Introducing Sabina Gadecki:
New Hostess of the World Poker Tour
New Hostess of the World Poker Tour
I am the lucky guy who scored the first interview with Sabina Gadecki after she was selected as the hostess for Season 5 of the World Poker Tour. Her addition to the show was a well-kept secret until just a few days ago, and photos and information have been hard to come by. (PokerNews.com broke the story, and Amy Calistri dug up a 2002 photo of her winning Miss Polonia World.) This article should answer most of your initial questions about Sabina Gadecki, and satisfy your curiosity with plenty of photos.
UPDATE (June 6, 2006): There was another Sabina Gadecki sighting at Mandalay Bay, with more pictures. Here’s the link.
Photo: The three hosts of the World Poker Tour: Mike Sexton, Sabina Gadecki, and Vince Van Patten
THE ALL-IMPORTANT FIRST IMPRESSION
When I showed up at the Mirage yesterday afternoon, I ran into Scott Huff and Jeremy Firth, who were waiting to do a quick video interview with David Williams. (Everyone should know Scott Huff by now, as he is CardPlayer.com’s on-air personality for video updates and The Circuit. Jeremy is the one-man video team behind those videos.)
While I was talking with them, a random guy walked up and asked me to take a quick photo of him and his girlfriend with his camera. (As a photographer, I often do this for tourists in Las Vegas.) But it seemed a little strange, since we were in a hallway in the Mirage Convention Center, and it’s not exactly a touristy spot for photos. I asked him what he wanted for the background, and he just shrugged and said he didn’t care. I laughed, realizing that this wasn’t his girlfriend; he just wanted his picture taken with a beautiful girl. 
As they walked off in separate directions, it hit me. That was Sabina, the elusive new hostess of the World Poker Tour. Witty guy that I am, I called out, “Sabina?”
She flashed her million-dollar smile (not literally, not yet; but someday, I’m sure of it), and returned to talk with us for a while.
Photo: Scott Huff, Sabina Gadecki, and Jeremy Firth about 90 minutes before the first final table of WPT Season 5.
Sabina was very friendly and open, and clearly excited about her first final table. She admitted that she didn’t have a poker background, but she had already spent some time studying the shows and learning the game since accepting the job about two weeks ago. And she had spent the afternoon sitting in on the players’ WPT interviews. This wasn’t a requirement of the job; neither Shana nor Courtney ever did this. But Sabina knew she’d have to interview the players after they busted out, and she wanted to get to know them ahead of time. 
George, the WPT producer working with her on this episode, raved about her work ethic, and was genuinely impressed when Sabina volunteered to watch the pre-show interviews.
Photo at right: George, a WPT Producer, reviews the script with Sabina Gadecki shortly before taping begins.
Scott, Jeremy, and I soothed some of her nervous excitement, and assured her that everyone (players, fans, media) would warmly welcome her into the world of poker. The job was hers, and she shouldn’t focus on what Shana or Courtney did. She would have time to settle in and make the job her own.
After about seven minutes, Sabina had to leave to get ready for the show. The immediate consensus (between Scott, Jeremy, and myself) was that she was considerably hotter than the beauty queen photos that surfaced on the net a few days ago. And her personality was a ten as well. This girl is a complete package.
THE DEMO TAPEIn her own words, Sabina owes this job to her roommates back in New York. Her agent called, and said the WPT was interested in her based on her headshot, but they’d need to see a demo tape. Her roommates took the lead and set up everything for her. By the time they started taping the demo, Sabina was cutting loose and having a blast.
The WPT provided her some sample clips from Shana and Courtney to work from, and one of the segments ended with the line, “So kick off your shoes and stay awhile!” She had dressed up as an over-the-top Las Vegas tourist (clothes courtesy of a roommate), with cowboy boots, a Las Vegas shirt, and a Las Vegas visor. As she delivered the line, she was literally kicking off the boots.
At the end of the tape, she told a little about herself, and then she picked up the camera and turned it around on her roommates, thanking them for all the help. It was a spontaneous, fun moment, and when her agent saw it, he said, “They’ll either think you’re crazy, or they’ll love it.” As it turns out, the WPT loved it.
Note to Steve Lipscomb: Set aside that demo tape for the Season 5 DVD.
SHE’LL SLEEP WHEN SHE’S DEAD
When Sabina left for a short vacation three weeks ago, the World Poker Tour was the furthest thing from her mind. But when she got the call (“You got the job!”), her trip was rerouted to Los Angeles, and she hasn’t been home since. 
This 22-year-old student-dancer-model-actress faces a daunting schedule. She’s majoring in International Business at Fordham University, with a minor in Communication. She also attends acting classes at William Esper Studios, nearing the end of her first of (hopefully) two years. (You need to be invited back for Year Two.) She also studies dance (ballet and hip-hop) at the Broadway Dance Center. But apparently she had too much free time, because she’s also part of a dance company called TADAH — an acronym that stands for Tap, Acting, Dance, And Hip-hop. TADAH is led by choreographer Jared Grimes, who has worked with some of the biggest acts in the business, including Mya and Mariah Carey.
She’s already made some sacrifices for the show. She had final exams at Fordham last week, but had to call to reschedule. They were less understanding at the acting studio, where she had already missed three straight classes in recent weeks preparing for the WPT. (They don’t consider a hosting gig to be “acting.”) If she missed the next class (Thursday evening back in New York), she’d be out.
