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A member of the notorious new breed of young poker pros who are winning—and losing—millions

Matt Marafioti is a mouthy, high-rolling university dropout who plays 1,000 hands of online poker a night
By Jason McBride | Photography by Dave Gillespie

Poker Face | Matt Marafioti

This past September’s Epic Poker League No-Limit Texas Hold ’Em Tournament had been underway for about an hour when Matt Marafioti strode into the ballroom at the Palms Casino Resort in Las Vegas. Epic is a relatively new poker league, co-founded by Jeffrey Pollack, a former NASCAR exec. His mandate is to professionalize the game and promote its most elite players. The tournament had attracted almost a hundred such players, including superstars like Phil Hellmuth, Erik Seidel (the current top money winner) and Tom “Durrrr” Dwan. The buy-in was $20,000, but more significantly, in order to qualify, each player had to have made a minimum of $1.25 million in live tournament play. Marafioti was late because, for the second time in a week, he had lost the key to his safety deposit box, and the box had to be drilled open so he could extract his bankroll. When he did finally arrive at the ballroom, the armpits of his tight heather-grey T-shirt dark with sweat, he sat at the wrong table.

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The Informer

My Name Is Lucre

June 22, 2011 | 2:30 pm

1 Comment

Bank of Canada set to distribute new see-through currency, making Canadians’ payment choices plastic, plastic or plastic

Canada’s cotton paper money will soon be a relic of the past (Image: Diego Torres Silvestre)

The era of paper money is coming to an end, and not just because everybody loves to pay with debit or credit cards. Even the Bank of Canada is getting in on the action, replacing paper money with plastic cash. We’re a touch confused by the whole initiative (a “frontier” theme?), but it’s apparently all about saving—what else?—money.

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The Informer

My Name Is Lucre

December 17, 2010 | 4:36 pm

2 Comments

Business group calls on customers to use debit and cash instead of credit cards

Get out the smelling salts, people: it turns out that credit card companies are out to make a buck, and aren’t particularly kind or charitable about how they do it. The latest revelation is a result of the Federal Competition Bureau—fresh from its MLS victory—looking in to the fees that credit card companies charge to merchants, and the rules that restrict them from encouraging customers to use cheaper forms of payment. According to the Globe and Mail, retailers are gearing up for a fight to try and wean shoppers off their Visa and Mastercard.

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The Dish

Caffeine High

November 23, 2010 | 12:29 pm

4 Comments

Finally, Tim Hortons gets debit terminals

We’re pretty sure this is all the fault of latte-sipping downtown elites. First Starbucks announced that it was going to make people wait longer for take more care with people’s drinks, regrettably leading to longer waits (FYI: the Starbucks at King and Yonge has apocalyptically bad lineups in the morning rush). And now even that bastion of rapidity, Tim Hortons, is caving to the demands of people who want to take longer to pay. The ubiquitous doughnut chain is about to break its Mastercard-only rule and let customers pay with debit cards.

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The Informer

In Transit

October 1, 2010 | 12:49 pm

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Like magic, TTC and Queen’s Park find some common ground on Presto

One of the most bizarrely acrimonious fights in the city over the past few months has been not over who pays for transit, or how much, but rather how riders will pay. The government of Ontario is pushing a system called Presto on transit systems throughout the GTA, while the TTC insists on going its own way with an “open payment” system that would let riders tap their debit or credit cards instead. Just one problem: there are three people involved in this fight, but only one is going to have her job in a month’s time. Adam Giambrone and David Miller can fight the province all they want, but Kathleen Wynne will be in her office after they’ve packed up their stuff and left. Showing some good sense, the TTC has kicked this can down the road until after the election.

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The Informer

Streetcar Named Disaster

July 26, 2010 | 3:58 pm

2 Comments

Wynne tells Giambrone that when it comes to Presto cards, it’s her way or the highway

Here’s another thing Toronto’s transit system needed: having pioneered new ways to argue over who’s paying for what, the city and province are now arguing over how to pay for a ride. The province has declared that we’ll all have to use a pre-loaded smart card system called Presto, while the city wants to investigate a system that would let riders swipe their debit or credit cards. Relations have become so fraught that Transportation Minister Kathleen Wynne is holding a gun to Transit City’s head and threatening to pull the trigger.

