Shawn Marion loves reinventing himself. After hearing for years that he wasn’t happy as a third wheel, couldn’t stand the attention Amar’e Stoudemire and Steve Nash used to get, Marion lost his athleticism (according to many fans, the ONLY reason he was any good), and then ended up winning a title as a hard-nosed, defensive role player who had very few offensive opportunities.
Finally he has a ring. But the Matrix isn’t done collecting jewelry. He’s a poker player, and might take up doing it full-time when he’s done playing.
The Las Vegas Sun writes:
Marion, the former UNLV basketball player who recently won an NBA championship ring with the Dallas Mavericks, would next like to get his hands on a World Series of Poker bracelet. Marion thinks he’s capable of becoming the first man with both an NBA and WSOP championship.
“That would be nice,” Marion said Tuesday while competing in a $1,500 no-limit hold’ em tournament at the Rio. “That would be sweet. If I could get some cards and some double-ups here and there, anything is possible.”
Looks like Marion will have to wait at least one more year before that’s possible. Marion busted near the end of the first day in the no-limit tournament when he ran his suited Ace-4 into pocket Kings.
Marion finished around 800th out of the 3,389 players who signed up for the tournament. That was well short of the money, as players had to make the top 342 to receive a payout.
“Tournaments are hard to play,” Marion said. “I’m a cash game type of guy. You have to be patient, wait for cards and sometimes you wait for so long, you get antsy.”
Marion had originally planned to participate in next week’s Main Event for the second straight summer, but alas wasn’t able to fit it in. Last month, we introduced you to the new Bob Sura, not the NBA-playing version, but the poker player. Perhaps Marion and Sura will meet down the line in a high-stakes game.
What do you think? Which NBA player would make the best poker player?
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