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John Hardie Moss
Jr.
b. May 14 1907
d. 16th
December 1995
 Johnny Moss became World Series of
Poker Champion in 1970, the first ever and the only one to win by election
rather tournament play.
Marshall,
Texas, was a small prairie town in the noth eastern part of the state, just a
few miles from the Louisiana border. John Hardie Moss (father) was a deputy
sheriff in the town until a month after Johnny was born. The sheriff was not
re-elected and J H Moss Snr. lost his job. So they packed up into a covered
wagon and journeyed westward. Lena Moss (mother) died on the journey from a
burst appendix which could not be treated until reaching Fort
Worth.
Moss Snr. got a job in Dallas as a telegraph linesman but after
four years an accident put him out of work and he took the insurance money into
a grocery store on South Every Street. Johnny made money selling newspapers and
spent his time at the domino parlour on Ackard Street. There he met the older
Benny Binion for the first time. They became both
friends and competitors as message runners for Western Union even though Johnny
could not read or write. At the age of 12 Johnny could read morse code by the
ticker sound alone and play dominoes at a high level.
At 16 Johnny got a
job at The Otter's Club (draw poker club) as a cheat catcher. From Mr. Wade,
the owner, Johnny leant poker and began playing and working in the club. He
learnt further games, Stud and Lowball, but it wasn't until he ventured to the
Elk's Club that he learnt Texas Hold'em. He proceeded to bring the Hold'em game
and many of the players back to the Otter's which flourished and provided
Johnny with the heady salary of $20 a week which made him his families chief
money earner.
At 18 Johnny met Virgie Ann Mouser, a counter worker at a
drugstore, and after a six month courtship they married on May 1, 1926. It was
Virgie who made Johnny choose between working odd jobs and gambling, Johnny
chose the later. But the early years were difficult, Johnny eventually having
to find work with Texaco as a roughnecker which brought him into oil rich poker
games where finally he managed to amass a decent sized bankroll.
Johnny
took Virgie on holiday to see relatives in Olney but when he discovered a new
domino parlour they all stayed, his new daughter included, soon starting a
joint venture with the parlour owner running card and craps games. Johnny paid
the police chief $150 per week to leave them alone, 4 times his salary. A few
months into the operation, in early 1930, Texas Rangers raided and put Johnny
in jail. With the police asking for more money to release Johnny he got out
with a lawyer and picked up sticks once more, this time to Graham, the county
seat and closer to the main oil industry.
In Graham he set up another
gambling parlour next to a bank, dealing with the bank manager who ran a nice
line in after hours loans. Johnny's bankroll quickly passed the 6 figure mark.
He then began playing sports for money, taking lessons from pros to reach a
high level in short space of time. He travelled playing golf, bowling and every
big card game over the coming years with increasing success. By the time the
Texas Centennial celebrations arrived in 1936, poker had beomce big business
with very large games with $50,000 sit-downs being common in Dallas, the chief
oil town.
Johnny played in many a big game that was hijacked in these
cash rich years. The professionals always went for the money whereas the
dopeheads and needle men went in for violence as pleasure. He developed many
ways to hide money and evade losing his bankroll but never chose to carry a
gun. It was safer that way.
In 1939 Johnny moved back to Dallas to look
after his father who died in 1942 after several strokes, he was 74. Johnny took
a 50% stake in the Arrigon Club and ran it for 7 months before getting called
up for the was in 1943 at the age of 36. He started in the Navy, was then
transferred to the marines and ended up in the Seabees, a construction arm of
the military. He was discharged honourably in Decmeber 1945.
On arrival
back in Dallas Johnny found a relatively new game had taken hold of all the big
games, Texas Hold'em. Johnny got involved above his abilities at first and went
$80,000 in the red but Benny Binion fronted him $100,000 and he got back in the
black with endless travelling to far flung games in Texas. When his bankroll
reached a million Johnny took up residence in the Flamingo, Las Vegas, and
played every night in the Fur Room. However, each morning he took the 11 a.m.
flight to Gardena to play his beloved Lowball in California. Each evening he
took the 6 o'clock flight back to Vegas for $800 limit game at the
Flamingo.
