Jhonny Moss: Poker Legend
(1907-1997)

Moss grew up in Odessa, Texas where he learned how to gamble as a young boy. A group of cheaters taught him how to cheat in games, but Moss put this knowledge to good use.

As a teenager he was hired by a local saloon to watch over games and make sure they were played fair. While he was keeping games safe from cheaters, he was also learning the strategy behind playing poker. Two years later he became a rounder, a player that travels the country looking for gambling action.

In 1949 Moss once played with Nick the Greek in a five month long poker marathon set up by Benny Binion, winning anywhere from $2 million to $4 million. At the end of the marathon, down millions of dollars, Nick the Greek uttered what has become one of the most famous poker quotes ever, "Mr. Moss, I have to let you go."

Because of people like Nick the Greek, Binion, and Moss, poker became popular and eventually a World Series of Poker was organized. Moss won the 1970, 1971, and 1974 World Series of Poker main events, tying him with Stu Ungar. For the 1970 event, Moss was actually elected the champion by his peers and only received a silver cup as his prize. He played at every WSOP from 1970 to 1995 and during his career he won 8 WSOP bracelets and over $680,000 in tournament play.

One time Moss was playing in Oklahoma when he noticed a peep hole in the ceiling where someone was relaying information about cards to a player at the table. After Moss' threat to shoot the man in the ceiling wasn't taken seriously, he ended up wounding him. Moss also regularly had to threaten people to remove their clothes when he knew they were using mechanical cheating devices.

Another time Moss was playing high-stakes golf against a wealthy businessman. Going into the last few holes Moss had lost over a quarter of a million dollars. The people who were sponsoring the match on Moss' behalf wanted to simply kill the businessman instead of paying the money, but Moss won the last few holes. The businessman told him, "Moss, you're the luckiest man alive." Moss responded, "No sir, you are."

Moss, who died in 1997, was sometimes called the "Grand Old Man" because of his longevity and superior play. He was one of the charter inductees to the Poker Hall of Fame in 1979.

The starting hand Ace-Ten is named the Johnny Moss in his honor.