Here are three Poker/Gambling stories I’ve either witnessed or heard about over the years. The last story is unsettling, and it makes me wonder if what Big Bob said to The Kid was true or not. It goes with out saying, no matter how many years you live, you have not seen or heard it all.
This first story happened years ago as I was sitting in a poker game at O’Sheas (now permanently closed) Casino in Las Vegas. What happened has probably been attempted in many Poker Rooms and Casino Table Games, but I am sure, it is very, very rare.
Poker has a term, ‘Angle Shooting’, which refers to players who are not quite outright cheating, but are as close to the cheating line as they can get. This player, Player X, took angle shooting to a whole new level, outright theft.
O’Sheas had one low limit ($1 - $3) Texas Hold em Poker Table setup that was open to the sidewalk. A few players at the table actually sat with their chairs on the sidewalk. This was most likely to attract Customers who were curious about poker, but never played poker. They could watch from the sidewalk. Player X sits down in an open chair with his back to the sidewalk.
Player X is playing conservatively (tight), folding every hand for a couple rounds. Now, on the flop, there is a raise and a re-raise in front of him. Player X calls, The original bettor goes all in on the turn, the next player calls the all in, and Player X goes all in.
The pot has over eight hundred dollars in $100.00 bills and cash. The dealer turns the river card. After the first two players show their hands, Player X stands up, grabs all the $100 bills in the pot, some of the chips too, turns, and runs down the street, getting away. Of course O’Sheas has his picture which I understand is shared with all other Casino’s on the strip. Player X’s short poker career in Las Vegas was officially over. I wonder if he lived another year?
I was playing Craps one evening, when a stumbling drunk Woman barely makes her way to the Craps table. She asks the dealer, “How do you play this game?”, inadvertently dropping a black ($100.00) chip onto the field. As the dealer is explaining the basics of Craps, the shooter rolls a twelve and the Drunk Woman wins $300.00 from the $100.00 bet she didn’t know she made. She now has $400.00 sitting in the field.
She tells the dealer she does not understand any of what he is saying. The next roll is thrown, a nine. The very drunk Woman wins again! The Woman is oblivious to what is going on. The dealer tells her to pick up her chips from the field - $800.00 in black chips.
She says she does not understand anything, but picks up the chips the dealer is pointing to. She stumbles off presumably to the elevator, heading to her room. I wonder if she knew where the extra black chips came from the next morning?
This final story is so bizarre, I would not believe it if I had not heard it from three different Poker Players who were in the poker room at the time it happened. I have known them for decades, and never heard them tell a lie. I knew one of the players in the hand. I heard it happened, but not the details until recently.
This is a local No Limit Texas Hold em game. The two players remaining in the hand on the Turn each had over ten thousand dollars on the table in front of them before this hand was dealt. Pre Flop and Flop bets are large. The Turn brings a possible Straight Flush with three spades in sequence on the board. 9s, Ts, X, Js. X is a non spade card of no real help to either player.
The two players in the hand on the Turn are: Big Bob, a long time big money player. The second player, an upstart who thinks he is God’s gift to the Poker World; though a tough player in his own right. Let’s call him, The Kid. The Kid is first to act, and goes all in for his Turn play, pushing his remaining chips out in front of him. There is now well over fourteen thousand dollars in the pot.
It is Big Bob’s turn to act. Big Bob contemplates what he will do - call or fold. Big Bob asks The Kid, “Do you want me to call?”
The Kid says, “Hell yes, I want you to call”. Big Bob looks at the The Kid and says, “You know I sold my Soul to the Devil, don’t you? I’m going to win this hand!”
The Kid looks shocked, then scared, but tells Big Bob he wants him to call his all in. Big Bob declares he is all in.
There is a dramatic pause and the Dealer flips the Ks as the River card. The board is 9s, 10s, X, Js, Ks. The unnamed card, X, is not a spade and no obvious help to either Player.
The Kid, turns over 8s, 7s, for 7s, 8s, 9s, Ts, Js, a beautiful Straight Flush! Big Bob smiles, and turns over the Qs for a Larger Straight Flush, 9s, Ts, Js, Qs, Ks, winning the pot! In the moment, I think I would have ran out of the Poker Room, never to return. For Big Bob, it was just another day at, ‘The Office’.
