Chuck Blount: Plenty of poker stories involve legendary Johnny Moss

Poker is more popular than ever, but the aura of dangerous romance is missing from the game now that it has become mainstream and corporate-based.

No longer are the games and the gamblers who play in them huddled in smoke-filled back rooms under constant threat of robbery and cheats. This is a good thing for the players and poker's image, but there were some great stories from the old days when the game had more of that lawless feel.

Some of the best old-timer stories center around the great Johnny Moss, who died in 1995 at the age of 89. You could argue that Moss was the greatest poker player ever born, but he was prone to gamble on anything and at times, the company he kept was best described as suspect.

"The Grand Old Man" of poker was a legend and beat the game while well into his 80s. He is one of only two players to win the Main Event of the World Series of Poker three times, eight bracelets total. The Dallas resident also won millions in the lucrative cash games throughout Texas and everywhere else with chips and a dealer, including an estimated $4 million in the famous months-long, heads-up match vs. Nick "The Greek" Dandalos in 1949.

The match ended when a tired and busted Dandalos uttered the famous line (at least in the poker world anyway), "Mr. Moss, I have to let you go."

The fact that Moss often lost this poker money betting on dice games and ill-timed sports bets is an inconvenient side note.

In addition to poker, Moss was a great golfer. So good that Amarillo Slim went on the record in his memoirs saying he would have bet on Moss vs. any of the great professional golfers of their era — even against the likes of Byron Nelson and Walter Hagen.

My favorite Moss story involves a high-stakes golf match he played against an anonymous rich businessman from Dallas. Things didn't go so well on the front nine, and Moss was down as much as $250,000 at the turn.

The men who arranged the match resembled a mob straight out of "Goodfellas." Fully aware of Moss' ability on the golf course, they bet heavily on him to win.

This was not a good situation for his opponent, who was unaware of the fact that he would be killed if he won the match. The gangsters had no intentions of paying off a six-figure wager.

On the 18th hole, Moss capped off a miraculous rebound on the back nine and birdied the hole to win the match. The rich businessman said to Moss after losing $100,000, "You are the luckiest man alive."

Moss was aware of the stakes involved had he lost, so all he could do was chuckle and retort, "No sir, you are."

Whether the story is true or not, we'll never know for sure. But it's at least consistent with the types of stories frequently told by Moss himself.

In an interview published in Cigar Aficionado magazine before his death, Moss said that in his era, you had to be prepared to deal with the cheats and act accordingly.

"One night, I'm playing in some small town, and I see they got the room set up as a peep joint with a confederate spying on players' cards through a peep hole in the ceiling," Moss said. "So I pull out a gun — I always carried my gun with me — and said: 'Now fellas, do I have to go and shoot a bullet in the ceiling? Or are you going to send your boy down without any harm?"

"They all thought I was bluffing. I ended up shooting the guy in the ass."

You won't hear that kind of story in Las Vegas anymore.

written by Chuck Blunt

News Added: 23 August, 2007

Number of views : 150