Call it sweet revenge.
Three years ago, Mercury Air Group Chief Executive Joe Czyzyk played his first rounds of Texas Hold ’em Poker with Warren Buffett – and had to fold before the Oracle of Omaha did.
The two were part of a tournament Buffett puts on each year in Las Vegas for owners of fractional shares of jet aircraft managed by Woodbridge, N.J.-based NetJets Inc., which is owned by Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway Corp. Czyzyk is one of the owners, and his company, Mercury Air, is the major fuel supplier for NetJets planes.
Czyzyk, who is also chairman of the Los Angeles Area Chamber of Commerce this year, and Buffett finally met June 18 in a rematch at the annual tournament at the Wynn Hotel in Las Vegas.
This time, Czyzyk outlasted Buffett by about an hour, finally folding after about 30 rounds. “I was number 155 to fold out of about 300,” Czyzyk said.
Buffett “was the most unassuming and nicest guy at the table,” Czyzyk said, “except when he tried to read my cards and I tried to read his.”
So far, neither has made it to the final round. But Czyzyk said the two have made a little side wager that the first one to make it to the winner’s table will get “an undisclosed sum” of money.
Czyzyk said that over the next year, he’s going to hone his poker skills.
“But Warren is nothing but persistent. He told me he’s going to play until he’s 110,” he said.
Really Cookin’
For most chefs, the biggest challenge on the job is dealing with a particularly cranky diner. But Kristi Ritchey, executive chef at the Greenleaf Gourmet Chopshops in Century City and Beverly Hills, put her culinary skills to tougher tests on a new Food Network show, “Extreme Chef.”
During the program, which was scheduled to air June 30, Ritchey competed against two other chefs in unusual challenges, such as cooking a dish on a car’s engine block.
“In our industry, you always have to think quickly on your feet and nothing goes 100 percent smoothly,” said Ritchey. “But I honestly didn’t expect those types of challenges.”
For Ritchey, 30, just competing on the show was an accomplishment. Over the past three years, she’s shed more than 100 pounds.
Since losing the weight, Ritchey ran a marathon and even went skydiving for her birthday. Appearing on TV was another way to challenge herself.
“If they’d approached me before I lost my weight, I wouldn’t have done it,” she said. “I wouldn’t have had the confidence in myself.”
Staff reporters Howard Fine and Natalie Jarvey contributed to this column. Page 3 is compiled by Editor Charles Crumpley. He can be reached at [email protected].
