Dice and Poker

If the games of chance were to be limited to two, I think there is little question that the winners would be dice and poker.

I know that all of you will not agree with me. That is understood. There are horse racing fans and blackjack lovers out there who will fight for their choice. But when you consider everything that can happen in horse racing, like the 65 to one shot that won the 2019 Kentucky Derby, I think my selections make sense.

When you first enter a gambling casino, you have everything going for you. Time. Money in your pocket. A good night's sleep. And you feel like a winner.

Now casinos being what they are, this feeling will not last forever. You need to do something to test your luck and see what fate has in store for you.

Most gambling casinos keep their slot machines, dice tables, blackjack tables, roulette and baccarat tables near the main entrance. The poker room and the sports betting areas, which includes horse wagering, are toward the rear.

As you pass a dice table, you see there is an opening for a player next to the stick man. You hurry and claim the place. You throw money on the table and it is exchanged for chips. You are ready to roll.

A player has the dice. He doesn't set them. He just shakes them next to his ear and lets fly. You do not make a bet and he rolls an 11. He rolls again and your money remains in your hand. He throws a four, bets go down, and he makes another roll. Two rolls later he sevens out.

The dice move to another person. This thrower sets the dice carefully. Aha, a controlled roller. You make a bet on the pass line.

He does well. He throws a point, makes it, throws another one and makes it, all the time setting the dice. Your stack of chips grows.

Finally, he sevens out and the dice move to you. You set the dice and throw a six. You cover all your favorite numbers with bets (five, six, eight and nine) and you start pressing your bets.

If luck is with you, you manage to avoid throwing a seven while accumulating chips. You stay at the table until your luck runs out, meaning you seven out. Then you take your winnings to the poker room. Simple, right?

Doyle Brunson once had the most incredible streak of luck that he ever experienced at poker. It happened after he underwent surgery for what he thought was life-threatening cancer and the doctors discovered the cancer was not present. Brunson would live. He and his family were overjoyed.

With the sun shining and facing a cloudless day, Brunson began attacking poker rooms like they were factories filled with cotton candy and M&Ms. He didn't have a worry in his head and day after day, he ended up with sizable wins. His bankroll grew and grew.

Now if you won at poker five times, you would agree that was pretty lucky. What if you won 10 times in a row? How about 15 times? And what if you won 20 times without experiencing a losing session?

Doyle Brunson passed all those goals. He won 54 straight times, boosting his bankroll past the six-figure column. The winnings paid all his hospital expenses and put plenty of money into the family treasury.

I had something similar happen to me at Three Rivers Casino in Pittsburgh, PA some years ago. I was living in Charleroi, PA. and taking a transit bus to the casino. The last bus left Pittsburgh at 11 p.m. and I always managed to make it on board before it left.

Nobody could beat me at poker. I would win anywhere from $500 to $1,000 per night and some nights I won more… The other players grew disgusted with my luck. They complained to my younger brother Legs, saying: “All your brother plays is the nuts. That's not gambling?”

Huh?

Excuse me for the question, but how do you play the 'nuts' hand after hand? That argument makes about as much sense as saying if you sit in a certain spot you will get hit by lightning three times.

No, for whatever reason Doyle and I were smiled on by providence, and we were allowed to win far more than the average person wins.

By the way, Doyle has never repeated that performance and neither, sadly, have I. That doesn't mean it may not happen in the future. It just hasn't yet occurred.

A player faces every tournament with the same thought in mind. Get the momentum going early and keep it going. If you will it strong enough, things will happen. And somehow, miraculously, it does.

There are many mysteries in probability, gambling and chance. I do not pretend to understand all of them. I just know they exist.

All I do know is that people like Phil Hellmuth, Tiger Woods, Doyle Brunson and maybe Willie Shoemaker thought at one time or another that they were the luckiest people in the world. And for a brief time, they were. Never forget that.