From his time at the Flamingo Johnny met Howard Hughes who
often sat behind him to watch. When Johnny needed to get to games in towns
without regular scheduled flights, Hughes lent him his private plane with the
proviso that Johnny looked after the crew. It was around this time that Johnny
was supposed to have played Nick the Greek in
the famous heads-up epic, but historians now doubt the credability of the story
as Benny Binion did not own a casino in 1949, or for the next 3
years.
In the early '50s the big games became scarce and Johnny waisted
a lot of time playing craps in Vegas. He became seriously hooked on the game no
one could beat and went $500,000 in the red with credit lines in every Vegas
casino. Finally he quit the addiction and made a deal to repay $100,000 a year
for the next five years. He returned to Dallas and the road games to rebuild
his fortunes. In 1955 whilst travelling to a game with other poker players, the
car they were in came of the road in the foothills. The driver was killed and
Johnny was out of action for 6 months with a fractured skull.
Eventually
getting back on the road Johnny's fortunes were mixed as the games were getting
tougher with the likes of Doyle Brunson, Sailor Roberts and Amarillo Slim
Preston, the later two occasionally partnering Johnny in big games. When he got
enough money Johnny and Virgie bought land in Odessa Texas in 1958 and built
their own house, finishing it off with a bank loan when Johnny ran out of money
once again.
In 1961 the Interstate Gambling Law was passed by the
federal government making it illegal to travel across state lines to play poker
anywhere other than licensed card rooms. This made it difficult for Johnny to
play on the road and when he did he met hijackers with guns and federal agents
trying to find out how much money Johnny had in his bankroll. For years Johnny
was at odds with the IRS, his winnings being liable for tax but his losses
being difficult to account for. With all the problems he faced it was not
difficult for his wife Virgie to convince him to retire. They had income from
apartments built in Odessa and investments she had made over decades that were
paying good dividends. Johnny retired in 1963.
In 1968 the best poker
players of this decade met in Reno, Las Vegas to participate in a poker
tournament of the Texas Gamblers Convention, a new event to get more action in
a safe enviroment. Johnny received a call and he jumped at the chance to meet
old friends and come out of retirement. It was no tournament in the sense of
Freezouts, but it was about Cash Games of all various variants and at the end
voting took place to produce a "best player" award. Johnny Moss won the title.
In 1969 Crandall Addington was announced the winner.
Benny Binion and
his son Jack recognized the great potential of this event and secured the
rights of the event. They then changed the name from Texas Gamblers Convention
to World Series of Poker and in 1970, the first World Series of Poker (WSOP)
took place with only 38 participants. As it was in the year before, several
variants were played in the cash game format and a winner was announced after 1
½ weeks of playtime. Once again it was Johnny Moss who became the first
WSOP World Champion by voting alone.
In 1971 there were big changes as
the WSOP started in freeze-out mode with five tournaments being played, and the
final climax was the Main Event. Because of the high buy-in of $5000 only six
players participated in the main event. Jonny Moss won the prize money of
$30.000 and became World Champion again.
In 1974 Johnny won again, once
more a winner take all 16 player freeze-out, Johnny taking home $160,000. In
all Johnny played at every WSOP from 1970 through the 1995 World Series, and
during his career he won nine WSOP bracelets, placing him fourth overall,
behind Johnny Chan and Doyle Brunson (10 each) and Phil Hellmuth (11). During
his career he won $824,922 in WSOP tournament play
Moss was sometimes
called the "Grand Old Man" because of his longevity and superior play. He was
one of the charter inductees to the Poker Hall of Fame in 1979. The Texas
Hold'em starting hand Ace-Ten is named "the Johnny Moss" in his
honor.
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| Johnny Moss World Series of Poker bracelets |
| Year |
Tournament |
Prize (US$) |
| 1970 |
World
Series of Poker Championship |
- |
| 1971 |
$5,000
No Limit Hold'em World Championship |
$30,000 |
| 1971 |
Limit
Ace to 5 Draw |
$10,000
|
| 1974 |
$10,000
No Limit Hold'em World Championship |
$160,000
|
| 1975 |
$1,000
Seven Card Stud |
$44,000
|
| 1976 |
$500
Seven Card Stud |
$13,000
|
| 1979 |
$5,000
Seven Card Stud |
$48,000
|
| 1981 |
$1,000
Seven Card Stud Hi-Lo |
$33,500
|
| 1988 |
$1,500
Ace to Five Draw |
$116,400
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