I seem to remember him later saying it was all untrue.

About 10 years ago, I worked in a major Strip property poker room. One day, management gave me an ID and told me to make a players card. I looked at the name- Jose Canseco.

Talked to him at the Orleans in June. Very nice fellow.

Used to play golf with Canseco once a week...he'd sometimes bring his giant great dane dog with him, who would lope around next to the golf carts. The side bets would be hilarious. He used to have a private game at his home, small stakes, usually a tournament. Nice guy.

I posted this story about Orel over 10 years ago:

This weekend at Red Rock was a lot of fun, as Orel Herscheiser, the former Cy Young winner, is a regular there and decided to donk it up with us mere mortals at 1-2 and 2-5 NL. Great guy and a total spewtard - which I like. He's also very good at deep-stack poker and will relentlessly put pressure on your one-pair hands. Also at the table was poker pro and author Mark Gregorich, another very nice guy.

One hand last night was memorable:

Both me and Orel have over $800 behind at 1-2NL. Another guy who was a complete donkey had about $500 behind. Every hand the two of them played they made it like $20 to go. Orel raises, Donkey and and a few others call. I'm on the button with 63 soooooooted (hearts) so of course I call.

Flop: 432 ($103)

Oral is first to act and he bets out $70. Donkey calls and I call with my monster of a hand - 2nd pair, gutshot straight draw and backdoor flush draw. Normally, I'd raise this in position but Oral is likely to push with any two cards and we're just too deep for me to be faced by that.

Turn: 6 $313

Orel immediately sticks out $200. Donkey just calls with only $200 left in his stack. There's now over $700 in the pot, with another $500 behind that the other two players have for me to win. I'm getting 6-1 if I include my implied odds...still not enough for me to draw to my boat if one of them actually has a 5 in his hand.

The problem is, both Orel and the Donkey are as likely to have a pair, a draw or the nuts at any given moment. I'd hate to push into Orel and have him snap me off with a 5. The other guy usually pushes his huge hands, so if he has a 5 why didn't he just stick it in after Orel's bet? But he also loves to make huge bluffs with air in this kind of spot, so I put him on a decent - but not great - hand. Maybe 88 or something.

This is where it gets interesting. I'm tanking a bit and say, "Sorry Guys, hold on." Orel's drunk girlfriend who is sitting next to me talking to Orals' brother (who is also playing) says very loudly, "He's all in!" as I'm stacking up the $200 for a call.

Now, I never said "all-in," hell, I wasn't even considering it...but as soon as she said I was, Orel FLIPS HIS HAND TOWARDS THE MUCK and says, "oops, I was only bluffing." I tell Orel and the rest of the table I did not say all-in and that Orel should take his hand back. He does, grinning sheepishly. A few other players not in the hand thought I had said all-in, as well - apparently when I say "hold on " it sounds like "all-in!"

Now that I know Orel is weak, I DO go all-in - as I'd hate for him to have an overpair of some sort and counterfeit me on the river. He folds immediately and the Donkey insta-calls, proudly turning up his 75 for the nut straight!

Naturally, the river is a 6 and I scoop a pot worth over $1100.

Later, I talked to Orel and he was cool about the whole thing, as I didn't want him to think I was angle-shooting him in any way. He was like,"Don't worry about it, you made the play you were supposed to - it's m own fault and my hearing's bad. Besides, you had the best hand and probably saved me money on the river."

Cool guy. He had the pocket Eights, btw.

Great story Dominic!

no doubt. Brilliant!

and I am lovin seeing Mclovin in LVL.

Bet Dominic has some great Canseco stories but obviously can’t tell them.

And you would be right lol

Anyone know if any of these characters still are in vegas?


I got to assume those people mentioned back then... probably not there anymore?

I saw backpack Steve coming out of the tunnels a couple weeks ago.

Several years ago there was an older guy who ran tournaments at the Orleans for many years named Marlin or Marlon. Is he still around?

Did he have his backpack?

Walked by Bally’s poker room and saw this guy there yesterday. Haven’t seen him at Wynn/Encore in years. I used to see him in the older Wynn poker room all the time.

As for Iceman he has been quiet on his Twitter recently.

I wonder how often he does this. My OH story is pretty much the same, except second hand. Was playing at MGM and there was a guy at the table with a Dodger's hat who ended up wearing OH's WS ring for pictures. Super nice guy.

I lived in Vegas in 09-10 and was a regular at Red Rock. I have the exact some Orel story, including him knocking me out of the tournament on the stone cold bubble, lol.

Funny to see Jackie mentioned. Played with him quite a bit back in those days, but never knew his story. Oh the memories.

He upgraded to a duffle bag.

Duffle bag Steve?



This is sad. We joke about hustlers that lose going busto and in the tunnels but legit for Steve.

2 people I was genuinely curious about because I see them so frequently when I visit vegas

1. This Aria “pro” he always wears WSOP stuff but I’ve seen him play 10/20+ and then go play 1/3. Middle aged guy. Very funny. Bluffed him in a 1/3 game and thought WTF this is the wrong guy to try to make fold.

2. Bellagio guy… always has a cigar in his mouth. Will play 1/3 while waiting to play in Bobby’s room. Pretty quiet overall but I see him all the time
Mostly during the day.

How about "Funstigator" on lower limit tables at Bellagio, a deadpan dude who barely plays any hands but will buy the table a pizza when he's not too busy swiping right on every Asian Tinder profile.

He even has the nickname printed on his MGM card.

What is a "deadpan" dude?

Anyone remember Tang from the Bellagio. I believe he was Vietnamese ran the tournaments when they were held in the Fontana Lounge. Probably back in 2006 to 2009 roughly? Always wore brightly colored ties, sharply dressed dude!

Ahhh backpack Steve, remember him asking people to stake him in daily tournaments in exchange for poker lessons. Was pretty comical, if I recall correctly Steve claimed he was an attorney. This was at Caesars when poker room was located down that long hall off the Sportsbook.

Of course there was Georgio Medici who used play at the Wynn and Venetian back around 2012-13 before he went to prison for taking out markers just before going bankrupt in some type of mortgage scam.. Georgio would call with any two, played wild and could be heard throughout the room!


https://www.gambling911.com/poker/po...et-072012.html

A dude who is deadpan.

So was this Jackie guy some high stakes pro from back then? Again I remember being in the wynn and always seeing him there and people kept saying Jackie over and over etc. That guy seemed very popular there. Again this had to been close to 10 years ago or so. Always remember him playing 5/10 there. And there was always this very old guy with a cowboy hat that played in it. He seemed pretty quiet... compared to that Cowboy hat/outfit guy with the dice etc.



Is that wynn dealer that always say Hawaii 5 0 still there?



I got to wonder how many dealers and people are still there since my last visit.

They are ALL still there,..... or a similar person is now in their place, waiting for you to return.