Local poker player Fred Goldberg warming up again
I followed Fred Goldberg even before I got the gambling beat.
He finished 10th in the World Series of Poker main event a couple of years ago, and the next year won a bracelet in an earlier event.
Then he hit a slump. I'd bump into him at the Hard Rock and feel a little bad, like my story on him jinxed him.
OK, I'm feeling better. Goldberg won an event at the Isle's Battle at the Beach last month, and this month won the heavyweight event in the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino Main Event.
Goldberg, of Hollywood, paid $1,100 to win $25,550. Cruiserweight division ($575 buy in) went to Ward Martin of Lantana, who earned $11,910. Middleweight division ($350 buy in) went to Steven Karp of North Miami Beach; he took home $8,770.
NICK SORTAL began playing 3-card "gut" and "Indian poker" on high school band trips, moved on to "night baseball" and "pass the trash" during a Dr. Pepper-infused midnight game in the 1980s at the St. Louis Globe-Democrat, and now play in a regular neighborhood Hold 'Em game in Plantation. I have been given the assignment of writing about the gambling life in South Florida casinos for the Sun-Sentinel...which means sitting around watching poker on TV now counts as research.
