Poker History: Remembering Johnny Moss

[Johnny Hughes]

The current issue of Bluff Magazine has an article on Johnny Moss similar to the Poker History series I have been posting here.

Remembering Johnny Moss

by Johnny Hughes

The first time I met Johnny Moss was in Longview, Texas in 1959. On our five hundred mile drive from Lubbock to Longview, Curly Green taught me about gambling with his stories about Johnny Moss and Pat Renfro, who had been partners when they were only 21 years old, back in 1928. In his Cadillac, Curly had a high-powered rifle, a sawed-off shotgun, a .22 caliber semi-automatic pistol, and the .38 caliber revolver that he always carried inside gambling joints. Johnny Moss and Curly had known each other for many years in Dallas. Both men wore the baggy, pleated, dark-colored slacks that would help disguise the barking iron they always carried. Being robbed or arrested was commonplace. In fact, Pat, Curly, and Johnny had just been robbed in a large poker game in Corpus Christi, Texas.
The robbers were real pros out of Kansas City. They had machine guns and teargas. Curly ran into the bathroom and hid most of his bankroll and his doorknob-sized diamond ring. The robbers told him to come out or they would shoot through the door. As soon as Curly came out, the main masked bandit asked him, “Curly, where’s that ring?”.

The robbers made the men line up and searched them. Then they announced that they were going to search again and anyone holding out would be pistol-whipped. Pat said, “Hey, you missed a little dab,” pointing to four hundred-dollar bills in his shirt pocket....

http://www.bluffmagazine.com/magazine/preview.asp

Johnny Hughes