Dear Mark,
As one of your gambling
quotes of the week, you used poker player Amarillo Slim. What ever
happened to him? Is he still alive? Duke H.
Amarillo Slim Preston, the Guinness Book
of Records holder for being in five Halls of Fame: poker, gambling,
seniors, legends of Texas and legends of Nevada, is still with us,
living it up in Amarillo, beatin' the tar-Texas style-out of anyone
willing to wager on anything from pitching coins to playing poker.
There is a wonderful new memoir recently released by Amarillo Slim, with
Greg Dinkin (who also wrote Poker MBA, another great read), titled
Amarillo Slim in a World Full of Fat People.
In great detail, Slim and Dinkin
chronicle Amarillo's winning ways and his larger-than-life-wagers like
these classics. He won $300,000 from Willie Nelson in a televised match
of dominoes, or remember when he beat Bobby Riggs out of $10,000 in a
game of Ping-Pong played with frying pans as paddles? He also trounced a
world champion ping-pong player with a Coca-Cola bottle, and even whooped
Minnesota Fats in a game of pool using a broomstick as a cue.
Not one to pass up a poker playing
opportunity, Slim has played poker with Presidents Lyndon Johnson and
Richard Nixon, and drug lords Pablo Escobar and Jimmy Charga-Slim states
he has never seen men with more money and less brains than drug lords-
always applying Slim's Top 10 Keys to poker success, which follow here
at no extra charge.
1. Play the players more than you play
the cards.
2. Choose the right opponents. If you don't see a sucker
at the table, you're it.
3. Never play with money you can't afford to
lose.
4. Be tight and aggressive; don't play many hands, but when you
do, be prepared to move in.
5. Always be observing at a poker game.
The minute you're there, you're working.
6. Watch the other players
for "tells" before you look at your own cards.
7. Diversify
your play so others can't pick up your tells.
8. Choose your speed
based on the direction of the game. Play slow in a fast game, fast in a
slow game.
9. Be able to quit a loser, and for goodness' sake, keep
playing when you're winning.
10. Conduct yourself honorably so you're
always invited back.
Sagacious advice from the Winner of the
World Series of Poker in 1972 at Binion's Horseshoe (he still plays this
tournament), and whom many call the greatest gambler who ever lived. I
know you will enjoy, Duke, this fascinating new memoir. I surely did.
Dear Mark,
Is it to the house's
advantage, or the player's, when the dealer stays on a soft 17? Tom
To be a consistent winner in blackjack,
Tom, you must play basic strategy and play only on games ... (are you
listening?) ... only on games with the most favorable playing rules.
A dealer's stay on a soft 17 is one such
rule that is ALWAYS to the player's advantage. You have a built-in
advantage of 0.20% when the dealer is forced to stay on a soft 17. And
you, of course, then put on your suave and casual smile and go for the
jugular.
Gambling quote of the week: "If
there is anything worth arguing about, I'll either bet on it or shut up.
And since it's no becoming for a cowboy to be arguing, I've made a few
wagers in my day. But in my humble opinion, I'm no hustler. You see,
neighbor, I never go looking for a sucker. I look for a champion and
make a sucker out of him."-Amarillo Slim
