When I first started writing on here, I wrote my own gambling memoir experiences and about the Texas road gamblers that I knew. This mostly came from memory and experience. I was robbed with a shotgun and pistols. I shot over a robber's head. I pulled a gun on drunks in my gambling joint. I was arrested by local police and the fabled Texas Rangers for the simple act of gambling. I played with, was robbed with, and was arrested with some of the biggest gamblers on the road. I started going to the World Series of Poker in 1975, and I write about the folks I met.

What road gambler experiences have you had? Been robbed? Arrested? Stiffed? Cheated? Beat Up? Used your gun for defense?

When I managed Joe Ely in the music business, I sometimes carried a small pistol in my boot. I only pulled it in a crowded night club and fired into the ceilling once. I only busted two caps. The band kept playing. No one called the law. West Texas.

I've had all that happen to me which definitely informs my history writing. I was cheated by Titanic Thompson's son and caught him. I played with early World champs: Johnny Moss, Sailor Roberts, Amarillo Slim, and Bill Smith, all who lived in West Texas at one time. And folks I'd met in Las Vegas when I was 21, Benny Binion and Bill Boyd.

I wrote on here about the West Texas gamblers I knew and had experiences with. Then I switched to big, famous gamblers: Nick the Greek, Titanic Thompson, Arnold Rothstein, Poker Alice, Wyatt Earp, Bat Masterson, Doc Holliday, and many of the more recent poker players. I believe these people's biographies reveal a lot about American history. I've collected many gambling history books and find this study a rich hobby. This really all started with TwoPlusTwo some years back. I have posted rather rough draft material on these famous gamblers, and other people add comments, add very helpful links, and catch my errors, or raise questions about what to believe. I encounter conflicting stories, and I must select what is most interesting, humorous, but also true. I have rated gamblers and writers as to credibility. The least credible writer I have encountered in any field is Jon Bradshaw. Jim McManus is much better but still flawed when he writes about Texans. My being a gambler and learning to be a researcher, gaining my Ph.D., gives me a huge advantage. The ton of history books written about the Old West does not understand the key players were professional gamblers. The gamblers you cannot believe include: Amarillo Slim, Titanic Thompson, Wyatt Earp. Johnny Moss embellishes with Texas exaggeration. Truthful are Benny Binion, Jack Binion, Doyle Brunson, Crandell Addington, and Bat Masterson.

I love TwoPlusTwo and do not mind the haters. When I first came here five years ago, I'd get all angry and take the insults, especially being called a liar, very seriously. Now I try to use them to improve my research and writing. If I am doubted on my facts on here, I re-research the topic. I also use the term, Accounts Vary, when dealing with old stories. No one can ever be totally sure about old gambling stories you read about. I really wish there was more written about who won, who lost, and who was the best poker player.

Cool.

Many of us enjoy your work Johnny. Please keep it up.

Johnny-

Are you doing this for a book?

Keep up the good work.

I really enjoy all of the threads that you post on this forum. Keep up the good work!

To hell with the haters. Many of us enjoy reading your work. Thank you.

Very interesting! I would love to hear more about these subjects, and if the history we are learning from writers like McManus (who, obviously, wasn't there in person) is inaccurate, I'd love to get the history from someone who was there and can give firsthand accounts.

I think everyone knows that Slim was a tireless--and wonderfully entertaining--self promoter. So his stories, while very fun, were always to be taken with a grain of salt, IMO. (But I loved hearing them, and I think that overall Slim did a LOT to promote the game, e.g.: The Tonight Show with J. Carson, interacting with the media every Series going back decades, becoming the first charismatic pro well-known to mainstream America, etc.). I have heard all the stories about what a hustler Slim was, and how poor his bankroll management was, etc. Hell! The first time I played poker in Vegas I was shocked to see Slim playing 15/30 LHE at the Bellagio--the same game I was playing (although on an adjacent table)! But the bottom line, as far as I'm concerned, is that Slim was a fabulous character and was good for the game! RIP, Slim.

I absolutely love to read anything Doyle wrote about the game. IMO, Doyle's book Wisdom of a Poker Champion is one of the absolute greatest poker books EVER. The anecdotes and stories about the Texas road gamblers--as well as just about every other topic addressed in that book--are totally engrossing, and I learned a lot from that book, too. I wish Doyle would write more about his life and times as a professional card player/gambler.

