Poker pro Beth Shak was featured on NBC’s Today Show this morning and the focus wasn’t about her poker skills, but about her shoes. Shak’s 1,200 pairs of designer shoes also led to her being featured in the upcoming documentary, God Save My Shoes.
Shak’s shoe collection, which fluctuates as she acquires more and gives some away, didn’t come cheap especially since 700 of her shoes bear the pricey Christian Louboutin label. Shak estimates that her entire shoe collection is worth roughly half a million dollars. Oddly enough, her lifetime live tournament winnings equal $475,388. So if Shak’s tournaments winnings just barely pay for her shoes, how does she afford to live a luxurious lifestyle in a beautiful house? Perhaps she’s crushing the cash games online.
Shak hasn’t done much in the poker world recently regarding notable cashes, or any cashes for that matter. Her last cash was in December of last year when took 11th place in a WSOP Circuit event for $26,232. Her biggest payday by far came in 2007 at a WSOP No-Limit Holdem event where she finished second for $328,683 and notably knocked out poker legend, Phil Hellmuth at the Final Table.
The hand that saw Shak take out Hellmuth started with Hellmuth raising to 120,000 and Shak calling. The flop came Qs-10d-6h. With the action on Shak she pushed all-in leaving Hellmuth to decide whether he wanted to risk his tournament on a call. Hellmuth must have suspected a bluff from Shak as he called with Ac-10c for middle pair leaving him in big trouble as Shak showed Kh-Qh for top pair. With the turn a 9h and the river a 2s Hellmuth was knocked out and Shak went on to score the biggest payday of her life.
Shak’s final hand of the tournament came when her heads-up opponent Shankar Pillai opened with a raise to 180,000 and she reraised it by 550,000 more. Pillai made the call and saw a flop of 10c-8h-3h. As she had been doing pretty regularly up to this point, Shak opened with an all-in push. Pillai took over a minute to decide what to do before finally making the call. Shak looked like she was in good shape as she tabled Kd-8s for middle pair but the excitement was short-lived as Pillai tabled Ad-8d for middle pair with a better kicker. The turn brought a meaningless 7s and the river an equally irrelevant 2c. Shak was knocked out in second place and denied her best shot at a WSOP bracelet.
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