A fellow in my local home game (Bob T.) told a story last night about being arrested at a poker game in 1980, with Barry Greenstein and 10 other players.

His memory is a little hazy so I said I'd ask Barry if he could fill in any of the blanks.

Bob's recollection:

"It was in the Fall of 1980 at a house north of Monticello, Illinois (the property had, at one time, been the Hickory Hill Hunt Club). One of the players was an attorney who drove a flashy sports car. One night he was suspected of speeding and a policeman (officer Forrest Sawlaw) followed him to this house.

He came to the door and saw some of the guys playing "gin", as they used to do as they waited for the poker game to start.

Every car at the house was a Cadillac or Lincoln and Sawlaw suspected a drug operation. He staked out the house for a couple of weeks and finally made the big bust.

The strongest drug they found was Budweiser beer, but they arrested everyone, seized all the money they had on them, and took them to Monticello for fingerprinting.

They seized over $25,000 from the 12 players ("They didn't even leave us a dime for a cup of coffee") and Bob thought he'd never see his portion, $3100, again.

As it turned out, there was some technicality about the warrant. Something about the game being in Piatt county but the warrant having been obtained in Champaign county.

It cost each guy about $125 and they rec'd the rest of their money back and nothing else came of it."


Most of the guys were in their 50's or older, with Barry being one of the younger players. A few are now deceased, including the Cahill brothers, Joe and Bill. Officer Sawlaw went on to become the Piatt County Sheriff and was re-elected several times. He's now retired and still lives in the area.

Bob said you played "dealer's choice" and it was a much bigger game than our $2/$4 NLHE game of today (which plays more like $5/$10).

I got a kick out of him saying "Barry is pretty tight now, but back then he was super loose, always trying to steal the pot".

He was under the impression that you were a professor of mathematics at the U of I and repeated the myth that you later became a super bazillionaire from some computer start-up company.

I told him I thought you were a doctoral candidate at the time and probably had some teaching duties, but I didn't think you were a professor. I said you were with Semantec early on, but didn't reap the millions sometimes attributed to that story.

Barry, is Bob's recollection accurate? Corrections? Additions?

Was it a big deal to you at the time? Something you didn't want your parents, friends, or colleagues finding out about?

Do you remember what games you played or how juicy the game was?



PS: Bob T. says if you can remember his last name, he'll buy the pizza next week at our game. He's was a 41 year old farmer at the time, brown hair, glasses.

read his book?

My paternal grandparents lived in Monticello for a long time and my maternal grandparents live about 10 minutes away from there now. I've been there a lot, my first grandparents probably knew some of the people involved.

IT'S A SMALL WORLD AFTER ALL.

Yes, I have. Well worth the money.

Yea.... I'm a good friend of your great uncle Darrell and used to work with your grandpa Leonard.

BTW, congrats on the awesome start of your post-21 poker career. Well done!

Interesting post but I'd like another title for it. Thanks.

I would feel the same way if i was your size big guy

Greenstein talks about this in his book. In detail. That is why he asked if you had read BGs book.

lol my paternal grandparents are from monticello too

I think Bob's last name was Taylor. I must not have been too embarrassed since, as a few people already realized, I wrote about it in my book. It's true there were no drugs or other illegal activties, but there were some shenanigans that went on in that house that was only bought so that we had a place to play poker every Tuesday night. knowing Bob, he also mentioned some other stories.

Barry

WOOO HOOOO....free pizza next week!!!!

Bob will be tickled.

Will have to reread your book. Didn't put it together that the account in the book was at that house.

Thanks for the response.

Love it .... presumably couple hundred buy-in .... and its the free pizza he likes!!!

Take a little more time because he describes this incident very near the beginning of the book. Maybe you could call Fricke's grandparents since they are relevant to this story for some reason.

This is just such a cool thread.

Barry's game is really slipping. He barely replied in the first 10 responses.

ya its not like he would do anything but read 2+2.



sweet thread though

thanks op

i wish i had a cool question for barry so he would answer me


u're the man barry! the people's champion!

Yes please postfix 'in the previous millennium'

Escorts? Strippers? You gotta tell the story now...

Mistresses obv.

y were u playing 2-4 HORSE on FullTilt?

Barry what were these shenanigans, hookers and blow?

haha

Can't wait for the sequel.

Yes, I reread the passage about this incident (starts on page 13) with the new-found knowledge that this was the same house that Bob was talking about.

Much better read the second time around.

I was in that house/ swam in the pool in the early-mid seventies as a teen. The people who owned it/ own it are named Brown.