Does anyone remember?
- Thread starter jay helfert
- Start date
Greg, Rich offered to play Danny even if he bet his own money. Rich thought that was how the match was taking place. In his mind he thought Danny couldn't win that way. Geiler won the match even though Shoji had slipped Danny the cash to play. As Shoji crossed the room he left a trail of hundred dollar bills on the floor. He had a hole in his pocket and didn't realize it. So much of the game is in the mind.
I was there doing referee duty when he left the trail of hundreds at The White Spot. Vince Frain was trailing behind, kinda like the flower girl going down the aisle at a wedding. Scooping and mugging as the procession traveled the bar to back wall path adjacent 3 tables in tournament action. It seemed coriographed and knowing Vince....it could have been.
Vince was a favorite character and provided so many memories. He was The odds maker at all big events. He even handed me a $50 chip as I passed the blackjack table he was seated at during a Reno event. His comment was, "you look down on your luck." I wasn't but banked it and smiled and said thank you. Of course I paid it back in the form of a sweat bet at the next big White Spot event.
Danny didn't flash it but had plenty. I can't recall how many Chinese restaurants he owned and managed in Seattle.
Seems like The White Spot matches often were for the amount he won in the big tournament.
Mmy memory could be faulty but it seems to me that it was Harry Platis that left the trail of bills. Which would make it even more likely that it was , uh chumming.
I arrived to spectate on a Sunday of a big event. I found Racetrack Rick and asked him ,"who's the favorite ", as there was maybe a dozen left competing. So I then announced "J D against the field!" As Rick said he was hittin' 'em good. Well booked 4 $50 bets plus the 50 I owed Vince was going to be a hundred or nothing. J D could make anybodys most under rated list. Harry's spot with him playing one pocket was near the top of the local corporation that pooled their money to shoot at Harry playing one pocket.
Harry was known to ask the corporation to empty their pockets, put it on one game. They picked the player and each in the corporation had an assigned spot. The Z gave the most weight of the corporation.
I do vaguely recall Dan Louie and Mike Zimmerman in the finals. Mike was wearing a walking cast on one leg (perhaps a snow skiing accident ). He was hopping around the table and single pumping shots. The whole while his monolog while shooting was regarding how slow Danny played. Can't remember who won but it certainly was entertaining. ☺
). He was hopping around the table and single pumping shots. The whole while his monolog while shooting was regarding how slow Danny played. Can't remember who won but it certainly was entertaining. ☺
Hmm did I mention Vince Frain? RIP Friend.
He looked like the flower girl at the wedding performance. Trailing and collecting the bills.
(Flashing back to a Reno Sands event and Buck Tooth waving 10,000 in $100 bills and barking in the practice room.)
Vince was The 211 Odds maker. I still cherish his incredulous expression after I beat a Top Gun in an Everett smaii table 8 ball event.
"I didn't know you could shoot!" Was a sweet compliment, as I employed the Stealth mode, uh quite well. 
Well my opponent didn't either.
so when he came up bad on the 8 ball close to mid footrail, he just rolled up an Bumped it to the rail. Nice execution of the wrong choice. Shrug He didn't know my ring game nickname was Kicks Like a Mule. Oh my ,my Briar Patch.
Cole related his biggest card playing score as I drove him back to Seattle from Kelso/Longview.
He could no longer sit at a casino card table in Nevada. He was skilled at palming cards. The big score was an inside job and he was the player at the Back uh rat table. The game 5 or 6 decks, one of which was his. One person blocked the camera and another switched the decks. Cole played the Maximum bet and knew when his 1 deck had arrived.