On the Coat Tales of a Gambler
Woody continues the story with Scarpone in Memphis, Tennessee.
Episode 18 – Going to Memphis Part III – Winning is everything.
After eating a greasy breakfast at a café on Beale Street, I felt remarkably better, considering my lack of sleep. After that we took in some blues down the block. Scarpone was happy being in Memphis and I am sure Mya had a lot to do with it. We spent time together at the blues joint drinking coffee, smoking cigarettes, and eating homemade donuts. By early afternoon, Scarpone had his game face on and was ready to play Texas Hold’em poker.
the drive back to JJ’s no one spoke a word. The events of the early morning on Beale Street were still fresh in my mind. Benny had his reasons to keep his mouth buttoned down. There was nothing to be gained by telling Scarpone I almost lost his Lincoln. I also knew better than to break his concentration before a game. Scarpone could take himself into an altered state of consciousness. It was strange to be with him at these times, it was almost scary. He was keenly aware of his surroundings. At the same time, I had the feeling that I was invisible to him.
When we arrived at JJ’s, Scarpone gestured where he wanted Driver to park the Lincoln. I made sure all the windows were up and doors were locked when we got out of the car. Pushing out his bottom lip and nodding his head to the side said, “Good idea Woody!” Praising my act of prudence. Just before entering JJ’s, Scarpone put his arm on my shoulder with some advice, “Keep out of trouble Woody, and keep an eye on the car.” That was an eerie feeling for me. It was as though Scarpone knew about the night’s adventure with his Lincoln.
Scarpone and I went over to the bar where there was free coffee and more homemade donuts. Driver joined us in a cup of joe. Benny just wanted donuts he’d had enough coffee. Scarpone was sizing up the tables shrewdly looking for pigeons.
Benny had been on a rollercoaster ride, up and down on the previous day. He told us that he was feeling lucky and would play smarter. Benny was a fair player, but he would do better if he’d tightened up his game. Benny played too aggressively. His aggressiveness was the main reason he would win some and lose some. Benny was a better crook than he was a card player, still he managed. Scarpone used to say Benny played cards like the burglar, he was, quick to slip in any open window and quick to get out with the loot. Benny lacked the patience necessary to be a good poker player. He always tried to force a hand to go his way. When he was winning, he’d start pushing the other players around. When he was losing, he pushed even harder, as if daring other players to play against him. It was an obvious tell. Adding to his aggressive play, Benny was also known for an occasional outburst of ill temper. Scarpone had to save Benny more than a few times from his self-destructive anger. It wasn’t because Benny couldn’t manage himself in a fight. It was because when Benny got to the boiling point, he was literally too dangerous for his own good… an enraged mad man would not be an exaggeration when Benny lost his temper. It probably had something to do with him leaving New York.
In a whisper, because he did not want Benny to hear him, Scarpone told me to keep an eye on Benny. I knew what Scarpone meant without further explanation. He wanted me to let him know if Benny was to go on tilt, losing. If anyone could influence Benny, it was Scarpone. Due to their years of their friendship, Benny would cooperate with Scarpone. Scarpone could appeal to Benny’s sense of humor and diminish the issue as no big deal. It usually worked.
Scarpone finally sat down at the poker game. There were several fresh players sitting at the table. There was a lot of cash on the table.
Driver decided to play some quarter craps again. I joined him for about an hour. The coffee was no longer a consolation for my lack of sleep. After winning a few bucks at craps, I crashed in the back seat of the Lincoln. Benny was keeping his game together anyway, like he said he would. I let Scarpone know where I would be and again, asked Driver for the keys.
It was late afternoon when I woke up from my sleep in the car. JJ’s was on the outskirts of Memphis. Roadhouse gambling was not that uncommon in the South, but it was nevertheless, still illegal. Just like back home, the gambling joints kept a low profile from the law. No doubt JJ had the cops paid off.
The poker games were going strong, with many unfamiliar faces sitting at the tables. Obviously, the missing members had busted out of the game. Also, it was the third of July. Scarpone was doing okay. I wanted to have something to eat before joining a game. Benny was in a corner, slumped over a small table, sound asleep. Driver was still playing at the craps table. I joined Driver while I had my food, watching the dice game. He told me the he had won some money, but it had been a grind. He said the dice were just too choppy. Just when a roll would get going, the seven showed up.
There was an open seat next to the table where Scarpone was playing. Texas Hold’em was the game being played there too. Texas Hold’em takes a lot of patience, and it is a game of tells. The more games you play, the more you learn that it is not just playing cards. It is far more complicated. It is the kind of game that takes shape around the players’ personalities. Reading the players, tracking styles of play, and noting subtleties is what separates the winners from the losers.
Scarpone was a professional gambler. He was cunning and smart enough to know when it was time to call it quits. If other players in the game had him pegged to his hand, he knew it was wiser to make some profit than to show off his skills. Scarpone would say, the secret to winning is getting the money off the table without having to show your hand, meaning that it is better to win a smaller amount by ending the hand sooner. Get the money by getting the other players to fold theirs.
This was key to Scarpone’s strategy. By not having to show his hand, it left a question in the minds of the other players. Did Scarpone have a good hand or just a good bluff?
