The Ballad of Brandi Rose Hawbaker Part One: Festa al Lago to Not Trusting Anyone

At the end of day two at the World Poker Tour’s Festa Al Lago, the poker world was shocked. SHOCKED! As a fresh face was atop the leaderboard. Her name? Brandi Hawbaker.

And the even bigger upset? She was relatively easy on the eyes. Why? Because pro poker is full of ugly. But Miss Hawbaker?

She was job hot. And the rumors, specious or otherwise, only added to the Hawbaker Mystique. Stripper? Actress? Fire dancer? Peace Corps Hippie Chick? 

And she would actually talk to the internet proletariat.

Now she finished 35th, and only won about 20k, but it was an audacious start. And maybe, just maybe, she was not just a luck box. Well, it turns out she wasn’t just a luckbox.

She was a big old box of crazy.

And while posting it on an internet forum may not have been the best idea by any stretch, but the fact is she proved to be some sort of a sympathetic figure in this matter. Why? Because the Captain was not one whom proved to be a classy individual…

Tom Franklin is an old dirt bag and he angle shot me at the Foxwoods main event in 2003.

I won an all in pot against him, and he shorted the pot. The dealer was a new guy who didn’t count it correctly. Technically it was my own fault (it was my first big tournament, and it was obvious to everyone else there that in was since I was 22 and looked 18)

I didnt realize till the next hand had completed and I stacked my chips. Leave and learn.

Point being I knew he was a scum bag but TV makes him look different. Honestly, I wouldn’t trust anyone who plays poker for a living that wasnt a close friend for a while. I know that is a bad stereotype and most people are good people, but its a hustlers game and it is what it is.

And from a mister Dan Druff…

Here’s a little story from this year’s WSOP that might add a slight bit of credibility to Brandi’s story:

I played the final $1500 NL event of the 2006 WSOP. This was the actual last event — it went off just before the conclusion of the Main Event.

I called my girflriend Miri when it looked like I was getting relatively far and had a decent stack. Tom Franklin was at my table. There was a young girl sitting behind me, and Miri sat next to her. The young girl told Miri that she was Tom Franklin’s daughter. It did seem a little odd to me that his daughter would be in town for the WSOP with no other family members present, but I didn’t think much of it. Perhaps this was the “Amanda” referred to in Brandi’s story, and perhaps the girl really wasn’t his daughter! Then again, Miri said that this “daughter” was looking very lovingly at him and cheering every time he won a pot — hardly indicative of someone who is reluctantly being used in a sex-for-money deal.

Honesty, I’m not sure what to believe here. This story could range from 100% true to 95% BS. I will say that I doubt Brandi was stupid enough to believe that Tom Franklin was offering to “mentor” her and was never expecting anything in return. I have my ideas as to what really went down, but I won’t share them at this time, as these are pretty serious accusations on both sides of the fence.

Oh, and there is an unconfirmed rumor that Brandi is now spending a lot of time with Dutch Boyd here in Vegas.

Finally, it doesn’t surprise me that newhizzle was the one that came to her rescue with the plane tickets. He has a big heart. I just hope it doesn’t get him in trouble, given the number of reprehensible and dishonest people in the poker world.

And of course, in a situation where you find yourself up against an unsympathetic figure, and it’s your word against theirs. But the Newhizzle in question was Mark Newhouse, World Poker Tour Champion. And as it turns out, here’s where the story turns left.

ok, so i wasnt going to post anything, i dont like spreading drama, but a friend told me that brandi is for some reason spreading lies abotu me and she apparently even told him that i was in the room when she busted my accoutn watching it happen, thats [censored], shes also been sending me threatening text messages and telling me to get on here and say that this never happened, im not one to lie about [censored], so thats clearly not going to happen, so i guess ill go ahead and bloodbath the bitch

im not sure of the amoutn thaty she lost, it was somewhere between 25 and 30k, anyway, i went out to la with her and i was teaching her sitngoes, i let her play my account while i was getting burried downstairs at commerce, the nigth that this happened, i was playing 4/8, stuck like 40 or 50k or so, and i was texting her while playing to check up on how she was doing, she told me that she was winning

at first she was just supposed to be playing sitngoes, one of the nigths before, she got stuck a lot and started playing 15/30 and got stuck more, she has a way of making people feel really bad for her, so i didnt really get mad, but i told her not to play that big anymore and to stick to sitngoes while i wasnt around, and that some time i would teach her limit, but id prefer she didnt play 15/30 because she basically had no limit experience, another night, she started playing 5/10 NL without asking me first and she said she was winning, but i told her id rather she play lower and she said shed stick to 3/6, what nigth different [censored] happened is kind of a blur, i was in a total frenzy for the whole trip, dealing with a lot of [censored] from her and losing a lot of money, defiantely playing bad

