Old Vegas stories

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davidkopp

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hi,

I thought I would share some of my posts from my pages. Here's a story from my early years I poker,

True Story:

I played a lot of poker with Johnny Moss when I was young and eventually I learned a lot about him. For instance, Johnny did NOT believe in tipping poker dealers. There were a few exceptions but he was 70 years old and couldn't beat the games any morevent and he blamed the dealers.

The second time I ever played with him was in a short handed 20 40 stud 8 game. He was stuck and in a bad mood. We played where we both paired our door card on fourth street. I made open 3s and Johnny paired 4s. I had two kings in the hole and I caught a king on 5. Johnny caught a queen. We started raising. He stopped at 5 bets. I didn't see anything unusual when he raised me on 6th Street . He did that sort of thing quite often. He looked up at the dealer and said "I will give you a green chip if you help this hand."

In you haven't figured it out yet, don't feel bad. I didn't either. But I was the only one in the Dunes poker room who didn't know that Johnny had four 4s.


Happy to be on the team.
 
I'll start--- here is one of mine:

Cards Speak
by David Kopp

In the late 70s, Fred (Sarge) Ferris was the most powerful man in poker---Sort of like Doyle Brunson today, but a lot more dangerous…. he had his fingers in a lot of pies and nobody ****ed with him.

The big game had been stud or stud 8 for several months, but on this particular day, we had a very loose player who wanted to play Greek Hold’em. Greek Hold’em is almost never played today but it is pretty simple: Hold’em played like Omaha. In other words, you MUST use both of your hole cards.

The game started at 200 400 limit (the structure was unusual $50 ante and one $200 blind). But Johnny Moss (who was usually a big loser) and Sarge (who played everything good and won consistently) both got stuck and before long we were playing $500 $1000 limit--- a huge game in 1979, any decent size pot had enough money to buy two new Cadillacs in it.

Sarge raised under the gun, I had JJ and reraised, Chip Reese made it 4 bets on the button. This was pre- poker boom---Four bets before the flop happened less than once an hour. The pot was already almost $7000 and there wasn’t even a flop yet. Sarge was a hothead when he was stuck. Everyone knew it.

The flop was K73 with two hearts. Sarge bet the flop, I folded, Chip raised, Sarge re-raised. Sarge showed me his hand: Two black 7s. He had been doing that all night. Probably with the hope that I would show him mine when he was out.

Sarge bet dark on the turn: The dealer turned the king of spades. Chip (who it turned out had the AK of hearts raised. Sarge reraised. On the end the 3 paired. Sarge checked, Chip bet. Sarge slammed his fist on the table. Scowled at the dealer and called.

Chip turned his hand over. Sarge threw his cards in the muck, having forgotten that this was Greek holdem and he had the best hand: Three kings versus 7s full.

The dealer pushed the pot to Chip as I turned and told the most dangerous man in Las Vegas that he had folded the winner in a $20,000 pot.
 
Got a little chilly in the room there,lol. nice story🙂
 
That's a great story ! As a young wannabe I once flopped two pair from the big blind in an unraised 5 way pot in a $1500 buyin wsop event at Binions . It was checked to Johnny Moss( now a washed up old timer ) who bet about two thirds the size of the pot . I made a pot size raise and he insta mucked . That is my clain to fame . Unfortunately , a while later at a new table , my short stacked KK allin open raise busted to Doyle Brunson's big blind JJ . Say what you will about poker being easy in the old days , but the tourneys in the early 90's were stacked with talent !
 
I made a wsop final table in the 70s. I also played the biggest cash games in Vegas from 78 to 81. Poker was NOT a young man's game in those days. There were only 3 guys in there 20s who played the big games at the Dunes. Chip Reese, Stu Ungar and me. I am 60 and eventually, I will be the only one left from that Era.
 
Mike Sexton's book has a number of these types of stories from the 'old days'. Give it a read.
 
I have known Mike for almost 40 years. Danny Robison introduced us. I have heard good things about his book. It's on my "after the WSOP" reading list.
 
