Where Doyle and Chip got a lot of their big money.

[Topset72]

There have been a lot of posts lately about the “old days.” Johnny Hughes or any people who were around then -feel free to add some information.

I have been reading up on Charles Harrelson (Woody's dad) . Charles died in prison a few days ago. A lot of people thought Charles was one of the "three tramps" who might have been involved in the Kennedy assassination . 2 links --The first one is a link to a picture of the “three tramps.” The second is to Charles Harrelson’s wikipedia page.

http://mcadams.posc.mu.edu/3tramps.htm

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Harrelson

From Harrelson’s wiki page which allows reprinting:

“Harrelson was sentenced to two life terms for the May 29, 1979, assassination of U.S. District Judge John H. Wood, Jr. Harrelson reportedly shot and killed Wood in the parking lot outside of Wood's San Antonio, Texas, house for local drug dealer Jamiel Chagra. Wood — nicknamed "Maximum John" because of his reputation for handing down long sentences for drug offenses — was to have Chagra appear before him on the day of his murder.

Harrelson was apprehended with the aid of an anonymous tip and a taped conversation between Jimmy (Jamiel) and his brother, Joe Chagra. He claimed at trial that he did not kill Wood, but merely took credit for it so he could score a huge payout from Chagra.
Harrelson was eventually convicted based largely on Chagra's conversation with his brother who was visiting him in prison. Both Harrelson and Chagra's brother Joe were implicated in the assassination. Harrelson was sentenced to life, while Joe Chagra received a 10 year sentence. Jamiel Chagra was acquitted of the murder when his brother Joe refused to testify against him. Chagra was represented by current mayor of Las Vegas, Oscar Goodman. In a plea bargain, Chagra admitted to his role in the murder of Judge Wood and the attempted murder of a U.S. Attorney.

After his release in 2003, Jimmy Chagra claimed that Harrelson did not murder Judge Wood. While he did not identify the real killer, Chagra indicated that he or she was long deceased. Jamiel and Joe Chagra allegedly misled federal officials by talking about hiring Harrelson to kill Judge Wood when they knew they were being illegally taped during a legal visit in the prison because Harrelson had been blackmailing Joe Chagra with information he did have about the murder of the judge”

Nice Lawyer if you can get him.

“Texas based, Jamiel 'Jimmy' Chagra was a high-rolling drug dealer who liked to recklessly wager his ill-gotten gains. He was famous for showing up at the Las Vegas Country Club carrying two shopping bags full of cash and being flanked by bodyguards.”

More here(sorry 2+2’s rules about copyrights):

http://www.pokerjokers.co.uk/cgi-bin...num=1145782935

Does anyone have any stories about Chagra or these games? It says he was paroled in 2003--Does he still play?

Topset72

[jtown1010]

Wow that must be Woody Harrelson's grandfather, I read that he was in jail for killing a judge. WTF does this have to do with Doyle and Chip?

[chcheers]

They multitabled online before the games got tough.

[Haunted Ghost]

Chagra has many pages written about him in the book The Biggest Game In Town. According to the book, Chagra knew that he was gonna be in jail for a very long sentence and decided to tilt away everything he had at the poker tables in Las Vegas. Perhaps, that's how Chip and Doyle got their first really big money. I hope guys like Ray Zee and David Sklansky will jump into this thread as they were probably there to see Chagra's tilt frenzy.

[Bill Murphy]

IIRC, Jack Straus was supposedly the big winner, tho everyone did OK.

I loved how drily Alvarez wrote about Chagra:

"Chagra's money was black as pitch, but he had no interest in cleaning it up, just enjoying it while he still had time...The day of the trial the judge-John H. Wood-was shot dead and Chagra was duly indicted for that too, but acquitted."

[betgo]

[ QUOTE ]
Wow that must be Woody Harrelson's grandfather, I read that he was in jail for killing a judge. WTF does this have to do with Doyle and Chip?

[/ QUOTE ]
I believe it is Woody Harrelson's father. Woody tried to get him out, but even a celebrity can't get someone out who is in for murdering a federal judge.

Apparently, he was a hit man for the dixie mafia who was hired to take out the judge. There haven't been many murders of federal judges, so this case caused a stir, and the authorities put a lot of effort into catching the killers.

The guy who apparently commisioned the hit blew a lot of his money at the "big game" while waiting to go to jail. I am sure Doyle and Chip made a lot of money long before this.

[J.C. Gloves]

Didn't every1 in the "big game" buy some stock that split a bunch of times and made every1 rich? Todd Brunson wrote an article about it in Cardplayer I believe.

[[Phill]]

Yeah, alledgedly through high up business contacts several of the big game players have benefitted from insider trading and stock manipulation (the recent Doyle WPTE pump and dump is the most well known).

I stress alledgedly.

[Fletch46]

He did but he said his Dad bought late after the stock had already gone up and didn't do as well. He and the others got in early.

[wisehandpoker]

Chagra apparently once tipped a waitress $10,000 for a bottle of water.