The joint was filled with the evening customers. Excitement and music were in the air when Scarpone caught the hand. He was playing the big blind. The player in the early position limped in. The next three players folded. A raise came from the cutoff man. The action was on the button. (Dealer’s position) The button exclaimed, “I sure hope you have good cards, I re-raise!” A challenge to the cutoff to call him. The small blind folded his cards into the muck. Scarpone’s attention had been on the other players, noting their play before he ever looked at his cards. He lifted the corner of each card protected in the nest of his cupped hands. The ace of spades and ace of clubs were the indexes he saw winking back at him.
With three other players already in the pot and with two raises, Scarpone hoped that his aces would hold up after the flop. He decided that he would wait and make his move on the flop. He wanted as much money in the pot as he could lure. Knowing that the button was holding good cards, he knew he would not have to lead the way with the betting. He could check and raise.
Normally, with pocket aces, Scarpone would re-raise before the flop, but he had concerns. If he were to re-raise now, he would lose at least two of the players and put the button on alert that he was likely holding a large pocket pair. He also figured pocket aces were possibly in the hand of the first raiser. However, after playing for hours with these gentlemen, Scarpone felt that the first raiser was probably playing a “scared pair” (Like 9/9 or 10/10) and early position, limped in, and likely would not call two raises. Scarpone slow played his hand.
Scarpone did not want to take too long with his decision to play. After all, for him to call two raises was a no-brainer decision. At the same time, he wanted to set his trap. What Scarpone did was to appear as though he liked his cards, but not enough to pay the price of two raises. However, he did make the call on the pretense of the money already in the pot… pot odds as it’s called. Remember too, he was the big blind and already in for one bet and defending his big blind was not an unusual play for Scarpone.
The early position player folded as expected, however, the first raiser, in middle position, also called the re-raise. This was better than Scarpone had hoped. He knew the early position would not call two raises. Nevertheless, Scarpone held out hope that the ego of the middle position who first raised would call after challenged by the button, …” hope you have good cards.”
The flop brought the seven of hearts, Jack of diamonds, and the ace of diamonds to the board. Scarpone was first to act and checked his set of aces. At this point in the hand, nothing could beat Scarpone, and he knew if another player held an ace, or better, that player would likely bet their hand. It was also possible someone was holding King/Queen of diamonds with a possible royal flush draw. The middle position checked to the button. The button made a bet. Scarpone only called the bet. The middle position folded his hand.
The turn card brought the Jack of clubs. This gave Scarpone a full house, aces over jacks. However, he no longer had the best possible hand. Scarpone bet 5g on the full house. The button raised and Scarpone called another 5g. Scarpone later admitted his concern of the doubled bet. The second Jack obviously helped button’s hand. Scarpone’s dilemma was figuring out if the button holding pocket Jacks, for four of a kind.
Scarpone knew his hand would not improve without an Ace on the river. He had a full house, aces over Jacks. He felt it was unlikely to hit the fourth ace with the river card. One of the other players who folded likely had the fourth ace or it was in the hand of his opponent. Only four Jacks or a longshot royal flush, could beat him. Scarpone deliberated and then turned on his Spanish charm saying, “I know the only way I will get to see four Jacks is to pay you off, I call.”
The river card was the ten of diamonds. However, Scarpone picked up a “tell” on the face of his opponent. The button was intensely interested in the last card. Scarpone knew the button must have been looking for the fourth jack, noticing the button’s clenched his jaw. This was a huge help to Scarpone, seeing his opponent’s reaction to the ten of diamonds. Now Scarpone could eliminate the threat of a royal flush and even pretend that he had the royal flush.
The action was on Scarpone when the button made another mistake by speaking to him before he bet. “Well, Scarpone, are you going to pay to see four Jacks?” The button asked, touting Scarpone. Scarpone drew a heavy breath, exhaling slowly, he said, “I am a man of my word, I’m all in.” There was over sixty grand in the pot. Now, no matter what cards the button held, there was too much money on the table for him to quit. Scarpone knew it. In fact, he was betting on it because he had figured out the man’s hand. It was a shrewd and bold play and Scarpone set it up like a pro. It is one thing to have a winning hand but getting the opponent to believe that their hand is best is expert play. Would Scarpone pull it off, or would the button take the pot with four Jacks?
The button pushed in the rest of his money. Scarpone turned over his pocket aces and in a quiet voice said, “Aces full.”
“Son of a bitch!” Shouted the button! He stood up in a rage and threw down his cards, the Ace and Jack of hearts.
When the button hit the top pairs on the flop, he never slowed down. When the turn card gave the button a full house, Jacks over Aces, he was counting his chickens.
Driving back to Robstown, Scarpone re-told the story of that hand finishing it with, “You know boys, the whole reason I like to play poker is to catch the other guy holding a great second place hand. I like to get him feeling really good about their hand, so he’s happy pushing in all his money. I like people to be happy, just before I hit’em right between the eyes.”
Scarpone did not gamble for the fun of it; it was how he made a living. He would say, finding a hundred-dollar bill on a park bench, for me, is the same as seeing all the money on a poker table. “I’m going to take it.”
On the Coat Tales of a Gambler continues in Episode 19
My Gramps and Uncles – Family History