On the Coat Tales of a Gambler
“I saved something for you. I didn’t have time to share it last time I wrote to you. This was sent to me in the Robstown paper. Thomasville is just west of Robstown and a stone’s throw from Biloxi if that’s tell’n something.” Sailor
Thomasville, AL: Eighteen poker players arrested for gambling have asked for a jury trial in an effort to change Alabama’s 183-year-old law that bans games of cards and dice. Police seized nearly six thousand dollars when they arrested eighteen people. Four pleaded guilty and were fined $100 each. Participates said it was a “friendly” game. Authorities contend it was high stakes gambling advertised on the Internet.
This is laughable. I would not call that high stake in this day and age. Do the math… $6,000 divided between 18 people, come on. Back in Scarpone’s day I saw poker pots with a lot more than 6g, many times over. I say the above game was just a small stakes friendly game… even if it was on the net… so what? You decide! The Internet is wonderful, but kind of dumb to advertise a poker game you’d think. The bust appears as though somebody is out for revenge, you know, a grudge settled with political power.
By the way, Scarpone’s favorite game was dice. He had loads and flats and knew how to switch out a die without a hitch. He knew how to set’em good. I read this stuff about dice setting and controlling dice with this and that and how to bet which numbers. The real pros of the game were unsung. (and they liked it that way) They were doing it long before this hyped fad came along, and they had the huevos to pull it off. Scarpone was really good. He was a master at manipulating the dice. He was so skilled with his setting ability, he usually won even with regular, fair dice.
About the only way Scarpone would ever get into a poker game was knowing, dead sure, that he had a real live sucker in the game to set up and shake down. Most of these sucker games, of course, would have no limit. Scarpone would bet the guy out of all the money he had and give him a hand, something like four Jacks or four Queens. Of course, the guy would be pissing his pants and wishing he had more dough to bet.
Scarpone was more than just a sly gambler. He was a salesman with a diamond personality. Like that cliché goes Scarpone could sell ice to Eskimos. His charismatic personality got him out of more fixes than his pocket ‘38’ ever could. He liked to say that he could talk himself out of any disagreement. He’d come away the winner with the other guy glad for it.
Now, back to this poker game and four of a kind. Scarpone knows the guy has the hand of a lifetime. He sets him up by dealing him the hand. The guy has all his money in the pot, of course. Scarpone goes into his act. He pretends to remind the guy it is no limit and it’s okay to go to his pocket for more dough. The guy is literally all in and Scarpone knows it. So, Scarpone turns on the charming Spanish grin, (I understand your dilemma, let me help) and says to the guy, “You know, you are trusted. You would not have been invited to this game if you were not trusted. You seem pleased with your hand. How about this idea?” Scarpone would then go on to tell the guy he could go get more money, as much as he could lay his hands on, and come back with it to bet. There was a stipulation that he did not take too long doing it. The hands would be sealed in separate envelopes while the sucker ran out to get his life savings. Scarpone’s “second”, would tag along to make sure it went right. After returning with more money, the sucker would raise the bet. Scarpone would act like, “Okay, you got me, but I gotta see your cards,” and then call the sucker’s raise. You have to know from the front of this story that no matter what the sucker had drawn to, Scarpone would amazingly have the winning hand, a bigger four of a kind, maybe a straight flush.
That would do it for the mark and Scarpone would go into a charade of surprise that both players had great hands and how close the game was in the end. After shaking hands and a drink to commiserate, Scarpone would pat the guy on the back saying, “Tough hand to lose, here’s a hundred bucks, I don’t want you leaving skinned.”
I witnessed this play twice in my short time hanging around Scarpone, but he told me that he had pulled it off many times. He told me with a rich sucker, he’d never run that obvious scam. It was an on the road small town scam with the right kind of player. Recall the fancy trip to Florida. There, the surroundings of a men’s private country club made the scene okay for rich “marks” to waddle up to a game flush with cast. But holding a game in a motel room, or the back room of a bar, it gets really iffy for most savvy people with money.
Now, it did work on egomaniacs with a bit of cash in their pocket. I requires a good player with money and an ego that believes, “I can’t be beat.” Give this kind of ego a great hand and you are counting your eggs while they are a-hatch’n.
Taking a guy’s last buck this way made me feel sorry for the poor guy. But for Scarpone it was just business. He noticed my feelings one time, and said, “What, that s.o.b.? Do you think he wouldn’t have taken me just as hard if he could? What the hell do you think he was trying to do to me? If not me, some other sucker for sure.” For Scarpone, it was just a job well done and getting paid for doing it. The edge he held was his passion for the game. His love for being on the winning side was so immersed in his being, it was almost like he could not lose. I never saw anyone gamble the way Scarpone did and consistently win. Okay, I concede that his cheating played a part in it.
I’d like to tell you that he taught me everything he knew about gambling, but with Scarpone, he possessed something special that simply could not be taught or learned. You either have it in you or you don’t. Scarpone had it cold.
On the Coat Tales of a Gambler continues in Episode 14
I’m running with the wrong crowd.