Jerry Buss Passes Away at the Age of 80

Published on February 18th, 2013 5:26 pm EST

Jerry Buss, owner of the Los Angeles Lakers and long-time poker player, passed away earlier today at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles. He was 80 years of age.

Jerry Buss is best known for his ownership of the Los Angeles Lakers, a team that he purchased in 1979 from Jack Kent Cooke. The Lakers would go on to win 10 championships during Buss' reign as owner (1980, 1982, 1985, 1987, 1988, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2009, 2010) - Magic Johnson, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Shaquille O'Neal and Kobe Bryant are just some of the names that played for the Lakers during Buss' reign as owner of the team.

Buss loved the Lakers, and he also loved the game of poker. Not only did Buss love the game of poker itself, but he also loved the interactions that he had with other players. Despite the fact that Buss was worth hundreds of millions of dollars, he would have no problem spending hours of his day playing in a $100 No Limit Hold'em tournament at a local casino.

Buss has a total of $172,490 in live tournament cashes to his name, with his largest cash coming in a $200 No Limit Hold'em event that he played in March of 2005 (he took down the event for $33,820). Despite his high net worth, Buss was more comfortable playing in lower buy-in events and cash games.

Jerry Buss was a very well-liked person in the poker world, and many of the players that he played with over the years have taken to Twitter today to express their sadness over his passing.

According to reports, the World Series of Poker may be renaming the WSOP Seven Card Stud Championship after Buss.


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Filed Under: Players In The News