Revising Poker History
Check it out … Pokerati gold-star commenter Johnny Hughes has a great story in Bluff Europe: When the Most Famous Gambler in the World was a Shill.
In it, he directly challenges Michael Craig and Jim McManus for their takes on legendary gambler Nick the Greek Dandolos, and much of the Chicago-Tex-Vegas history between him, Johnny Moss, and Benny Binion.
I have no idea who’s right … it’s all just old-school mob-time poker to me. My take on Johnny is that he’s a solid writer with proper respect for good storytelling, the game of poker, and historical narrative. He also can end up sometimes way off in left field, like any good Texas senior should.
I actually re-read the story upon noticing the publish date of April 1. But then, after re-re-reading, I found myself second-guessing my second-guessing, which i guess is the whole point of the piece.
Johnny Hughes says:
April 3rd, 2010 at 5:57am
I gamble. Anything I say I’ll bet on. Anything I write, I think I can prove. That is only a third, and a mild third, of my research.
Me being old, and a Texan, and other bad things, let’s me and you play heads up hold ’em. You spot me 20 per cent on the chips and we will play $1000 pull outs. How about it? I expected to be insulted but not by you. There is always a seat open for you, right across from me.
DanM says:
April 3rd, 2010 at 3:22pm
Johnny, you know I meant no insult here. Or at least I hope you do. (I’m guilty of some weak writing sometimes, however, so I suppose it’s possible.)
I wasn’t recalling the McManus/Craig tales you were disputing, so yours was the only word I had to go by … at which point on second read, because of the coincidental date, I started to think I might be TOTALLY missing something. On third read, I got it all, and see that indeed, you did the work to get the story right, which I applaud.
My apologies if I offended/insulted.
p.s. I’m not sure I know exactly what pull-outs means in poker.