Player's Stories

Poker and Ear Plugs in Downtown Las Vegas
By Johnny Hughes

So I'm flying out to Vegas in the Spring as I have for thirty years only the World Series won't be there. On the plane, I re read Zen and the Art of Poker by Larry Phillips and dedicated the trip to starting hand discipline and observing and controlling anger. The poker has dried up around West Texas and some would say I'm a little old for the road.

I have this eternal weird really lucky first day curse. When I played bridge tournaments way back in the early sixties, I would win an event or do very well the first two days, then nothing in the days after that. First day in the side games at Binion's, the cards run over me. I hold boots and shoes. I hold more hands than any manicurist in town. I stayed eight days. I get on trip velvet the first day. guess that I tighten up too much after that.

When going through airport security, it helps to have dark button pocket shirts where you can leave your money there. I always take my bankroll in travel checks and carry a smaller amount out there. With the first day curse, I jump off winner and don't have to cash the travel checks. However, that may not be so good.

For a young person wanting to test tournament skills, downtown Vegas is great with tournaments every two hours or so with a buy and one or two re buys only. The Nugget gives poker lessons at ten and some of those people enter the tournament at eleven. On my first morning I play at a table where two or three are new to the game. This one lady was a real card rack and jumps off impressive chip leader by staying until fifth street and winning several pots in a row. On one hand she had A,K and the flop gives her the nuts, Q,J,10. She only calls and never raises throughout.

I stayed short stacked but waited for people to knock each other out all the way until I'm in second. The dude with the two to one chip lead split about $2400 with me. The Golden Nugget is the loudest card room I've ever been in or heard of. The small poker room is surrounded on three sides by deafening slot machines. As a former employee, I am going to make inquiries with the Occupational, Safety, and Health folks (OSHA) about poker and noise. They are meaner than anyone now running Vegas.

Back in 1960, my road buddy Jerry and I met Benny Binion and Bill Boyd our first day in Las Vegas and got jobs shilling,(playing poker for the house) at the Golden Nugget. It paid one silver dollar per hour and the rake was massive. When a sucker wandered by, Mr. Boyd would offer to stake him for five dollars in the five stud game. There might be four or five shills in the game. We would signal if we had a pair by placing our cards at an angel. When the sucker lost his dough, they would always pull out more. Well, nearly always. They had a $6 limit razz game with a low rake and Mr. Boyd would get me to play it and sit behind me and coach me. That's like $60 in today's money but win or lose, I made one buck per hour.

The Plaza was having a tournament. Poker Pages writer Vince Burgio won an incredible three events back to back. I was playing in the no limit near him and I have never seen such a calm, confident demeanor. He sits straight up with a lumbar support cushion. We chatted some on the breaks about this wonderful web site. Three wins in a row. Wow!

In downtown Vegas, I'm staying at the Plaza for $35 per night. The Plaza and Binion's are giving me more free food than I need. Always ask the floor boss for a food ticket away from the table. It seems I always jump off winner and then leave with a tiny score. Sure enough, the first two days were my best. Don't bother asking for anything at the Golden Nugget.. They should get in the poker business or out of it. Poker deserves a quite room. Surely, some big wheel bureaucrat at OSHA plays poker.

The Plaza is a close rival to the Golden Nugget in the noise department. Add to the babel of the slots a live band or series of live bands starting with a Japanese country singer, one of the Pointer Sisters, the mandatory fake Elvis, and cover bands that don't know all the words to many songs but will gladly do parts of songs without shame. It took me six days to make it down Fremont Street to Walgreen's where they sell several varieties of ear plugs. Try poker in ear plugs. It helped to sharpen my already incredible abilities to read people. Card rooms always put the no limit right at the front so the crowds can watch.

On three separate occasions, I started a poker session with two Aces. Aces and Kings stood up for me every time I had them for eight days. Downtown, there are some great players and those I want to be in a pot with. One night at the Nugget, I held two Aces late in a game when I had been totally tight. The all day sucker to my right had two Queens and raised it up to twenty-five. I smooth called trapping. This let a tight lady player in with two fours. The flop comes 7,4,2 with two hearts. The sucker bets sixty and I set him in the center, another two hundred and fifty. Now the kind lady with three fours folds! He calls and I win. She showed her trips., "I was sure you were on three sevens." That's the only hand that could beat her.

At this point I was tired when a player I know as wild and flashy sits down with thirty thousand in front of him. With ear plugs, you are really sensitive to those who crave affection and attention from the players, dealers and crowd. This guy has the leather jacket, endangered species boots, gold chains, and adventurous stories. I remember he played the dollar slots between hands when I played him last year. I go to my fifteenth floor room right over the railroad tracks anyway. In the cheap no limit, you see people sit in for any amount from $100 to $4000. You set your own pot size limit with the amount in from of you

Binion's has the best and most small tournaments downtown. They have the best round the clock no limit but the day crew are often tougher than boots. It is very quite in Binion's compared to the other rooms. The tourists think they are in a tournament on TV and the hustlers take them off. You see unreasonable all in plays. Binion's has the best floor people anywhere.

In one session, two college age guys locked up with about $2000 in front of each. The best player had J.J, the other guy had 10,10 and the flop came J,9,8. It had been raised and re raised and the pot had about $200 in it. Now one guy bets and the guy with the straight draw announces, "All in" and the other fellow calls. I don't like this where they call out and leave their chips in front of them. The fellow makes his straight and tells everyone within the range of his voice how smart he is. The last bet was $2000 on a straight draw into a $200 pot.

