Welcome to Las Vegas! My name is Victor H. Royer, but everyone just calls me Vegas Vic. I was named after that famous neon sign in Downtown Las Vegas, that cowboy with the hat on top of the Pioneer Club, always waving his hand and beckoning to his long love, Sassy Sally, on the other side of the street. I will be writing a few articles for AccessVegas.com, so I hope you enjoy them.
Poker's Big Guns
It was a Tuesday in October 1974. The place was the Horseshoe Club in downtown Las Vegas, in its heyday. The Horseshoe Club's founder and owner, Benny Binion, was playing World Poker Champion Johnny Moss heads up in a pot limit five-card stud game.
Benny Binion was one of the now legendary "Texas Bad Men of Poker." He had run gambling games in Texas for some time, and had gotten into some hot water after, reportedly, killing some men with whom he had had dealings and who didn't live up to Benny's expectations (to put it mildly). So, Benny headed west for Las Vegas, where gambling was legal and there were no such bothersome things like extradition treaties between the states for insignificant little things, like killin' a weasely gamblin' cheater.
Benny arrived in Las Vegas in the late 1940s and found it to his liking. At the time, downtown Las Vegas was full of cowboy sawdust joints, and this reminded Benny of his Texas days. This was still before the time of the "carpet joints," which came to be so known after Benjamin "Bugsy" Siegel opened the Flamingo in 1948. Even after the Strip became a haven for carpet joints, Benny liked the scene in downtown Las Vegas. He started to work for the local hoods, and later opened his own club, which became the Horseshoe Club, known as Binion's Horseshoe (now only as Binion's, since Harrah's bought the Horseshoe brand).
Binion's still stands on the same spot in downtown Las Vegas, although downtown Las Vegas now is nothing like it used to be at that time.
Johnny Moss, on the other hand, was simply a consummate gambler. He was the master of all card games, and was so good that no person could touch him. The high-stakes poker games that Johnny Moss and Benny Binion used to have at the Horseshoe Club eventually evolved into the World Series of Poker, which today is the premier high-stakes gambling event of the year. More than 8,000 poker players from all over the world head to Las Vegas each year to play in the World Series. And it all started with the games Benny and Johnny used to have between themselves, and their other friends.
In 1970, Johnny Moss became the first World Poker Champion, by beating all opposition in Draw and Five Card Stud. If you have even seen The Cincinnati Kid, starring Edward G. Robinson and Steve McQueen, then you can get an idea as to how these games were played. And so, that was one of the games that day.
Johnny Moss and Benny Binion were locked in a struggle over a $500,000 pot, in pot-limit five-card stud. All cards had been dealt. It was Benny's turn to act. Benny was showing the Ace, Deuce, 3, and 5 of spades. His hole card was face down. If it was any spade, he would have a flush. If he had the 4 of spades, then he would have a straight flush. If he had any "4," then he would have a straight, called a "wheel." He bet $112,000 into the pot of $500,000, making it a pot of $612,000, and a potential raise of that total pot amount. Johnny Moss tapped his fingers on the felt, and thought.
Johnny was showing the Ace, Deuce, 4 and 5 of diamonds. His hole card was also face down. If he had any diamond, then he would have a flush. Any 3 would make him a straight, and the 3 of diamonds would make him a straight flush. However, if Benny also had a straight flush, his would be in spades, the highest rank there is, and therefore Benny would win. Johnny tapped his fingers on the felt. A puff on a cigar filled the air with thick smoke as it rose majestically toward the overhead light. The two men looked at each other in stony silence, each with a perfectly blank facial expression and relaxed body language. Neither player showed any indication to the other about what their cards really were. Johnny tapped the felt some more.
"Will you take my marker for $612,000?" he finally asked. Benny flew out of his chair.
Victor H. Royer is the Author of 22 books on casino gaming. His newest series of 13 books -- including the new release Powerful Profits from Tournament Poker -- are now available in all major book stores, or from The Gambler's Book Shop at 1-800-522-1777, or at Amazon.Com. Visit his Web site at: http://www.GamingAuthor.com
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