Driving The Nuts!
Monday, 7 October 2013
Match the poker star to the car.
It stands to reason that the better poker player you are, the better car you must have. That’s irrefutable. Our recent tournament successes, for example, have meant we’ve been able to soup up our 1991 Vauxhall Cavalier with spoilers and go-faster stripes. But can you match the cars to the stars? Answers at the bottom.
1. Bentley Continental GT Speed
The second-place finisher in the 2004 WSOP Main Event promptly splurged some of his $3.5 million in winnings on a Bentley Continental GT, which he updated a few years later with this GT Speed. It’s the classic choice for the wealthy playboy, and, sure enough, it’s an image this player likes to foster, having dated a string of models, some of whom have appeared in Playboy magazine. But who is he, that’s what we’re itching to know.
2. Ferrari 458 Spider In order to get your hands on the shit-hot Ferrari 458 Spider convertible, you would have to shell-out around £200k, so it would help if you’d had an extraordinary run of success in the some of the biggest high roller events in poker history, played seven-figure pots in Macau and are currently the leading UK all-time money winner. We’re not saying it’s obligatory, but it would help. Released in 2011, the Spyder does 0-62 mph in 3.4 seconds with a top speed of 199mph.
3. Lincoln Town Car The fact that they’ve been making Lincoln Town Cars for decades might offer a clue as to the advanced years of its owner. In fact, if cars reflect the personalities of their drivers, then this player is stately, solid, reliable and lacking in ostentation. And he wears a cowboy hat.
4. Bugatti Veyron We happen to know that this player traded in his rubbish old Mercedes-McLaren SLR for this Bugatti Veyron. The Veyron is arguably the world’s most fanciable super car and the world’s fastest production car, so, if our theory linking poker prowess and awesome cars is correct, this would have to belong to arguably the world’s best player. There’s a whopping clue, right there.
5. Aston Martin DB 9 It’s every boy’s dream to own an Aston Martin, and this model was such a huge leap from the Jaguar XJ-S-based DB7 that they decided to name it DB9 and skip DB8 altogether. It does 0–62 mph in 4.8 seconds and will set you back £111,000. But which US PokerStars pro splashed out on one recently? They call him the “Robin Hood of Poker”, and so we’d just like to underline that we are poor and also not too proud to accept an Aston Martin here or there.
6. Mini Cooper In contrast to some of the other testosterone-fuelled purchases we’ve seen in this feature, could it be that the nimble and stylish Mini Cooper belongs to a female poker player? Having said that, this particular poker player shows all the aggression of her male counterparts at the table (more, in fact) and would balk at the gender-stereotyping of our opening statement.
7. Lexus Hybrid Poker players aren’t generally known for being particularly eco-aware – in fact, studies show that the amount of methane they produce annually could be having an alarming environmental impact. However, here’s the only one we’ve found who doesn’t drive a fuel-guzzling monster; instead, opting for a classy looking hybrid. Equally unusually for a poker player, he’s also a vegan (although many are Las Vegans) and he has a pet Chihuahua called “Fushu”. Most untypical.
8. Ferrari 360 It may be a little galling for this player to know that the guy who overtook him as the most successful UK tournament player of all time has the latest model Ferrari, whereas he only has the 360. But it is still a Ferrari; with a 3.6 litre V8 engine with 400 bhp. The 360 is a beautiful model and we bet it looks awesome whizzing back and forth across the Humber Bridge.
9. Audi R8 Spyder The Spyder sets you back £150k and goes from 0-62mph in 4.1 seconds, handy if you want to get back to your hometown of Rochdale in a hurry following another high profile tournament demolition. In fact, this player may well be the only twenty-something from Rochdale to own one, unless Matt Perrins also has one.
1) David Williams 2) Sam Trickett 3) Doyle Brunson 4) Phil Ivey 5) Barry Greenstein 6) Vanessa Selbst 7) Daniel Negreanu 8) Devilfish 9) Jake Cody