Steve Zolotow

[J.R.]

yeah, i thought he met howard lederer in ny playing poker and then they went on to be partners in the LV sportsbetting operation after NY sportsbetting got hot as discussed in katy lederer's poker face book. My impression was poker was just a supplemental gambling activity for some time for both of them. anybody read that book or know if my understanding is correct, I'm pretty sure the character in the book was a steve Z who is steve zolotow.

[O71394658]

Wow. I didn't know that they used to have WSOP events in Chinese poker.

[johnnycakes]

[ QUOTE ]
yeah, i thought he met howard lederer in ny playing poker and then they went on to be partners in the LV sportsbetting operation after NY sportsbetting got hot as discussed in katy lederer's poker face book. My impression was poker was just a supplemental gambling activity for some time for both of them. anybody read that book or know if my understanding is correct, I'm pretty sure the character in the book was a steve Z who is steve zolotow.

[/ QUOTE ]

I read Poker Face last week and this is correct.
Howard and "Steve Z" bet very large sums of money on sports. Steve was so good, that whenever he placed a bet, all the lines moved. He and Howard moved to Las Vegas when they got tired of being hassled by the NYC police.

[ClaytonN]

Steve Z's name on Stars is AmazingGrave, I believe.

[MLG]

Ive played with him before, I don't think his style is all that super tight at NL. Selective certainly, effective very, but he didn't strike me as overly tight. Great guy to chat with at the table too, smart, engaging and witty. I liked him a lot.

[Jonathan]

[ QUOTE ]
wasn't he one of the guys playing the Mayfaird club with Eric Seidel, Lederer, and Harrington in NYC???

[/ QUOTE ]

I used to see Steve (and Jason Lester and Paul Magriel) at the Mayfair regularly in
the late 70's. This was when backgammon was all the rage, and
poker was relatively unknown. I don't think I ever saw a poker game at the Mayfair during this period.

Paul was famous for his (excellent) backgammon book, his weekly columns in the New York Times, and also for being the
backgammon coach to the stars, such as Lucille Ball.

But I think Steve was the more respected high stakes backgammon player. He was a world class backgammon player,
and along with Paul, the strongest backgammon player I had
ever seen play.

Around this time (late 70's early 80's?) Paul became interested in the
oriental board game, Go, and used to frequent the NY Go Club
on West 10th Street in the Village. I was a strong Go player, and we arranged to make a trade....I would give Paul
Go lessons in exchange for backgammon lessons. Paul did not
continue with Go very long, although he certainly had talent
for the game.

As my professional career and marriage assumed more of my time, I gave up bridge and backgammon and stopped frequenting The Mayfair. I only became interested in poker within the last 2 years. But when reading the tournament results in Cardplayer, I was not the least bit
surprised to see that many of the old names ( Steve Zolotow,
Eric Seidel, Jason Lester, Paul Magreil) from the Mayfair and the floor of the American Stock Exchange had surfaced in Las Vegas as
professional poker players.

Suerte,
Jonathan

[-Skeme-]

Cool post, Jonathan.

[Scooterdoo]

Just met him last week actually, but here's my Steve Z story. For years I have been hearing about Steve Z from my dad and his wife (well before I starting playing high level poker). My dad's wife has a very close friend who is attached to Steve (I don't think they are married, but they are life partners <G&gt. Steve is a pro poker player and plays in the big cash games with Larry Flynt at the Hustler. Anyway, when I got into poker my dad always asks if I met him and the answer is always no. Last December I was at the Bellagio 5 diamond tournament with Chief. I was watching late at night one of the tournaments that I got knocked out near the bubble (I think it was the 2.5 or 3k NL). They were down to 12 and were playing until they got to 9. One of the players was berating this guy who didn't "look" like an accomplished player -- his hair was scruffy and his clothes were a bit worn. Anyway, the guy was short-stacked and soon was forced to play for all of his chips and got knocked out right before the final 9. The next day I looked at cardplayer to see who did what, and it turns out that the guy was Steve Z.

At last week's 6 handed 2.5k tournament I was moved to a table for about an hour (it broker quickly) and Steve was there. I introduced myself and he was very nice and of course knew my dad and Dina (my dad's wife) well. He even called his girlfriend after a break and told her that he was playing with me.

He played very solid. I raised his bottom with KK when the blinds were low and our stacks were deep. He called. The flop came with an A and he checked. I sensed that he might have had an A so I checked (probably a mistake). He then made a pot-sized bet on the turn. I thought about calling, but I didn't have much invested and it just wasn't worth since I felt he would make another big bet on the river so I folded. During the next break I told him that I had KK. He didn't say what he had, but I sensed that if he had an A he would have said it. Oh, well.

Yes, I too have noticed that he is constantly cashing in these events. Hopefully he'll make some final tables and perhaps win a bracelet.

[drewjustdrew]

[ QUOTE ]
He didn't say what he had, but I sensed that if he had an A he would have said it

[/ QUOTE ]

I wouldn't dwell on this, since it is really a tough read to make. He is a poker player first. I'm sure he has no problem keeping that kind of information to himself in either case. He might own you now that he knows you will make these checks and folds. Loose lips sink ships[img]/images/graemlins/grin.gif[/img]

[Scooterdoo]

Actually it meant nothing to me either way and didn't give it a second thought (I soon went from 3k in chips to 15k in chips after I moved tables) and the info I gave him meant nothing either. When I tell somebody something (either verbally or by showing cards) it's never by accident. Yes, I folded in that situation and sometimes will do the same thing in similar situations and sometimes will do the exact opposite. It's completely dependent on the situation, my read, my stack, etc., etc.

Oh, BTW, I won't repeat the hand since I've posted it and discussed it many time in this forum, but many hours later when we were down just under 100 players left I got busted with KK. So KK wasn't a good hand for me in that tournament at all <G>.