#853 – 2009 WSOP Revisited #12 – The Great PearlJammed Caper, Part III

Posted by mcraig | Filed under Uncategorized

AFTERWARD

Those were my notes, essentially as I wrote them that night in July as I tried to remember the details of the dinner with Jon Turner. The Main Event became my focus starting the next day and I never got back to that account. I’m sure you can imagine my reluctance in publishing an interview that I can’t confirm actually happened. But I should be able to confirm this nearly two months later, right?

Shauna says I am insane and of course it took place, but she has no recollection of any dispute between us, which disqualifies her opinion for confirming or denying any of this. The lack of a backup battery and recorder caused this whole mess and if we can’t even agree on that how can I get her confirmation on any of the details? I asked a friend in Vegas to stop by Naked Fish and see if there were signed plates on the wall from me and Jon. There were not, which means (a) the meeting may not have taken place if a poker hang-out like Naked Fish wouldn’t take a signed plate from PearlJammed, or (b) the wait staff at Naked Fish doesn’t appreciate the towering achievement of being runner-up in Razz.

I could clear a lot of this up by contacting Jon Turner, but that turns out to be way more complicated than it sounds. First, if he did give me the interview, it doesn’t make me sound very responsible to ask him if we already completed it. Second, if we did not conduct this interview he would likely write me off as a nut case. Third, I haven’t seen Jon Turner around poker recently, though that may confirm that we did meet that night.

Right after our interview, Pearl Jam announced a world tour, including seventeen U.S. dates between late August and Halloween. If you don’t see Jon at any big tournaments during that time, then I must not be making this up. On the other hand, whether Jon Turner goes to London or Cyprus to play poker in September could prove nothing about his devotion to Pearl Jam or my sanity.

I just remembered that I do have one piece of documentary evidence from the interview. At the end of the evening, Jon asked me to sign his copy of SUICIDE KING and offered me a copy of his book, WINNING POKER TOURNAMENTS ONE HAND AT A TIME, which he autographed. I had a copy of Jon’s book, which I have found to be excellent and want to review for the blog, but I didn’t bring it to the Series.

My office has been a mess since the World Series and I had to enlist Shauna to find the autographed copy of Jon’s book. But here it is. The signature is illegible but the inscription is neatly printed. “Michael, thank you for the inspiration! Jon Turner [?]”

When Shauna found the evidence, I expected her to make fun of me for even considering that this interview didn’t take place, but she did the opposite. “How do you know that’s Jon’s signature? If you were going to make up this whole story, you would end it with something like Jon Turner thanking YOU for inspiring HIM.”

I have just one other method of confirming this whole episode. Jon told me that night that he has remained close with many of the friends who originally accompanied him out to Las Vegas. One exception, however, was an unreliable roommate who borrowed money then disappeared with an apartment key, and Turner was somehow robbed of $10,000 hidden in the apartment while he was playing the final table of a Las Vegas poker tournament. If that dirt bag still has a key and can steal Jon’s copy of SUICIDE KING, we can see if my autograph is on the title page. Unfortunately, that’s that only way I can think of to prove I’m NOT crazy.

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