Johnny Hughes: I've stumbled across several of your posts over the years, and I just want you to know that I have truly enjoyed reading them, and I am grateful for the history and knowledge you are willing to impart. I hope that you continue to put all that wonderful history into writing so that it is saved for all time.

Thank you!

keep writing johnny i will for sure buy ur book

I really enjoy these. Thank you

Anybody you can cheat, I can beat on the square...Curly Cavitt.

In my own experience, and as a researcher on gambling history, the major mistake other historians make it to not understand the amount of cheating and how essential a "square gambler" reputation is to a successful gambling house or a professional gambler. If a gambling joint is known as a "bust out joint" or "brace joint", it cannot attract players.

In the evolution of gambling in America, there are three groups who strongly oppose each other: square gamblers, crooked gamblers, and reformers. Well-managed gambling houses do not cheat because it is bad business. Gaining a reputation as "square gamblers" means more and more business, and the house edge is all they need. The varied gaming control boards enforce rigid laws. There is no reason to risk the gambling license.

In general, in the Old West, the very fanciest gambling houses were owned by square gamblers, and employed square gamblers. The Old West gamblers I profile: Wyatt Earp, Doc Holliday, Bat Masterson, Poker Alice, Luke Short, and Ben Thompson were square gamblers and worked in square gambling houses.

gamblers+liars=JH

Truth hurts, sorry.

Johnny,

You are truly a great poster on 2+2. I read all your threads. Thank you for the time and energy you put into them.

Cheers

Johnny's intro to this thread has to be the most coherent example of his writing I have ever encountered.

I personally prefer his semi-coherent, tumbleweed writing style.

I didn't have time to do the usual last draft to tumble weed it up. I'd gone to an upscale restaurant with a sophisticated party of friends and some unknown person stole the onion on my belt. I've been furious.

so how was red lobster?

You are reading my mail.

glad to see you around johnny.
many dont realize how hard it is to get facts correctly 100% of the time and if you are off just a little the jump on you.
as far as i can tell johnny is not a liar about things and does his best to get the facts right.

I read all your posts too Mr. Hughes! The gambling world needs a historian like you.

I would like to know more on Slim, and just how 'square' he was.

This is an honor coming from the great Ray Zee. Amarillo Slim was a piece of work. He lied and I think he knew you knew he lied but he was incapable of telling the truth when a larger lie was there. I "think" he just thought of them as good stories. Once at the World Series, Slim told me that he had gotten $300,000 up front on hnis book. Later, he told me he got $300.000 in some endorsement deal. He also said all the cattle grower's in Florida were going to send him one cow each for his ranch for doing a TV spot. Imagine a bunch of cows traveling solo.

I think Slim would angle shoot and rig prop bets but play poker on the square. Poker is way too hard to cheat at, and cheaters always get caught.

There were 23 poker players from West Texas i Albuquerque for a poker tourny one time. Slim was telling stories. He said he had just come from the Philippines where he had won 2000 pairs of boots from Imelda Marcos shooting pool against her next man. The wife of thre Philippino leader was known for her huge shoe collection. Then I never heard that story again. I've known a couple of people in the music business that were compulsive liars. Their real stories would be fine but they are compelled to lie.

Minnessota Fats, the first gambler, before Slim, to be famous on TV lied and lied and wanted you to know he was lying. "I can whistle in five languages...I am the most intelligent man I know. I know what everybody else knows, and nobody knows what I know."

Mostly? Meaning some of it doesn't come from your personal experience? In that case, it wasn't a memoir.

I have always enjoyed your stories. I had few names on here. I have kept up with your writtings for a few years now and I love them.

yea slim made up stories about whatever crossed his mind. some he actually started believing after he told them enough times. i knew him well but was not a friend. he had no friends really.

Slim did have a few close friends, Doyle Brunson and Shawn Rice come to mind. I talked with Shawn some about Slim recently. We play some in the same hold 'em game. He was Slim's protege and road partner, sharing bankroll.

Slim was always very friendly to me, but if someone half ass famous came around, he was gone. When Doyle came back to Binion's after an absence after Becky Behan took over, I was talking to Slim when Doyle showed for a sit down with Becky at an empty table. I was showing Slim an article I had written on gambler's nick names for TexasMonthly.com I had said Slim was the most famous gambler in the world and he showed that to Becky and Doyle without introducing me or saying I wrote it. If he saw a TV camera, you better not be standing in his way. He talked tough like he was connected to the Mob boys but that was more bull****.

Thanks to one and all.