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It’s a shame that Jack Strauss didn’t live long enough
to see poker’s evolution to pastime of the masses. Socalled
for his 6’7” frame, “Treetop” was a gambler
with heart and was the life of every party. His sense
of fair play and love of action were equaled only by
the creative flare with which he played the cards he
was dealt.
Strauss was the archetypal action junkie. He’d have a fortune
one day, nothing the next, rebound to get it all back,
only to blow it all again. It didn’t matter what the game was
– he could be playing poker, climbing a mountain, or big
game hunting in Africa – he was happiest when pushing life
to the limits. The stories about Strauss are numerous and
each more amazing than the next. He was a man who loved
life. Poker was just one of many of its glorious facets.
It was during his championship run in the 1982 World
Series of Poker Main Event that the phrase “chip and a
chair” was coined. On the second day of the tournament,
Strauss silently shoved his stack to the middle and lost. As
he went to leave the table, one $500 chip was discovered
beneath his cocktail napkin. Jack hadn’t actually announced
that he was all-in and it was ruled the chip was still his. Two days
later, he took the title
The stories get better:
On one occasion, dead broke but for $25, he doubled and doubled
and doubled it again, before letting it ride on the Super Bowl. He won
$25,000. All this in one day
When Strauss was sixteen, he won a car from his uncle
While listening to a broke man plead for his home with a judge,
Jack, who was next up to take the stand, called to the judge, “Put it on
my tab.” Our hero was being charged for $3 million in back taxes.
He shot and killed a lion while big-game hunting in Africa. Its
paw, often worn around Jack’s neck, was inscribed with the Italian
proverb above
If Strauss thought he had the 51-49 edge, he’d put every dollar he
had on it. Sometimes his eyeball-math missed the reality, but that
wasn’t the point. The thrill of the hunt was everything in the world.
Aggressive bordering on reckless, Strauss’s greatest hand was a
study in the psychology of poker and the importance of knowing one’s
opponents. Sitting in a high stakes ring game, Jack was on a massive
roll. The cards in his hand were just about automatic. He’d won an
unlikely number of consecutive pots and was feeling the rush of the
run. When the table folded to
him while waiting out the hot
streak, Jack found himself holding
Hold’em’s worst starting
hand, 7-2o. He raised.
His one caller had been taking
a beating throughout the
session and was off his game.
When the flop came 7-3-3, Jack
bet out for $2k. The frustrated
opponent, steaming, jerked his
hand towards his chips in a way
that told Strauss he was facing
high pockets. Strauss called.
The turn brought a two, giving
Strauss what appeared to
be a useless third pair. He
immediately fired out an $18k
bet, massively over-betting the
pot. This time, his opponent
didn’t call as quickly, thinking
instead about what he could be
losing to in the face of that kind
of a move. Finally, bemoaning
his fate, the tourist asked
Strauss if he had pocket aces.
Instead of answering the
question, Jack put forth a proposition: “I’ll tell you what,” the giant
responded, “Just gimme one of those $500 chips of yours and you can
see either one of my cards – whichever one you choose.” A long pause
ensued before the man, a tourist whose name has been lost to history,
tossed Jack the chip. He pointed at a card and Strauss revealed the
deuce.
”I can’t believe you hit the boat,” the man moaned, concluding that
Jack held pocket deuces and, therefore, the full house (had he picked
the seven, his reasoning would have been the same). Finally, he folded
his cards.
If you think about it, the tourist played the hand terribly. Why
would any player with a full house want to let you off the five-figure
pot for five hundred bucks? Why would the deuces call the raise on
the flop? Why would the turned full house bet out instead of trapping
the raiser? The answer to these questions, as Strauss later explained,
was in basic psychology: the man was waiting to lose and he played
that way. It was a brilliant read by an amazing man who is missed and
loved by everyone who knew him.
Strauss passed away a few years later at the table. When his final
hand was turned over, it was discovered he was on one final bluff. It
was a fitting end to a remarkable life, led by one of the great characters
of the game. He lived like a lion for 58 years. He lived like a lamb
for none
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