My strategy of many years is to keep my watch on Texas time and to enter the card room at four or five a.m. Vegas time to wrestle with the all night drunks and pre daylight crazies.

One morning I get to Binion's when a good game is going with several players having two dimes in front of them. Usually there is immediate seating this time of day but I am on the list and all those waiting are known good players. Finally I take a seat with $300 to test it out. I catch two fives, then two eights on the first round and see a flop and retreat. Then I catch two Kings and do not raise. This is the play I came to make with A,K,,,K,K, or A.A.

The wild man, a floor boss from the Four Queens, raises as I knew he would. He makes it twenty-five and two call. I move my $250 and get three callers. There was no more betting and an Ace comes on fifth street. The Kings still stood up and I quit after less than one round. I won my biggest pots with Aces or Kings not exactly genius play.

Each morning when I first get up, I go to all three downtown casinos to see what looks softest. It is all about game shopping. One morning I get to the Nugget when most of the table were drunk and feuding. I catch two Aces on the first hand and jump off $150 winner. The drunk next to me has two thousand and so does the drunk on the end. He tells me to let the young college age couple do anything they want because they are the suckers and are big loser. They advise each other to call or fold and he says they are usually wrong. Only the youngsters are both on short stacks. When I get in a pot with them, they stop and start making out heavily, kissing, and hugging. I object in the mildest of ways and all hell breaks lose. They begin to curse me for taking their $800 dollars even though I just got there. Finally they quit and storm off with about $150 between them Now the three biggest stacks quit and the game breaks up. I should have kept my trap shut.

Once I started wearing ear plugs, it made everything better. I wore them in games, on the streets, in the airport, and on the plane home. I found that I was more alert to the whole table. When someone that is very quite got ready to play a pot, I would know it. Much of your strategy has to do with who is weak, who is on tilt, and who is a Vegas regular.

On one hand I flopped the nut flush with A,5 clubs when the flop came 2,4,6 of clubs therefore no one could have a straight flush. A live one bet $15 and a strong Las Vegas regular called. I raised a modest $30 and both called. You see pot after pot where the live one makes a big call on fifth that they should not make. I made note of the regular and gave him a possible set or trips. A red nine hops off and both check to me. I bet only $60 and catch only the regular. The board paired and he checked it. I showed the flush without betting I announced, "I can't beat your full house" and he had two fours for the full.

Many of these young players are brilliant but there is a lot of dead money in sunglasses and drinking a beer. Another tell on folks are those that don't know it can get freezing cold in a card room and are playing in short sleeve shirts. Maybe I'm too tight but it seemed like I was sidelined watching a lot of loose poker and not getting in many pots. After long dry spells, I occasionally jumped in there with change of pace, impulsive raises with J,9 suited, 8,6, suited, and 7, 4 suited. It never worked out.

Strategy requires getting a read on a great many different players in a few days. The easiest first guideline is that the best players have the most money out there. You are nearly always up against partners, maybe teams. I have played against husband and wife playing the same money in Oklahoma, New Mexico, and Nevada. At the end of one pot with a board of A,K,J, x x, he bets $5 into a $130 pot, she makes it $20 with two nines. No one else calls and he folds also and she wins it with two nines. I could see him on the nuts and she is driving them around.

Poker is just now legal in Oklahoma and I tried the Red River Casino above Wichita Falls. The players were mostly from Texas.The structure is max buy in $100, $200, or $500. I tried the $200 and was the big winner. Being my first day, the cards just ran over me. They would raise $10 or $15 and eight would call. I could not resist moving in with 9,8 clubs but I ran into a short stack which is going to happen a lot. I won it and never looked back. You get to see a lot of flops.

Later I had been whupping up regular on the nice fellow on my right when he buys another two hundred and catches two Aces. Two different players have two Kings and one has two Nines. They play kind of slow before the flop which comes 9,3,2 and two hearts.

Now everyone gets all in creating two side pots. My ride hand neighbor had two hundred and is in an $800 pot and I was pulling for him. The side pots have around $1200.

It comes heart, heart and the Ace of hearts wins one pot and the King of hearts wins another.

The only way the three nines lose is if it comes an Ace or heart, heart without the board pairing.

Next hand, I catch two eights against my good neighbor's Ace, Ten and the flop comes A,10,8. I am really sure about what he has since he never raised even the small pre flop raise but I wasn't sure how to play it but we bet back and forth a little and I moved in. Lucky for me, he didn't catch. Right after that, a live band began to play about twenty feet away. That was before I discovered ear plugs but I will be back. I did what smart people have done for a long time, I crossed that old Red River into Texas.

Remember when you are the road, you'll need travel checks, ear plugs, a hat, long sleeve shirts with button pockets and a coat or sweater.You need to meet security. In New Mexico and Oklahoma, they will take you out to your car in a little golf cart. You need a car with an alarm system and a panic button. It's legal to have a gun in Texas or New Mexico when traveling but it is not legal to take a gun on an Indian reservation.

When someone talks to me, I say, "I am hard of hearing so I wear ear plugs." No one questioned the logic of this. If there is a re raise, you can pull one of them out.

That might be a bit of a tell but by the time I reach for my ear plug, they are bigger behind than a Cotton patch spider 'cause when I sing out raise, they are probably in deep trouble.