Donald Trump Interview
He’s Fired!..."up about poker"
Courtesy of BluffMagazine.com
Interviewing the owner of Atlantic City’s premiere card room should be a shoe-in for the editor of your favorite poker magazine. Unless, of course, the owner of that card room happens to be one of New York’s most powerful real estate developers and the host of America’s hottest television show. Nonetheless, it seemed I had snapped at Trump’s heels persistently enough to get the goods on the man whose catchphrase, ‘Your fired!’ has become part of the nation’s vernacular.
The Taj Mahal, called the ‘Taj’ by those in the know, was considered the most lavish building on the East Coast when it was unveiled in 1990. The Taj boasted a billion dollar price tag and enough gold leaf (real gold, mind you) to fill King Soloman’s mines and redecorate King Midas’ palace in one go. The chandeliers alone were rumored to have cost The Donald $14 million, and the building itself used more steel than the Eiffel Tower.
“The Taj Mahal ‘s poker room,” Trump tells me, “is lavish and expansive. I made it a showcase area in the casino because poker is a classic game and deserves a prominent setting.”
Prominent it is: the room’s latest expansion takes it to seventy tables, and Trump has given the nod to further increase the size, should our favorite sport get even bigger than it is today. And, it seems, more tournaments are also part of the plan for this most palatial of card rooms, “We are hosting two major tournaments, The United States Poker Championship and the Trump Classic, but there could be more soon.”
“But certain things go in and out of vogue. Poker gains players by exposure,” continues the ever-pragmatic Trump, who realizes only too well that, like the real estate market in the late 80’s, anything can go tits up when trends go south.
CLICK
HERE TO ENTER REAL MONEY POKER TOURNAMENTS!
But he also knows there’s a unique sense of community in poker; and it is to this he attributes the mushrooming popularity of the live game and the Taj card room. “It seems people are gathering to play a certain group of friends and it becomes like a ritual. Both poker and the Apprentice, are great forms of pop culture; both are equally cool…except for the major player in the Apprentice, of course.”
What’s this? Do we detect a hint of self-deprecating humor coming in to play? After all, Trump is not renowned for his fondness for jokes. “Jokes are a waste of time,” he interjects bluntly. Yes Sir; sorry Sir…
The Trumpster has a genuine fondness for poker, however, even though he doesn’t get to much time to play these days. He owns a poker room; he knows poker; he likes the game, but his manicured hands don’t get to hold the Hold’em cards much any more. I wonder whether he has any thoughts on which contestant on the Apprentice would make the best poker player: “George Ross, “ he says quickly. “He plays Solitaire on his computer in his office, pretty much all day and every day, and he plays to win at everything he does.” Hmmm, if anyone one at Bluff did that, I think he’d hear the immortal Trumpism: “You’re fired!”
Donald Trump is clearly a man with impeccable taste. He has visited the best of everywhere, and in many cases, bought them right afterwards; so I just had to get some lifestyle tips from the man whose 282 ft yacht cost more than kidney transplants for the whole of Rhode Island. “Mr Trump,” I ask, “tell our readers which holiday spot is a Royal Flush; which restaurant is guaranteed Pocket Aces; and which wine is the Nuts.” With true Trump-style aplomb, he tells me he owns all his favorite spots: “Mr Mar-a-Lago Club in Palm Beach, Florida, is unmatched anywhere in the world; my favorite restaurant is in the Trump International Hotel and Tower in New York City… And I do not drink wine,” he adds severely, and I feel, not for the first time, like I’m back at school getting a ticking off from the Principal.
So what are the chances that Bluff is invited to dinner with Trump at Jean Georges? I’m not holding my breath, but the $115 tasting menu may whet my appetite the next time I’m in NYC, especially since now I can truthfully say, “The Donald recommended you to me!”
To Trump, time is precious, and I figured mine was quickly running out. One more question, perhaps – so I decided to play my Trump card: “If you could invite six historical figures around for a poker game,“ I demanded, “who would they be and why?”
It seems he’s already thought about this one: “Winston Churchill, Napoleon Bonaparte, Abraham Lincoln, Robert Moses, Leonardo da Vinci and Amadeus Mozart,” he says with barely a moments pause. Interesting choice, Mr Trump: a group of people who never played poker. I see; a veritable fish tank, we like your style.
“I’d like to see how each of them, operated, and if they employed the Golden Section Equation in any of their thinking and playing.”(Looks like someone’s been reading Dan Brown in his spare time.) “We know Mozart used it subconsciously, which might give him an edge, but this group would be interesting to watch.” Which makes me wonder if Phil Ivey uses the Divine Equation in his play?
“Would I win?” he ponders, and I sense now that it’s time for the Donald to sign off, “Most likely!”
|