the nigth she busted it, she was texting me and said she was doing very well, i was getting burried and definately not thinking clearly and for some reason i gave her permission to play 10/20 NL, but on the condition that she was very careful and that she only played if it was a very good game(not a chance she could possibly know what a good game is btw), but that i would prefer that she stick to 5/10 anyway(really, i was in a frenzy, im [censored] stupid for telling her she could play anywhere near that big)

we were texting back and forth and she kept telling me that she was winning a lot, so i wasnt too worried, when i got done playing, i went up and she was still playing, and she ended up playing a very long session, i was exausted, so i was like whatever

the next day when i got up, i tried to get onto stars, and my password was changed, i asked her wtf is going on, and she said she wanted it to be a surprise how much she was up, i was basically like, [censored] that, get me on my account, and she told me she busted it, i obviously got pissed, but she has a way of making me feel so bad for her that i couldnt stay mad for that long(yes, im a [censored] idiot)

she called a few people to try to get money back for me, but she couldnt get anything, she told me straight up to keep quiet while she was on the phone with them because the only way that she could get money from guys is if they think that she wants to [censored] them, that pretty much changed my perspective of her, now i realzed that she was a scandalous bitch

anyway, she got all depressed and locked herself in the bathroom that nigth, and i heard a glass break while she was in there(she has cuts on her arms from cutting herself, she gets extreamly depressed) i got really worried about her and knocked on the door and asked if everything was ok and if i could come in, she said she was taking a bath and to leave her alone, i shouldnt be listening outside the door, i was in a complete frenzy hoping that she wasnt going to kill herself and my friend called me and told me that mr. foo(90% VPIP full ring and quite possibly the best poker player ever, he was up easily 200k in like 3 days of destroying all the pros) was downstairs, so i went to go play poker and get the [censored] away from the room

when i got back up, she was passed out in the bath, using towels as blankets and on the bathroom wall, written in blood, it said, “i will fly one day” so now im freaking out and i wake her up, she had made a pretty deep cut in her leg

so while i should have been pissed about [censored], i couldnt help but be very worried for her, i didnt know what to do, i felt really bad, i cared about her and didnt like to see her like that, and couldnt really stay mad for long, i am a very forgiving person, and im definately too trusting

anyway, thats pretty much the story, i probly left stuff out or forgot [censored], but thats the jist of it, ive learned a lot of lessons since i won the borgata, one of those is that you really cant trust anyone in the poker world, another is i really shouldnt let myself get emotionally attached to any bitches, a lot of [censored] has happened that has nothing to do with brandi, but i have like 240k out and i have officially decided that i am finished with loaning and staking, im not going to get into other people business about that, also whenever im dealing with a crazy sketchy bitch my mind has been [censored] up as hell and i havent been able to play good, so im not going to let them affect me anymore(brandi is not the only one, and while shes the craziest of the two, she probably less evil than the other one, but im not going to get into that either, im not here to post other peoples business, the only reason im posting this is because brandi is telling people lies about it)

really, i have only myself to blame for allowing myself to be open to this kind of [censored], especially after its happened to me too many times, but its all going to stop now

also, a sidenote for you gossip fiends while im at it, in the car ride back to vegas, brandi told me that she got her ex to put her in a satellite on the condition that she let him [censored] her in the ass, then she said, id rather let you do it, you want to? i pretty much lost all respect for her after she told me that

i ended up putting her in a satellite because i felt so bad for her, but that was clearly a mistake, after she busted from it, she started crying and making a scene at fix because she was so depressed that she wouldnt be able to play in the 15k event, ive pretty much gotten immune to her [censored], not giving any bitch another dime, and i have a new mindset, will no longer let myself be taken advantage of anymore, just going to focus on keeping my head straight, and try to play good, and my bankroll is going to be my bankroll

also, i really dont know anything about the captain tom story other than what shes told me, and thats pretty much what she posted, she told me about that when i first met her at foxwoods and that she was broke and had no way of getting home, so i bought her a plane ticket that she was supposed to pay me back for, she also said before that she plans on paying me bakc what she lost on my account, but i really seriously doubt ill ever see that again

And here’s where Miss Hawbaker’s story goes kablammo. Because before then she was the naive ingeneue who got rolled by the big bad Poker veteran. Now she was proven to be a con artist as well, the sympathy was gone, especially when the rumor of anal sex for a stake into a Satellite was spread.

“It wasn’t anal sex, it was a handjob” was the response.

After which, she laid low on the radar. But like the old saying goes, you can’t keep a good person down. It turns out you can’t keep an evil one down as well.