Amarillo Slim in a World Full of Fat People by Amarillo Slim Preston

Author:Amarillo Slim Preston
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: HarperCollins
Published: 2013-03-11T00:00:00+00:00

NICK THE GREEK FINALLY HAD TO LET MR. MOSS GO

As evidenced by that gimmick with the million dollars, Benny was a master of publicity, and in 1951 he hatched a scheme that would change the world of poker forever. Even though the Horseshoe didn’t have a poker room in 1951—and not for almost twenty years after that—Benny was always one to listen to his customers. So when Nick “the Greek” Dandalos, the most famous gambler next to Titanic Thompson in those days, told Benny that he wanted to play no-limit poker in a freeze-out against the richest guy he could find, Benny was happy to accommodate him.

Nick the Greek was in his late fifties, a tall, good-looking guy with a college degree who loved cigars and had about the best manners of anyone you’ll ever meet. He was so calm when he gambled that folks like to say that he looked like a guy sitting with an icicle up his ass. The Greek met up with Titanic Thompson in Chicago in 1921, where they were backed by Al Capone, and later traveled throughout the Midwest before making their way to New York in the late twenties. After claiming to have won and lost more than $500 million in his life, the Greek spent his last few years playing $5 poker in Gardena, California. When asked how it could be interesting to play such low stakes, he said, “Hey, it’s action!” He died broke on Christmas Day in 1966.

Benny saw to it that the Greek shot craps in his casino while he went about the business of finding someone to go head-to-head with him. Thankfully, he knew just the player to do it: Johnny Moss. You see, I was just twenty-two at the time, and while I had made some big scores playing poker in the service, I was still green to the game and known more for shooting stick. So Benny tracked down his boyhood buddy, who at the time was blazing a poker trail in Texas that I later followed with Doyle and Sailor. In fact, we did all we could to steer clear of Johnny Moss—he was that damn good. If Johnny was in Fort Worth, we’d go to Waco. If Johnny was in Waco, we’d go to Austin. And if Johnny was in Austin, we’d go to Odessa!

“Johnny,” Benny said when he finally reached him by phone in Dallas, “they got a fellow out here who calls himself Nick the Greek. Thinks he can play stud poker. Johnny, I think you should come out here and have some fun.”

Seeing a chance to make some money staking Johnny and gain some publicity for his hotel, Benny set up a card table right smack dab in the front of the Horseshoe, just inside the door on Fremont Street in downtown Las Vegas. Johnny had been up for four straight days playing in Texas, but it didn’t stop him from catching the next plane out of Dallas.

Johnny arrived on a

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