This week, the Poker News Daily series “The Showdown with Jon Friedberg” welcomes two-time World Series of Poker (WSOP) bracelet winner Brandon Cantu. The married, soon-to-be 30-year-old poker player is expecting a child with his new bride and has recently seen his world turned upside down. View Part 1 and Part 2.
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Friedberg kicked off this week’s episode by discussing the recent Chinese Poker cheating allegations by John Racener against Sorel Mizzi. The latter allegedly dealt a joker off the bottom of the deck to himself and booked nearly $100,000 in profit. The run-in was brought to the public eye through Shaun Deeb on the TwoPlusTwo forums.
On the allegations, Friedberg told “The Showdown” viewers. “This is a weird situation because there have been a lot of ethical issues that have come up about Sorel over the last few years. Racener doesn’t have any sort of checkered past in terms of ethics, but we all know he had three DUIs in a pretty short period of time, making him not the most responsible person as well.”
Friedberg continued, “I really hope this is all just a misunderstanding. I don’t think Sorel has any more chances to where if this is discussed much further, people are going to respect him at all or give him any credibility. Even his prior accomplishments, I think people are going to start doubting whether or not everything was done legitimately.” Mizzi is a sponsored pro of Titan Poker.
Next, Friedberg weighed in on whether sunglasses should be permitted at the poker table. His opinion: “There are ways to use sunglasses to your advantage by cheating. I think there was a popular video on YouTube where someone using a certain color glasses could see certain marks on the cards. I don’t think very many people do that, but… for that reason alone, I think that sunglasses should not be allowed in live tournament settings.”
Cantu wed in November and has a baby on the way. He explained how his life has been altered as a result of a new family: “I always heard people say that once you have someone else that you’re responsible for in poker, you play more seriously. I feel like I’ve started to play more seriously in that aspect and married life is great.” Cantu won bracelets in 2006 and 2009.
He added, “Life has drastically changed because I was going out every night back [in 2006]. I’ve just calmed down. I like it. I wouldn’t change it in any way. If you don’t get your partying out when you’re younger or do whatever it is you do – if you don’t do it when you’re younger, you’re going to do it when you’re older.” Cantu is a member of Team UB.com and also owns a World Poker Tour (WPT) title.
Cantu wrapped up by lamenting his poor 2008 WSOP Main Event showing against Peter Eastgate: “During the Main Event in 2008, I won every single hand I played in that whole tournament except for against Peter Eastgate. I was about 0-for-45 against him. That guy probably has my number worse than anyone in poker… I’ve never beaten that guy in a hand.” Eastgate will participate in this weekend’s National Heads-Up Poker Championship in Las Vegas during his brief comeback.
New episodes of “The Showdown” are released every Tuesday exclusively on Poker News Daily. Remember to use the bonus code UBPND when signing up for UB.com.
