Johnny Moss

Johnny Moss Biography
by Chad Holloway of Predictem.com

Johnny Moss was born in Marshall, Texas on May 14, 1907. Raised in Dallas, he learned to gamble as a young boy. When he was ten years-old, a group of cheaters taught him how to cheat, but he didn't utilize his newfound skills; instead, he used his knowledge to acquire a job at a local saloon where he was responsible for spotting cheaters. It was during this time he watched and learned the strategy of the game, which he later used to launch his career as a rounder: "After I picked up a thing or two I became a road gambler, playing on the square wherever I could find a good game--Mexico, Tahoe, wherever. I knew how to do it but I didn't have to steal. I made plenty playing clean. But I sure saw a lot of cheating in those days," Moss said. "One night I'm playing in some small town--I don't remember where, maybe in Oklahoma--and I see they got the room set up as a peep joint [with a confederate spying on players' cards through a peep hole in the ceiling]. So I pull out my gun--always carried a gun back in those days--and said, 'Now, fellas, do I have to go and shoot a bullet in the ceiling? Or you going to send your boy down without any harm?' Hell, they thought I was bluffing. Ended up shooting the guy in his ass."

In 1949, Moss played Nick "The Greek" Dandoles in a five-month long poker game set up by Benny Binion. Despite losing a huge $500,000 pot, Moss won between $2-$4 million, prompting Nick "The Greek" to end the match and utter the famous poker words: "Mr. Moss, I have to let you go." In 1970, Moss was elected the best overall player to win the first World Series of Poker Championship. It has been said that when asked to vote for the best player, each player voted for himself, but when asked to vote for the second best player, everyone voted for Johnny Moss. Moss won the W.S.O.P. $5,000 No Limit Hold'em World Championship the very next year for his second championship title and $30,000. He then became a three time champion, a record shared only by Stu Ungar, by winning the 1974 W.S.O.P. $10,000 No Limit Hold'em World Championship for $160,000. Moss has a total of nine W.S.O.P. bracelets: his three World Championship bracelets, 1971 Limit Ace to Five Draw ($10,000), 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), and 1988 $1,500 Ace to Five Draw ($116,400).

Moss, who played in every W.S.O.P. from 1970 to 1995, was a charter inductee to the Poker Hall of Fame in 1979. He was nicknamed "Grand Old Man" because of his longevity and superior play in the game poker, where the starting hand Ace-Ten has been termed "the Johnny Moss." In his 1978 book Super System, Doyle Brunson wrote of Moss:

"I've always been an apostle of John's at No-Limit. I used to observe and watch him in each poker game I went to . . . The truth was, John was usually the big winner in the games . . . with myself a close second. As the years passed, the margin between us got closer and closer because I was watching and picking up his favorite plays as any young apprentice might watch and learn from the master in his field . . . I have much more respect for Johnny than a lot of younger players do. In his prime, he was the best No-limit player I've ever seen, and a lot of people don't believe that because they're too young to have Johnny play at his best. They fail to take into account the fact that he's some 70 years old now and that is 20 years past the point at which most men's play begins to deteriorate."

Moss, who was best friends with Benny Binion, passed away on December 16, 1995. He had more than $680,000 in career lifetime earnings and has earned legendary status in the minds of many.

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