I came to Vegas as a tourist in the summer of '69. One day I walked into a race book (all race and sports books were stand-alone businesses except for the Stardust at that time) I looked up at the board and thought "Oh my God you can bet 3 tracks at once?, this is for me" (today with simulcasting you can play 10 or more). A few months later I went through a divorce and moved here.

I was drawn to Vegas to play poker, bet sports and play the ponies. Three tracks in one day. "right coast," Midwest and "left coast."

I still play the horses ( I'm a very good 2-year-old handicapper) everyday, but do not bet sports anymore. However I still follow "hoops," but getting back to poker…

By this time (late '60s) Washington and Montana were included along with California as the only states besides Nevada to have legal poker. However NV was the "ONLY place to play."

NV had more game variety, Hold-em, Stud, several versions including 7-, 6- and 5-card (MANLY poker), 7-card low (Razz) and hi-low split as well as draw high and low. There were also different limits, anywhere from $1–$3 to $30–$60 to pot and no limit.

Remember NV was still the only state to have poker dealers and I might add there were no female dealers. Having dealers as opposed to round table dealers (were every player dealt in turn) helped the comfort and trust level. Another great thing about NV poker, was that the games were open 24 hours, unlike other states were the games closed down, usually at "last call."

I avoided playing in "snatch" games (see my Nov. column) except on the third day I lived in Vegas. While waiting downtown for my girlfriend to get off work from the Lady Luck Casino (no hotel in those days), I had a couple of hours to kill so I sat down in a $1–$3 7-stud game at the Fremont. The first hand I won made me think, "Wait a minute, something is wrong…I put 10 or 12 dollars in the pot myself." Three players put in 2 or 3 dollars on 4^th and 5^th streets and when it got down to heads up on 6^th street we put in 6 dollars each and 3 dollars on the river.

When I counted down the pot there was only $14 to add to my stack, so I decided to watch the dealer very carefully after that. I folded early the very next hand enabling me the opportunity to observe the dealer's every move.

During the course of the hand he twice went from the pot to the rack with 2 or 3 dollars (that seemed bad enough—they did not place the rake on the side of the table for all to see and count like they do in the games today), but after all the cards were out and while he was declaring, "Okay, turn them over" and pointing to a player with his deck hand, he grabbed a handful of chips with his other hand (a diversion move used by all successful "snatch" dealers at the time). Before he could place the chips in the rack, I grabbed his wrist causing his hand to open—out fell 6 or 7 one- dollar chips.

"What are you doing?" he shrieked. I answered, "What are you doing? You're either stealing for yourself or for the house." Actually it was all perfectly legal and 98% of the people never caught on—I guess they were having too much fun. A really good "snatch" dealer had to make it fun.

Again he shrieked, "SPADE come here." Spade the poker shift boss came over to our table and asked very calmly, "What's the trouble dealer?"

"This gentleman (it was nice to be called a gentleman under the circumstances) has a problem," he replied with flushed face and trembling lips. I said, not to calmly, "You're damn right I do." But before I could tell Spade my PROBLEM he politely asked me to step to the podium Once out of earshot of the rest of the players, he asked if I was a local. I answered yes—even though I had been in town for two or three days. He informed me that the game I was playing was for "tourists." He then gave me a $20 stack of chips from out of the draw and directed me to a 6-card stud game that turned out to be more "rake friendly." The rake was still higher than today's small limit games, but a whole lot better than 50% or 60% of the pot (again see my Nov. column).

That was the only time I ever sat in a "snatch" game, except when I had to as a "prop player" or shill (more on shills and "prop players" in my next column) or as a dealer.

My game of choice in those days was $10–$20 or $15–$30 Razz ("ANTI poker"— trying to get the WORST hand to win) but my small bank-roll lasted a short time. I was a much better player in my mind than I actually was at the tables, so in a few short months with my vision of becoming a professional poker player going south with my deflated ego and on the verge of going broke, I had to go to work at a "real" job…I became a poker dealer (actually a "shill" dealer and more on that next month).