Mark Rogers

Much like the Green Bay Packers had dominated football before winning the first two Superbowls; Johnny Moss had been poker’s elite player long before the World Series of Poker. At the age of 16 Moss found work as a lookout man in the Otter’s Club poker room. This crew of cheating, smoking, gun wielding gamblers played draw poker; a game that Moss honed during these developmental years and the game that gifted him two WSOP bracelets later in his gambling career. After three years of patrolling the Otters he moved to the hold’em dealing Elks. The lessons at this club also paid dividends when he won three championships in the WSOP hold’em events. By the time Johnny Moss was 24 in 1931, two things became a reality; gambling was his profession and Las Vegas had just legalized gambling.

Johnny Moss’ counterpart and fellow Texas paper boy during adolescence was Lester ‘Benny’ Binion. Benny put his money in the middle as the house, Moss simply put his money in the middle. A legal Vegas in the thirties and forties meant little to Moss. Benny would not boss a casino in Vegas until Moss turned 42. And even then, only when the Social Security system recognized Johnny as retired at 62, did Benny’s World Series of Poker premiere. That too was of little concern to Moss. Texas was affluent with cash heavy oillionaires, more than willing to risk a chunk in a high stake poker game.

Still, a young man in his prime, probably the best in the business, fed on money alone. No glory. No championships. No Neiman Marcus wrist wear. No measuring sticks for future generations to shoot for. Johnny Moss may have drifted off into gambling folklore had not the idea of Benny and the execution of Jack Binion come to fruition in the World Series of Poker in 1970. Even now, Johnny had been an official AARP member for twelve years and his gambling comrades pinned him the ‘Grand Old Man of Poker.’ Imagine what might have been had poker’s preeminent tournament known the ‘Grand Young Man of Poker.’

Not that age hindered the Grand Old Man. Between the ages of 62 and 80, Johnny won nine championships at the WSOP. Two of his first three were Main Event championships; the other event, Ace-to-Five Draw. In 1974 the term bracelet became synonymous with championship, when, for the first time, the Main Event awarded the jewelry. Moss collected that loot in route to his third Main Event championship in five years. What followed from 1975 to 1981, included four bracelets in the Seven-Card Stud event and two Main Event final tables; one playing Stu Ungar in 1980.

Then the Grand Old Man suffered a bracelet drought; which is a quite amazing feat in itself. The very premise of a drought is that 1) you have had to have some solid and continued success in the past and 2) come out of your funk to win again. Many would not admit, but many probably thought that Moss, who hit his seventies, was for all intents and purposes, retired. That was not the case. The seven year dry spell was no more than a drought.

In 1988, 194 entrants sat for the Ace-to-Five draw event. The Grand Old Man may have been 80, but he had been seasoned at this game since his Otter days in the Roaring Twenties. Moss took home his ninth WSOP championship in May of 1988. He also celebrated 62 years of marriage to Virgie Ann Mouser that month. The same 62 he was when he began his WSOP career. The same 62 Doyle Brunson aged the year Johnny Moss played in his last WSOP tournament; 1995. Doyle has won 3 bracelets since in 10 years. And when Johnny and Virgie cut their 62nd anniversary cake, Phil Hellmuth began his WSOP career. He has since won 10 bracelets over 18 years of his prime.

After Johnny Moss finished runner-up to Puggy Pearson in the 1973 Main Event, Virgie exclaimed he had let Puggy win. Admittedly, Moss was losing his poker touch having many times announced his retirement in the ‘70’s only to come back the next year. By no means did his WSOP career correspond with his poker prime. That is a scary thought. The Grand Old Man of Poker won nine WSOP championships in 18 years when others his age were content with bridge, golf, grandchildren and memories. What if Benny Binion opened his WSOP doors in 1931? Then the world would have seen the Grand Young Man of Poker; 40 years worth. Imagine the collection of bracelets; dare I predict 35. Larger fields certainly define the current tournaments, but only the best played back in the day when holding a .38 pistol, hammer removed, was as common as the bank roll you brought with you.

Look at other legends in other fields; Joe Montana with the Kansas City Chiefs or Michael Jordan with the Washington Wizards. Did these greats transcend their prime? Make no mistake, what Johnny Moss accomplished in the last leg of his professional career is nothing short of remarkable. An argument can be made using only his WSOP years as evidence, that Johnny Moss was one of the greatest if not the greatest poker player of all time. Now add his poker prime from ’30-’70, and from the very humble opinion of this author, Johnny Moss is hands down the greatest poker player to have graced the green felt.

Mark Rogers is the author of 52 Greatest Moments, World Series of Poker
Find out more at www.52pokermoments.com