The situation created some tense moments for her Wednesday night, as she had scheduled a 1:00 am flight, which would normally be enough time with a 10:00 or 10:30 finish. But when the final table dragged on and on (and on and on), her odds of making that flight were diminishing. It wasn’t until 11:40 pm that Stan Weiss hit a three-outer on the river to defeat Harry Demetriou. With the winner’s photos and the TV toast, there was no hope of catching that flight.
Photo: Harry Demetriou (runner up), Stan Weiss (winner), Mike Sexton, Vince Van Patten, and Sabina Gadecki at the WPT Mirage Poker Showdown.
As soon as Sabina’s official duties were over, she borrowed a laptop to look for alternate flights home. Her first option would have her landing 90 minutes after her class started (no good), but she found a morning flight on another airline, putting her in New York at 4:00 pm for a 7:00 pm class. Crisis averted.
And if she weren’t busy enough, she just received a summons for Jury Duty. Maybe she can postpone it until July, when the World Poker Tour is on hiatus (due to the WSOP).
WHAT THE FUTURE HOLDS FOR SABINA GADECKI
She hasn’t been home since accepting this job, and she’ll only have two and a half weeks before the next tournament. That should give her just enough time to finish her first year at the William Esper Studios, where she’s hoping to be invited back for the second year of study.
Her WPT schedule has her returning to Las Vegas for the Mandalay Bay Poker Championship (final table: June 8th), before jetting off to Paris a few days later for the Grand Prix de Paris at the Aviation Club (final table: June 16th). She’ll then have two months before the next tournament — the Legends of Poker at the Bicycle Casino in Los Angeles, which starts on Aug. 26th.
Will she succeed as the next hostess of the World Poker Tour, capturing the public’s attention the way that Shana Hiatt once did? As a magic 8-ball might say, “Signs point to yes.”
With a new hostess and a new set for Season 5, a lot of WPT people seem re-energized. Everyone I talked to had great things to say about Sabina, who stayed bright eyed and smiling all night long, even with a rather long and boring final table. (The poker action was fine, but the in-studio announcer temporarily filling in for Linda Johnson was horrible.) On a night when even the poker fans were falling asleep, Sabina stayed energetic, telling me, “I never get bored.”
Photo: Sabina Gadecki gets some pointers from Mike Sexton and Vince Van Patten, who have both been with the show since the beginning.
Sabina doesn’t do anything without giving it 100%. She may not be a poker player, but she is very excited about this job, and she takes it seriously on its own terms. Most aspiring young actresses would view this gig as nothing but a stepping stone to “bigger and better things,” hoping to parlay the exposure into a feature film career. But Sabina is focused on being the best possible WPT hostess she can be.
For a former beauty queen with her share of modeling credits and commercials under her belt, she comes to the poker world with a clean slate. By contrast, Shana Hiatt had already been a Miss Hawaiian Tropic who posed in Playboy, while Courtney Friel had plenty of credits as a TV news anchor and correspondent. When word leaked out a few days ago that Sabina Gadecki would be the next WPT hostess, a Google search on her name yielded only six results.
But she has big ambitions. “I have been pursuing an acting career since I first moved to New York three years ago. I want more than anything to become a successful actress.” Sabina has everything she needs to become a big star someday, and she’s proving that she’s willing to work hard to get there. If and when that happens, the WPT will represent a turning point for Sabina Gadecki.
A FEW TRIVIAL NOTES
The World Poker Tour is caught in a paradox right now, as they have only recently started promoting Courtney Friel for Season 4 (which debuted on the Travel Channel in March). So don’t expect them to redecorate their website right away.
Even though she won the title of Miss Polonia World back in 2002, Sabina speaks flawless English without an accent.
When Mike Sexton toasted Stan Weiss’s victory at the end of the show, Sabina held a bottle of Budweiser, but didn’t drink from it. When the show was over, she explained that there are some industry codes that restrict the use of actors under 25 in beer commercials. (Sabina is 22.) She wasn’t sure whether or not that restriction applied to the World Poker Tour, so she figured she’d rather be safe than sorry. (Although with her experience in commercials, she did make sure she held the bottle with the sponsor’s label facing out.)
As far as I can tell, that rule doesn’t seem to apply to shows like the WPT. There have already been several champions under the age of 25, and I haven’t heard about any problems. Josh Schlein (who was 20 years old when he finished second in Aruba) is the only player who wasn’t allowed a beer during the WPT’s end-of-show toast. He was legally old enough to play poker and drink beer in that country, but not legally old enough to drink that same beer in America, or on American TV.
THE LAST WORD
This article should answer most of the questions poker fans have been asking since Sabina Gadecki was announced as the new hostess of the World Poker Tour. But there is one thing that I’ve avoided revealing to this point. It’s the question that guys always want to ask, even though they never want to hear the answer.
So this is your last chance to stop reading, turn back, and live in a world of self-deception. You’ve been warned.
Does Sabina Gadecki have a boyfriend? Yes.
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I have also written a news piece on Sabina Gadecki for BluffMagazine.com. Please head over to their site to check it out.
UPDATE (June 6, 2006): There was another Sabina Gadecki sighting at Mandalay Bay, with more pictures. Here’s the link.
As always, feel free to leave me comments below.
BJ’s Poker Blog: Sabina Gadecki
Thursday, May 18, 2006
