YOU CAN'T MAKE THIS STUFF UP

WPT BORGATA POKER OPEN CHAMPIONSHIP

Raimondi Raising the Antics

Rail birds and players are truly enjoying the unofficial featured table. Table 4 has professionals Gavin Smith and Billy Gazes, local pro Joey "The B" Brooks (Egg Harbor Twp. NJ) and chip leaders Matt Brown (Hoboken, NJ) and Frank "The Frank" Molinari.

But the introduction of a new character takes the entertainment to a whole new level. Biagio Raimondi (Aberdeen, NJ) is a self admitted "goofball," and a guy you want to be around for the sheer joy of how he oscillates between being smart as a tack, to ignorant bliss.

Raimondi wanders to the table with his smallish stack in a rack and asks Smith if he's sitting at Table 4 seat 6. "No, I'm seat 4, but there's an empty seat over there you can have," Smith says, "I know counting's hard, but you'll be alright."

As the 84 year old Raimondi contemplates if he's even at the right table, play continues. "I was told to come here, but I don't want to be here. I'm ready for dinner," he says as the clock shows 10 minutes on the countdown timer.

At this point players are laughing and trying to convince Raimondi he's at the right place and that if he doesn't play he needs to at least leave his chips at the table. "But I don't want to, I'm hungry," he says.

That's when Tournament Director Tab Duchteau steps in to massage the situation and get the chips in play.

As this is going on, Smith is all-in preflop for his last 50k and and Gazes calls. Gazes flops a set of sixes to bust Smith's pocket aces. "Nothing's better," says Gazes about busting his friendly rival, "winning will be anti-climatic compared to this."

Meanwhile, back at comedy central, Raimondi starts telling anyone who will listen how his name Biondi is actually Italian for "Brad Pitt," and how he was one of the top college quarterbacks in the country in the 1940s and played professional for the New York Yankees of the old AFL.

After another good laugh, Raimondi leaves the Event Center to get a head start on dinner, so we thought.

"Extremely entertaining, that's for sure" says Brown, who's at 325k. "Not a dull moment," adds Molinari who's at 250k.

On the last hand before break, Brooks shoves all in on a queen high board. After his opponent tanks and folds, Brooks shows (A Q) and then jokes with Duchteau on how, "this is the guy I'm going to double-up," as he points to Raimondi's empty seat.

That's when the fun continues.

Raimondi returns with photographed copies of his college and pro football days. Sure enough the headline reads Raimondi Ranks As Nation's No. 1 Passer. The articles mention how Raimondi led Indiana to its first Big Ten Title in 1945 and how he's talked about in the same breath as the great Texas quarterback Bobby Layne.

When we joke about finding a Kinko's in Borgata, he quickly fires back, "oh no, I had these up in my room in case I make the final table. You can have them, I've got more in the car."

Raimondi continues with stories from 60 years ago. "They called me Ben 'The Bullet.' We beat Purdue 26-nothing for the first ever title," he says. "We invented the bullet pass. Before that, guys were just throwing loop-dee-loop passes," adding that he led the nation with 35 completions in 1946.

Bottom line, his football credentials are legit, but his poker acumen isn't at the same level. He's only been playing the game for a year and the WPT Borgata Poker Open Championship is only his second live casino tournament. "I'm having fun," he says, "but I don't know what I'm doing."

After telling the folks on media row more war stories, Raimondi leaves again saying he might take a nap. He eventually returns twenty minutes late for the start of Level 15, but doesn't last long. His (A K) is gutted by Brooks, who's (J 7) hits a seven on the flop and holds to take Biondi's last 17k.

We're not sure if Raimondi ever got to eat, but it sure was fun chewing the fat.

Level 15 (1,200/2,400/300 ante) continues.

Raimondi's Headlines

Biagio "The Bullet"