Posts Tagged ‘poker-history’
King of Poker: Johnny Moss
Johnny Moss with Jack - Binion WSOP
Johnny Moss was born May 14th, 1907 in Texas. A group of cheaters taught him how to cheat in poker games, but Johnny put this information to good use. When he was in his teens, Johnny worked at a local saloon in Vegas, making sure that poker players were playing fairly and not cheating. Whilst keeping the games safe from cheaters he was also learning the strategy behind playing poker. After 2 years of that, he started traveling around the country playing poker. He started playing poker at the age of 12. Moss played in a famous heads-up match against the far older and more experienced high-roller, Nick “the Greek” Dandalos. The match was arranged by Horseshoe owner and Benny Binion and spanned for 5 months from Jan – May 1951. This marathon ended when Nick the Greek uttered what has become one of the most famous poker quotes ever: “Mr Moss, I have to let you go”. Moss won between $2 and $4 million during that period. Benny Binion had a brilliant idea there because this marathon poker tournament illustrated to him that there was a huge value in poker as entertainment for both players and spectators. Binion went on to become the founder of the World Series of Poker (WSOP) and in 1970 Johnny Moss became the winner of the first ever World Series of Poker winner. Read the rest of this entry »
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