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The Informer

Summit Survivor

June 26, 2010 | 2:28 pm

1 Comment

Can the G20 jam credit card transactions? The Rovers Pub thinks so

(Image: Richard Even)

Despite the rain, the Rovers Pub on the edge of Koreatown was packed this morning. South Korean and Uruguayan fans raucously cheered on their teams while eating eggs and bacon and sneaking in an early pint. As the game came to a close and the servers rushed around the bar processing bills, things got confusing.

“I’m really sorry but the system is down, so no credit cards,” the server told a patron at one end of the bar. “We called the credit card company and they said it’s because of the G20.”

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The Informer

In Transit

May 20, 2010 | 11:28 am

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Canadians would rather drive than have sex, credit cards, junk food or TV

Better than sex (Image: Richard Smith)

Canada is not as eco-friendly—or as sexy, fun or fit—as previously thought. A new study conducted by the WWF (the World Wildlife Fund, not the erstwhile Worldwide Wrestling Federation) found that most Canadians would forgo sex, television, junk food and credit cards before they would give up their automobiles. It also found that 76 per cent of Canadians would drive, even if they could walk, bike or take public transit to their destination.

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The Dish

Restauran-TO

January 28, 2010 | 8:01 am

3 Comments

Batifole sticks it to the credit card companies

(Photo by mugley)

Fed up with credit card companies’ service charges, the venerable French restaurant Batifole is asking patrons to not use their plastic to pay for their meals. Here is the message printed on the menu from chef-owner Jean-Jacques Texier (emphasis his):

Dear Patrons
The Credit Card Companies (Visa, Amex, and Master-Card) have introduced new fees, as well; they have substantially raised their service charges to merchants. They think that I should raise my price and transfer the cost on to you. But we are dedicated to keeping Batifole affordable and seek your support.
Please Pay By Using your Debit Card or Cash.

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The Dish

Read All About It

June 26, 2009 | 3:11 pm

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Chefs make better lovers, threatening T.O.’s culinary superiority, cell phone credit cards

Go zest: Vancouver and the rest of B.C. want to be Canada's food capital (Photo by Small)

Go zest: Vancouver and the rest of B.C. want to be Canada’s premier food destination (Photo by Small)

• Could this be the end of the Toronto-Montreal axis of culinary superiority? We doubt it, but a new initiative between the British Columbia government and restaurateurs in the province is aiming to put Lotus Land on the culinary map. [Vancouver Sun]

• Longtime New York food critic Gael Greene argues that chefs make better lovers, and that celebrity chefs in particular should spend less time cooking and more time reaping the fruits of celebrity—especially sex with willing young food groupies. As if Rachel Ray needs another reason to smile. [Daily Beast]

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Urban Decoder

April 22, 2009 | 10:13 am

8 Comments

I’m sick of cabbies giving me the stink eye when I try to pay with Visa. Aren’t they required to take credit?

Credit cards are indeed the kryptonite of the cab world, but not without reason. Most cab companies charge employees a processing fee of about five per cent for each credit transaction, which explains why people who hop into a cab without cash are often met with either a look of disgust (as though you offered to pay for the ride with rancid cheese) or a dubious claim that the machine is broken. There’s no city bylaw requiring drivers to accept credit. Instead, policies fall to individual companies. Beck Taxi, Toronto’s largest fleet, requires all drivers to carry a manual credit card processor, in case the famously faulty electronic machines break down. What this means is that if a driver with a broken machine picks you up, lying or not, he should still be able to take your card. If you’re riding Beck (and have the guts to take on a crabby cabbie), you can inform your driver that you are aware of the policy. Dollars to doughnuts, the machine will suddenly start working.

• Question from Gill Dymond in North Toronto

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