the poker scene until he landed his radio gig a few years ago. Foster has some poker skins on the wall as well with almost $270,000 in winnings. Both have several wins and final table appearances at tournaments across the country.
Uma carreira na rádio não é fácil, mas o póquer parece ter ajudado Mintz e Foster a distinguirem-se um pouco e a ganharem fãs não só pelas suas conversas sobre desporto, mas também pelo facto de serem jogadores de póquer. O sucesso deles em Las Vegas ajudou o programa de rádio, e eles esperam que o sucesso nos feltros continue no WPT Choctaw.
“What's also cool is that it crossed over to our business, and it got us a lot of notoriety in Shreveport and people really got behind it,” Mintz said. “So we got a bunch of new sponsors for 'Mixin It Up with Mintz’ as well. We’re certainly not upset about that. What’s great is that they’re coming to us now, too.”
Sean Chaffin é escritor freelance em Crandall, Texas, e apresentador do podcast True Gambling Stories. Siga-o no Twitter em @PokerTraditions.
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