A man with money is no match against a man on a mission.
As far as poker goes, I really didn't play poker but a few times in high school.
But back in those days, there were no computers - so I did all the strategy work manually. I dealt out a hand here. I put another hand there. I just kept doing it thousands and thousands of times, over and over.
Everybody today knows what I learned back then because it's in all the poker books. But nobody knew the right way to play back in those days.
I also learned from Johnny Moss - who was the best poker player in the world at that time. I got to watching him and studying him.
I also started to really focus on my studies and earned a Masters Degree in Administrative Education.
I also won the Texas State Championship in the mile run - which got me over one-hundred offers from around the country to go to college.
I do my best to promote the World Series of Poker. That's kind of the reason I do what I do - not for personal recognition. It's to pay my dues back to poker.
I don't know why I got the hang of it so easily, as opposed to most people. Within a week, I was the best player in all the hold'em games. It was just a natural thing for me.
I gradually worked my way up from very small games at the colleges to bigger private games.
I grew up in a very religious family. My mom and dad were both Baptists. I went to church with them a lot.
I have taken a different path in life.
I knew the only way to leave Longworth and go to college was on an athletic scholarship.
I know I'm fortunate to have played at this level and I still win more often than I lose.
I mean there are usually no direct answers to how do you play such-and-such a hand when somebody raises in front. Every poker situation is different. The only way you can learn is to play.
I mean, I never had an image of myself as a fat person. While I knew I was fat, I didn't see myself that way.
I now see what the really important things in life are and they don't relate to what I do for a living.
I saw that I could make more money in one pot than what was in that entire paycheck selling a week of office supplies.
I still do my best to promote poker.
I still have the mentality of a 19-year-old mind.
I think by this time, I've lost most of my ego.
I'm just a country farm boy who grew up in a tiny town of less than 100 people.
It's not the cards that you have all the time that makes you a winner or a loser.
My mental image of myself was of the boy who grew up in Texas and set the record for running the mile. Deep down, I'm still that kid inside.
Ninety percent of the hands aren't shown in a poker game.
Once I accepted the fact my career in sports was over, I started playing poker to support myself.
Once you lose your reputation in this business, that's it. It's over.
Once, we were playing one of those outlaw games on Exchange Avenue in Fort Worth. All of the sudden, the door was busted down and a guy stormed in with a gun and shot a guy sitting right next to me at the table.
Part of it was because my dad managed the local gymnasium - so I got to play and practice every day while the rest of the kids did other things.
People today who play in all the big fancy (legal) cardrooms don't understand what it was like back in those days to be a poker player with all the problems we had.
Sailor and I started traveling around together. We were playing in bigger games around Texas and that's when we met up with Amarillo Slim. We formed a partnership - the three of us.
So, I concentrated most of my time on sports, which was no problem for me because I loved competing.
So, if I had a mentor, it was Johnny Moss.
Somebody was always trying to get your money, one way or the other.
Sometimes, all you had was your word. So, we gambled with each other based on trust.
That's what I'm talking about - that real gamblers can be trusted when they give their word.
The big game at the time was a one-dollar ante. Remember, this was the 1950s - so, a dollar was a lot of money back then.
The thought of money and fame and all that is nice to have. But it's not what's really important.
Then later, when I saw that the pay scale for teachers was so poor, I decided not to pursue that profession.
Through the years I've never stopped doing things, thinking about things, and I still think young.
To start with you had to keep from getting arrested by the police. Then, you had to keep from getting cheated in the games. You also had to worry about collecting the money if you won. Then finally, after all that was said and done - you had to keep from getting hijacked.
Today, there's a computer program called Poker Probe.
We didn't have much money back then, but I never gave any thought to it because we were happy.
We got robbed in poker games lots of times.
We never talk about gambling around my house.
When I saw those pictures of me at the poker tournament, I couldn't believe how old I looked.
When I was a teenager, I really became active in sports.
When I was coming up through the ranks, not that many people carried a lot money of money on them. This was before checks and credit cards.
You can't hold enough hands coming into these tournaments without making some courageous plays.
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