Goodbye To Binion's Las Vegas

BY: Johnny Hughes

The World Series of Poker is leaving Binion's and downtown Las Vegas. It is the end of an era. For many poker players, regardless of age, this is a very sad change. Binion's was poker's shrine. Who won't miss walking Fremont Street? You can sit at the Starbuck's at the Golden Nugget and the whole world parades by. Get a prop bet on how long it will take an Elvis impersonator to show. Envy the Japanese in a flock of thirty with ninety cameras and Nirvana like joy. Check out the Kibosh hustles that change every year. Never miss the Japanese country and western singers at the Plaza.

When you got those bad beat blues and it's time to move your shoes, no place in the world is better than Fremont Street especially when the light show and the carnival like happiness of the crowd is so contagious. When those old pasteboards treat you like a red headed stepchild and it is time to catch the breeze and do the old heel and toe, is there any better walking in America than Fremont Street?

Going in and out of casinos, everyone has a name tag that tells where they are from. Ask them how long have you been in Las Vegas. If they are as talkative as your cab driver was, ask them how they got there.

It is America's dream world of second chances, starting over. Who does not need a clock made out of dice? Or dice earrings? Or a watch with a Joker on it? Nobody will listen to a bad beat story in a trinket shop unless you are the only one in there.

The Binion's created all this. For over twenty years, I have gone through those doors with a nostalgic delight at the sights I hope to see. There's Amarillo Slim doing his million and twelfth interview. Bobby Hoff with some new health foods. The diminutive *bleep*tail waitress with the enormous perfect hair. The horse race touts. Charley Hyde with some new poker suspenders. Eskimo logging more hours at the table than anyone. The race track touts and the Binion's ranch beef cheeseburger were not there this year.

The new players should tour Binion's as a historical shrine. The pictures on the walls tell of this evolution from the old colorful outlaws, dear long term friends of Benny Binion, to the folks you see on the T and V.

You have all heard the stories of the King Lear like saga of the Binion family. Johnny Moss was the earliest champ and known for his legendary match with "Nick the Greek" Danolos set up by Benny Binion. Johnny Moss and his early victories and epic duel with Texas oil man Crandell Addington are all part of poker history. That history is tied to Binion's. Mr. Addington has written the poker history section in Doyle Brunson's new book Super System 2.

Before he died, I always looked for Johnny Moss to show my respects. When he was pushing ninety, he rode all around the Horseshoe in this electric cart. He played twenty dollar limit and usually napped at the table. One writer wrote that he had reptilian eyes. These naps might last a round. The dealers knew not to bother him. Around Binion's he was treated like a King. He rolled up beside me the last time I saw him and played in the ten and twenty. The other players all knew who he was. He got out a small piece of paper from his wallet and said,"Johnny, read that. That's what I got." It said "gout".

In Doyle's book, there are pictures of the gamblers, crossroaders, and outlaws at the early series. Johnny Moss was the undisputed champ to this well trained crew. Johnny Moss, the earliest champion, lived at Binion's Horseshoe Casino in his last years. It was rather fitting that he lived in Glitter Gulch. Jack Binion took care of him and he lived there courtesy of Jack Binion. No corporation is capable of such an accommodation.

The downstairs cafe at Binion's Horseshoe is much the same as it was when you could bet on seeing Benny in a booth by the door on the phone. You could hear that sing song. "Phone call for Mr. Binion. Mr. Jack Binion." coming over the loud speakers.

Breakfast there was a real ritual for we from Texas. The menu is about the same but the place is full of ghosts and great stories.

I remember E.W., Tennessee Longgoodie, Pat Renfro, Bill Smith, Sailor, Dale, the Kid, Bisquit, Durwood, Thrash, Skeeter, Mano,Housemover, Charley "Suspenders" Hyde, Jerry Blair, Donnie, Ed and Gene Bradford, Adrian, and way too many to think of. I have even enjoyed a great breakfast there with Dutch Boyd and Tommy Hancock. Walking in comped is a great feeling for a low roller. I am, however, a very professional and dedicated low roller.

During the World Series at Binion's, you can hear bad beat stories in elevators and bars and the rest room and any place you happen to stop walking or even slow down. At what other sporting event, can a top notch low roller be there to here them say, "Cards in the air?"

There is no other sport where you get to see the same people you played a few years ago with a pile of money a show horse could not jump over. One minute you see these champs playing for the world on TV and in no time they are standing on the rail beside some homeless guy who looks far happier than they are.

Without Binion's and Glitter Gulch, the World Series is going to be just another tournament.

For twenty years, I would teach college students until early May and then always go to the World Series at Binion's right after finals. This started my long summer vacation. It was a marker event each year for me and for poker players world wide.

There were weeks if not months of anticipation. I'd get everything ready and buy new clothes and read poker books. You could get a lot of poker played in Las Vegas in a short period of time. It made all the other games and all the other gambling joints pale by comparison. Walking up to sign up in Binion's had a really special feel to it.

It was like that song about New York. If you can make it there, you can make it anywhere. For poker players that's the way it was with Binion's during the World Series. It was the poker big time. The poker Broadway. If you could take down consistent winnings when the best in the world gather, you can call yourself a poker player.

It is hard to face that this was the last year. They can take the pictures off the wall at Binion's but they can't take the ghosts and the memories with them to some over designed rug joint on the strip.

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