Here's another fun story:
$2 Steak Special
by David Kopp
I was 23 in the summer of 1979. I weighed 400 pounds and I had $400,000 in the cage at the Dunes. In other words, I was the coolest. After playing all day at the Dunes, I went downtown to have dinner with my friends. Rick Klehammer and Cissy Bottoms. We were waiting for one more person, identity long since forgotten, and then we going to eat at the Horseshoe. There was a big crowd (for 2 AM) and I quickly saw why: A silver Stutz Bearcat parked at the curb. I heard someone say it was worth $100,000. In 1979, the fanciest American cars sold for less than $25,000.
The car belonged to Evel Knievel, the famous motor cycle daredevil. He was inside shooting craps. He had his body guard watching the car--- a pretty big guy… but he smelled scared to me. A young kid walked up and put one finger on the hood of the car. The bodyguard swatted the kid away and said “the next person who touches the car dies”. Being the obnoxious young man that I was, I went over and put one finger on the same spot on the hood. Just for a second. The body guard shook his head and said “touch the car again and die”. He didn’t look like much, so I walked up again and put my hand on the hood…For about 5 seconds.
He went inside. I assumed he was summoning security. Two minutes later Teddy Binion came out. Laughing. He said “David, do we have a problem here?” My friends and I went inside and enjoyed the $2 steak special.
My wife Madison was a 6 year old child in Chicago on that day. We were married on December 20 2013. A few weeks later at the Venetian, a guy walked up to Madison and said “Your husband is an a**&$#@.”
She smiled sweetly and said “What’s your point?”
 
I have to subscribe to this thread and know I will look forward to more stories of the 'old days'.
 
I am glad you liked it. I am new to cardschat. It's nice to know someone enjoys what I write.
 
davidkopp said:
$2 Steak Special
by David Kopp
Click to expand...

I'm a sucker for UCAPs, even almost 40 year old ones!!! You write'em and I'll gladly read'em!!!
 
davidkopp said:
He looked up at the dealer and said "I will give you a green chip if you help this hand."
Click to expand...

What a guy 😱 Generous offer that he knows can't be reached!!
 
Another story about the legendary Johnny Moss. We were playing 75 150 stud 8 at the Dunes and Johnny was winning.
The game was built around Vera Richmond. She claimed to be the heir to the Neiman Marcus fortune and always acted like her s#$@ didn't stink. Picture a 250 pound woman, mean as a snake. Now put her in a evening gown, stuck three racks. That would be Vera.
Anyway, on this particular day a ****tail waitress spilled coffee down her back. She was livid.

Announced that she was going to have EVERYONE fired.

Mr. Moss---as a rule--- did not tip. . .but on this particular day, it was different. He tossed the waitress a $25 chip then (in a stage whisper,) he offered the waitress $200 to do it again.
 
Love these stories David!

Thanks for taking the time to entertain us in the forum. Look forward to meeting you for the team event!

(I think they are best in General Poker)
 
Last edited:
davidkopp said:
Another story about the legendary Johnny Moss. We were playing 75 150 stud 8 at the Dunes and Johnny was winning.
The game was built around Vera Richmond. She claimed to be the heir to the Neiman Marcus fortune and always acted like her s#$@ didn't stink. Picture a 250 pound woman, mean as a snake. Now put her in a evening gown, stuck three racks. That would be Vera.
Anyway, on this particular day a ****tail waitress spilled coffee down her back. She was livid.

Announced that she was going to have EVERYONE fired.

Mr. Moss---as a rule--- did not tip. . .but on this particular day, it was different. He tossed the waitress a $25 chip then (in a stage whisper,) he offered the waitress $200 to do it again.
Click to expand...

LOL! love it!
 
well maybe one day I will be lucky enough to meet you david and your lovely wife
 
I hope David will share a few more recollections of the old days. As I read through the posts so far, found me hoping for more!

Still looking forward to the next installment! Cheers!
 
very interesting stories, thank you very much. I'll wait for the sequel
 
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