Great Poker Players: Johnny Moss
One of the beautiful qualities of gambling is a certain
elment of timelessness-like cigar rolling, boxing, baseball, jazz and an ever
shrinking number of other disciplines, you have to pay your dues to become
successful at it. Technology may have flattened the learning curve somewhat-men
like Ross and even more recent vintage legends like Stu Ungar never had the
luxury of great software simulations like "Texas Turbo Hold'em" or
Internet card rooms where they could practice the theoretical elements of their
craft. You can sharpen your sword more readily today than in the past, but to
consider yourself as a peer among the best poker players you have to meet them
and challenge them face to face.
There weren't any scholarly books or software sims on
poker when Johnny Moss was growing up in Odessa, Texas back in the early 1900's. He recalls playing his first game of cards at the age of 10, and
consorting with a pack of cheats and grifters who taught him the tricks of the
trade like bottom dealing and card marking. Perhaps the only thing that Moss
ever had resembling an honest job was as a teenager, where he would keep an eye
on poker games run in local saloons to make sure they were on the up and up. By
serving as an early version of "the eye in the sky" Moss learned about poker
strategy and the behavior of poker players.
Like most professional gamblers back in the early days,
Moss soon took his show on the road playing in poker games wehreever he could
find them. He played it clean then, and made enough money that cheating at cards
seemed like more trouble than it was worth. It proved to be a valuable skill,
however, as it allowed him to detect crooked games. Moss usually packed heat and
wasn't a guy to mess with. When Cigar Aficionado gambling writer Michael
Konick asked him if he had ever killed a man, Moss responded: I don't
know if he died".
Moss crossed paths with many of the legendary pioneers of
Las Vegas-including a few years living in the "Bugsy Bungalow" at the
Flamingo. He had a lengthy and mutually beneficial relationship with the
Horseshoe Club namesake, Benny Binion who would often provide financial backing
for Moss. In what may have been the biggest single poker payday in history, Moss-backed by
Binion-bled legendary gambler Nick "The Greek" Dandalos out
of a reported $4 million dollars.
Today's poker professionals are better educated than
their predecessors and are just as likley to have a background in finance and
investments as in gambling and grift. Nevertheless, they all owe a debt of
gratitude to Moss, who trod the lucrative path on which today's professional
gamblers walk.
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