Geeking, Grifting, and Gambling Through Las Vegas: Fifty Years of Exploits, Ideas, and Tell All Stories, From The Noted Poker Author by Sklansky David

Author:Sklansky, David [Sklansky, David]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2019-12-04T16:00:00+00:00

​ Chapter Thirty: In The Middle of Larry Flynt’s Alleged WSOP Attempted Fix

​ Hustler publisher Larry Flynt started to take an interest in poker around 1980. Nowadays he plays pretty well, especially seven card stud. But not back then. At no limit hold ’em he was barely better than a total beginner. A loose, aggressive playing beginner. One who had at least once, came to a game with a million dollars in cash in a briefcase. So it was no big deal for him to enter the ten thousand dollar buy in world championship tournament at Binion’s Horseshoe in Las Vegas even though he realistically had no chance. In fact his chances were so miniscule that two time champ Doyle Brunson, laid Flynt a 1000 to 1 odds, a million dollars to a thousand, that he wouldn’t win.

​ When the first day’s play was over, Flynt was in the lead. It seemed hard to believe but not impossible. Very aggressive players sometimes get quite lucky in the short run. Meanwhile Flynt had made an appointment with me to visit him at his mega suite at the Aladdin Hotel that first evening, in order to get a last minute lesson. When I was there, I focused on him making a lot of preflop movins to “take the play out” of as many hands as possible. Especially when he was holding an ace. My lesson was not given secretly. In fact, Doyle had actually recommended me a few days earlier.

​ The second day I was actually playing at Larry’s table. And on a couple of occasions after Larry moved in and won the pot, he flashed me an ace in his hand to show me that he had been paying attention. And his stack was continuing to move up. Doyle asked me whether I noticed anything suspicious and I said no. But apparently I was wrong.

​ Everything I have written so far is firsthand. What comes next is not. However it is “common knowledge” among the old high stakes player. In fact, I am told that Larry Flynt himself doesn’t deny it and even jokes about it with those players that have since become his friends and play in his game at his Hustler casino in Gardena, California.

​ The scheme was supposedly hatched by Ken Smith, a notorious poker and chess expert from Texas, known for his black top hat. The idea was to bribe players who were at the same table as Flynt to dump chips to him. Supposedly they were offered the value of their chips plus ten thousand dollars more. Exactly how and when this scheme was discovered is not clear to me. But I do know that before the third day of the tournament, Doyle had a conversation of some sort with Larry and the bet was cancelled.

​ As for myself, I made $500 for an hour lesson but it may not have been worth it. Because there was probably some suspicion that I knew about the scheme and even perhaps was in on it.

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