Poker Community Mourns Sad Loss Of Jerry Buss Aged 80

Los Angeles Lakers owner and high-stakes poker player Jerry Buss has sadly passed away aged 80, after battling cancer for much of the last year and a half.
Mr. Buss famously bought the Los Angeles Lakers in 1979 for $67.5 million before then turning them into one of the N.B.A’s most successful teams, worth $1 billion by 2013. In appreciation for his services to the sport, Jerry Buss was honoured with a place in the Basketball Hall of Fame in 2010.
Away from his business activities, Jerry Buss was a well-known philanthropist and in 2008 gave $7.5 million to USC’s Department of Chemistry to help provide scholarship funds for chemistry graduate students. Buss also enjoyed playing high-stakes poker and was a much loved face on GSN’s High Stakes Poker and NBC’s Poker After Dark. In addition, he had a fondness for poker tournaments, with his biggest success coming in 1991 at the WSOP when he placed 3rd at the $2,500 Seven-Card Stud event for $33,250.
When asked to explain his attraction to the game, Jerry Buss replied: “The competitiveness. Once you reach a certain age, there are very few things you can do to compete with people. I find it very enjoyable to compete every day of my life.”
Since news of Mr Buss’ sad demise, messages of condolences have been flooding in from the poker community with deepest sympathies going out to his family. Here are a selection of just a few of those messages:
Phil Hellmuth
“RIP Jerry Buss. I never ever heard Jerry say anything negative about anyone. JB turned around the Lakers & won 10 NBA Championships! Jerry was a great limit Hold’em player & he held his own against the BEST players in the world. Jerry, I will miss you my friend…”
Victor Ramdin
“RIP Jerry Buss ! One of my favorite Celeb to ever play poker against. With a great sense of humor”
JC Tran
“Sad news about Jerry Buss. He was a true friend to many poker players. Big hearted guy”
Jean-Robert Bellande
“At 21, I tried to hustle Jerry in pool… Found out that the last sucker he played lost his condo and his RRoyce #grasshopper #OG #RIPJerry”
Noah Schwartz
“My thoughts &prayers go out to the Buss Family. Truly enjoyed played poker w Jerry Buss the#of times we played just a truly sensational guy.”